The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to meet to discuss the scrutiny work programme, transformation progress, the implementation of scrutiny recommendations, and the Relationship Between Black Boys and the Borough Scrutiny Commission report. The meeting will be held at the Newham Town Hall, and members of the public can watch via YouTube.

Relationship Between Black Boys and the Borough Scrutiny Commission Report

The committee is scheduled to consider the updated Phase II report of the Relationship Between Black Boys and the Borough Scrutiny Commission. The report presents the commission's findings for adoption by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and referral to the cabinet. The supplementary agenda indicates that an updated version of the report will be presented at the meeting. The Phase II report investigates the experiences and outcomes of Black boys and young men in the borough, finding that little progress has been made in improving outcomes for this group over several decades. The report identifies a complex set of disadvantages stemming from systemic and structural inequalities, including:

• Racial profiling
• Low school expectations
• Permanent exclusion
• Housing instability
• Mental health stigma

The report notes that these issues reflect broader systemic problems, but their local impact in LB Newham is particularly urgent due to the borough's large Black youth population. The report also makes a number of recommendations, including that the council should ensure that all data captured by educational systems and services is disaggregated for Black boys in LB Newham aged 11 to 18, using free school meals and CAMHS¹ data to capture and understand key points of intersectionality.

Transformation Update

The committee is scheduled to discuss the council's transformation programme, which is focused on modernising services, improving residents' experience and strengthening the council's financial sustainability. The transformation programme is grouped under three headings:

• Making more services available online
• Joining up services to better serve residents
• Being a lean, efficient council

The report pack highlights progress across the three programmes, including the development of new digital solutions, reshaping face-to-face and neighbourhood delivery models, and improving internal processes and ways of working to deliver efficiencies and better outcomes. The report pack states that ten digital solutions are now in either the build or test phase, with implementation scheduled before the end of 2025/26. All voice automations have gone live and are achieving measurable improvements in response times and service routing, forecast to deliver £0.1m in savings in 2025/26. AI Chatbot and Live Chat channels have been introduced, providing 24/7 digital access and resolving the majority of enquiries without officer intervention.

Review of Implementation of Scrutiny Recommendations

The committee is scheduled to review a report on the implementation of scrutiny recommendations. The report is a synthesis of executive responses to scrutiny recommendations in 2024/25. The report makes particular reference to the report and recommendations of the Budget Scrutiny Commission in February 2025 and recommendations from the call in by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee itself of the following decisions during the 2024/2025 municipal year:

• Royal Victoria Dock Bridge
• Carpenters Estate
• People Powered Places programme
• Populo Living 2025/2026 Business Plan
• Juniper Ventures

The report pack notes that a significant challenge of UK local government scrutiny has been demonstrating and evidencing the impact of overview and scrutiny committees as scrutiny's impact cannot always be tangibly measured, especially in the absence of a control group . The report pack states that acceptance (or partial acceptance) of recommendations and their implementation can be a way of tracking both impact and progress.

Scrutiny Work Programme

The committee is scheduled to consider its work programme for 2025/26. According to the report pack, authorities should take steps to ensure that scrutiny has a clear role and focus within the organisation, i.e. a niche within which it can clearly demonstrate that it adds value. The report pack states that effective scrutiny should have a defined impact, with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the subsidiary commissions making recommendations that will result in a tangible difference to the work of the authority. The report pack also states that the Annual Scrutiny Work Programme remains a dynamic document that may need to accommodate change over the course of the year in order to meet any emergent issues.

Other items

• The committee will be asked to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 November 2025.
• The committee will be asked to review the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.
• The committee will hear oral updates from the chairs of LB Newham's Scrutiny Commissions.
• The committee will agree the date and time of the next meeting of the committee currently scheduled for 20 January 2026.
• The committee will be asked to confirm the membership of the Committee and receive any apologies for absence and/or notices of substitution.
• The committee will receive declarations by Members and Officers of any disclosable pecuniary and/or non-pecuniary interests that they may have in any matter being considered at the meeting, having regard to the guidance attached to the Agenda and in accordance with the Newham Code of Conduct for Members.
• The committee will appoint members of Scrutiny Commissions, Scrutiny Inquiry Working Parties and membership of external bodies for each agreed priority topic agreed from the Scrutiny Work Programme.