Transcript

Right, good evening, I make it seven o'clock, so welcome to this meeting of the Cabinet. My name is Councillor Shantanu Rajouat, welcome to those in the audience and those watching at home. I'm the Leader of the Council and Chair of this meeting. I'm joined around the table by my colleagues on Cabinet, who will introduce themselves as they speak. We are also pleased to welcome the Leader of the Opposition, who has a standing invite to this meeting. Of course, she doesn't get voting rights, but is able to ask questions, and we're also joined by officers of the Council, who again, do not take part in the decision-making, but are here to offer support where needed. We've got quite a bit to get through today, so I'm going to go straight to the first item on the agenda, that's apologies for absence. I've had apologies from Councillor Bruce, Councillor Shivraj Garawal, Councillor Sampson, and Councillor Shaheen. I think everyone else is here. Oh, and Councillor Raza as well, that's Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as well. Are there any declarations of interest from members? Any communications? As a standing reminder, can I ask you to note the Monitoring Officer's note on interests as well? Moving on to the second item is the minutes of the meeting held on the 18th of March. Take them page by page for accuracy and matters arising. Page 7, page 8, page 9, page 10, and page 11. Members, are you happy to agree those minutes? Agreed? Excellent. Thank you very much. Now we move on to our first substantive item. It's a final decision regarding the proposed merger of Cardinal Road Infants and Nursery and Victoria Junior School. Councillor Chowdhury. Thank you, Leader. Councillor Samir Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Education, Children's Skills and Employment. This is the final decision regarding the proposed merger of Cardinal Road Infants and Nursery and Victoria Junior School. You'll recall that in January 2025, we had discussed this and proved the first stage for this report. So this one is back in, taking in account of the responses received during the representation period of the Cabinet, is asked to give final approval to Emerge School by extending the age range of Cardinal Road Infant and Nursery School to accommodate age 3 to 11 through nursery through to year 6. and closing Victoria Junior School on 31st of August 2025. And all people from both will become a part of the merged primary, which would open on 1st of September 2025. So the recommendations are on page 12 from 1 to 5 and move the report. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Chowdhury. I'll second it and reserve my right to speak. It's therefore open for questions, discussions. Anybody wish to say anything on this one? I appreciate there was a number of responses to this. They've obviously been carefully considered, but delivering the best outcomes for our young people remains an absolute priority. And I think the rationale within the report makes absolute sense on this. And obviously, we will support both schools as they transition to this for September, I would imagine. Okay, good. As there's no indication, I will move straight to the vote on this. Recommendations are on page 12, 1 to 5. Can I see all those in favour? That is carried unanimously. Thank you very much. Right, in Councillor Sampson's absence, I will move the draft housing strategy, which is page 39 to 96. So the report asks Cabinet to approve the consultation draft of our new housing strategy, which covers a period 2025 to 2030. That replaces the previous housing strategy, which ran from 2019 to 2024. For members around the table will know it's statutory requirement to have a housing and homelessness, sorry, homeless strategy. As we know, across the borough, there's a background of rising homelessness and housing need in the borough. And this administration, our administration, wishes to continue the success of the previous strategy to minimise the number of households in temporary accommodation, improve housing conditions across social and private tenures, and secure more affordable homes. The consultation draft housing strategy is, of course, aligned to the corporate plan and Hounslow's local plan, so that it's sympathetic to our wider strategic objectives. The public consultation will ensure that we fully capture our residents' needs and listen to the advice of residents and partners to identify priorities for our housing services. And I should also note that this is going to overview and scrutiny as well for some scrutiny very, very shortly as well. So in saying that, I move the report. Councillor Barth, do you want to second it? Yeah, I'm happy to second it. And I'll also, I'll speak now if that's OK. Yeah, I just wanted to say, obviously, we have to go out to a statutory consultation and that's absolutely fine. But I think if you, when you read the report, I think it goes without saying the actual housing crisis that we face along with everybody else, I guess, you know, nationally. But I particularly welcome our priority three around raising standards in the private rented sector, because as the housing crisis kind of, you know, gets worse, I guess, more and more people are relying on the private sector for their accommodation. And I think where we can sort of do more sort of education around tenants knowing their rights, but also with landlords as well. I think that's only a really good thing, given that more and more people are going to be relying on the rented sector for their housing, housing issues, really. OK, but yeah, happy to second that. Thank you, Councillor Barth. So discussion, Councillor Thompson. Just a question, which, depending on your answer, depends how many more questions asked. Does this go to Borough Council, ultimately? No, in that case, I'll just, I'll just, I appreciate its consultation document. Obviously, it will go through scrutiny and come back to Cabinet in the future. Just a couple of observations, I suppose. There's a lot of ambitious stuff in here, which obviously one would support, retrofitting new homes, increased and better tenant engagement, tough regulations. And hopefully the consultation we're having on HMOs will feed into this too and make sure that we're covering all those, not just the ones we do at the moment. But obviously that, there's a cost to it. And I'm just, obviously, it will be helpful if somewhere, it's not terribly clear in the document where that comes from. There is also mention, there's very brief mention of the importance of family homes. We do tend to, in Hounslow, build lots of one-bedroom flats and two-bedroom flats. The threes and the fours seem to be few and far between. I say it's mentioned in passing in a list of other need, but it's very vague. There's no timeline, there's no details, there's no numbers. And I think from our side, we were very keen that that was a real priority of the council. And also, finally, and on page 90, in terms of the action plan, it says that one of the points is that we will complete reviews on blocks with cladding. Well, I was rather hoping that in 2025, in light of what happened at Grenfell and all the other subsequent discussions, that had been done. So do I take from the document that we haven't yet reviewed all properties in Hounslow, all flats that have cladding? Thank you, Councillor Loughlin. I'll come back to that in summing up. Is there anyone else? No, I'll do it now. So the point around three or four bedrooms, we mark it is very, very difficult. The economy is in a very difficult pace. So in a different place, but joined up, trying to use our influence with developers to encourage that need to come forward, I think will be really important. And that's where this needs to be aligned with the local plan. But also in terms of the sort of business case for growth, talking about key sites, it's about those family homes that we'll need in the future. And I guess you try and project into the future, and that's not an exact science. So I do recall a number of years ago, the need was for one and two bedrooms, and actually we responded to that really well. Now we need to do the same again for larger family homes that we know are coming through as well. So that is, whilst consultation may not directly talk to that, I think that is an aim that will sit amongst multiple of our strategies. On your point around cladding, you're absolutely right. All of our stock post-Grenfell was looked at, but I think regulation is changing constantly. And the visibility around cladding is also changing. So we're in a position where we have to continue looking. So it's not a case that we've ignored. It's that we're responding to changes in regulation and legislation. So that's that. I can't see anyone else. And to your other points, Councillor Thompson, yeah, absolutely. I think we shared in what we want to try and achieve. This is a moment in time of consultation. The fuller report will follow once we've analyze the responses, and we're really keen to make sure we get as many people responding as possible. So the recommendations on this are on page 40, 124. Can I see all those in favor? That is carried. Thank you very much. Right. With the meeting's indulgence, I'm going to just shuffle around the agenda a little bit. I'm going to go to item 7 first, then 5, and then we'll finish on item 6. So item 7 is completion of the Safer Communities Improvement Programme and transition to business as usual. Councillor Sidhu. Thank you, Leader. Councillor Aguinda Sidhu, Cabinet Member for Public Safety and Regulatory Services. This report confirms the completion of Safer Communities Improvement Programme and the full transition of the activity to be taken forward. From this point, as part of business as usual, work within the Safer Communities Service Area. Through the work, the program has successfully achieved a review of implementation of new Community Safety Partnership Board, a structured funded police team contract with increased focus on borough's housing estate, the design and delivery of new operating model for safer communities, which enables a stronger area-based approach, more visible patrolling and interface with the residents, a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, and for the first time, anti-social behaviour officers for non-housing areas within the borough, the delivery of cashable savings, which are detailed in this report. The recommendations are on page number 120. The program has been delivered on time and has come under budget, with the surplus funding returned back to the Council's reserves. I move the report. Thank you, Councillor Sidhu. I'll second it and reserve my right to speak. It's now open for discussion and debate. Councillor Aguinda McGrawal. I just want to say I wholeheartedly support this. I know a lot of work has gone into this and, you know, we're trying to reduce crime levels in the borough and while increasing public trust and confidence in tackling crime because fear of crime is very high here. So, well done. I wholeheartedly support it. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Grawal. You didn't introduce yourself either. Do you want to introduce yourself quickly? Though I've spoken, I like telling who I am at the end, just in case. Councillor Esmir Grawal, Cabinet Member for Residence, Support, Community and Equalities. Okay. Councillor Bath. I just realised I didn't introduce myself before either, did you? Councillor Lily Bath, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and Health Integration. I also wanted to support the conclusion of this and the recommendations. I think, as you both said, it's really important that we actually make sure that we are supporting our communities around community safety because we do get a lot of inquiries around that in our inbox. But I also wanted to, it's good to see all the Greens, but actually it's also really good to see an underspend as well. And I think we saw that in a previous programme that we brought to Cabinet around our young people, young YSEG, I'm trying to spit the words out, youth support and employment guarantee programme, which we also concluded, with some good outcomes, but also with an underspend as well. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Bath. Okay, I can't see anyone else indicating. So, no, that's the wrong report. What page number are we? 119. Sorry, we'll get there. Okay, the recommendations on this are on page 120, one and two. Can I see all those in favour? That is carried. Thank you very much. Go straight back to you, Councillor Sidhu, for the initiation of the Enforcement Review Project with the Council's Delivery Plan. Thank you. This project is designed to undertake a comprehensive review on enforcement activities in the borough, such as environmental enforcement, which includes fly tipping, noise pollution, littering, et cetera, parking enforcement, and associated place-based activities, such as licensing and regulatory services. The scoop of the work will include a range of internal council services, as well as the third party contracts, including parking enforcement, which is run by NSL, and the environmental enforcement contract provided by APCOA. Through the work of this project, enforcement activities will become more effective and increasing responsiveness and visibility for the public, as well as ensuring that best value is being achieved through the relevant contracts. This will also include looking at digital technology to modernise the council's approach in this area. The Cabinet Report approves the initiations of the project and recommendation is short-term extension of parking enforcement contract, which will allow sufficient time to do the work thoroughly and achieve the best outcomes. I move the report. Thank you, Councillor Sidhu. I'll again second it and reserve my right to speak. Speakers, Councillor Dunn. Thank you. Councillor Catherine Dunn, Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Transport. Don't have a whole lot to say about this, because obviously it's the start of a project, but just want to say that I think it's the right thing to do. I mean, obviously, this flows on from your previous report, Councillor Sidhu, so you can see the sort of evolution and the continuation. I think it is really good that we're going to review all of our enforcement services. Enforcement is such a broad term, and it covers so many things, because you can enforce almost anything, or you might decide you want to enforce almost anything. And so there's a number of different services that have been identified, ranging from parking, you know, through to parks and trading standards and licensing and so many diverse things. But there are things that they have in common. And I think it's really important that we do look at how we can streamline, how we can provide the best value so that our residents have the best experience, but also to make sure that we're getting the best value for money for these services. So fully support the work and look forward to seeing what comes out of it. Thank you, Councillor Dunne. Can't see anyone else. Oh, Councillor Thompson. No. Again, it's a key area, isn't it, of, as Councillor Dunne said, or what the council does. So we need to get it right. Obviously, we're using a quarter of a million from reserves. And as the report says quite clearly, we're not really certain whether there'll be any financial benefit that may be somewhere between the same sort of amount or going up to half a million. So that is obviously, you know, potentially this is an expensive program with little, potentially significant cashable benefits. That's just one thought. And I'm also conscious the report seems to be suggesting that this will all be finished by 2027. So that's quite a long time to wait, isn't it? And hopefully we would see some improvements sooner than the completion of the program. So there's a question there. I'm just wondering whether this is value for money. Do you want to sum up? Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Councillor. Yes. This is like value. We look forward to be a value for money. But because it's a very vast project and it includes so many different third party contracts and we have to look everything before this is just a starting point. So like budgeting and how we move forward from here. So we'll make sure that it will value for money. I suppose just to add to that, even though you've summed up, I'll move to the vote in a second. The report does highlight some savings that could be delivered. They're not at the top end. They're probably at a conservative end. As you start looking at the offer, the total enforcement offer, actually, you probably can drive more out of it. But I think it's better to be a little bit conservative to start with and then work your way through it. And some of that will be contract savings as well as we start looking at those strategic contract as well. Okay. I can't see anyone else indicating. So the recommendations are on page 98. One, two, and three. Can I see all those in favor? That is carried. Thank you very much. All right. Making good progress. All right. Final report of the evening is the completion of the third party spend program, which is on page 111. I'll just get to that. It's a report in my name. So members will be aware that as part of the corporate plan, it's important to look internally at our third party spend by third party spend. That's our procurement commissioning, as well as our corporate services contract and the scope of that. That's been a program that commenced in 2022. And the aim of that was to have an effective commission cycle, driving value for money, high performance, and innovative supply delivery, which not only generates savings, but also provides demonstrable value, both in terms of economic savings, but also non-cashable savings, so non-cash savings as well, that fits with the council and community needs. So the report details, as we come to the end of that program, it's not the end of the activity. Just to be really clear, the activity becomes business as usual. We are in the throes of looking at our corporate services contract, because that does come to an end. And this is the springboard on which we do that work. So with that in mind, and the details in the report, I formally move it. Councilor Dunn, would you like to second? Yeah, happy to second the report. Reserve my right to speak. Okay, open for discussion, comments, questions. Councilor Dunn, you look perplexed. Don't be perplexed. Oh, it's money, isn't it? Always confuses me. As I read this, we seem to have spent, again, it's in the questions previous, really, we seem to have spent around about a million to save a million, and, well, to save a million eventually, when it comes fully online next year and the year after. And I'm just wondering why, I suppose, why we don't have the contract management skills in place, I mean, we don't have to spend an extra million pounds to tell the organisation that it's flabby and it's not doing things properly. If we had sort of better, I don't know, management in this area, would we have needed that sort of program at all? And my final sort of observation or comment or point is that this was meant to deliver 2.8 million in savings, and it hasn't, has it? So that's not so good. It's obviously underperformed by around about a million. So I guess we have to fill that with a bit more of a black hole than we had before we started. Thank you, Councillor Thompson. Anyone else before I sum up and respond to that? No? Okay, good. So, I mean, in terms of the savings that are profiled, they're ongoing savings. So they've been profiled over the next couple of years. So we have to have a level of confidence that it will be delivered. So, so far it's delivered, I think, roughly a million, and we are still on track to deliver the rest of the savings. Some of that is ongoing as you get to the end of contracts and you're renegotiating. Big area of spend, for example, is in social care. So as you're renegotiating those contracts and some of the higher value contracts, they won't show through. And we have to have that patience and the confidence in terms of delivery. So it's not a case of it sits in a black hole and we've got to fill it elsewhere. We have to have that confidence that it will deliver. I mean, in terms of your first point, this all ties into the broader piece around transformation. So what we're not saying in this report is that our contract management arrangements weren't efficient. They delivered for what they needed to deliver at that point. With a renewed focus, transforming services looking more long-term. I think it's absolutely right that you actually do look into it in terms of the project itself that your note is underspending. So there is money going back into reserves. And then you start looking at the cashable savings over that longer period, as I just articulated. So good. I can't see anyone else indicating on that. So the recommendations on this are on page 112, one and two. Can I see all those in favor? That is carried. Thank you very much. Right. I have not had any referrals from any other council committees and I've not been notified of any urgent business. The date of the next meeting is Tuesday the 13th of May, 7 p.m. in here. And I thank you all for joining us, both in the audience and at home. Have a very good evening. Thank you.