This meeting was scheduled to receive a presentation about the council's performance against its own objectives. It also included a discussion about the council’s draft work programme for the coming year. Finally, there was scheduled to be a discussion about the make up of various scrutiny committees.

The documents provided to attendees do not record what was actually discussed at the meeting, or any decisions that were made.

Building a Fairer Newham performance report

The most substantial item on the agenda was a report on the performance of the council in delivering the Building a Fairer Newham corporate plan.

The report states that at the end of the 2023/2024 municipal year:

61% of Building a Fairer Newham Corporate Delivery Plan actions are on track or have been completed; 50% of the Building a Fairer Newham Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are on target.

The report goes on to list a series of achievements, including:

• The launch of the Well Newham social prescribing pilot
• The agreement of Newham’s Just Transition plan, described as “the first Just Transition Plan in the UK”
• The introduction of weekly bin recycling collections

The report also notes a number of areas where performance is below target, including:

• Numbers of households in temporary accommodation
• The percentage of homeless households rehoused in Newham
• Timeliness of issuing EHCPs¹

The report goes on to note that:

There are several factors that are affecting our ability to deliver and driving our reassessment of the level of risk involved. External factors such as financial constraints - in terms of the funding we have available now, and the uncertainty of future government funding, have led to difficult decisions in order to set a balanced budget for 24/25.

The report concludes by acknowledging a Corporate Peer Review conducted by the Local Government Association and noting that:

Over the next 3 months we will be initiating this review and intend to report back to Cabinet in the autumn/winter 24 with the revised plan and associated performance framework. We intend to develop a corporate plan which is streamlined with fewer priorities, will be meticulously resourced and is well understood by staff and partners.

Freedom Passes

A report about Freedom Passes² was also scheduled for discussion, but this report is not included in the document pack.

Scrutiny work programme

The meeting was scheduled to discuss and approve the scrutiny work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its associated commissions for the 2024/2025 municipal year.

The draft work programmes for each of the commissions are included in the report pack. The most significant proposed items are summarised below.

Crime, environment and transport scrutiny commission

The work programme for the Crime, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission includes items on:

• An annual performance review of the Newham Safety Partnership, and the Serious Violence Duty
• The introduction of the new Newham Integrated Community Enforcement (NICE) model, the reorganisation of the council’s anti-social behaviour team and partnership working with other social landlords to address residential anti-social behaviour
• A new licensing policy, the impact of the council’s Parks strategy, street cleansing and the implementation of the Environment Act 2021
• Major projects and highways management, including contingency measures to ensure the timely completion of works and reinstatement of road surfaces.
• Sustainable transport, including Light Trade Vehicles, Electric Vehicle charging strategy and docked and dockless bikes.

Education, children and young people scrutiny commission

The work programme for the Education, Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission includes items on:

• The council's Youth Safety Strategy, youth empowerment, youth justice and alternative youth provision.
• The Newham Safeguarding Children Partnership (NSCP) Annual Report
• Care experience and protected characteristics, looked after children sufficiency assessments and the SEND & Inclusion Strategy Annual Report
• Educational equity and disproportionality, school attainment and school attendance, and the Child Protection Annual Report
• The Virtual School Annual Report

Health and adult social care scrutiny commission

The work programme for the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission includes items on:

• Emerging issues within Newham’s health and care system, including updates on ongoing strategies
• Preparing the health and care system for significant population growth and changing demographics in the coming years
• Measures to address low levels of physical activity in Newham
• Progress against budget savings targets within the health and adult social care portfolio
• Budget overspends within the 0-19 Health services
• Health equity and literacy
• Learning from the council’s adult social care peer challenge
• The model of mental health care for psychosis in Trieste, Italy
• Ethnic inequalities in maternity experiences at Newham Hospital

Housing and regeneration scrutiny commission

The work programme for the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Commission includes items on:

• Workforce culture within the directorate, building resilience (fire, flood) in the borough and the council’s Community Wealth Building strategy
• The council’s response to the Regulator of Social Housing inspection, temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention, and the HRA Business Plan
• The council's culture strategy, its private licensing regime and its Local Plan
• The repairs and maintenance service, the effectiveness and impact of scrutiny panels in housing associations within the borough

Appointments to committees

Finally, the meeting was scheduled to appoint and/or confirm members of:

• The Budget Scrutiny Working Party
• The Budget Scrutiny Commission
• The Relationship Between Black Boys and the Borough Scrutiny Commission
• The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission
• The INEL JHOSC³
• The Crime, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission
• The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Commission; and
• The Education, Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission