RESOLVED

1.    That the possible impact on the council, residents and businesses of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and the work that the council and its partners is doing to prepare for potential scenarios post departure be noted.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report which had also been considered at the Council meeting on 18 September.  He took the opportunity to thank all those involved for their work on identifying and mitigating the potential impact on residents and businesses and welcomed the opportunity for Cabinet to ask more questions of officers than in the formal Council meeting setting.

The Cabinet Member outlined some of the actions which had been taken to build resilience, for example the funding of a post at the Merton Citizens Advice Bureau to provide advice and assistance for residents, particularly those from the EU to apply for settled status.  The Cabinet had concerns over the relatively small number of applications for settled status being approved, both locally and nationally, and it was recognised that some residents would find it more difficult to produce the paperwork required to demonstrate their status.  He welcomed Merton’s two Members of Parliament voting to publish the Government’s Operation Yellow Hammer report setting out the risks of leaving the EU with no deal, and highlighted the risk to the supply of fresh food and medicines.  The Council had been using its experience in emergency planning in Merton to prepare for a no deal exit from the EU.

The Director of Corporate Services and Merton’s Lead Officer on Brexit, advised that a meeting had taken place that week for London representatives, including some Chief Executives, to discuss preparations for the 31 October deadline, the risks and the mitigations in place.  Further work would be required on unintended consequences and the Cabinet report would not include everything as new risks were emerging as time went on.  Approximately 8000 residents had been identified as requiring settled status and support would be provided to those residents, particularly to ensure vulnerable adults and care leavers achieve settled status.  The Director gave an overview of other work being carried out, including work being led on by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and working with the Council’s major contractors to identify those with EU staff and supply chains and ensuring business continuity plans were updated.

Cabinet Members welcomed the work which had been undertaken, including the proactive work across London boroughs and its partners; and asked a number of questions and the officers advised as follows:

·         It was not currently known how many referrals had been made to the Citizens Advice Bureau, however the adviser had been in post since July and the Council was in the process of collecting the data to report back to Members in due course.

·         The Council would be seeking settled status on behalf of those looked after children for whom it had parental responsibility.  For those looked after children under S20 of the Children Act, the parents would be responsible for applying for settled status.

·         It was not currently possible to compare the Council’s progress to other London boroughs as the situation was a new one and developing at a pace, however data was being passed to the MHCLG and it would eventually be possible to have a London-wide picture.

·         The biggest impact on Adult Social Care would be on staffing and a London-wide survey had been launched to get an overall picture, and this data would be fed back to the MCHLG.  There had been early engagement with care home providers to understand their challenges and officers had been working closely with NHS, sharing data on beds and care home places.  The Council was working with leads in the sector to make a case for reducing the salary cap of £30,000 as many care home workers earned less than this figure.

·         There was a concern over a shortage of labour in the result of a no deal Brexit and raise in construction costs, as this could impact on the regeneration of Morden Town Centre and other schemes in the Borough.  The Council would need to consider the impacts and keep under close review.  There would also be an impact on larger schemes beyond the Council’s control such as Crossrail2.

·         The Council’s HR department was providing support and advice to affected staff from the EU, who had been identified through the staff survey.  There was a concern across London that emergency planning function works on the basis that London councils will provide assistance to their neighbours in a time of crisis.  The risk is that if every borough is in the same situation, there will not be the same capacity and resources available to deal with the impacts, and this was the case for some of the Council’s partners who had also experienced cuts to resources in recent years.

The Chair echoed the concerns raised by the Cabinet over a potential no deal Brexit and thanked the officers for their impressive work and all the contributions from Cabinet members.  He welcomed both the service being offered to staff and residents at the Citizens Advice Bureau and the features in MyMerton to advise residents.

RESOLVED

1.    That the possible impact on the council, residents and businesses of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and the work that the council and its partners is doing to prepare for potential scenarios post departure be noted.