Mr Paul Rock, Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Risk stated the report was an annual update on the work of the Insurance Service and its performance. He said this was the second year that such a report was being presented to the Committee even though there was no statutory requirement for the Committee to receive a report on the insurance activity. Mr Rock said he hoped it would provide some insight into the role of the Insurance and Claims handling team which were a part of his service.

Mr Rock said the report provided an overview of the work and key policies that were being tendered through the London Insurance Consortium. He said the policies would cost £4.5M over the next five years, despite having excesses of between £0.5M to £2M, depending on the policy. Mr Rock said there was a slightly reduced claim profile this year and said this was likely due to the national lockdowns and the fact less people were out, reducing the chances of slipping, tripping and falling than in previous years. Mr Rock said that going forward, he would expect to see an increase in the number of claims made.

In respect to benchmarking against other Councils, Mr Rock said this had not been as straightforward as he expected. He said there were nine authorities within the Consortium however the information provided was not easily digestible. He said he hoped to provide further information in a future report to the Committee.

In response to comments and questions from Members the following was noted:

• Referring to paragraph 3.23, members asked why the benchmarking information had been difficult to acquire. Mr Rock explained the data that had come back from the Consortium was for 2020, for one year and therefore could not be compared over a four-year period, as he would have liked. Mr Rock said the data needed to be more fully incorporated and he was working with the Consortium to attain the information that he required.
• In respect to paragraph 3.20 and MMI insured public sector authorities, Mr Rock said he would provide a written answer to the Committee regarding their involvement in this, since the company ceased trading in September 1992.

• ACTION: Mr Rock to provide members with a written response regarding MMI insured public sector authorities.

• In relation to paragraph 3.13, the Chair asked if leaseholders were aware of the opt-in scheme and why there was such a low take up. Mr Rock responded saying the scheme was a voluntary scheme promoted by Tower Hamlets Homes and there would be several reasons why people did not take up the offer, ranging from making a saving by not insuring to insuring their household contents separately.

The Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Note the contents of the report.