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:-

 

8.1Question from Councillor Sabina Akhtar:

 

The National Audit Office recently published a report highlighting the major cost pressures that schools face. What assessment has been made of the savings required by schools in Tower Hamlets, including the changes to the school funding formula?

 

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

 

There are two issues here. One is the additional costs that the government is forcing schools to pay, so that leads to costs pressures of around  8% which includes increases in National Insurance contributions, pension contribution, pay awards and the apprenticeship levy. The real adjustment of this is that if you are a maintained school, you have to pay the apprenticeship levy. If you are an Academy, you don’t, so the way in which the government racks up punishment against schools who are just choosing the way in which they want to be governed. There are also inflationary pressures. We have heard that inflation is going up due to the government’s mismanagement and the pressures on the economy caused by Brexit. In addition to that, the government’s proposed new national funding formula will see our funding cut by 7.6%. This is equivalent to £551 per pupil. The combination of the additional pressure that the government are choosing to put on school’s budgets plus cuts to school funding, if you add it together it is over a £1000 per pupil. Which is terrifying considering how absolutely vital both strong leadership, management, governance and support from parents, and the efforts of children and also good funding has been to the excellent results of schools in Tower Hamlets.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Sabina Akhtar:

 

Do you agree that the new funding formula is an attack on social mobility?

 

Councillor Rachael Saunders’s, response to supplementary question:

 

The government’s idea of making school funding ‘fair’ is to take money away from the poorer areas and give it to wealthier areas. Schools across London will have to cut £360m which is the equivalent of nearly 13,000 qualified teachers. Losing £551 per pupil, as I described in addition to the huge budgetary pressures that the government is imposing on our schools really does put the progress our schools have made at serious risk.

 

Procedural Motion

 

Councillor Danny Hassell moved and Councillor Rachael Saunders,seconded, a procedural motion “that under Procedure Rule 14.1.3 the order of business be varied such that item 12.7 Motion regarding School Funding be taken as the next item of business”. The procedural motion was put to the vote and was agreed.

 

Following consideration of the motion, the Speaker adjourned the meeting at 9:15pm. The meeting was reconvened at 9.25pm

 

8.2 Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman:

 

In response to my previous council question at 18 January 2017 meeting about vulnerable Syrian refugee children, the Mayor said that he is committed to resettling 3 to 5 households and has allocated funding the council need - will he update us on exactly how many vulnerable Syrians children does his commitment translate into, and how many have now been settled?

 

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

 

Since the Mayor’s response to your question from January we have now procured a specialist provider to deliver an ‘Integration Support Service’ to assist the families that we will host through the SVPRS scheme. I’m pleased to say that Refugee Action won this contract. They are an experienced independent provider who will help our new families settle and make new lives here in our borough.

 

We are now working with Genesis Housing Association to identify three suitable properties for the families to occupy. The Mayor and I share members frustration that this has taken so long, but this is the final piece of the jigsaw for us. Once we can supply the details of these properties to the Home Office they will identify families in Syria, and within six weeks we should be able to welcome them to the Tower Hamlets

 

It is important to note that the Council does not wholly determine the make-up of the households it receives, as this is done by the Home Office through its own ‘matching’ process. Although it is likely that children will form part of the households brought to Tower Hamlets, it is not possible to put exact figures on this number at the current time.

SVPRS should not be confused with the programmes for resettling Unaccompanied Child Asylum Seekers (UASC) from Europe. This Council played an outstanding role in assisting the resettlement of vulnerable children from the Calais ‘jungle’, when over 20 such children from a variety of national backgrounds were resettled in the UK via our Rest Centre. We ourselves continue to support five of these children, one of whom is Syrian.

The resettlement of UASC has recently been restricted by the Government, which has decided not to fulfil its previous commitment made under the ‘Dubs Amendment’ to bring 3,000 UASC to the UK. It will instead limit the number to 350. This is deeply disappointing as Councils across the country have stated they stand ready to help achieve the original target.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Oliur Rahman:

 

Out of the 173 refugees that came to London by the end of last year, Newham rehoused 26, Southwark Council officially announced its intention to help 25 families of Syrian refugees working with the Salvation Army. Somerset has taken 8 families this year, with a public pledge of 30. This question has been on the table for a very long time, and I think that Mayor John Biggs has had ample opportunity to address this issue. Even he himself admitted that this is an embarrassing record for him and now you are saying that you have appointed somebody. I wonder how much that person is costing to do the research to help. They can simply pick up the phone and ask the Mayor of Newham how he did it. You don’t need a consultant to tell you how to take the families from  Syria

 

Councillor Sirajul Islam response to supplementary question:

 

As I said in my response, the Mayor is frustrated by this but I think that the owner of this is the Home Office. We are having a lot of issues with getting families. We want to help families.  But it is up to the Home Office to help us to do that. I think the other issue is the cost of housing, if you compare Newham to Tower Hamlets.  There are constraints but we do want them to resettle here and if those constraints can be rectified, then of course.

 

8.3 Question from Councillor Denise Jones

 

What action has the Mayor taken to challenge the Government’s damaging business rate increase?

 

Response of Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources:

 

Clearly everyone in this room will recognise the importance of small businesses to the economy and the impact that the huge increase in business rates that the government has imposed will have on those business and on the streets of the borough. We campaigned as a Council with Hackney and the East End Trades Guild, and a petition was delivered to Downing Street, by Mayor John Biggs and his counterpart at Hackney and the East End Trades Guild. We asked the government in that petition to think again and to hold any rises until they have had time to sort out a fairer system of relief for small and medium sized businesses. That petition was one that was signed by over 10,000 residents plus business owners. So the rate of relief the government is giving Tower Hamlets over 4 years is £8 m but that hardly compares with the £160m that businesses in Tower Hamlets will have to pay in addition. I think it’s important that the Chancellor does more to recognise the impact of his cuts. We do need the government to do much more than it has done so far to think about the impact that these increases are having on small and medium sized businesses.

 

No supplementary question was asked.

 

8.4 Question from Councillor Andrew Wood

 

Given the imminent closure of Marsh Wall & Eastferry road for gas works for five weeks starting the 27th March what has the Mayor done to ensure that construction sites in the area have adapted their plans, that people dependent on the 135 & D6 buses can still access transport and that disruption is minimised. Also given that this is the 2nd major utility related digging up of Marsh Wall in the last 8 months what assurances do we have that this will not happen again next year?

 

Response of Councillor Rachel Blake, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development:

 

We are really disappointed that we only became aware of these issues from a letter from the National Grid.  We totally recognise the importance of Marsh Wall. We have instructed the Chief Executive to coordinate officers on this issue.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Andrew Wood:

 

I would like to thank the Mayor for our email exchanges on this. I know he shares our frustrations on this. I realised today that Marsh Wall west now has one lane closed as well for works, so the eastern end is completely shut and the western end is 50% shut and this just happened today so there is going to be complete chaos. So is the Council aware of that additional road closure or not?

 

Councillor Rachel Blakeresponse to supplementary question:

 

I was planning to visit the area today but had to do some enforcement in respect of cement trucks on Aston Street while I was dealing with the other issues. I will look into the issue you raise. You will have probably noticed in the budget that we have set aside £151,000 for additional planning enforcement officers. We know that if we are to achieve the level of homes and jobs that we want to in Tower Hamlets we need to take these issues very seriously and we are setting aside resources in order to coordinate some of those issues.

 

8.6 Question from Councillor Rabina Khan:

 

Can the Mayor ensure that leaseholders and freeholders will secure a like for like property in the future regenerated scheme of what is known as "Project Stone"?

 

Response of Councillor Rachel Blake, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development:

 

The Mayor has made it clear that any redevelopment plans on the Isle of Dogs should have residents at the heart of it.  We have been enabling residents to bring forward what they believe will be like for like and the Mayor has made clear that the scheme should be a resident led process.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Rabina Khan:

 

Can the Mayor ensure through his JV meeting with One Housing and Argent that the leaseholders and freeholders will get a similar scheme to the Robin Hood Gardens regeneration as the bare minimum with a seven year full ownership deal?

 

Councillor Rachel Blake’s, response to supplementary question:

 

I am not aware of any JV meetings that have taken place. The Mayor, unlike yourself who as far as I can see did very little to hold Argent and One Housing Group to account when they were putting forward Project Stone, has been really clear that any development that takes place on the Isle of Dogs would have to be resident led. We have moved from a position where the Housing Association was bringing forward Project Stone without any communication with residents to a situation where residents have been helped by the Council in order to bring forward what they considered to be a like for like offer. [inaudible sentence]. I am not aware of any JV meetings but we have tried to work in a way that holds One Housing and Argent to account.

 

8.7 Question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

Can the lead member please update me on what work is being undertaken by the council and its partners to improve safety along Cantrell Road (the pedestrian path running alongside Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park between Knapp Road and Bow Common Lane) and what specific actions will be taken to improve safety here?

 

Response of Councillor Ayas Miah, Cabinet Member for Environment:

 

A survey of the area has been carried out, which looked at lighting, vegetation and general appearance of the area. This was done through three separate visits at different times of the day. Some issues were identified that would make the area more open and accessible, and give feeling of a safer environment. The survey made three recommendations:

 

Recommendation 1: About three quarters of the way through the route there is a hawthorn, or berry bush by a telegraph pole. Trimming bushes along the route to allow end to end vision. Currently the through vision is only part way through the walkway.

 

Recommendation 2: Changing the parking control restrictions on this section would reduce parking and also allow dumped cars to be removed quicker. There are no residential properties or users that park in this area, it would not affect or reduce resident parking.

 

Recommendation3: Crime tends to happen in the eastern end of the cemetery exit near to the work units and dumped cars. We are considering additional LED pads.

 

I will be speaking to officers about progressing these works quickly, to ensure that safety is improved as soon as possible.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

 

Can I thank the Lead Member and Officers for their thorough analysis and report . One thing that I don’t think has been explored as well as it might have been is around CCTV provision in the area. Now I am not one to say that we need CCTV everywhere. I don’t think it is necessarily always effective. But I do think it should be considered here where there is not a lot of natural surveillance, especially as there has been a number of very serious issues reported here by residents. CCTV is something that could really be considered to improve the safety and the sense of security of residents. So will the Lead Member please commit to exploring this as an option?

 

Councillor Ayas Miah’s response to supplementary question

 

Yes I will discuss this proposal with Officers.

 

8.8 Question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed:

 

Will the Mayor provide official crime rate figures (overall) for each year since 2010 until present (2017) for the Borough? And will the Mayor confirm that Anti-Social Behaviour is a priority for him which is backed up by his utmost focus and required leadership?

 

Response of Councillor Shiria Khatun, Cabinet Member for Community Safety:

 

Tackling anti-social behaviour is absolutely a key priority for the Mayor and it is a key priority for the year ahead in his letter to the Chief Executive.  It forms an important part of our refreshed Strategic Plan.

 

An ASB review is in progress and we will develop an ASB partnership strategy to review existing services, learn from best practice and to continue to develop and improve on the ASB support and services for the borough.

 

I won’t read out the official crime rates since 2010 but they will be included in the official minutes. I can confirm that overall crimes increased from 2010 to 2012, fell slightly for two years, and then rose again in 2014 and 2015. For the current year, up to January 2017, there have been 26,005 reported crimes in our borough

 

Tackling ASB is one of the Community Safety Partnership’s four priorities for 2017-20 and a Local Police Priority with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

 

The Mayor’s recent budget takes a robust approach to tackling anti-social behaviour, including dog fouling and littering, by ensuring our Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers focus their time on areas with the greatest need.

 

We are also investing in increasing enforcement and prosecution against landlords who do not comply with the requirements of the Council's landlord licencing scheme.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed:

 

The reality is different from your answer. The Overview and Scrutiny report, presented this month on 1 March 2017, stated that there has been a significant delay in progressing the scrutiny review recommendations. In fact residents and Members would be interested to know that the Mayor and Cabinet have made no progress on the recommendations of the ASB scrutiny review carried out by the Council in 2015. [inaudible sentence]. One simple supplementary question, how do you compare our borough with neighbouring boroughs?

 

Councillor Shiria Khatun’s response to supplementary question:

 

Once again let me reiterate that tackling ASB is a very key priority for the Mayor and his administration. With regards to statistics and comparisons to other boroughs, we do have an issue with ASB in Tower Hamlets which was highlighted in the ASB review that you were part of two years ago and was presented at the scrutiny meeting that I attended. You do realise that from that meeting it has to follow a process before it gets to Cabinet.  So from O&S, it can’t just be adopted as a Council policy. It has to go through all the processes and mechanisms that we have at this Council. Once again, I want to reiterate that I know you were in power at a time when crime statistics in Tower Hamlets did rise, they then fell again and have risen since. So we have this pattern in Tower Hamlets. However with the review taking place which is looking at a partnership approach, the issue of what we can do better internally and how we can work with our partner externally, it should actually provide us with a coordinated service to deal with not just ASB but different forms of ASB and the perception of ASB that we have. 

 

8.9 Question from Candida Ronald:

 

What assessment has the Council made of the Government’s Budget, as announced on 8^th March, and its impact on Tower Hamlets?

 

Response of Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources:

 

As you noticed, there was a rather embarrassing U-turn the Chancellor had to make on his increase in National Insurance contributions. This is something that would have had an impact on self employed people in the borough. I look forward to some more U-turns. The budget did announce some extra funding for social care, but nowhere near the amounts that are needed. There was a significant investment in free schools and grammar schools which we have already discussed, where they are not needed, rather than in new places where they are needed. We still have the promise of further cuts across public expenditure in 2019/20 with no details of where the axe will fall.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Candida Ronald:

 

You talked about some of the ways which those cuts are likely to impact on us. Does it feel to you that these are political decisions and have actually nothing to do with the state of the economy?

 

Councillor David Edgar’s response to supplementary question:

 

They have announced some small relief for business rates and as said earlier that relief is not anywhere near enough when compared to the costs to the businesses. We still don’t know what the shape of the consultation will include. That consultation is going on now. I hope that the government will take the opportunity of the consultation to think again on that issue. They gave us some additional money for social care that goes nowhere near to meeting the scale of the crisis facing this country. It won’t plug the gap and we still won’t know the details of how it will work out. So overall, it was not a good announcement and the details are not going to take us very far.

 

8.10 Question from Councillor Chris Chapman:

 

The Labour controlled Manchester City Council is ceasing the 20mph limit that was implemented in some areas of the City. The reason being that it made almost no difference to speeds. Manchester Road, Tower Hamlets is increasingly dangerous because of the unenforced and indeed almost unenforceable 20mph speed limit. Will the Mayor bring Manchester Road in line with Manchester and scrap this scheme?

 

Response of Councillor Dave Chesterton:

 

I appreciate that Councillor Chapman may think he is being clever with his question. There are quite some significant differences between Manchester and the Isle of Dogs. The Council’s review of the first year of operation of the experimental 20mph speed limit was presented to Cabinet in September 2016 to inform the decision on whether to make it permanent or not. Its early days but borough wide it is showing a reduction in 46% of killed and seriously injured in collisions, but we are not complacent. The 20mph is one part of our strategy to calm traffic and make out streets safer. The Mayor is happy to look at specific areas in the borough where there remain problems. Indeed a commitment was given to review traffic calming road design on Manchester Road, to reinforce the speed limit and encourage lower speeds. Whilst we will not blindly follow Manchester Council in scrapping the 20mph limit, there is one area where I think they have got it right and I hope Tower Hamlets can follow this. Despite having 96 Councillors, the good people of Manchester have decided not to elect a single Tory.

 

Supplementary question from Councillor Chris Chapman:

 

Do you not feel that we should follow the guidance laid down by Manchester City Council, who wasted a significant sum of money in their roll out of the scheme.

 

We do note that the area where they are proposing to withdraw the scheme happens to coincide with the borders of a constituency where there is a by – election due to take place but we won’t dwell on that.

 

Will, in the context of air pollution, you not recognise that toxic fumes generated by vehicles travelling 20mph are in fact 50% higher than those travelling at 30mph. As someone who represents the Isle of Dogs you will know the huge pollution implications of forthcoming development. Do you not feel that repealing this will cut pollution and improve safety? Many Members of this Council Chamber will have witnessed the very dangerous driving practices including the accident in my colleague’s ward last week caused by people observing the 20mph speed limit.

 

Councillor Dave Chesterton’s response to supplementary question

 

The reduction in 46%in killed and seriously injured across the borough speaks volumes. I think that the campaign that you appear to have got yourself involved in on the island which would suggest that traffic problems on isle of dogs can be resolved by people driving even faster on Manchester Road is a mistake. I do think we need to stick to the speed limit.  But I do think, as the Mayor said, that we do need to continue to review the traffic calming road design and that is exactly what is happening on Manchester Road.

 

8.11 Question from Councillor Helal Uddin:

 

The London Food Board has named Tower Hamlets as a leading borough in tackling food poverty issues, and the GLA has awarded the Council £5,000 to develop a food poverty action plan to build on this work. Can members be updated about this plan?

 

Response of Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs, Cabinet Member for Health & Adult Services:

 

I am very pleased to update colleagues on this important recognition of our work on food poverty. It’s really a crucial issue. As you know we have got hugely and stubbornly high levels of child poverty and also high levels of obesity amongst children and that is something that I and colleagues on the Health and Wellbeing Board have made a big priority for the Board and the Council for the future. Regarding food poverty, we have been named the leading borough and some areas of good practice are particular noted. The fact we have universal free school meals, something that Labour campaigned for and that Mayor Biggs has confirmed funding for in the budget for the next few years. Other steps included: the delivery of a subsidised ‘Meals-on-Wheels’ service for older people and work to improve the uptake of ‘Healthy Start’ vouchers which provided free milk, fruit and vegetables for eligible families in receipt of certain benefits for each child under four. So there is already a lot of work going on. There is also work that Councillor Ayas Miah and I jointly oversee to improve the quality of the local food environment. I have seen first-hand businesses offering healthier chicken and chips for example.

 

No supplementary question was asked.

 

Question 8.5 was not put due to the absence of the questioner. Questions  8.12 - 28 were not put due to lack of time.  Written responses would be provided to the questions.