Harrow Council could appoint a series of assistants to help support senior councillors with their specific briefs in the borough.

A report set to be presented to the council’s cabinet tomorrow (Thursday, May 27) outlines plans to give eight councillors increased responsibilities for 2021/22.

If approved, these councillors could receive an additional allowance of £2,142 for taking the role.

However, since councillors can only have one extra allowance, in addition to their basic of £8,561, this might not be the case for all appointments.

Under the proposals, Cllr Angella Murphy-Strachan (Lab, Edgware) would support Cllr Christine Robson (Lab, West Harrow), who is responsible for children and young people, with corporate parenting.

Cllr Ajay Maru (Lab, Kenton West) would pick up a business brief from Cllr Keith Ferry (Lab, Greenhill), who is responsible for business, property and leisure.

The delivery of adult social care would be shared by current portfolio holder Cllr Simon Brown (Lab, Headstone South) and assistant Cllr Maxine Henson (Lab, Roxbourne).

Cllr Dan Anderson (Lab, Harrow-on-the-Hill) would take on customer services to help Cllr Sue Anderson (Lab, Greenhill), who is responsible for community engagement, accessibility, and customer services.

The communications aspect of council leader Cllr Graham Henson’s (Lab, Roxbourne) responsibilities would be supported by Cllr Chole Smith (Lab, Rayners Lane), while Cllr James Lee (Lab, Edgware) will cover the eastern part of the borough for community cohesion, aiding Cllr Peymana Assad (Lab, Roxeth), who has wider responsibility for community cohesion, crime, and enforcement.

Finally, Cllr Varsha Parmar (Lab, Marlborough) will have assistance from Cllr Sarah Butterworth (Lab, Harrow-on-the-Hill) on the climate emergency and Cllr David Perry (Lab, Marlborough) on regeneration, transport, and road safety under her brief as environment portfolio holder.

The report follows a cabinet reshuffle from Cllr Henson, which saw Cllr Adam Swersky (Lab, West Harrow) step down from his position as lead member for finance and Cllr Ferry take on reduced responsibilities as he continues to support the council’s major regeneration scheme.

Cllr Natasha Proctor (Lab, Wealdstone) has taken over Cllr Swersky’s post and assumed the role of deputy leader of the council.

Upon announcing his changes, Cllr Henson said the new make-up will allow people to take on appropriate workloads as the council prepares to embark on the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added there is a good “balance” across all committees, including among genders and ages in senior groups.