9.1 Question from CouncillorJohn Pierce:

The scale of Government cuts to police budgets has led to police front counter closures in Limehouse and Brick Lane – what impact will this have?

Response ofMayor John Biggs:

This is an important issue and I regret enormously that the Mayor of London has felt forced to close the Police stations. We have lobbied against it and I fundamentally disagree with that decision. But there is a problem which is similar to the debates we have about our budgets each year, which is that he is facing from government, a massive cut in police numbers in Tower Hamlets and the whole of London. I think across our whole community including many Conservative voters, people feel anxious about the future of our borough because of the reduction in police numbers. I lobbied against the closure of Limehouse Police station and Brick Lane Police station. I think it is regrettable and I think there should still be an open police presence at those stations.

Supplementary question from Councillor Pierce:

The Mayor has rightly highlighted the harsh reality of the vicious tory cuts on policing. What representations did the Council make to oppose these closures?

Mayor Biggs’ response to the supplementary question:

We responded to the official consultation to strongly object to the closures, and I hope the opposition groups also took part in that. I met with the Deputy Mayor for policing and made those representations as well.    We argued that effective policing relies on public confidence and a sense of protection, including contact points such as front counters. We highlighted that between May 2010 and July 2017 Tower Hamlets lost 197 dedicated borough police officers and 98 PCSOs. That is simply unacceptable. The Council is investing in 39 new police officers but we cannot replace every police officer the Government scraps. We do not have the financial resources to fill in the gaps left by Government cuts. The Metropolitan Police should not have to choose between police stations and police officers. We will continue to work closely with the Police to tackle crime and ASB in the borough, and my latest Council Budget includes an additional £1.4m for this purpose. We will continue to work on this issue.

9.2 Question from Councillor Ohid Ahmed:

There is a slight typo in my question. It should actually read will the Mayor inform if he cut any council funded police officers in the 2016 budget and can he confirm that figure please?

(Question on the agenda - Will the Mayor inform the council if he cut 34 council-funded police officers in his 2016 budget?)

Response ofCouncillor Asma Begum, Cabinet Member for Community Safety:

You asked me a similar question at a public meeting. From July 2011, the council funded a team of 21 police officers known as the Partnership Task Force (PTF) 1. The contract came to an end on 31st March 2015 and it was the previous Mayor Lutfur Rahman who chose not to renew this contract. In December 2012 the Council funded an additional team of 19 officers, known as Partnership Task Force 2. That contract also expired on 30th November 2015. Mayor John Biggs has funded a new contract of 6 police officers in December 2015 and then he also later agreed £3m funding to bring the number of council funded officers to 39 police officers. Community safety is an absolute priority. I want to make sure we keep our police officers on the streets delivering neighbourhood policing that stops crime and deals with the issues residents are facing.

Supplementary question from Councillor Ahmed:

I was at the meeting and you made a statement and I don’t think it is a correct statement. You said that the Police officers were cut in 2014, rather than 2015 and a lot of people heard your speech so I think you need to rectify this. You have learnt your lesson and you are now going back to my policy of funding local partnership police. When I stood up here in 2016 I alerted Mayor Biggs and gave him an alternative budget. I said to him at the time that he should not be cutting police officer funding but he went ahead. I think you have learnt a lesson. I think that it is important that you carry on funding police officers until you finish your time in office. My question is have you learnt your lesson?

Councillor Begum’s response to the supplementary question:

I am happy to sit down with you and show you this briefing and that it was in 2011 that these officers were made redundant.

9.3 Question from Councillor Clare Harrisson:

Can the Cabinet Member please provide an update on Operation Continuum, the police and council operation to tackle drug dealers?

Response ofCouncillor Asma Begum, Cabinet Member for Community Safety:

Tower Hamlets Police, and the Council are working together with other partners to crack down on drug dealing through Operation Continuum. It was launched on 14^th December 2017 and is a rolling 10 week programme. To date it has resulted in:

·         19 arrests for drugs and 4 arrests for other offences.

·         13 charges for drug trafficking.

·         12 addresses and 6 vehicles have been searched.

·         £20,000 in cash has been seized.

·         2 carrier bags of cannabis have been confiscated along with a box of Class A Drugs.

Our partnership work maximises our resources and will help to stamp out drug dealing, which is a plague across London. Residents have told us where there are hotspots of drug dealing and crime, and we know that through partnership working we can be safer together.

Supplementary question from Councillor Harrisson:

Can the Cabinet Member clarify whether Operation Continuum will be a one off or a continuing programme?

Councillor Begum’s response to the supplementary question:

This is not a one off operation, it is a rolling operation and we will be working with our partners to deliver this once a month.

9.4 Question from CouncillorRabina Khan:

Is Tower Hamlets Drugs Service in Special Measures?

Response of Mayor John Biggs:

I know there has been some misinformation about this so let me be clear. The Reset drug and alcohol services are not in special measures. There is no such category as special measures and they are also performing pretty well. The borough’s Drugs and Alcohol support is provided by Reset. As you would expect, the contract is closely monitored by our Drugs & Alcohol team and we work closely with Reset to ensure that clients are offered the best service possible. We want to see constant improvement from all our services so where we feel that things could be improved we work with them to draw up and implement plans to do just that. Good progress has been made on implementing the new model of service delivery and we have had good feedback from service users.

Supplementary question from Councillor Khan:

The question still remains as to why Lifeline was awarded this contract when they were having internal mismanagement since 2015 according to newspaper reports. On that note, could I ask that the Mayor ensures that he provides a briefing to all elected Members containing the following information:

·         to confirm whether substance misuse services were put on special measures and when that had happened;

·         to provide a list of specific areas where services were failing Borough residents due to their underperformance;

·         to provide a performance comparison with previous years in all key measurement areas and demographics;

·         to provide a breakdown of client demographics entering each of these respective services.

Mayor Biggs’ response to the supplementary question:

I am aware that the Director of Adults Services has offered Councillor Khan a confidential briefing on the performance of this service. She has done so on legal advice because of the nature of the contract and the way in which it is structured, and the way in which information within it is treated. I can tell you that our investment of just under £8 million a year to address substance misuse in Tower Hamlets, means that they are currently more people engaged in structured drugs or alcohol treatment here than in any other London Borough with about 500 individual successfully completing treatment each year and nobody waiting more than 21 days to receive treatment. I can also tell her as I have  a good relationship with them historically that I hold in very high regard the work of NAFAS and I would love to see them continue to play a role in drug treatment in our borough.

9.5 Question from Councillor Danny Hassell:

Can the lead member please update us on the outcome of the Ofsted monitoring visit for Children’s Social Care that took place in December?

Response of Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services:

Thank you Councillor Hassell for your question and for all your challenge in your role as scrutiny lead. I have reported to some previous full Councils on the August visit from Ofsted when they found significant progress at the front door of Children’s Social Care services. Their second visit took place in December and I am pleased to tell colleagues that Ofsted’s feedback was positive but I want to make clear that the Mayor and I know we have a long way to go and that there is absolutely no complacency on this side of the chamber. So the improvements they found in August in the MASH, the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, were sustained. Ofsted said that there were no children at immediate risk which is really positive compared to the inspection. They found significant and positive change to previously poor practice in the family support and protection teams. They found better management, better use of performance information to tackle drift and delay in cases and crucially much more direct work with children -  children being seen more frequently and at home.

Supplementary question from Councillor Hassell:

I am sure that all Members would welcome the news that we are on the right track and that the direction of travel is very positive for our children and families.  In particular, could the Lead Member update us as to what the Ofsted found in relation to management and leadership of children’s services.

Councillor Whitelock Gibbs’ response to the supplementary question:

We have seen a draft letter from Ofsted and Members will be pleased that the letter will be published next week and we will make sure that it is circulated to Members. About senior leaders and elected Members, Ofsted said that we have an increased in-depth knowledge of the strengths and areas of weakness in the service and that leaders and managers demonstrate considerable determination, commitment and a tenacity to embed and sustain these changes. I would just like to highlight though that there are areas of concern that the Mayor and I and I know Councillor Hassell as scrutiny lead is very interested in, particularly: case loads that our social workers are dealing with and the high volume of work we are seeing, stability in the workforce -I have talked at many meetings about our need to recruit and retain, excellent social workers and the need to support those staff, and really embedding sustainable change into the future. The Mayor and I will continue to focus on this fortnightly. I hope that opposition members will start to come to the formal meetings where we debate these issues rather than just throwing things around in the Council Chamber, like the Best Value Programme Board.

9.6 Question from Councillor Andrew Wood:

The Mayor will be aware of the spate of recent acid attacks on the Isle of Dogs and street robberies in Limehouse. In view of the sums of money held by Tower Hamlets Council under section 106 agreements, when will the administration provide modern, high quality and permanent CCTV cameras in Marsh Wall, Glengall Grove, Blackwall Way, Millharbour  and Narrow Street, all of which are both areas of development and have been subjected to attacks and robberies as outlined above?

Response of Mayor John Biggs to the question:

I attended the meeting at St Ann’s Church last week to listen to residents’ concerns in Limehouse, which are considerable because of a spate of attacks in that area. I will be following up on the agreed actions. I am concerned about the recent acid attacks on the Isle of Dogs as well, as we spoke about earlier. I have launched an Acid Charter about the sale of acid and I have lobbied the Government who is responsive. I would not claim credit for that by the way but it is part of the campaign which I think has encouraged the Government to take an interest in this issue and act to some extent.  CCTV plays an important role but it is mischievous to suggest for example that there are only 3 CCTV cameras on the Isle of Dogs. There are probably about 300 because we work with partners across all the different agencies, such as Canary Wharf, the DLR and every single bus. A lot of private landowners and estates have CCTVs which record evidence that is used everyday to help keep people on the island safe.

Supplementary question from Councillor Wood:

One the issues that has come up recently is the role of private CCTV cameras. I would like to ask the Mayor whether is thinks private CCTV cameras inside tall buildings are allowed to cover public spaces and roads outside those buildings or not?

Mayor Biggs’ response to the supplementary question:

The short answer is that I probably have not got the faintest idea but I know that they have been used. A person we all know was assaulted outside his building on the Isle of Dogs a while back and the CCTV evidence from the cameras in that building was very useful to the Police in trying to identify the people who assaulted him. Whether such evidence is admissible in court is another matter of course. But if we can use camera evidence to help maintain safety and deter people and provide a greater sense of security then that is what we should do. What I am doing in addition and this follows the Limehouse meeting, but I was minded to do this in any event, is reviewing the way in which we use our CCTV cameras to make sure they are up to date and digital, that we use modern networks and that we review the location of them. I think that it is very important to maintain public confidence and that we reassure people in a number of ways including the use of cameras

9.7 Question from Councillor Khales Uddin Ahmed:

What support does the Council offer for new and small businesses?

Response of Councillor John Peck, Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth:

I am particularly proud that Tower Hamlets is one of the most entrepreneurial Boroughs in the country with one of the highest number of new business start - ups of anywhere. Despite this, the previous Administration gave literally no support to our small businesses that create local wealth and employ lots of local people. By contrast, we have a whole raft of support for local businesses. We have opened the Tower Hamlets small business centre in the former Royal Mail building in Whitechapel from where we run a huge number of programmes including the start-up ready training for new entrepreneurs with a four day course and grants of up to £5,000. This has already benefited 170 people and 54 new businesses have been created. There is also: the supply ready scheme to help business apply for public contracts, the retail market ready scheme to help retailers, the growth ready scheme to assist businesses finding space and two small business rate relief schemes which between them have awarded almost £12million to local small businesses this year   

(No supplementary question was asked)

9.8 Question from Councillor Oliur Rahman:

Will the Mayor inform the council why did he not personally ensure that the £2m bribery allegation eventually reported by the Sunday Times on 10 December involving, the journalist stated, a Labour-supporting businessman who campaigned for the Mayor in 2015 and 4 councillors (that a lay person would assume are Labour given the businessman’s allegiance) and, were not reported to the police straight away in late 2015 by him when the Mayor was first informed about the criminal allegations?

Response of Mayor John Biggs:

This is an important matter but obviously we are guided by the advice we received from the Monitoring Officer. To date we are essentially dealing with hearsay evidence and no firm evidence of any particular activity, which needs to be investigated by the proper Authorities. I would like to correct two things in your question. Firstly, you assert that this was a Labour supporting person. I have here the front page of a local newspaper where he is supporting very vigorously, Councillor Rabina Khan who is leader of the PATH Group. So I don’t think that it is unambiguous that he is supporting any particular party. I suspect that he is a businessman first and foremost. The second is that the report in the newspaper identifies four Councillors. It talks about four gatekeepers whatever that might be. All I am doing is reporting to you what was in the newspapers. So I think you are trying to sow something out of less than the sum of its parts.

Supplementary question from Councillor Rahman:

Do you know that the Council whistleblowing policy says that if there is evidence of criminal activity the person will be obliged to inform the Police. The criminal allegation reported to you was serious enough for both yourself and the Chief Executive to go for a walk by the river in late 2015 – two years before the Sunday Times exposed the information that was kept hidden away from the members and the people of Tower Hamlets. The Council had access to the audio tape as well yet it was not until August 2016 that the Council informed the Authorities and only after being told to so by a QC and a consultant. A very slow process by yourself Mayor John Biggs. This is not acceptable and it means that the residents cannot trust the current system. Can you update us on the latest investigation and will you ensure that the relevant Councillors cooperate and give interviews to the Police as a matter of urgency and before the election. 

Mayor Biggs’ response to the supplementary question:

I can’t update you on an investigation as far as I can tell I have no evidence that the Police have property carried out the investigation that they need to be carrying out. I can advise you to look at the recording of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at which myself and the Chief Executive gave a pretty comprehensive account of what we, as representatives of the Council had done. I can advise you also that I have never seen or heard any audio tapes until I read about them. Well I knew that they existed but I have never had any sight or contact with them and the Council had not either, it was through the independent investigation. We did not respond only when we were told to do so.  I think the fundamental point is that if there was an offence it was initially an offence by a person between themselves and a private company. The investigation within the Council was designed to establish if there was any further concern about the role that the Council may have played in that and it was that which has been passed through the Audit to the Police.

9.9 Question from Councillor Rachael Saunders:

How will the Mayor tackle air pollution in Tower Hamlets?

Response of Councillor Rachel Blake’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Waste:

In October 2017 we adopted an Air Quality Action Plan, drawing together information from a range of stakeholders. The whole borough has been declared an Air Quality Management Area. 48 of our schools are in areas of poor air quality in the borough. 37 of those are primary. 9000 Londoners die early due to poor air quality so it is critical that we get our air quality in legal limits. Our Action Plan considers priorities under nine broad headings - Local Air Quality Management which is around tackling and enforcement of particular poor emissions, development and buildings - designing out the issues that cause air quality, major infrastructure projects - making sure that our own projects don’t cause any worse air quality emissions and critically raising awareness around public health and the impacts people can have on air quality themselves.

Supplementary question from Councillor Saunders:

Are the Government or the Greater London Authority doing any useful to help in the work you have described?

Councillor Blake’s response to the supplementary question:

I think that it is to be welcomed that Mayor Sadiq Khan has set up both his toxicity charge and introduced the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). We have done some work to understand what mitigation measures we can help residents with to prepare for the ULEZ. I think that it is unfortunate that national government is dragging its heels on this issue and what would be welcomed would be a national car scrappage scheme to recognise the scale of the challenge we have to face to improve air quality in the borough.

9.10 Question from CouncillorAbdul Asad:

How has the Mayor’s decision to charge for adult social care services which includes free homecare affected vulnerable and disabled adults, their carers and families?

Response of Councillor Denise Jones, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services:

As you know, we resisted doing this for many years in this Council and there is in fact only one Council left in the country now that isn’t charging. However, in the face of Government cuts we were forced to make the decision.  In 2016 the Council decided to ask those who can afford it to contribute to their homecare. We were clear that people on the lowest incomes would continue to be protected and receive free home care and that many people would only pay a small contribution towards their care.  To make sure that only those who can afford to contribute are asked to, individual assessments are carried out to identify the needs of service users and their carers. Service users are then financially assessed and only contribute an amount based on their ability to pay.There are currently 2,929 service users in receipt of community based care.  Financial assessments have been completed for 2,145 service users. Of these completed assessments, 746, that’s 35%, have resulted in no charge being made at all.

Supplementary question from CouncillorAsad:

Given the impact of the changes, is there any chance that this decision will be reversed to help the very vulnerable people in the borough?

Councillor Jones’s response to the supplementary question:

To further support vulnerable and disabled adults and their carers, Tower Hamlets Council does not charge carers for the services that they access and receive.  Charging for adult social care service users was implemented in October 2017, to allow more time to complete the financial assessments. There will be individual cases being reviewed as and when there are changes to their individual packages of care and on receipt of any updated financial information they are reassessed. The overall impact assessment on the implementation of the charging policy will be carried out in 2018 in about six months’ time, so there will be reviews carried out.

9.11 Question from Councillor Helal Uddin:

How will the Mayor’s £5m Tackling Poverty Fund be used?

Response of Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Resources:

I think that everyone in this chamber is well aware of the impact the austerity measures have had on many Tower Hamlets residents, in particularly the welfare reforms that have been introduced including the universal credit. So part of the Council’s response to that is the establishment by the Mayor of a £5 million Tackling Poverty Fund to help mitigate the impact of those changes. I think that people will also be aware that at the November Cabinet meeting, the Mayor approved two reports. One of which would provide support for residents moving to universal credit, as well as those who have been  affected by the benefit cap and the self-employed residents subject to some of the changes to the local Council Tax scheme. That report recommended investment of about £500k per year for two years in the support. What the Mayor also approved at that Cabinet meeting was a consultation on a Resident Support Scheme which will replace the previous welfare support scheme.

Supplementary question from Councillor Helal Uddin:

This is a large amount of money and I would like to see a proper transparency strategy in place with aims and objectives being set up to target economic activities and tackling poverty. I am not talking about subsidising national welfare. It has to be used in an appropriate way that improves economic activity and reduces deprivation in our borough. It would also be helpful to know how the deprived wards like Bromley by Bow would be allocated the right proportion of money to be used to benefit the residents and how we would measure the impact of the investment to ensure it is used in a productive way?

Councillor Edgar’s response to the supplementary question:

On transparency, I think if you were to look at the reports that I mentioned they both set out the plans in detail and the consultation is something that will be reported back on. As part of making sure that the work is going well, we are working with a number of agencies that provide support and we are developing ways that our internal team can work even more effectively with those agencies, making use of the information that we as the Council have access to. There is a focus within the scheme on things like fuel poverty and what we have also done is worked with other organisations to make sure we have the research about the impact that is taking place both in the Bromley wards and other wards across the borough to ensure that our case is well founded. When it comes to the next Council meeting, people should be able to look at and support the extension of the tackling poverty fund as part of next year’s budget proposals.