Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Andrew Seaman, Senior Democratic & Electoral Services Officer  E-mail:  andrew.seaman@harrow.gov.uk

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Items
No. Item

194.

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.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Member:

 

Ordinary Member

Reserve Member

Councillor Sachin Shah

Councillor Sasi Suresh

Councillor Ajay Maru

Councillor James Lee

Councillor Janet Mote

Councillor Norman Stevenson

 

195.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 380 KB

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.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note the declarations, if any, as published on the Council’s website prior to the meeting and the following additional declaration made at the meeting:

 

Agenda Item 200 – Borough Plan – Key Achievements and Future Intentions

 

Councillor Marikar, who was not a member of the Committee, declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she worked for the NHS.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.

196.

Minutes

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2021 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2021 and the Special meeting held on 11 January 2022 be taken as read and signed as correct records.

197.

Public Questions

To receive any public questions received in accordance with Committee Procedure Rule 17 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

 

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

 

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 20 January 2022.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions had been received.

198.

Petitions

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions had been received.

199.

References from Council/Cabinet

(if any).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no references had been received.

Resolved Items

Additional documents:

200.

Borough Plan - Key Achievements and Future Intentions

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the Borough Plan – Key Achievements and Future Intentions report, which set the council’s progress to date against the Borough Plan 2020-2030.

 

In his opening statement, the Director of Strategy and Partnerships provided a brief update on the borough plan, outlining a number of key points:

 

·                 The Plan had been developed with partners, voluntary and community sector colleagues to set out aspirations for the borough for 2020-2030.

 

·                 It had been intended that a detailed delivery plan be provided, to support the Borough Plan.  However, due to the Council’s capacity and the upcoming Borough Elections in May 2022 it had been felt that the plan should set out the priorities of the Council and partnership, and that the more detailed delivery plan be developed with the incoming Administration in May.

 

·                 The plan covered a significant amount of achievement that the Council and Partnership had delivered over the previous years and set out intentions for the Council and Partnership against the eight priorities and the two cross cutting themes.

 

The Leader of the Council added that the past two years had been very challenging but was pleased with what had been achieved and this was reflected within the report.  In addition, where there had been a lot of change in recent years, there was an opportunity for service delivery to be rebuilt. It was added that partnership working within Harrow and across west London had been enhanced because of the challenges.  A number of key services had continued to be delivered during that time and though some services had to be paused they were to be resumed with new services being offered.

 

Members thanked the Director of Strategy and Partnerships and the Leader of the Council for their introductions.  In the session which followed, questions around the borough plan were asked as set out below.

 

·                 The Chair asked if any of the priorities set out in the Borough Plan had changed since November 2020 and was advised that changes had not been made and that the set of priorities and cross cutting themes remained the same as those in the November 2020 version.

 

·                 A Member of the Committee stated that the report noted two risk implications that were graded as red in that the Borough Plan was not affordable and that there was a lack of strategic leadership capacity.  The Member questioned how risks could be reduced.

 

The Director of Strategy and Partnerships explained that there was a need to be as transparent as possible in terms of the Council’s own funding position.  The long-term funding position of Local Government was still to be finalised by Government so the current planning horizon needed to assume savings being made, which in turn would mean that perhaps not all the ambitions may be realised with the Borough Plan.  He added that it would not mean that the Borough Plan would be undeliverable but that choices would need to be made on what could be delivered.

 

The Director of Strategy and Partnerships  ...  view the full minutes text for item 200.