Leader confirms new Cabinet Adviser appointments
Leader of Camden Council, Councillor Georgia Gould has confirmed the appointment of the Cabinet Advisers for 2023 to 2024.
Established in 2019, following cross-party consultation, four Cabinet Advisers are appointed each municipal year. Each will focus on a specific policy area and produce policy recommendations to Cabinet at the end of the municipal year.
This year’s Cabinet Advisers will bring their wide experience as community leaders and policy makers to supporting our Council’s Cabinet, developing recommendations which will help us to make progress across some key areas of Council policy and better deliver for our communities in Camden. I’m really looking forward to working with the Advisers this year to drive forward our We Make Camden ambitions, and to learning from the expertise, fresh insight and challenge they will bring to their policy areas.
"We learnt a huge amount from the work of the Cabinet Advisers for the 2022/23 municipal year. They brought their focus and energy to helping us to drive forward progress across our Estates Mission, to improving access to quality work experience for Camden’s diverse student population, how we can better support rough sleepers in the borough, and how we can improve Camden’s biodiversity and access to green spaces. I look forward to working with Cabinet and the Advisers to take forward the recommendations this year.
The four Cabinet Advisers for 2023 to 2024 are:
Councillor Camron Aref-Adib - Cabinet Adviser on Opening Up Access to Sport for Young People
Councillor Aref-Adib will explore how opening up access to sports facilities will support the Youth Mission by supporting young people’s wellbeing, confidence and qualifications.
Councillor Aref-Adib said: "Sport can play a major role in supporting young people’s wellbeing and confidence but too often access to sporting facilities is unequal. I am looking forward to working with stakeholders in Camden, including local sports clubs and community groups, young people, and schools, to consider how we can remove barriers to access and open up sport for all.”
Councillor Sharon Hardwick - Cabinet Adviser on Child Hunger and Expanding Free School Meals
Councillor Hardwick will explore how we bring together schools and the community to tackle hunger, improve nutrition and sustainability and build upon the expanded investment Camden has made in breakfast clubs, tackling holiday hunger and long term free school meals for primary school children.
Councillor Hardwick said: “As someone who benefitted from free school meals from primary to secondary school, I want to explore how we can make this a whole school and community effort to improve nutrition and sustainability alongside tackling hunger. I will also look at how to improve take up for secondary free school meals and continue to mobilise efforts to take on child hunger alongside the Food Poverty Network.”
Councillor James Slater - Cabinet Adviser on Improving Services to Camden Leaseholders and Advocating for Leaseholders
Councillor Slater will explore how to ensure Camden leaseholders’ views are heard, communication is accessible and that they are being supported to live in decent, safe and warm homes. He will also look at how we can lobby for national reform to better protect leaseholders in Camden.
Councillor Slater said: "With leasehold reform a hot topic in the news, I want to ensure that the views of Camden leaseholders are heard in that debate. I also want to look at how Camden communicates with leaseholders so we can improve our services, and I'm very keen to hear views from leaseholders across the borough."
Councillor Nasrine Djemai - Cabinet Adviser on Safety for Women and Girls
Councillor Djemai will focus on how to ensure women and girls have the knowledge and confidence to navigate services, access support and create their own projects around safety and how our community can take practical action together to provide safer estates, streets, and venues.
Cllr Djemai said: “I want to live in a borough where women and young girls don’t have to look over their shoulders when they walk at night, or search for their keys before reaching their front doors. It’s a privilege to take up this role and I look forward to working with the Council, our partners and communities to connect current Council initiatives addressing violence against women and girls with new initiatives and ideas, which can enable all women and young girls to feel safe in Camden.”
The new Cabinet Advisers will start their roles immediately.
You can read more information on each role on the council’s website.