Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sabina Khan and it was noted that Councillor Mohammad Chowdhury was attending as her substitute.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest 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, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

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

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

Nil items.

To consider call in requests on the below matters:

The Committee noted that the decision made by the Mayor in Cabinet on Cabinet - Wednesday, 21st June 2023 in respect of agenda item 6.2 ‘Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL)’ was ‘called in’ under the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rules of the Council’s Constitution by (‘Call-in Members’).

Accordingly, the Committee considered:

•           the Cabinet Report Wednesday, 21st June 2023on the ‘Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL).

•           the Mayor in Cabinet Decision published on 23^rd June 2023.

•           the “call in” requisition from the Call-in Members (dated 29^th June 2023).

•           representations by the Call-in Members; and

•           representations from Councillor Kabir Ahmed (Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding).

The Committee also noted that thedecision, published on 23^rd June 2023 had:

1.    Approve the revised Local Infrastructure Initiatives Programme consisting of LIF Programmes 1-3 as set out in paragraph 3.9-3.11 and Appendix 1 of the report.

2.    Note the return of £17.285m of LIF from discontinued projects from LIF Programmes 1-3 to the main NCIL pot.

3.    Approve the proposed NCIL implementation framework for decision making on the allocation of future NCIL set out in paragraph 3.12 (Table 3) of the report to ensure that spending of NCIL remains in accordance with CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended).

4.    Approve the proposed NCIL allocations of £20.456mfor 2023-24 to 2025/26 set out in paragraph 3.13 a-c of the report.

5.    Note that decisions on project level allocations of NCIL on an annual basis to Capital Programme and Affordable Housing schemes, will be made via the Council’s standard Capital Programme governance process up to Cabinet.

6.    Note that decisions on the allocation of NCIL to individual grants will be made via the existing Council Grants process set out in the Cabinet Paper approved on the 29th of March 2023 Cabinet meeting.

7.    Delegate approval of detailed PIDs and change notes for individual projects remaining to be delivered through LIF Programmes 1 – 3 to the Director, Planning & Building Control following consultation with the Mayor and Chief Executive.

8.    Note the Equalities Impact Assessment / specific equalities considerations as set out in Paragraphs 4.1-4.4 of the report.

The decisions above have been Called-In by Councillors Sirajul Islam, Sabina Akhtar, Shubo Hussein, Amy Lee, James King. This is in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules of the Council’s Constitution.

In addition, the Committee noted the following alternative course of action proposed in the call-in:

1. Revisit the consultation process associated with the report on the grounds that it is unconstitutional Part A, Article 3, Section 1, Subsection b, ‘This decision does not seem to have been taken with due and proper consultation.’
2. Ensure that consultation has taken place with affected groups such as neighbourhood forums and community groups and rewrite the consultation process to use neighbourhood forums/plans as the primary consultation method (in areas without forums/plans conduct targeted community consultation) to ensure that the report is line with government guidance on s106  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.1

The Committee received a report that sets out the draft 2023-24 Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for (i) Overview and Scrutiny Committee; (ii) Health & Adults Scrutiny Sub-Committee; (iii) Housing & Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-Committee; and (iv) Children & Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee. In addition, the report also describes the work programmes for the Scrutiny Leads (a) Resources & Finance; and (b) Environment & Community Safety. The main points of the discussions summarised as follows:

The Board:

v  Noted that the draft work programme has been informed by the members workshop session held on Saturday 17^th July 2023 and involved co-opted members across all scrutiny committees.

v  Noted that the Strategy and Policy officers also held initial discussion with the departmental leadership team’s and gathered intelligence from a range of sources including council performance reports, annual complaints data and horizon scanning on key national, regional, and local issues that scrutiny may want to engage.

v  Noted the Annual Residents Survey (ARS) will be published shortly to gather residents’ feedback on the Council, local area and the quality of the services and will highlight services that should be subject to scrutiny.

v  Noted that a revised work programme would be submitted to the Committee in September 2023 and Member should contact officers with their topics for inclusion in the work programme.

v  Noted that the Council has to appoint two Member representative to join the Health and Adults Scrutiny Sub-Committee (HASC) chair in regard to INEL JHOSC activities.

v  Noted that INEL JHOSC is a statutory committee that considers London wide and local NHS service developments and changes that impacts upon authorities including Tower Hamlets.

The Chair Moved  and it was:-

RESOLVED

1.    To note the draft Scrutiny Work Programme 2023-24; and

2.    To agree to defer to HASC the appointment of two Member representative to join the Health and Adults Scrutiny Sub-Committee (HASC) Chair in regard to the INEL JHOSC

For the committee to review and note the Action Log.

The Committee received and noted the Action Log.

As a result of discussions on the Action Log it was agreed to add the following:

1.    The current situation regarding if any the Right To Buy receipts had, had to be returned to the GLA.

2.    What financial support is available to businesses and market traders in Roman Rd.

To review forthcoming decisions expected to be taken by the Mayor and identify any areas of further Scrutiny for committee.

The Committee noted:

1. The most recent editions of the Forward Plan.

2. The Forthcoming Decisions Plan (or 'Forward Plan') is published at least 28 days before each Cabinet meeting setting out information on all the Key Decisions that are expected to be taken at that meeting, along with other Cabinet decisions where known.

3. Publication dates for future Forthcoming Decision Plans are available on the Cabinet web pages. In advance of being published on the new Plan, individual notices of new Key Decisions will be published as they are known and these are listed as New Issues.

To hear verbal updates from the Overview and Scrutiny Leads on their work across the Council.

The Committee received and noted the updates that had been received from Scrutiny Leads in regard to their portfolio’s. 

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

The agenda for Cabinet on 26 July will be published by Tuesday 18 July and will be available from the Council’s website here Tower Hamlets Council - Agenda for Cabinet on Wednesday, 26th July, 2023, 5.30 p.m.

Following comments by the Committee the it was agreed the particular questions (See attached) that they wanted to raise with Cabineton the 26^th  July, 2023.

The Committee considered a report is to be considered by the Mayor in Cabinet on the 26^th of July 2023 that provided an overview of the planned activity to focus on the needs of the Borough’s communities. The main points of the discussions summarised as follows:

The Board:

v  Noted that the Local Government Act 1999 requires the Borough as a best value authority to “make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness”. Monitoring of performance information and acting on the findings is an important way in which that obligation is being fulfilled.

v  Noted last year has seen a new administration begin work following the Council and mayoral election of May 2022. The Council has created a new strategic plan for the 2022-26 period and started investing in a range of services to delivering strategic improvement in the way the council serves its residents e.g., the Council has adopted eight new corporate priorities that provide a framework for action to improve services and bring about strategic change for Tower Hamlets.

v  Noted that at the last Full Council the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding (Councillor Kabir Ahmed had stated that (i) the number of homeless households who were supported to move into affordable, sustainable housing was 317 (under our target of 470); (ii) of the 317 homeless households, 148 moved on to private rent sector accommodation and a further 169 to social housing.

v  Noted that as an indicator to understand the issues and the barriers faced by residents at the last Full Council meeting the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding (Councillor Kabir Ahmed) had been asked how many residents had applied for homelessness support and were then rejected and had applied for the 2nd or 3rd time. In response it was noted that the Council does have targets and some of the targets are from Government. The Council are reviewing its polices and processes and take this issue seriously.

v  Noted that the housing strategy incorporates a commitment to raise private rented housing standards e.g., reviewing licensing schemes, enhanced support for landlords to improve quality and promoting tenant awareness.

v  Noted that the Borough is working to enhance the relationship between landlords, lettings agents and tenants, A strong theme underpinning these activities is the role of the Council in facilitating the ability of other organisations to tackle issues in the private rented sector through.

v  Noted that the supply of housing has not been keeping up with demand as not enough homes are being built to replace those being taken out of the social housing stock. Therefore, getting access to housing of any type is becoming increasingly difficult for low-income households within Tower Hamlets.

v  Noted that successful prosecutions has highlighted the issues involved in enforcement cases e.g., unlicensed, overcrowded; people being housed based on cash for a bed space and sham licences.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.1

The Committee considered a report that presents the provisional outturn compared to the budget report 2022-23 as at 31^st of March 2023 for the General Fund, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Budget, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), progress made against savings targets and the council’s capital programme. It also provided projections on General Fund earmarked reserves and the forecast impacts of Covid on the Councils finances in 2022-23. A summary of the discussions is set out below:

The Board:

v  Noted that in terms of allocating funds and resources to different directorates, the Council goes through various processes to identify where growth needs to be increased and to align things with the strategic plan at the end of the day,.

v  Noted that the Council needs to make sure it is working towards what has been have budgeted and what can be delivered. This an integral part of resource management that ensures services run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

v  Agreed that effectively allocating resources can help service areas accurately choose, delegate, and manage the components of their projects and avoid over or under-utilising staff or materials i.e., it provides a benchmark to work towards. It provides a comprehensive idea of exactly what, and how many, resources they require to complete a given project or task to avoid overspending or underestimating needs. Allocation provides the visibility necessary to ensure resources are always available and keep projects on track in terms of overall spend.

v  Noted that the Council cannot finalise its budget until it knows: (i) how much it needs to spend on maintaining its services to an acceptable level; (ii) the additional spending pressures it has for service developments, price increases and pay awards; (iii) the level of savings it can achieve; and (iv) how much it will receive from central government.

v  Noted that the Housing Revenue Account has a provisional outturn position with an adverse variance of £6.6m when compared with budget. This represents an adverse movement of £1.4m when compared with the Q3 forecast position.

v  Noted that whilst a drawdown from reserves of £6.6m will be made to mitigate the budget pressure. There are a number of favourable and diverse variances that make up the final outturn position e.g., there was a favourable variance of a technical budget of £3.5m against depreciation and interest received interest payable which reduced the actual overspend. However, there are still a number of areas that need to be looked at e.g. The HRA has incurred an unbudgeted energy cost pressure totalling £2.2m for gas and electricity. These costs are partly recoverable from leaseholders where they relate to communal areas.

v  Noted that the Council and Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) will be looking at the impacts of adverse variances on the budgets for this year and going forward to make sure that the HRA stays in balance because it has a hefty program to support for the new build projects.

v  Noted that the Council and THH will also need  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.2

To receive any petitions (to be notified at the meeting).

Nil items.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 22 May 2023 and 19 June 2023.

In considering the minutes of the last meeting the Committee was reminded that it had requested details of the right to buy receipts accrued following the sale of a council home to a tenant under right to buy legislation. Including the details of the return of any of these receipts that had not been spent on the development of social housing within the agreed time period.

The Chair Moved  and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 22^nd of May 2023 and 19^th of June 2023 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings. Subject to the reference to the RTB receipts as referred to above.

To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

The Committee noted with great sadness that:

v  Tonight, would be Sharon Godman’s last meeting and that over the past seven years, Sharon has contributed significantly to the growth and development of the Scrutiny function. As the Councils statutory scrutiny Officer her support and guidance has been invaluable to the work of the Committee, and wished her all the best for the future; and

v  David Knight was retiring after 40 years’ service to the people of East London and the Committee placed on record its best wishes with his retirement and thanked him for his knowledge and frankness in Committee meetings.

As the agenda circulated had no exempt/confidential reports and there was therefore no requirement to exclude the press and public to allow for its consideration.

Nil Items

Nil items.

Nil Items

Nil items.

Nil Items

Nil items.

To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Nil items.

As there was no other business the Chair declared the meeting closed and reminded Members that the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 18^th  September, 2023, 6.30 p.m.