Agenda item
Tower Hamlets Improvement Plan
- Meeting of Tower Hamlets Transformation and Improvement Board, Monday, 9th September, 2019 6.00 p.m. (Item 4.3)
- View the background to item 4.3
Minutes:
The report provided a progress update on the Tower Hamlets Improvement Plan which had been developed in response to the findings of the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge (June 2018) and captured the significant transformation and improvement activity currently undertaken in the Council. The main points of the discussions by the Board are outlined below:
The Committee noted that:
The Partnership Executive Group (PEG) which formed a partner led Brexit Action Group has proposed to deliver the following themed actions from Brexit Commission Recommendations (i) Tower Hamlets – You’re Home – A campaign to promote Tower Hamlet’s and EU residents to feel safe and welcome whilst providing reassurance to businesses that the borough remains open and prime location for businesses; (ii) Tower Hamlet’s Got Talent – A series of focussed sustainable actions for employers, education and skills based organisations to provide an develop the workforce for local and international businesses in borough; and (iii) Tower Hamlets and European Culture Festival – Celebration of EU cultural events commencing Autumn 2019 - Autumn 2020 recognising the Borough’s position in Europe;
· London Councils is collating views from across London and LGA is signposting councils to relevant guidance and there is a Chief Executives Brexit Planning Group and the Resilience Forum so that boroughs can be prepared;
· The Council’s Local Community Fund (LCF) programme includes over 50 projects and expects it to deliver a range of activities against the five priority areas and outcomes of LCF. Monitoring and reporting arrangements for the LCF will also include providing updates to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Grants Determination Committee;
· In Children’s Social Care, (i) the vacancy gap has been further reduced from 26% to 19.55%. (ii) Service Level Agreements are being set for the Resourcing Team and social care managers to improve recruitment timescales; (iii) work continues with the development of the national social work apprenticeship scheme to be launched late 2019/20;
· Following the full inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILAC) took place in June 2019. The result of this inspection had graded Tower Hamlets Children’s Services as GOOD. In continuing to maintain the improvements LBTH has established and Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Cmmittee to look at issues that can impact upon Children’s Services;
· In supporting the development of Councillors role at the scrutiny through a range of initiatives,(i) the Council’s General Purpose Committee agreed with the findings to Strengthening Local Democracy which included actions to develop Overview and Scrutiny; (ii) Members and Co optees from the main scrutiny committee and its sub-committees attended a joint workshop to discuss the work programme for 2019/20; (iii) an online presence was developed to capture residents’ views on topics for OSC to consider; (iv) a scrutiny toolkit has been developed to support Members to perform their roles; (v) scrutiny leads continue with meeting with their equivalent Cabinet leads and senior officers to discuss areas of the portfolio. This will help improve the effectiveness of scrutiny and ensure that it is better aligned with the council’s key strategic priorities;
· In addition to breaking down internal silos, the Council is also strengthening its collaboration and integration with key partners through the Partnership Executive Group (PEG). A summit had been held in June with over 100 members of the business community at Canary Wharf. It offered an opportunity for businesses to share their views on key issues and to help the partnership board to prioritise support for them. The Council has delivered its objectives hosting two partnerships summits (as identified in Tower Hamlets Plan, July 2018) on Children and Young People and Jobs and Skills; and
· Work is underway to strengthen the Council’s financial discipline in terms of the delivery of savings targets and balanced budgets, with a focus on budget holders’ accountability. LBTH has completed the first phase of the Outcome Based Budgeting project with the budget being analysed across strategic priorities but there remains scope for further refinement. Financial regulations have been updated and approved by the Council (July 2019), A new system upgrade (Agresso) will need lead time (2020) for implementation but this will be delivered through a tendering process.
As a result of discussions on this report the Transformation & Improvement Board RESOLVED to
1. Noted the progress of the Tower Hamlets Improvement Plan |
Supporting documents:
- Transformation Improvement Plan Q3 29-08-2019, item 4.3 PDF 255 KB
- Transformation and Improvement Plan Report Jul to Sep 2019, item 4.3 PDF 805 KB