Thank you very much. Can we now move on to the other parts of the agenda, please?
The first one is the 6.1 annual residence survey. I touched on it briefly. Please do come.
So did Steve. Is there anything you want to say briefly, Martin, before we bring colleagues in, if they want to comment on it? Please.
Good evening. Thank you for having me here. I would be happy to present the results or to take questions, whichever is the preference of the meeting.
I think it would be really helpful, Martin, if you could take questions from members, but I would just like to just repeat the comment that the mayor made earlier on.
And that is in relation to the 90% figure that I'm sure your members will ask you about.
It is really, really pleasing that during the last few years where there has been so much tension nationally and in London particularly, and some of that has manifested itself in the borough, that we can achieve as a council and in partnership with others, results such as that.
But other than that, I'm happy for members to ask questions.
Thank you. Just to say generally, we are a very diverse borough. Over 100 languages are spoken in our borough.
People of all backgrounds live in our borough. It's important that we do get on with each other.
It's so important. That's my experience of this borough. We go out to support each other, to help each other, and to make sure that we continue to live together.
That's important to us. So I'm glad the resident survey reinforces that.
And can I say, over the years, way before my time, over the years since we had that BNP Councillor in the document in '93, you know, since that sad episode into Hamlet's, you know, successive leaders have invested in togetherness, have invested in communication in the borough.
And this again, once again, it demonstrates that, that this investment now, previously, is paying dividends for the residents as important.
Thank you. Deputy Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have one slight question.
And then, apart from that, I welcome this survey's results. I think it's showing exactly how the council is under this administration.
The council is growing. The community is growing. And we are a learning council.
You always say that. We always say that this is what we exactly are doing.
And also, the investment this council is putting in is really making a difference.
There are people out there who try to divide the community, divide this borough.
But the social, I would say the social cohesion, community cohesion is growing and is very strong.
I mean, you look at the result compared to last year, it was 87%, it's 90%, and I'm hoping it will be even better in the future.
So thank you to our officers and everyone in the council for working hard for the residents of this borough.
We are improving. My question is just regarding on some of the questionnaires, there is a tick box where it says don't know.
And the percentage is quite high on certain. So all I'm asking is maybe we need to review that.
Because either they would say normally if the don't know
wasn't there, they would probably say yes or no.
So maybe we need to review that and see if we can avoid don't know.
Because the percentage are quite high.
Thank you.
Thank you. Let me take one or two more. Is that okay? Then you can answer them.
Abdul-Wahid, then I'll bring Talar in. Please.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The recent result of the survey is very important.
It shows the people in the Tower Hamlets, they are incredibly optimistic about cohesion.
And some of the things that the mayor has highlighted, especially the 90% of the residents who feel safe within the borough.
And I think there's a lot of, in terms of this tackles a lot of misconception, negative impact or negative news that goes out there in the media.
This tackles this. I've got two questions. In terms of, obviously there's a lot of things that we need to learn from this.
And as the deputy mayor said and the mayor continues to say, we continuously say that this is a listening administration.
In terms of basically the identifying, basically one of the points was identifying why it appears that few residents report using leisure facilities, recycling services, IDO store.
Is this backed up by data and how do we come up with this?
So once again, like I said, this is very positive for the borough in terms of the message that it sends out to people who really don't know the borough going forward. Thank you.
Okay, I'll take one more. Is that okay? Talar.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. People love to have opinions of Tower Hamlets and I think what's really important is the opinions of our residents.
And I think overwhelmingly the report shows that there's a lot of positivity about Tower Hamlets. So I'd like to start off with that.
So not repeating everything that's been said, I did want to focus on some areas that residents may not be so happy about.
And just wanted to reassure residents that there's a lot of work and investment and strategies going into improving those services.
And with my portfolio in mind, I know the fact that 42% of residents feel that crime is a concern.
But we know the causes of crime are quite multifaceted.
We have a serious overcrowding issue and housing issue in the borough. We have poverty issues.
We have so many different things that fuel crime and across the council through a number of policies we're doing things to improve those issues.
But even within community safety, yesterday we launched a new drug strategy.
A few days ago or weeks and months in the planning of it, we're looking at redesigning how we do things.
Whether it's a treatment service or our enforcement model.
There's been investments that we've talked about previously through the mayor's or our budget, the council budget.
But all this stuff will slowly, slowly start taking shape.
And I want residents to feel that change is happening, albeit it may be slow, but it will happen.
We've only been here for two and a half years. A lot of investment has gone into things recently.
But crime touchwood will be coming down in time to come.
Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your questions.
Firstly, I'll address the question about don't know from the deputy mayor.
This is an issue that came up last year when we saw quite a lot of the perception questions.
And in particular, whether or not the council was doing a better job than a year previously.
And we saw a very high figure for don't know.
It was very important to report that figure because it gives a true context.
We report the net positive, the sum positive, sorry, not net positive, sum positive.
And some people genuinely don't know.
So, for example, that question we saw a large reduction in the percentage of residents who answered don't know to that question.
So some people genuinely, they don't know.
For services, those people who don't use services will often say they don't know.
For example, this is a survey of residents, of all residents, not service users.
So some people will, they will have an opinion, they will have used the service, they will have a very strong opinion, a very important opinion to us.
This is not the best way to capture the views of all service users.
This is a way to capture the views of all residents, some of whom will be service users.
It's an excellent point, but at the end of the day, some people genuinely do not know.
And it's a very fair point to ask.
To Councillor Waheed, in terms of service use, and whether this is backed up by data, this is an excellent point.
The annual resident survey does not exist in a vacuum.
It is not a single data point from which we can take everything.
We are working across the organisation on the officer's side to integrate the insights that we have,
so that we can almost hold mirrors up to see, is this seen in different areas?
Is performance data matching perception data, and if not, why not, and seeking to understand that better.
And to go on to crime and safety, that is one particular area.
In fact, leisure, I should say, is something that we are looking at potential further research into,
as is resident perception of crime and safety.
This is a perception survey, and it will be the case on occasion that perception does not match other data.
And I use that phrase carefully, that resident perception of crime may go in a different direction to resident experience of crime.
And further investigation into resident perception of crime is something that we are considering.
So thank you all for your excellent questions.
I'll take a few more, if that's okay.
Councillor Shafir and Councillor Mustafa, then I'll come to you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor, and good evening everybody.
The resident survey shows significant positive changes, which showcases that we are moving in the right direction.
And I'd like to thank the officers for bringing this to the cabinet, and for everyone's contribution to the performance going forward.
I am proud that our residents have expressed an 85% satisfaction rate of parks and green spaces.
Again, we can see reclaiming the green flag, green heritage awards of the Pupils Choice Parks for 11 years running.
And this is a direct impact of more of my portfolio, where the Mayor's bold decision not to cut frontline services,
but to hold onto and provide an extra 5 million investment for our residents in the waste service,
has meant that we are able to deliver for our residents an amazing service going forward.
On top of our tree planting program has seen around 930 trees planted within last year.
These numbers have far exceeded our targets, and we will continue to invest in our parklands,
and make a greener and cleaner borough for all residents to enjoy Tawahamnus.
On the report, I am proud that our residents' feedback on our waste collection,
where from 69% of users have claimed that they are satisfied, compared to the 63% satisfaction rate of last year.
Residents' perception of our waste collections have visibly improved, which demonstrates that the service is increasingly efficient.
We hope to carry on working hard, as mentioned by the Mayor, to achieve even better feedback from our residents going forward in the years to come.
Street cleaning has also seen an increase in satisfaction from the residents, we have 63% satisfaction.
We are committed to enforcing regulations for flight being, we are making sure that fixed penalty notices are being done,
so that our residents can display a positive outcome to a cleaner, tidier, greener borough.
Thank you very much, Mr Mayor.
Thank you.
Councillor Mustak, please leave it to your question and a quick comment if you want to, please.
Thank you.
Very quick comment, Mr Mayor.
Thank you very much.
It's very encouraging for me to see the report, because it shows that both in the local area and council-run services continues to improve,
especially against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis and post-pandemic recovery.
The report provides a solid foundation for us to focus on service improvements and guide further research,
especially in areas like social cohesion and addressing performance gaps.
Sharing these results widely will ensure transparency and help us engage residents more effectively in shaping the future of the borough.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Thank you, Mayor.
The report is very good.
And I think given the concerns of some of the residents around cost of living, it's understandable.
But the thing is, at the same time, this council, this administration is doing a priority where we can support our residents wherever they are in crisis.
And there's always support for households who are financially in difficulty to reach out to the council,
and there is that discretionary support available.
And may I just announce the support for pensioners today as well that's going out.
Just wanted to touch on one additional point.
Maybe quickly you could just elaborate how we are dealing with language barriers.
Just make sure how we touch every sort of residence so we can get everyone's views on board for this report.
Just that point, please.
Please, sir. Please.
Thank you.
That could be the most important question about how we actually do the technical side of this work.
In particular, demographics of the borough of Tower Hammers are key to delivering a piece of work that is worthwhile.
If this is not representative, it is not worth doing.
The chief executive has backed that this is a gold standard piece of work.
Part of the criteria upon appointing a contractor, it's done independently, I don't knock on every door in the borough to do this,
we appoint a contractor. Part of the bid that is assessed is their ability to reach households who speak different languages.
We assess their ability to have interviewers who speak community languages.
We assess, we look at the profile, the people who we have spoken to, who have answered the survey.
We ask the question, what language do you speak at home?
Then we can look at that, and we do look at that against census data.
We don't just look at language, we look at sex, ethnicity, where people live in the borough.
Just today I was looking at data on affluence within the borough to make sure that we are benchmarking,
that we're speaking to the right people at an accurate, representative cross-section of the people of this borough.
That is the key to doing this well, is to making sure that it is representative.
So I thank you very much for your excellent question.
Thank you.
Good. Thank you. We've got a number of items, if that's okay, we'll move on.
Thank you to the members, and can I thank you and your team, the excellent work that you do,
and the passion with which you do this. I've not come across many people.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, grateful to you. So we note the recommendations, is that okay?
Okay, thank you. Okay, another, please Aisha, please come along.
We've got a very important, another piece of, a document next, 6.2, the LGA corporate peer review challenge,
and position update. Thank you to you and team, thank you for joining us.
Steve, you want to say some introductory points please, yeah?
All I was going to say by way of introduction Mayor, is I think this is a really good reflection,
on how far we have progressed an action plan that was informed by external review of our performance,
and as was mentioned by the overview and scrutiny representative, Councillor earlier on,
we are really keen for them to come back and review our progress,
because I think it's something we can be pleased with, but I'll leave it to the officers to present it in more detail.
Sure.
Just say, as an administration, we very much, you know, we've come back after seven years,
we inherited stuff that was going on in this council that we had to, and officers had to help us to sort out,
and it is an improvement council, it's an improvement council, there's always room for improvement,
as an administration, we welcome external feedback, we welcome criticisms too,
we want to learn from criticisms, learn from suggestions, we have nothing to hide in this council as an administration,
not always we get things right, and the homelessness policy is a good example,
we introduced a policy, quickly realised it's not something that our residents are comfortable with,
we revisited, reconsidered and reinstated the policy that suited our residents,
and I welcomed the peer review, as a solicitor I was a peer reviewer too,
and I also welcomed review in my firm, and learned from the recommendations,
so it's an ongoing improvement strategy, and any public body or private organisation of size as ours or bigger,
should always be open to transparency, to accountability, and to a learning process,
and I want to thank officers and the Chief Executive and the team, the help that you've given us,
to make sure we fulfil and comply with the recommendations of the Local Government Association,
over to you Ayesha, thank you.
Thank you Mayor, so the original Local Government Association corporate peer challenge took place in September 2023,
it acknowledged some really positive attributes across the local authority, but also identified 18 core recommendations,
so as part of that there were 70 suggestions for improvement or review direct from the LGA,
and that was consolidated to be built into the LGA CPC action plan.
Usually best practice is 10 months following the initial corporate peer challenge,
the LGA come back to undertake a review, this would have taken place in Talhamlets in August 2024,
but unfortunately the LGA have confirmed that due to member availability,
they're not currently able to undertake the review.
We have as a local authority absolutely expressed our disappointment, requested alternative dates,
but it is important to flag that at the point at which 12 months has passed,
it may be more appropriate for them to do a complete new review.
Very quick overview of progress to date, so as of August 2024 we're always a month in arrears,
and obviously building in timeline for cabinet, so the position is August 2024,
84% at that point of all identified actions across recommendations were completed,
and 91% should be completed by the end of November, so we are on track for that.
Based on that we don't anticipate any significant risks or issues,
all the recommendations and associated action updates have been reviewed, approved,
and signed off by the relevant corporate director.
There are three actions that are dependent on the development of the Council's long-term strategic vision,
we anticipate the strategic vision will be scheduled for launch in February 2025,
which means all the recommendations should be in place by March 2025.
I just want to flag that the completion rates, so when you look at the percentages,
they are directly focused on the recommendation of the LGA,
but you will note that there are now bullet points that highlight the Council's extension of each recommendation,
it was really important for us that actually we are not defined only by what LGA recommends,
which is very important, but we also have our ambitions that are important to note
in relation to each of those recommendations as a local authority ourselves.
So overall steady progress to completing the 18 recommendations by March 2025,
the key focus for this meeting is if there are any key areas of attention that the Cabinet would like to suggest,
we have intentionally structured it in a way that it is open to your review and scrutiny and we are quite open to questions.
Mayor, did you want us to focus on some key organisational impact or take questions from this point?
Thank you, what you've said, and your presentation is sufficient and the report is very good.
So Ms Guevara, take some comments and questions and if necessary you can come back.
OK, thank you. Members, Cobir?
So I suppose it's more of a comment than questions.
The first thing is I think it's very, very important for everyone to understand that there were 18 recommendations
and this report specifically focuses on the update, the progress update, regarding those 18 recommendations.
Unfortunately I felt while I was at scrutiny that there were other parameters that individuals may have wanted to pursue,
but the report itself is specifically addressing the 18 recommendations and of which, just to reiterate,
we're at 84% now of actions which have been completed and by end of November we will hit 91%,
which is a marvellous achievement and I thank officers who have been involved in this.
I just want to also highlight in the report, in section 3.11, this is just a prime example of the level of difficulties
this administration faced when we came into office and if I highlight that in 2023 the council faced a deficit
of £38.7 million and incomplete financial accounts since tax year 2016/2017.
Now let's put that into context of other local authorities.
In the face of the financial crisis, rising prices, rising inflation, rising cost of living, cuts towards benefits,
a host of problems, you have numerous local authorities which are facing section 114 territory.
That's the technical name for bankruptcy or administration or not managing their accounts properly.
What this administration has done from that date to now is got nearly all of those accounts signed off.
We've gone back and we've had to spend an extra £3 million plus in order to go back, look at the accounts,
look at the faults, in order to turn this particular point around. So we were measured against the failures
of previous administrations which failed to get accounts signed off by the auditors.
So that's an exercise that we've had to go back and reassess, re-evaluate and go through a lot of pain with our officers.
There was another issue in relation to years and years of accounts not being signed off.
And that was not to have organisational memory. And one thing I want to say, if you look around here today,
is we've got every single corporate director here is a permanent member of staff.
There are no interims. All statutory officers are permanent members of staff.
And that plays a pivotal role in the stability of a council.
And the way the council is now being shaped and designed, we will have resilience and stability within this council,
so we don't have failures at this level. So I'll finish off with that.
So I just wanted to put things into context, Mr May.
Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Can I ask Deputy Mayor to come in please?
Thank you, Mr May. I welcome this. Well done to our officers.
I think completing 84% so far on our way to 91%, this is extremely good.
Beyond good. And also I can see in terms of responsiveness, we've completed 100%.
That was an issue, again like Councillor Kirby said, it's a historical issue from the previous administration.
It was a nightmare when we first started. It dragged on.
So anyway, it's a historical issue and we are making improvement like every other action point.
My question is around the two council, I heard over ONS and the opposition, they always talk about it.
The two council culture. I just wanted to know which indicator that refers to.
And also, this is something that was mentioned by the mayor, by us, about when we first came into office,
about the two culture situation from the previous CEO and the mayor.
We actually raised that issue and now the opposition are saying it's kind of our problem.
In fact, it's their problem. They're the ones who created that problem.
So I just wanted to know which indicator that refers to. Thank you.
Just to be fair to the officers, just for clarity, and we said it in full council quite clearly,
the two council culture is what we inherited when we came here after the 5th of May, 2022.
A lot of respect. The officers were getting on and doing what they liked.
When we came in here, despite the political mandate, not these set of officers by the way,
a different set of officers, led by another chief executive.
A lot of respect. Despite the political mandate I had and this administration had, and we had to put it right,
there is no two council culture in this council now.
We have a senior management team and an executive and a workforce we believe we work together.
Yes, of course we challenge each other. Of course we have disagreements.
It's healthy, but we find solutions. And the current set of senior officers, I'm very grateful to them.
The CMT, the DMT officers, the officers I meet, they are solution focused. They give us options.
Of course Steve and I will have disagreements. But you know what, Steve or the corporate directors,
they give us solutions. We may not agree with all the solutions, but we agree on what's in the best interest
of the people of this borough. That's how it should be. I don't have all the wisdom,
nor does Steve have all the wisdom, but together we have a lot of wisdom.
And together we come to agreements that deliver for the people of this borough.
So no one can say that we are a two council now. We're one council. We're the CMT and the executive
and the officers. We work together for the people of this borough. We are people first.
I just want to make that clear for the record. And what you have done here and the work that Robin,
Steve and the senior and the corporate directors and the senior officers and the members have put in,
the effort that you have put in over the last two years has brought us to this position.
So I'm really grateful to everyone. Thank you. Quickly, anyone else? We're going to move on.
Not a statement, please. Any comment, quick comment and question?
Thank you, Mr Mayor. Just a comment on the corporate peer challenges.
The challenge is a challenge and we rose up to that, to have extended office people come in
and challenge us on our recommendations. I'm happy to look at this report and say we are almost there
and we want to make sure that we continue to, this administration continues under your leadership
to make sure that we continue to improve our services going forward.
I just wanted to recommend on the report 3.36 where the mayor and I are working together
to ensure full transparency and progress. As a new cabinet member for the last five months,
I can see that the decisions that are being taken and in consultation with all cabinet members,
I see a significant, I have no comments on this. This is working really well.
I think we have a strong cabinet that will work with you.
The outstanding accounts again, Councillor has mentioned the successful resolve of outstanding accounts
and going forward, we'd like to ensure that this administration prioritises good governance
and making sure that all financial accounts are submitted on time.
And lastly, the recommendation 18 people first. I am delighted that the council has developed
a People's First initiative to promote the council and staff identity. Thank you to the officers.
Thank you. I'm going to quickly move on now, if that's okay. I think, can I, just before we move on,
can I just say that, look, we just spoke about the residence survey, which is so important.
The perception and the experiences of our residents are the most important thing for us.
They elect us, they can get rid of us. They can get rid of us.
They are our judges. It's to them we are accountable. Okay?
And we can talk all night, but if our people don't, the residents of this borough don't feel
that they are receiving improved services, if they don't have a view, a positive view of us,
doesn't matter, whatever we say, if we're going to continue in politics, we have to go to the door.
What happened to the previous administration in 2022 could happen to any one of us in 2026.
That's the important thing, one. Two, of course, the government and the external opinion formers
are important, very important, but we always say we want a fair assessment, fair judgment on us.
Of course, we are open and we welcome constructive criticisms and we want to make sure, like Air,
that we address those criticisms because we're improving council, we're improved councils,
where we're not doing so well, we want to get our house in order. Absolutely.
But let me say for the record, and I'm grateful to Julie, Said, chief executive and the team,
we have a good, sound, prudent, financially stable council.
That's the backbone of any council. Financial stability, sustainability is very important.
The delivery of services is very important. Customer services is the golden thread between everything we do.
We haven't got there yet. Customer services, what I experience in my surgeries, what I hear from people,
certainly there's room for improvement and we need to keep at it, Steve, but we've got to improve.
Our telephoning system isn't good. We need to get our telephone system in place that go to the old model,
work for us. People's phones need to be answered, the emails need to be answered and people, officers,
need to be like members and us courteous, respectful to our communities. That's important.
But end of the day, end of the day, we've got to make sure that our house is in order,
that the residents feel and experience the improvement the journey went on. That's very important.
Before we move on, can I thank Robin, Ayesha and the team. What's your name, sorry?
Thank you to the chief executive and all the corporate directors and the members for taking ownership of this.
But we don't stop here. It's got to be a continuous improvement.
But Robin, thank you to your team, the director of strategy improvement team,
the effort and the time that you've put in to make sure after the peer challenge report came back,
that you addressed it head on. Greatful to you.
Can I request the chief executive to please write to the chief executive of the LGA, inviting them to come back again.
Let's see what they have to say about us. Thank you.
Thank you, mayor. Just to be clear, then, for the purpose of the minutes, I think an additional recommendation, three,
the mayor requests that the chief executive write to the chief executive of the local government association,
requesting that they revisit the local authority to undertake a review in whatever form that takes at the earliest possible opportunity.
Is that okay? Thank you. With that caveat, can we agree and note the recommendation, please? Is that okay?
Thank you for coming. Thank you, grateful. I think you're here for the next one. Who's here?
Our other colleagues, they have the next one. Okay, great. The next one, 6.3, we need to move quite quickly.
It's, again, it's the target, LBTH target operating model for those, our residents, and people are looking and listening, live streaming.
Can you put that in simple language, please, in everyday language, what that means? What is target operator model?
Okay? So, again, it's me. You want to come in and explain that and tell us what the purpose of this is, please.
Yeah? Thank you. Thank you, mayor. So, Tehan's council is operating a new target operating model.
In terms of accessible language, that essentially means we're trying to align with our current priorities across this organisation,
and most importantly, make sure that residents in this borough are at the forefront of any decisions that directly impact their lives.
So, what you'll note at diagram one and diagram two in the report is the previous target operating model,
and there's a significant reference in the old target operating model that relates to internal plans.
I understand consultants drafted a blueprint which really heavily emphasised internal structures and processes using a McKinsey 7S model,
so it looks at things like structure, systems, areas like that, and ultimately what we found is that this model neglects the resident experience.
It wasn't really at the forefront of what we now intend as a target operating model.
So, in contrast, the new target operating model vision is to focus on a more efficient, effective and responsive public sector organisation
that is better able to meet the needs of its communities, its residents.
When you look at the new target operating model in diagram three,
I need to highlight that it was following a year of comprehensive engagement with vast stakeholders,
including open member sessions, staff, the youth council, community groups and, most importantly, the residents,
and feedback confirmed that the draft target operating model really aligns well to the values of Tehan's today.
What you'll see here is six core design principles, value-driven, community-led, collaborative, enabling, innovate and accountable,
which is how our staff and workforce are now going to work to enable empowered communities,
and also a reference to a smaller but stronger corporate centre, so some real focus at the corporate centre,
to enable empowered directorates to get through the front line and deliver effective services for residents.
Ultimately, what we are asking today is that the council is now in a position to formally launch four appendices that you find at the end of this report.
First of all, the final target operating model, which includes an overview of the engagement at Appendix A.
Secondly, a people-first transformation, TOM activity map, so this is set out at diagram four in the report but also appended at Appendix B,
and what this shows is really good examples over the last year or so that have come into place in relation to each of those design principles,
so it makes it real in terms of concrete examples of activities that are happening in the council,
and we'll continue to review and monitor this every six months and refresh and update and ensure we have really good live examples.
There's TOM guidance notes for staff, so what this does is break down each of those design principles
and how we can work more effectively at any point for those principles,
if we're undertaking any initiatives with staff, any redesigns or any restructures within our services.
And finally, if approved today at Cabinet, you will see at Appendix D a comprehensive communications plan,
which outlines the people-first narrative and the target operating model, which are really strongly aligned
and just demonstrates how we will embed this across our workforce for a more effective engagement program for our residents.
Thank you.
Greatful to you. Quickly, any comments, any questions? It's straightforward. Go on, Said, you haven't spoken yet.
It's a straightforward comment, Mayor. So I think some of the stuff that we see on this paper and some of the stuff referenced
is stuff that we study at universities when it comes to performance management,
when we want to sort of improve the way we deliver services, so I think I really welcome this report.
It's very, very good and the new target operating model looks very comprehensive.
And as long as we can then translate this into a strategic plan and deliver what we had at the Mayor's Manifesto
comes out into the Council's strategic plan and this model just facilitates delivering that in a more efficient way.
And of course I welcome this whole lot.
Anyone else, if you don't need to speak, can we move on? Can I just say before we go, this is absolutely fantastic.
I was shocked to see, sorry to erase it, when I saw the diagram and the target operating model that we inherited,
my simple brain, I couldn't understand it. This is far more simpler, far more targeted.
As I said earlier, the one golden thread is our residents, the people of this borough.
Whatever we do, whether it's statutory or what we do, promises we made in our manifesto,
it's about the people of this borough, it's about our residents, and this model is much more direct,
cuts out the red tape, the bureaucracy, and it's about delivering, and delivering improved and excellent service for the borough.
It's much more simpler, very much appreciated, Robin, Aisha and the team, the work that you put in,
and the effort that you put in, and thank you for this.
Hopefully it will improve the delivery of our services, and the people of this borough will feel the difference,
and they begin to feel the difference, as the resident service says, and the fantastic motto is people first, absolutely.
So can we please approve the formal launch of the new target operating model, and take note of the launch campaign.
And our comms team needs to be involved in this. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Good. Now we come to the theme that today is about delivery, it's about improvement, it's about our residents.
This is about how you measure us, how we measure ourselves in terms of our delivery, the key milestones,
how we're doing as a council, it's about that.
And please, do you want to give us a brief report, since all my reports today, but you go.
Normally Said introduces the report.
Said, yeah, go ahead.
Thank you, Mayor. So at the end of year three, quarter one, the ambitious four-year strategic plan, overall picture is positive.
The council continues to deliver on the strategic plan and its targets across the borough while facing unique challenges.
Of the strategic performances, there are 24 measures which are green at the end of quarter one.
Just to highlight some key achievements, the council's Be Well launch, followed by the transfer of seven leisure centres to the council's management in May 2024.
The introduction of council tax, cost of relief fund to offset the 2.99% rising council tax.
The new fund will mean that those households with income less than 49,500 will not need to pay the increase whilst our established council tax reduction scheme continues.
The council is also celebrating one year since it became the first local authority in England to roll out universal free school meals to all primary and secondary children at the age of 16.
The secondary school scheme was rolled out from September 2023, Mayor, under your leadership, with nearly £800,000 investment to schools.
There's also challenges, a number of red and amber measures in this report, which is, of course, disappointing to all LEAD members and, of course, officers who are obviously the delivery.
At the end of Q1, we have 56 measures. Out of that, they are in six categories.
24 of the measures have exceeded the target, so that they are green.
Nine are between the target or the minimum level of the target, so it's within the amber range.
Nine are below target, so they are red.
One of the targets is missing data.
Eight are data only and five are reported annually.
Out of the nine red measures at the end of Q1, which is, of course, important,
and LEAD members and corporate directors continue to lead their services to tackle these challenges head on.
And as a council, we will continue to work as hard as we can to ensure that our residents live in a borough that they can be proud of.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Okay, thank you.
What I'm going to ask, please, obviously, I've commented in my introductory statement in this area of the 56 measures.
That's how, ladies and gentlemen of the public, how we measure ourselves, how we're doing as a council.
Of the 56 measures, some 24 are green, we've got some ambers, but the reds, the nine reds,
they were 10 before, one has come down, but they do continue to cause me and the LEAD members concern.
Okay, and some of them are continuous.
I know that some of them will improve as we go forward.
You know, the investment that's gone into the leisure services, female participation in leisure services has improved massively,
you know, given the free swimming sessions for women, and some 13,000 women have signed up for those free swimming sessions.
It's going to certainly make a difference, the investment that's gone in the waste services.
Can I please ask the corporate directors, I know, David, you just come in, but it would be unfair to ask you,
but if you can, touch on that, or maybe Julie can, Julie's looking after the homelessness services in the interim.
If you could touch on the reds, I know we've got the mitigation set out there,
but I think the people of this borough need to hear from us what we're doing, what we're doing.
The homelessness service, what we're doing, cycling for kids, what we're doing that continues to be red, I'm a bit disappointed.
The scent one, Steve, you know, Mayum knows, these are the most vulnerable people in our community, the youngsters, the youngsters.
You know, I get parents who come to my surgery that their kids have certain needs, educational, special needs, they're not getting the assessments done in time.
I know the Children's Commissioner was on TV yesterday saying some parts of the country has taken four years for assessments to be done,
for children, for parents to know what help the children need. That is unacceptable.
You know, we're failing parents, we're failing those kids, the Children's Commissioner said it on TV yesterday.
Some authorities are doing well, Steve, some authorities are doing well.
We've been here two and a half years, you know, the previous corporate director said we're on an improvement journey.
A lot of respect, we are being said the same now, but I want to see the improvement, I'm not seeing it.
You know, certain areas we cannot continue with that level of difficulties.
We want to see a plan that's going to make a difference if some authorities are carrying out the assessments within the 20 week period, why can't we?
Why can't we as a local authority? If that means more resources need to be invested, I'm going to request Steve and Judy to look at it.
If that means we need to learn from other authorities what they're doing, get it right, we've got to get it right, I'm sorry.
I'm not happy with what I've been told so far, I want to see a rapid and a quick improvement where it means people's lives are at stake.
You know, youngsters who have special characteristics, autistic, disability, they need to be assessed as quickly as possible.
If that means we have to work with the NHS, we have to work with the schools, we have to put in more resources.
I need a plan, a realistic plan, a plan that's working for other authorities, we need to get it, we need to get it right.
Please, yeah, that's very important, I know Steve had to go out.
The status quo I cannot accept when it comes to young people, when it comes to our elderly, when it comes to people who are unwell, infirm or disabled.
I can't accept that, a lot of respect.
So can I ask the corporate directors please, if you can go through the reds and just quickly touch on them please. Is that okay Julie? Madam, please, yeah.
Yes, I think I'm up first Mayor, and this one, I'm confident will go green.
This is about our food hubs, there was a delay in payment this year from the DWP, they're paying in two tranches, April and September.
I'm confident this will get back on track, and if you look Mayor, this has never been missed before.
And the team are very focused on returning this to green, we think that you will see that at the next quarterly report.
Thank you, I don't know if it's you or David, the percentage of homelessness cases prevented or relieved.
Oh, it's amber now isn't it? Is it amber or red?
It's red now, yeah, okay. And the number of homeless supported in the sustainable accommodation, who wants to touch on that?
Mayor, if I come in, I mean between those two.
That's fine, that's fine. So we had over 1200 lets last year, so with the new programmes put in place and the investment of two million pounds in terms of staffing,
an additional five staff in procurement, we're looking at expediating those numbers and getting more people moved away.
And as you mentioned earlier on, in terms of we've already worked on the commercial hotels and now we have to work and we've brought down the numbers going beyond the 56 day threshold.
So there are programmes running in chain, which will hopefully give us a turnaround in the next quarter and the following two quarters after that.
Okay, so that's the household homelessness agenda. David, now you've come in, but this is your expertise, house building, hopefully.
I know that's a long term strategy and we just come in first year, we hardly could do anything. We are doing a lot of work now, but we could have done before your time,
we could have done this, the office according to this council could have done more when it came to house building and unfortunately we haven't done well.
Okay, I want to know from you what else we can do and where were we, please David.
And just to say, I think first of all on the homelessness services, the investment that the administration has put in and which Julie has been overseeing,
is looking at all parts of the service, including the preventative side and preventing people from becoming homeless,
looking at what support we can put in place to help families at the earliest possible stages,
as well as helping people when they then fall into homelessness and getting them better housing options.
And in terms of building new homes and having a really strong acquisitions strategy in place, we're looking at all possible options to address.
A housing crisis, which is countrywide and London wide, but which we see in our borough, particularly with overcrowding.
And so we're looking at everything, we're looking at buying back former council right to buy properties, which come on the market.
We are building homes on our own land, we are enabling partners to build on their land, whether that's developers or registered social landlords,
and making sure we get good contributions of social housing as part of those schemes.
And we're looking to deliver as many of those homes as possible as council homes.
So we are pressing every possible button that we can and we're seeking external funding and we're achieving some success in getting funding in.
And of course, on today's agenda later on, we will be looking at our significant estate regeneration scheme, as you mentioned earlier,
which will involve the building of 400 new homes. So we're absolutely trying to press every option available to us.
Thank you, grateful to you. I know Steve, do you want to come in? Please, Steve, ready.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just on the subject of education, health and care plans, as we've discussed in previous meetings,
we have seen a large rise in demand in this council area, as well as nationally, it's a significant issue in terms of the level of additional needs.
The council has previously put additional resources in place and we have seen some improvements over the last couple of years in terms of that performance.
And also that investment has also supported our improvement in doing the reviews of those plans.
But as you've made it very clear, the current level of performance is unacceptable.
And like yourself, I've heard back from some parents as well about those issues.
So we do have a plan that we will be sharing with you and also we've got a discussion at Children's Scrutiny Committee.
The plan involves the existing resources in terms of the new team manager, some additional capacity, our approach to quality assurance,
but also taking on board your point about what other boroughs do. This council, and it's not something I've done previously, currently outsources the writing of the plans.
So I want to bring that back in. So we do that in-house and appoint our own officers to do that.
Also in terms of the IT system that some other boroughs have been using, we're going to bring a bid to yourself, Chief Exec and Julie,
to talk about an investment in a system that will improve our performance and tracking of education, health and care plans.
And just to reassure you, as is laid out in terms of the item 6.5 on the agenda, the new SCN and inclusion strategy,
the priorities within that strategy and the actions associated will also help us manage the demand and improve performance.
And the final thing I would say is that our teams in the council, schools and health colleagues work very hard to support families whilst the assessment is being carried out.
But I accept. We don't always get it right.
Thanks, Steve. Can I just say to the chief executive and to you, the lead member, I do want a paper to cabinet on this as soon as possible.
No respect, Steve. I've been here two and a half years. I know you've introduced and mentioned some more improvements to this, but the improvement hasn't happened.
We need an options paper to cabinet as soon as possible with a timeline when and how we're going to see the improvement and to learn from other authorities.
Because it's kids who have needs, who have special needs, parents are traumatic, parents are traumatised.
And my worry is by the time some of these kids will have an assessment done, be too late for them, the damage would have already been done.
And who's going to be accountable for that damage? You won't be accountable.
I may be accountable on the doorstep when it comes 26. It's not fair.
We have to have a quick and a deep improvement plan where we protect our youngsters.
So I need a paper for cabinet. We've got a cabinet in November. I very much want to see a cabinet paper in November, Steve.
Can I ask Simon, please? We've put in investment in your areas. If you could just make a comment, please.
Thank you, Mr Mayor and thank you, cabinet members.
No respect. The problems are historical. It's not your making. It's not my making.
We've inherited it and we're asking for help to get it sorted as soon as possible.
And we have put in £5 million extra into the waste service and recycling to get it sorted. Please.
Thank you, Mr Mayor and colleagues. This KPO030, it's a number of events delivered.
It was sluggish in the first quarter and that was because there weren't that many applications for these type of events.
However, I'm confident that we can go back on track in quarter two and by the end of the year, we'll be on green for 030.
Leisure centres are services users that are female. We took this over in May and GLL's performance on this was poor.
And I think it was justified to bring it back in the house because of that. And I'm proud to say that as of the 30th September,
our measure is actually 71% that will be green in the second quarter. So we're proud of that.
I think that's a great achievement given to the team.
The level of household recycling. So this time last year it was 15.3, 15.8. It's still not good enough. However, there's a lot of work going into that.
In the second, between now and April, we've met with the Places of Worship, we've done a lot more communication work with the schools.
I took Friday prayers a couple of weeks ago where the man gave a sermon on what is right to do with your recycling and waste minimisation is really, really good.
And we're already seeing the impact of that. So I know in the second quarter there's some green shoots and I know what they are,
but I won't tell you until they've been verified shortly. But it is going in the right direction and we should be turning that around as well.
I'm quite happy to talk about substance abuse. I know it's on AMBA, but that's generally a lag in the data between ourselves and OHID and the Prison Service.
But each year it's the same sort of profile, but we'll go green again. We'll achieve that target this year as well, Mr Mayor. Thank you.
I'm quite confident in some of the areas that fall under you that we are going to see the improvement going forward, given the investment that we put in.
It's historically money that was taken out of the services. Steve Redding, can I just ask the percentage of young people that re-offend is red and is continuously red. What's happening?
Thank you, Mr Mayor. We discussed this overview and scrutiny last night in the context of the performance report and also the Youth Justice Plan.
Effectively, the team and our partners have been so successful in reducing the number of children involved in Youth Justice and first-time entrants,
that the number is so low now, which is fantastic and we should celebrate that. I think it's 40% down over the last two years.
But now it only takes one or two of those young people to re-offend and your re-offending rate has shot up.
So there's actually less young people re-offending, but because there are actually less young people involved, the re-offending rate has gone up.
The team are focused on it and we can share the detail of the actions they are taking, but it's effectively that the maths involved has made us look bad.
It's something to be happy about that we're now getting less young people involved in the criminal justice system.
Can you please look at how we format, Steve, and how we present that information? If it's got less people who are in the system, that means less people re-offend.
It goes into a red category. Can you look at how we present that data, please?
If I can just come in here. We are starting our KPI refresh process as well now, which runs normally we start in October and it runs up until about the end of March.
We will be refreshing our KPIs and setting our targets, so as part of that we can look at this.
Can I just please ask, KPI 054, which is about a percentage of tenants satisfied with the overall service.
It's a repair service, David, and to be fair to you, you've inherited this.
But this is, you know, we are out there, we talk to, listen to our tenants. It is dreadful. It's terrible.
The number of home visits that, when a repair is reported, that our tenants get and work's not been done, either they go and just look at it, don't do the work,
or they go and say we're coming back, they never go back, or don't respond to inquiries.
So three or four attempts to get a basic repair done, most of the time, or not been done at all, or when it's done, it's not of the quality that you and I would expect.
I know time has come in house now, I know you are looking at the restructure, looking at how to improve on it.
That is something, we need a root and branch reorganisation, David, please, yeah, this cannot continue.
We've, that's a massive contract, I know what value it is, Julie, it's out there, with certain organisations, MES and others, but we've got to look at performance.
It's not working for us, please, yeah, so if you can just comment on that, please, yeah.
Yeah, I think you've absolutely hit the nail on the head in terms of the biggest issue that's affecting the lack of tenant satisfaction, and why we're failing to hit the target in this area.
I think you're absolutely right that, you know, we have brought Tower Hamlets Homes back into the council, but one of the most important things we wanted to do was then really do a root and branch review of particularly the services which are not hitting the mark,
and one of them is our repairs service, we are doing an end-to-end review of that service, we are making a lot of changes, we're looking at how to use technology to improve some of the issues that you've talked about, how we get things right first time.
All of that is taking investment that we're putting in, but we do see this as the absolute top priority, and we do need to turn it around. In quarter two, which hasn't fed into this data, we have seen a slight improvement in performance, and that will feed through the next time we get the report, but there is a long way to go and we're not where we want to be.
Thank you, grateful to you. Is that okay, shall we, I know I'm not asking you to say anything at all, you're doing well, Georgia, so, okay, when you look at me I get a bit worried, if I left something behind, I'm not asking you to say anything.
Okay, can we note the paper, you know our worries, they are residents' worries too, we request and ask for upward improvement journey, please, is that okay?
Thank you, thank you very much. Shall we move on? Thank you to the officers, thank you very much. Can we move to the next paper, please? Again, we touched on it, very important paper, Special Education Needs, Disabilities and Inclusion Strategy, Mayum.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I'm pleased to present the Special Education Needs, Disability Inclusion Strategy to the Cabinet. This strategy has been developed with invaluable feedback from young people, parents and professionals, ensuring it reflects communities' needs.
The strategy focuses on providing timely and effective support for children and young people with SEND, helping them reach their potentials. It emphasizes early intervention and aims for sustainable solution in light of increasing requests for assessment and plans.
So we have six key priorities, timely and coordinated support for children and young people with SEND, user-friendly services for families, early identification and support for children under five, effective education and support for school-aged children with SEND, opportunities for young adults with SEND, valuing and supporting individuals to thrive.
This strategy is crucial to step towards enhancing the support we provide, ensuring every child has an opportunity to succeed. So I'll pass on to Steve to go through the strategy. Thank you.
Thank you Deputy Mayor. I won't take up much time really just to reiterate our thanks to everyone, Cabinet included, but particularly the young people and their families and all our staff who work with us in health services schools and the Council's team for their work consulting on this strategy.
You will see the priorities as a real focus on how well coordinated services are and our responsiveness and how user-friendly and really positive this week the Chair of our Parent Carer Forum was feeding back the high numbers of parents who were involved in that and the positive feedback some of the parents gave around services.
You will also see the priorities are set out as well around the phases, so under fives, school age and young adults and obviously there's a really big focus in the strategy on prevention and early intervention as we've seen a large rise in demand.
And talking to our school leaders, they're very much supportive of that early help, early intervention and supporting families and young people very early in their school career.
The final thing I just wanted to flag up and it really links back to the resident survey about how well people from different backgrounds and people needs and abilities get on in the borough. The last priority is really around how we support and value all our young people and people generally with centered neurodiversity and I think we're a really strong borough on this and look forward to even more improvements around that. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. From a public health perspective, the doubling of the number of children with special educational needs in this borough over the last 10 years has been a serious concern.
We cannot let these children fall through the cracks and develop further mental health issues that limit their growth and achievement. It's our belief that every child in this borough has incredible potential in them by prioritizing early diagnosis, well coordinated and properly specialized support and enhance opportunities for young adults.
I believe this groundbreaking news strategy goes above and beyond in giving all of our children the tools they need to unlock their potential. Thank you Mr. Mayor.
Thank you for those comments. Anyone else? Councillor Mustak then I'll bring Shafi in.
It also reflects a collaborative approach involving partners, families and the wider community aiming to address growing demand and ensure that Taha Hamlet remains an inclusive, child-friendly borough.
The strategy emphasizes adaptability in response to changing national policies and local needs while adhering to statutory requirements. Thank you very much.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. As mentioned, this is quite significant to you and many of us sitting here. I personally sit on three governing bodies in schools in Taha Hamlet and it's important that this sense of support has been paramount in shaping the future of the much needed and demanding service.
As a partnership we'll have to make sure and ensure that we have the right services, staff and funding through early support and right education placements in schools and colleges.
This strategy will set out how we cater for the needs of our young children and I welcome this report. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. I think this report is very, very important like you say and I think looking at the appendix and going through the report is very heart touching when you go through it.
So I think it's a very good one. Just want to understand one point. With the new partnership and the strategy, do we know how we're going to measure our KPI and how it sort of impacts our deliverables overall?
Thank you. You want to come in please Steve. Thank you Councillor. So there's a number of ways. So we've had our SEND inspection a number of years ago and have an improvement plan which is monitored regularly by DFE and the NHSE and we are due a re-inspection so we reported regularly to external scrutiny in terms of our progress and that includes a set of indicators.
We also have a SEND improvement board where we have a scorecard which again we will report a set of measures there and obviously where we go to children's scrutiny committee and other boards such as the health and wellbeing board and report on that scorecard of measures.
But I think as well as the sort of data measures and the outcome measures I think as has already been said by the Mayor the feedback from families and children themselves is really important so our engagement with young people is really important and we're doing that through our time group who's made up of a representative group of young people and also with our parent carer forum who are really active and really vocal and hold us to account.
Anyone else? It's very much needed. Coby, do you want to say something? You ok?
I'm giving other members the chance. I presented all of these reports at scrutiny yesterday.
So as everybody knows as a cabinet, as a council we're extremely passionate about delivering services to our SEND cohort of residents and it's imperative that we have a strategy that's fit for purpose that's delivering for those residents and everybody accepts.
They are one of the most vulnerable groups who live within Tower Hamblett so I welcome this report, Mr Mayor.
Thank you, grateful. Steve, please.
Thank you, Mr Mayor. I was going to make a comment that I know you and I have been discussing for some time and that is to ensure that members, the partnership and the corporate director have sufficient resource and support to bring forward improvement and I mean that in its broadest sense at the earliest possible opportunity.
A lot of this stuff has been running for a very long time. Mr Reddy has been with us for a matter of a couple of months now, I think, and so I think it's incumbent upon me to recommend to you that we give him additional support and resource where we can.
You and I have been discussing the creation of a partnership task and finish group with a limited life span to support Steve in drawing out the key actions that will enhance service delivery, speed up the way in which we and partners operate and deliver the main elements of the strategy that's being presented tonight.
So it would be helpful if you're agreeable to add an additional recommendation that creates a partnership task and finish group to progress those matters and I can give the actual final wording of the recommendation to Joel after the meeting.
Thank you and Steve, Mayum, we're here to support you. If that means for our kids we need to put in additional resources, we're willing to do that. If you need to get specialist support, get this sorted, we're happy to do that and that means we have to go out and understand how local authorities are doing.
It's no reflection on you or Mayum or this council, but it's because of our kids we want to make sure we're doing the best and give them the best life chances. Is that okay yet? Please.
Okay, so with that recommendation and the additional recommendation Steve's put in, can we agree to report please? Yeah? Okay, thank you. Great for you. Thank you very much. That's done.
Can we move on to the next paper please? 6.6. This is again quite straightforward. Our colleagues are here. Okay.
Cumulative impact assessment policy. Okay, 24. 27. Quickly Mr Ashraf and our colleague, please Shafi. Okay, and we can move on.
Thank you Mr Mayum. This council must review its cumulative impact policies every three years.
The object of the policy are to reduce crime and disorder in public nuisance in areas with high saturation of license premises.
Having a policy means that any applicant that wishes to apply for a license under the licensing act within the assessment area, impact assessment must prove that they will not add to the detriment of the area.
I hope to hand over to you. Thank you. Do you want to add further, briefly? Just briefly Mr Mayor, just put in context, there is a couple of recommendations for this paper.
Just to give you a background, in November 2014 the cumulative impact policy was designated around Brick Lane and later in 2018 it was expanded around Brick Lane area.
The objective, as the council has alluded, of the community impact policy is to reduce the crime and disorder in public nuisance areas with high saturation of license premises.
The council is statutorily required to review its community impact assessments every three years. As part of the review, a consultation was carried out and must be taken into consideration.
This consultation was done in January this year over a 12 weeks period. In conclusion, based on the evidence, including the results of the consultation, there is sufficient evidence to retain and expand the community impact assessments in Brick Lane area.
Conversely, and that's the evidence that shows in the part of the consultation, but conversely there is insufficient evidence to retain the CIA in Bethnal Green area, so the report actually recommends two considerations.
One is to retain the Brick Lane CIA community impact assessment and expand on the border to include parts of Whitechapel area and remove the Brick Lane community impact assessment.
And second is obviously consider and agree the CIA policy statement which has been reviewed in light of the consultation.
Okay, this is quite straightforward. We've got a number of items to go through. Can we please agree the recommendations so we consider and agree the recommendation. It's a good thing we're going to take it forward.
Okay, thank you. Greatful to you. Okay, another one, tablets, children, young people, supported housing pathway. My own, Steve, is quite, I know where we're at. I want to quickly introduce you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll be really brief. This wasn't a report that was on the forward plan. It refers to a procurement process that we brought to cabinet in April to go out for the services for these very vulnerable young people in terms of their support living and housing and support.
Despite engaging with various providers in the market after April, during May, June and July, we ran the procurement process and unfortunately of the four areas we were seeking to award lots, we were unable to award them apart from one of them, which you'll see in the report to the Salvation Army.
Given the vulnerability of the young people involved and the certainty they required with support from our procurement and legal colleagues, we've set out to do a direct award.
Ordinarily, we wouldn't bring this report to cabinet, but we are conscious that the original decision to go out to procurement was brought here and will also, as is laid out in the report, we will need to bring it back in terms of a different approach to how we procure these services.
It's just so conscious that the young people involved would be, if we weren't able to do the direct award, the young people would be concerned about what would be happening in the immediate future.
Hence, we had to take the decision with support from procurement and I'm grateful to Andy and his team and also legal and finance colleagues for their support. Thank you.
We've gone through the process twice now. We'll go through a short-term regrouping and reconsider our commercial approach to these sort of things.
What's the value of the contract that you want to do direct award?
We've awarded part of it, which is around about 200,000 and then there's 1.4 million left.
Is the direct award? Okay. Unless anyone disagrees, we have no alternative. I know we are an open, tender administration.
We rarely do direct awards, but twice it's gone out to the market, we'll not be able to do it. We have no choice but to go along with the office of documentation.
Can I say, can you put in a caveat there, please, in consultation with the mayor?
Of course, Mr. Mayor.
Yes to direct award, but in consultation with the mayor, please. Thank you. And the lead member. I don't want him to feel deprived on any decision-making process.
We'll do our best, Mr. Mayor.
No, no. Process they will do, but it comes to us as a recommendation, doesn't it? And we need to understand the process too. At the end of the day, we are accountable.
Let us now do a note for me on the process, if you could, how it's done, and how many people in the framework, et cetera, want to understand, and how you do the direct award.
And it comes to us, together we make that decision. Is that okay? Is that okay, Steve?
Yeah, that's fine. Thank you, Andy. Grateful, grateful, grateful. Oh, Sayid, isn't it, lead member?
Thank you. Okay, now we've come to another extremely, extremely important paper. We can take the two Harriet 6.8, 6.9 together, we can take them together because they are more or less the same.
It's about regenerating, as David said, everyone, our estates. This is something that I, Alibore, envisioned when we were here previously, 2012, 2013, then, with the previous corporate director.
And Steve was there too, remember Steve? Looking at housing regeneration when we did Ocean, we looked at Redcoat and Clichy, et cetera.
And I'm glad we're at a stage now, we can move this forward quite quickly. I'm grateful to the officers. Kobi, you want to come in, make a few comments, then David.
Thank you. So, as you've said, this is a long time in waiting, it's over ten years from conception, and we are now at the pivotal stage of delivering 407 new homes.
53% of which is affordable. And this, I would say, is a prime example where hard work demonstrates that you can have a combination of social housing at a high percentage, as well as private rent as well, which stacks up projects.
It also has a separate community facility within that. So, on the 31st of January, 2024, cabinet resolved, in principle, to use CPO powers across the HAPA state to secure the delivery of the scheme.
It was noted a further report would be taken to cabinet to recommend the formal making of a compulsory purchase order.
The proposed CPO will run in tandem with the council's continuing efforts to achieve negotiated settlements with all land interests, wherever possible.
The use of the council's CPO powers now is considered necessary and proportionate to progress the scheme by reducing the risks arising as a result of uncertainty around land assembly and use.
As part of the pre-CPO engagement process, the council has been meeting with affected stakeholders, including residential leaseholders and tenants, from June 2023 up to the present day.
To discuss concerns, people have review, engagement and negotiations explaining the CPO process and its implications in more detail and setting out a proposed course of action.
To date, the council has acquired first team leaseholders and a further five leaseholds due to complete shortly, arriving at a total of 45 leasehold interests to be acquired.
The proposed CPO will help facilitate the comprehensive housing-led regeneration of the estate whilst contributing towards the promotion and improvement of the economic, social, environmental wellbeing of the borough.
The second part of it, Mr Mayor, is to issue the contract award, which has gone through a rigorous tender process and, you know, officers are here to answer questions in relation to that.
Yeah, I suppose just two points. One, that I think this scheme is very much delivering on the kind of wider community benefits, particularly placed in the community at the heart of the scheme of the new community facility and I think that's critical to any regeneration.
The homes are important, yes, but we're doing it as part of a wider scheme and I think you also mentioned earlier the improved green spaces and amenity spaces and we've done a lot of that work with local residents to get to where we are today.
And the other part is, I think in terms of the award of the contract, you know, we've got a really experienced partner on board to help take this scheme forward and I'm really confident they'll do a good job.
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it's quite self-explanatory. Is there anything you want to add to what's been said?
I don't think so, Mayor. I think this is the decision on the CPO that we relied upon to make that application in the Secretary of State and in any public inquiry, so it's a significant moment for the Council and welcome support of it to take the scheme forward.
Okay, Waheed, Ward Councillor, cabinet member, please.
Thank you, Mr Mayor. Firstly, I want to thank you, your vision, your hard work, dedication, lead member and the officers. I think this is very much welcoming news for the ward and the residents.
I think it's going to change the face of, you know, it's going to be a brilliant programme and like I said, basically it's going to be a welcoming news for the residents and I think the hard work and the effort that's been put in this is testament to and reflects the hard work that everyone's put in, so thank you.
And Alibar and Sam also for the Mayor's office worked with the team to make sure the residents are on board with us and it's a very supportive, well-supported regeneration scheme.
So if no one is burning to talk, it's a good scheme, more homes for our residents, reducing the people on the waiting list, overcrowded households and give us more free four bedrooms, give us 53%, over 200 of homes for rent for our residents, it's good news, a community facility and open green spaces.
Can we move, go on, you're burning to say something?
I welcome this, this is amazing compared to how it was before but I'm just looking at the forward and it's got the previous Mayor's, I'm not sure about, page 429.
You're working, yeah please yeah, can you, James, we've changed for two and a half years, can you have a look at it, old document, it's got the previous Mayor's photo on it, can you have a look at it and please make sure it's appropriate forward, please yeah.
COVID, you've been, you've been, you've been, where have you been COVID, doing your painting, your house, yeah, okay, doesn't matter, it's there, thank you my God, so you've not been eating too much, you've been working, yeah, so can you please look at it please, can we deal with that, is that okay, please yeah, and can we have a cons on this immediately please, this is good story, we need a cons strategy, Steve, you can look, no one share.
No one share, Andreas, I don't know why the team's gone, no one is here on the comms, comms need to be here in cabinet meetings please, they need to be in the gallery, they're not here, please yeah.
I will make sure they are in future meetings, they are normally, I'm not sure what's happened this evening, but I will take that back and make sure.
Oh, you're here, thank you, sorry, I apologise, can you, let's talk to Kieran Jubier, let's get a comms strategy out, something out tomorrow please yeah, and you can look at the forward, okay, please yeah, look at it.
Can we just go for the recommendations, so 6.8, the recommendations are set out, agree, agree, reserve, delegate in consultation with the mayor, delegate in consultation with the mayor, that's fine, delegate in consultation with the mayor, 2.1.6, that's fine, and 2.2.1 is to acknowledge, we do acknowledge, that's agreed, yeah, it goes forward,
Joe, is that fine, then 6.9, we agree, but that's one, one amendment I'll bring, delegate recommendation page 544, delegate in consultation with the mayor please, yeah, I've said it in other forums, can you make sure, yeah, so in delegate 2, recommendation 2, and on the forward please, can you make sure the forward is appropriately worded,
and has the current administration reflected please, rather than the previous administration, if that's okay, okay, with those comments can we agree these two papers, very important papers, is that okay, thank you to all the officers, grateful to you, thank you, okay, let's move on, okay,
okay, okay, we have another colleague joining us, please do join us, please sir, please, thank you, thank you, welcome, Tala, yeah, please, thank you mayor, so this strategy has been developing,
this strategy has been developing over months of consultation and feedback, here we are today with a needs assessment sample of more than double the previous cohort, and we're committing to a lot more in terms of initiatives and scope in this strategy,
the women's resource centre and women's commission are some examples of additionality and the gender inclusive design work in appendix 4 led by the planning team features here to show how women's safety is broader than the community safety partnership and the criminal justice system,
those recommendations will be explored as part of our local plan, some existing successes include our domestic abuse case work service, commissioned 1.4 million pound contract for DV case work, around 6,300 referrals with 96% satisfaction rate,
that's nearly 1300 on average per year, over 100 per month, we've spent around 150,000 pound towards a sanctuary scheme with 333 installations and supporting up to 60 victims per year, tackling misogyny in the night time economy as well as schools and other settings,
digital women's safety walks where more than 100 women join virtually to talk through preferred routes and certain areas they avoid on a map view, self defence classes, and through the mayor's community grants programme we supported four community safety projects,
I wanted to thank people mentioned within the report in 3.11 who worked tirelessly to develop this strategy, though we have those successes there's a long way to go to ensure women and girls feel safe in our borough,
4,519 domestic abuse offences and 821 sexual offences were reported in 23/24, that's nearly 12 a day and two sexual offences a day, five domestic homicides have taken place since 2019,
with the most recent case being Shuma Begum whose partner has been charged, most importantly the strategy is backed up by an action plan in appendix 6 which has 23 actions to prevent harm and promote safety, 25 actions in supporting victims and survivors, and 11 actions in responding to perpetrators,
I welcome all members to review the strategy and action plan and contribute to making women and girls feel safer in our borough.
Thank you for the introduction, please Simon, is there anything you want to add further please?
I'd like to say thank you to Anne Corbett who's led on this from the beginning, she's been a champion, a corporate champion on VOG and I commend the report and I just want to thank Anne and the team, without her I don't think it would be impossible,
I think there's been a lot of, certainly from my time here, a lot of to and fro in between the policy and the real world, but you've come together and you delivered a brilliant policy which I'm very proud of, but I'd like to thank Anne publicly for her hard work on that.
Thank you Mayor, I just wanted to make an additional comment, following discussion with the Mayor and the lead member, and the comment that was made earlier on, that we now have an established permanent corporate leadership team,
I have been discussing with the Mayor the way in which we invoke and initiate that corporate bit, so without in any way taking away from Simon's responsibilities as the corporate director of communities for delivery,
I have agreed with the Mayor and spoken to Georgia and asked Georgia to take a corporate lead on the delivery of the strategy, that means working obviously in partnership with those responsible for actual practical delivery,
but it's the first foray I think in effect, of course Julie has taken on responsibility for housing options and other housing homelessness related matters, this is another example of the corporate leadership team acting corporately,
so it would be helpful Mayor if that could be added as a recommendation, thank you.
Thank you, please anyone wants to add to what's said?
My apologies, I'm not going to add anything further, I believe colleagues and Councillors already mentioned all of the issues that I was going to raise, but I'm happy to take comments and questions.
That's a fantastic strategy, the effort and the time that the lead member and the officers have put in, I'm really grateful to you, thank you.
It's a very important area of work to all of us and we want to make sure the resources are there and to make sure the policy underlines that are there, it's important to us, so grateful to you.
Please, members, is there anything you want to add to what's been said?
I think in preparation of the report, I've commented loads of different times, but I think it's good to see Minara in front again,
she trained me in a certificate in leadership in combating hate crime, was it nearly two decades ago now?
So, I'm really pleased to see this, I was a hate crime champion, combatting hate crime champion, and we used to do stalls and road shows and everything,
and this is a really prime issue and concern that happens and recently we've had various sort of media attention regarding Sarah Everard and various different other cases and situations involving both the police and various other institutions as well.
So, I'd say from a council perspective it's really important, we have this at the forefront and we drive that change and implement it both institutionally and also go out externally as well promoting this.
Anyone else wants to come in? You're okay with your content? I know we've put in other forums, we've put in our comments, we've put in a lot of time, and those have been accommodated by yourselves, so very grateful to you. Thank you.
Georgia, standing on the same, madam, at this stage.
I'm very, very happy and honoured, actually, and looking forward to working with colleagues. Thank you.
Tala and Simon and the team, grateful to you. Let's agree the recommendations, let's take it forward.
Yes, with the additional recommendation from Steve. Is that okay? Thank you, grateful to you.
Okay, I think we've come to the end, haven't we? If there's no other business, can we conclude our meeting?
Thank you, and grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you.
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