Items
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1. |
Declarations of Pecuniary Interest
Under Cabinet Rule 1.5.2, where any Cabinet
Member has a Disclosable Pecuniary
Interest (as defined in the Members’ Code of Conduct
(para. 4)) in any matter to be
considered at a meeting of the Council, a committee, sub-committee
or joint committee, they must withdraw from the meeting room during
the whole of the consideration of that matter and must not
participate in any vote on that matter unless a dispensation has
been obtained from the Monitoring Officer.
Minutes:
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2. |
Minutes of Previous Meeting  PDF 172 KB
Cabinet is asked to confirm as a true record
the Minutes of the previous meeting of Cabinet held on 22 November
and to authorise the Leader to sign them.
Minutes:
The Minutes of the previous
meeting of Cabinet held on 22 November 2021 were approved as a true
record and signed by the Chair.
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3. |
Response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): Lambeth Council’s Action Plan PDF 738 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The report was introduced by Councillor Claire
Holland, Leader of the Council, who highlighted that:
- The Council offered its sincere
apologies to the victims n and survivors who were in the former
care of Lambeth Council
- The Redress Scheme had been set up
by the Council to provide compensation to victims and
survivors
- It had taken bravery for victims and
survivors to come forward in highlighting their experiences and
addressing the council’s historic failures
- The Action Plan addressed each
concern raised by IICSA in its investigation report
- The present Council was different to
that of the past, and has been open and transparent in its work
surrounding IICSA
- The whole administration was
committed to the Action Plan and delivering it in full.
Councillor Holland also highlighted that an
addendum had been published setting out the views and
recommendations of the Children’s Services Scrutiny
Sub-Committee held on 7 December.
Cabinet was then addressed by Andrew Travers,
Chief Executive, who highlighted that:
- He echoed the Leader’s
apologies to all victims and survivors for their experiences, and
that they were not believed or listened to in the past
- The scale of neglect and abuse was
shocking
- The inquiry report included work on
providing a safe and caring environment for children in care of the
Council
- Training would be mandated for
elected Councillors, as well as checks on recruitment for foster
carers and staff
- The regulatory regime and todays
Council were different to that set out in the report
- The Council would ensure a strong
accountability framework and robust procedures for safeguarding
children
- The Action Plan set out work across
8 key areas, and that his responsibility to work with Members,
Council staff and the Senior Management Team would ensure that this
time would be different
- As Chief Executive, he would
personally Chair the IICSA Board to ensure robust assessment
processes, work closely with OFSTED and listen to and act upon the
voices of children, both in the care of the Council and
generally.
Councillor Ed Davie, Cabinet Member for
Children and Young People then addressed Cabinet, highlighting
that:
- 18 months ago, he gave evidence to
IICSA which considered the abuse that took place in Lambeth’s
children’s homes from the 1960’s to the early
1990’s
- In preparation for this, the Cabinet
Member read many statements from victims and survivors
- He had done his best as statutory
Lead Member for Children’s Services to brief colleagues so
that the support given was safe and helped to achieve the best
possible outcome in a way that was absent in the past
- The Council recognised that further
work must be undertaken
- The IICSA Action Plan was devised
after careful consideration of inquiry findings, and was for the
whole Council including Members to respond - not just
Children’s Services
- The Council had ensured that
children in care were at the heart of decision making, and had listened to the Children in Care
Council’s feedback regarding what they would like to keep
them safe.
Councillor Joshua Lindsey, Chair of the
...
view the full minutes text for item 3.
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4. |
December Finance Planning and Medium Term Strategy Report 2021 to 2026 PDF 694 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The report was introduced by Councillor Andy
Wilson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance who highlighted
that:
- Since last being presented to
Cabinet, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s spending review
had been received
- The spending review outlined a
continued tough financial budget for London boroughs
- Calculations made by London Council
saw that London boroughs required a £2 billion increase over
the spending period, but only estimate to receive £1.1
billion
- the 3% increase in Government
funding announced was based on the assumption that Council’s
increased their Council Tax and adult social care precept to the
maximum of 3%
- Longer term pressures would require
longer term funding solutions, increasing Council Tax for the adult
social care precept would not alleviate these pressures
- The Council had remained vigilant
with the new Covid-19 variant arising
- There was already high demand in
Council services around social care and temporary accommodation,
which had increased as a result of the pandemic
- The Council would continue to take
every opportunity to support vulnerable people in its community,
but needed to be realistic in the face of reduced funding and
rising demand
- Despite recent pressures, the
Council had delivered a balanced budget
- The current MTFS would continue to
be developed to support the Council’s priorities and provide
certainty to its most vulnerable residents.
Councillor Scott Ainslie, from the Green
Group, requested that the report was in plain English and asked if
the beginning of the report could highlight additional budgeting
and expenditure as a result of COVID. Cllr Ainslie asked questions
which were based around local revenues which had been explored by
the council, rising temporary accommodation costs, the old Waterloo
library 114-118 Lower Marsh funding, affordable housing and
workspace and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spend.
Christina Thompson, Director of Finance and
Property stated that:
- Additional spending on Covid-19 was
mentioned in paragraph 2.30 of the report and the Council’s
current forecast was a spend of £35.5million. This would be
recovered from earmarked reserves and from grants from central
government in this financial year
- A deficit in expenditure due to
Covid-19 was not expected this year
- Revenue raising was identified in
the savings proposals put forward last year for the 2022-23
financial year
- The Government would have to enable
tourist taxes
- The Council were waiting to hear
from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
(DLUHC) on what would happen around business rates
- There was an increase in activity on
the number of households that had moved to temporary accommodation.
Properties available for temporary accommodation had decreased as
landlords were pulling out of private sector renting for temporary
accommodation
- The Council would continue to ensure
that they housed families wherever possible.
Councillor Matthew Bennet, Deputy Leader of
the Council and Cabinet Member for Planning Investment and New
Homes, explained that homelessness was a crisis throughout London
which had been made worse over the last 11 years due to a
Conservative-led Government. However, the solution was to build
more homes within Lambeth as it was not ideal ...
view the full minutes text for item 4.
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5. |
Responsible Procurement Policy 2021-2024 PDF 737 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The report was introduced by Councillor Andy
Wilson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance who highlighted
that:
- The Policy came following a lengthy
consultation process
- Out of 552 million spent on
procurement, under 120 million was spent on local suppliers. 66% of
these were small or medium enterprises
- In order to act responsibly to the
local economy, Lambeth wanted to increase this number which it
aimed to do so focusing on 6 key areas as set out in the
report
- The Council was committed to its
contribution.
Councillor Scott Ainslie, a visiting Member,
highlighted an issue which he had also raised at Corporate
Committee. This was in regard to excluding companies that Lambeth
might object to, especially if they had done social harm elsewhere.
Councillor Ainslie also addressed Cabinet on single use plastics
and reduced emissions which, had not featured as a commitment in
fewer than half of the 81 contract awards, contract management and
the social value fund selection process. It was noted that it was
great to see that the £500million total had been spent
locally.
Councillor Andy
Wilson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance explained
that:
- Exclusion of firms that may not
align with Lambeth values was explored as a criterion, but Legal
Services advised that this was not possible. However, where a
company had a contract with the Council there was a certain type of
behaviour that would be expected
- The graph on paragraph 1.5 of the
report was not a fair representation on types of procurement that
went to procurement board. Some contract awards do not have
emissions and single use plastics involved
- The Social Impact Framework would
look at broadening criteria to acknowledge a range of issues on the
climate emergency
- There was a live website for the
social value fund where small organisations could apply. This
application would then go through a well-structured process.
Sasa Glisic, Head of Procurement stated that
there had been 20 training sessions throughout the year, which
included the new electronic contract management system. The Public
Contract Regulation 2015 allowed Lambeth to exclude providers under
certain criteria for example those that were not paying tax.
Furthermore, there was a standard selection questionnaire which
would help filter tenders.
Cabinet made the following observations:
- The Policy was welcomed and
highlighted the Council’s commitment to meet Air Quality
targets
- The Social Value fund had been
welcomed by the Voluntary and Community Sector, those who had
applied fed back that they had found it straightforward and easy to
do.
Following consideration, it was resolved that
Cabinet:
- Approved and agreed to adopt the
update to Responsible Procurement Policy which covered all
procurement and commercial activity including services, goods,
works and concessions
- Agreed
to delegate any minor revisions in response to the changing policy
and/or regulatory framework to the Head of Procurement in
consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and
Performance.
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6. |
Regulation 18 draft Site Allocations Development Plan Document PDF 597 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The report was introduced by Deputy Leader,
Councillor Matthew Bennett, who highlighted that:
- He was pleased to present the
process to begin a thorough and widespread consultation
- Lambeth had a strong commitment to
delivering new housing and affordable housing, including social
rent homes
- They were working towards securing
good jobs for local residents at each development in the
borough
- High building standards and
genuinely sustainable developments were a priority
- Work was underway to make the
application process more inclusive and transparent, including for
Planning officers and Ward Councillors to meet with developers
before an application had been submitted
- It would be possible to have
conversations with stakeholders about the principles of
developments on each site. This would minimise the chances of
wholly unacceptable applications being submitted which legally had
to be considered before being refused
- Starting conversations early would
ensure the best is achieved from potential development sites for
neighbourhoods.
Councillor Jackie Meldrum, a Labour visiting
Member addressed Cabinet and stated that the 14 new DPD allocations
were a credit to the Planning and Regeneration teams and would have
a positive major impact on the borough and its reputation. However,
the site now known as ‘site 19’ was a main focus point
especially due to the sites poor access. It was noted that the site
had one access point from Leigham Vale
but the DPD proposed two new bridges. It was suggested that further
discussions should take place with Ward Councillors to help
developers and consultants.
Councillor Peter Elliot, a Green Group
visiting Member, thanked those who prepared the report as it was
clear and accessible and that the forthcoming consultation on the
developments were welcomed. It was suggested that where there is
existing affordable housing, the specific tenure should be set
out in the Draft SADPD and that the Council reflected on the climate
emergency and insisted on standards that would help Lambeth reach
net zero targets.
Councillor Matthew Bennet, Deputy Leader of
the Council (Planning, Investment and New Homes) highlighted that
site 19 proved why it was necessary to do a proposal as previously
it had not met Lambeth’s criteria, this was then addressed,
and workspace and affordable housing was then embodied. Lambeth
would continue to shape change within the borough and if site 19
was put foreword it would need to assess access issues.
Furthermore, Ward Councillors had received invites to discuss sites
in their Wards ahead of the public consultation in the new
year.
Catherine Carpenter, Head of Policy and
Placeshaping, explained that all
comments made at Cabinet and following the consultation would be
considered. There were multiple adopted policies in the London Plan
and Local Plan that addressed carbon reduction and sustainable
design and construction of buildings which would apply to all sites
within the Draft SADPD. Lambeth’s Local Plan encouraged
Passivhaus standards. The Draft
SADPD encouraged an exemplary approach
to sustainable construction and carbon reduction on the 14
sites.
Following consideration, it was resolved that
Cabinet:
- Agreed consultation in accordance
with Regulation 18 ...
view the full minutes text for item 6.
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