Agenda item

The Head of Finance for ECS and Corporate Services attended the meeting to provide an update regarding the Public Protection and Enforcement Portfolio Draft Budget for 2021/22.

Members noted that the report incorporated future cost pressures, planned mitigation measures and savings from transformation and other budget options which were reported to Executive on 13th January 2021.

The Head of Finance for Environment and Corporate Services stated that the report was being presented to the Committee prior to the next meeting of the Executive, so that any comments or suggestions from the Committee could be noted by the Executive before recommendations were made regarding the level of Council Tax for the next financial year.

The Chairman asked if a record of extra costs incurred because of the Covid Pandemic was being kept. It was explained that the Executive received a separate report with respect to costs incurred because of Covid. This had been the practice since April 2019. A particular budgetary issue that related to the Public Protection Portfolio was its contribution into a pan London fund for temporary mortuary provision costs. The contribution from LBB was in the region of £1.4m. The estimated cost for LBB’s own local mortuary provision was in the region of £250k. It was also noted that a shortfall in licensing income was projected.

The Chairman asked if there was a backlog of work because of the Pandemic, for example, were there any backlogs of work relating to HMOs or with food licensing. If there were any backlogs, were measures in place to deal with this, and would any new staff be required to deal with any such backlog. The Chairman was concerned that any areas of work that were part of the Council’s statutory obligations had a contingency plan in place so that the work could be completed.

The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement clarified that although there were backlogs—this was something that was being experienced by all councils. As far as food inspections were concerned, the Food Standards Agency understood the impact that Covid had made in affecting targets and these had been modified accordingly. As far as HMO licensing was concerned, the process that was usually carried out by the Council was to inspect premises first, and then grant a licence. However, legislation permitted the granting of a licence as long as the premises was inspected in the first five years, and this was the process that the department was going to adopt for the foreseeable future. The Assistant Director assured Members that it was likely that most of the backlog of work would be able to be undertaken using overtime rather than having to appoint new staff.

The Committee was pleased to note that all statutory responsibilities were being covered.

A Member referred to an item on Appendix 1 where there was a reference to increased costs without an explanation of what the costs related to. He asked for an explanation of what these costs were, as the text referred to costs increasing by £45k. It was clarified that this referred to an allowance for inflation with respect to both pay and running costs. The Member asked what had happened to the money that had been allocated for Covid Marshals and how long this funding was going to be provided for. The Head of Finance answered that a response was being drafted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to show how this funding had been utilised, and it was confirmed that the funding would expire at the end of the current financial year.

The Portfolio Holder stated that the money for Covid Marshals would be run through the Environmental Services Division, and not as part of the Public Protection Portfolio.

A Member asked if food safety inspections were taking place with respect to those businesses that were now serving take-away food. She also asked for clarification regarding the current strength of the Food Safety Team, and as there seemed to be a national shortage of food safety officers, would the section consider developing their own officers in house. The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement replied that the Food Safety Team had endeavoured to carry out some physical inspections initially, but were soon instructed by the Food Standards Agency to stop doing this because of the Covid Pandemic. Some remote inspections had been undertaken. The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement promised to check on the current level of staffing within the Food Safety Team and report back to Members. Members were informed that consideration was being applied to developing strength within the Food Safety Team by training apprentices.

A Member expressed the view that consideration should be applied in the overall Council budget to allocating some resource to help to engage with dis-engaged young people from ethnic minorities to try and reduce levels of serious violence and knife crime.

RESOLVED that

1)  The financial forecast from 2021/22 to 2024/25 be noted.

2)  The initial draft 2021/22 budget be agreed as the basis for setting the 2021/22 budget.

3)  The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement would report back to the Committee concerning the current strength of the Food Safety Team.