Agenda item
SCRUTINY SPOTLIGHT - MAYOR
To receive a verbal presentation from Mayor Lutfur Rahman.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed the Executive Mayor and Head of Paid Service to the meeting and invited the Executive Mayor to speak to Committee on matters that had been areas of priority in the current municipal year.
The Executive Mayor thanked the Chair for the opportunity to speak on his priorities as the Council commenced a new financial year.
In opening his presentation, the Executive Mayor advised that
- he considered the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) a useful tool of the Council and noted that in contrast to other local authorities, there were high levels of scrutiny at Tower Hamlets
- although he had been unable to attend the meetings of OSC in person, he had ensured that Elected Executive Members attended to give an account to the Committee on his behalf
- his presentation would include a review of his policies for 2013–14; highlighting achievements and challenges
- in future, the Council must find efficiencies of over £200 million; because of ring-fenced budgets, these savings were required to be sourced from discretionary budgets
- The Government had not indicated when austerity measures would end and therefore the Council was required to continue to look for savings into the financial year 2017-18
The Executive Mayor advised that his priorities in 2013-14 had been:
Housing – he had:
- worked to improve access, availability and quality of social housing in the context of a challenging Government framework
- delivered the highest new homes bonus in the country
- delivered 4000 new affordable homes for the borough during his term of office
- secured Government funding to upgrade of housing stock to decent standards
- put in place £2 million of support to help residents avoid homelessness
Education – he had:
- set high targets for educational attainment and achieved a 12.9% improvement in educational performance
- offered support to all families in the borough through his policy for free school meals to all primary school children.
Crime – he had
- procured additional police officers
- facilitated reduction of crime in the borough year on year
In response to Members’ questions the following information was provided:
Concerning the current position in regard to the cessation of East End life publication and the outcome of the publication’s review, the Committee was informed that East End life was a cost neutral publication which raised money through advertising and that the Executive Mayor did not wish to undertake further discussion on this matter at present.
A Co-opted Member noted that East End Life publication provided essential information about the Council to residents and enquired how residents would continue to receive this if it were discontinued. The Committee was informed that for many years, the publication had provided a means for the dissemination of information to residents. If this were to be discontinued then other methods of communicating with residents would need to be found.
Concerning which service areas had been most impacted by funding reductions and which areas of risk were of most concern going forward, the Committee was informed that there was no indication that the Government would end austerity therefore financial challenges would continue. Hence it was likely that it would be necessary to find efficiencies in the financial year 2017-18. Reduction in funding had impacted all areas of the Council but the Council had been able to deliver its budget whilst maintaining its commitments to protect vulnerable people and frontline services. The Executive Mayor advised that he would be prudent in how services were delivered in future.
Concerning the rationale for holding meetings of the Corporate Third Sector Grants Programme Board in private, the Committee was informed that the current grants award process was the same as that that had operated previously. The Executive Mayor advised that mainstream grants were delivered through due process. Recommendations, having travelled through the required processes, were then considered by the Executive Mayor and decisions published were subject to scrutiny via call-ins made to OSC. A Member of the Committee noted that under previous arrangements the proceedings of Grants Panels were published, at present minutes were not publicly available. The Executive Mayor disagreed with this view advising that decisions on grants were publicly taken and had also been examined through the scrutiny process. He advised also that whilst he had not been present in person to discuss the call-in of these decisions, his Executive Members had given an account to Overview and Scrutiny Committee on matters called-in. The Chair clarified that, at the call-in meeting, the minutes of the Corporate Third Sector Grants Board had been requested and provided to OSC Members on pink paper denoting that these were not publicly available and queried why a decision had been taken to process the minutes in this way since they contained no exempt information under Schedule 12 A to the local Government Act 1972. The Executive Mayor responded that that due process had been followed.
The Executive Mayor was requested to provide written information or report of all the outputs and achievements of the Corporate Third Sector Grants Board, detailing what outputs there had been and how the community had been served through the grants issued. The Executive Mayor responded that the voluntary sector lever delivered around £55 million of services. He was confident that there was a vigorous process operated and that there were measurements in place to ensure that the delivery was of benefit to the community. He did not respond to a request for further evidence to support his statement.
A Member of the Committee enquired how the proposal to provide free school meals to all primary pupils in the borough would be funded since Council had resolved that funding for this purpose could not be taken from reserves and was informed that the Mayoral policy would deliver free school meals to all primary school children for the next two years and clearly set out how this would be funded. The Executive Mayor was asked to explain how this would be achieved as the proposal had not been approved at Council. The Monitoring Officer provided clarification on this matter, referring to advice that he had provided at Council that new decisions could be taken by the Mayor within the rules of virement and this would be done in conjunction with the Section 151 Officer. Concerning whether original budgetary proposals included free school meals for year six pupils and how these would be funded, the Committee was informed that the original proposal had been amended and the amendment accepted; this revised proposal would deliver free school meals for the next two years. The Executive Mayor did not add any further comments to that of the Monitoring Officer’s clarification on where funding would be sourced and did not comment on whether any executive order had been made since the last Council meeting in order to deliver this provision.
Concerning how the £2 million set aside for intervention against homelessness would be delivered transparently, the Executive Mayor advised that this would be deployed appropriately by officers based on needs criteria and would not involve a Member decision.
Concerning verification of the number of new homes built in the borough which had been delivered directly by the Executive Mayor, the Committee was informed that all homes, over which the Council had influence and which were made available through the choice application scheme, had been delivered through Mayoral provisions. The Chair challenged this number offering a figure of 15 properties. The Executive Mayor advised that there was a £50 million homes bonus has been delivered.
Views on the interaction between the Executive and OSC were discussed in the context of:
- use of OSC for political motives
- the Executive Mayor’s failure to respond to OSC invitations compared to the practises of executives at other local authorities
- the uniqueness of the borough’s political situation compared to other localities
- issues around lack of access to executive papers and decisions
A Member noted that, during the last year, 600 applications for the Education Maintenance Grant had been refused and enquired whether the criteria were already set when the advertisement was placed and if this advertisement had been published in East End Life. The Executive Mayor confirmed that the grants criteria had been set and agreed that this information would be made available to the Committee.
A Co-opted Member noted that in 2012-13 there were £50,000 of un-spent education attendance grants because the attendance criteria had been set at a high level and enquired:
· whether interventions were in place so that attendance criteria could be better achieved by applicants
· whether the under-spend would be reinvested in education
The Executive Mayor advised that the criteria had been set high to ensure that achieving good education was a priority and could be used as a driver for good educational attainment. He also confirmed that any under-spend would be reinvested in education.
At the invitation of the Chair a Co-opted Member offered her comments on the participation of the Executive Mayor advising that she was pleased that he had fulfilled the engagement. She noted that at times OSC had been unable to receive answers to their enquiries from officers and Cabinet Members and asked that, in future, the Mayor would provide answers to the Committee’s questions. Another Co-opted Member thanked the Executive Mayor for stating his support of OSC in his submission. The Executive Mayor apologised if any other impression had been given and advised that he supported the work of OSC if properly done.
The Chair enquired:
- if the Executive Mayor would support publicity discouraging Tower Hamlets to become involved in electoral fraud
- whether the Mayor's publicity for building schemes around the borough, that incorporated his image in the design, would be removed during the forthcoming third period
The Executive Mayor advised that he did not support or promote fraud. Additionally he had already co-operated with the Police and Monitoring Officer to ensure that elections were free and fair.
There being no further matters to discuss, the Chair thanked the Executive Mayor for his attendance and participation.
RESOLVED
That the presentation be noted
Action by:
Antonella Burgio (Committee Officer, LPG)