Agenda item

Cabinet is invited to consider the attached report, which details recommendations that have been developed by the Council’s Scrutiny and Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees since the last Cabinet meeting (Appendix A.)  The Constitution requires that an interim or full response is provided within two months of this Cabinet meeting.

Cabinet is also asked to consider the report on the response to the task and finish group in relation to inclusion and exclusion. (Appendices to Follow).

Scrutiny Stage 1:

RESOLVED: To

1.     Receive the recommendations arising from the meeting of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee held on 6 September (Appendix A).

2.     To provide a substantive response to the recommendations (a Scrutiny Stage 2 Report) within two months (i.e. at the next available Cabinet meeting on 7 December 2022).

Scrutiny Stage 2:

RESOLVED: To

I.                 Consider and comment on the report and recommendation on Inclusion and Exclusions from Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee Task and Finish Group; and

II.               II. To approve the draft response to the scrutiny recommendations which is set out at Paragraph 2 of this report

The Executive Mayor agreed that the Scrutiny Stage 1 and Scrutiny Stage 2 reports be considered together.

Stage 1

Cabinet considered a report, which detailed in Appendix A to the report, recommendations that had been developed from the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees, since the last Cabinet meeting.

Stage 2

Cabinet considered a report, which provided a formal response to the task and finish group report in relation to inclusion and exclusion and the recommendations from the task and finish group following the extensive focus on this.

The Executive Mayor welcomed to the meeting, and thanked, former Councillor Jerry Fitzpatrick, for the long-awaited review on inclusion and exclusion of children by the task and finish group.  He also thanked Members and Officers for their work on this in-depth report.

It was reported that the Council’s Education Department welcomed the report and the opportunity to be involved in the process and that, to implement the recommendations within the report, the Education Department would need to work in partnership with school leaders across the sector and would highlight, encourage, and provide support with the application of the recommendations.

The Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Maria Gatland, offered her thanks to all concerned and highlighted that several of the recommendations were not within the gift of the Local Authority to dictate but were linked to individual education providers’ decision-making and it was them who would influence how those proposals would be delivered.

At the invitation of the Executive Mayor, Councillor Rowenna Davis, Chair of the Council’s Scrutiny and Overview Committee, addressed Cabinet.

Councillor Davis said that, in respect of the Stage 1 report, the recommendations before Cabinet had been raised by her at its last meeting since these had been relevant at that time, in particular, the Committee’s review of the Community Safety Partnership’s work on tackling violence against women and girls.  She said that, following the last meeting, a further recommendation had been proposed by Councillor Nwafar, that the Executive Mayor and the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, consider adopting a programme of domestic abuse champions for Croydon, made up of people who recognised the signs of domestic abuse and given that Croydon had the highest rates of domestic abuse in London, that Cabinet also consider this formal recommendation by the Scrutiny and Overview Committee.

Councillor Davis said that, in respect of the Stage 2 report, she echoed the Executive Mayor’s thanks to former Councillor Fitzpatrick.  She said that the commitments in the report were to be welcomed and the Committee would be revisiting the matter in the New Year.

Councillor Davis then referred to her committee’s meeting the previous evening, at which, the Temporary Workers Contract Award, approved by the Executive Mayor in Cabinet at its meeting held on 12 October 2022, had been called in.

Councillor Davis said that the Committee’s two main concerns were that the contract may have represented an unacceptable legal risk to the Council and that it might not have offered the best value for money.  She said that, despite the unacceptable lateness of the report, the call-in had been a helpful and enlightening process that had helped to provide reassurance about the decision.

Councillor Davis said that the Committee had agreed unanimously that the Executive Mayor’s decision of 12 October 2022 did not need to be referred back to this evening’s meeting as an urgent item of business.  There were, she said, a number of recommendations the Committee would be making to help the Council learn from this process, including the need for greater clarity on why some information had been kept private, rather than been open to all in the public domain.  She said that these recommendations would be formally submitted to the next meeting of the Cabinet.

In conclusion, Councillor Davis highlighted the work the Committee had undertaken in respect of Council Tax enforcement.  She said that as part of the ongoing cost of living crisis in the Borough, residents and community groups had advised the Committee that enforcement was a serious concern and that the No.1 debt-related concern reported to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau by residents, was Council Tax arrears and an online meeting had been convened and dedicated to listening to those concerns, some of which were centred around claims that people were unable to have a meaningful discussion with the Council, that mistakes had often been made and that enforcement had been taken as a first step, check later approach which, she said had added to the strain placed on those affected who were already vulnerable.

Councillor Davis acknowledged the good work being undertaken by officers in reaching out to voluntary groups and those affected, and for going back to their respective teams to make changes, including guidance on how to train officers in dealing compassionately with enquiries.

Having listened to the contributions and considered the detail in the report, the Executive Mayor, in Cabinet, RESOLVED that:

1.            In respect of the Stage 1 report, the recommendations arising from the meeting of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee held on 6 September (Appendix A), be received;

2.            That the additional recommendation referred to above be noted and included; and

3.            That a substantive response to the recommendations (a Scrutiny Stage 2 Report) be provided within two months at the Cabinet meeting, scheduled to be held on 7 December 2022.

And, in respect of the Stage 2 report:

4.            That the draft response to the scrutiny recommendations, as set out at Paragraph 2 to the report, be approved.