Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Markham and Tony Little.

None.

It was confirmed that all items were marked as Part I, and would therefore be considered in public.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 September 2018 be approved as a correct record.

Lynn Hawes - Youth Offending Service Manager, Sally Ellis - Restorative Justice Co-ordinator, and Tom Murphy - Assistant Director of Early Intervention Prevention & SEND, introduced a report on Restorative Justice within the Youth Offending Service (YOS).

Restorative Justice was an initiative which aimed to bring together the victims of an offence, together with those responsible for the offence, to explore how the harm caused might be repaired. This included the victims meeting or communicating with the young person who committed the crime, to explain the impact of the crime and allow the young person to have the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends for their actions.

The Committee was shown a video interview of an adult couple who had been a victim of an offence, (in this instance, an assault by a group of teenage girls), and who had subsequently taken part in the process. The interview set out how the victims had felt following the incident, their initial apprehension at meeting the perpetrator of the assault, and their feelings following the meeting. The victims described feeling overwhelmingly positive about the experience, and the video concluded with their endorsement of the initiative.

The initiative was launched at Hillingdon Council approximately 3 years ago. All known victims were approached but not all wished to engage in the process, sometimes for practical reasons, for example where the victim lived a considerable distance away. Since April 2015, the YOS had supported approximately 25 direct conferences between victims and perpetrators. Since June 2018, a further 20 victims had been identified through links with the Police, from which 1 face to face direct conference had been held. It was forecast that 2 additional conferences would be held in the near future.

Challenges to be overcome included changes to obtaining personal contact information following the launch of GDPR. Discussions on how to address this were ongoing between the Council and the Police.

Members sought additional information, and asked a number of questions including:

How was the YOS addressing young people who were the victims of a crime?

All victims, regardless of age, were offered the opportunity to engage with the initiative. Similar to adults, some young people were willing to engage, whilst some were not. In addition, parents of the young people were often unwilling to allow their child to take part, due to concerns over the potential for victimisation or recrimination.

What training did staff undergo to enable them to carry out direct conferences successfully?

Staff were required to attend a 3 day training course delivered by the Restorative Justice Council. Currently, Hillingdon had four staff trained to moderate direct conferences. Feedback from all parties following the conferences was used to determine areas for improvement.

How was mental health considered within the process?

Hillingdon’s team included a part time mental health worker, who was of great benefit in all its work, particularly when facilitating referrals to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Mental health issues for young people being regularly identified  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Dan Kennedy - Deputy Director, Housing, Environment, Education, Health & Wellbeing, and Laura Baldry – Admissions and Allocations Officer, updated the Committee on the Council’s School Places Planning.

It was confirmed that every child within the Borough had been offered a primary or secondary school place as part of the latest admission round. Currently, the Council was maintaining sufficient spare places, which allowed for in-year admissions. Common reasons for in-year admissions included parental preference, residential development, or changing Ofsted school ratings.

Figures for primary schools places were showing a slight reduction in demand, which had not been anticipated three or four years previously. A similar reduction had been seen within other London boroughs, and possible reasons for the decline could be the EU referendum or affordability of homes within London, as well as throughput from a lower birth rate in 2014 to the current reception classes. In particular, schools close to physical barriers, or on the edge of heavy residential areas, were seeing a decline. The majority of remaining capacity was located within a small number of schools. Secondary schools had a smaller number of spare places, but like primary schools, spare capacity was within a small number of schools.

Since August 2018, Hillingdon had received 790 applications for primary school places, (200 of which were for children new to the country or Borough), and 430 for secondary school places (180 new to the country or Borough.) The start of a school year was recognised as being turbulent, with many parents moving their children to different schools as higher preferences became available, or as a result of families moving into the area.

It was forecasted that primary school places would remain mostly stable, though pockets of surplus places would need managing in light of the financial impact that unused places had on schools. Residential development within the Uxbridge and Hayes areas was expected to add additional pressure on places at local schools, however there was confidence that schools in nearby surrounding areas could meet any increased demand.

Demand for secondary school places was expected to increase, with many pupils travelling from the south to the north of the Borough for a school place. Modelling was continuing, and it was expected that schools in the north of the Borough would require 7 form entry, with 6 form entry in the south.

Approval had been granted for a new free school in the north of the Borough, though issues with securing a suitable location had resulted in a revised estimate of 2022/23 for its availability. As a contingency, the Council was reviewing options for the temporary expansion of existing schools.

Members sought further clarity and raised a number of questions, including:

Given that children in the south of the Borough were having to attend school in the north or outside of the Borough, and the difficulties in expanding schools in the south, why was the Council not exploring options for a new school in the south?

Council officers were reviewing all options  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Roy Clark – Parking Services Manager, provided evidence as part of the Committee’s review into payment modernisation across key resident services, focussing on the ways that residents and customers can pay for parking within Hillingdon.

The Committee was informed that the Council’s Parking Services receives a number of payments for parking services, including permits, suspensions, Penalty Charge Notices and payments for parking in on-street parking bays and within the Council’s car parks.

Payments for parking permits average £234k per annum and payments can be made online through a third party payment provider, by cheque or postal order, or by telephone. As all permit and visitor voucher applications are received by post, cash payments are not encouraged. However, on occasion cash is received by post and in such instances, the cash is banked as normal. Additional visitor vouchers can be purchased at Hillingdon libraries. A newly introduced parking ticket system allows motorists to view CCTV footage, and pay or appeal fines, online.

Payments for parking bay charge suspensions and waivers to park on yellow lines during essential works average £116k per annum. Payments for parking suspensions/waivers can be made by cheque or payment card over telephone. For Penalty charge Notices (PCNs), the Council receive a total of £3.4m per year. Payments for PCNs can be made online via a third party supplier, by an automated telephone service or by cheque or postal order.

The two multi-storey car parks in Uxbridge (Cedars and Grainges car parks) operate a barrier control system with Pay on Foot machines. The machines accept banknotes, coins or contactless credit/debit cards. The average income from the car parks is £981k per annum.

The majority of other parking charges are received via Pay and display (P&D) machines, which account for a total of £1.9m per annum. The Council currently operates 252 Pay and display machines, that provide cheaper parking rates to owners of the Hillingdon First card. Use of these sites of predominantly short stay (i.e. ½ - 2 hours), and 75% of all payments are at the Hillingdon First cheaper rate.

While Pay and display machines currently accept coins only, advances in technology now allow for a cashless option via credit or debit cards, which also allows for use of the Hillingdon First cards.

Options for cashless machines include:

-       P&D machines with cash only facilities and a card payment system available through a mobile phone system (under this system coin only machines would remain and a separate mobile phone payment system would also be introduced).

-       P&D machines with a card only payment system fitted to the machine (under this system only a payment card reader would be available at the machines - there would be no coin payment option available).

-       P&D machines with cash and card payment facilities fitted to the machine (under this option motorists could pay with coins at the machine and there would also be a payment card reader fitted to the machine).

-       P&D machines with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

It was confirmed that the Car Parking Season Tickets Policy was no longer due for consideration at Cabinet. It was agreed that the clerk would provide the Committee with details on the policy, once available.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.