Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 19 January 2022 and Thursday 20 January 2022 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the previous meetings held on 19 & 20 January 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), another registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda.  If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting.  

If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they should complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

Members and co-opted Members are required to disclose any DPIs and ORIs at the meeting.  

·         Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  

·         Where the matter relates to an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.   

·         Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to their financial interest or wellbeing, or that of a relative or close associate, they must disclose the interest at the meeting, may not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  Where a matter affects the NRI of a Member or co-opted Member, section 9 of Appendix B of the Code of Conduct sets out the test which must be applied by the Member to decide whether disclosure is required.

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3, to be recorded in the minutes.

There were no disclosure of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items of business for consideration by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee at this meeting.

The Committee is recommended to:

1.     Consider and review the Action Plan attached at Appendix 1B;

2.     Consider any proposed amendments or feedback that it wishes to make on the action plan; and

3.     Submit that feedback in a report to Cabinet at its meeting on 21 March 2022.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 21 to 100 of the agenda which detailed the action plan created in response to the recommendations made in the Report in the Public Interest (RIPI), that had been accepted at the extraordinary Council meeting held on 3 February 2022. The action plan had been referred to both the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and the General Purposes and Audit Committee (GPAC) for comment before the final version is due to be considered by Cabinet on 21 March 2021. This process was the same as the one used for the previous RIPI considered in November 2020.

In relation to recommendation 7, the Vice-Chair of the Committee confirmed that he had sought further information about the Council’s policies on data retention prior to the meeting. The response received had been reassuring, with an identified Data Protection Officer in place and a regular review schedule for the related policies. It was confirmed that a recent data breach relating to the Members app, had been immediately referred to the Information Commissioner and an investigation into cause of the breach was currently ongoing.

In response to a question about which of the actions set out in the plan was likely to be the most challenging to implement, it was highlighted that the Council’s record keeping had not been where it should be and a large piece of work across the Council was required to put this in order. The first step would be to review current practice regarding data retention and then put a new procedure in place for the organisation. The introduction of a new procedure would need to be supported by training for staff to ensure the new process was embedded in the culture of the organisation. It was important to ensure all staff were properly living any new processes introduced as a result of the RIPI.

The point was made by the Committee that document retention should also apply to the different versions of documentation to ensure that the history of a project could be traced if needed.

Given the scale of work proposed in the action plan, it was questioned whether there was sufficient capacity within the Council to ensure delivery. In response it was highlighted that one of the proposals agreed at the extraordinary Council meeting was to incorporate the action plan in the wider Croydon Renewal Plan, which was managed by the Programme Management Office. This would ensure that progress on delivery was regularly reported, allowing any issues to be identified at an early stage.

As the action plan referred to the introduction of a twelve-month forward plan, an update on the development of this was requested. It was confirmed that work had started in early 2021 to map out all the decisions the Council was expected to take up until the election in May 2022.  That went into operation in March 2021 to help manage these meetings and was shared with officers over the summer. Copies had also been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15/22

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee is asked to:-

1.     Note the update to be provided on the delivery of the 2021-22 budget and setting the 2022-23 Budget.

2.     Consider the conclusions of the Committee on 2022-23 budget, to be submitted to the Budget Council meeting on 28 February 2022, including:-

a.     Reaching a conclusion on deliverability and sustainability of the 2022-23 budget.

b.     Reach a conclusion on whether sufficient evidence has been provided to conclude that there is understanding of the key risks and ownership of the proposals by the Council’s political leadership.

c.     Consider whether there are any further conclusions on the 2022-23 budget the Committee would like to bring to the attention of Council.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 101 to 270 of the agenda which presented the Administration’s budget proposals for scrutiny prior to their consideration by the Cabinet and Council on 7 March 2022. The comments of the Committee would be reported at the Council meeting during the consideration of the budget item. The Committee was asked to reach a conclusion on the deliverability and sustainability of the budget, whether there was an understanding and ownership of the key risks to the budget by the Council’s political leadership, along with any other conclusions the Committee wished to make on the budget.

The report was introduced by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Hamida Ali. During the introduction, the following points were noted: -

·       The budget was the culmination of a year’s work and thanks was given to officers from across the Council who had helped to ensure its delivery.

·       The past year had seen a significant shift in the culture and management of the Council following the creation of the Croydon Renewal Plan.

·       The forthcoming financial year was likely to be even more challenging with £55m of savings to be delivered.

·       At the end of month 9 of the 2021-22 budget year, the Council was still on track to deliver £44m of savings, which helped to provide assurance the Council was able to manage its own budget.

·       There had been a number of difficult decisions taken during the development of the proposed budget, but there had been a focus on protecting frontline services. In doing so, there had been an emphasis on delivering the best value for money wherever possible, which had included reducing senior staff spend by £1m, renegotiating contracts and continuing to ensure the best use of the Council’s assets.

·       As well as making savings, there was also new investment in the budget, which included £1.3m to support SEND students and growth added to the grounds maintenance budget.

·       A key risk to the budget, which was highlighted in the report, concerned the historic accounting treatment in previous year’s budgets. Significant work was underway with the auditor to find a resolution, however at this stage the outcome of this work was not clear. As such it was important to be transparent on this risk given its potential impact.

·       The Council was still waiting to receive written confirmation from the Government on the £25m capitalisation bid, which was needed before the final budget could be approved. However, the Improvement and Assurance Panel have confirmed its approval of this being granted and it was likely to be formally confirmed in the coming days.

·       The budget also included a proposal to add £22m to earmarked reserves which demonstrated the Administration’s determination to improve the Council’s long term financial position.

Following the introduction, the Chair provided a summary of the budget scrutiny work undertaken over the past year, which culminated at this meeting.  This work included regular scrutiny of the delivery of 2021-22 budget, training with the Centre for Governance and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16/22

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This motion was not required.