Minutes:
Southwark Civic Awards
Ken Hayes, Honorary Chair of the Southwark Civic Association, spoke to the meeting about the Civic Awards. He explained that the Civic Association, which is independent of the council, had been in existence since 1995, with the first Civic Awards having been awarded in 1996. There were three levels of award: Letter of Commendation, a liberty of one the old metropolitan boroughs and “Of the Year” awards. He went on to say that this year, following the riots a new category, for acts of civil responsibility during or after the disturbances, had been created. These awards were a source of enormous pride for those who received them, as they were being honoured by their fellow citizens. He invited people to submit their nominations for the awards on the forms which were available from all libraries or via the website. The deadline for nominations was 31 January 2012. He reminded people that the awards were aimed at outstanding civic activity outside of paid employment. More information was available at www.southwarkcivicassociation.org.
The meeting also heard that for outstanding achievements in a professional capacity, there were other awards, for example the new year’s honours list. The chair thanked Ken Hayes for attending.
Support choices
Wendy Foreman, Senior Campaigns Officer, introduced the council’s new “Support Choice” resource for adult social care services, which she said was designed to provide all the information about these services in one single place. The resource had been user tested and was therefore easy to use. The advantage of the system being electronic was that updates could be made continuously, which ensured the information was always up-to-date. 60 providers were currently listed, but this number would further increase, as more information was being added. Wendy went on to explain that staff in the council’s libraries had been trained to help people navigate the resource, and were also on-hand to help those people who did not access to the internet, or who felt they could not use the system. More information at http://www.southwark.gov.uk/mysupportchoices.
The chair thanked Wendy for attending.
Veolia Update
Sharon Ellis, from Veolia, informed the meeting that the new waste management plant, off the Old Kent Road was now operational, having opened on 4 January 2012. It replaced the old Manor Place depot which had become too small for handling the volumes of waste and recyclables the borough produced. The new facility sorted all waste and recyclables.
Budget 2012/2013
Councillor Barrie Hargrove, Cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling introduced this item, saying that the council was keen to receive feedback on the budget proposals from residents. Cuts in the central government grant meant that £33.7m in cuts had to be made last year, and £16.2m would have to be cut this year. A 3-year framework budget had been agreed by the council last year, so there were no new cuts in the coming year above those decided last year. The proposals for the coming financial year, would be going to cabinet on 25 January 2012 and would be decided at full council in February. The council was keen hear from residents, and sheets were available for submitting feedback. There was also a possibility for groups, who were affected, to send a deputation to the cabinet meeting. The documents detailing the proposals were available on the council’s website. He went on to say that he also wanted to highlight some positive developments: some new funding had been put into adult and social care, free healthy school meals had been introduced for years 2, 3 and 4 in primary schools, and all council staff (direct employees and agency staff) were now receiving a London Living Wage. There was also a new Cleaner Greener Safer (CGS) revenue budget of £10,000 per ward which was to be decided at Community Councils. Following the August disturbances, the council had made £1m available in community restoration.
In answer to questions raised from the floor, Councillor Hargrove explained that the new CGS funding was additional to the regular CGS funding, but could be used for revenue items. Moreover, the council was trying to help voluntary sector organisations in these tough times to find alternative sources of funding. The detailed budget proposals were available online, but broadly speaking, all parts of the council had to find savings. He apologised for not being able to provide in depth information about adult services, as this was not his portfolio.
The chair said she had been informed the deadline for submitting deputation requests to cabinet was three clear working days. Councillor Noakes said that the cuts in adult services were roughly £3m in supporting people, £1m mental health services, £1m in the learning disability service, a £1.2m cut in staffing and a £300,000 cut to the advocacy and befriending services. Charges would also go up. More information was available on the Southwark website.
Councillor Hargrove responded that organisations who had applied to the transition fund last year could do again, but that he wasn’t sure whether organisations could receive funding two years in a row. He said that he was certain there would not be a return to the situation pre-2009, in which the council had received increasing budgets from central government. In terms of the council raising its own resources to make up for the shortfall, there would be an increase in fees and charges to the London average (except for those which would be deemed to create extra hardship, for example business market trader permits which had been frozen).
The meeting also heard that some of the cuts the council had to make were necessitated directly by central government which had cut some ring-fenced funding. The council was obliged to pass on these cuts.
The chair thanked Councillor Hargrove for attending.
United St Saviour’s Charity
Jim Wintour from United St Saviour’s charity informed the meeting that the charity had been in existence since 1540 and that they offered sheltered housing in Croydon which was exclusively for older Southwark residents who required this sort of service. To apply for a place in one of the schemes, people would have had to have lived in Southwark for a minimum of 3 years. He encouraged people to check for more information on the website: http://www.ustsc.org.uk
LINk Southwark
The chair made the following announcement on behalf of link Southwark:
“LINk Southwark are looking for interested individuals and parties to become part of their Leadership Group. Collectively, they will develop LINk Southwark activities and work plan, and oversee its transition into local HealthWatch (subject to the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill).
LINk Southwark is a local involvement network made up of local organisations and Southwark residents to improve health and social care services. LINk Southwark was provided with statutory powers from the Secretary of State for health in order to assist LINk in performing its functions and activities effectively. Each local authority has to ensure that there is an adequately performing LINk in the borough.
Currently, as the health and social care bill is passing through parliament, all LINks will be changing into Local HealthWatch, an independent consumer organisation (patients, public) to improve health and social care services in Southwark.
Deadline for application statements is 27th January 2012.”