Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions. Updates on actions from previous meetings can be found in the attached action sheet.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

This report provides an update on the Council’s commitment to embedding an inclusive culture in terms of recruitment, internal development, progression and retention of key skills aligned to our overall objective of continually improving our employer value proposition.

Mary Lamont (Assistant Director, People & Talent) introduced the report which provided an update on the Council’s commitment to embedding an inclusive culture in terms of recruitment, internal development, progression and retention of key skills.

Asiya Mohamud (Resourcing and Data Analyst) and Olivia Finlay (Learning and Talent Advisor) addressed the meeting to speak about their experiences of the Council’s apprenticeship programme.

The Chair noted that questions on staffing came up at the last meeting and so it was useful to explore the current situation and hear about the challenges around recruitment and retention. She said the Council wanted to ensure it had a healthy culture to get best from staff, in service of residents.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked how the Council planned to bring in new staff and leaders for the coming decades. Mary Lamont said H&F was continuously developing innovative options and solutions around attraction and retention in a competitive marketplace and that the Council was working with many partners including London Councils to promote the exciting, diverse range of services the Council offered. She noted that some of the best ambassadors for the Council were apprentices like Asiya and Olivia.

Councillor Rowbottom asked how the Council was approaching recruitment for hard to fill posts and if it was working with educational institutions. Mary Lamont said the Council was collaborating with local education establishments and universities to create targeted campaigns for hard to fill roles.

Councillor Jacolyn Daly asked if the embedding of the Get Ahead programme and other culture change initiatives was equal across all departments. Mary Lamont said that officers were continuously analysing data to understand if and where there may be discrepancies and the Council was progressing actions to promote and ensure a fair and equitable offer across the board.

Councillor Rory Vaughan asked what the equalities, diversity and inclusion data looked like at different pay scales and at senior management level. Mary Lamont advised that the Council had recently published its pay gap reports which include gender, ethnicity and disability. The Council’s race equality leads had also been speaking to staff about their experiences. She said, cumulatively the Council was doing well, but there were still gaps at some levels and the action plan that sats behind the pay gap report would help the Council to reduce those gaps going forward.

Councillor Vaughan asked if working from home had impacted retention rates. Mary Lamont said staff turnover went down to 10.6 percent during Covid, then in the following period it rose to 15.8 percent, however since then it had settled back to 11.3 percent. The Council’s approach to hybrid working appeared to have had a positive impact on retention rates.

Councillor Natalia Perez asked for more information about the accreditations, mentioned on page 18 of the agenda pack, that promoted inclusive recruitment and retention strategies. Mary Lamont said the Council was selective about which charters and accreditations it signed up to and that there were many benefits for participating through shared practice, networking, and learning  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report looks back at the achievements of the Board in 2022/23. It updates on the major items that the Board has considered, supporting the co-production and development of the Council’s emerging Digital Inclusion Strategy and response to the Cost-of-Living Crisis. The report also seeks approval of the Board’s terms of reference for the year ahead and seeks views on key strategic issues within its remit to programme for consideration in 2023/24.

Matthew Sales (Assistant Director, Programmes, Assurance and Analytics) presented the report which looked back at the achievements of the Board in 2022/23 and looked ahead to 2023/24. He highlighted the major items that the Board has considered – supporting the co-production and development of the Council’s emerging Digital Inclusion Strategy and the Council’s response to the Cost-of-Living Crisis.

The Chair noted that the work of the Board had a lot of influence on the cost-of-living response and its input on the Council’s digital inclusion strategy had been significant.

The Board approved its terms of reference for the forthcoming municipal year.

Members felt it had been valuable to invite experts to the meetings to look at issues in greater depth and wanted to continue that approach at future meetings.

RESOLVED

1. That the Board noted and commented on the report, including any key strategic issues within its remit to programme for consideration in 2023/24.

2. That the Board approved its Terms of Reference for the forthcoming municipal year.

This report provides a summary of headlines from the Census 21 first release of topic data. It also considers emerging key trends and findings for the Council. The report sets out the plans for the further analysis and reporting of the Census as more data is released through 2023, including developing new ward profiles and a borough profile.

Joanna Howe (Business Intelligence Manager) presented the report which provided a summary of headlines from the Census 2021 first release of topic data. It also considers emerging key trends and findings for the Council. The report sets out the plans for the further analysis and reporting of the Census as more data is released through 2023, including developing new ward profiles and a borough profile.

The Chair asked members to think about what information would be useful for ward councillors to have included in the ward profiles.

The Chair asked if the Council’s Business Intelligence team wove in data from other sources. Joanna Howe said they brought together a number of data sets to provide richer insights into our communities. She gave the example of indices of multiple deprivation which pulled from multiple sources. She noted that census data was used across the Council, matching data sets to get best value.

Councillor Jacolyn Daly asked if officers had faith in the census figures, given that responses were gathered during a Covid pandemic lockdown, and what the implications were if they didn’t. Matthew Sales said officers believed the census accurately reflected the situation at the time, but it was not a true and accurate picture of the current population of the borough due to the unique timing of the census. Officers were working with other boroughs and making representations to Government about it.

Councillor Daly said she expected some groups like students to be under-represented. She had also read reports that the number of empty homes in the borough had tripled and asked for more information on that.

Joanna Howe explained that it was challenging to account for unoccupied homes but further analysis of data showed around 2,000 second homes in the borough, 1,000 homes that were genuinely empty, 3,000 exempt dwellings from Council Tax (meaning the owner was in prison or ill etc.) and 1,300 were short term lets to residents not born in UK, which left around 4,300 properties where the status wasn’t known. The pandemic led to a number of people moving and there was also a change to the total number of houses in borough during that period. She noted that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) would be releasing mid-year estimates in September and officers would understand the picture more clearly next year.

Councillor Daly said she would be interested to see numbers of overseas owners and the impact of Airbnb on available homes.

Referring to Councillor Daly’s earlier point about consequences, Councillor Rowan Ree (Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform) said they were significant because funding could depend on census figures. Many people had moved away during lockdown to be with their families and students moved out of the borough. He said the Council was lobbying Government with other boroughs to ensure they took that into account and residents didn’t lose out.

Councillor Nikos Souslous noted that ward boundaries had changed recently and asked how accurate the comparisons across time were given the changes. Jo  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This report outlines the areas of work and reports considered by each of the Council’s six Policy and Accountability Committees, from January to March 2023.

Members received the report that outlined the areas of work and reports considered by each of the Council’s six Policy and Accountability Committees, from January 2023 to March 2023.

The Chair highlighted the following issues for future meetings:

• Co-production – taking a strategic view
• Intergenerational working – September meeting

Councillor Nikos Souslous noted that plans were being made for a special meeting of the Social Inclusion and Community Safety PAC in July to discuss the Baroness Casey Review of the Metropolitan Police. The intention was to invite residents and representatives of community groups to give their views. He also invited the other PAC Chairs to attend.

RESOLVED

1. That the Board noted the updates of the Policy and Accountability Committees and discussed any areas for future review or collaboration.

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       20 June 2023

·       11 Sep 2023

·       11 Dec 2023

·       23 Jan 2024

·       29 Apr 2024

The Board noted the following dates of future meetings:

• 20 June 2023
• 11 Sep 2023
• 11 Dec 2023
• 23 Jan 2024
• 29 Apr 2024