(if any) - receive.

Apologies were received from Councillors Philippa Crowder, Dilip Patel and Keith Prince.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 3 July 2025 (attached) and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2025 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Reports attached.

The number of sickness absences had remained steady the overall number of sickness absence days had fallen to 9.4 days per employee, in line with the national average. It was not currently possible to analyse the impact of homeworking on sickness absence. Details of benchmarking sickness absence rates with other London Councils could be brought to a future meeting of the Board. Details of roles in excess of £75k salary that were covered by agency staff could be provided.

Officers confirmed that 27% of sickness absences were for musculo-skeletal problems. Data on manual handling training completed by staff could be provided. It was agreed that officers from the Council’s health and safety team should attend a future meeting of the Board in order that this area could be scrutinised in more detail.

The numbers and spend on agency workers had reduced. There were now a total of 399 agency workers, the lowest since 2018. Reasons for why the staff were engaged would require a further review of the data. There were only four staff covered by off-contract agency spend and it hoped to bring these under the corporate contract. There was not any known correlation between the numbers of agency staff and increasing levels of mental health issues in the Council’s workforce. Efforts had been made to convert agency staff to permanent roles which would lessen any direct impact on staff. It was clarified that most agency staff covered vacancies rather than sickness. Agency and permanent hires were be considered at a weekly recruitment panel.

Monthly wellbeing checks were to be undertaken with all staff which could detect early signs of sickness and it was planned to increase the proportion of check-ins completed. Officers accepted that performance re appraisals needed to improve and a report on the level of appraisals completed could be brought to a future meeting. It was noted that it could be more difficult to complete the appraisals process for part time workers such as school catering staff.

More detail could be given on the performance of the new provider of the Employee Assistance Programme. A report on the uptake of this programme amongst staff could be brought to a future meeting. Efforts were also ongoing to capture more fully staff reasons for leaving. The Leader of the Council pointed out that a recent Ofsted report had indicated staff had reported that they enjoyed working at the Council. The staff turnover rate was lower than the London average.

The Chief Executive felt that staff were not necessarily needed within the physical Town Hall buildings. Many staff were more effective working out in the community. Desks in the Council buildings were also at a ratio of 1 desk per 2 staff.

Appraisal statistics were reviewed in Place Directorate on a monthly basis. The numbers of annual appraisals had increased and work was also in progress to increase the number of 1:1 check-ins held. These were also now being recorded correctly.

The following action points were agreed:

-  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Report to follow if available.

Note: Members may wish to scrutinise the report in conjunction with the Council’s Strategic Risk Register which can be accessed via this link (please copy and paste into your browser if necessary):

https://democracy.havering.gov.uk/documents/s77373/Appendix%201%20Strategic%20Risk%20Register%20December%202024.pdf

Officers advised that good progress was being made on the £10.2m savings identified in the 2025/26 budget. Cash savings achieved were now shown in the report. More information was also given in the report re the savings from the libraries programme. It was hoped that amber rated savings would be achieved by year end but it was acknowledged that those savings that were red rated were proving difficult. Ratings for some savings would be revised if they proved more achievable.

No meanwhile uses for the former library sites had been identified at present. The £22k saving on business rates was not currently being achieved and it was acknowledged that library services were struggling to achieve their overall savings targets. Officers were conscious of the number of agency workers in libraries, some of whom had been kept on due to the closure programme. It was not possible at this stage to say how many permanent library staff had been redeployed although this could be confirmed. Redeployed staff were put into already budgeted roles so this was not a saving.

A Member raised whether the amount of support to residents re claiming attendance allowance, pension credit etc had lowered due to the library closures. Officers would respond separately on this but it was pointed out this support could be accessed in other ways rather than just via libraries. It was noted that the Council only retained 30% of the revenue from business rates. The lowering of library income from photocopying services had reduced the level of savings put up.

It was confirmed that the modular housing units had been procured and work would start in November with occupation by the end of January. This would be temporary accommodation and work was ongoing to try to procure more accommodation. The number of families living in hotels had reduced and work was in progress to lower the cost of nightly paid accommodation. Additional provision of modular units was also being considered and officers emphasised that they did not wish to have anyone living in temporary accommodation. It was noted however that the number of private sector landlord properties available continued to decline.

Further details could be given of the budget tracking process but this was undertaken at Cabinet level and £160m of savings had been made in the last 10-15 years. The savings report had not been specifically shared with Central Government but the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had asked for an update in this area and was supportive of the Council’s work to achieve savings.

Officers estimated the total Capitalisation Directive required for 2025/26 to be just under £70m. While this was an improvement on the worst case scenario figure of £88m, it was still in excess of the Council’s combined revenue from Council Tax and grants. It was clarified that the actuals from the budget process as well as savings progress were included in the Cabinet report, as budget monitoring reports became available.

Capital receipts could be used to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Report and Improvement and Transformation Plan attached.

As part of the Capitalisation Direction arrangements, the Council was required to submit an Improvement and Transformation Plan to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The report gave a progress update on a number of key projects.

It was clarified that no assumption had been made about achieving planning permission for the data centre. This would be a decision for Strategic Planning Committee. It was therefore agreed that the report should be amended to reflect this. A timeline for the completion of items would also be added. Officers had requested a meeting with the Government Minister to discuss retention of business rates for the Data Centre. Efforts were ongoing to seek the retention of business rates for other new sites.

Information on savings achieved in gas and electricity costs could be obtained and a graphical representation of the direction of travel could be added to the report. It was suggested that more information on how home to school transport was working would be useful and that the safety of the service could be referred to the People Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

The priorities of the Mercury Land Holdings Business Plan were to deliver good quality private rented sector accommodation. The Monitoring Officer added that a report on the governance of Mercury Land Holdings would shortly be presented to Governance Committee. This could be taken to Audit Committee at the same time. This had been prompted by the motion agreed at the July Cabinet meeting.

It was emphasised that the Council did not wish to use temporary accommodation. Housing demand needed to be met and a role had been identified for Mercury Land Holdings in the private rental sector. This would also inform the next version of the Council’s Local Plan.

Children’s welfare had undergone a recent Ofsted inspection. This area had been given a high risk rating by Cipfa assessors but work was in progress with NHS partners to address this. The direction of travel re support given to care leavers could be confirmed. Data could be obtained on the numbers of children hospitalised with mental health issues who had not previously received Council intervention.

Services that achieved full cost recovery included the crematorium and the registration service at Langtons. Price points were kept under review but there was a wish to avoid any overcharging for Council services. Charges for e.g. leaseholders and caretaking services were also reviewed in consultation with tenants and leaseholders.

The Council’s debt recovery board had been running since January 2025 and focussed on improving the collection process. It was accepted that the Council had to recover debt in a certain way and Council bailiffs had won an award for being compassionate service. The Council would look to offer support to people who had missed payments of Council Tax etc.

The Board agreed the following action points and recommendations:

- The section of the Improvement and Transformation Plan re the data centre to say ‘consideration by Strategic Planning Committee’ rather than ‘consent expected’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Report attached.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer advised that the Constitution was silent around the issues of Cabinet responses to scrutiny coming back to the Board. Of seven recommendations made re the scrutiny process itself, two had not been agreed by Cabinet. These related to Cabinet Member attendance at scrutiny (If requested) which was already in the Constitution and the Board receiving scrutiny reports ten days in advance of a meeting. Cabinet felt this timescale was not realistic and there was in any case a five working days statutory deadline for reports.

Recommendations made by the Board re Havering Volunteer Centre were to be considered as part of forthcoming strategy days. While there was currently no requirement for Cabinet responses to come back formally to the Board, this could perhaps be included within a scrutiny protocol. A draft of this would be considered in due course by the Constitution Working Party and Governance Committee.

It was confirmed that officer discussions with Havering Volunteer Centre were ongoing and alternatives to their current premises had been offered. Officers were confident a new tenant could be found for the Centre’s current premises. It would not be possible to offer a lower than market rate rent at this stage although officers would clarfify this. Members felt that it was important that the future of the Volunteer Centre was resolved as soon as possible.

The Board agreed:

That clarification should be given over whether any discount from the market rental rate can be offered to the Havering Volunteer Centre.