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.

 

 

The following questions and in each case supplementary questions  were put (except where indicated) and were responded to by the Mayor, relevant Executive Member or Councillor:-

 

8.1 Question from Councillor M. Abdul Mukit

 

Can the Lead Member update Council on what progress has been made in the regeneration of Brick Lane to boost business there?

 

Response from Councillor Joshua Peck, Cabinet Member for Work & Economic Growth

 

Anyone who has read the scrutiny review I did in opposition will know how important I think our town centres are, not just because they make for good places to live, they give access to goods and services for residents, but more importantly they are places of real economic growth. Where residents can easily start businesses and find jobs. We are working across the whole of the borough to have a vision and intervention plan for each of our town centres and Brick Lane is just one of those. Brick Lane is particularly special, it is not just a town centre for the people who live in and around Spitalfields, but it is also one of our pre-eminent visitor and tourist attractions and while some parts of it, particularly the northern part of it in your ward, Councillor Mukit, is really struggling, especially many of those historic curry restaurants without whom Brick Lane wouldn't be the same. We have started a Brick Lane regeneration program. Members will know about the curry festival we ran recently and that the mayor switched on the Christmas lights there.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor M. Abdul Mukit

 

I really congratulate the lead member for the work He has done and I had a very overwhelming report from residents of Brick Lane. As a lead member, how do you propose the initiative can progress and create new jobs and also improve the environment for the visitors and tourists?

 

Councillor Joshua Peck response to supplementary question

 

Jobs are absolutely central to Brick Lane, it has been a place historically where a lot of people have been employed. Part of that is about real business support to restaurants. When those businesses are thriving they employ a lot of people, local people and we are putting in place a whole range of business support. But as he says the environment is also important and I think, as I have discussed with my colleague a number of times, the cleaning and graffiti removal and all of that on Brick Lane isn't good enough and we are doing as much as we can to improve that as well. Progress will not be overnight. The regeneration of Brick Lane is going to take some time but we are in it for the long term and we intend to get it right.

 

8.2  Question from Councillor Maium Miah

 

Does the Council need to learn any lessons from the tragic death of Bow School boy Nasar Ahmed?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs

 

It is entirely understandable that Nasar’s parents want full clarity about the reasons for his death, as we all do. The school staff are cooperating fully with the independent police investigation into the circumstances of the case. The police are also liaising with the Health and Safety Executive and the Coroner. So we almost certainly do need to learn lessons, but they need to follow those investigations.

 

Once the police investigation has concluded and the coroner’s report has been published, the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board will then consider if a lessons learnt review should be conducted. This will comment on the individual circumstances of the case, identify any matters of concern affecting the safety and welfare of children in the Local Authority area and any wider public health or safety concerns.

 

The school staff and governors as well as council officers who work with schools will implement any changes in policy and procedures required.

 

Ofsted recently undertook a safeguarding inspection in Bow school and the final report is due to be published in the near future. The verbal feedback from the Inspectors and the draft report indicate that safeguarding policy and practice in the school, in their opinion, is sound.

 

No Supplementary question from Councillor Maium Miah

 

8.3 Question from Councillor Amina Ali

 

Now that a number of months have passed since it was launched, can the Cabinet Member for Housing provide an update on the landlord licensing scheme and gauge how effective the scheme has been so far?

 

Response from Councillor Sirajul Islam, Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Management & Performance

 

We introduced the landlord licensing scheme to tackle anti-social behaviour, to drive up standards in the private rented sector and to improve the management of homes that are privately rented. All private landlords with residential property in the selected area need to apply for a licence at a cost of £520 for five years.

 

There are a number of stringent checks that are carried out before a licence is granted. The licence holder and manager will need to meet the ‘fit and proper’ person requirement. The application is assessed by an environmental health officer and an inspection of the property may be carried out. A licence will be issued with mandatory conditions that must be followed.

 

1,245 applications have been received since the scheme launched on the 1^st of October, and 309 licences have been issued so far.

 

Landlords who successfully applied for Selective Licences, met me and the Mayor in the council chamber. They were handed their licences, and had an opportunity to talk to the Mayor and officers about the scheme.

 

The scheme has had a positive response so far with over one thousand applications received and, with the number of checks that take place before a licence is issued, we expect the scheme to drive up standards in the private rented sector and give tenants more protection.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Amina Ali

 

Would the Lead Member support the scheme being extended to the whole borough, and not just three wards?

 

Councillor Sirajul Islam response to supplementary question

 

The scheme currently applies to Spitalfields and Banglatown, Weavers and Whitechapel wards.

 

Yes, I would absolutely support implementing a landlord licensing scheme to apply to the whole borough, but unfortunately the law states that we can only have the scheme in three wards – to only 20% of our private stock. I notice there is a Labour Group motion on the agenda that would ask the Mayor to write to the Minister for Housing & Planning asking for a change in the law so we could bring together standards to the private rented sector across the whole borough.

 

The scheme is giving us a clearer picture of the private rented sector in the three wards and it would be really positive for private tenants across Tower Hamlets if we could apply the scheme to the whole borough. 

 

8.4 Question from Councillor Chris Chapman

 

Will the Mayor consider the Council deducting Council Tax from the allowances of Councillors who are in arrears for non-payment, as is the practice in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham?

 

Response from Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources

 

There are currently no Councillors two months or more in arrears for council tax payments. Clearly deductions from allowances is one of the routes you could take in order to recover money that is owed and that has been done in the past by the Council, but clearly with councillors, as with anyone else you would first ask for payment to be made, agree a payment plan,  if that payment plan was kept then it wouldn't be necessary to do an attachment of earnings or deductions in this way, but it clearly is an option and would be used if it was felt to be the most appropriate thing to do.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Chris Chapman

 

Does the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Mayor not feel that some of the breaches that we have seen, that have been obtained under Freedom of Information, are so egregious, that a sort-of nudge and voluntary system payment plan system is just not appropriate when these elected members are receiving substantial sums of taxpayers money, many of whom sit in this very chamber and lecture members on this bench on behalf of the Tory Government, the ever-evil Tory Government, and its spending plans when they themselves are not even paying their own council tax and contributing to the operation of this Council? It is shameful, particularly when we know that Shahid Ali, who I will name, owed £864; there are members on the Labour benches that owed £980 and £561; and members of The Tower Hamlets first, second, third, fourth, whatever it is division, who owed £1,180. This is far beyond payment plan. There needs to be action.

 

Councillor David Edgar response to supplementary question

 

Clearly if people are asked to make payment and they make payment then there is no need to implement a deduction process, but we should always keep that as one of the options available.  And it is an interesting fact, for which I hold Chris Chapman in no way responsible, that the Councillor according to the work that was done by Private Eye who owed the biggest amount that any Councillor in the UK was a Conservative councillor in West Oxfordshire, and he owed £3,316 and it took a court case to get him to pay,  but I don't hold you responsible for all of that. 

 

8.5  Question from Councillor Marc Francis

 

Will the Lead Member for Environmental Services update me on the action that has been taken since March by LBTH and the Environment Agency and London Legacy Development Corporation to deal with the alleged fly-tipping of industrial waste at 616 Wick Lane?

 

Response from Councillor Ayas Miah, Cabinet Member for the Environment

 

In April the Council received a complaint about the fly-tipping issues. While the Environment Agency advised they couldn’t intervene, the LLDC accepted they are the responsible authority.

 

We carried out a joint visit with LLDC and witnessed a large amount of waste on site.

 

Both LBTH and the LLDC have served a number of notices on the land owners, Sagamount Limited, to deal with the waste and to properly secure the site against fly-tipping.

 

In November, the Council received a complaint about burning on the site. Environmental Health officers and an LLDC planner investigated the complaint. They witnessed a bonfire and discovered that contractors were burning the waste.

 

On the 15^th of November, Environmental Health issued an abatement notice on the land owners.

 

Two days later, travellers arrived on the site and illegally dumped rubbish. Council officers attended and then contacted the owners. The travellers vacated the site on November 22^nd.

 

On the 1^st of December, the Council contacted LLDC to arrange a meeting with the land owner to discuss the notice breaches and to agree a way forward. We are currently waiting for a response from the owners.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Marc Francis

 

The lead member knows, because I have mentioned it to him before, that this fly-tipping has been taking place over the course of more than a year now and it has come to a situation where, as he has described, where materials are now being burnt on the site. I really welcome the intervention that he has made and the progress that is finally being made against it. Will he give us an assurance that he will continue to monitor the situation and update us and ensure that officers take further action, by this authority and also to encourage the Environment Agency and the LLDC to take their enforcement powers seriously as well?

 

Councillor Ayas Miah response to supplementary question

 

I will finish my previous answer. Two days later, travellers arrived on the site and illegally dumped rubbish. Council officers attended and then contacted the owners. The travellers vacated the site on November 22^nd.

 

On the 1^st of December, the Council contacted LLDC to arrange a meeting with the land owner to discuss the notice breaches and to agree a way forward. We are currently waiting for a response from the owners. Once we have the formal response I will update you and we need to work together to improve the situation. Can I request that if the Ward member has any further information to contact me.

 

8.6  Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman

 

Does the Mayor believe that the Council’s communications team should solely serve the Mayor and his administration or do they have some responsibility towards assisting and informing other Cllrs as well?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs:

 

The Council's communication activity is driven by the Council's organisational strategic objectives and necessarily they are going to tend to involve us as an authority speaking on behalf of the Executive, which would be myself and Cabinet members. When it is appropriate other members will be involved in the communications strategy.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Oliur Rahman:

 

Keeping the Best Value and accountability demanded by the Commissioners and the residents, why is the team working for the new Council’s communication head, who was hired by the current Mayor as I understand on nearly £100k initially, but since has been given further pay rises,  will not send the standard daily media headlines which are blocked, standard public domain articles to all Council members? Certainly not to me or my group and has the Mayor asked him not to send this to anybody else? And by the way the commissioners agree with me that he should.

 

Mayor John Biggs response to supplementary question:

 

I have been working closely with the Commissioners on our Communications Plan as was required under the Directions. I don't believe it is accurate that the newly appointed Service Head has had a pay rise, since he has only been here around three months and if he had I would want to find out why and I would be gobsmacked if that was the case.  I think it is clearly the case that the department is going through a reorganisation which its staff members are finding quite stressful, I appreciate that and we need to act in a forthright way, not least, because we have to stop publishing East End Life, we need to change the skill set within the communications department. We need to also get a bit more up to date with modern media than we have been in the past.

 

8.7  Question from Councillor Clare Harrisson

 

Is the Mayor concerned about the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan for North East London and what steps are he and the Cabinet Member for Health taking to ensure plans are not signed off in secret?

 

Response of Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education & Children's Services.

 

I am also a Member of the Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Board. Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs and the Mayor have called for the latest draft of our Sustainability and Transformation Plan to be published and it is now available publically on line.  It’s a good thing that the local team have been open throughout the process.  They have ignored NHS England’s instructions to keep the plans secret and they have published iterations on the draft and they have presented several times to the Health and Wellbeing Board and other stakeholder. And it’s actually NHS officers based in Tower Hamlets that are taking a broader responsibility across East London, so we are in a good position in terms of some kind of insight as to what’s happening. We have had assurances that there will be no further hospital closures in East London although our rapidly growing and ageing population means we will need all the possible hospital capacity that we currently have and very possibly more. We do need to see a shift away of activity from hospitals and into broader community services and prevention. We will still need to see much more detail about what  service changes will mean in practice. I think we all know though that the Conservative government cuts to Council budgets inevitably leads  to  pressures on social care budgets which inevitably places pressure on the NHS. Whereas I think we have good local senior NHS officers and a good local relationship with them, we do need to see a shift in government policy to really have the NHS that local people deserve.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Clare Harrisson

 

One of the worries that has come up through Scrutiny is that the STP plans will put a lot of increased pressure on social care budgets. A lot of things about moving things out of hospitals is about moving it into the community which obviously has a price tag on it. Will the Mayor and Lead Members be joining with other Labour Councillors to lobby the Government to massively increase funding into social care. It’s a big issue and it is in crisis and there is a worry that the STP plans will only make that worse. 

 

Councillor Rachael Saunders response to supplementary question

 

Of course we will be lobbying the government on social care funding. Further collaboration with the NHS could be an opportunity if we find the right way to work together. What we are doing our best to work out is how we collaborate whilst still maintaining the democratic oversight and accountability and keeping hold of what’s best about both the health and the social care system. Collaboration is welcome with the NHS partners and of course we have to lobby government. There is a long way to go until we are confident we have got this right and a shift in government policy and funding would really help. 

 

8.8 Question from Councillor Andrew Wood

 

Will the Mayor update the Council on the status of the Isle of Dogs & South Poplar Opportunity Area Planning Framework and in particular how the negotiation over the new housing targets is going?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs

 

It is likely that the draft OAPF planning guidance will be issued for consultation in April next year with final approval by the end of 2017. Its status is that it cannot introduce new policy.  All it can do is to supplement the policies in the existing London Plan and it cannot introduce new housing targets either. Housing targets are set at the regional level by the London Plan and at local level in the local plan. So the question over whether we have negotiations with City Hall over housing numbers is not really pertinent to this. What the strategy has to do though is look at how we can manage the inevitable growth on the Isle of Dogs, which I am pretty sure will slow down now, in terms of its demands on infrastructure and capacity, a subject that I know both you and I have a deep interest in.

 

No supplementary question was put.

 

8.9  Question from  Councillor John Pierce

 

What are the Council’s final legal costs in the housing fraud case of former councillor Shahed Ali?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs

 

I did answer this point earlier on to a member of the public. But just very briefly then, if he had pleaded guilty when he was first accused last December the costs to the Council we estimate would have been £3428. Because he pleaded not guilty we then had to secure a QC because he secured a QC, and we had to wait many months while he was still collecting allowances. The legal costs to the Council was over £70,000 as you can see that is quite a massive increase. I think most of us in this Chamber with integrity would agree that that is a scandal.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor John Pierce

 

The scandal that caused this was the housing fraud itself. Has the Council estimated how much he has defrauded the Council over the years as he committed this crime?

 

Mayor John Biggs’ response to supplementary question

 

As I understand it, there is a provision known as the Proceeds of Crime Act that allows you to pursue a person for the ill-gotten gains of their misdemeanour. I think the Council will make a case to the appropriate legal tier on this and my understanding is that a sum in excess in £100,000 would be a reasonable sum to be pursuing. The Council needs to receive learned advice on this and pursue the claim to its full conclusion.

 

8.10  Question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed

 

Will the current Mayor be willing to review and reverse his decision to cut the budget of children’s services, community safety, community languages and to drastically close a record number of youth centres?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs

 

There is a whole legion of mistruths in that question, but the answer is that we agreed a budget last year and the spring of this year, which is this year’s budget, which includes budgets for all of those services. A new budget will be published in December for next year and it will be indicative for the next three years. We haven’t yet found a money tree so we will have to find the £58 million of savings. As I have said and I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, we need to do so in a way that protects front line services as far as we possibly can. It would not be reasonable for us to pretend we didn’t have to make tough decisions. We do have to make tough decisions in an informed way. You will have a very good opportunity to scrutinise them when they come out.   

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed

 

I just wanted to remind Mayor John Biggs that we faced £100 million worth of cuts when we were in the Administration and we survived without cutting any front line services. Where there is a will there is way. Mr Mayor you have heard from the petitioners earlier on that our children’s services are going to face drastic cuts and I want a firm commitment from you that you are going to save the children’s services and the early years budget.

 

Mayor John Biggs’ response to supplementary question:

 

The fact is that under the previous Mayor, there were tough decisions as well but they were fudged, so our children’s centres were hollowed out. Our youth centres were hollowed out as well. So we had places that claimed to be youth centres but has no youths in them and certainly were not centres as well they were open for several hours a week if that. We have rescued that situation and we have amongst the best resourced children’s and youth centres in the country and we will continue to do so . You also hollowed out the waste service in the Borough by deleting staff and we also have inherited a mess with dumping on our streets.  They are considerably cleaner now. So in answer to your question, we will have the same number of children’s centres after this year’s budget as we had before this year’s budget and we will achieve great efficiencies and we will overcome the problems we inherited where 10 of the 12 children’s centres were in need of improvement as they were not being properly managed and overseen by the Council.

 

8.11  Question from Councillor Helal Uddin:

 

Can you provide an update on the plans to build four cement and concrete plants on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – and what representations the Mayor and Council have made?

 

Response from Mayor John Biggs

 

I happen to be a member of the board of the London Legacy Development Corporation in my role as Mayor of Tower Hamlets, so I sit on both sides of the fence. We formally oppose the proposals and I am aware that the application is being deferred until the new year at least. I am hoping that through proper discussion we can find a way of ensuring that we don’t damage the environment of this area by allowing these concrete plants to be introduced into the area which is rapidly transforming. It won’t serve the interests in my opinion of anyone to pretend we can have this island of heavy industry in an area that is meant  to be residential and of good environmental amenity.

 

No supplementary question was put.

 

8.12 Question from Councillor Julia Dockerill

 

Does the Mayor have plans to apply for additional police funding from the Mayor of London, either under the London Crime Prevention Fund or the Safer Neighbourhood Board, in order to help our local police force drive down the appalling rates of anti-social behaviour in our borough?

 

Response of Councillor Shiria Khatun , Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety

 

ASB is a real problem in our Borough and one that the Mayor and I are determined to tackle. The Mayor has commissioned a full review of our approach to ASB and has expressed his determination to improve the Council’s ability to help residents who are affected. In Tower Hamlets, we already fund the Police Task Force which consists of five Police Officers and one Police Sergeant which is match-funded by the Mayor of London. However, given the huge cuts made to Policing by your Government, it is not yet known whether this match funding will continue. So we will have to wait and see. Labour’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, has recently announced that he will be providing London Councils with £70 million over four years for projects that address ASB including community engagement activities and crime prevention advice. We will work with our partners and the community to identify suitable projects using the evidence from our ASB review.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Julia Dockerill

 

As part of the forthcoming redesign of the youth service, will you ensure that outreach teams are explicitly tasked with connecting with young people who are causing ASB.

 

Councillor Shiria Khatun’s response to supplementary question:

 

The strange thing is that Councillor Dockerill feels able to claim that the Council should do more to support young people and the police when her own Government has cut the number of Police Officers in Tower Hamlets by more than 120. 

 

8.13  Question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

 

Can the Mayor or Cabinet Member set out some of the key findings of the Somali Task Force and what the next steps are?

 

Response from Councillor Amina Ali:

 

The Somali Task Force report was approved by Cabinet last month and the work of the Borough’s Somali Task Force which the Mayor set up last year to investigate the challenges facing Somali residents. The task force found that Somali residents were more likely to suffer from economic inequality with barriers such as language, skills and the lack of community representation hindering their access to Council services. The report reflects what the community told the task force were the main concerns. In total, there were 23 recommendations all of which the Council is committed to implementing. The  proposals include developing a new hub for  Somali residents to access Council services and provide community space for cultural and elderly groups as well as others. This will include Somali speaking staff after lack of Somali speakers was identified as a particular problem. The proposals also include: creating new employment opportunities including a new internship scheme; improved target provisions for English speakers of another language or ESOL; building community capacity and supporting Somali based community organisations to build access, resources, advice and support.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

 

Thank you for the work that you have done and to colleagues, Councillors Islam and Whitelock Gibbs and the Mayor in producing this task force. Can you tell us more about what you think the impact might be of the task force report once these recommendations are acted on?

 

Councillor Amina Ali’s response to supplementary question:

 

The action plan is about tacking inequality, breaking down barriers and ensuring equal treatment for everyone in our Borough. We know from the task force that the Somali community in Tower Hamlets faces sufficient challenges ranging from access to Council services, underrepresentation on the Council and their community organisations and barriers to employment. I want to ensure that the Council is doing all it can to tackle inequality and break down barriers to services and work.  That is exactly what this action plan will do. The progress   made in the Bengali community in Tower Hamlets is a great success story and shows the difference that can be made by targeting support for a group facing significant inequality and this is what I would like to be mirrored in the Somali community here in Tower Hamlets.

 

Questions 8.14- 8.18 were not put due to lack of time.  Written responses would be provided to the questions (the written responses are included in Appendix A to these minutes).