Transcript

I'm Councillor Una O'Halloran, Leader of the Council and I'm chairing this evening's meeting. This meeting has been webcast to enable those who cannot attend in person to follow this proceeding. Please could I ask all attendees to turn on your microphones when invited to speak and to remember to turn off your microphones when you finish speaking. I'd also now tonight like to welcome Councillor Dr Sara Hyde as our new Exec Member for Health and Social Care and also Councillor Flora Williamson will be taking over for the finance and performance portfolio. So thank you both. Please note that this is a council meeting held in public and not a public meeting. All remarks should be addressed through me as chair. We are also not expecting a fire alarm this evening so if the alarm is sounded please follow my instructions and evacuate the building. As usual each item will be introduced by an Exec Member followed by an opportunity for members to ask questions and an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions. Questions must relate to the agenda item being deliberated. When the questions on each item are completed I will move the agenda item to a vote. Once the vote has been taken there will be no further discussions of the item. I would like to reassure everybody the Exec Members have read all the reports and appendix supplied for this evening's meeting. There are a few formal matters on the agenda to consider first. Apologies for absent, I've received none. Declarations of interest, does any member have any interest to declare? Item 3, minutes of the previous meeting held on the 24th of April 2025 of the agenda. Can we agree the minutes are a correct record please? Thank you. First item, appointments to be made by the Executive, pages 25 to 26, pages 11 to 14 of the Agenda Pack. This is standard report presented to the Executive as it is the first meeting of the mutual year, seeking approval for the appointment of members to the London Council's Grants Committees and the LGPS London Collective Investment Vehicle. We have actually had places for full substitutes on the Grants Committee, only one name is on the report. I'd like to propose in addition to Councillor Hyde, we appoint to the Councils, we appoint Councillor Santiago Bagford-Bell, Councillor Sheila Chapman, Councillor Rowena Champion as deputies. Can we agree recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 on page 11 of the Agenda Pack, please? With the addition of Councils, Santiago Bagford-Bell, Sheila Chapman and Rowena Champion as substitute on London Council's Grants Committee, please? We will now move to item B5, LGA Corporate Peer Challenge, pages 15 to 58 of the Agenda Pack. I would like to introduce this report. Firstly, I'd like to say thank you to everybody who took part. I'd also like to put on my record to the people that did the peer review. They spent a week here and it was really interesting. I had really positive feedback from everybody they spoke to. I'd also think the recommendations were really fair. I'm really pleased about how well our borough is doing. I thought it's shined a really good light on Islington as a whole. Victoria, would you like to make any comments? No, thank you. Would any exec members like to make any comments for Williamson? I'm just going to... I think broadly it's pretty... I think it's positive and I think the passion for both members and officers about making Islington a fairer, more equal place kind of comes through in the report. But I just think it's worth highlighting about... It also draws out how we've used our money effectively to ensure that we are really delivering high-quality services with a clear focus on our residents and achieving good outcomes for our residents. I just think that's a real positive that we as members and hopefully I hope the officers also really feel and we should take that as a real positive. Thanks, Lowell. Yeah, just quickly as a corollary to that, a massive thank you for this report and all the work that's gone into it. And it was great for the report to note just the impressive work we're doing around rough sleeping. For a broader context, in London, rough sleeping has increased by 38%. In Islington, it's decreased by 20%. And that's because of the hard work of officers, the collaboration we have, the investment we've made. And so I'm really pleased that this report highlights that. And my thanks to the officers and all of those across the partnership. Council jumping. Well, I think it's just coming back to the same points being made, that the foundations of what we're doing are really, really solid. And an awful lot of work goes into that. And I think that can't be underestimated. And we do some amazing things that people know about, that they can see, you know, how a buyback scheme, for example. I mean, the greening of the borough, some of the work we're doing around that, the employment. But actually, fundamentally, there has to be a very, very firm basis for what we're doing. And those officers don't always, and the executive members who deal with that, don't always get recognition for that. So thank you very much. I think it's a testament to the skill and the dedication of all council staff and councillors. So by now, would you like to come in? Great. Thanks very much. So I remember bringing up the LGA peer review in the CEO's office. I'm very grateful for the openness. And we've now got, I think, a really good report that absolutely recognises that this council does a lot of things really well. And I think lots and lots of things to be proud of. Just a quick question. When did we receive the report in terms of the council, just in terms of timeline? Thank you. I think, councillor, we got it four to six weeks after they were on site. Then we were asked to check it for assurancy. And then they asked us to take it to the next available executive, which by that time, with the comments back and forth, it was today, the 22nd of May. That's helpful, just in terms of putting a timeline in my head, because, of course, I think one of the major pieces of feedback is about the Finsu Park Leisure Centre. I'd be really keen to kind of know how did we take that feedback on and how did we respond to it in terms of kind of internal processes? Was the appeal for a review something that kind of came from there or something that was already on our agenda? I don't understand your question, because the Finsu Park Leisure Centre was mentioned in there. In the LGFP review, one of the major recommendations is that the Finsu Park Leisure Centre scheme is brought to an external review to review the kind of fiscally soundness of it. I'm just trying to put the timeline in my head. So if we received it in March, the scheme was cancelled in April, was it? So I'm just trying to assess kind of how we responded to the report. So in terms of the formal report response, actually our response will be in July. No formal response. The requirement of the peer review is to bring the report first and foremost to executive and the LGA will publish it at exactly the same time we have. And then in the recommendations, it says we'll bring forward our action plan in July. Does that help? Did you want to come in, Councillor John? I just assumed the implication was that we were doing it because of the peer review, which I know is categorically not the case. I assume that was part of the implication, but I may have been reading too much into that. Not necessarily because of the peer review. I'm just curious to know how those two things interact at all, or if at all. I don't think they did. Yeah, they didn't for me, no. I've got a follow-up question about something different. I do think one of the things that the review reflects upon is something that I've reflected upon in the culture, perhaps in the council, where sometimes it feels like officers can be held accountable for challenges at the council. I think one of the things that the LGIP review kind of pulls out is that how do we bring up a culture that doesn't make officers feel like they're held accountable for the failings of austerity or political decisions, and what kind of work can be done in kind of member culture and what kind of responsibility might there be in the executive to address some of that, I think. I know we have a lot of, we've done a lot of work with member code of conduct and member councillors. I don't understand where you mean hold accountable, what the political, I didn't understand, what is the question? We have the member development and we talk about that and it's a cross-party working group. We do a lot of training in, so is there some specific thing you meant? Can we agree with recommendations 1.1 to 1.3 on page 15 of the Agenda Pack, please? Item B6, Procurement Strategy for the Supply of Agency Workers, page 59 to 86. Councillor Williamson, could you introduce the report? I can indeed. So our current contract for our beta supply for agency workers ends in March, and this is the strategy for how we'll go out for that next procurement. It's worth noting that the council has really significantly reduced the amount that we spend on agency workers, so it's a, we've had a drop, we've, year and year spend is down by 1.5 million between, at quarter four, 420 and 425. The council is always going to need some agency workers for either special skills or some frontline services that need filling. So even if we carry on our work to try and reduce the amount of agency workers, there's always going to be some need for it. And this procurement strategy is just a way of cost-effectively getting those agency workers for when we do need them. Has anybody else got any questions on the executive? Got a question? Great, thank you. I do, I guess one of the things in scrutiny we've been bringing up in the last year is this idea of the joint venture approach, that I know that some councils have kind of pioneered, particularly Kent. I'd be curious to know whether it was explored to look at that approach just for some of the agency workers that we have and whether it might be something that we'd look at in the future. I understand it might not meet the need for all the staff that we'd have, but it's certainly the opportunity to put profits back into the service was something that it may be appealed to my eye. I think that's outlined quite clearly in the reports, the pros and cons of looking at that. But if you've got any further detailed questions, I can take them away offline. Can we agree recommendations 1.1 to 1.2 on page 87 of the Gender Pack? Next item B8, proposal for the allocation of the households. Sorry, I've missed one. Sorry, catch the wolf. Item B7, procurement strategy for void, refurbishing and new tenancy repair works. Okay, it's the wolf. Thanks, Leigh. Yeah, this report seeks pretender approval for the procurement strategy. And we are managing an increased volume of voids. And that's actually a good news story because it's thanks in large part to our drive to maximise genuinely affordable homes in Islington. And as part of that, our fantastic buyback scheme, which to date we have done 480 in the last 14 months, 480 buybacks to be used for temporary accommodation. And that obviously increases some of the pressure on the voids. As outlined in this contract, we're seeking for contractors to provide support for the in-house team. And you will note that social value permeates this procurement strategy. Has anybody else got any questions? I'd just like to say the buybacks is amazing. I've spent the last few days talking about other London councils. So, quite proud, Councillor Hamilton. Any questions? Can we agree recommendations 1.1 and 1.2 on page 87 of the agenda pack, please? Now we'll go to the one of the eight proposals for the allocation of household support fund. Councillor Williamson, can you introduce? Yes, I can. I am particularly pleased to be able to introduce the household support fund distribution strategy tonight. So, this is a really prime example of how a Labour government is working with the Labour Council to make a really tangible difference in helping Islington to be in a more equal place. We know that there is an ongoing hangover of the 14 years of Victoria government, the Liz Trust's budget tanking the economy, and Donald Trump's impact on the global economy, and it is hitting households in Islington. The Labour government is giving this Labour Council 3.9 million to support the most vulnerable households to help ease some of the struggles they may be facing. This strategy will help tackle things like holiday hunger. So, if we agree this tonight, the next week for half-term, households with children eligible for free school meals and households on low income with children under school age will get a £15 voucher to be able to spend on food, and they will get that £15 every single week in the school holiday between now and Easter 2026. The strategy will also put cash into the pockets of 1,180 households in the borough who are in crisis. We will give them £200 to make their life just that little bit easier. We will also give a further 2,191 households who are at risk of falling into crisis £100 because we know that small injection of cash now can divert a crisis in the future. The strategy will also have pensioners who are just above the pension credit threshold, and we will give them £200 to cover their essential costs, and we will also give £150 to pensioner households who are in relative poverty. We know that disabled residents often face higher essential costs, like utility bills. So, in the strategy, we are proposing that we give £150 to cover the essential costs for disabled households living in relative poverty. We will give £100 to low-income households where there is someone caring for a loved one, and we will also give £60,000 to help households who are struggling with energy costs who aren't eligible for other forms of energy support, and this will allow the Council's Shine team to provide support to a further 200 low-income households. We will also create a crisis fund, and this will be a crisis fund to give immediate cash support to households when they need it most. And we are also investing £500,000 of money into our Ending Poverty Change programme so that we can actually embed a data-led approach to identify households for really targeted engagement and provide wraparound support to tackle the reasons why they may be in poverty so that they can build their long-term financial resilience. So I'm really pleased to present this tonight. Anybody? Councillor? Thanks, Councillor Paul. I just really want to welcome the strategy. I think it's exactly what Labour Council should be doing. That's tremendous support we're going to be able to give residents, and I'm just particularly pleased. I think it's a really good example of our early intervention approach to recognise that actually a small cash injection before adults and families and children hit crisis can make all the difference. That's what we do with our Bright Lives coaching. That's what we do through our accesses, Linton Hubs, and I think this is a really, really great strategy. Thank you. Anybody else? Can we agree recommendations 1.1 to 1.4 on pages 101 of the agenda, please? Thank you. Now to the last item this evening, item B9. This is an LGSCO public interest report, pages 113 to 132 of the agenda pack. I'm going to ask Councillor Williamson to take this the next time it will be Councillor Dr Hyde. So because these papers were published before Council hired a formative post, they actually come out in my name, which is why I'm presenting this final bit of my former health and adult social care portfolio. So this evening I'm presenting the response to a local government and social care ombudsman, so LGSCO, or I might refer to them as ombudsman, public interest report into the case of Miss X, who was referred to adult social care for support. First and foremost, I really want to put on record my apology for the unacceptable delays which Miss X experienced in getting the care she needed. Secondly, I want to make clear that not only has the Council accepted all the recommendations in the ombudsman report, but we've already actioned them all. For a bit of context for the case, Miss X was referred to the Council for support in March 2023. She had her assessment in November 2023. By January 2024, consensus had been reached on what her care needs were, but a package was not put in place for those care needs until May 2024. This gap between January and May 2024 is not acceptable, and for that I am sorry. Miss X complained about her case to the Council in January 2024, which later escalated to the local government and social care ombudsman. The LG CSO issued a public interest report in February 2025, identifying fault with the Council and a set of recommendations for ISM Council to take on board. The Council accepted the LG SCO recommendations and actions. So we have apologised for the distress caused. We did this in March 2025. We made a payment of £3,000 to her in March 2025. We devised and published written guidelines for prioritising cases in January 2025 and updated policies to provide interim care packages in March 2025. The final action we need to take is for the Executive of the Council to consider this report, which is what we are doing tonight. The LG SCO and our own investigation didn't think this was a systemic issue, but an operational issue. Both LG SCO and our own investigation didn't uncover any other cases of the same combination of delays, and we therefore do not think this is a systemic problem. We think it's a one-off case. And that's all I've got to say around. Is there any questions? It's a comment, not a question in that time-honoured tradition. But I just do want to say thank you for taking this on board and seeing it through to the end. And also I just want to say thank you for the apology. I think it's really important as public servants in this place that the times that we get it wrong, that we're really transparent about that and that we work quickly to make reparation. And that is clearly what's happened in this case. And so thank you to the team that have responded thoroughly and quickly to address... I mean, it's a very serious concern and it's excellent that we've dealt with it swiftly and appropriately. Thank you. Can we note the recommendations on page 114 of the Agenda Pack, please? Thank you all very much. There are no further items to consider. And that concludes our meeting this evening. The next meeting, the next meeting, the effective will be on the 26th of June. Thank you.