During the meeting, the Council agreed to vary the order of business to consider: Agenda Item 13.1, an urgent motion regarding the Youth Offending Services report and Agenda Item 12.1, Motion regarding the Council’s Finances before the conclusion of Agenda Item 11 Member Questions. To aid clarity, the Minutes are presented in the order that the items originally appeared on the agenda

The Speaker of the Council, Councillor Shafi Ahmed in the Chair

The Speaker of the Council provided his update to the Council. He noted that this had been a busy couple of months, both for himself as the new Speaker and fellow new Councillors. There had been a lot of learn. However he had made every effort to commence his duties quickly. The highlights included:

·       Civic engagements to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee including the lighting of the beacon at the Tower of London, a special citizenship ceremony at St George’s Town Hall and community celebrations.

·       A courtesy call from representatives of the Royal Navy of Oman, who were berthed in the Borough’s docks.

·       A new civic Mayors induction day with fellow civic colleagues.

·       The launch of the Queen Victoria Seamen’s Rest Centres, a longstanding charity who provided shelter for those in need.

·       The Disability Sports Day at Mile End Stadium.

·       Attending the historic annual rent ceremony at Billingsgate Market.

·       A number of Eid events in the community and other celebration events.

·       Numerous other community events.

He also noted the recent census figures, showing that the Borough has the highest population growth of all the London Borough’s. He welcomed the new residents to the Borough.

The Speaker also had the honour of becoming a dementia friend, an amazing programme run by the Alzheimer’s Society. He encouraged others to do the same.

He was also pleased to announce that he had chosen the Tower Project and in particular their Autism Services as his chosen Charity. He looked forward to working with them and fundraising for them over the coming year.

Finally turning to sad news. The Speaker offered his condolences to Councillor Abdul Wahid on the recent loss of his father. He also paid tribute to and spoke in remembrance of:

• Mr Enam Ali MBE, FRSA, who founded the British Curry Awards, Spice Business Magazine and Ion TV
• Mark Baynes, East End Enquirer website owner and well know campaigner in Tower Hamlets

The Council sent their best wishes to their family and friends.

The Speaker also reported that, to better space out this year’s Council meetings, he had agreed to move the next meeting from 28 September to 5 October 2022.

Procedural Motion

Councillor Maium Talukdar moved a procedural motion under Council Procedure Rule, 11.2  that  an urgent motion be considered on the Youth Offending Services Report, as set out in the supplementary agenda. The Speaker of the Council indicated that he accepted the grounds for urgency. The procedural motion was put to the vote and was agreed.

The Speaker of the Council also agreed to accept an urgent question from Councillor Peter Golds under Council Procedural Rule 10.4, as set out in the supplementary agenda. The Speaker indicated that he accepted the reasons for urgency.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of:

•                Councillor Ohid Ahmed

•                Councillor Amina Ali

•                Councillor Maisha Begum and

•                Councillor Saif Uddin Khaled

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine; whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interests form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

Councillor Nathalie Bienfait declared a Non - Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in Agenda Item 5.1, Petition regarding the Antill Road vehicle filter. This was on the basis of the Councillor’s involvement in setting up the Petition.

Councillor Iqbal Hossain declared a Non - Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in Agenda item 5.2, Petition regarding the Silvertown Tunnel. This was because  he had recently attended an event held by the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel group.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Council held on 25^th May 2022

RESOLVED:

1.     That the unrestricted minutes of the Annual General Council meeting held on Wednesday 25^th May 2022 be confirmed as a correct record and the Speaker be authorised to sign them accordingly:

The Chief Executive, Will Tuckley provided his regular update to the Council meeting, highlighting the following issues:

• Covid rates and vaccines. Rates of covid infection have been rising in the Borough as everywhere, but appeared to be slowing. The Council were working with the NHS to provide further boosters for over 50 year olds and others in Autumn and to deliver flu vaccines and a variety of childhood immunisations.
• Inspections. He noted the findings of the Youth Offending Service report and the work underway to deliver improvements. He also noted the more positive findings of the recent unannounced Ofsted inspection looking at  Children in Care. Further details will be made available on 31^st August, when the letter was due to be published. The Council have also received a positive letter from the Ombudsman service for England and Wales  regarding improvements in the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints.
• He also expressed best wishes to Judith St John, (Director of Culture and Children’s Commissioning), in view of her retirement from the Council after 34 years of service. He also acknowledged the work of the Member recruitment Panel to appoint a successor. An announcement would be made soon.
• Continuing success at Awards.  He congratulated the  Strategic Planning Team on winning the London Planning Team of the Year at the Royal Town Planning Institute awards. He also expressed appreciation for the work of the parks services, as Bartlett Park had been awarded a green flag bringing the Council’s total to 13.

The Council Procedure Rules provide for a maximum of four petitions to be discussed at an Ordinary Meeting of the Council.

The attached report presents the received petitions to be discussed. Should any additional petitions be received they will be listed to be noted but not discussed.

5.1          Petition regarding Keep Antill Road vehicle filter

Amanda Franco addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners and responded to questions from Members.  Councillor Kabir Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency then responded to the matters raised in the petition. He stated that he was mindful of the harmful impacts of air pollution on people’s health.  However, he felt that the low traffic policies, pursued by the previous Administration, caused more pollution and traffic. He also stated that the Council were committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2025. In view of this, the Administration were working on a range of measures. This included: increasing tree planting, providing  additional charging points for vehicles and other measures. He thanked the Petitioners for their engagement.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Place for a written response within 28 days.

5.2          Petition regarding the Silvertown Tunnel

Dr Jackie Applebee addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members.  Councillor Kabir Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency, then responded to the matters raised in the petition. The Administration welcomed steps to reduce pollution and ease congestion in the Borough. They were of the view that the Silvertown Tunnel will help achieve this and achieve a greener borough. He thanked the Petitioner for their engagement

RESOLVED:

1.        That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Place for a written response within 28 days.

The Council’s Constitution provides for the Elected Mayor to give a report at each Ordinary Council Meeting.

A maximum of six minutes is allowed for the Elected Mayor’s report, following which the Speaker of the Council will invite the leaders of the opposition groups to respond for up to two minutes each should they so wish. Following those contributions, the Mayor may reply for up to two minutes.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman presented his report to the Council.

The Opposition Group Leader, Councillor Sirajul Islam then responded briefly to the Mayor’s report.

Mayor Rahman provided concluding remarks

To debate a Motion submitted by the Administration in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Councillor Maium Talukdarmoved and Councillor Jahed Choudhury seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Following debate, the motion was put to a vote and was agreed

RESOLVED:

This Council notes:

•         The mandate given to Mayor Lutfur Rahman and the Aspire Group of Tower Hamlets to implement their manifesto.

•         That this manifesto will radically restructure the balance of economic and social power in the Borough of Tower Hamlets.

•         That the Mayor and the Aspire Party will aim to implement most – if not all – of the policies and pledges by the end of the current Mayoral term.

This Council believes:

•         That the Aspire manifesto should serve as the basis of the Council’s policy platform for the coming term.

•         That this manifesto will enable the Mayor and his Council to:

o      Tackle the cost of living crisis

o      Build green, affordable and sustainable homes for the future

o      Accelerate and develop lifelong, educational opportunities in the borough

o      Make Tower Hamlets a hub of culture, business, jobs and leisure

o      Invest in public services

o      Empower the communities of Tower Hamlets, fight crime and make the Borough’s streets a safe place to live.

o      Provide a cleaner, greener future for all residents.

o      Give residents a Council that listens to their needs, concerns and ideas

This council resolves:

•         That this Manifesto should incorporated into the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ official policy platform and programme for the full duration of this Mayoral term

To debate a Motion submitted by the Opposition Group in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Councillor Marc Francis moved and Councillor Mufeedah Bustin seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed moved and Councillor Maium Talukdar seconded the following amendment as set out in the supplementary agenda

Additions underlined

Deletions struck through

This Council notes:

·                 The steep increases in the costs of energy and food since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022 and the impact this is already having on Tower Hamlets’ poorest residents;

·                 Councillors agreed a woefully inadequate £200,000 increase in the Residents Support Scheme (Local Welfare Assistance) in the 2022/23 Budget meeting in March specifically to help residents struggling with their energy bills;

·                 Councillors also agreed an additional £370,000 in the same Full Council meeting for the continuation of the Food Distribution Hub in 2022/23;

·                 The People of Tower Hamlets were not impressed with the measures and voted for a new approach.

·                 With this resounding mandate, theMayor has already agreed a Cost of Living package worth nearly £3 million at Cabinet on 11^th July 2022 and agreed to incorporate his Manifesto into Council Policy at this Council Meeting.

This Council believes:

·                 This cost of living crisis demands an urgent response from both central, regional and local government if we are to prevent even worse levels of poverty and destitution;

·                 The Chancellor’s statement on 26^th May only goes a small way is nowhere near sufficient in easing the cost of living crisis, especially for those on the lowest incomes;

·                 Tower Hamlets Council is now set to receive income significantly    higher than originally anticipated in February 2021 and even March 2022 and that while.  While some of this is due to be allocated, enough remains to give some scope for ringfence further measures  funds to be reserved for future investment to support Tower Hamlets’ poorest residents over the next two years.

This Council therefore resolves:

·                To call on the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to bring forward a full Emergency Budget, including the following measures specifically designed to ease the financial burden on our poorest residents over the years 2022/23 and 2023/24:

·             To increase the “Standard Utilities Allowance” used in the calculation of Homecare charges from £5 a week back to £15 a week as of 1st April 2022 (estimated cost – £250,000);

·             To allocate a sum of £500,000 to top-up the Discretionary Housing Payment funding pot to the same level as 2021/22, so LBTH can help more tenants affected by the Tory Government’s “Bedroom Tax”, Benefit Cap and Local Housing Allowance (LHA) “freeze” on their Housing Benefit / Universal Credit entitlement;

·             To allocate a £500,000 Council Tax “Hardship Fund” for residents struggling with these bills, including self-employed residents affected by the use of DWP’s Minimum Income Floor in calculating their entitlement to Council Tax Support and disabled residents whose Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is included as “income”;

·             Set aside a total sum of £100,000 to award one-off grants to the voluntary food-banks operating in Tower Hamlets in 2022/23 so  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Council considered the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee setting out it’s Annual Report

RESOLVED:

1.             To note the Annual Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for 2021-22

The Council considered the report of the Standard’s Advisory Committee setting out it’s Annual report.

RESOLVED

1.             To note the Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee for 2021-22.

The Council considered the report of the Corporate Parenting Board setting out it’s Annual Report 2021

RESOLVED

1.             To note the Annual Report of the Corporate Parenting Board 2021-2022

The Council considered the report relating to Administrative matters.

Councillor Maium Talukdar moved and Councillor Gulam Kibria Choudhury seconded a proposal that Councillor Jahed Choudhury be elected Chair of the Audit Committee for the remainder of the 2022/23 Municipal year. This proposal was put to a vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED

1.                 Agree to elect Councillor Jahed Choudhury Chair of the Audit Committee for the remainder of the 2022/23 Municipal year.

2.         To agree to the following amendments to the Member Allowances

  Scheme:

a. To remove the Special Responsibility Allowance for the Chief Whip

b. To agree the amendment set out in Paragraph 3.7 of the report clarifying the definition of a Co-opted Member in relation to the Member Allowances Scheme

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 supplementary questions were put (except where indicated) and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member:

11.1 Question from Councillor Jahed Choudhury:

Will the Mayor provide an update on how this Council plans to alleviate the current cost of living crisis on the residents of our borough, and any specific measures that have either been implemented or are likely to be implemented in the near future?

Response of Councillor Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living:

At the meeting on 11^th July 2022,  Cabinet approved a package, of just under £3 million, to ease the cost of living crisis for 26,000 residents in the Borough.  The Council has a Residents Support Grant Scheme, which distributes £600,000 in grants for white goods every year. This year, this has been increased to £800,000 to further support those who are struggling in the energy crisis. Regarding Council Tax, we will explore ways of helping the self employed on low income.  We believe that they should receive the same benefit as those receiving wages.

At this point in the meeting, the Speaker invited Councillor Peter Golds to ask his question as set out in the supplemental agenda, under urgency procedures:

Question from Councillor Peter Golds:

Would the Mayor comment on the police raid of the former Isle of Dogs Police Station during on the evening of Sunday, 24th July, which was being used as a Cannabis factory. Would the Mayor also comment on the police statement that the premises had been sold in February 2022, although land registry records show the ownership of the building to be the Metropolitan Police?

Response of Mayor Lutfur Rahman:

It saddens me that public places are used in this way to grow cannabis. Not only here but at the Davenant Centre, due to this premises being left empty and the users wrongly ejected. This was a great premises. Its shameful and totally unacceptable.

This is a high crime Borough and the closure of the Police Station was wrong. Tackling crime was a top priority of our previous Administration. We invested in 55 Police Officers and Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers (THEOs) and CCTV cameras. We also upgraded state of the art CCTV systems.  I appreciate the money that has been allocated towards CCTV at this time. But we are a crime ridden Borough.

Fighting crime is one of our Manifesto pledges. We want everyone, our youngsters, our women and our elders to feel safe. We will be investing in more Police Officers. We are already in discussions with the appropriate authorities and the outgoing and now the Acting Borough Commander regarding measures. For example, we are looking at investing in more THEOs. Most importantly, we want a joined up approach to fighting crime and to achieve this, we need to invest in youth services and public services to make sure we work collectively to bring down crime.

Supplementary question from Councillor Peter Golds:

I  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The motions submitted by Councillors for debate at this meeting are set out in the attached report.

12.1   Motion regarding the Council’s Finances 

Councillor Saied Ahmed moved and Councillor Jahed Choudhuryseconded the motion as printed in the agenda

Councillor James King moved and Councillor Rachel Blake seconded the following amendment as set out in the supplementary agenda

This Council notes that:

-          Labour inherited a deficit from the previous Tower Hamlets First administration (now Aspire) when it won power of the Council in 2015.

-          The Council at this time was run by Government Commissioners due to the mismanagement of finances by the Tower Hamlets First administration.

-          The Labour administration worked hard under the guidance of the Commissioners to bring the budget under control.

-          From 2015 the Government’s spending review failed to fund Local Authorities adequately. Councils were told to manage within their means at times of great austerity, leading to a number of Councils filing for a Section 114 notice – essentially filing for bankruptcy. Despite this context, the Labour administration built up the Council’s finances and healthy reserves.

-          These reserves were built up by Labour to safeguard our residents from future Conservative government austerity, especially given the rhetoric displayed by the two candidates for the Conservative Party leadership.

-          the Aspire Manifesto Priorities for 2022 to 2026 point to rebuilding Tower Hamlets and rebuilding our future building on the strong work of the previous Labour administration for the future of our residents.

-          the Residents of Tower Hamlets overwhelmingly endorsed that vision.

-           that progress on those aspirations can only be achieved in a stable financial environment, which the inherited Council finances do not provide. provided by the previous Labour administration.

-          the mishandling and mismanagement of the Council’s accounts by the previous administration

-          administration issues which occurred outside of the control of the previous Labour administration has led to:

o      Outstanding Audit Certificates for the years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, thus rendering the Audits for those years incomplete

o      The Audits for 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 remain incomplete -statutory deadlines have been missed.

o      The Audit for the last financial year (2021/2022) will not be completed by the statutory deadlines due to the unresolved backlog outlined above.

o      This year’s audit (2022/2023) hasn’t started due to the delay from previous years

-          The external auditor has given draft qualified audit opinions for 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 citing:

o      Insufficient appropriate quality supporting working papers for audit from management

o      Delays in receiving information and explanations in response to subsequent audit queries

o      Other technical accounting errors that have required correction

-          The Council received an independent expert report from Worth Technical Accounting Solutions which was presented to the Audit Committee in January 2021, and a finance improvement plan was subsequently put in place.

-          Progress on the finance improvement plan has been reported to the Audit Committee at every meeting since January 2021, and the update can be found in each agenda’s report pack.

-          the scale of the failure in the Council’s financial accounts is so big and has been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.1    Urgent Motion regarding  Youth Offending Services report

Under Council Procedure Rule 11.2, Councillor Maium Talukdarmoved and Councillor Bodrul Choudhury seconded the motion as set out in the supplementary agenda.

Councillor Asma Begummoved and Councillor Mufeedah Bustin seconded the following amendment as set out in the supplementary agenda

Added text is underlined

Deleted text is scored out

This Council notes:

·                 The shocking findings of the HM Inspection of Probation report: Inspection of youth  offending services in Tower Hamlets and the City of London, published yesterday 26th July 2022.

·                 That this report represents a serious failureconcerns in the Council’s handling of crime and youth services over the past seven years.

·                 That the report outlines and highlights failings rooms for improvement at all some levels of the delivery process of the services offered by the Council.

·                 That the Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell has stated that: “It is clear to us that Tower Hamlets and City of London Youth Justice Service is not performing to the standards we expect – many areas of their work were separately rated as ‘Inadequate’.”

·                 That the report states that: ‘The service does not have the stable workforce in critical roles and senior leadership has not been effective.’

This Council believes that:

·                 This report is but the latest in a series of instances highlighting the functional, structural and bureaucratic failings of Council infrastructure.

·                 These failings are preventing the Council from delivering an adequate service to the service users and are undermining its ability to provide them with the care and support they are entitled to expect.

·                 This report particularly outlines with great clarity the failings of improvement needed in the Council’s Youth Justice Service in preventing their young service users from falling into criminal activity and protecting residents from crime and anti-social behaviour.

·                 If residents are to be protected against such problematic behaviour, these young people must be deterred from engaging in criminal activity.

·                 Serious improvements must be made in the service.

This Council resolves that:

·                 This report strengthens the Mayor’s call for an independent Council-wide diagnostic, performance review and investigation, to ascertain the root causes of these failures and ensure that these improvements can be made swiftly and comprehensively.

·                 The Council’s Youth Justice Service and Senior Management must present a full account of the measures, procedures and performative indicators in place during the period covered in the report, to aid this above-mentioned investigation.

·                 The Mayor and the Lead Member to read the report carefully and work with the previous Cabinet Leads, as the current Lead member requested, on an action plan going forward to resolve the concerns raised by the Inspector.

·                 Create a bipartisan Improvement Board to report on the progress.

·                 Work on relationships with our statutory partners and stakeholders.

·                 Support must be given to staff on the frontline so they can deliver the quality service the borough needs.

Following debate, the amendment moved by Councillor Asma Begum was put to a vote and was defeated.

The motion was put to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.