Agenda and minutes
PDF 110 KBVenue: Committee Rooms 1 & 2, Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY. View directions
Contact: Bob Wearing, Democratic & Electoral Services Officer Tel: 020 8424 1055 E-mail: bob.wearing@harrow.gov.uk
Note: Moved from 7 Jan
| No. | Item | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Attendance by Reserve Members 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. Minutes: RESOLVED: To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Member:-
|
|||||
|
Declarations of Interest 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. Minutes: RESOLVED: To note that the following interests were declared:
Agenda Item 96 – Question and Answer Session with the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive
Councillor Lammiman declared a non pecuniary interest in that she was Chair of Governors at Shaftesbury High School for Children with Special Needs. She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.
Councillor Almond declared a non pecuniary interest in that he was a Governor at St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Hatch End. He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.
Councillor Mote declared a declared a non pecuniary interest in that his wife was employed by Orley Farm. He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.
Councillor Butterworth declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she was a teacher. She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.
|
|||||
|
RESOLVED ITEMS |
|||||
|
Question and Answer Session with the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive Additional documents:
Minutes: OVERVIEW BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND THE LEADER
The Chief Executive began his presentation by referring to the General Election which had resulted in the return of the Conservative Party to form a Majority Government thus ending the uncertainty over Brexit which was now inevitable. In terms of impact of the new government, the completion of the Comprehensive Spending Review would be particularly significant as the outcome would impact on the Council and its budget and trigger debates about the levels of Council Tax. The government, in accordance with the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitments, was expected to produce a number of policies including those on Adult and Social Care, Education and Housing. The Chief Executive felt that, although a number of issues remained to be clarified, by this time next year the Council would be in a better position to understand its Medium Term Position.
Referring to his own commitments, the Chief Executive said that he had taken on regeneration, the budget and the MTFS as priorities in order to bring some stability to the Organisation. He had also been involved in other areas including Adult and Social Care, the Borough Plan, housing, support services (particularly HR) and the modernisation process. Whilst progress might not merit a gold award, he felt it was deserving of a silver one.
Strategic priorities for 2020 would include focussing on the Borough Plan, the MTFS, preparation for the inspection of Adult and Social Care, accelerating the modernisation programme and changing the culture of the Organisation with an emphasis on staff training and development and team building.
In his introduction the Leader agreed that, whilst the election had created some stability, a number of issues remained unclear with the future financing of local government, residency and adult and social care being examples. The previous government’s austerity policies had hit the Council very hard with the need to make cuts in services and although the Council was in a good position, further challenges would no doubt present themselves in the coming months as government policies were rolled out.
Following the introductions members of the Committee asked a number of questions of the Leader, Portfolio for Finance and Resources (hereinafter referred to as the Portfolio Holder) and the Chief Executive as detailed below. For ease of reference questions and responses that overlap have been grouped.
Q1: Does the very level of pay of Care Providers have an impact on the quality of service delivery and pose a risk in terms of health and safety, as referred to in the budget papers?
The Chief Executive said that there was no direct evidence to suggest that the situation was having a detrimental impact on the day to day service. What was evident however was that cost pressures in providing the service were increasing without a corresponding increase in resources thereby increasing the risk? It would therefore be advantageous to put more money into the care providing service, particularly over the medium term, to mitigate the risk.
The Portfolio Holder, ... view the full minutes text for item 96. |