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.

 

8.2 Question from CouncillorAndrew Wood:

 

The government has announced funding nationally for 60 new youth centres, we have primary schools with planning permission that we do not want anymore and only two small youth centres in the Isle of Dogs and South Poplar area, it is not now time to build a new youth centre for the fastest growing place in the UK?

 

Response of Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People:

 

First of all we covered the difference between capital and revenue. The Government has announced funding for 60 new youth centres. I am not quite sure how they think they are going to run, presumably on empty. But it is important to note that even according to DfE’s analysis, the new investment they are providing for youth centres falls far short of the cuts in youth services that have been made since 2010. Because of the choices made by this Administration, Tower Hamlets still has one of the biggest and best funded youth services in London. In dozens of venues across the Borough, we offer over 400 hours of high quality activity every single week,  including  from eight hubs,  10 additional commissioned services, three specialist youth projects and 16 additional grant funded youth projects, which will be funded from the Local Community Fund. We are always looking at suitable options for delivering youth work.  We would be happy to consider any options that Councillor Wood would like to suggest to be fed into our review of youth services so we can continue to provide a good quality youth service for all of our young people across the Borough.

 

No supplementary question was asked.

 

8.3 Question from Councillor Kahar Chowdhury:

 

Can the lead member please provide information on primary school results this year?

 

Response of Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People:

 

I am very pleased to report an excellent set of results for Tower Hamlets Primary schools this year. The results provisionally for key stage two show  71% of pupils have achieved the expected level of results in reading writing and maths compared to 65% nationally and 61% in London. Once again, we are beating London and the national average. We continue to close the gap in the early years foundation stage with the national average and for the first time, we have exceeded the national results in reading Year 1. We are incredibly proud of everything that our schools continue to achieve. Despite the fact that in Tower Hamlets, schools will be on average £730 per pupil worse off than they were in 2015/16 despite the Governments pledges on school funding.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Kahar Chowdhury:

 

Thanks for providing an overview of the overall picture. When we look at individual schools, some are below the national average in terms of their achievements. Therefore, can you confirm what resources were put into those schools to achieve or exceed the national average?

 

Councillor Danny Hassell’s response to supplementary question:

 

I am very pleased to say we are working very closely with all our schools. We are very lucky that the schools in Tower Hamlets work in collaboration, rather than competition. Because of that strong spirit of collaboration, and peer to peer school improvements, we have well embedded systems of identifying just the schools that Councillor Chowdhury mentioned, that might need some additional help and support to improve their leadership. We do that though schools working together and through our school improvement partnership – the Education Partnership, which we continue to fund as a Council. We continue to monitor all schools looking at a whole range of risk factors not just school results, but also changes in leadership, their governance and funding. We will continue to ensure we have high aspirations of all our schools and children.

 

8.4 Question from Councillor Peter Golds:

 

Will the Mayor explain, in the light of the third elected councillor in seven years being convicted for housing fraud, what steps are being taken to protect against this and to ensure the integrity of the majority of members who serve the community properly and legally and to the best of their abilities?

 

Response of Mayor John Biggs:

 

Anybody who commits any crime or fraud, irrespective of if they are a Councillor or any other public representative, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law – that is what we have done and will continue to do. Our Fraud Team investigates all allegations. To encourage members of the public, staff and Councillors to report any concerns, a dedicated hot line exists  and a secure email has been made available.  We are also subscribing through London Government, to a new pan Borough system, under which we will use the latest technology, such as data scrapping, to try to put together information on individuals, to help detect fraud not in a sinister way but to find out contradictions about where people live, what they are doing and how we can ensure that public assets, particularly public housing, are protected in the public interest 

 

 

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Peter Golds:

 

I would observe that the overwhelming majority of people who serve and have served on this Council are scrupulously honest and people of integrity. What concerns me is that if you have rotten apples we all get tarnished by it.

 

Would the Mayor consider a thorough review of the internal housing programme so that internally we cannot have this corruption again. As we have pointed out, in a very short period we have had three people, all of whom were elected Councillors and corrupted the housing system for their own advantage. Therefore, would you consider an investigation of systems that could be put in place to prevent that in the future?

 

Mayor John Biggs response to supplementary question:

 

You raise quite a complex question with a hint of accusation behind it. I am not convinced that we have an endemic web of corruption or whatever you may be insinuating. I am very happy if you want to write to me with a detailed proposal and suggest what problems you might think might be with the system, to look into that. Certainly, I have regularly conversations and our excellent Chair of Audit has conversations with auditors and with professionals about how we can better detect fraud. We recently had a conversation about parking, for example, where the possession of a parking permit is quite a valuable asset in out Borough and we need to make sure that people who have it are entitled to it. I want to make sure that everyone is treated equally. However I also recognise that if you are a publicly elected representative, an even higher standard should be expected of you of a total scrupulous, fairness and transparency about your motives being in the public interest.

 

8.5 Question from Councillor Sufia Alam:

 

What assessment has the council made about the impact of the government’s recent school funding announcements on schools in Tower Hamlets?

 

Response of Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People:

 

The Government has awarded the minimum possible uplift of 1.84% per pupil known as the funding floor which is designed to offset inflation, however when we take into account the schools pay award which is above 2%, in fact our schools are getting a real terms cut. Government funding quite clearly is not keeping up with demand. We saw last year an overspend of £7million on our school funding, largely as a result of high needs funding which has not kept pace with demand. New national figures from the National Education Union shown that schools in Tower Hamlets have lost out on £110million of funding between 2015 and 2020, that is the equivalent of £735 per pupil.

 

No supplementary question was asked.

 

8.6 Question from Councillor Faroque Ahmed:

 

With the Town Hall soon moving to the Royal London site and cross rail opening soon, Whitechapel would be the gateway to our borough. Can the Mayor or the Lead Member inform us what we are doing to help improve the markets and the environment around the new Town Hall?

 

Response of Councillor Motin Uz – Zaman, Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth:

 

The Council has been working hard to ensure that the environment around the new Town Hall, Whitechapel is improved.  As a result a senior meeting called by the Mayor, with the Deputy Mayor of London, Rajesh Agrawal, senior Council officers and TfL met to look at how we can improve that area and making sure that Crossrail was on time. Following on from that meeting,  certain things were discussed including enforcement action for the Whitechapel Road Market. I can tell you that signs have been installed to ensure that the graffiti vans are taken out. You will also know that there is a lot of fly tipping that goes on and we are looking at how we can ensure that those enforcements are taking place.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Faroque Ahmed:

 

I am confused here about the market the opposite side of the new Town Hall. My question is: how likely is it to be delivered on time and are there any plans in place to uplift the market?

 

Councillor Motin Uz – Zaman’s response to supplementary question:

 

The land opposite belongs to TfL. As you know, they are short of money to even deliver Crossrail, so one of the things we need to look at with our partners and developers is ways of improving the physical infrastructure of Whitechapel. Clearly, it will be the gateway to the Town Hall.  We also note that there is a lot of fly tipping that’s happening there. The Council is looking to increase the fine to £400 to anyone doing this. Currently, it is £80 and it is not deterring anyone. We are also looking at CCTV cameras to find anyone doing this and to prosecute them.

 

8.7 Question from Councillor Leema Qureshi:

 

The first 1,001 days are crucial to a child’s development. Can the Lead Member please update the council on what we are doing to ensure children have a healthy start to life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Response of Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People:

 

The Council is committed to providing “every chance for every child” to have a great start in life.  That’s why we are working together with our partners across the Tower Hamlets Together Partnership to deliver on that promise. As a result of that work we are delivering a Maternal and Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) Programme, which is a more intensive health visiting programme for those at risk of poor maternal health. We have got our family nurse partnership to support first time mothers, under the age of 21 or targeted up to 24.

 

We recently launched our new Partnership Strategy for early years which has a focus on a number of areas. The first one is around: speech, communication and language needs. The second one is around using new methods of family identification to provide earlier support. We have seen that with our Early Help Pilot, which we will be rolling out across the Borough. Other measures include: using the training offered through the Community Education Provider network to have a better understanding of the impact of early experiences on behaviour; and using our Restorative Practice to ensure all of our workers working with our families are doing so in a way that provides a critical friend supporting them build sustainable change

 

No supplementary question was asked.

 

8.8 Question from CouncillorMarc Francis:

 

Will the Lead Member for Adults Services publish the service review report which has led to the proposal to end the meals on wheels service for pensioners and disabled people?

 

Response of Councillor Amina Ali, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing:

 

The number of people receiving a welfare meal at home has fallen from 350 in 2015 to 160 in June 2019. We need to note that we have been heavily subsiding these meals as we pay £11 per meal but charge £3.50 to residents. In the face of a decade of government cuts, we need to be thoughtful about how we use our limited resources to help residents and this has meant looking at supporting people’s nutritional needs in a different way. It should also be noted that all current service users will continue to receive the service until they have the assessment. Service users will then be offered the most appropriate support from community services which offer lunch for some of them. For example, some may be able to attend Luncheon Clubs, often run by voluntary organisations. Others might have needs so will need support in their home to make sure they had a meal in their home. Others might receive help purchasing a chilled or a frozen meal from a different supplier.

 

Everyone who receives the service will be having a home visit to assess and review their needs and we remain committed to delivering a service and our duty of care.

 

The changes to Welfare Meals are part of the wider review of the Council’s contract services and an update will be published when it comes to Cabinet later this month.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Marc Francis:

 

The recommendations in the report that went to the Cabinet on 27^th February 2019 stated that Adults Services would undertake further work to assess alternative delivery options and the future operation function of the central production unit. The findings of this work will be subject to a future report to the Cabinet and the outcome of the consultation on Adults Services will be reported back via a full report which will set out the preferred options.  This decision has already been implemented and the Corporate Director confirmed that at the Health Scrutiny Sub - Committee last week. Can the Lead Member give us a commitment that this decision will be rescinded and brought back to Cabinet so it can be subject to proper democratic scrutiny in accordance with this Council’s Constitution as confirmed by the decision of Mayor in Cabinet on the 27 February 2019

 

Councillor Amina Ali’s response to supplementary question:

 

A full report on contact services including Meals on Wheels did come to the Cabinet in February 2019 and a further report with an update will be coming to Cabinet at the end of this month and that is a guarantee.

 

8.9 Question from Councillor Abdal Ullah

 

Will the Mayor reconsider the restrictions being put upon local residents of my ward? The ‘bus gate’ is a great idea to stop rat-runners however its introduction will limit the free movement of local residents. We welcome the Liveable Streets programme to Wapping and look forward to working to improve our streets and encourage people to walk and cycle, however the ‘bus gate’ restrictions will have an impact by adding further delays and congestion to locals residents who have to use cars.

 

Response of Mayor John Biggs: 

 

Your constituents can rest assured that you and Councillor Denise Jones have been vocal advocates for them on the Bus Gate. The gate is due to operate from 5:30am to 10:30am and from 4pm to 7pm, at peak times when there is rat running in the area. The question you are asking is whether we should review the system to benefit residents locally who are inconvenienced or have to use their cars. I note there has been a number of requests for this. The purpose of having an experimental period is that we want to hear from residents and people affected by the proposals to see how it needs to be tuned to ensure that it minimises disruption to local lives while maximising the benefit to the local environment. I am happy to hear the representations and if there are ongoing difficulties, we can modify the scheme. However if it beds in successfully, we will be able to invest in more environment improvements along Wapping High Street which will further improve the quality of life  including more greenery, wider pavements and improved crossing facilities.

 

No supplementary question was asked

 

8.11 Question from Councillor Asma Islam:

 

Can the Mayor please update members on the mitigations introduced as part of the Local Community Fund to support organisations whose funding ended once the mainstream grants programme ended, and how these measures will support service users?

 

Response of Councillor Candida Ronald, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector:

 

An update report on the Local Community Fund mitigation and Transition came to the Grants Determination Sub – Committee on 6^th November 2019. That report contained details of the two new themes for the Small Grants Programme relating: to Access and Participation supporting VCS groups run for and led by BME community groups; and community support for Older people aimed at community led groups for elders. We have extended funding for Mainstream Grants (MSG) lunch clubs and community language projects to give time for them to apply for the new small grants themes. The Emergency Fund has been redesigned as a VCS Contingency Fund to enable organisations funded by MSG up to 30^th September to apply for transitional support, if they can fulfil the criteria and demonstrate a realistic chance of alternative funding. Other mitigations are set out in the report that went to the Grants Determination Sub –Committee.  In common with other Local Authorities this Council’s budget is under extraordinary pressure, but we remain committed to supporting local organisations and look forward to them delivering great outcomes for our residents

 

No supplementary question was asked

 

8.12 Question from Councillor Val Whitehead:

 

What were the key findings of the Child Poverty Action Group’s report on the impacts of Universal Credit in Tower Hamlets and how will the council be responding to the recommendations?

 

Response of Councillor Rachel Blake, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Planning Air Quality and Tackling Poverty:

 

The Child Poverty Action Group report recognised the work that Tower Hamlets was doing.  We have been leading the way in on our response to Universal Credit. However, it did highlight a number of recommendations in three key areas  to best address the impact of Universal Credit. Firstly, we will be continuing to invest in high quality welfare advice through the Local Community Fund , as well as through our  Universal Credit Outreach Team, which is funded through the Tackling Poverty Programme. Secondly we will continue to develop our digital offer so that we can reach out to people using Universal Credit. Lastly, we have accepted the changes recommended to the Crisis Grants scheme, and will continue to work with partners to develop the scheme to ensure it is as effective as possible.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Val Whitehead:

 

What options are currently available for residents in a financial crisis?

 

Councillor Rachel Blake’s response to supplementary question

 

Several years ago the crisis fund scheme was devolved to Local Government and is also unfunded by National Government. Because of Tower Hamlets commitment to those that are most vulnerable, we have protected a crisis fund in Tower Hamlets and the new Policy Institute has found that it is the most generous in London with several Boroughs having to abandon theirs due to Government cuts. We have allocated in most years £7000 to those in crisis and we will continue to do so even though there are deep challenges with local government funding

 

8.13 Question from Councillor Tarik Khan:

 

Can the Mayor or Cabinet Member update members on the Liveable Streets programme and the proposals for Bethnal Green?

 

Response of Mayor John Biggs:

 

I want to thank you and your fellow Weavers and St Peters Wards Councillors on your work on supporting this. There is a set of proposals and the underlying reason for this is that over 21 thousand vehicles each day, travel through Bethnal Green. Of those 57% are travelling through the area without stopping. That means that there are over 12,000 non local vehicles travelling through Bethnal Green roads each day. Our proposals are designed to reduce this rat running by a number of strategically placed closed and one way systems. For example Arnold Circus would be completely pedestranised creating a new public space. We are very aware of the concerns and anxieties this may cause. So we want to listen to people through the consultation and hear about the impact that these changes may have on their lives

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Tarik Khan:

 

What engagement has taken place to inform the public about the proposals in Bethnal Green?

 

Mayor John Biggs response to supplementary question

 

Every household should have received a brochure that summarises the changes. There have been a number of well attended workshops and public meetings and meetings with schools and businesses. We are inviting people to submit comments by email, and by other methods. The five Councillors in the area will be actively engaging with residents across the Bethan Green area to understand their concerns. The next public consultation meeting is taking place tomorrow, at the Professional Development Centre

 

9.14 Question from Councillor Rabina Khan:

 

Will the Mayor agree to ensure that applications for medical priority on the basis of ASD should be assessed by a specialist medical assessor with a specific understanding of ASD and to ensure that, where necessary, such applications for medical priority should be entitled to automatic OT visit?

 

Response of Councillor Sirajul Islam, Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing:

 

The council is committed to making Tower Hamlets Autism Friendly working in partnership with health providers and the third sector.

 

The Council and Clinical Commissioning Group have in place a 5 year partnership Strategy to address the needs of autistic adults in the borough. This runs to 2022.

 

Housing Options Occupational Therapists (OT) who have experience working with ASD and children complete the housing needs assessment and make housing recommendations aimed to reduce or manage risks. ASD referrals made up approximately 35% of all housing need referrals coming to OT team as at May 2019. Every case is different. If necessary, home visits are conducted.

 

Housing Options OT also are in the process of developing a new report form for parents of  ASD children who apply for re-housing and an assessment pack.

 

We have also included autism in the Tower Hamlets Housing Strategy to ensure that when new homes are designed and commissioned, the needs of those with autism are taken into account. 

 

Highest priority is given to severe cases of ASD. Families are usually recommended ground floor only accommodation, which in most cases places them in Band 1A.

 

No supplementary question was asked

 

Questions 8.1, and 8.10 were not put due to the absence of the questioner. A written response would be provided to the questions. (Note the written responses are included in Appendix A to these minutes)