Councillor Helal Uddin and Ms Joanna Hannan, representative of the Diocese of Westminster gave apologies for absence.

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 interest form as required by the Code.

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

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were made by the members.

The Chair, Councillor Bex White nominated Dr Phillip Rice for the position of vice-chair. The nomination was seconded by Councillor Andrew Wood.

No further nominations were made.

The Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOVLED to:

1.    Elect Dr Phillip Rice as the Vice-Chair of the Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee for 2021-22.

Ms Farhana Zia, Democratic Services Officer asked members to note the Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee’s terms of reference, membership, quorum and dates of meeting for the municipal year 2021/22.

She informed members these had been agreed at Full Council on the 19th May 2021.

The Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOLVED to:

1.    Note its Terms of Reference, Quorum, Membership and Dates of future meetings as set out in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to this report; and

2.    AGREED to hold future meetings of the Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee at 6:30 p.m. for physical meetings and 5:30 p.m. for virtual meetings.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the held on 14^th April 2021.

The minutes from the previous meeting of 14th April 2021 were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and were signed off by the Sub-Committee.

A presentation to be made at the meeting.

The Sub-Committee received a verbal update on the impact of Covid-19 on Parks and Open Spaces.

Councillor Asma Begum, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Children, Youth Services and Education introduced the item before handing over to Ms Alice Bigelow, Head of Parks.

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Alice Bigelow, Head of Parks, Mr Dave Hime, Manager of Victoria Park, Mr Sean Thomas-Stewart, Park Ranger at Victoria Park and Mr Paul Sammut, Parks Development Officer.

The main points made by Ms Bigelow were:

• The Parks Service had experienced an incredibly intense period over the past 18 months. Normal activity ceased abruptly at the beginning of the pandemic, with the need to patrol and monitor parks increasing exponentially, with more people using open spaces during the lockdowns.
• Ms Bigelow said the way in which the service operates had changed completely, with less focus on activities and interaction with the community and more focus on keeping the 120 parks in Tower Hamlets open and safe for the local community and visitors.
• She said the teams based in Victoria Park and Mile End Park had worked extremely hard to ensure the parks remained open during the height of the pandemic.
• One of the biggest challenges faced was in relation to staffing, with some staff members having to shield, during the pandemic. To cope with the shortfall in staff, re-deployed staff and volunteers were used to manage the parks effectively.
• Spring/Summer 2020 saw the biggest number of volunteers which was an enormous benefit although in some cases it was a challenge to integrate them within the team. Experienced staff were required to patrol with the volunteers, especially those that were interested in patrolling their neighbourhoods.
• One of the positives from the volunteering has been the number of people who are still volunteering with the Parks Team.

The main points made by Mr Hime were:

• Victoria Park initially closed for a period of 17 days at the time of the first lockdown. This generated an unprecedented amount of complaints, with many people unhappy that the decision was taken to close the park. A similar number of complaints were received when the Park was re-opened, with people questioning why it was opened. Due to the volume of complaints received it was necessary to refer them to the complaints team to handle.
• Ms Bigelow added that following government guidance, outdoor gyms and playgrounds were closed off. However, some members of the public were deliberately tampering with the barricades using bolt cutters and angle grinders. She said this resulted in further complaints which the Parks Team had to contend with.
• Mr Hime said in his forty-three-year career, 2020 could be classified as the most stressful year. He said Park Rangers do not have enforcement powers and whilst they respectfully asked people to move on or told them they could not sit on park benches or have picnics in large groups this caused arguments and flashpoints including assaults and violence.
• He said Victoria Park was 40% busier than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.1

A presentation to be made at the meeting.

Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director of Children and Culture introduced this item stating that Mr Steve Nyakatawa had been appointed as the Divisional Director for Education and was approximately four weeks into the job. He asked Mr Nyakatawa to give a brief history of his background and first impressions at Tower Hamlets.

Mr Nyakatawa stated his experience before outlining the challenges which would require his focus. He said improving the outcomes for young people and working with SEND families would be key to ensure improvements. He said they were working to improve attainment for the post 16 cohort, to enable them to get into further education and would be reviewing the Careers Advice service. Mr Nyakatawa said they were waiting government guidance on the post COVID recovery plan for children who had missed out on their schooling.

In response to questions from members the following was noted:

• Local organisations such as Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) were involved in the post-Covid recovery plan and as such Mr Nyakatawa was optimistic, they would reach out to young people and their families, with strategies to improve outcomes of young people.
• In response to what steps had been taken to achieve post-Covid recovery, Mr Nyakatawa said it was important to focus on the ‘emotional wellbeing’ of the young person and to ensure they are fully supported. He said they were working with THEP and schools to identify the gaps, with schools working together to address areas such as reading and writing.

The Chair thanked Mr Thomas and Mr Nyakatawa for their contribution and the update on the educational recovery post-Covid.

The Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOVLED to:

1. Receive a report at the next meeting on the outcome of the SEND inspection.

A presentation to be made at the meeting.

Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director for Children and Culture said one of the most challenging aspects of work undertaken by the Safeguarding Partnership was the safeguarding of adolescents from violence, vulnerability and exploitation. He said often adolescents were resistant to help that is offered, with a particular kind of dynamic relating to criminal drug dealing, which means young people are drawn into situations of exploitation via criminal or sexual exploitation and can find it very difficult to extricate themselves, even with professional support.

Mr Thomas said that he was pleased Tower Hamlets had a partnership approach and that the VVE strategy had been launched to address the needs of young people.

Mr Richard Baldwin, Divisional Director for Supporting Families then gave a presentation on the VVE Strategy explaining the principles which underpin the strategy and the key themes.

Ms Rachel Ringham, Head of Service - Exploitation and DI Chris Heathcote from the Metropolitan Police added that partnership working was key to recognising and preventing exploitation. DI Heathcote said his teams worked closely with the Council to share intelligence and data.

In response to questions from members the following was noted:

• There are times when the families require re-housing quickly, due to the threat of violence. Children’s Social Care has good relationships with the Council’s housing department but there are times when processes, due to their complex nature, do not move a quickly enough. Often families are moved to Bed and Breakfast accommodation or to wider family members, before they are re-housed somewhere safe.
• The Council and the Metropolitan Police have good relationships with neighbouring boroughs and share data and intelligence. Where a young person has been moved outside of the borough the receiving local authority and Police Force are briefed and investigate the crime further.
• There is a named Officer in the Housing Department with whom the exploitation team liaise directly with.

• ACTION: The Sub-Committee to receive anonymised data/case studies on the types of cases being dealt with, so to help members gain a sense of the safeguarding issues involved.

• In response to how awareness is raised among young people to seek help, Ms Ringham explained this was a slow process whereby rapport is built and maintained through conversation so to gain the young person’s trust. The young person is in regular contact with the social worker and police and are supported through education and recreational activities with the hope they will confide and talk about the exploitation taking place. Any data or intelligence is shared within the partnership. Awareness is also raised through schools, parent coffee mornings and in the community. It a covert crime and is hard to spot so takes time to solve. 

The Chair thanked the attendees for their contribution to the meeting and said their input had been invaluable, in helping the members understand how effective partnerships can help with the work on violence, vulnerability and exploitation.

The Chair summarised the main points of the discussion as follows:

1. Good partnership working was key to ensure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.3

No other business was discussed at the meeting.