Agenda item
TO RECEIVE WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL
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.
Minutes:
The following questions and in each case (except where indicated) a supplementary question were put, and were responded to by the relevant Executive Member or Chair of Committee:-
8.1 Question from Councillor Danny Hassell
Does the Mayor intend to provide some form of monthly report detailing engagements and other important town hall business undertaken?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
Yes, I intend to produce a regular report to these meeting and also to work with the Constitutional Working Party to see how we can better improve the accountability of the Mayor which is after all a fairly powerful position.
(No supplementary question was put)
8.2 Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman to the Mayor and his Cabinet
Will you be carrying on with the Whitechapel Vision project and the move of the current Town Hall to the heart of community in Whitechapel as part of key jigsaw piece of wider regeneration, as initiated by the previous Mayor’s administration?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
Yes, I support the Whitechapel Master Plan and the vision for the area but we are looking at the costings and alternative proposals for a Town Hall as we think it’s our responsibility to do that. We welcome that the previous Mayor secured the site at Whitechapel as it’s an attractive site but we need to look at the numbers to see whether it’s the best site in terms of the interests of the Borough and the other uses to which those monies could be applied as it is quite an expensive option. There may be other options which are more affordable. We need to balance questions of access and costs against each other and look at the other things that we may be able to do for local people.
Supplementary question from Councillor Oliur Rahman
Would you support a new town hall in Whitechapel - yes or no? Or are you planning to move the town hall to Cambridge Heath Road, the old council building?
Mayor John Biggs’ response to supplementary question
If the numbers work, then yes.
8.3 Question from Councillor Amina Ali
Mr Mayor, how many community events or visits have you undertaken since taking office?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
By my estimate, I have attended 31 community events from 15th June 2015 to 12th July 2015 and that does not include other visits to partner organisations. I intend to try and make one visit each day but anyone who has occupied the position of Leader or Mayor will know that the demands on your time are such that this is not always possible.
(No supplementary question was put)
8.4 Question from Councillor Andrew Wood
Developers are proposing to provide much needed new schools at Wood Wharf, Westferry and Wapping print works but there is no indication yet who will operate those new schools. The Mayor will be aware that current legislation requires that new school sites can only be occupied by academy and free school providers.
Will the Mayor be using his powers under Section 6A of the 2011 Education Act to encourage the highest quality applicants for these new sites or will they be left empty?
Response by Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services
Of course the Mayor will use every power available to him to ensure that all school provisions including the schools on this site will meet the highest possible quality standards. At present, there is no confirmed development timetable and the decision on commissioning the places will be part of the programme of decisions to procure the buildings and to mobilise for the agreed opening date of the new school places.
There is a need to bring forward development of the new schools. Any blockages under the previous Mayor need to end. Many of us don’t support this ideologically drive behind the current Government agenda. We support collaboration and cooperation not competition.
Education for our children is what matters and that will never be sacrificed for political gain. The problems with school places shortages, whilst clearly acute on the Isle of Dogs, affects all of our Borough and has to be resolved.
(No supplementary question was put)
8.5 Question from Councillor Rajib Ahmed
Will the Mayor update the council on how he aims to build a culture of transparency within the council?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
In my election campaign, I gave a very clear pledge to be to be open and transparent. Indeed I’ve done work in this area at City Hall in my other job soon to come to an end.
This evening I presented as part of this, my first written report which I will do regularly and last week I attended my first meeting of the O&S committee which I will attend regularly, hopefully not to the point they get fed up of seeing me. But I think it’s important to be transparent and that means being accountable for decisions that you will be making. I expect Cabinet Members who will be involved in decision making to do the same.
In an addition, I want to produce over the summer what I call a transparency protocol which is a description of the ways in which the Mayoralty can be more transparent. I am really keen to work in partnership with the Chair of O&S to secure this and to allow Councillors to insert their ideas into the way this works as well. I know that Councillor John Pierce as Chair of O&S wants to make this a priority for this Committee and there is room for both of us in this direction.
Supplementary question from Councillor Rajib Ahmed
I’m very pleased you have been speaking so many times. In the past the ex-Mayor has stopped the Speaker of Council using the Council Chamber to carry out their duties. Can you assure us that you are going to let the Speaker carry out his duties using the Council Chamber and if any Councillors need to do that?
Mayor John Biggs’ response to the supplementary question
That is an important supplemental question. It’s not one of those hard hitting Executive Functions about whether we build houses in one place or schools or whatever. But I think the dignity of the Council is very clearly represented by the Speaker of the Council and the office they hold and the way they represent the Council around the Borough. So one of the decisions that I have made is about (a) reducing the size of my office physically and also (b) re-providing a parlour for the Speaker of the Council to entertain people and which may occasionally be used by myself and other people receiving delegations.
It’s important that the Council has a presentable shop front and we show respect and dignity to the office holder. In some Boroughs the elected Mayor, wears the chain I won’t be doing that. I think it’s a healthy relationship having a civic mayor or speaker who wears the regalia. I do quite like the Stepney one but I’m not that vain to wear it.
8.6 Question from Councillor Abjol Miah
Can our New Tower Hamlets Executive Mayor confirm whether he intends to continue with the long awaited demand by Tower Hamlets residents for a reduced cost Community Burial Service for the most needy poor, and if so does he intend to make any changes to the scheme?
Response by Councillor Sirajul Islam, Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Management & Performance.
Before I respond can I welcome Councillor Abjol Miah as a new independent, Independent Member of this Council.
The Mayor and I have discussed this issue. The Council has entered into long-term management agreement for a period of 125 years with the memorial property investment Ltd Kendal Park Cemetery Chislehurst, Kent which will provide 3000 burial plots and the purpose of the agreement is to provide a multi-faith burial service of reduced costs to residents in the Borough. There are no plans at this time to vary the agreement. Officers reviewing the operational implications of the agreement will advise on the specific implications shortly.
Supplementary question from Councillor Abjol Miah
How soon will this service be made available for Tower Hamlets residents?
Councillor Sirajul Islam, Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Management & Performance’s response to the supplementary question.
The service is already operational. I have visited the site myself last month and there were already some burials taking place.
8.7 Question from Councillor Sabina Akhtar to the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Can the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee tell the Council what themes his committee will be considering this year?
Response by Councillor John Pierce, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
As Chair of Overview and Scrutiny this year you will hear me say mainly three words, transparency, transparency and transparency. This Council will need to make very difficult decisions over the next few years and I’m keen to ensure that O&S helps to ensure that these decisions are made in an transparent and open way in public with clear reasons provided not in private behind closed door.
All political parties made pledges during the elections we must now deliver on this. That’s why on Monday 27th July, O&S will launch a transparency commission working with Members, officers, political parties inside and outside of the chamber, local groups and most importantly residents. We will bring forward proposals to the Mayor and his Cabinet for a new settlement to bring this Council back on track to become a beacon of transparency in this country.
Supplementary question from Councillor Sabina Akhtar
Can you clarify the agenda and who will be attending the next committee?
Councillor John Pierce, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s response to the supplementary question
Well, I’ve set the agenda, and I’ve invited a few people to come along. When we think about transparency a few names in this Borough come to our minds so that’s why I’ve invited citizens and journalists such as Ted Jeory and the editor of ‘Love Wapping’ to come along and give their views on how they have been holding us all to account and the reality of their experiences with the administration and the fun they had over the last few years.
We will also ask licensing officers to come along to discuss issues around making licensing decisions more open in public. We will also ask planning officers to come along to discuss the key issue for residents and Members of the Committee at the moment which is lack of information and lack of visual content for us to make informed decisions. But also to discuss the big issue for London and Councils like ourselves which is the viability assessments and making them in public. Freedom of information is also very important.
8.8 Question from Councillor Rabina Khan to the Mayor and his Cabinet
Will Mayor Biggs refuse a Compulsory Purchase Order for East End Homes, if they seek to demolish Holland Estate?
Response by Councillor Rachel Blake, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development
As you probably know East End Homes has not brought forward a request for a CPO on the Holland Estate. If they did we would have to carefully consider the merits of the case put forward but if the proposal was along the lines that the residents and we have all seen, we would have to seriously question if the proposal met the regeneration, social and affordability objectives of this administration.
Supplementary question from Councillor Rabina Khan
Previously we heard from petitioners who came to Full Council regarding Holland Estate. However, the answer you have given Councillor Blake doesn’t actually clarify whether if, in the event they sought a CPO for the demolition of Holland Estate, that you would reject it?
Councillor Rachel Blake’s response to the supplementary question
Councillor Khan, as you know we would have to consider the merits of any request in the same way we would for any Housing Association. I haven’t yet found out if you ruled it out entirely. And so as I’ve said we would be under an obligation to consider the full merits and we would have to seriously question whether or not the proposals that they have brought forward met the objectives of this administration.
8.9 Question from Councillor Denise Jones:
Can the Mayor update the Council on his plans to reduce the size of the Mayoral office?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
We are still consulting on a structure but it won’t involve the team of advisers the previous Mayor had and in particular, if we are going to be an effective Council, we should work with the policy advice that exists for the rest of the Council. It seems clearer to me that the previous Mayor for whatever reason almost had a duplicate set of advisers. There’s a very good policy function in the Council that the Mayor should be using.
I thought you would be asking me about the money saving for the Council. I don’t know what they will be but I’d be disappointed if we didn’t save more than £250,000 in the running of the Mayor’s Office. That’s separate from the savings of the floor space in a town hall where there are only 6 desks for every 10 employees as we have a home working policy and hot desking policy. So for Members to have ostentatious accommodation which quite often they won’t be in, seems silly in my opinion.
(No supplementary question was put)
8.10 Question from Councillor Julia Dockerill
Will the Mayor support the provision of an easily-accessible, council-run community centre/Ideas Store in St Katharine's and Wapping ward that is open and available to all residents?
Response by Mayor John Biggs.
I think the formal answer to that is the Town Hall Strategy is being reviewed and as part of that we need to look at the way in which the Council provides services to people through one stop shops and through others bases. There is not currently a formal proposal to do that but if you have a proposal then we would have look at that. I think that the problem that you will always have in Wapping, a place that I used to live in and moved back to today actually, is it’s a lovely little community but it’s quite small in terms of the demands for a full Council office space and so you would need to look at how people particularly excluded people in Wapping can access services. That may involve such things as making it easier to cross the highway which is a more substantial point than you might think and making Wapping feel and be to a greater extent part of the wider Tower Hamlets community.
Supplementary question from Councillor Julia Dockerill
I would like to welcome the Mayor to my ward. An excellent location that he has chosen. Would you be able to provide me a list of all the Council assets in my ward and who they are run by so that we can have an understanding of what is available there as public space.
Mayor John Biggs’ response to the supplementary question
I would very interested to see such a list myself so yes.
8.11 Question from Councillor Helal Uddin
Mr Mayor, is it your intention to attend meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee?
Response by Mayor John Biggs
Well I welcome your question and the answer is yes.
(No supplementary question was put)
8.12 Question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed to the Mayor.
I understand that the first ever staff conference of the borough went ahead on 25th June 2015 despite it falling within the holy month of Ramadan. I believe that morning breakfast was offered amongst refreshment breaks to staff with much pomp and grandeur to the behest of those who were observing their faith and those who felt left out and demotivated and somewhat belittled by the event taking place when they are obligated to fast. As a borough that is home to the largest proportion of Muslims in London, I find it troubling that basic etiquettes have been forgotten. Do you agree with this sentiment? If so why what did you do to stop this happening?
Response by Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources
I will respond as Human Resources falls within my remit. The conference was one that was organised and publicized widely before the Mayoral election took place and it was seen important to have that conference shortly after the election because clearly there were a number of things that members of staff might want to talk about and raise. I am told that the Head of Paid Service wrote to the Mayoral candidates before the election to tell them that the conference was going to take place and to invite them to speak if they were successful in that election.
I am also told that the Head of Paid Service wrote to Group Leaders explaining about the conference given the rational for the conference and telling them about the format and date of the conference and that no representations came from Group Leaders or Mayoral candidates about the date. There were no concerns expressed about the date of the conference.
I have also been told that the Head of Paid Service discussed the consequences of holding the conference during Ramadan with the Chair of the Muslim Staff Forum before the event was publicized and the Head of Paid Service asked for any suggestions about anything that could be included in the event that could make it easier for Muslim staff to attend.
As it happens, it seems that the event was seen as very successful by the majority of staff. 82% of staff rated the conference as excellent or very good or good. And I think all those staff attending it did find it very helpful event at that particular point and they found it very helpful I think to ask questions of the Mayor who had been elected.
Supplementary question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed
Yes. I have the e-mail. Thank you Mr Mayor. I had a response from him and very quickly this is what he said in his short response. I was not convinced though. The reason I was not convinced was that one thing I was told that all candidates were consulted. Clearly, Councillor Rabina Khan was not consulted. I did not know anything about it as a member of the previous administration. Otherwise, I would not be raising this question because this did not happen in the past. I know former leader Councillor Denise Jones, she respects all. We work together to bring harmony amongst our staff and it is important that we have a staff force who actually works shoulder to shoulder to make our Borough better. We cannot as politicians do it without their support. You cannot expect Muslim staff to come and complain. It is quite frustrating.
I want an assurance that this will not happen again.
Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources’ response to the supplementary question
I am certainly told that the Head of Paid Services did write to all the Mayoral candidates. If the e-mail did not reach any of those Mayoral candidates then clearly that’s unfortunate. But that’s what I have been told about the process that was followed. It seems to me that it was a good idea to follow that process. It was a good idea to consult with people to give them the opportunity to air any concerns they had about the date of it. It does seem to me that it was a format for a conference event that worked well.
Staff, as I have said did respond very positively to it. If there is anything that can be learned about from the way in which it worked then I am sure that the Council would be very keen to learn them and if there were people who were offended in any way by the timing of the event or the way in which it was arranged in the organisation, I am sorry that they were offended. But I think that the Council took the right steps to think about an opportunity for people to ask questions and to hear from a new Mayor, whoever that Mayor was going to be, we didn’t know in advance of the election clearly and to discuss those issues and it was very well attended.
To the extent that there are any lessons that can be learnt, but am sure that staff will have thought about the points that had been made and will use those points in the thinking about planning of the similar conferences.
8.13 Question from Councillor Andrew Cregan
Can the Deputy Mayor for Education and Children’s Services outline some key priorities for this year?
Response by Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services
My key priorities will be working with the Mayor to deliver his manifesto commitments including improving our high quality early years provision to ensure it delivers the most for the children who need it most; strengthening our schools including the role of governors; sorting out school places; continuing to provide free school meals and the Education Maintenance Allowance; reviewing the youth service to make sure that our youth services are even across the Borough and delivered properly fairly within the law and are of high quality.
Supplementary question from Councillor Andrew Cregan
Thank you Councillor Saunders for that answer which is very encouraging. More specifically on a matter relating to my ward, could you say how you might be able to support improvements to George Green School.
Councillor Rachael Saunders’ response to the supplementary question
George Green is an excellent school and has been a real team player. The Head Teacher gave the opportunity for a building project to another school in Bethnal Green rather than take it for themselves so I think we should be very grateful to the contribution that George Green has made to our family of schools. They are improving their results and doing well. I met the Head Teacher there a couple of weeks ago and I would be very glad to continue to work with George Green and with communities on the Isle of Dogs in continuing the improvements in that school.
The remaining questions 8.14 - 8.22 were not put due to a lack of time. The Service Head, Democratic Services stated that written responses would be provided to the questions. (Note: The written responses are included in Appendix ‘A’ to these minutes.)
Supporting documents: