Councillor Maium Talukdar, Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning introduced the item stating the Mayor had made important pledges in relation to the safeguarding of children as well as a commitment to Educationin his manifesto. Councillor Talukdar said he was working alongside officers to ensure the pledges made were turned into policy, in order to find working solutions for the residents of Tower Hamlets. He said it was important for scrutiny to scrutinise the policies of the Executive and as such he was happy to attend the meetings of the sub-committee.

Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director for Children and Culture made a presentation providing an overview of the structure of the Directorate, the vision and key priorities for the Directorate. He said that although depravation in the brough was improving, Tower Hamlets had one of the highest levels of child poverty; with high levels of need for children with special education needs and disability (SEND) and mental health. Mr Thomas said that despite this educational attainment was amongst the best and secondary schools had played a huge role in delivering good outcomes for children. Mr Thomas said that the offer provided by the Council was effective in that there were low levels of children in care.

Mr Thomas went on to explain that some areas of work undertaken by the Directorate was governed by statutory legislation and National policy, such as children safeguarding and education, where services were regulated and inspected. Whereas other areas such as parks, leisure, youth centres the provision was a universal offer. Mr Thomas said at the heart of their work they had a policy of being person-centred and co-production of services.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Mr Thomas said the overarching objective of the Children’s Safeguarding partnership was to protect children from harm.
• Mr Thomas explained children services had been judged as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted five years ago however through the improvement plan and investment, the service had been judged as ‘good’ two years later.
• Mr Thomas said a further inspection of the service was imminent and as such they had strived to quality assure their work, audit it and conduct peer reviews to scrutinise their services. Mr Thomas said he believed they were making good progress however the service could not be complacent.
• Regarding anti-terrorism work, Mr Thomas said the Council was a key partner in the Prevent programme. He said the board was working to identify early and effectively, individuals that had been groomed and vulnerable to exploitation.
• Mr Thomas said the partnership had put in place a new strategy to tackle the risks associated with drug dealing gangs and the sexual exploitation of girls.
• In response to census data and changes in demography, especially in relation to school closures, Mr Thomas reassured the sub-committee no school closures were planned. He said they were working with schools with falling school rolls and identifying ways to best support them, such as making structural changes and creating federated schools.

• ACTION: The Strategy and Policy Officer to provide a link to the Council website in relation to the latest census data.

• Councillor Talukdar said the aspirations of the Executive was to deliver the pledges made in the manifesto; to ensure every child does well in school right through to achieving good employment. Councillor Talukdar said tackling anti-social behaviour and providing youth clubs were also part of the plan, however the biggest challenge were budgets and finances.

The Chair thanked Councillor Talukdar and Mr James Thomas for their presentation.