Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Members are asked to declare any interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July were noted.

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration (CM) raised the issue of Early Help services, which was considered at the Committee’s 7 July 2021 meeting (minute 9 refers), and the recommendations put forward by Members for consideration. An initial draft response to these had been shared with her; however, further time was needed before a final response could be provided to the Committee, as some of the recommendations were within the remit of other Cabinet Members, which would need to be coordinated, and she was also not fully satisfied with the initial response. The Strategic Director for Law and Governance stated that she would also follow this matter up, having recently taken over the role of Statutory Scrutiny Officer from the former Director of Strategy and Participation, who had recently left the Council.

Chief Inspector Chris Nixon (CI), representing the East Area Borough Command Unit (BCU) which provided policing across the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service, delivered an update as requested by the Committee at its 3 February 2021 meeting (minute 45 refers). The presentation covered the following areas:

·  Update on Response Times;

·  Potential reasons for the Borough’s high missing people figures; and

·  Engagement with the LGBT+ Community.

The CM highlighted the challenges of young people from other areas of London being placed in Barking and Dagenham care homes, such as these young people being reported as missing by their care homes when they went to visit friends in their home borough and the resulting higher missing people figure for the Borough. She referred to the BCU’s ward level review, which showed a significantly higher volume of repeat missing persons from the Abbey, Whalebone and Longbridge wards, which were all sites of children’s care homes, and further sampling had also shown that the majority of these cases related to children living in care homes. LBBD social services worked closely with the BCU to ensure that that they were responding appropriately to any missing children’s incidents. The CI also highlighted the complexities behind collating information when a young person was associated with multiple local authorities, as well as in ensuring that the right information was passed onto frontline care home staff from the first day that a young person arrived in their care.

In response to questions from Members, the CI stated that:

• Over the last year, the BCU had engaged with care homes to risk assess and prepare joint plans with providers to reduce repeat missing episodes, which had reduced the open missing investigations from a rolling 60 to a rolling 20.
• Part of this intervention was around the Philomena Protocol (a scheme that asks carers to identify children and young people who are at risk of going missing, and to record vital information about them that can be used to help find them quickly and safely) and making clear the expectation that care homes would carry out reasonable enquiries as to the whereabouts of a child, rather than immediately calling the Police. Part of this was also about better managing longer-term investigations, and ensuring that these were brought to a close, as well as speeding up investigations where a young person regularly went “missing” to the same location, such as a parent’s house.
• The Barking and Dagenham Independent Advisory Group (IAG) had more than six members; however, the LGBTQ+ IAG which had been established following the Stephen Port murders to engage with the LGBTQ+ community, was looking to increase its membership. The BCU had also set up Police Encounter Panels (PEP), which had a larger rolling membership and looked to obtain the views of young people around policing.
• There were three sites for response team officers: Freshwharf, which was on the junction of the A406 and A13 in Barking; Ilford Police Station;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

The Operational Director for Enforcement Services, the Head of Sustainability and Climate Change (HS), the Service Manager for Environmental Health and the Environmental Protection Officer delivered an update on the Air Quality Action Plan, how the Council was managing the impact of development on air quality and the next steps for improving air quality and raising awareness within the Borough.

In response to questions from Members, officers stated that:

• They were not aware of any major survival issues in relation to trees that had been planted in the last three years; however, they would take this back to the Parks and Open Spaces team, to find out the schedule for tree check-up.
• The team were in discussions with Be First around ensuring that promises made by developers in terms of tree planting were actively pursued.
• Whilst air quality monitoring was newer in LBBD, and it was therefore difficult to look at trends over the last few years, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels had been reducing across London. This was in part due to the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), trends to move to petrol rather than diesel and other policies implemented. Air quality concerns often centred more around localised hotspots, which was why monitoring was essential, and LBBD would be able to collect more data through its diffusion tubes in coming years.
• It was very hard to compare year on year results, due to these being highly influenced by the weather and global patterns, such as climatic conditions and agricultural processes. Whilst less cars were used during Covid peaks, buses continued to operate, with large empty diesel buses emitting high pollution.
• The ULEZ would be expanding from 25 October 2021, with a key difference being buses operating inside and outside of this zone. Lobbying Transport for London (TfL) and positioning diffusion tubes appropriately would be critical in encouraging TfL to renew their fleet through an increased evidence base.
• Whilst the Member Champion for Climate Change had not seen this report, he met with the HS on a bi-monthly basis and had been involved in the Air Quality Action Plan from start to finish.
• The current local plan ensured that new buildings going forward aimed to meet net zero carbon standards; however, there would be a period of transition as LBBD had very low land values in comparison to the rest of London, and there was a trade-off between S106 money going towards this, highways, education and the Community Infrastructure Levy, as the cost of making properties “net zero” was currently quite expensive.
• Most carbon emissions came from existing stock, as newer stock was generally much better in design and carbon intensity was quite low. Be First was designing a zero-carbon design guide, which the Council was going to use with its own built properties, as an example to third party developers that they could design out carbon at a low cost. Retrofitting of existing buildings in the Borough was also in progress.
• The next Air Quality steering group meeting would look  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Chair informed the Committee of the following change that had been made to the Work Programme since the last meeting, which was noted by the Committee:

• The ‘Changes to Reside’ item which had previously been scheduled for today’s meeting, was now to be heard at the 6 October 2021 Committee as the service was facing some staffing changes and officers had therefore requested some additional time to compile their report.