Transcript

Good evening. Thanks for being here and welcome to this meeting of the executive. Are there any declarations of interest before we begin? Okay, any apologies? I think I have Councillor Akinola understood. So if we can move to the matters for decision. And this evening, a couple of nights before full council meeting, we've got papers from environment, health, housing, children's and finance committees. So if we could take those in order. Turning first to environment, Councillor Gasser. Yes, thank you. Good evening, everyone. So the first paper for consideration came to our environment committee and the recommendation is to continue or extend the contract with Enable, which runs our parks and leisures and leisures and bereavement services and events and runs a lot of our council buildings. So they do all sorts of work for us. So we're proposing to extend the contract for three years in the first instance, but with some changes. So we are recommending that 14 of their staff transfer over to the council and brought in house. And that is to reflect and work on our ambitions, because I am very ambitious. We're all very ambitious in terms of biodiversity and nature and parks. And green spaces and green spaces and green spaces and all of that. So we felt it was we would have better oversight, better control and better ambition working through officers in house. So 14 members of staff coming over to be part of our ECS team, still working very closely with their colleagues in Enable. I mean, we are all one one team together, but they will be working for us. And we think that's going to work very much better. And on top of that, we renegotiated the contract price. So it's a concession contract. They have the use of all our facilities. They make money out of them, and they pay us the concession fee. And going forward, we have agreed a concession fee of 3.7 million per year. But out of that, we, the council, will have some increased costs. So we will be paying for the 14 staff, of course. We are going to pay the utilities, because that takes the risk out of the volatility of utility prices. So that gives Enable some more security. And the result of all that is we're expecting to be three or four hundred thousand pounds a year of growth for the council. So it's advantageous to the council and therefore to our residents, and it will achieve a lot more of our ambitions. So we're recommending that. So the executive is happy with that. Excellent. Thank you for that summary. And congratulations on those successful negotiations. If there are no questions, is that agreed? Agreed. Thank you. Thank you. The next paper for consideration is the annual revision of charges. We do this every year. And, of course, you know, our costs go up, or our contractors' costs go up, particularly energy bills have gone up hugely, and staff bills are going up. So this year we are just recommending an inflation charge. So we're recommending 2.2% on just about all of our charges across the board. I think we think that's fair. We do have a scheme where we help residents who are on the lower income. We have this Access for All scheme. So those residents that qualify for that will get free services during off-peak times and half-price during peak times. So that should support those residents very much. And we have gone somewhat above 2.2% increase for certain commercial entities that may be higher. The big evolution site or something like that, the big companies that can afford a little bit more, they're going to pay a little bit more because that helps subsidize the people that can't. So that's the recommendation on that paper. Excellent. Thank you. That seems to make sense. Is that agreed? Thank you. Thanks very much, Councillor Gasser. And if it's all right, if we can look to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Henderson. Thank you. Two papers. The first is the commissioning of extra care services at Chestnut House and Ensham House. Extra care, perhaps, is best described as a sort of halfway house between care in your own home and actually having to be admitted full-time to a care home. So extra care is people living in purpose accommodation, et cetera. So they're living actually in their own flats. But there is someone on call 24-7 in case they actually sort of need any assistance. So they're people who essentially can look after themselves substantially, but have certain conditions which may require some additional assistance. Currently, these are two properties. And Chestnut House is in Rohampton and Ensham House is in Tooting. They have been performing very well. And so the proposal is to extend their contracts, which are due to expire on the 31st of August of next year. The proposal is to extend their contracts for another four years, with an option to extend further for another two years. One very important aspect of this particular procurement is that all we actually want to do is work with the care providers. I mean, the housing provider essentially will provide someone to look after people, to respond to their needs. But we have found that quite a lot of people who live in that accommodation lose touch with the wider community and may indeed have difficulties in dealing with official in the whole range of different areas. So what we're looking for is an enhanced service, whereby the care providers will actually provide considerably greater care for people to meet their needs and hopefully ensure that they can actually stay in extra care rather than actually having to progress to the next level of moving into a formal care home. So there is a slight sort of change to the contract provision. It's much more strategic, but the main provision is simply a renewal for the current arrangements at Chestnut House and Ensham House. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Henderson. And if there's no questions, is that agreed? Thanks so much. Thank you. The second paper is continued participation in the London Sexual Health and Contraception E-Service. So it is an electronic service, which certainly is taken off, perhaps not surprisingly, post-COVID. It is quite extensively used. It means, for example, that people can order HIV tests, contraception, a wide range of other services. Currently, we are one of 30 local authorities who are involved in the current contract, which is actually run by the Corporation of London. The contract doesn't expire until 2026, but clearly, if we were to actually break away from our partnership agreement with the other 29 local authorities, we would have actually had to make a much earlier decision to do so. However, because the system is working very well, because there is certainly considerable uptake for the services, the proposal is to continue with that service, certainly for the foreseeable future. Thank you. Thank you. That's a really helpful summary. And is it supported? Excellent. Thanks so much. And moving on to the Housing Committee, Councillor Deke then. Yeah, we've got three papers to report. The first is the vulnerable residence policy, which we discussed at Cabinet, which is the aim of it is to allow our services to be able to flag possible vulnerabilities within our department so that someone isn't having to tell their same story kind of over and over again. And also adaptations can be made in terms of booking repairs, making sure people are aware of some of the vulnerabilities that people might have. So it's a good move to help us protect some of our tenants. Is that supported? Yeah. Right. The second paper is on our affordable housing update, which is not in relation to the 1,000 homes, but in regards much more to our pipeline of Section 106 in private sites. It does an update on the figures coming through and shows that as our administration moves forward, we are seeing an increase in the delivery of affordable housing on private sites, as well as an increase in social rent. That outlines also our aspiration that will be taking place during our consultation in January, public consultation on changing our local plan to increase that pipeline. So that will be a 50% affordable on private sites with a 70-30 split in terms of social rent. But things moving in the right direction as they stand. We're actually getting some private sites come forward with that, with our proposed percentage types, even though that isn't what the plan says at the moment. So that's supported. Great. Great. And then the final one is the housing services activity update, which is basically the homelessness paper. It goes through the challenges that we've faced in the final quarter of the year, increase in demand for a statutory service and the budgetary implications for that. But the Cabinet will be aware that we're going to bring forward a host of measures to try and work out what we can do to try and, you know, like I said, we've discussed this at length, but it's something affecting boroughs all across London. But what we as a council can do to try and get back in control of the financial overspend that's taking place because there are a number of people that are presenting as homeless to the council. This paper was more just highlighting the problem, but I thought it was important that it was passed by Cabinet because it does include an overspend. But also it's transparent in terms of, like, the challenges that we face with social housing and social housing weight in this. And I think it links well with the positive news in the affordable housing update. But like I say, it's an area where London is seeing massive challenges. Thanks very much. Is that proposal agreed? Agreed. Excellent. And then next we have the Children's Committee. Councillor Stock. Thank you, Chair. The first paper to report is the Young Onesworth Youth Strategy. So this is our bold and ambitious strategy about what we're going to do to improve youth provision in the borough over the next 10 years. So our ambition here that we set out in the strategy is about making sure that all young people in the borough have access to a dynamic youth service with trusted relationships running throughout what we want to do and making sure that we provide safe and welcoming environments for young people to access those youth services. So the paper particularly touched on the work we've been doing with young people in the Youth Council already, thinking about a single identity for our youth provision across Wandsworth so that young people recognise provision in their local area and so we can increase access. Also about investing in safe places and spaces for young people to come together and receive youth services, not just our current youth clubs and family hubs, but also schools and other council-owned properties that we can encourage low or low cost or no rent to increase the amount of youth provision by some of our partners. I think most excitingly, the paper also recommended the launch of the Wandsworth Youth Partnership Board and we've already had engagement with our voluntary sector partners, community partners and faith partners on the terms of reference for that board and that's been really, really well received by those in the community and lots of interest in joining the board and appetite for that. So that's really exciting to bring those partners together in a new way of doing our youth services and with the aspiration of growing that youth service going forward. The strategy also talked on our desire for an agile and skilled workforce, not only investing in our own workforce, but also working in partnership with our voluntary sector providers to enable things like that. So comments and joint training opportunities to really have a collective offer across the borough and also building on our work that the Cabinet and Executive are aware about around digital poverty to ensure children have access to laptops and data, particularly with our partnership with Power2Connect and our unique partnership with Apple that's working with schools on digital skills as well. And the strategy finally also touched on our detached youth service and the work we're doing there out in communities with youth workers, building relationships with young people within their communities, often housing estates, to reach those that's sometimes more difficult for us to be able to reach. That's great stuff. Thank you very much. Is it supported by the Executive? Very good. Very good. The next paper that's reported is on play strategy or a new approach to play in the borough. This is really about the whole council putting children at the top of their agenda and particularly play at the top of our agenda. So I think we, as an executive, are committed to access for all in particular. And what that means in this context is really children having the opportunities available to them in the borough in relation to play. And some of those opportunities have diminished sadly because of the pandemic, but also the cost of living has exacerbated that and it's made it more difficult for some families to be able to travel or afford some activities in the borough. So strategy really talks to our ambition around access for all and the increasing partnerships that we can build to enable families and children to access play. Also our investment in partnership with Environment Directorate around the work we've done to improve our splash zones at Tooting Lido, our football pitches, our Lady Allen, which is our adventure playground for children with special educational need and two current consultations ongoing in relation to that investment for Latchmere Recreation Ground and also Tooting Lakeside. Also about the work that is ongoing in our family hubs to make them welcoming spaces where families can come together, connect, socialise, engage in play activities which can promote child development in those early years, which we know is particularly important. And also around the work we're doing already around baby boxes, so really promoting play and family bonds within the home, within the early years of a child's life. And then a new exciting proposal around developing our own in Wandsworth 10x10 programme, which is 10 life-enriching activities before the age of 10 and hoping that London Borough culture can really spotlight play in the borough and really help us drive forward with this new approach to play and making children in the borough everyone's business across the Cabinet. Brilliant. Thank you very much. If there's no questions, is that supported also? Excellent. And then the statutory complaints policy, so a new policy I understand arising out of a recommendation from the Ombudsman in relation to Adult Social Clare. So this is just a policy so that all residents in the borough understand how to complain, but we also have also set out in that policy how residents can come forward with some compliments and at the same time, the committee also heard about our annual reports, which included both complaints but also some positive compliments about the work that the directorate's been doing with children and families in the borough. Excellent. Thanks so much. And is that also supported? I think there's one more for children's. Yes. Thank you, Chair. Something that the Executive is aware of and a difficult paper and proposal to bring forward, but as the Executive is aware, Wandsworth currently maintain Bradstow School in Kent, and that's been a school that we inherited since 1990 following the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority. So Bradstow is a residential special school, as the Executive is aware. It provides really much-loved and valued care for some of our most vulnerable children, but Wandsworth is one of 15 local authorities who now place children at that school. As I said, it's located in Kent, and Kent County Council are by far the largest user of that school, with 14 children out of the 33 who attend that school being placed by Kent County Council. In contrast, from Wandsworth, we only have four children attending that school at this time. So Bradstow, as I said, is a really well-regarded school, and the quality of their provision is really recognised, and the consultation that we're proposing is no comment on the current leadership of the school. But because of the complex nature of the school and the unwillingness of some councils to pay the level of fees and the debt that has accumulated, and there was some discussion at the committee about outstanding debts and refusal to pay uplifts by Kent County Council, that's put a lot of pressure on the financial viability of the school, which can have an onward impact on the quality of education and care that can be provided. So as a consequence, the paper recommended to propose to begin a consultation on closure of the school in August 2025, and that really is a proposal of last resort, and nevertheless, the closure recommendation is for a proposal following a comprehensive consultation, and very much want people to engage with that so that we can understand and take into full account when we consider the responses to the consultation. So as the executive will also be aware, we've invested a lot of funding, £41 million over the past two or three years in our local provision in the borough, including converting Broadwater Primary School into a special education school and a number of hubs and resource bases within our local primary schools and secondary schools as well. So this decision to consult was really, as I said, one of last resorts. We had been working with Kent County Council for the past three years in the hope of transferring the school to them, but in October we were informed by Kent County Council that they no longer wish to proceed with that transfer, even though during the course of that negotiation we had been willing to provide them with the land to support the financial viability of the school. So during committee, members of the committee heard a statement from the head teacher of the school and clearly understood and recognised the impact that the consultation will have on the school community. There was an amendment that was proposed and discussed around delaying the consultation to allow the school to pursue their work they're doing on other financial viability options. That was discussed by committee, but ultimately that was voted down. Nevertheless, I have met with the head teacher, governors and other teachers and parents since the committee and we hope that during the consultation process those options will come forward so that they can be considered. I have also too written to Kent County Council myself to the political leaders there to again invite them to reconsider their decision not to move forward with the transfer of Bradstow School to themselves to keep it open into the future and we await a response. And I also hope to visit the school in the new year to hear further from teachers and parents while I'm there. Thanks, Councillor Stock. I know it's been a very difficult decision and not taken lightly and thank you to you and officers putting a lot of work behind the scenes. I don't know if there's any comments or questions on that proposal. If not, is it supported? Thank you. So next we're moving to the finance committee, Councillor Ireland. I think we've got maybe eight papers to get through here. Over to you. Yes. Oh, thank you. The first paper, 24375, is about Wandsworth Heritage Collections Development Policy. So this is really to agree our policy for deaccessioning items in the collection. There is an amendment requested. I'll read the amendment. The opposition requested that the executive considers the wording of recommendation 2D to ensure that it does not contradict with the agreed policy. The request is that the executive rewords the recommendation to ensure that any donations that are deaccessioned are transferred over to other relevant organisations. So are you proposing that? Yes, I'm proposing that. I'd need a seconder. Please. Thank you. Councillor Gass is seconding. And I wonder if you'd like to make any comments about the sort of substantive proposals or are they self-explanatory? It was simply to agree the deaccession policy. So having taken on board that we'd like to tidy it up very slightly, a colleague's happy to approve the proposal. Thank you. Thank you. The next paper is about the change programme. So this was a paper, an update paper. Every six months we get an update paper to the committee. And this includes progress on the change programme and the reorganisation of various projects into four themes. Great employer making ones with a great place to work. Customer experience. Our digital, developing our digital work and also place and partnerships. So the next steps in the programme is to develop business cases for 14 projects in phase one. Now the amendment referred on here is simply to reflect the change of responsibility so that we're delegating authority. It was with the Executive Director of Finance. We're proposing to move it to the Executive Director of Change who's in charge of the programme. Is that agreed? Sounds sense. Thank you. Thanks very much. Paper 24377, Infrastructure Funding Statement. This is simply a record of all the projects that have been funded from infrastructure levy for last year up to the 31st of March 2024. Do we agree? Thank you. The next paper, 24378, is the medium-term financial strategy. This models income and expenditure over the four frameworks for the next four years from 2024 to 2028. It's part of the corporate plan and it forms the basis of the budget for 2025-26. So, this is simply a factual statement of what's happening and our predictions for the next four years for the general fund revenue, general fund capital, housing revenue account, and dedicated schools budget. Do we agree with that? Thank you very much. The next paper is the Treasury Management Mid-Year Review. Again, simply a record of the work that's been done so far this year where we've increased the income that we've earned from investments simply because we've been clever with our investments and we've got more cash to invest at the moment. Again, that's simply a statement that tells us where we are this year. Do we agree? Thank you. Following that, we've got the annual corporate complaints. This paper details, has a summary of all the complaints received for all departments, summarizing what's happened with an emphasis really on lessons learned. So, it isn't just simply saying, these are the complaints we've received. The paper will also include recommendations of what we can learn from that. Are we agreed? Thank you. The next paper is 24382, and this is the debt write-off paper. Now, this details all the debts, over £25,000, that the Executive Director of Finance has dedication to write off. These are from residents and businesses, so it could be rent, council tax, business rates. The difference this year is that we're very proud of this. It's not just simply listing all the debts. We've developed a debt fairness charter, which reflects our ambitions to be a compassionate council. So, we do recognize that it's important to collect these debts, but we think that we need to treat our residents and our businesses fairly. And also, you're more likely to collect the debts if you can work with the residents and business and give them a chance to pay their debts. I'm really pleased with what the work officers have done on this. So, if somebody gets behind with their rent or council tax, they immediately contact the person, ask if there's been a change of circumstances and what the council can do to help maximize the income of this resident. The same for businesses, to help them manage the cost of living crisis and to develop financial sustainability. And we're very proud of this policy and it was agreed by the minority party as well. Thank you. Do we agree that? Thank you. The final paper is budget variations. This is simply a statement of all the changes to budgets agreed at previous committees. Do we agree? Thank you very much. Thank you. Excellent. Thanks very much, Councillor Ireland, and to everyone for a busy and productive set of papers and the period we've been working on. That ends the executive meeting for this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.