Councillor Emma Whysall

Council - Tuesday 28th January, 2025 7.00 pm

The Council of Barnet Council met on Tuesday 28 January 2025. The meeting started with tributes to Councillor Eva Greenspan, and former Councillors Usha Chopra and Joe Lee who had all sadly passed away. The council then adopted the [Joint Report of the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer (section 151 Officer)][Council cover report 28 January 2025], which detailed unlawful payments that had been made to, and from the Barnet Pension Fund. The Council delegated to the Pension Fund and Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committees the task of establishing the best way to rectify these unlawful payments, and delegated authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer, to put those steps into effect. The council also noted the appointment of Alexa, Alina, Zahra, and Shama from Copthall Girls School to speak about the 60th anniversary of the London Borough of Barnet.

North Area Committee - Thursday 16th January, 2025 7.00 pm

The meeting noted updates to the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) and Road Safety and Parking (RSP) budgets. The committee also approved three NCIL funding applications, from Incredible Edible, St. John's Church, and Medium Wellbeing.

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) - Thursday 12th December, 2024 6.00 pm

The Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) of Barnet Council met on Thursday 12 December 2024 and the most significant item on their agenda was a report on the External Audit of the council's accounts for the last three years.

Budget Scrutiny, Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 12th December, 2024 7.00 pm

The committee considered a report on proposed changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme. It was noted that a separate public consultation was in progress, and the cabinet will consider the committee's views alongside the public consultation responses in February 2025. The committee recommended that the cabinet consider what other councils in London were doing. The committee also noted the Cabinet Forward Plan and considered a proposal to add the Open Door Homes acquisitions update to the plan for June 2025. There were no objections, so this was agreed. The committee noted the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and agreed to move their meeting from 5 June to 12 June. They also agreed to consider the budget papers on 30 January to allow members to make comments ahead of the final budget being produced. Finally, the committee considered two reports on the council's budget: the Chief Finance Officer Report – 2024/25 Quarter 2 Financial Forecast and 2024/25 Budget Management and the Business Planning and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2025-2030. These reports revealed a challenging financial position for the council, with an anticipated overspend of £25 million for 2024/25. The committee recommended that the cabinet consider how the budget consultation might be improved in future years, potentially by adopting a themed approach where each department could be scrutinized separately.

Employment Sub-Committee - Monday 9th December, 2024 2.00 pm

The Employment Sub-Committee approved the commencement of consultation on changes to Barnet Council's senior management structure, as well as agreeing changes to the pay structure for grades A to E with effect from 1 April 2025.