North Lambeth People First Expo - Question Time responses

A local Question Time session took place at the North Lambeth People First Expo event on 26 January 2008.

This session, which was led by the council, provided everyone with the opportunity to ask questions to the panel which was made up of:

Cllr Ashley Lumsden
Leader of Liberal Democrat Opposition Lambeth Council

Cllr Jackie Meldrum
Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council

Sharon Rowe
Lambeth Borough Commander

Jacob Whittingham
Chair of SE1 United

John Roberts
Metropolitan Police Authority Link Member for London Borough of Lambeth, Panel Chair

• View questions answered by the panel
• View questions answered by council officers

Questions answered by the panel

What follows are the answers to the questions posed to the panel on the day.

What do the panel feel the council can do to increase local communities being more in control of their own lives?

• More events like the People First Expo.
• The council needed sufficient resources to adequately engage with local communities.
• It was important for the council to be a “listening authority”.
• Community groups should be given responsibility for delivering some of the services traditionally delivered by the council.
• The expertise of community groups should be utilised.
• Jacob Whittingham drew attention to the dedication of community groups and noted that they should be trusted with more funding.
• The Borough Commander highlighted that the police’s engagement with Lambeth’s diverse communities was improving.
• The Deputy Leader noted that the council’s priorities were to provide quality services and tackle inequality.
• The council was engaging with local communities to deliver these priorities. Staff were also being equipped with skills to ensure that they effectively listened to communities.

In Hammersmith and Fulham there are 24 hour Safer Neighbourhood Teams. Should we get them in North Lambeth?

• Jacob Whittingham noted the need for 24 hour teams on estates, particularly in school holidays and the summer months after youth clubs have closed.
• The Borough Commander highlighted that policing was being enhanced in those parts of the borough with significant high levels of crime, and noted the need for sponsorship to fund 24 hour Safer Neighbourhood teams.
• The need for community engagement was also noted.

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Have you thought of contacting local schools, including primary schools, for consultation purposes?

• The Deputy Leader of the council highlighted that primary schools were important borough hubs, and that some consultation was currently taking place at school gates on a “Mums back to work” project.
• Jacob Whittingham noted that it was often very difficult for community groups to gain access to schools. The Chair confirmed that a written officer response would be provided on how community youth groups can get more involved with local primary and secondary schools. Read this response.
• The Borough Commander confirmed that police officers worked closely with local secondary schools, and there were plans to roll initiatives out to Lambeth primary schools.

Does the panel consider eviction the answer to anti-social behaviour on estates?

• Panel members highlighted the importance of identifying and dealing with the causes of anti-social behaviour, and the need to provide people with the right support.
• Councillor Ashley Lumsden drew attention to the value of mediation in dealing with situations of anti-social behaviour.
• The Deputy Leader advised that the council worked closely with police in coming to the right solutions. In some circumstances preventative measures were not successful, and eviction was needed as an ultimate sanction.

Will more stop and searches of young people help to reduce crime in Lambeth?

• The Deputy Leader highlighted the need to gain the trust of people with knowledge of those who were committing crime in the borough. It was important that the police had the trust of local communities.
• Jacob Whittingham noted that it would be useful for the police to visit youth clubs and engage with young people on the reasons for stop and search.
• John Roberts, the Panel Chair, provided assurances that the police did not engage in racial profiling.
• The Borough Commander advised that stop and search was critical to policing and making Lambeth safer, and emphasised that use of stop and search was intelligence led, and not random. An MPA Consultative Group has been established to scrutinise Metropolitan Police service stop and search practice.
• Councillor Ashley Lumsden emphasised that police in Lambeth took their responsibilities in using stop and search very seriously.

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Officer responses to questions

What follows are the responses by council officers to questions not answered by the panel.

My children are going to Westminster School because they cannot find schools locally in Lambeth. How can you help us in getting more local secondary schools for children in Lambeth? (Dhin Gurac)

Officer response provided by Joan Stephenson, Building Schools for the Future.

Lambeth as an authority is wholly committed to local education provision for our children, and expanding secondary school provision is a priority for the Children and Young People’s Services.

We have received over £250 million from a government investment programme called Building Schools for the Future (BSF). This investment will enable us to deliver great improvement to the borough’s educational system and to help address its shortage of secondary school places. We intend to achieve this by an extensive and challenging programme of new schools, rebuilding, major refurbishment and extensions of our existing school estate.

• In September 2007, we opened the first new local authority school in the borough for forty years, The Elmgreen School. This will provide 1100 new pupil places when full.
• This year, 2008, three of our existing schools, The Michael Tippett, Park Campus and The Elmcourt School will be opening on new sites with new expanded buildings and resources.
• Stockwell Park High School will be rebuilt by 2010 and expanded to 8 forms of entry.
• By 2014 all the remaining secondary schools will be thoroughly modernised and expanded to help meet our need for pupil places.
• A new academy, the Evelyn Grace, will open in September 2008, providing 1100 new places when full.
• In December 2007, Cabinet took the decision to pursue a new 6-Fe secondary school.

TheBuilding School for the Future programme gives us an opportunity, not only to renovate our schools, but to reform education in ways which best serves the community. Through this programme we will be able to provide 3,000 extra secondary school places in state-of-the-art new buildings, a wider curriculum, greater access for special educational needs students as well as other important educational and community benefits.

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Does the panel agree that the work necessary to make real changes for low energy living, due to climate change will also create opportunities for community development and employment for local people? (Neville Fleming)

Officer response provided by Jessica Currie, the council's Sustainable Development Policy Officer.

The council does agree that the change to a low carbon economy, necessary to address climate change will provide opportunities for community development, local people and local businesses.

The council has begun by addressing our own internal emissions. As the largest employer in the borough, the Lambeth Cabinet recently agreed a budget of 400K over three years, to address carbon management in the council. It is expected that this money will help to make substantial savings on (council) utility bills that can then be ploughed back into more energy/carbon saving projects.

We will be hosting our second Climate Change Conference on 13 June, 2008 and will at this point be launching our Climate Change Partnership that will work with businesses and organisations across the borough to help them to reduce their carbon footprints.

Our work on sustainable transport, sustainable construction, renewable energy installations and green procurement have all help to reduce carbon across the borough but we do acknowledge that we are just at the beginning of the process.

Lambeth is also working with groups such as the Lambeth Climate Action Group, Transition Town Brixton and Gardening Up Front to help residents reduce their own carbon footprint.

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Why do pensioners living in Guinness Trust sheltered accommodation have to pay for extra support to the Guinness Trust and Lambeth Council for the same services? What is the legal term “sheltered accommodation” supposed to cover? i.e. what legally constitutes sheltered accommodation? (Ms C. Coker)

Officer response provided by David Worrall, Strategy & Commissioning Manager

The Supporting People (SP) programme, administered by the council, does in fact contract with Guinness Trust to provide the support service at Rupert House. This dates back to the start of the SP programme in April 2003 when the cost of housing related support was separated from rent and service charges in all sheltered housing schemes.

The rent you pay entitles you to exclusive use of your own accommodation along with repairs and maintenance of same. If you pay a service charge, this is to cover the lighting, heating, maintenance and repairs of common parts (e.g. lounge, laundry, corridors etc) and gardens if applicable.

The support charge, which as stated has been separate from the other two charges since 2003, is to cover the cost of the services of scheme manager (warden) along with provision, maintenance and monitoring of the community alarm system.

The nature of the support contract with Guinness (Trust), and the current SP charging policy requires the council to recover the cost of providing this service from tenants. There are however some exceptions which include people who are in receipt of Housing Benefit exempt from paying support charges.

SP rules further state that where tenants are not exempt due to housing benefit entitlement, support charges must be included in the council’s Fairer Charging scheme, which explains why you have received a Community Care Non Residential Financial Assessment form. If you wish to contact them, the telephone number of the Financial Assessment Team is Freephone 0800 052 8886.

The second part of your question asks the “legal definition of sheltered housing” and although it’s not a legal term the broad definition of sheltered housing covers a wide range of housing for older and/or disabled or other vulnerable people.

Most commonly it refers to grouped housing such as a block or "scheme" of flats or bungalows often, but not always, with a scheme manager or "sheltered housing officer" providing a support service to residents. While there is generally always an integrally fitted community alarm system, there may also be other facilities for communal use which may include a lounge, dining room, laundry etc.

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How can community youth groups can get more involved with local primary and secondary schools? (Jacob Whittingham)

Officer response provided by Di Osbourne, Strategic Lead - Community Engagement & Involvement, Community Learning Division

As part of the extended services provision more and more schools are opening their doors outside schools hours and term time to community based groups. There are currently two named extended services area co-ordinators who will be able to provide more detail and support dependant on the area of interest in the borough.

Cynthia Roomes
Extended Services Area Co-ordinator
Tel: 020 7926 2216

Valika Eden
Extended Services Area Co-ordinator
Tel: 020 7926 2217

Extended Services
By 2012 all schools to provide access to a core of extended services, in raising standards of pupil motivation, aspiration, achievement and behaviour and contributing to a wider range of other government targets including childcare, children’s services, community cohesion, neighbourhood renewal, adult learning, combating child poverty, health inequalities and crime reduction. The core offer will comprise:

• quality childcare provided on the school site or through other local providers
• a varied menu of activities, such as homework clubs, study support, arts and sports
• parenting support, including information, and family learning
• swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialist services
• wider community access, including Information Communication Technology, arts, sports and adult learning.

Extended services advisors will help plan, develop, manage and maintain services through out schools, minor capital costs, developing partnerships with key agencies and consulting the main stakeholders (children, parents, community) about what services are needed.