Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)            to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)          where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)         the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)         if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

None.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)          all Members of the Committee;

(b)          all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that the declarations of interests had been published on the Council’s website and the following interests were also declared:

Agenda Item 148 – Question and Answer Session with the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive

Councillor Butterworth declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she was a high school teacher in Harrow and Governor at Whitmore High School.  She also declared a pecuniary interest in Appendix 3 to the Draft Revenue Budget 2021/22 report and stated that should the matter of teachers’ pensions be raised she would leave the virtual meeting.

Councillor Greek declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he was a Governor at Weald Rise Primary School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.

Councillor Lammiman declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she was Chair of Governors at Shaftesbury High School.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.

The Chair opened the Question and Answer session, explaining that it was part of the Council’s general annual consultation process on the budget.  He outlined the order of the session, stating that that the Committee would first receive a Covid-19 update from the Chief Executive, before moving on to opening statements from the Director of Finance and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources. The Committee will then move on to a question and answer session, focusing on the following priority areas:

In his opening statement, the Chief Executive provided a brief update on the latest Covid-19 position, outlining a number of key points:

·                       Covid-19 cases remained very high across all London boroughs, including Harrow, although there was some early evidence that the national lockdown was starting to have an impact in slowing the rate of transmission;

·                       pressure on the NHS and hospitals was expected to remain significant for at least a fortnight, with Harrow’s Northwick Park Hospital already at capacity with Covid-19 patients; however, significant amount of work and resources were being invested in supporting the situation;

·                       work around enforcement and ensuring public compliance with lockdown rules continued, with an overall good level of response and cooperation from Harrow residents and businesses observed.;

·                       significant economic impact across the borough remained but the Council continued to work towards supporting local businesses through the provision of grants;

·                       good cooperation and response from schools.  However, concerns over increased risk of transmission remained due to the higher number of schools were had remained open compared to previous lockdown;

·                       Council was investing in a number of key areas including:

o         lateral flow testing continued and extra funding from government h

o         ad been extended until end of March 2021.

o         enforcement of rules and directing resources toward employment of Covid-19 marshals as well as ongoing communication and community engagement in order to break chain of infection.

o         vaccination programme – two primary care centres and one mass vaccination site (Byron Hall) had been set up.  Social care staff expected to be invited for vaccination in due course.  A further mass vaccination site at Wembley was also going to open and would be available to Harrow residents.  However, Council facing challenges around large scale availability of vaccines.

By way of conclusion, the Chief Executive acknowledged the challenge the pandemic had had on the council’s workforce.  He thanked all staff for continuing to work tirelessly throughout the pandemic and paid tribute to their ongoing dedication.

The Committee then heard a statement from the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources on the Council’s budget for 2021/22.  A number of key points were outlined:

·                     despite the challenges posed by the substantial financial loss and expenditure, the scale of uncertainty and pressure due to Covid-19 and the insufficient government funding which had led a significant budget gap, the Council had succeeded in producing a balanced budget for 2021/22, with no proposed front line service cuts;

·                     Government’s spending review in November 2020 was changed from a 3 to 1-year period, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 148.