The Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission met to discuss cabinet member achievements, the automation of parking appeals, and the commission's work programme. Councillors agreed to a new business-focused item for January and discussed the timing of a transport strategy review.

Cabinet Member Update: Achievements and Challenges

Councillor Robert Chapman, Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Service, presented an update on his achievements related to the Skilled Economy and Growth (SEG) portfolio, focusing on manifesto commitments and the council's strategic plan¹. He outlined progress and challenges across several pledges:

• Pledge 11: Ensuring goods and services are produced locally and sustainably. The Sustainable Procurement and Insorcer Strategy (SPIS) was ratified, embedding a 'procure local first' approach and prioritising the London Living Wage and climate action.
• Pledge 243: Utilising council-owned buildings to support local businesses and social enterprises through the Space Bank initiative. Progress has been challenging due to financial pressures, but shared use of spaces has been promoted. The Garages to Workspace Programme has been paused due to viability constraints.
• Pledge 244: Creating a council-to-business brand to improve access to council services. While a single brand is lacking, commercial activity is underway, including Hackney's commercial waste service, Hackney markets, the rollout of electric vehicle charging points, Hackney Light and Power, and Connect to Hackney. A comprehensive commercial strategy is being designed for cabinet approval in December 2025.
• Pledge 10: Prioritising local businesses, social enterprises, and co-operatives where services cannot be insourced. The SPIS embeds an insourced-first hierarchy. Hackney continues to lead on insourcing, with 18 major contracts brought in-house.
• Pledge 245: Expanding Hackney's procurement pathways to ensure local businesses can access more council contract opportunities. The procurement strategy team is mapping local suppliers to inform market engagement and contract design.

Councillor Chapman emphasised that financial pressures have made delivering the manifesto commitments challenging, with Hackney having lost around £150 million in government support under the previous Conservative government. He noted that the new Labour government had improved the situation, but financial constraints remained.

Councillor Gilbert Smyth asked about the implementation of a more circular economy², increasing recycling, and reducing single-use plastics as part of Pledge 11. Councillor Chapman responded that this was part of Councillor Young's remit, but that work was progressing with a team looking at ways to introduce it. Councillor Penny Wrout asked about Pledge 10 and the lack of take-up from co-operatives, suggesting the council should offer assistance to help them get off the ground. Councillor Chapman agreed that more could be done and that the new economic development strategy would look at how to overcome some of the problems.

Councillor Wrout also asked about the definition of a local business in relation to Pledge 245, specifically whether Amazon's headquarters in the borough would qualify. Councillor Chapman responded that the focus was on people based locally, rather than perhaps the international headquarters.

Councillor Jasmine Martins asked about the branding of council-to-business services, questioning whether there was a need for a brand given that some services already existed. Councillor Chapman responded that the collection of general enterprises in the council could be described as this brand, and that the council would see what comes out of the development of the commercial strategy.

Parking Appeals: Automation of Notice Processing

Michael Wiktorko, senior service area manager of parking customer services, presented an update on the parking appeals automation of notice processing. The project aims to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency of the appeals process, following approval of a budget savings proposal for parking services.

Mr Wiktorko explained that the council issues a high volume of penalty charge notices (PCNs), with a significant increase in disputes. In 2024/25, over 300,000 PCNs were issued, with over 62,000 disputes received. The council's ranking for the quality of its parking tickets is number one in London.

The new AI tool is being trialled to automate parts of the process, eliminating the need for officers to read the entire correspondence or tick relevant check boxes. The tool summarises the context of the letter and highlights the relevant information for the officer to make a decision. This streamlined process is expected to increase productivity by 40%.

Councillor Liam Davis raised concerns about data privacy, asking about the company or software being used and whether data could be used to train models or sold to third parties. Mr Wiktorko assured him that the system was not a language model or generative AI, and that it was an isolated, closed system that only reads the information and ticks boxes. Geeta Subramaniam-Mooney, director of environment and climate change, added that the council was testing AI carefully and that the system was more about automating processes than using AI.

Councillor Martins asked for clarification on whether the automation was essentially selecting options that the officer would have been ticking in the old process. Mr Wiktorko confirmed that was correct.

Councillor Patrick Pinkerton asked what would happen if the officer disagreed with the proposed response. Mr Wiktorko responded that the officer could click disagree, which would be reported back to the supplier, and that the officer could then review the case manually.

Councillor Wrout asked how the system would know if it was a first-time contravention, as in the example given. Mr Wiktorko explained that the system would know from the vehicle's case history, but that the officer would be flagged to make the decision if there were multiple PCNs.

Councillor Smyth asked whether the council could trust the reliability of the system and what reassurance there was that residents would not be wary of automated decision-making. Mr Wiktorko responded that the system had 95% accuracy and that all cases were checked by a human. Ms Subramaniam-Mooney added that quality was paramount and that everything was checked by a human before it left the council.

Work Programme 2025/26

Councillor Clare Potter introduced the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission Work Programme 2025/26, explaining that it was a working document that was regularly updated. She noted that she and Councillor Ali Sadek would like to look at doing a business item for January, focusing on the business voice and the efficiency of money spent on business support.

Councillor Smyth asked about the VCS strategy and grants programme update, which is scheduled for the November meeting. He also asked about the transport strategy, which is scheduled for December.

Councillor Smyth suggested that it would be better to scrutinise the transport strategy when the consultation comes back, rather than before. Tracey Anderson, a council officer, responded that the consultation was in phases and that the December meeting would be just before the draft strategy was published for public consultation.

Councillor Pinkerton asked whether voluntary community groups would be invited to give their views on the grants programme. Another council officer, Rosie, responded that HCVS would be invited, and that they would see if they could get some other organisations as well.

Councillor Potter suggested a business-focused item for January, a visit to the green skills hub in February, and the nighttime economy strategy in March.