Members are asked to refer to the report included in the Cabinet agenda 25^th November, 2020.

The Committee received a presentation on the delivery and performance information for Quarter 2 (July – September 2020) by Mayor John Biggs; Will Tuckley, Chief Executive and Thorsten Dreyer, Head of Intelligence and Performance. The main points of the discussion on this report may be summarised as follows:

The Committee noted that:

• The Council was exceeding performance in many areas, but areas of under-performance was recognised.
• This period has been impacted by the pandemic.  Notably, the Council’s ability to conduct the Annual Residents Survey, and collect qualitative information on residents’ views. 
• The Service and officers are seeking to accurately capture that information based on comparable survey techniques with other local authorities in London.
• LBTH are working with their supplier to develop different options including how any face to face consultation would be undertaken in a COVID-19 secure way or with whatever restrictions are in position at the time (e.g. a doorstep interview with 15-minute maximum at a safe distance or telephone survey as an alternative). Accordingly, LBTH are working on different models for delivery with the contractor to make sure that a survey can be undertaken during January 2021 to February 2021.
• As consequence of the pandemic there has been the development of better methods of remote monitoring of public opinion (e.g. telephone survey methods have undergone a serious methodological development regarding the coverage of households with increased access to telephones justifying its use and provided you get representative samples). However, it is recognised that it can produce slightly differing results from face to face surveys and it is important to take this into account when the data is being interpreted.
• One of the good things about the approach that has been adopted in Tower Hamlets is that the Council now has a good set of core questions and techniques developed over many years now. 
• Regarding Households prevented from becoming homeless the Outturn for Q2 2020/21 shows an increase by 20.99%.
• LBTH have recruited Tenancy Sustainment Officers to work with social and private landlords, and directly with clients to address homelessness.
• This is related to the new target that flows from the Homelessness Reduction Act, that places new more challenging duties on housing authorities to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness and to take reasonable steps to relieve homelessness for all eligible applicants, not just those that have priority need under the Act.
• The nature of the housing market in East London makes it challenging to provide sustainable tenancies for people in the private sector and the Mayor indicated that he would very much welcome a more detailed scrutiny on how LBTH as a housing authority can address this effectively.
• Although LBTH performance regarding preventing homelessness has improved the increased volume of work that the Homelessness Reduction Act has brought to the Housing Options Team and the impact of the pandemic has had a significant influence on performance.
• Noted that LBTH as a housing agency needs to take a fundamental look at the way which the Housing Option Services is working and to identify where enhance its performance.
• Noted that Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Committees have started to look at the  Housing Options Service with a focus on (i) the customer journey (in light of Covid-19); (ii) the implementation of the changes to the Allocations Scheme; and (iii) the introduction of an Intermediate Housing Register of Interest.
• Noted that the report had not addressed the reasons for poor performance (e.g. WorkPath and Youth Justice) and the Committee indicated its frustration not to be provided with this information.
• Noted that the format for presenting this information had change significantly  and having considered how other organisations present their performance data have worked to get the balance right with more deep dives into particular areas and to provide an overview of where the Council was in a global sense on particular areas and fewer tables and charts.  However, it was recognised that more detail could be provided regarding those issues where councillors would like an. explanation.
• In terms of WorkPath the explanation is as the scheme is intended to work with are those who are furthest from the labour market and now as there are significantly more people are out of work than previously this has had a considerable impact (e.g. Those who have lost a job more recently are more able to get a job more readily which has impacted on those were who are further away already from the labour market at a previous point in time.
• A more detailed narrative would be obtained from the Youth Justice Service regarding the reasons for their performance figures.  Also, that a Pre-Decision Scrutiny Question was to be submitted to the Mayor in Cabinet on the 25^th November 2020 asking, “What are the drivers for a slightly increasing amount of young people entering youth justice system?”
• The Youth Justice Service performance has been subject to intense scrutiny by the Youth Justice Board looking at what interventions are currently in place and the Board is satisfied that further improvements are now being made.  It was therefore recommended that a briefing note be prepared on the steps that are being taken to address this critical area.
• With regards to the level of public realm cleanliness (litter) performance it had dipped below target in Q2 apparently due to the level of litter having increased as lockdown measures had been eased.  However, it was felt that this does not provide a justification as to why the Council has fallen short against a standard target that was set before or at least during the early stages of the pandemic?
• Regarding the level of household recycling (quarterly audited) concern was expressed that was target of 22.0% was not challenging enough if the Council were to make Tower Hamlets a cleaner greener Borough. It was felt that LBTH needed to have more stretching targets set for recycling in 2021 and 2022.
• Whilst reasonable progress has been made during the first six months of the new contract it had proved very difficult to get the Council’s recycling levels up higher in Tower Hamlets partly because the Borough is a heavily flatted authority with few back gardens and there are issue’s with the contamination of recycling.
• The Borough’s estates are a key target in terms of improving methods for generating and clearly removing recycling and in partnership with Tower Hamlets Homes the Council is working on a pilot to improve recycling in more dense areas of social housing and high-rise developments. With the intention of rolling this out across the Borough with other social landlords and that experience should help to re-evaluate the target for the next year.

In conclusion, the Chair thanked Mayor John Biggs; Will Tuckley, Chief Executive and Thorsten Dreyer, Head of Intelligence & Performance. for their presentation

The Chair then Moved, and it was:

RESOLVED that it wanted more details on:

1. Number of adults supported into employment by the WorkPath partnership.
2. Young people entering the youth justice system for the first time; and
3. Level of household recycling (quarterly audited).