Agenda item

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Colin Smith, attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Committee.  Councillor Smith gave a brief introduction highlighting the following issues:

• It had been a relatively quiet period following settlement of the Council’s 2019/20 budget.
• The Adult Education Service had received a Good outcome from its Ofsted Inspection.
• The new Director of Education was now in post.
• The new Interim Director of Adult Social Care, Kim Carey, had recently joined the Council.
• Challenges around the recruitment and retention of social workers remained ongoing.
• The Children’s Services Improvement Governance Board had met for the final time on 8^th March 2019.  This was indicative of the substantial improvement in the Service.  The Leader thanked the Independent Chairman of the Governance Board, Mrs Isobel Cattermole, for the support she had given to the Council in driving the improvement process.
• The Government’s Spring Budget Statement had failed to deliver the much needed clarity being sought surrounding the Local Government Financial Settlement.  Significant budgetary challenges remained and these would be addressed as much as possible through the Council’s new Transformation Agenda.  There was a clear need to drive efficiencies and income generation as much as possible as well as managing future growth in areas such as Adult’s and Children’s Social Care.
• Within Housing; exciting projects were developing around temporary accommodation and homelessness.
• The new Environment Contract was being implemented.
• Moving forward there would be an increasing need for closer partnership working in terms of addressing the issues affecting the residents of Bromley.  Integration with partners in the Health Service was key to eradicating the unnecessary duplication of services, delivering savings, and delivering service improvement for the end user.

Councillor Smith then responded to questions, making the following comments:

• Processes around the Transformation Agenda were being driven by the Interim Chief Executive.  Once projects had been further scoped reports would be presented to the Executive (and the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee for pre-decision scrutiny).  However, the first part of the process was owned by the Interim Chief Executive who would develop recommendations for consideration by the Leader and Executive.
• The Portfolio Holder for Renewal, Recreation and Housing was leading on matters relating to the Vision for Crystal Palace Park.  All options could be considered as and when they emerged.  As soon as there was a substantive update a meeting of the Crystal Palace Park Working Group could be convened.
• There were currently a number of Interim posts across the Authority whilst consideration was being given to the structure of the Council going forward.  If an Interim were to be made permanent the established recruitment processes would need to be followed and in the case of a Director-level appointment a Member Appointment Panel would need to be convened.
• In relation to more costly secure accommodation for young people in the care of the Local Authority, all options for invest-to-save would be considered.  It was noted that recently the Education, Children and Families Select Committee had recommended that pan-London discussions should take place concerning options for increasing the supply of secure placements due to the high costs involved.
• In terms of staff vacancies across the Council there would be a natural level of turnover which in some cases would be around 7%; in departments and sections where that rate was higher, usually those areas where it was accepted that recruitment and retention was more challenging, there was a clear need to make Bromley a destination of choice.
• It was noted that the Government was currently consulting on the devolution of business rates with a suggestion that 75% be devolved.  One of the main challenges for Bromley was to maximise opportunities for businesses.  It was noted that within LB Southwark businesses located in The Shard and around that location delivered significant growth in business rates at a scale that would not be realistically possible in Bromley.  For this reason addressing the inequity of the funding settlement had to be a key priority.  The Director of Finance noted that were Bromley to be in the London Business Rate Pool it would receive a share of the growth across London. 
• The whole area of Artificial Intelligence would be important going forward.  There was currently a small team of Council staff trying to get ahead on the issues and a series of meetings with other Councils were under way.  The Interim Chief Executive was sighted on the issues which would form part of the Transformation Agenda.

The Chairman asked that the Committee be provided with a list of all the Interim staff contracts along with the duration of the contract.  Members also asked for a comparison of the rates of pay of Interim staff and permanent staff.

The Committee thanked the Leader for his attendance at the meeting and insightful update.