The Council Assembly of Southwark Council was scheduled to convene on Wednesday 22 May 2024. The meeting's agenda included the election of the Mayor, preliminary business, and the consideration of several reports, most notably the Overview and Scrutiny Committee's Annual Report for 2023-24.

Election of the Mayor

The meeting was scheduled to begin with the election of the Mayor of Southwark.

Preliminary Business

Before moving to reports, the assembly was set to address preliminary matters. This included receiving any apologies for absence, hearing announcements from the Mayor, members of the Cabinet, or the Chief Executive, and considering any urgent items of business that the Mayor deemed necessary to add to the agenda. Members were also scheduled to declare any interests and dispensations. Finally, the open minutes from the ordinary and extraordinary Council Assembly meetings held on 20 March 2024 were to be presented for approval as a correct record.

Reports

A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the review of various reports. These included:

• Executive Functions 2024-2025: This report was scheduled for discussion, outlining executive functions for the upcoming year.
• Establishment of Committees, Panels and Related Matters 2024-2025: The assembly was to consider the establishment of committees, panels, and other related matters for the 2024-2025 municipal year.
• Nominations to London Councils Committees, Greater London Employment Forum, Borough Lead Members, London Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Common Investment Vehicle (CIV) Ltd and London Councils Limited 2024-25: This item concerned nominations to various external bodies and committees for the 2024-25 period.
• Overview and Scrutiny Committee Annual Report 2023-24: This report, presented by Councillor Ian Wingfield, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, was scheduled to detail the committee's activities and achievements during the 2023-24 municipal year. The report aimed to inform the Council Assembly about the scrutiny function's work, including reviews into individual topics, 'call-in' scrutiny of executive decisions, and calls to account of officers. It also highlighted the committee's role in policy development and review, health and wellbeing scrutiny, and the scrutiny of council performance. The report noted that the scrutiny function is significant and wide-ranging, with specific functions and terms of reference set out in Appendix 1 of the report. The committee had established four scrutiny commissions for the year: Education and Local Economy, Environment, Health and Social Care, and Housing, Community Safety and Community Engagement. The report detailed the work undertaken by each commission, including reviews on topics such as school amalgamations, community wealth building, sustainable freight, biodiversity, access to toilets, adult safeguarding, housing allocations, homelessness, and policing in Southwark. The report also covered the Southwark Scrutiny Improvement Review, which aimed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the scrutiny function, and outlined plans for scrutiny activity in 2024/25.

The agenda also indicated that amendments to reports or motions could be submitted and circulated in a supplemental agenda. The meeting was also scheduled to consider whether to exclude the press and public for certain items of business if they involved the disclosure of exempt information.