The questions which have been received from Councillors to be put at this Council meeting are set out in the attached report.  A maximum period of 30 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.

The following questions and in each case a supplementary question (except where indicated) were put and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member.

8.1       Question from Councillor Danny Hassell about proposed changes to school funding allocations and the potential impact in the Borough.

8.2       Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman asking whether the Mayor intends to lead a joint anti-austerity campaign against cuts.

8.3       Question from Councillor Marc Francis about the action taken by LBTH and the Police following recent knifepoint robberies.

8.4       Question from Councillor Craig Aston about the costs to the taxpayer of the Bonfire Night fireworks display in Victoria Park.

8.5       Question from Councillor Sabina Akhtar about efforts to tackle local unemployment.

8.6       Question from Councillor Muhammad Mustaquim about the provision of support to community organisations in light of recent grant funding decisions.

8.7       Question from Councillor Andrew Cregan regarding the Norton Folgate site in Spitalfields. (No supplementary question)

8.8       Question from Councillor Julia Dockerill about the continuation of the Borough wide 20mph Experimental Traffic Order.

8.9       Question from Councillor Helal Uddin to the Mayor about his plans to further improve community cohesion in the Borough.

8.10    Question from Councillor Rabina Khan to the Mayor regarding his plans to protect residents from facing eviction in light of the new housing bill.

Question 8.11-22 were not put due to a lack of time. Written responses would be provided to the questions.

(Action by:– Matthew Mannion, Committee Services Manager, Democratic Services to arrange written responses)

The following questions and in each case a supplementary question (except where indicated) were put and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member.

8.1       Question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

What assessment has this council made of the potential impact in this borough of the Tory government's proposals to change school funding allocations?

Response by Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education & Children's Services:

What we know is that the Conservative Government have said that they will implement a new National funding formula from 2017/18 which will include a ‘transitional phase’. So there will be period of time over which the new funding arrangement comes into place.  We don’t have a lot more detail but we do expect the Government to start the consultation soon but what does seem clear is that London Local Authorities will see significant cuts and Tower Hamlets is likely to suffer particularly which will obviously be a serious issue for our schools. This really matters. Education has been an extraordinary success story of Labour Local Authorities since the mid 1990s and anything that undermines that success and the success of our children really really needs to be strongly fought against. So people will know that there are a number of discussions going on currently about an educational partnership which we hope will increase the resilience through the cooperation of schools. However, if the Tory Government cut our funding the educational outcomes of the children in the Borough will suffer and that is enormously important.

Supplementary question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

We have seen it with the public health grant and we have seen it with the revenue support grant that the Tory Government is interested in hitting Labour Councils hard and we know that Labour Councils have chosen to fund their schools more generously and that is choices that those Councils have made historically over the years.

Does the Lead Member agree that this seems to be just another Tory attack on Labour Local Authorities trying to deliver high quality public services to their residents? 

Councillor Rachael Saunders response to the supplementary question:

So what we need is a funding formulae that takes into account the high cost of schooling in London  as well as the need to mitigate against separation, the importance of supporting children and families and the need to help our diverse community come together and to succeed. It is fair to say actually that in terms of Tower Hamlets education, you really do get what you pay for. We have been well funded and we have achieved extraordinary outcomes for local children. I really hope that the Tory Government don’t undermine that in any way. There is a huge risk and a huge campaign that we need to run to deal with it.

8.2       Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman

Labour party, including Parliamentary Labour Party, has adopted a clear anti-austerity stance and opposed George Osborne’s fiscal charter, when will Mayor Biggs listen to Independent Group and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8