Agenda and minutes

To approve the Part A minutes of the meetings held on 26 September and 6 October 2023 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2023 and the Part A and Part B minutes from the meeting held on 6 October 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Although there was no formal urgent business for the consideration of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee at the meeting, the Chair highlighted that the Improvement & Assurance Panel had published its Exit Strategy, which was scheduled for discussion at the next meeting of the Committee on 21 November 2023.

The Chair also confirmed that she had recently received an update on the ongoing work to provide new bus shelters in the borough. Progress on finding a solution had been delayed due to the need to go through the proper legal processes with the existing contractor, to protect tax payers’ money.  However, it was encouraging to note that officers were exploring what action could be taken to hold the company involved to account for their failure to deliver the contract.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with the latest Financial Performance Monitoring report (Period 4 – July 2023) for its information. The Committee is asked to: -

1.      Review the information provided in the report on the 2023-24 Period 4 Financial Performance Report, and

2.      Consider its conclusions on the latest budget position for 2023-24

3.      Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Mayor.

The Committee considered a report on pages 23 to 58 of the agenda that provided an overview of the latest budget position for 2023-24, up to the end of Period 4 (July 2023). This report was included on the agenda as part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the delivery of 2023-24 budget.

The Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer, Jane West, Director of Finance, Allister Bannin, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson and Corporate Directors Nick Hibberd, Debbie Jones and Annette McPartland were in attendance for this item at the meeting.

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• There had been a small reduction in the previously projected departmental overspend which had led to a reduction in the anticipated use of the Corporate Contingency Fund from the previous period.
• There was an increased overspend within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital budget due to the need to address the backlog of outstanding housing repair cases following the move to new contractors. Responding to cases of disrepair was also another contributory factor of the overspend.
• Overall, the Council was still projecting a balanced year-end position in its General Fund budget, which was healthy in comparison to many other local authorities who were facing their own financial challenges.

Following the introduction, the Committee proceeded to ask questions about the information provided in the report. The first question asked for further explanation of the reduced departmental spend mentioned in the introduction, given the two largest overspends, arising from Childrens and Adults budgets respectively, remained at the same level as the previous month. It was confirmed that the reduction was within the Resources directorate budget and could mainly be attributed to a reduction in the overspend within Legal Services and the expectation that there would be a greater contribution from schools towards their utility costs than previously anticipated.

Given that a balanced budget was being projected in part due to savings from staff vacancies, it was questioned whether this was sustainable for the organisation in the longer term. In response, it was highlighted that staff vacancies were part of the natural operation of the Council. A large proportion of the savings related to staff vacancies related to small gaps between staff leaving the organisation and their replacements being recruiting. It was acknowledged that the environment for recruitment across the local government sector was challenging and in certain services it could take longer to fill vacant posts as a result. Staffing was the biggest area of spend for the Council and the projected saving of £4.5m was not out of keeping for similar sized authorities, with it likely that there would be a similar trend each year as the Council would never be fully staffed.

It was asked whether extra support would be provided to help manage the overspend within the budget for the Childrens service. In response it was highlighted that £2.2m of the overspend was due to placement costs. There were currently seven  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with the Cabinet report setting out decisions to be considered by the Executive Mayor on the Medium Term Financial Strategy. The Committee is asked to: -

1.            Review the information provided in the report on the Medium Term Financial Strategy, and

2.            Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

The Committee considered a report on pages 59 to 124 of the agenda that presented an updated Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2024 to 2028 and initial budget savings proposals for 2024-25. This report was included on the agenda as part of the Committee’s scrutiny of the budget setting process.

The Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer, Jane West, Director of Finance, Allister Bannin, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson and Corporate Directors Nick Hibberd, Debbie Jones and Annette McPartland were in attendance for this item at the meeting.

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The MTFS was one of the most important reports produced by the Council as it was the first public document in the budget setting process for 2024-25 and provided an indicator of what was expected over the next three years.
• At present the budget for next year had a £6m gap, but this was smaller than at the same stage in the process in previous years, which could be seen as an indication that the Council was getting further ahead in its budget setting processes.
• The report was a continuation of the report from last year and did not include any new surprises. Even so, it was important to remember that the budget included an ongoing £38m budget gap that could not be resolved without government support.
• The Government’s announcement on local authority funding was not expected until later in year and possibly not until the week before Christmas due to the autumn statement being later than normal.

Following the introduction, the Chair of the Committee put on record the Committee’s support for the added transparency in the MTFS and other financial reporting. While it was noticeable that a lot of work had been invested in improving the Council financial management processes and reporting, it was apparent that its debt continued to grow and repayments increased. At present the only option available from Government to support the Council with its budget gap was further capitalisation, as such it was questioned whether the debt would reach a point where it became unsustainable.

In response, it was acknowledged that if capitalisation continued to be the only solution offered by Government to the Council’s budget gap, then its financial position would continue to worsen. As a result, the Officer and Member leadership of the Council continued to make the case for finding an alternative solution to the Government. From the Government’s perspective when developing a solution for Croydon, it needed to be mindful that there were other local authorities in a similar situation and as such a wider approach was needed that could be used in a variety of scenarios, which was a significant challenge. It was confirmed that the Council was seeing an increased level of engagement from the Treasury in these discussions, but there was no easy answer.

As a follow-up, it was questioned how often officers were meeting with representatives from the Government. It was confirmed that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with an overview of the Annual Complaints for 2022-2023, alongside copies of the annual reporting figures, for their information and is asked to consider whether they wish to make any recommendations based on the content of the reports.

The Committee considered a report set out in agenda supplement 2 that provided a summary and analysis of the complaints received by the Council in the 2022-23 year. This report was included on the agenda for the Committee to review the information provided regarding complaints and consider whether to make any recommendations as a result.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings, Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer, Jane West, Director of Finance, Allister Bannin, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson and Corporate Directors Nick Hibberd, Debbie Jones, Annette McPartland, Susmita Sen, Interim Chief Digital Officer & Director of Resident Access, Paul Golland, Head of Resident Contact, Lisa Wheatley and Complaints Manager, Kim Hyland were in attendance for this item at the meeting.

Prior to questioning the information provided in the report, the Vice-Chair provided a summary of the responses received from both the public and local support organisations such as the CAB and the South West London Law Centre from a request made by the Committee for feedback on the Council’s complaints process. Common themes from the responses received included the length of time it took to receive a response to a complaint, not being provided with a named contact for a complaint and the process not being clear whether a formal complaint had been submitted or not. It was agreed that officers would contact the support organisations to discuss these concerns in greater detail.

The first question from the Committee asked why Croydon had such a high number of stage one complaints. It was advised that Croydon was a large, highly populated borough and the Council was facing a number of challenges. Although there was a high number of stage one complaints, the only directorates where the level of complaints had increased in comparison to the previous year were Childrens and Housing.

It was acknowledged that the Housing directorate was starting from a low base when it came to complaints, but it was also an opportunity to learn from the findings to improve the service going forward.  There was a range of work underway within Housing to understand why the complaints process was not working as expected, to map the process and to align it with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Code. The status of complaints was reviewed on a weekly basis, but it was highlighted that the system may worsen in the short term while the needed improvement was delivered. The Committee welcomed the open assessment on the current standard of complaints handling within the Housing directorate and looked forward to seeing progress when the annual report was next considered.

It was confirmed that as part of the complaints management system, data was collated and analysed to understand where there were larger issues. The results of which were being fed back to services, to allow them to address and improve. Each service had a named complaints officers who would lead on the response to Stage 1 complaints, which provided oversight over the type of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with the Part A Cabinet report setting out decisions to be considered by the Executive Mayor on the provision of a new Purley Pool through the redevelopment of Purley High Street Car Park and Leisure Centre. The Committee is asked to: -

1.    Review the information provided in the Part A & Part B report on a new Purley Pool: Redevelopment Purley High Street Carpark and Leisure Centre, and

2.    Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

The Committee considered a Part A report set out on pages 3 to 26 of the agenda supplement that set out decisions to be considered by the Mayor at the Cabinet meeting on 25 October 2023 regarding the delivery of a new pool for Purley. This report was included on the agenda for the Committee to review the proposals for delivering one of the key manifesto commitments of the Mayor and provide comment prior to the decision being taken.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings, Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Corporate Director for Sustainable Communities, Regeneration and Economic Recovery, Nick Hibberd and Interim Director of Commercial Investment & Capital, Huw Rhys-Lewis were in attendance for this item at the meeting.

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The site on Purley High Street had several uses including that of a leisure centre and a car park.
• The leisure centre had initially closed during the pandemic and there had been subsequent issues with the condition of the venue which meant it was no longer fit for purpose.
• The developer, Polaska, had held a long-term leasehold on the site and would be bringing forward a development that would include the provision of a new leisure centre and public square.

Following the introduction, the Chair confirmed that both her and the Vice-Chair had the opportunity to visit the site earlier in the day, which had provided visual confirmation of the poor condition of the leisure centre facilities and the level of work required.

It was confirmed that it was difficult to set out a timetable for the development of a new leisure centre at this stage in the process. If the recommendations were agreed by the Mayor at Cabinet, then officers would enter into legal discussions for the development with Polaska, who would also continue to progress the planning aspect of the project. Until these steps were completed, it was difficult to give certainty on the timescales.

In response to a question about the loss of car parking on the site, it was advised that the parking need for the new development would be considered as part of the planning process. Since the pandemic, the site had not seen the same level of parking need and work would be undertaken to find a balance between the provision of resident and public parking.

It was confirmed that the initial costs allocated from Community Infrastructure Levy funds for an options appraisal of the site had not been incurred. There had been some cost for surveying the site to inform the likely scale of the investment required, but that was a necessary part of the process.

At the conclusion of the item, the Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for their engagement with the questions of the Committee.

Conclusions

Having reviewed the report and the information provided at the meeting, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee reached the following conclusions on the A New Purley Pool: The Redevelopment of Purley High Street  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to: -

1.     Note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme presented in the report.

2.     Consider whether there are any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 207 to 226 of the agenda which presented the most recent version of the work programme for the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme 2023-24.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

The following motion was proposed by Councillor Rowenna Davis seconded by Councillor Richard Chatterjee and agreed by the Committee to exclude the press and public for the remainder of the meeting.

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within paragraph 3 as indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended”.

The motion was put and it was agreed by the Committee to exclude the press and public for the remainder of the meeting.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with the confidential (Part B) Cabinet report setting out decisions to be considered by the Executive Mayor on the provision of a new Purley Pool through the redevelopment of Purley High Street Car Park and Leisure Centre. The Committee is asked to: -

1.    Review the information provided in the Part A & Part B report on a new Purley Pool: Redevelopment Purley High Street Carpark and Leisure Centre, and

2.    Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

Please note that a full confidential minute has also been produced that includes confidential conclusions of the Committee.

The Committee considered the confidential report set out on pages 27 to 58 of the agenda supplement which provided further information on the delivery of a new Purley Pool. During its consideration of this information, the Committee asked questions on the following areas: -

• The risks to the development of the site.
• The viability of the site.
• The contractual safeguards available for the Council in the event of non-development.
• The process of awarding the development contract.