Transcript

[ Applause ]

Good evening and welcome everyone and as-salamu alaykum. I'm Councillor Saifuddin Khalid. I'm the speaker of the council and so I will be chairing the meeting this evening. I would like to thank everyone for attending, including the online participants and the members of the public in the gallery. I trust that you will show courtesy this evening. In particular, I want to remind all members of the public that you must not shout out or otherwise disrupt the meeting. If anyone does disrupt the meeting, I will have to ask for them to be removed from the meeting for the smooth conduct of the meeting. This meeting is being broadcast live via the council's website. Cameras will be mainly focusing on the council meeting. In view of this, I would remind members, the residents are looking on the councillors to act in a professional and respectful manner and to show the barra in its best possible light. I would therefore remind members to keep all contributions brief and relevant to the subject matter under discussion, to not stand or start to speak until I have pulled you, to speak through me and do not address comments to other members or the public gallery, to not interrupt each other or make comments whilst other members are speaking and to be respectful to each other at all times, to not criticise officers during the proceedings and, most importantly, first hand, all members must sit down and be quiet. Although I would only take the action as a last resort, I will ask for the removal of any member or visitor should their behaviour become disruptive. I will continue to ensure that all sides of the chamber has a fair opportunity to contribute. To ensure this, I have obtained a list of members to speak for the items. Should any member wish to speak, please indicate your wish to do so. I cannot guarantee to accept your request. Please also note that supplemental information has been published with proposed amendments to the motions for debate. If the fire alarm rings, please follow the instructions of the facility staff who will direct you to the exits. Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to begin this meeting by sharing with you how much I am thoroughly enjoying my role as the Speaker, and despite August being a holiday period, I have been busy with numerous engagements since the Council meeting in July 2024. I've enjoyed meeting more of our community groups and organisations at their annual events and celebrations, and look forward to meeting many more before the end of my term. And whilst I have many engagements that I would love to share with you this evening, I will highlight just a few and begin with the German Nevi's visit to the Town Hall. Yesterday we hosted the commanding officers of the German ship that visited our docks. It was fascinating speaking to the officers, and I was proud to show them around our award-winning building that is our Town Hall. I was delighted to also attend the Commonwealth of the Premier League at our award-winning Victoria Park for their annual cricket tournament. It was an exciting day, and I was honoured to be part of this community event celebrating the spirit of sportsmanship, which brings together cricket enthusiasts from all walks of life, promoting the importance of sports and community engagements within Tower Hamlets. Another traditional event in the March and Navy Memorial Day service at Trinity Square Gardens of which the Speaker of Tower Hamlets is one of the patrons, and as such, I was honoured to attend as the first citizen of London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Last week I had the pleasure of welcoming the London mayors and the mayoresses, speakers and chairs from Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Bromley, Anfield, Hackney, Lisham, Newham, and Newham. They were given a tour of the Town Hall, and we ended the visit with a much enjoyed afternoon tea. It was a delightful afternoon enjoyed by all. It was equally pleasing to hear how welcome they were made. It never ceases to amaze me how much our visitors marvel at our remarkable building of our Town Hall. Welcoming new citizens to the Borough at the citizenship ceremony is a valued part of my role as the Speaker, and I very much look forward to continuing this for the rest of my term as it is a great opportunity to get to meet and talk to people from all over the world. I can also update that I visited the second of the charities I'm supporting this year, Osmani Trust, to see the wonderful work they are doing first hand and to spend some time with them and their staff. Work is underway to get our fundraising events and donation page up and running, and I'm hopeful that we will raise money to help them continue their great work. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our newly elected Councillor, Abdi Mohammed, in the recent by-election for Bo Eich. [ Applause ] Before I conclude, and as I look forward to the many exciting activities and engagements ahead of me, I would like to thank you all for your support throughout my time as Speaker. Now, before we start the meeting, I would like to also welcome our special guest, John Pulfoot, the Chair of the Standards Advisory Committee. He will be presenting the annual report of the committee later on on the agenda. I would also like to welcome our new corporate directors. David Joyce started this week as our new corporate director for housing and regeneration, and I would also like to put on record our thanks to Paul Patterson for supporting the council as our interim corporate director whilst we recruited permanently. I would also like to welcome Georgia Chimbanee as our new corporate director for health and audit adult social care. Unfortunately, Georgia is not here -- is not able to attend tonight, as she has another matter to deal with. So I will hope to welcome her personally at our next council meeting. I would like to thank our directors in our services for stepping up and acting in that role whilst we recruited permanently, in particular, Suman Banerjee. Now, you will all be aware of the recent killings of many students in Bangladesh during the July and August movement. This saddened all of us, as some of the deceased family -- deceased have family members, relatives who live in tower hamlets. And the impact has been felt widely in the community. As suggested by Councillor Kobi Ryusain, and I'm of the view that we should respect the sudden event -- the sad event took place in Bangladesh. And for this, I would like to propose one minute silence. [ Inaudible ] Thank you. Before I turn into the agenda, I would like to, once again, request everyone to turn off your mobile phones so that the running of this meeting is not disrupted. Thank you for your assistance and cooperation. I understand now that Councillor Mufi che basani wishes to withdraw her motion on abuse in political campaigning. Can you please confirm that now? Thank you. Okay, I accept the request. Thank you. I would also like to report that I received two requests from urgent motions from Councillor Kobi Ryusain in relation to solidarity with the Bangladeshi student movement and one in relation to a possible merger of housing associations. I have not been able to take these motions as they have not met the requirements in the council procedure rules, but I will also ask offices to continue discussions with Councillor about these motions for the future meetings. Turning into the agenda, item number one is the apologies for absence. Do we have an apology? We do not have any apologies for absence. Agenda item number two is the declaration of disclosure of pecuniary interests. Would any member who has disclosable pecuniary interests to declare in any item on the agenda please indicate now. Councillor Esmaeuw-Islam. I have one for noting that there are many members of Labour Group that are members of a union, so that includes GMB, Unison and others. That has been duly noted, thank you. Councillor Abdi Muhammad. Thank you, Speaker. I am a lay member of GMB. GMB Union, so I just wanted to note that. The agenda item number three is the minutes of the previous meeting. The draft unrestricted minutes of the ordinary meeting of the council held on 17 July 2000. I am sorry, I do apologise. I forgot to give apologies to the chief executive as he is unwell, so Julie is in his place. Thank you for the update. The chief executive is not here, but Julie is here. So thank you, Julie, and welcome. Right. So are the draft minutes agreed as a correct record? Okay, the minutes agreed. Agenda item number four is to receive announcements. I will now hand over to the deputy chief executive, Julie Lorraine, who has some announcements to make. Thank you, Julie. Thank you, Mr Speaker. This week, I'd like to, this week I'd like to talk about the events on Monday 7 October. It's the launch of the EMA University bursaries. There's an event at the town hall being attended by the deputy mayor. In relation to our Youth Achievement Award applications on Monday 7 October, the Youth Achievement Awards will be open. So please nominate and encourage others to do the same. On Tuesday 8 October, Black History Month begins with the council having a range of internal and external activity to celebrate, including roots and rhythms event at the town hall on Saturday. In relation to environmental and waste, this week we're launching a web chat service on our environmental and waste pages on our website. And this provides another way for customers to speak to our customer service team on pest control or waste. And lastly, I'd like to add a welcome to David Joyce, who joined the council yesterday, as the speaker mentioned. And together with Giorgia Chimbani, this completes our senior team and we look forward to working together with everybody. Thank you, Julie, for the announcements. Agenda item number five is to receive petitions. One particular petition has been received for presentation. This is set out on page 43 to 46 of the agenda. I now call upon Tanya Sheik to present the petition to save the Atlee centre. You have up to three minutes to present your petition. My colleagues with me, on my right is Martin Young. He is our trustee, and on my left is Fatima. She's one of our parents, represented from the humongous parents group. So feel free to -- oh, you've already started me off. So thank you for taking the time to hear our request for the renewal of our current lease of 25 years on peppercorn rent granted to us in 2001 as part of a redevelopment scheme for which the Atlee Foundation spent four years fundraising over 3.4 million pounds and two years building what is now the Atlee Centre, reopening in 2006. This lease expires in May 2026. Whilst I appreciate this is a year and seven months away, we are unable to fundraise for our services without a lease of minimum five years. We are fast running out of funds, and we're eating into our very small reserves. We've been trying to discuss our renewal since June 2023, but have been met with much reluctance. We've been told repeatedly that there would be no discussion of renewal until close to expiry. We have, however, not been given a date or a timeline for this. We have written to the mayor numerous times and received no response or acknowledgment despite following up. The CBS had written in support again no response or acknowledgment. A member inquiry was requested in June 2024. Again, no reply, despite following up. So we have two questions for you today. When can we expect to discuss our lease? And according to the VCS premises information, there is no option for peppercorn rent. As a small charity with a large site, how does the Council propose we meet the potential rent, which could be thousands per month? Bear in mind, we now pay 10 pounds a year. The consequences of non-renewal would mean closure of a much-loved and high-impact organization which has benefited the community over 42 years and loss of year-round safe, supervised outdoor play spaces which are limited into our hamlets. Annually since 2021, on average, we have seen 2,200 visits per year, year-on-year. April to July this year, we have already had over 1,800 visits by children and young people. Figures are higher if we include the adults, parents, carers, et cetera. It would also dismantle the strong community unity and support that's been cultivated over the years, as well as impacting the charities delivering services from our building. They would also either close or need to find new suitable premises which are difficult to find and afford. For the purposes of background, the Appley Centre was formerly the Appley Adventure Playground, also built and paid for by the Appley Foundation in 1992 as the very first-- You have about 10 seconds. Sure. Very first inclusive adventure playground for five to 14-year-olds to show the benefits of mainstream and special needs children playing and being together. In 1999, the trustees saw the need for a space for the whole community, not just children. All our services have always been free and continue to be so. So thank you. [ Applause ] Thank you. There are now four minutes for questions. Does any member wish to put a question to the petitioner? Please do not make any statement. Councillor Aboodal Khachiguri. Thank you, Speaker, thank you for the petition. As a lead member for Community Safety, I just wanted to understand whether your centre offers any services for crime reduction or crime prevention? So we offer open access youth provision. So we have found it very difficult to get youth funding. But we have another youth provider set in our building who deliver Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the year. So indirectly, yes, crime prevention, focus targeted work for crime prevention, no. We are open access so everybody is welcome and we take young people as they come and address their needs as they require. Thank you, Councillor Salaam. Thank you, I'll pass it to my next speaker. Councillor Kabir. Thank you, Tanja, for bringing wonderful petition tonight. I think it's in my ward. I have visited your centre twice. I can see you've done fantastic work. Can you make a question? My question to Tanja, you mentioned several times you send email to Mayor. My question to you, don't you deserve an acknowledgement from Mayor on Mayor's office? Don't you deserve an acknowledgement from Mayor's office? Yeah, very quickly if you answer, yes or no, yeah. Yes, definitely after a year and so many months. Yes, we're still waiting for a response. Thank you. Councillor Peter Gools. Mr. Speaker, Tanja, without question Clement Atlee is the most significant person ever to have served as a councillor in this borough, ever to have been a member of parliament in this borough and whose name will go down in history for a very long time. Clement Atlee believed in helping young children. Will you confirm to us that the Atlee Centre continues in the traditions that the great Clement Atlee set out when he first moved to this borough before the beginning of the 20th century? Thank you. A society where opportunity is open to all, absolutely. Yes, we do. [ Applause ] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I just wanted to ask if you generate any income. As I said you provide various services, but do the actual centre generate any income? We do. We hire out some of our, the football pitch, the netball court and that goes straight into running the centre. So that generates unrestricted core income that pays for running the centre and two core salaries. Thank you. Councillor Ahed Ahmed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a very brief question. I visited Atlee Centre in the past, obviously. I know exactly what sort of service you provide and I witness your good services. What specific actions have you taken beyond your written communications to engage with the Mayor and the council concerning the lease renewal of the Atlee Centre? Given the council reluctant to discuss the lease, you talked about timeline or deadline. What sort of realistic timeline or deadline you are talking about and what is the consequences the community is going to face if we don't support your office? If you can make it very quick. Yeah, the other members will. As I said, we've been trying to get a meeting or something since June 2023. We've written to the Mayor many times through Asset Management. Our Chair has written to the Mayor. We've not had an acknowledgment, I'm sorry to say. I would really-- I just want to know today, if possible, when we can look to have a meeting with somebody to discuss our lease. Time is running out. We need to plan. It's not just us. It's people who are based in our building. It's the children. It's the families. We need to think about them first because without the sense of what happens to those families also, where do we send them, is my question. Thank you. Thank you. Very quickly-- [ Applause ] -- from Councillor Iqbal Hussain. I will appreciate if we can just very quickly ask because time is running out. I need to-- Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Tania, for bringing this petition for the attention of the council. just to ask you, can you tell us about a little bit about the profile of your users including ethnicity, age, gender and corporate? Thank you. Can you just repeat that last bit, ethnicity-- Ethnicity, gender, age and corporate users. OK. Corporate users. So in terms of corporate users, they are generally from the city and locally who hire out our football and netball courts. In terms of our membership, we have over 500 members. At the moment, the split in terms of-- I haven't got that but I can tell you how many visited in terms of that split. We have a majority are Bangladeshi children but we also have Somali, white and mixed race young people aged naught to 19 and up to 25 with special needs. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor, not to leave you in fact? We'd appreciate if you can make a very quick one, yeah. Thank you, Speaker, yes, I will do. Could you clarify what if any rent cost that the council is asking for you as opposed to the peppercorn rent that you currently have? And could you also estimate how much it would cost the council to provide the same excellent services that you run? In terms of proposal-- in terms of rent that we've been asked, no figure. But there have been indications that it would be market rate if it was for 25 years. And if it was for five years then with the rent reduction scheme. But because the size of our building, if it's 14 pounds per square foot, it comes to about 7 and a half or 8,000 pounds a month. For a small charity, where are we going to get that? Is my question. And you asked for something else, sorry, I beg your pardon. How much do you think it would cost the council to provide the same alternative services? So, on a monthly basis, it's over 25,000 pounds, so multiply-- sorry, a lot. Thank you. Thank you. This is going to be the last question on that. We're already at a time-- we have exceeded that time. Move with the [inaudible] Oh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, petitioners. I'm not sure if you're aware, but our last full council meeting, we had another community organization come and present a petition about a lease. Do you know how much the mayor spends on his own office, and why do you think that is a justified use of money if they're not responding to your e-mails? I thank you for your question, but we are here for the Atlee Center and I would like to just focus on that. And I'd rather not get into that discussion if that's not right. Thank you. Thank you. To conclude the discussion, does Councillor Saeeda, my cabinet member for resources and the cost of living, wish to address the meeting in response to the petition? You have up to two minutes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the petitioners for your petition. The lease at the Atlee Center has approximately three years left to run, and will expire on the 14th of May, 2026. And in line with our processes, any formal decisions on lease proposals will be made in advance of that date in 2026. The Atlee Center is of great benefit to our communities, and we recognize such contributions through the council's community benefit rent reduction scheme, where we give up to 80% rent reductions to crucial voluntary and community sector organizations. This is part of our overall strategy to embed our commitment to the sector, and enable organizations to continue providing value for our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much, Councillor Saeeda Ahmad. That concludes the item. The petition stands referred to the corporate director for communities for a return response within 28 days. So if we move into agenda item number six is the mayor's report. I'll call upon Mayor Luthar Rahman to give his report to the council. And you have six minutes, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Salaam alaikum. Greetings, or peace to each and every one of you. I too want to welcome the new Councillor for Bow East. Congratulations, and welcome to the chamber. And now I move on to my report. I just want to talk about Youth Justice Award. I am pleased to announce that last month, this council received a Youth Justice Sent quality lead status with a child first accommodation from the Association of Yacht Managers. This signifies a marked improvement two years from the failed youth justice inspection that this administration inherited from the previous in July 2022. There's serious concerns were raised about the running of the service. I would like to thank the corporate director for children's services, their team and his team, and the deputy mayor for this impressive turnaround which demonstrates that under this administration, the council is taking the steps to improve and deliver the best services possible for our residents. I now want to talk about the placement policy in the homelessness services. In cabinet last month, I took the decision to cancel the proposed changes to the council's placement policy that would have seen the 90-minute cap on the placement of residents removed. We have heard from residents through various forums, including my twice weekly searches, raising their concerns that the change would see their families broken up and sent to far-off locations dismantling their support networks. Let me be clear, this was never the intention. We built in a rigorous set of criteria that would have been, that would have protected the majority of our residents from the proposed Band D category. However, having held discussions with the chief executive and the corporate director and the lead member, I believe that the council can do more to procure good suitable properties within the 90-minute banding. This will keep residents as close as possible to tire hamlets while providing them with a long-term solution to their housing needs. Therefore, I would like to reiterate that the 90-minute cap remains in place and homeless people and affected residents should be housed ideally with the tire hamlets and if this is not possible, then no further than this distance from the borough. I would like to now move onto the winter fill issue. Last year presented residents with a long and cold winter, compounded by rising bills and a rising cost of living crisis. We introduced our warm hub and warm packs program that provided residents with a warm place to go and a hot drink, hats, gloves and water bottles to keep them warm. I am pleased to announce that this will be continuing this winter. However, the recent decision to scrap the winter fill allowance payment for nearly 10 million pensioners nationally has created more fear that elderly residents will have to choose between heating and eating this winter. 9,000 residents not to receive the pension credit in town that could be affected. That is why as would become clear in our administration motion later on, I have requested officers to assess the possibility for the creation of a Mayor's Winter Emergency Fund to help offset the impact of this decision for our vulnerable and the elderly. This will be presented to our cabinet meeting later this month. We will also launch a campaign to promote awareness of pension credit eligibility to more than 4,000 residents not claiming this support who are entitled to it. Those residents affected by the cut can rest assured that this council would continue to do all it can to support them with the cost of living crisis and I will be writing to the Secretary of State calling for the reinstatement of these payments next year. Finally, I would like to end by addressing the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has been, that has seen over 42,000 innocent civilians killed including over 13,500 children, 700 of whom are newborn babies. As we approach the one year anniversary of this assault on the people of Gaza, recent gates have seen a drastic escalation across the region bringing even bigger threats to civilian life. Now more than ever it is essential that a ceasefire is agreed across the board before we see yet more tragedy unfold. Thank you. [ Applause ] Thank you, Mr. Mayor for your report. I would like to now invite Councillor Shira Gandhi and his leader of the Labour group, would you like to respond to the Mayor's report? You have two minutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker and good evening. As-salamu alaykum to everyone. I hope everybody has had a restful summer. Now I start off by saying unfortunately this has been a summer of discontent with the far right riot spreading across the country, violent behaviour like this has no place in our society. And I applaud the government for taking decisive action against those responsible. And I want to thank our members, officers, police, faith leaders, media leaders for the vigilance and efforts to ensure that such incidents did not reach our borough. Their dedication has been crucial in keeping our communities safe. I echo the Mayor's comment about the Gaza conflict as well. So, can I secondly congratulate Councillor Abdi Mohamed on his violation victory. Abdi will undoubtedly be an asset to Labour group and a passionate advocate for residents of Bo East. We look forward to work with him to build a stronger and fairer community. With Abdi's height I'm sure he'll have a panoramic view of the administration. Can I also perhaps some of the government inspectors leaving the council welcome the political advisor back to his place. I also want to acknowledge the Mayor's recent U-turn on the homelessness placement policies. The shift wouldn't have been possible without the tireless efforts of everyone who organised and supported the campaign. Your work ensured that the voice of our residents were heard loud and clear preventing a policy that would hurt the most vulnerable in our borough. Finally, I welcome the 40 million pound funding from the GLA to secure homes for our residents as well as 8.3 million pound from the government to pick all 32 homes for temporary accommodation and five permanent homes for Afghan settlement program. A Labour Mayor and a Labour government are committed to tackling the pressures of overcrowding and homelessness and this funding shows we are serious about making a difference. Thank you speaker. [ Applause ] Thank you, Councillor Islam. Mr. Mayor, would you like to respond? Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, could I quickly raise a point of order and I apologise, I haven't brought the standing orders with me, but it refers to the council. Under the standing orders it's quite clear that the leader of the opposition has the minute to respond to the mayor's address, but as the group of ungrouped councillors is growing, would it not be possible for you to call a different member from each of the ungrouped councillors and it's only one tiny minute of each council meeting to have a little minute so one could raise a few to respond to the mayor. I'm sure it won't break the council's heart for one minute from this group of us along here. [ Applause ] I would invite the monitoring officer to respond to that. I think what needs to happen is you can ask the constitution working group to look at that because it will require a change to the constitution currently, but I think they'd be quite happy to look at that and consider that proposal. Sure. Mr. Speaker, with permission sir, Mr. Speaker, could you for the record for people watching at home and understand the dynamics, what's the current numbers of councillors in each categories? I would like to invite Councillor sorry, head of the democratic services, Matthew Mannion, to confirm just the numbers here. Thank you, members. Okay, so the current numbers are Aspire 21, Labour 17, ungrouped 7. Thank you. We didn't quite catch that. Aspire 21, it was a different number from 2022 election. Councillor Oollawe, you heard what he said, thank you. As we move into agenda item 7 is the motion for debate submitted by the administration. The debate will follow the rules of the debate at council procedure rule 13 and will last no more than 30 minutes. I would like to invite Councillor Saeed Ahmad, can you please move your motion as set out in the agenda. You have four minutes and I note that the word hot got mixed off, next to the water bottles at the top of which we will amend accordingly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Labour government's decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance is disgraceful and for many it is a betrayal. Millions put the trust in Labour Party to put an end to the disaster of austerity and bring hope and opportunity back into the lives of working people. However, one of the first things the Labour Party decides to do is target pensioners. Many of whom rely on this vital resource to stay warm and to put food on the table. Thousands are now fearful of what the next months will hold, not knowing what they're going to do. We have to ask, what does this say about our society and this government? Whether 1% continue to get richer, continue to profit and the vulnerable freeze in their homes and worry about their security as they get older after decades of contribution to this great country. The consequences will be devastating and make no mistakes, people will suffer and people will die because of it. As the lead member of cost of living I can confirm that addressing this crisis has been a long priority of this administration. And even before Labour cuts we have developed many schemes around winter poverty. This year we will continue provision of our warm hubs, providing a safe space for all residents to keep warm and grab hot drinks. Here people will be able to receive hats, gloves, socks, hot water bottles and other amenities to help keep warm and save money on their bills. The feedback we have had so far in this that the sites in the idea stores and libraries have been of great benefit to those who have used them. However it's unclear, however it's very clear that more needs to be done to offset Labour's cuts and ensure that no pensioner or household has to make the cruel decision of whether to stay warm or to put food on the table. There has been, there will be almost 9,000 elderly residents who have not been received of winter fuel payments this winter. This is why I am asking the council to support and explore the creation of Mayor's Winter Emergency Fund in order to support pensioners who do not benefit from pension's credit to make ends meet this winter. Providing pensioners at risk with a payment of £65 each to eligible residents, £165 each to eligible residents to help out with the winter bills. As part of the strategy we must also act with speed to make sure that thousands of pensioners who are eligible for pension credit but who are not claiming are encouraged and supported to do so. Everyone in this chamber can help and have a role in encouraging neighbours and families, friends to come forward and claim what they're entitled to do. And as a council we will be launching a borough wide campaign to try and reach those individuals who are eligible for pension credit and are not currently claiming. With that Mr Speaker I formally move this motion. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. I call upon Councillor Abou Dalhachodri to second the motion, you have three minutes. Mr Speaker, why can't we just have a decent winter? The inexplicable choice of choosing between heating and eating has sadly become a familiar phrase. It affected many vulnerable residents during the peak of the cost of living crisis when energy prices spiralled out of control. This winter I cannot believe that during the government's honeymoon period they decided to raid the pockets of pensioners to plug a so-called black hole in the public purse. I thought honeymoons were meant to be rosy but this Labour government has made the morally indefensible decision that the health of the most vulnerable residents and the stability of our communities is not worth the cost of continuing the winter fuel allowance. Mr Speaker, people often assume my role as a community safety lead member starts and ends with crime and disorder on our streets. I ask you though, how can anyone in this borough consider themselves safe when they are at risk of freezing to death in the winter because they can't afford heating. I have neighbours on my estate that I know will be going to bed without heat because of this decision and I know many of you do as well. There are 9,000 pensioners that will be affected by this decision in Tower Hamlets with each dear person deserving of every bit of warmth this winter. Councillors, that's on average 450 pensioners in 20 wards. They say they inherited a mess, believe me, we know what that looks like. But that didn't put us to target pensioners, rather we committed to supporting them with free home care, saving hundreds of pounds which could be spent elsewhere. That too with schemes like the warm hubs and the warm packs will ensure pensioners are kept warm and save money on their bills. The irony of the party opposite, to put forward a motion and make demands of an aspire party, to cover the cuts made by Labour and government nationally, is mind boggling. It's like a man messing up his honeymoon and his kids going to his ex to solve the problem. I would recommend to the Councillors opposite, if they feel so strongly about this decision, they should do what the MP for Canterbury did last week and resign. Sadly, residents of this borough are far too familiar with the Red Acts. Cuts in the seven years the opposition were in power, whether that be free home care, the youth service, EMA, bursaries, one stop shop, the list goes on. The residents of the borough know very well that this administration has always, and will always, put their needs first and never expect them to make a choice between heating and eating. With the national government leaving pensioners to freeze in their beds, this administration has been left with no choice but to step in. I am in full support of establishing a Mayor's Winter Emergency Fund to fill the black hole Labour is leaving in the pockets of our pensioners as set out in this motion. While I advanced by the further parts of this report, like righting to national government bears fruition, I'll be able to rest well knowing that my council is stepping up. I am proud to be part of a council that stands by the most vulnerable and picks up when national government fails, no matter what the cost. It's for these reasons I second this motion and I encourage you all to join me. I'd like to now invite Councillor Mark Francis, if you can please move your amendments. Thank you, Mr Speaker, I'm going to check, three minutes? Yes, yes. Thank you very much. Mr Speaker, I'm happy to see this motion on the agenda tonight. It gives us an opportunity not just to debate this important issue, but to do something about it too. That's why I'm moving this amendment on behalf of the Labour group. I actually worked for our former MP Una King back in the late '90s when Gordon Brown first introduced the winter fuel payment and the pension credit. She and many other Labour MPs had lobbied the then-Chancellor for greater financial support for pensioners including those who were not benefiting from the means-tested minimum income guarantee. That was a really important move back then to help hundreds of thousands of pensioners struggling with their energy costs after more than a decade of the Basic State Pension having its value eroded. 25 years later, the value of the Basic State Pension is now protected by the Triple Lock. However, in the last two years, the costs of gas and electricity have skyrocketed because of the war in Ukraine. And so, the winter fuel payment is as an important part of a pensioner's income as it ever was. Unless the UK is completely broke, means testing it is therefore not the right way forward. Up to 9,000 older people in town, Hamlets, who don't currently get the pension credit, will lose out as a consequence. Some of those are actually eligible, as the lead member has said, but most have small occupational pensions that take them just above the £13,000 a year threshold. Those pensioners cannot be described as wealthy. They're the very people the Labour party was founded to serve. That's why Tower Hamlets Labour Councillors have written to the Prime Minister, urging him to think again about this cut to the winter fuel payment. Meanwhile though, we think Tower Hamlets Council itself could be doing more to support pensioners. Mr. Speaker, the Mayor and Aspire's proposal is a positive step in the right direction. They've said tonight it's £165. That wasn't in their motion. It wasn't in anything that was said in advance of this meeting. So that's halfway towards what we ourselves have proposed in this motion. Nearly a month ago that they've been dwelling on this. But it doesn't go far enough in ensuring that every pensioner here, it still gets a winter fuel payment. Last winter I took up many cases on behalf of individual pensioners in my ward who didn't get the extra money given to Tower Hamlets Council through the Household Support Fund. This is too much of a lottery for our groups like it, the way that it was done last year and the way that I think it's being implied will be done this year. Given just how much money is being held in unrestricted reserves in this council, we think there's more than enough in the council's coffers to give pensioners who've lost out a locally paid winter fuel payment of £200 or £300 this year according to their age as this original scheme gives. Mr. Speaker, we urge colleagues across the council chamber to back Labour's amendment. Be specific about who will get this extra money, how much extra money they will get and ease the concerns of our residents. And finally, Mr. Speaker, I wanna say something about the mayor's description of this as he's the mayor's Winter Emergency Fund. This is yet another example of the mayor badging government money with his own brand and pretending that this is his largesse. It's not, it's the household support fund that's actually just been given to him in an announcement three weeks ago by the Labour government that his colleagues have just denounced.

• We can't have a shambles that we've had in this chamber before, we cannot have people disrupting this meeting. It isn't acceptable.
• Thank you, I'd like to request the members at the gallery to behave yourself, please do not try to disrupt the meeting, particularly in particular when councillors are speaking. Thank you, thank you, Councillor Lee. I'd like to now invite Councillor Amina only to second the amendment. You have three minutes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say, along with my colleague, Councillor Mark Francis, that the Labour amendment is a fair amendment. It's really important that sometimes if government don't get things right, local government steps in and makes sure that it protects its citizens and its residents. And I think it's really important that we here in Tower Hamlets recognize that we have many members in our community who are elderly, including my own mother, who just has one P over her pension, which means that she doesn't qualify. And many of them like that in this borough, who relied on the winter fuel to get them through the winter. And I think we shouldn't play politics for people's lives. We need to make sure that we are protecting people. It's not about whether the Labour government did this or the Tory government did that. It's about when we as councillors really need to come together to make sure that we look at what's happening and how we can step in. There is money in this council. We have got funds that we can use, and it's important that we use them wisely and properly, and that the Labour amendment clearly states how that should be done. And I think once we should put politics aside, support the Labour amendment, if you're serious about it, and stop playing politics with people's lives. (audience applauding)
• Thank you, Councillor Amina Ali. I'd like to invite Councillor Mayim Tha Lugga.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Councillor Oula, 21 is greater than 17. (audience laughing) Just three months ago, some 40,000 Annapolis resident voted for Labour in the general election. That's around half number of resident who voted Labour in 2019 general election. But nevermind, how disappointed they must be now. Less than one month after they were elected, the so-called Labour government brought in a cut of impression as Winterfield announced. A cut that even the Tories would not have contemplated. The trade unions and the Labour members voted at the recent party conference to ask the government to reverse it. But Keir Starmer made it clear that the cut remains. The right decision, the government will not listen to its own party. Mr. Speaker, once more, Mayor Luther Koch will have to step in to protect the residents from the government cuts. Might be funny for you. But all is not lost for Labour. They still have time to redeem themselves. Acknowledge that the Mayor Luther Rahman steps in to protect the residents while your government has fallen our residents. So, that's my statement. (audience applauding)
• Councillor Shiri can you list them?
• Sorry, thank you Mr. Speaker. So I'm surprised to speak in support of our amendment. So Mr. Speaker, this Council has been blessed with strong financial resources. I believe this is a time where we can put those resources to work for the betterment of our elderly and vulnerable residents. As a Labour group, we wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to consider this decision. We believe that too many pensioners will be left vulnerable this winter if an interim measure are not put in place. Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, this Labour government will have to make tough choices. The Conservative Party left this country in a mess after 14 years in power. However, since this trust is disastrous mini-budget, for most house and the cost of living has doubled. And we are worried that elderly residents who are not eligible for pension credit will face a tough winter. This is why Labour group are supporting the Age UK and Tragedy and Campaign to call on the Chancellor to reconsider implementation of this decision. This is why we are not shy on calling this Council to also step in to ensure residents are protected during the cold months. Because unlike the party opposite, we are not afraid of challenging our leaders to think again. (applause) Yes, but the Government has stepped in, but it's stepped in using Government Fund, the House Support Fund, which has been given to Council for something like 120 billion to support fundamental people in our society. Thank you. (applause)
• Chancellor Peter Golds?
• Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I find this quite an extraordinary motion, an extraordinary incident. And I wave my fingers on two subject for the Labour Party. Your figures are not correct, because I might be getting on. I might be one of the older members of the Council, but I ain't in my dotage yet. And I consulted my bank statement for the end of last year. And the actual figures are 250 pounds if you're a pensioner and living alone, and 300 quid if it's two people. So it's not, your figures are wrong there. And I would also very politely say, I understand the Labour Party saying to the Mayor, well, he's grabbed this. But just a week ago, Rachel Reeves was claiming responsibility for an initiative that had taken place three months before the general election. So I'm afraid politics are politics. But I would say to the Council, and I should be voting for the Administration amendment this evening, there are a couple of things that we need to strengthen this. I think government should know what we think. And it is, we need to be slightly stronger than simply posting a letter to the Secretary of the State. You can get from Canary Wharf to Whitehall in 11 minutes. I believe that the Mayor and a group of senior councilors should actually have a letter and deliver it to Downing Street and be seen to be doing so on behalf of our residents. This is actually an extraordinary issue. I can guess where it's come from. The Treasury have probably had this in a file and handed it to Chancellor after Chancellor after Chancellor and as it happens, not so long ago, I bumped into George Osborne who said it was exactly the sort of thing that would have been handed to him and he'd have handed it back and said thank you, but no thank you. And it's gone through. It's a mistake and it needs to be dealt with. It was one very, very simple thing that could have been done when the Winterfield allowance is granted, you get a note saying it will come, but it's tax free. Well, it's sent to everybody over a certain age. The government knows who's paying income tax and aren't. If these people are poor pensioners, they don't pay income tax, so they get it tax free. But if it's going to somebody on the higher rate of taxation, why not simply tax it at the going rate? So it would have been graded upwards. Therefore, the people that truly need it would have got the full whack and those that need it less don't get it. It was the most simple thing to be done and I find it extraordinary to withdraw it because I know what's going to happen in the winter. We are going to have elderly people sitting there with more, sitting in their homes with coats over them when they could at least have some help to do with them. So, Mr. Mayor, I'll be supporting it, but if you want to go down to Whitehall and deliver the letter, I'm happy to join you on the tube. (speaking in foreign language)
• Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm disappointed but not surprised by the Labour government attack on vulnerable senior citizens. Many of our elderly rely on winter fuel payments so they do not have to choose between heating and eating. Mr. Speaker, Labour used to be the party we could rely on to protect the vulnerable, not anymore. It is sad that although the cost of living crisis continued to create havoc in our communities, government could choose to take away fuel subsidies crucial to the vulnerable people. Mr. Speaker, Labour have lost its way. This is why we need a visionary like Merlut Rahman who will put the people of Tal Rambut first. Just as Aspire introduced universal free meal for primary school, secondary school. Tal Rambut can lead the way again with the Mayor's winter, Winter Emergency Fund, making sure that our elderly do not suffer in the winter. Mr. Speaker, I support this motion which seeks to make a practical difference in life of our senior citizens. I hope the whole council will vote for it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (audience applauding)
• Councillor O Biden.
• This proposal seems to be merely a short-term fix rather than the comprehensive solution to the ongoing cost living crisis, affecting pensioners and vulnerable residents. I want to know what is the long-term strategies and plans to address this issue. While the creation of the Mayor's Winter Emergency Fund is commendable, there are concerns about how the fund will be financed. Without transparency around budgeting, how can the citizens trust that? Enough resources will be in place to support those in need. The request to the government to reinstate the winter fuel allowance is crucial. I can see already Labour has written to the Prime Minister. But what practical steps our mayor has taken to ensure that the people who's working in the government understand the crisis in townless? Relying solely on social media may not be enough for you, Mr. Mayor. How will the council monitor the actual impact of the proposed support measures? It is essential to ensure that these initiatives are genuinely helping residents rather than putting funding on paper. I just have a question about Wormhub. Wormhub work quite well in many areas. But here I have some questions. Will there be enough independent evaluation of the Wormhubs and WormPacks program to assess their effectiveness in supporting vulnerable residents, rather than it become an over 50 club, for selected key individuals to have late night dinners and gossiping? Thank you for the amendment. I think your amendment is quite important and it is quite clear and I will support the Labour amendment tonight. Thank you.
• Councillor Rebecca Sultana.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Taramlet has always been a place of welcome. Home to people from all walks of life, young and old. Over the years, both local and national support has made a significant difference to our residents and the winter fuel payment has been one of the key lifelines. The government's decision to cut the support for pensioners is really heartbreaking. It will hurt some of the most vulnerable in our community. People who have contributed so much and now. In their later years, find themselves needing our help. I want to share with you a conversation I had with a constituent just a few days ago. He's in his late 70s, a proud man who worked hard his entire life. Now living on a modest pension, he sat in my surgery, his voice shaking with worry, and told me, Councillor, I don't know how I'm going to manage this winter. My bills have gone up so much that I'm afraid. I will have to choose between keeping warm or having enough food to eat. I have never had to face that choice before. Hearing those words from someone who should be enjoying this retirement in peace was truly devastating and he's not alone. There are 9,000 other entire hamlets. These are residents who count every penny already struggling during this cost of living crisis and who now faces an event harsher winter ahead. We cannot just sit by and let this happen to our elderly residents. At the same time, we cannot be hypocritical here. We must acknowledge that this decision comes from the current labor government. However, many within the party are calling on the Prime Minister, Kiyosuma, to reverse it. In the meantime, this council must step up because we know it can. We shouldn't have to do this, but we have a responsibility to protect those being let down by national policy. We need to ensure that no one in Tower Hamlet has to choose between heating or eating. We owe it to our elderly residents to show them that we care, that we'll not abandon them. We have the power to make a difference here in Tower Hamlets so let's show that we stand with our locals. Thank you. (audience applauding)
• Thank you, Councillor. (speaking foreign language)
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every Labour councillor sitting opposite actively campaigned and got Labour into government and they were very pleased with that. So, please take ownership of your actions that you explicitly went and advocated for a group of people, MPs in Parliament, Labour MPs, a Labour government, who has raided the purses and the pockets of vulnerable pensioners. We speak about vulnerability all the time and we're gonna hear testimonies of relatives, of parents, of members here, but who is responsible for those actions? I tell you, Mr. Speaker, those who are responsible is those who go out on the doorsteps, go and knock, win the trust of individuals, of residents, of this borough, pensioners included, and say vote for this person, you trust me, you can trust them, and what's happened to that trust, Mr. Speaker? That trust has been abandoned and now we define it as there are up there national and we are local, we can do more locally, yes, absolutely. And can Town Hamlets do more, yes, absolutely. Will Town Hamlets do more, yes, absolutely. But, those you advocated for on the doorsteps, those you gave assurances about when getting those votes from these vulnerable pensioners, they've been betrayed and they've not only been betrayed by the national, they've been betrayed by those who have gone to the doorsteps and asked for their vote. That's a contract you've made with them, to look after them. Have you looked after them? No, Mr. Speaker, you can't run away. You need to take ownership of your actions. So, I leave you with this question, will you go out and campaign for those same MPs again? And will you go and tell those pensioners that the last time I campaigned for you, these MPs stole money out of your pocket? That money should be given back to those pensioners they gave to this country, Mr. Speaker. And this country owes them a duty and that should come from central government, Mr. Speaker. But, once again, Mehrluq For Rahman is there to step in. And while he's stepping in, we get criticism from members opposite who actively worked to get these people into parliament, who actively have made promises to residents on the doorstep that their lives will be better, that a change of government will provide greater prosperity for them. And what has it done? It's not even been a year, Mr. Speaker. One of the first actions this Labour government has taken has been to swipe away money from these pensioners, these vulnerable pensioners. My dad's a pensioner. Now, another thing I'll tell you...
• At time's minute. - Mr. Speaker.
• Carry on, you've got 10 seconds.
• Thank you, thank you. Okay, don't try to deceive the public. The public, remember, you are the ones who went to these doorsteps and you are the ones who have to take accountability for propping people up there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (audience applauding)
• Councillor Natalie Bienfe.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I find myself in the happy position to be able to vote for both the amendment and the motion. I'm very proud to be part of a council which is bold in supporting its residents in times of deep hardship. I commend the administration motion for setting out the intention to support elderly residents, but I also commend the Labour amendment for suggesting some specific details about the levels of support and who should be given the support. I would like to encourage us to take forward this scheme and get some details together on how exactly to provide and how much money we can give to vulnerable residents. 9,000 residents, each receiving 300 pounds would amount to 2.7 million. It's quite a lot of money, but as a council we do have it. And we can give it and we should give it to people short-changed by a short-sighted government.
• Thank you. Councillor Syed Ahmed, do you wish to exercise your right to reply? You have three minutes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For years, rampant austerity, combined with the lack of investment, has left many councils across the country in an impossible position. Poverty is increasing, safety nets are being cut, and it is falling on councils to use their limited resources to make up the gap. Labour government has slashed winter fuel payments, and now the opposition wants to submit motions and lecture us online and here about protecting the pensioners that their party has abandoned. And I'm glad that they have taken decisions to show some humility and delete their social media posts, especially at a time when their parliamentary leaders revel in privileges of their status, racking up donations and favours while ordinary people plan for difficult months ahead. Councillor Francis forgets that we are in an executive mayoral system. That's why Mayor's Winter Energy Fund will be introduced. That's why whilst Labour cut the vulnerabilities and support for the vulnerabilities, this administration, this Mayor, invests in the vulnerabilities. Councillor Islam and Councillor Francis both mentioned that this is from the Household Support Fund. In fact, it's not. We will look to explore this from the Council's General Fund and it is typical of Labour party locally trying to cover up what their party imposed in the parliament. Whilst the very own MPs have been door knocking on the residents in our ward, in our boroughs and making those promises. They will have to face those residents one more time because they are the very same MPs who have gone to the parliament and voted against to cancel the winter payments. That is why Mr. Speaker, the residents of Tarah Hamlet can't trust a word they say anymore. Thank you. (applauding)
• Thank you. We will now vote on the motion moved by Councillor Said Ahmad and the amendments from Councillor Mark Francis. Starting with Councillor Francis's amendments. Those in favour. Those against. (mumbling) (mumbling) (mumbling) (mumbling) (mumbling) Any abstention? (mumbling) Vote on the original motion in favour. (mumbling) Those against. Those against. That was the original motion. Councillor. Any abstention? (mumbling) So motion is carried, thank you.
• Mr. Speaker, sorry, could I just ask, could we have the numbers of people who voted for and against the motion and the amendment please?
• Original motion?
• Both the amendment and the motion.
• Okay.
• Just so that we're clear. Would you put your mic on Matthew? Sorry.
• Okay, great.
• No, sorry.
• Sorry, you're right. For the, feel free to challenge me if I got this wrong. Amendment I think in favour was 21. Which was 17 Labour plus one, two, three, four, or five, was it five? Okay, so that'd be 22. I apologise, 22. Because Councillor Gold's didn't vote with this side on that one. And then in favour I had all of the spy which is 22 plus Peter Gold's which is 23. (clapping) And then the speaker abstained. So that's the last person.
• Hold on. Excuse me, let us carry out our.
• Speaker abstained. 24, 22 in favour.
• Including the Mayor. So 22. 22 and Councillor Gold's 23.
• No, it should be 22 also.
• How?
• In my company.
• No, it shouldn't.
• So, as for 21, Mr. Mayor is 22 and Councillor Gold is 23.
• Naturally.
• Naturally, yeah. (clapping) Excuse me, yeah, please.
• Can I say 22 for the amendment?
• 22 voted in favour of the amendment which was the 17 labour plus one, two, three, four, five at the back of the ungrouped. So that's 22. And then on the aspire side you got the 21 Councillors plus the Mayor, that's 22. And then, but Councillor Gold's voted with them so that's 23. And not on the amendment she did.
• You don't need it.
• Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, it would have been easier if it had just stood up and had been recorded.
• Councillor Gold, we've got your vote. We've got your vote in favour of the original motion. (mumbling) Councillor Francis, what's your disagreement with that? (mumbling) No, he didn't know, he did know. Yeah, Councillor Francis, yes?
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, I just wanted to seek your clarification. So if I was somebody who's currently in receipt of a winter fuel payment and had lost that money, would that be a declaration of pecuniary interest, please.
• Okay, so that has to come from the monitoring officer.
• Yes, we just had a look at that because it's a very, sort of close thing. Potentially it could be an interest. But looking at what the wording of the motion was, it would probably take it outside of an interest. So, it's a very close point.
• Sorry, this is Mr. Speaker. Can I add to my colleague's note of clarification?
• I think that was a clear question.
• No, but I think what we are asking for, if there is a person in this room who is eligible to vote, who is in receipt of a pension and credit, then they are financially restricted from voting in this chamber because this is a financial gain. Can we look at that, please, and if honesty of anyone in this room who is of age are eligible for this benefit, they should leave this room. They should not be voting on this motion. So, I'm sorry. Without naming any individuals, they should definitely leave the room.
• I think, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Speaker, I think I'll start going from this division.
• Sorry, please calm down, please calm down.
• That will make some very interesting reading on that one.
• Council Francis, you should have actually requested that because if you have contemplated that, you should have requested to the monitoring office of the Democratic Services, they could have got that. I'm not sure whether this is the right approach now to clarify who is in receipt and also whether legally whether this is correct that if a member is in receipt of that benefit, they're not allowed to vote. I'm not sure, of course, and from the top of the head of the monitoring officer, I'm not sure that she will be able to clarify that. So, the motion is carried and yeah, do you...
• Can I just say, I did actually come over and speak to the head of Democratic Services and the monitoring officer at the start of the debate and asked that exact question and I accept the ruling completely but I did ask the question, so it's not that I'm only asking this after the vote.
• I will have a quick chat with the monitoring officer and then I will come to you with the rule.
• So, I will invite monitoring officer, yeah. Please, please, be quiet please, yeah, thank you.
• I think it's a complicated thing but if a person is generally in receipt of the allowance, then they would declare an interest. What we're talking about today is the people who would benefit from what was being debated and so, it would only be those people that would have to declare an interest.
• With permission, Mr. Speaker, many years ago, I was at the London Council meeting where many of our comrades from outer London boroughs got to vote for the pensioners freedom pass. Now, that was a benefit that's going to be, they're going to be voting. Half of them have to leave the room. In this occasion, I'm saying the same thing. There are members who might be eligible for pension credit or the winter fuel allowance. They cannot be sitting in this chamber and voting for that.
• I think that the point is we're not changing the rules.
• In the absence of any clear legal provisions, I have to conclude that the original motion is carried. I do not know, I will speak to the monitoring officer whether there is any mechanism later on. If it transpired out that someone is in receipt and legally, they're not allowed to vote. Of course, we can look into that and then we'll explore into that mechanism, but in the absence of that, at this present moment, I think my safe conclusion is the motion is carried, the original motion. (audience applauding)
• Thank you, thank you. That was emotional. Item number eight is the opposition motion for debate. The debate will follow. Can you please, keep quiet, yeah. Can you please look at me, particularly the councillors and of course, members of the, at the gallery. Kindly do not try to disrupt the meeting. We are having a fantastic meeting. We want to do that. The meeting, we are having a fantastic meeting, we want to finish it on time. So, the agenda item number eight is the debate will follow the rules of the debate at council procedure rule 13 and will last no more than 30 minutes. Proposed amendments to this debate have been published as a supplementary pack. So, the motion to scrap the revised homelessness accommodation placement policy, I would like to now invite call upon Councillor Asma Islam. Can you please move your motion and your amendments as set out in the agenda. You have four minutes.
• So, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present to this chamber my case, how this administration tried to over engineer the revised homeless accommodation placement policy by attempting to remove the 90 minutes travel cap through this motion. And with that, I will provide evidence and facts to this chamber tonight. Fact number one, general election was held on the 4th of July, 2024. It was established the new incoming government was a Labour government. To quote from the Labour manifesto, Labour would develop a new cross government strategy working with mayors and councils across the country to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. Fact number two, this policy report came to cabinet on the 10th of July, 2024. Lead member presented the report with the help of officers. Officers informed cabinet that over 3000 letters had gone out to residents informing them that the plan change of policy. Mr. Speaker, I want to quote one officer that made a case for the reasoning behind the report. I quote, This links to the strategic delivery plan we have at target, KPI 004, number of homeless people supported into sustainable accommodation. It is one of the reds and have been for quite a long time and this is one of the actions to get it into the amber. End quote. One might assume that there are politicians in that cabinet that would have some red flags at this point, that they would want to ask questions further. Mr. Speaker, however, on the contrary, this is what the mayor had to say. This is a good document, good policy, he says. This policy on the whole is very good, it's about making sure we have less people living in hotels and hostels, more in accommodations fit for them. Again, he says, it's good to help people and reduce pressure on hotel bills. It's a good policy. Furthermore, the deputy mayor goes one step further and to quote him, This is an excellent policy. And gleefully welcomes this report. Three times the mayor states this is a good policy, of course, because it helps to shield the red-ragged KPI and his failed record. Fetch number three. Second of September, a calling was presented at the overview and scrutiny committee, presented by Councillor Francis and Councillor Islam. Both these councillors make a compelling case why this revised policy is premature, unnecessary and would negatively impact those who we vow to serve. The lead member, Councillor Ahmed, had the following to say in response to this calling. People can have gardens and more space but further away. We need truckload of money to solve this problem. Better quality homes outside in the suburban areas. Lots of options available. (audience chuckling) Fact number four, that calling was rejected. All the Aspire councillors on that committee voted not to send this decision back to the mayor. Fact number five, 9th of September, Aspire Councillor Kabir Hussain resigns from the party and to crop from his own resignation letter, he, Mr. Mayor, has failed his promise to the homeless and failed to change the 90-minute relocation policy for homeless families forced to move outside of London. Fact number six, 11th of September Cabinet meeting, the mayor announces he is suspending the policy. The mayor's reasoning is as follows. Two significant changes since the report came to Cabinet. Firstly, change of government. He wants to work with the current government, even though the general election took place before the report came to Cabinet. Secondly, new data over the past year shows reduced lists on those waiting in hotels. Does the mayor not track this on a monthly basis? Mayor claims he's a listening mayor. This is a listening councillor. The community protested. Labour group protested. His own councillors protested.
• Your time is finished, so--
• This is why I say the burden of proof is that the mayor knew he couldn't get away with this. That's why he suspended the policy.
• Thank you. (audience applauds) Sorry, I was carried away, yeah. So, thank you. I call upon now Councillor Sridharji Lislum to second the motion and the amendment. You have three minutes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So very pleased to second the motion as proposed by Councillor Asmah Islam. So, Mr. Speaker, no one ever plans to become homeless. People and families are forced into homelessness because they have no other choice, whether through mounting debt, eviction, or sheer lack of affordable housing. And I know this firsthand. My family spent years living in BNB before we finally rehoused. Homelessness brings a deep anxiety, uncertainty and hardship. Children's education suffers. Families are uprooted from their communities and people often have to quit their jobs because temporary housing placements are miles away from where they lived. This new Labour government has inherited a country recently named the worst in the world on homelessness. Inside housing conducted a survey where four out of five responders confirmed that homelessness is one of the most urgent aspect issues we face. Our council's homelessness placing knowledge every on 10th of July goes to a 90-minute travel limit and place families in temporary accommodation outside of London. This will tear families from their support network, disrupt children's education, especially those preparing for GCSEs and A-levels, and force parents to abandon jobs. Imagine someone working in a supermarket in Tijhamles having to commute daily from Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire. This policy risks pushing already vulnerable families further into poverty. The mayor speaks passionately about education aspiration, about sending our children to Oxford and Cambridge. But hundreds of children living in hotels in temporary accommodation are already falling behind. They deserve the same chance to reach their potential. I met a family recently whose children wake up at 6 a.m. every day just to go to school in Tijhamles. Despite their hardship, they refuse to give up their education. That's the determination of our children. They'll sacrifice sleep, but not their future. We know the challenges faced by renters, particularly the private rental sector. No-fault evictions are rising, rents beyond the benefit camp is pushing more families into homelessness. This labor government ban on no-fault eviction alongside the mayor London rent control proposals will help but needs more to be done. Today, I call on the mayor to cancel the current placement policy and bring forward alternative policy. Use the 40 million pound from the labor mayor of London and the 8.3 million pound for government to secure more homes and temporary accommodation both in Tijhamles and nearby boroughs. We on this side, Mr. Speaker, we on this side care deeply about the welfare of homeless families. Support this motion and prove the group opposite care too. (audience applauding) (speaking in foreign language) Sorry, Councillor Kabir Ahmed, can you please move your amendment? You have three minutes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, it appears that the party opposite, the opposition, the official opposition of Tijhambles council have not been following cabinet meetings. At the last cabinet meeting on the 11th of September, the mayor made it very clear the policy has been cancelled. So, they ask us to trust in labor. Did we not just have a vote on a motion because we trusted in labor? Did pensioners not have trust in labor to have their pockets raided? So, it's quite hard to trust in labor literally after we voted for a motion in order to support residents of this borough because a labor government raided their pockets. Now, let's get to the crux of it. What are the issues? And we don't want to play politics with people's lives as members opposite have said. So, the crux of it is there will not be, the removal of the 90 minute will not be there. It will not be removed, the 90 minute cap. We will not displace families and vulnerable residents. We will be working within the current policy. The proposed amendment of the policy is to assist in identifying and supporting our homeless residents. Now, there was a few issues raised by members opposite, the benefit cap. Will the labor government do away with the benefit cap? Because that's what's putting real constraint, particularly around section 21 notices which makes people homeless. Will they take these drastic actions? Probably not because they're busy raiding the purse of pensioners. Now, will members opposite also acknowledge that this mayor has been listening, has listened and has delivered after listening? There have been numerous surgeries where people have come with these underlining problems around social housing, around access to good quality housing. Well, if the previous administration didn't ramshackle and cut the housing department into pieces, we would have enough offices in order to support our homeless. This mayor put investment in the homelessness team to the sound of nearly two million pounds in order so that applications are processed faster, people are getting a better quality service and staff don't burn out. Now, we spoke about the 40 million and the 8.3 million from central government. Well, I tell you something, we will not be buying properties in Bexley, we will not be buying properties in Greenwich, we will not be buying properties in Lewisham 'cause going far away breaks families. We'll be buying properties in Tower Hamlets, I assure you that and the last thing I wanna say is that you got done over previous administration, we're having to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds renewing leases that you bought. (laughter) (applause)
• Thank you. I now call upon Councillor Mujzenke Ahmed to second the amendment. You have three minutes as well.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I stand proud to second this motion and wholeheartedly support the mayor's wise and courageous decision to reverse the removal of the 90 minute journey camera. This is, Mr. Speaker, yet another classic example of how this mayor and administration truly listens to its residents. Taking into account the invaluable feedback from the people of this borough, the mayor and cabinet acted swiftly and reaffirmed our commitment by keeping the 90 minute limit in place. This decision ensures that families remain anchored to their jobs, schools and essential services right where they belong, in the heart of their community. Let's be absolutely clear echoing my colleague that there will be no removal of the 90 minute cap and no families or vulnerable residents will face displacement beyond that distance. The decision to halt the proposed changes was not only legally sound but also morally imperative. It reflects our dedication to protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Now let us take a moment to reflect on the facts. As my colleague from the other side was reminding us some facts. Under the opposition's leadership, homelessness in this boroughs soared to alarming heights while the construction of affordable housing fell into a disheartening decline. They failed to safeguard our communities and now astonishingly, Mr. Speaker, they have the nerve to criticize an administration that is working diligently to rectify the very mistakes they left in their wake. So while the opposition may attempt to divert attention from their past failures, this motion stands as a testament to our commitment to a brighter future for the people of this borough, one where no family is forced out of this borough and every resident can access safe and affordable housing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (audience applauding)
• Thank you, Councillor Ahmed, for your fantastic introduction and seconding the amendment. Does any member now wish to speak on the substantive motion submitted by Councillor Asma Islam as amended by herself? And all the amendments submitted by Councillor Kabir Ahmed. I've got a list I will follow and then if I have time, of course, I will accommodate your request if anybody else wishes to speak. Councillor Abutul Hachosri.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's very important to understand the context in which the policy was devised. Starting off with the Deputy Prime Minister's comments who described the current situation as the most acute housing crisis in living memory. According to the National Audit Office, since records of comparable data began, homelessness is at the highest level. The cases have gone up by nearly 500%. The financial strain on councils as a result have become devastating and the budget pressure in this area is forecasted to overspend by millions. With other boroughs like Newham and Havering on the brink of bankruptcy. With this in mind, the financial sustainability of the council was at the forefront of our minds and the dependency that residents have on some of our services had to be prioritized to manage the national pressures posed by homelessness, adult social care and SEND. So in our response, we considered a number of control measures, including reviewing the homelessness policy, increasing staffing in housing procurement and frontline teams, executed a successful exit strategy from commercial hotels, extended opening hours to avoid crisis placements, and more timely interventions, consulted on a new homelessness strategy, introduced two prevention grants and accelerate the acquisition program to purchase more properties for temporary accommodation. The revised policy was one of many mitigations explored and I am puzzled why the Labour group chose to use their motion to request that the mayor to do something that he already did last month. If you missed a cabinet meeting, please watch the recorded meeting on webcast. The mayor clearly said that there will be no removal of the 90 minute rule, no displacement of families or vulnerable residents and the proposed policy will not be adopted. He repeated the same message in his report today. In fact, the two resolutions in this motion are things that we already do and I have done already. Rather than repeat the obvious, my message to members opposite is that unless the government intervenes and updates the reimbursement rates and removes the housing benefit subsidy cap, Council will continue to cripple financially and be forced to explore unwanted options. We are doing more than most, but members opposite need to lobby their party nationally, like the motion before, rather than tell us to do what we've done already. Ladies and gentlemen, the 90 minute rule has been reinstated and the policy as the mayor's outline has remained unchanged. (audience applauds)
• Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Lilu Ahmed.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, homeless service across the country have been under pressure 14 year under Conservative government. Our homeless also has had many challenge. With challenge, we need strong political leadership. Mr. Speaker. This has been lacking in our homeless. Asper and Mayor Duthurahmand have shown us that they have not got what it takes solve this crisis. Mr. Speaker, what's make it even more shameful to try and attempt to take the most vulnerable resident who come to us at their time of need further away than 90 minutes? What a shame, Mr. Speaker. This housing accommodation policy remove the 90 minute rules as an insult for the borough. We have always been different than other council and showed that we find solution, many things, but this was not the style. It is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker, to think this mayor and his administration can fool us with this attempt. People who come to us, our council have not other option. It is the time when they need our help. Mr. Speaker, we cannot remove from the family and their loved ones, their child, and school, and place they call home. The challenge, the challenge are difficult and that doesn't mean we give up. That mean we work even harder to find a solution. Mr. Speaker, I am glad that resident spoke up against this and I am glad that my party and colleagues stood up to this disaster policy. I commend my colleague who called this decision. I commend my colleague who in overview and scrutiny support this. I commend Councillor Covey-Houston for resigning over this issue. At least one Councillor have for him to stand up for his right. It is same that other as per Councillor could not do the same. Now the mayor and this administration must do right things and admit to not bring this policy back. The mayor need to do the right for our residents and the most of our vulnerable society. I ask to the mayor, please take some good initiative to make better future for our community. (audience applauding)
• Always a pleasure to hear from Councillor Lidwahamad. Thank you, Councillor Ahmed, and would also at some point in today's meeting probably we'll hear from our new Councillor Abdie Muhammad as well. So I haven't got your name on the list, but if you want, no problem. I'm gonna go to Councillor Saeed Ahmed.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the quality we have come to expect from the opposition. They are now motioning for things that have already happened and I don't want to deepen the embarrassment any further, but you have to wonder where have they been for the past two weeks? Asleep on holiday or enjoying the last bit of summer? In the time they have spent putting together this motion, we as an administration have been listening to the residents and acting on their concerns. That is the job of a public servant and I'd like to invite the opposition to join us in this practice rather than shouting from the sidelines about issues that are no longer relevant. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Our residents deserve an opposition that is concerned about the wellbeing of our communities instead of playing politics that doesn't add any value. As it has been said several times tonight, the 90 minutes journey cap is already a council policy, meaning no residents has or will move more than 90 minutes outside of the borough when provided a temporary accommodation. Opposition members were present at the cabinet meeting in which it was made clear on the 11th of September. So either they are incredibly forgetful or they are purposely wasting council's time with mistruths and white lies. It will come as no surprise that temporary accommodation constitutes a great financial pressure on the council, which is why this administration has been so adamant about house building. It is why we are purchasing homes in order to support those in need of temporary housing and to reduce these pressures on our general fund. In fact, the efforts we are making in regards to temporary housing far exceeds what is being done elsewhere. With many councils looking towards Tower Hamlets as an example of innovative and best practice. I therefore support the amendment. Thank you. (audience clapping)
• Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Francis. If I may, Councillor Talukdar as well. If I may continue. If you allow me to continue Councillor Francis, Councillor Islam, Councillor Talukdar. Thank you for your support. Councillor Emily.
• Thank you. Wow, where do we even start? I've seen some pretty terrible amendments in the two and a bit years that we've been here, but this one is something else. They're having a bad week, clearly, so maybe we should cut them some slack, but this is really something. This is a rewrite of history. It's delusional. And I'm really actually quite surprised that any Councillor agreed to put their name to it. I don't know how you aren't embarrassed. To pretend that, oh, we weren't really gonna do it. We didn't really mean it. What? It is such an insult to residents. And to pretend that this screeching U-turn that you had to do was a result of anything other than public pressure, public outrage, is also an insult to those residents who are protesting outside this council. And the nerve, the nerve, to stand up here and say, I've got some quotes, that this is a council that stands by the most vulnerable while you are happy to support that policy. Don't try and deceive the public. I think somebody said, this amendment is deception. It is mistruth. And I'm gonna say it again. Oh no, we weren't really gonna do it. We didn't mean it. When you had cabinet members in the press the day before, in front of the cameras defending it, saying how it was needed and it was necessary and it was good, it was the day before. This is delusional. This is absolute nonsense. And this is what we've come to expect. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about this vote this evening. Please reject this delusional, delusional amendment and vote for the motion. (audience clapping)
• Thank you. I'd like to, I know all of you are good speakers and then you can carry on and on on the speaking. Of course, you have three minutes on each time, but I would like to request everyone, if you can make it a little bit short, then I can accommodate others request because I have quite a good number of requests from the members. So, Peter Golds. Councillor Peter Golds.
• Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I mean, housing is an intractable problem, which is growing and growing and growing and has done for the last quarter of a century. This council has, I think it is, in excess of 20,000 people on the housing waiting list. That's a situation that is no different from any other of the 32 London boroughs and local authorities up and down the country. We have a housing crisis and we need to deal with the housing crisis and it's what we need to be talking about and it's been going on for too long. Earlier this week, a report came out that indicated there were 70,000 empty properties identified in local authority and other aspects of social housing. The problem was it didn't say exactly how those 70,000 were. For example, if we go into Tower Hamlets and go up to Bow, would that include Claire Court? Would that be included on social housing that's empty or would that be an exception? Or do we have lots of unlet properties up and down the country that could be used? The second point I would raise is a matter that I have been, that I have seen raised over many years, councillors on and off from all parties have discussed this and nothing has ever been done by successive government and that is the infringement of the planning laws whereby flats and properties above shops have gone from residential accommodation to store rooms or offices without planning consent. And surely local authorities up and down the country and we should be engaging government and London councils and the local government association to insist that residential property above shops or offices that is being used for, that is involved, is being used for something it is not, it should be returned to residency and that would actually produce housing in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets so you just have to walk about part of the borough to just imagine the number there are. So I would think it would be a very good idea if the council were to look at this, perhaps produce a report somewhere to identify the numbers and see what we can do with government, London councils and the local government association. (speaking in a foreign language)
• Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So living within a 90 minute distance from your community, extended family and overall support network is a lifeline for people who desperately need housing. Yet again, the attempted policy change reflects our weakness as a council in appreciating the cultural and human context in which we should design our services. The policy fails to appreciate their complicity of lives who need help. I will not bore with you with more data but in simple terms our services should not be or become punishment. I welcome the mayor's decision to suspend the new policy position and I've seen the outrage in the community and the several campaigns and I reiterate that such an idea should have never been entertained. I would like to share with you a very recent situation that my family and I have been involved in. One of my distant cousins, a single mother with mental health conditions was placed in Hanzalo.
• Yourself together.
• Almost within a 90 minute distance she was uprooted from the social ties and community network she had. At least this is how it seems in practical life. Couple of weeks ago she fell ill and her son had an accident that resulted in a head injury. She called us immediately. I felt the pain of the distance. By the time after almost two hours of busy traffic we reached her, her son had already been taken to the hospital and his injury is life ordering. She had fainted and there was literally no one nearby who could have come to support her immediately. She is now, into social services for care. Social isolation meant her mental health deteriorated once she was placed away from her community. Her son is also missing out on being with his extended family while he's been raised in isolation. So Mr. Speaker, a recent report by the LGA on homelessness highlighted that common mental health problems are over twice as high among peoples who are homeless compared with the general population. And psychosis is up to 15 times as high. How the review completely disregards that, it is counterproductive to policy goals to place vulnerable people in more vulnerable situations is beyond me. Mr. Speaker, from this council today we as community leaders respect for more different political views, should promise our fellow citizens who need a place to live at. We will not make them more vulnerable as individuals or families when they come to us for help. We should not remove them from the social and community roots when they seek help from us. Thank you. (applause)
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I became councilor in 2014, the first member inquiry I made about a family with five children, they came to my surgery and they were told to move to Northampton to the temporary accommodation. So Mayor Luthurohaman was mayor at that time and the whole family, they were crying in my surgery. But we, as a councilor, we had some restriction. We could not help to keep them in Towerham's or Greater London. So in 2015, when labor came into the power, they have changed this policy and they were about to provide the temporary accommodation within the Greater London. And since then, I have seen the many families still, they were not happy when they got temporary accommodation in Croydon or somewhere in Greenham. Because when someone become homeless, it's not very happy news for them. It's affecting their health mentally, psychologically, because they are homeless, they don't have any space to live. And when someone has become homeless and if they provided temporary accommodation somewhere far, then it's been difficult to get support from their loved one, from their sibling, from their friends and family. When someone become homeless, most of them, they are not very educated, so sometimes they are dependent on their family member to go to the doctor, school, surgery or benefit, and they need to take someone as an interpreter. So if somebody's provided a temporary accommodation in Northampton, so how they will get support from their family member. So this is quite ridiculous. So I don't know when Mayor Rahman and his party publicly speak, they claim they are, he's the mayor of peoples, but when they are proposing any policy, they are not thinking about the people. And I think in the last cabinet meeting, they were about to pass this policy, but because of the opposition and some local people demonstration, Mayor did you try and suspended currently for time being. So I would like to request the mayor and the Aspire party to completely withdraw and cancel this policy for sake of the local people and the sake of the homeless people, so therefore I would like to request you to withdraw, cancel it. Thank you. (audience applauding)
• I'm in a dilemma, actually. I have so many councilors on my list and the time has finished. I've got Councilor Abdullah, Councilor Kibriya Choudhuri, I've got from Aspire about 15, and Councilor James King, Councilor Sabina Khan, Mark Francis, Ohoed Ahmed, Kabir Hussain, really, and then the time is pressuring me. If you promise that you're gonna finish in 30 seconds, then Councilor Kibriya Choudhuri, and then I will go to Councilor Abdullah, then Kabir Hussain, and I will conclude, yeah. 30 seconds each.
• Mr. Speaker, thank you. - 30 seconds.
• 30 seconds. (audience laughing)
• I really, honestly, I don't have time. I want to move on, I want to accommodate and respect your request.
• Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
• Probably 45 seconds.
• No problem. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, thank you.
• Start with the regard. (audience applauding)
• First, we need to recognize that economic homelessness is a serious issue. It's national issue. And I totally agree with our opposition colleague, Mr. Councilor Liluwakamat. Yes, we need strong leadership. Your leadership was seven years. (audience laughing) But your leadership did this to reduce the homelessness. And it's a shame for you because already this issue is resolved. Thank you, thank you. Already this issue is resolved. Now you are wasting your time. You are wasting just for political purpose. (audience applauding) And finally, I conclude. Yes, this issue is resolved. So we don't need to take any further time. And I ask everyone. (audience applauding)
• Councilor, I know your name was mentioned, but Councilor, I think you can finish in 30 seconds because you have the ability and the skills. (audience laughing)
• Wow.
• Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order.
• Mr. Speaker, it's a challenge for me to finish in 30 minutes. I'll just say one thing. 30 seconds. I think the very decreasing number of aspire councilors have short-term memory loss. It was suspended. Let's hear it, hear it today. Give the voice to the mayor, the so-called People's Mayor, to say it wasn't suspended, it was canceled. Let's hear it before. The short-term memory loss, I know the number's dwindling, but memory shouldn't be that bad. It was suspended a cabinet. People can see it and rewind it. So I'll stop there. (audience applauding) Fantastic, you finished it actually in 25 seconds. In 25 seconds you finish. Councilor Dilu Ahmed, very quickly, yeah. Yes, carry on.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to--
• 30 seconds. (audience chattering) What is the reason you wanna speak?
• Sorry?
• What is the reason? You already spoken.
• I just, I just can't hear. I don't want to repeat it.
• So Councilor Ahmed, Councilor Ahmed. Let me, Councilor Ahmed, Councilor Shafi Ahmed. Let me conduct the meeting, chair the meeting. Please, I'm accommodating your request. I'm allowing more times to the members so that the meeting is meaningful and enjoyable as well, and the members of the community are here at the gallery so that we are conducting our, Councilor Dilu Ahmed, why do you want to say something you felt that's so necessary? I'm coming.
• Speaker, 18th September--
• If you want to correct something what Council Chaudhuri said, please correct it. No, I will allow you to do that.
• Because Mr. Chaudhuri, he talk about my leadership and the previous leadership. Every time they're attacking our leadership, and I'm here, I'm a councilor. 2018 September someone called me. They are homeless, they come to homeless, and the council send them to Khaydum, and four people in one room, four people in one room, this is the homeless and out of London. This is worse than vision of the situation.
• Thank you, you made your point, thank you. (group clapping) You made your point, you made your point. Thank you, Councilor Ahmed, I appreciate it. (group clapping) Councilor Kabiru Singh, 30 seconds, please thank you.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Mayor claims he's a people's mayor, and he did listen. I was in his cabinet, paper going through so many stages. How come, how possible he did accept these policies for the homeless people? The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, came into force 2018, and we did campaign to keep homeless people within M25. We did campaign against Mr. Biggs, and he did listen. I cannot be a double standard. I stood on the ground, I stood for the people. I have one witness, Councilor Salut Ahmed, my word colleague, let me finish, Mr. Speaker, my word colleague, one of the residents, my constituent, she cried. She came to my surgery, she cried. She's a single mum, she lives in Slough now. Very difficult, how to come here.
• Made your point, yeah. Yeah, carry on, you made your point, yeah, go on. Finish it.
• That's the Mr. Speaker, I stood on the ground, I stood for the people, and I can continue standing for the people, thank you.
• Thank you. (group clapping) Councilor, ask my Islam, of course you have three minutes, if you wish to exercise your right to reply, but if you help me in shortening your speech, yes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker, as much as I want to help you, I think the Chamber could do with a few more facts tonight. So, first things first, a disclaimer. Everything that I've said, everything that I've quoted from these cabinet members and the mayor, it's all on record, it's for the public to see. You may see the papers for yourself, you can see, view the webcast yourself. So there's no hiding from that. Councilor Kibria, he wanted to ask what the Labour leadership did in seven years. Well let me tell you something. The last mayor, Mayor John Biggs, and the Labour administration built record number of homes for this borough. (group clapping) They built so many homes, right, that this mayor, since they're dribbling its tongue, taking credit for some of those homes that were in plan and in the pipeline. (group clapping) This administration, guess what? Built zero, nothing since 2022. In fact, he's given away public land to developers for joint ventures, housing options staff.
• Councilor Islam, so please allow Councilor Islam to properly make her points. Please do not disrupt here. Once again, I would like to bring this to your attention. I'm trying to accommodate you, but please help us. Thank you.
• Because my colleagues across that chamber are so delusional, I want to get one fact right. This mayor, and I heard it right, suspended the policy, didn't cancel the policy. You can change that tonight. You can get up and say, this policy is canceled. You haven't done that yet. And a few more records of this as by administration, housing options is in a mess. Staff morale is at absolute low. Our hardworking frontline staff are not being valued. Record number of unlawfully placed residents in bread and breakfast. Record number of applications still waiting to be processed. Aspire in source town homeless homes without placing measures in place for residents to get the services they deserve, to have the repairs done on time. This is the truth and you know it. On top of everything else, they attempted to move homeless families further away to improve their own record. It's not going to work because we're not stupid. Our residents aren't stupid. Public will show you that in 2026 and it took one Councillor Kabir to resign for this suspension. But I'll tell you what, I think it was a wrong Kabir. It should have been you that resigned. (applause) You absolutely funded this policy and you defended it and you shouldn't be ashamed of yourself. So be honest with yourself and realize that things aren't right here and if you're going to change, you need to have a reality change.
• Thank you. With that I think we have concluded the debate on the... (crowd chattering) (crowd chattering)
• Mr. Speaker, I'm being insulted in public and told to resign.
• I was going to come to that point. I was going to come to that point. Councillor Islam, of course I did not appreciate that you mentioned that there was a wrong Kabir, that this Kabir should have been replaced. I mean, these kind of suggestions, it's not helpful. So please refrain yourself from--
• Mr. Speaker--
• You have already made your point.
• Mr. Speaker, if you remember correctly, if you remember correctly, the mayor in this chamber asked Labour Councillors to resign after the Gaza war. So I have every right to ask him to resign when he fronted a disastrous policy that affects my residents. (applause)
• I appreciate it, but just because something has happened previously, you don't have to take advantage of a bad example. You don't have to take advantage of a bad example, yeah. So I will appreciate that if you don't mention it.
• Mr. Speaker, may I have an opportunity to at least defend my store, Mr. Speaker?
• I have come to the conclusion of the debate. I'm coming to you. I've come to the conclusion of the debate. But since your name was mentioned and I did not appreciate it, I'm giving you the benefit of doubt. One minute for you.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll be very, very short, Mr. Speaker. So if we want facts, we can have facts. We can talk about facts about cease fires and people not resigning on the other side. We can talk about winter fuel payments and people not resigning on the other side. We can talk about Bangladesh is being insulted by their leader, who is now the prime minister, and people not resigning on the other side.
• I will appreciate if you don't, please. I will appreciate from the members at the gallery, please do not respond to the Councillors are saying. So please, keep yourself composed.
• But Mr. Speaker, I'm not gonna dwell on that. I'll be professional about it. All the testimonies we hear are frank and true and really hurt every resident who has experienced this. However, this is under the current policy, the policy that was implemented by the previous Labour administration. So sending people to slough is within the 90 minutes current policy. So sending people, so acquiring properties in Greenwich, Lewisham, Bromley all over, including the home counties are under the Labour policy, Mr. Speaker. So somehow making it that these policies came into effect, Mr. Speaker.
• Seven seconds.
• Oh, these policies came into effect under Mayalluthur Rahman, that's not the case. That's the same policy these people have been advocating for. Now, Mr. Speaker, they talk about C and D in the motion. C is within their policy. That's the policy they implemented.
• Right, thank you. Finally, we are now. If I carry on, I mean, allowing you to reply to each of that this is, you made your point everybody hard that I'm not going to allow you to respond to that anymore because this is gonna go on and on and then this is going to disrupt my timing as well, but I appreciate Councillor Islam. You may have the right to respond. So we're not going to now vote on the amendments in favour, sorry, amendments proposed by Councillor, Councillor Kabir Ahmed, those in favour? All those against? (people chattering) I'm against. (people cheering)
• And abstention, any abstentions?
• Any abstention?
• One.
• One.
• So the amendment falls.
• So the amendment falls. (people applauding) I'm going to now vote on the original motion put forward by Councillor Islam. Those in favour? (people applauding) Those against? (people chattering)
• Any abstentions?
• You abstain, yeah, any abstentions? Two abstentions.
• Okay, so I make that.
• Yeah, go on.
• Five votes.
• One. (people chattering)
• I'm gonna vote for the original motion. (people applauding) (people cheering)
• Thank you, thank you. Simply moving on to item number nine is the report from executive, and the council, please.
• Mr. Speaker?
• Allow me to speak.
• I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Speaker.
• The original motion is carried, yeah.
• No, no, no, I know, sorry, I'm just, so we would like to propose a change in the order of business under rule 12.1.C, and I think we have to explain exceptional circumstances. Is that right, then, yeah? So basically, we would like to move motion 12.1 on the ethnic pay gap up the agenda, and the reason we think this is exceptional circumstances is because this motion has been on the agenda for an incredibly long time. It's probably about a year now, and it still hasn't been heard. It's a cross-party motion. We think that's a real positive. We don't always get positives in these meetings. And also, the main reason is that it's, we're in Black History Month, and we think this is gonna be a really prescient time to have this finally heard in the chamber. So I really hope colleagues will support. (
• Right, Councillor Lee, having heard your arguments, I'm happy to advance the motion, which has been there for a while, but right after the report from, yeah, Standards report, right after that, we'll bring it forward. Is this okay? And that has been accepted by Aspire, as well, so that was a friendly agreement, so I don't have to go into conflict. Yes? We'll let John do this, then he can do a vote. He'll just want me to do a vote on it. Shall we? Yeah, but he'll go to the other side, and he'll talk to this. Okay, okay. So item nine is the report from the Executive and the Council's committees. There are three reports from the Executive or Committees for the Council's consideration at this meeting. And these were published in the Agenda Act. Agenda item 9.1 is the report of the Standards Advisory Committee, and will report on the Standards Advisory Committee, 2023, 2024 pages. You can find that on 55 onwards up until 68, so I would like to now invite John Pulford to introduce the report. And you have three minutes. Thank you.
• Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to deliver the Committee's annual report on the state of standards in Southampton. We are a committee in which members work in a collegiate way. We now have a full complement of five co-opted members. There's been good in-person attendance at our meetings with full involvement of elected members, which means we have high quality and productive discussions. In the last Council year, there are only three complaints to be investigated out of 11 received. This is good, but we continue to be concerned at the length of time it takes to investigate and resolve some complaints. We therefore need your help. As I said last year, members must reply immediately to Officer requests for information. It is a breach of the Cone of Combat if you fail to do so. The Committee therefore, if I encourage the Monitoring Officer to publish the names of the members who are in breach, voters should be told. On a happier note, we continue to be pleased with members reporting of gifts and hospitality and updating the Register of Interest. This is an important marker of transparency. No doubt the quarterly reminders from Democratic Services are helpful in reminding you. As mentioned as an intention last year, ethics and probity training has now been extended to co-opted members of all committees. Getting co-opted members together outside their committees has had other benefits. It's important that all co-opted members understand how the Council works and how they can and must comply with the Code of Combat. I'm also pleased on another development report that as Chairman, together with the Vice Chairman, we've established a programme of quarterly meetings with the Chief Exec and the Monitoring Officer. This fits well with the guidance on standards that the LGA intend to publish. We've been consulted on and contributed to this guidance. Our own practice of having an independent committee with equal numbers of co-opted and elected members is likely to be highlighted as best practice. The committee will continue to stress the importance of standards in public life to the reputation of the Council and we will again pursue and fulfil our terms of reference. I look forward to any questions or comments you may have. And finally, thank you to Officers for supporting us. (council members speak quietly)
• Thank you. Do any members have questions for John Poolford? I have a list and apart from this list, if anybody wishes to ask a question to him, please raise your hands. Councillor Mayim Talukdar. You don't? Your name is here. Councillor Shafi Ahmad. You don't? (mumbles) Councillor Abdallah.
• Thank you Mr. Speaker. It's always a delight to see John and-
• If I may, Councillor Ould, is he okay?
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's always a delight to see John here who brings sense of calm and a sense of order. I have spent some time in the standard committee for good behaviour, but I was let out. (audience laughs) I must declare these glasses I brought by myself, my jacket is myself, they're nothing to declare. No, on a serious note, those people, and I know a lot of people from what we are watching this evening, the conduct of this council and sometimes the un-conductable behaviour. But I think there is a sense to be proud about the fact that this is a well-run council where the standard committee does uphold the best conduct and monitors and it takes all complaints, be it from public or from within the council seriously. And so for that, I want to congratulate and commend the work of the standard committee, John, and especially the lay members. I mean, those of us who are elected, we are there, but for those lay members who give up their evenings, family times and other commitment to sit on this committee to oversee the working of the council. So for that, I want to ask the council to show a sense of support and a show of gratitude and a clap, please. (audience applauds)
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
• So this was not a question, isn't it? (audience laughs) All right, thank you. Yes, question or general comments, if you would like to make, Councillor Shirazi, listen up.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can I just first of all thank John Pulswood for the amazing work he does on the standard advisory committee. He's an excellent chair and he does his work diligently, professionally, and he takes care of all the details within the report. So thank you, John, for your work you do. Unlike Councillor Ulanobu, he's well-behaved, but I learn when I sit in standard board, one thing I've learned this year is when a councilor is off duty, apparently when you don't win your lanny yet, you can get away with things, I didn't know that. That's something I've learned. But can I perhaps ask our mayor? I know he's really busy, his diary is probably really, really, really packed, but would be really good if the mayor could maybe make some space to meet Mr. Pulswood on a regular basis to get an update on the work of the standard board. I think I'm sure Mr. Pulswood would appreciate that. Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor Kabir Ahmed. Thank you. Always a pleasure speaking to John. I was fortunate enough to bump into him just outside the council chamber the other day, so we had a few issues. I got a confirmation email which has got the ball rolling, so that's fantastic. But my question to you, John, is standards plays a pivotal role in terms of the council's reputation. What more can we do as a council in order to strengthen that even further? Thank you. It's a good question, but it deserves some proper thought. And we've, in fact, been spending time in the committee. And one of the considerations is about getting the web page for what are the Nolan principles. But there are, no doubt, other things. And I'm hoping that when the LGA publish their guidance, there'll be things out of that that we can piggyback on. But I think the higher the profile, the better. So when the mayor, not if, because he said we will meet, when the mayor and I managed to meet, there's no reason why more publicity through the council's own channels shouldn't be given to this. Because good work is being done. And the fact that, I'm not sure whether I'm on difficult ground here, but the inspector from the best value team who looked at our work, and had gone back and looked through films, the recordings of our work, was very complimentary. So I hope, if that report is published, that it's still in there. Because then we can make something of it.
• Thank you. I think we do not have any other comments from any members. So can I now please invite a member to propose the recommendation, to note the report. And then I would also invite another member to second that recommendation. Anyone? Yeah, Councilor Abdullah.
• Speaker, I-- - The report--
• Happily propose, I'm sure there's somebody from the other side of the segment.
• Yeah, of course, from a spy, yeah. Councilor Abdullah.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to support and propose the report.
• Councilor Kapi-Ramaz.
• Yes.
• Second. Oh, Councilor (speaking in a foreign language) to second the motion. Second the recommendation. (man speaking quietly) Now, does full council agree to the recommendations to review and note the Standards Advisory Committee Annual Report for 2023 and 2024? So report is noted. I'm going to now, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to now, Councilor Amy Lee has proposed to bring forward the motion 12.1 to now. (clears throat) In the agenda, and then for this, as a procedure, we need to vote on that. So those in favor of bringing forward. (man speaking quietly) Okay, so for that. (man speaking quietly) Councilor Asma Islam, do you want to second that?
• Yeah. - Yeah.
• Councilor Kapi-Ramaz and Asma Islam both seconded it, and that's why--
• No, no, no, no, no.
• Right, so it's a cross party, so those in favor that the item should be brought forward.
• Yes. - Can you please?
• One out, yeah.
• All those against? No abstention, so this is going to be brought forward. Now, a cross party motion, ethnic pay gap has been submitted by Councilor Abdu Muhammad. Now it is our opportunity to hear from him. Well, can you please move your motion? You have four minutes. (audience applauding)
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as it's my first time speaking, I wanna begin by thanking you, my colleagues, and other members across the council and officers for their warm welcome. And to the people of Bow East, thank you for placing your trust in me and the Labour Party. I intend to be worthy of that trust. Now to the motion. I'm thrilled with opposing a motion on the ethnicity pay gap. I'm especially pleased that this motion is a cross party one. And it being during Black History Month, the second day of Black History Month, I think means a lot to many residents. I'm really proud to be the new councilor here and the black man that's been elected in this council after all these years. (audience applauding) So to everybody, happy Black History Month. While I firmly believe black history is British history and we should celebrate every day, I'll gladly take a month as a bonus. As you all know, research across civil society, including GNV, has shown that there is an ethnicity pay gap between workers of color and non-workers of color who are otherwise equal in educational attainment. I won't go on on stats and stories. Many of us have lived experience and I know how we think. You can read more in the body of this motion. We all know this issue. This proportionally affects local authorities like Tower Hamlets, a place we all love because of its diversity and vibrant multicultural communities. Members, our message should be clear. There is no glass ceiling because of the color of someone's skin. Pay, promotion and bonuses within this council and across Tower Hamlets must be based on ability and fairness. Let's pass this motion and speak as one voice on this. With the cost of living crisis hitting Tower Hamlets' household hardest, the loss of earnings faced by workers of color will push them even further into poverty. We know that reporting on ethnicity pay gap is a vital first step to addressing these disparities. We've seen how reporting on gender pay gap has brought light to its inequality into the workplace to the forefront. The success of the gender pay gap legislation is a move we should celebrate. There is no reason we shouldn't do the same for race. I'm particularly proud that the new labor government will be enshrined in the ethnicity pay gap for porting into law. But wouldn't it be great if we as a council went even further and did it on a voluntary basis? Adding our voice to many organizations across the country, including unions like GMB and many others, as well as businesses, small, medium, large businesses and councils up and down the country. I will close by saying this, our diversity in Tower Hamlets is our strength. Let's work together on a cross-party basis to ensure that a council and our bar is the best place to work for everyone. Thank you. (audience applauding)
• Councillor Kabir Ahmad to second the motion.
• I reserve my right to speak later.
• Thank you. Councillor Mayim Talugdeh.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Really good time, wasn't it? Joint motion, I really support this motion. And I think as a council, we have responsibility towards our workers, officers and especially the pay gap issue, we know it's a huge issue. And as a council, as an administration, I think we're doing a lot. And we have a very important paperwork to reflect the community. I think that would play a vital part in that. So, Mr. Speaker, I support this. And I think it's not, the responsibility is not just on us. I think we, as a council, the opposition, everyone needs to work together. And I think we've started, this is a starting point, a joint motion, and I would like to thank the councillor for bringing this to us. Thank you.
• Thank you, Councillor Amina Ali, for a short speech.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Abdi, for bringing this motion. It's long overdue, and I'm glad that we're able to debate it this evening on Black History Month. And it's a really important issue, and it's one of the reasons many of us got into politics, to address inequality in our communities. And the pay gap is, the ethnic pay gap is a really big inequality. And even before the term was called, it's something that many of our parents experienced too. And there wasn't a word for it, and they had no way of airing that. And I'm hoping that this generation now can make sure that we can set that straight. And in particular, I'm interested in women, Mr. Speaker. Black and ethnic minority women suffer even more. And even though women have done quite well with the gender pay gap, black and ethnic minority women still suffer even more compared to white women. And that's really important as well. And I think that we have a duty as a council to make sure that not only our employers and people in our council are treated fairly, and the ethnic pay gap is addressed, but that we are a leader in some of the other industries, for example, the banks in Canary Wharf and other industries within our borough, that we show them that we are a borough that make sure that everybody from all different ethnic minorities receive the same pay gap, and we push for that as well. And I think it's really important that we support this motion. And I'm glad it's a cross-party motion. And I just don't want it to be one of those motions that ends up somewhere on a shelf that nobody ever remembers. This is something we really have to take seriously and push forward. I'm hoping that the Women's Commission can take this up, looking at women and ethnic minority pay gap. Thank you. (audience applauding)
• Thank you very much, Councillor Saeed Ahmad and then Councillor Outhala Chaudhry. Both of you are very articulate speakers, and then I'm sure you will be able to help me. You understand what I meant, yeah.
• Thank you, this cross-party motion is actually very, very important, especially in Tala Havilah, given that we have such a diverse range of community, and which brings together this rich tapestry of our borough. Through, like Deputy Mayor mentioned, through schemes such as the workforce to reflect the community, and the heavy investment that we have in our youth services and in education, this will help bridge that gap. It will help rapidly close the gap for minority residents, for BME residents, to come join the workforce and make sure that they have the same opportunities as everyone. So ethnic and religious backgrounds should not be a barrier to progression going forward, hopefully. Thank you. (audience applauds)
• Brilliant, thank you. Councillor Mayesha Begum.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a member of GMB, I strive to ensure that black, Asian, and minority voices are heard, not just within the local domain, but in wider global society, fighting for humanity and equality, ceasing to fight for the visibility of voiceless actors in the face of injustice and suffering would be a failure of this council. When I look across this chamber, there is a shared experience in our troubles that brings us together across different eras, generations before us, from the Battle of Cable Street to the Windrush generation, to the generation to come fighting for equality, multiculturalism, and diversity. As a GMB activist, it is my duty to raise awareness about the vital report and research carried out by GMB race, the union's self-organized group in London. Surveys were sent out across, and the report, as my colleague has stated, no stats, but I will be fact-checking, so for only three percent of employers with over 250 employees are voluntarily reporting their ethnicity pay gap, and this is just not good enough. As a BAME woman myself, I believe our BAME members deserve to know that they will have equal opportunities, and wouldn't they may agree, the future BAME generation deserves to have a fighting chance to feel seen, to feel supported, and advocated for. Reporting on the ethnicity pay gap is an essential first step to addressing pay disparity. Gender pay gap reporting, as my colleague has said, has brought the question of inequality in the workplace at the forefront. So it begs the question, do BAME workers feel that they have an equal opportunity in advancement? The reasons as highlighted by my colleague, Minister Muhammad who's brought this motion forward, management bias, lack of training opportunities, targeted towards non-BAME counterparts, lack of encouragement, denied training requests, the list goes on. So our message is clear. Agree to annually reporting on the ethnicity pay gap within its own organization, transparency in the recruitment and salary and promotion process. The ongoing promise of accountability and transparency is now an opportunity for the council to show itself and say, actually we can do exactly that. The mayor can prove his accountability and transparency towards their constituents as a whole. 14 years of Tory crisis, and yes, it is inherited crisis because the index came out of pre-labor going into government. So working class households attempting to make ends meet, fueling work poverty, sorry, further fueling work poverty. A borough that takes pride in our multiculturalism and diversity, and I'm gonna be quoting the mayor himself, Tower Hamlets welcomes minorities. It's time words are galvanized with actions. Thank you. (audience applauding)
• Chancellor Abut Dallha Chaudhry, for your short speech.
• Thank you, Speaker, I'll keep it brief. All of us know that Tower Hamlets is a very diverse borough, and for us to serve our residents, we need a diverse workforce. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, and other members here, that when we came into power, one of the first things that the mayor asked the officers to look at is a workforce to reflect the strategy, kind of sort of piece of work and workstream. And that work is ongoing. I think I'm right in saying this, but in terms of senior level representation, when it comes to benchmarking against other London authorities, we are either number one or number two. And that's something that we want to continue working as one form or one way of supporting reducing this ethnicity pay gap. I support this motion. For the purpose of keeping it brief and concise, I'll conclude my comments here. But people that know me personally, know there's a lot of ED&I work that I do. There's a lot of ideas that I feed into the team that are working here to strategize. And it's something I'll wholeheartedly support moving forward.
• For the sake of completeness, I would like to ask Councillor Abdi Muhammad, do you wish to exercise your right to reply? Please say no. Oh, fantastic. Thank you. (muffled speaking) Oh, you, you reserved your right. Yes. When you seconded it. Councillor Kabiramud, yes.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
• Please be kind with me, yeah.
• I'm gonna be very kind.
• I'm so sorry. Let me just finish, yeah. Let me just, so sorry. I have to finish three items, 9.2, 9.3, and proportionality. So please keep this in your mind when you discuss, but hopefully we will get through. Thank you.
• I'll be relatively brief. So keeping up standards as we've got John here as well. Okay, right. So cross-party motion. Very supportive of it. But I think it's important to see words alone and policies on paper doesn't cut the mustard. We've had a workforce that reflects the community policy and paper for about 20 years. What we've tried to do as an administration is be assertive with that. So if you look at CLT, the range of diversity that's in there, including socioeconomic status, including backgrounds of people where they come from, including gender, it's changed, it's more diverse. If you look at DLT level, just an example of it is for the first time ever in the history of this council, we've got a Somali director in a senior position. We've got directors who are of Bangladeshi heritage, we've got acting up opportunities for directors who are of Bangladeshi heritage. We've got directors who are of Indian heritage. There is a wide diversity that this administration has implemented within this council. And those opportunities will grow even more going forward. And it's good to have unity. I mean, even in this council, we've got a diverse range of people who have been elected. But we also carry many different hats and many different titles. And it's important we don't forget that. So with that, support the motion, let's move to a vote.
• Thank you. Full council will now vote on the motion submitted by Councillor Abdul Muhammad. Can those in favor please show? All those against? Any abstention? So the motion is unanimously, unanimously carried. (audience applauding) Swiftly, swiftly moving on to agenda item 9.2 is the report of the overview and the scrutiny committee scrutiny annual report, 2023, 24. You will find it pages 69 onwards up until 92. Can counselor Jahed Chaudhry to introduce the report? You have three minutes, but as former speaker, please be kind with me. How am I doing Mr. Speaker? How am I doing so far?
• You're doing fine.
• All right, thank you. That's reassuring, but please be brief.
• Thank you, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good evening everyone. I'm Councillor Jahed Chaudhry chair of overview and scrutiny committee. I'm pleased to present the OSC annual report for 2023 and 24. After I finish, if you want to ask any question, I have to ask you first, my colleague, Councillor Mrs. Zargartner. You'll either on or last, or last year, so I'm just leading you. (audience laughing) Tonight, we'll take a look at the impactful work that scrutiny has undertaken this past year, highlighting the activities of the OSC and the three subcommittees together. We have tackled key issues that affect our work, ensuring that residents concerned are at the heart of the whole world. Key achievement in 2023 and 2024. Strengthening the oversight. Throughout the year, the OSC maintained oversight of the council budget and strategic performance, offering recommendation for the budget and the medium term financial strategy. We focused on scrutinizing key worldwide issues, including how we can better support our street, market and traders, to ensure the council is delivering services that reflect the needs of our community. struggling to tackle issues. In addition to budget oversight, we had several spotlight on topics that mattered most to residents. From the insourcing of leisure service and the mayor community grants program. We are addressing violence against women and girls and improving parking management. We have aimed to shed light on issues that directly impact the daily life of our residents. We also engaged with the mayor and community member to ensure that work remains aligned with the priorities of our borough. Subcommittees, children and education scrutiny subcommittee played a crucial role in scrutinizing our educational policy. Focusing on key initiative like universal preschool means and supporting children with special needs, educational needs. The committee carried out five-side visit to local secondary school, helping us gain a deeper understanding of the challenges our school face. Additionally, children and education scrutiny committee led the scrutiny challenge session, focusing on child health work, ensuring we are tackling these important issues head on. Health and/or discontinuity work was critical to scrutinizing healthcare access, particularly for disabled residents and those with long-term health conditions. The focus on hospital waiting times, community-diagnosed services, and inclusively in sports and fitness initiative made sure that we are addressing healthcare disparities. Healthcare and/or discontinuity also engaged with residents through commission service like a disability people network and the other older people reference group to ensure their voice or heart. Housing and generation scrutiny subcommittee evaluated the performance of housing providers and the progress of key housing goals such as building new homes and addressing fire safety. With the ever-evolving landscape of housing legislation, the committee work was instrumental in ensuring that housing service remained compliant with new regulation and that residents are being met. This scrutiny ensured our housing service continue to improve and evolve, looking for a strong year ahead. As we move into this year, I look forward to working with the old members in my role as chair in the decision that we continue building on the strong foundations we have laid to ensure the Council of Abbeville scrutiny process remains robust. Scrutiny is a vital part of our governance and our work will continue to challenge, suffer the mayor cabinet and council offices. Building on the success of last year have laid a solid foundation for further progress in 2024 and '25. Together, we'll ensure that the council continues-- Just one, one second. The council continues delivering the best possible services for our residents and I'm confident that our effort will continue to support positive change and improvement across the world. Thank you, thank you.
• Councillor-- (audience applauds) Councillor Kabir Ahmed, to second the report.
• I formally second. Thank you for being kind. Does any member wishes to speak? I've got a list, but probably I wouldn't be able to accept all the requests. Councillor Abdul-Mannan.
• Thank you, chair. Finally got a chance to speak. Chair, Jayat Choudhury, you've been doing wonderful job as our nurse. I'd like to ask a question. How are you finding chairing our nurse compared to you are chairing the full council? Can you share something? Just give us some sharing on this. Thank you.
• Councillor Mannan, the question.
• That's the question. He was either chair of the RNAs, he was the chair of the council. So what's the difference between that and that? Would it be nice?
• Can you answer this in one word?
• I'll answer this in one word.
• I thought if you'd ask the question to Councillor. But Councillor Abdul-Mannan as long as you are there, you will be good. I will enjoy it, thank you. (laughing)
• Thank you. I don't have anyone. Councillor Mark Francis, yes.
• Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to Councillor Jayat Choudhury for presenting last year's report. And thank you to Councillor Mushtaq Ahmed who was chair of the committee and led the committee's work and to all of those backbench members that were on it. So when we had this same discussion a year ago, I said that I thought scrutiny, despite the best efforts of some of the members that were on it, wasn't being effective enough at holding the council to account for the services that were being delivered to our residents, nor in terms of challenging the policies that were being introduced, and particularly budget and budgetary decisions made as well. And I think there was a degree of unhappiness on the administration benches when I said that. But that's the reality. And the reality in the 12 months that have happened since then is that we have had a local government association peer review take place in this authority that identified that while there were many good things about scrutiny, also identified that there were many things that were not working. That has then been followed by a decision by the government to institute a best value inspection. The report, which has been made already and is with ministers, and I'm sure will be acted on in relatively short amount of time. And one of the things I would ask members of these benches to think about is if they would have done what we suggested last year, which was to loosen up, to start asking genuinely probing questions, and to take the experience of their residents and maybe even their own experience and start using that to balance off what's being told to them by officers, and by the lead members, and by the mayor himself, that maybe neither of those two things would have happened. I think that, I'm kind of gutted. I've come off of illness now, and finally, like, it seems that it's beginning to bear a little bit of fruit. So I was involved in the calling, and maybe that is my destiny to be sitting on that side of the fence presenting call-ins rather than being on the committee. But I would much rather be on a committee or any subcommittee, and all of my colleagues would as well, if we all go into those committees, those discussions, with an open mind, prepared to look at the evidence that's in front of us from our own officers, but also to open up the committees so that residents themselves can give testimony of their own lived experience of our council services directly to the committee, and then we can make judgments on what's to happen going forward. I appreciate the way that Councillor Mushtaq Ahmed chaired the committee during my time. He was very generous with me. Probably too generous, but at least he's got his reward at the end of the day. I think the really key thing that I want to say, though, at this point in time, if you think the way that the mayor has been forced belatedly to make a screeching U-turn on homelessness, that should have been at the Housing Scrutiny Subcommittee, and if that would have come to that committee, we would have had a better decision in the first place rather than officers being allowed to send letters to homeless, thousands of homeless families from our borough saying that they're going to be moved even further out. We would have stopped that in its tracks, and I would encourage you on the Esquire benches to think about opening up the way that we do Scrutiny next year. Thank you.
• Thank you. Does full council agree to the recommendations to note and comment on the OSC annual report? The report is agreed. Simply moving on to agenda item number 99.3 is the report of the cabinet, time banded collections, West services pages 92 to 142. Can Councillor Shafi Ahmad introduce the report?
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good evening. On the 11th of September, 2024, many things happened, including the cabinet meeting, where we consider the report of the corporate director communities proposing to introduce time banding collections of waste and recycling of selected high streets town centres and main commercial areas within the borough. Following discussion, the mayor and cabinet agreed to forward the report to council recommending that the changes be approved. The council is therefore recommended to approve the introduction of Tower Hamlets waste regulations 2024 under the section 20 and 22 of the Local Authorities Act 2007. These are household regulations, appendix A, and commercial waste regulations 2024, appendix B of the report. Number two, approve the introduction of time bands for the collection of domestic and commercial waste on selected high streets, town centres, and main commercial areas within the borough. The list of streets are listed in appendix C of the report and proposed time band are detailed in the household and commercial waste regulations 2024. Number three, set fixed penalty notice, FPN. Amounts of enforcement of noncompliance with time bands by residents by issuance of an FPN under the section 46A of the Environment Protection Act amend did by the section 58 of the Deregulation Act 2015. Proposed full amount of 80 pound to be payable within 28 days within a discounted rate of 50 pound we paid within 14 days of issue. And number four, delegate powers to the corporate director of communities or equivalent to make any amendments to the Tower Hamlets waste regulations 2024 in consultation with the mayor, including the authority to revoke, expand and adjust the timing of the time bands and streets to which the regulations apply. Any amendments, revocation, et cetera will be in line with any requirements in section 20 and 22 of the local communities, the local authorities act. And this is the report I have before you. So council I recommend you to vote on this or approve this.
• Thank you.
• Right, we have nearly come to the end of the town located to there and to cover the proportionality report we would need a vote on that to extend the time for another 10 minutes. But if Councillor Ahmad, if you want to second the report and then go into the vote to extend the item, Councillor Kabir Ahmad to second the report.
• For me to second it.
• Thank you.
• I have Councillor yes, Councillorpacker.
• Thank you, so two questions maybe one for the monetary office. I just want to know why this is a key policy decision for the full council and not a decision for cabinet to take. On the second question, perhaps the lead member which is on page 106 paragraph 3.40 where he said under legislation there's no requirement to consult before introduction of time bands but however, legislation state the council must advertise the changes in at least two local newspapers and provide a website location to the lead member. Tell us if he's aware of which two local newspaper this was advertised, 'cause I'm sure he'll agree that not a lot of people read newspapers these days and whether in his capacity he has discussed with officers to do a slightly different way of promoting and publicizing these changes to residential local businesses.
• Right, before the monetary office that jumps in to answer your questions, I think this is the time for me to put it to the vote to extend the time of today's meeting for shall we say 15 minutes? (mumbling) To complete the two reports, of course it's not gonna take that long, yeah. Just for the sake of, shall we share for 10 minutes? 10 minutes, so those in favor of extending the today's meeting, can you please, oh yeah. So it's been seconded by Councilor Chaudhuri and Councilor Mayim Talukbar as well, okay. So those in favor of extending the time of today's meeting for 10 minutes? Anyone against? Councilor Chaudhuri, I appreciate your right to be against, abstention? So the time is extended, monitoring officer, please jump in to answer the question, yeah.
• Yes, if you have a look at the legal comments it actually covers the point in that it's a local choice function and that's why it's covered. Page 110 if you just want to check on it. So it's the second page of the legal comments.
• Thank you, I have a list, Councilor Abut Al-Chaudhuri, do you want to, you don't, Councilor? (mumbling) Oh you have, yes, there was a question from Councilor Shira Al-Lislam to the lead member, Councilor Shafi' Ahmad. Do you remember the question? Right, is this a question? (mumbling)
• Newspapers, sorry, thank you. I have to come back to you on that, I'll come back on the question, thank you.
• Right, okay. Thank you, Councilor Amin Rahman is not speaking, Councilor Kabir Ahmad, you're not speaking? Anyone from this side of the chamber, no? Fantastic, Councilor Ahmed, very briefly I hope.
• Yeah, thank you, Shafi, for bringing this important report, the proposed time bended collections impose an additional burden on residents who may already be struggling to manage their daily lives. How can the council justify penalizing those who inadvertently fail to comply with strict time bans? Consultation, I don't think you have carried out any kinds of consultation on this topic. It is very important, important matter, because people, already a lot of people, particularly the small businesses in this bar are suffering, residents will be suffering more if you just start giving people penalty without any kinds of consultation or without making error of the community. So what are you going to do with this, with this, Shafi, if you can just let me know. (muffled speaking)
• So what I understand is this is the first of the proposals that we'll go through. Once it's approved here then the legislations will look at the legal service and then they will come up. I think there will be, before the fixed penalty there's a warning which will be given to the residents and then if it's not implemented then there will be a fixed penalty notice. But there will be a written notification going prior to the fixed penalty being issued. Thank you, I don't believe anyone else would like to speak. So with that, does full council agree to the recommendations agreed by the cabinet at its meeting of 11 September 2024, including in relation to the waste collections regulation and delegations that were set out in the report? Agreed? Thank you, so the report is agreed. Finally I would like to hand over to the Head of the Democratic Services, Matthew Manion to introduce the report on the proportionality allocation of places on the committee for 2024/25.
• Thank you, Mr. Speaker, it's obviously unusual for an officer to introduce the report but there've been a couple of changes today so I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about it. So thank you for giving me the opportunity. As members are aware, there've been a couple of changes to group sizes today. As explained on the copies, which should have gone round to everyone and there's also some spares at the top if anyone else would like them. Because I've been able to consult with groups on a couple of things, I just wanted to highlight a couple of things the groups may wish to change now or they can leave and worry about it another day. But if you look on the back page, the big table, Aspire and Labour have a couple of things that they could change if they wanted to from what I've got here. So if we start with Aspire, there are four committees there with seven members in. You have four seats on one of those and three seats on the other. I put the four seats on Human Resources, you can switch that around should you wish, that's up to you. And then for Labour, the maths for whether you're six members or five members on licensing or three members on all of the seven member committees or two on one of them, it's basically equal. So it's kind of up to you. Do you want to have six on licensing and then two on, for example, pensions or one of the other seven member? Or do you want to stay with the five on licensing and have three on each of the seven member committees? And that one's up to you.
• Matthew, can I request that we take it away and come back to you? I don't want to make a decision here yet.
• We have to agree something tonight, but we can look at it again next week.
• So principally we can work on what you've given us, but we'll come back for change, is that okay?
• So we might have to have another decision,
• Yeah and we can have a cross-party conversation about how that works as well.
• And then just to say on ungrouped members, there are more seats available, and obviously we haven't been able to discuss that with any of the ungrouped members, so we will do that. If there's only one member who wishes a place on a particular committee, then the monitoring officer can agree that. If there's any competition, we'll have a vote at the next meeting. And then just at the bottom to note that for subcommittees of scrutiny and other places like that, we'll have to look at those proportionalities as we get to them as well as we go. So hopefully that's okay, and if there is a proposal and seconder, then we can move to a vote, or if there's anyone that wishes to make a comment,
• Can we have a proposer? Is that you? A seconder, for that report? You have a seconder for the report, and the report is it noted or?
• It has to be agreed, but not much you can do.
• It's fully agreed, yes? Thank you, the time limit for the meeting has now been reached. Any motions will not be taken. Let me finish it, please. For the sake of completeness, for the beauty of this meeting, let me finish. We will now be putting remaining deposed to the vote, no contributions will be accepted. No further business, so thank you for your contributions, and I formally close the meeting. Please note, please, please. Where is my-- Hammer, okay. Please note the members must wait for the maze to be removed before they leave the meeting. Thank you for your time, and thank you for your contributions. (audience applauding) (people chattering) (people chattering) (audience applauding) [BLANK_AUDIO]