Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stafford (substitute Cllr Woodley), Councillor Folkard (substitute Cllr Habermel) and Councillor Phillips (substitute: Cllr J Garston).

The following interests were declared at the meeting:-

(a)Councillors Lamb, Flewitt and Moring and Salter - interest in the referred item / called in items; attended pursuant to the dispensation agreed at Council on 19th July 2012, under S.33 of the Localism Act 2011;

(b) Councillor Flewitt – agenda item relating to Sheltered Housing Review – non-pecuniary – parent lives in retirement home and agenda items relating to recent events in York Road / In-depth Scrutiny Project – To investigate the case for additional enforcement resources for Southend – non-pecuniary – GP for East London Magistrate;

(c) Councillor Assenheim – agenda item relating to Sheltered Housing – non-pecuniary – sister lives in sheltered housing accommodation;

(d) Councillor Willis – agenda item relating to In-depth Scrutiny report: ‘Control of personal debt and the advantages of employment’ – non-pecuniary – employed by trade body representing providers of high cost short term credit;

(e) Councillor Woodley – agenda item relating to Financial pressures facing the HRA – non-pecuniary – member of the LGA;

(f) Councillor Davies – agenda item relating to Response to issues in York Road – non-pecuniary – lives in York Road;

Councillor Moring, the Executive Councillor for Corporate & Community Support Services responded to 2 written questions from Mr Webb.

Resolved:-

That the Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday, 13^th October, 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed.

Members are reminded to bring with them the most recent MPR for period ending September 2016 which was circulated recently.

Comments / questions should be made at the appropriate Scrutiny Committee relevant to the subject matter.

The Committee considered Minute 439 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016 together with the Monthly Performance Report (MPR) covering the period to end September 2016, which had been circulated recently.

Resolved:-

That the report be noted.

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor:- As appropriate to the item.

Minute 440 (Cabinet Book 1 – Agenda Item 5 refers)

Called in by Councillors Willis and Nevin

The Committee considered Minute 440 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016, which had been called in to scrutiny, together with a report of the Chief Executive presenting the final report of the in-depth scrutiny project ‘Control of personal debt and the advantages of employment’.

Resolved:-

1. That the following decision of Cabinet be noted:-

“That the report and outcomes from the review from the in depth scrutiny project, attached at Appendix 1 to the submitted report, be approved.”

2. That the recommendations be monitored in the same way as other recent projects and as part of the annual monitoring report.

Note:-This is an Executive function

Executive Councillor :- Moring

Minute 447 (Cabinet Book 1 – Agenda Item 13 refers)

Called in by Councillors Jones and Ware-Lane

The Committee considered Minute 447 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016, which had been called in to scrutiny, together with a report of the Chief Executive. This proposed the use of a tender process for the appointment of a third party provider to provide assistance during the transition to universal credit for a 3 year period (with an option to extend for a further year).

Resolved:-

That the following decision of Cabinet be noted:-

“That a tender process be used for the appointment of a provider of third party remote processing to support the Housing Benefit Team during the transition to Universal Credit.”

Note:-This is an Executive function

Executive Councillor :- Moring

Minute 448 (Cabinet Book 1 – Agenda Item 14 refers)

Called in by Councillors Norman, Borton, Woodley and Assenheim

The Committee considered Minute 448 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016, which had been called in to scrutiny, together with a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People). This updated Members on various financial pressures facing the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) as a result of recent changes in Government policy.

In response to questions the Executive Councillor for Housing, Planning and Public Protection Services provided assurances that the Administration intended to continue with the social housing building programme.

Resolved:-

That the following decision of Cabinet be noted:-

“That the submitted report be noted.”

Note:-This is an Executive function

Executive Councillor :- Flewitt

Minute 451 (Cabinet Book 2 – Agenda Item 17 refers)

Called in by Councillors Norman, Jones, Woodley and Assenheim

This item also called in to People Scrutiny Committee

The Committee considered Minute 451 of Cabinet held on 8^th November, 2016, which had been called in to the People and Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committees, together with a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) on the outcome of the review of housing need of older people in the Borough which had been undertaken by Peter Fletcher Associates (PFA).

Resolved:-

That the following decisions of Cabinet be noted:-

“1. That the contents of the submitted report and the accompanying PFA Report, be noted.

2. That a series of workshops and working groups be convened for the purpose of exploring in detail the main themes of the report, namely:

- Physical structure of the schemes – including accessibility within Schemes and the size of individual accommodation units.

- Community & Locality – location of Schemes in relation to local facilities (i.e. accessibility to local amenities and transport links) and encouraging community access to Scheme facilities as part of a wider Locality approach to services.

- Meeting Housing, Care and Support needs of older people – how Schemes enable tenants to stay in their homes as they become frailer, developing a criteria for sheltered housing based on need, and developing use of Telecare, Telehealth, and assistive technology options.

3. That the workshops and working groups be convened and facilitated by officers from the strategic housing service, South Essex Homes, and adult social care services, and be supported and attended by elected Members as key stakeholders and decision makers.

4. That the outcome of these workshops and working groups be presented as a follow up Cabinet report in the spring of 2017 with recommended options for developing a model of sheltered housing provision in order to meet the housing need of older people in Southend”.

Note:-This is an Executive Function

Executive Councillor:- Flewitt and Salter

This item was placed on the agenda pursuant to Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13(a).  This enabled Committee Members to put questions to the relevant Executive Councillor and for him to give an account about the recent events in York Road.

Resolved:

That the Executive Councillors response, be noted.

Note:-

This is a Scrutiny Function

The Committee received an oral update on the progress that had been made in respect of the agreed joint in-depth scrutiny project for 2016/17 entitled 'To investigate the case for additional enforcement resources for Southend'.

Resolved:-

That the report be noted.

Note:- This is a Scrutiny Function.