Councillor Arjun Mittra

Council - Tuesday 28th January, 2025 7.00 pm

The Council of Barnet Council met on Tuesday 28 January 2025. The meeting started with tributes to Councillor Eva Greenspan, and former Councillors Usha Chopra and Joe Lee who had all sadly passed away. The council then adopted the [Joint Report of the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer (section 151 Officer)][Council cover report 28 January 2025], which detailed unlawful payments that had been made to, and from the Barnet Pension Fund. The Council delegated to the Pension Fund and Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committees the task of establishing the best way to rectify these unlawful payments, and delegated authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer, to put those steps into effect. The council also noted the appointment of Alexa, Alina, Zahra, and Shama from Copthall Girls School to speak about the 60th anniversary of the London Borough of Barnet.

East Area Committee - Tuesday 21st January, 2025 7.00 pm

The meeting discussed funding requests made by Councillors and an update on the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) budget. The committee approved a request for funding for a food growing project in Hollickwood Park. The remaining three funding applications made by Councillors were rejected.

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) - Thursday 12th December, 2024 6.00 pm

The Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) of Barnet Council met on Thursday 12 December 2024 and the most significant item on their agenda was a report on the External Audit of the council's accounts for the last three years.

Budget Scrutiny, Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 12th December, 2024 7.00 pm

The committee considered a report on proposed changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme. It was noted that a separate public consultation was in progress, and the cabinet will consider the committee's views alongside the public consultation responses in February 2025. The committee recommended that the cabinet consider what other councils in London were doing. The committee also noted the Cabinet Forward Plan and considered a proposal to add the Open Door Homes acquisitions update to the plan for June 2025. There were no objections, so this was agreed. The committee noted the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and agreed to move their meeting from 5 June to 12 June. They also agreed to consider the budget papers on 30 January to allow members to make comments ahead of the final budget being produced. Finally, the committee considered two reports on the council's budget: the Chief Finance Officer Report – 2024/25 Quarter 2 Financial Forecast and 2024/25 Budget Management and the Business Planning and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2025-2030. These reports revealed a challenging financial position for the council, with an anticipated overspend of £25 million for 2024/25. The committee recommended that the cabinet consider how the budget consultation might be improved in future years, potentially by adopting a themed approach where each department could be scrutinized separately.

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) - Wednesday 27th November, 2024 7.00 pm

The Committee noted all of the reports that were presented, including the status of the council’s strategic and high level (15+) service risks, the work of the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team, and the performance of the Adult Social Care Financial Sustainability Programme. The Committee agreed to refer an item on the affordability of Brent Cross to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) and noted that the external audit for the 2023/24 financial year would likely result in a disclaimer of audit opinion.