Transcript

Good evening and welcome to this meeting of the cabinet. My name is councillor Simon Hogg, leader of the council. As usual, before we start, are there any declarations of interest or apologies? So I think we've got apologies from councillors stock and gasa. So welcome to April's cabinet meeting. I'll begin with the leaders update. Thanks everyone for coming this Monday evening and thanks to everyone who's watching online. Since we last met at the start of March, we've had a successful few weeks. Our council tax freeze has been officially adopted and bills have been sent out and as expected, this has proved hugely popular with residents who continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country. Alongside that council tax freeze, we continue to deliver brilliant services, investing in our residents and improving their experience of the council. We're now officially London's borough of culture. Congratulations, Councillor Akinola. This is set to be a very exciting year. The first event, Strictly Wandsworth is taking place on the 26th of April in Battersea Park. And I think all 3,000 tickets were sold out in less than 20 minutes. So congratulations. This is going to be a very popular event. At the end of March, at the end of March, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan opened our new family hub in Tooting. I was there on the day. It was a really positive event. Sadiq was a bundle of energy and it was wonderful to have Tooting MP Dr. Rosena Allen Khan there as well, talking about all the good we're doing in her community too. On that day, I was proud to announce the extension of our pioneering baby box scheme, which will now apply to all access for all eligible residents. Wandsworth should be the best place to start a family and we're providing families with the tools they need to connect with and to look after their child during those crucial first few months. A few weeks ago, we had a community drop-in at Swafield School. These events are a great way for me, for council officers, cabinet members to get out and listen to the public, give them a chance to speak to us in person. They were keen to talk to us about the improvements to Burnwood Lane and the progress on our seven rings, seven days pledges. So let's turn to that. As part of being an open, transparent and listening council, we've committed to reporting the figures regularly on our pledges. So I'm now going to go through the last month of our figures to update you on how these are going. And just to remind you, the seven days, seven rings guarantee. So seven rings, if you call us, a member of staff will pick up in seven rings and seven days. If you report graffiti or a broken street sign or a dangerous pothole, we will fix it within seven days. So if we take a look at the slide on the screen, we have consistently achieved 100% on graffiti removed every single week. And I think it's really notable if you travel through other boroughs, Wandsworth just has less graffiti and let's keep it that way. On dangerous potholes, we've once again reached 100% in all applicable weeks. Those without a figure are where we've had no dangerous potholes reported. And broken street signs have also seen 100% most weeks. And the dip in week four is being looked into to make sure that the service always has appropriate capacity. I'm told where it wasn't completed in seven days, it was completed in nine days. And although it isn't far off the target, you know, we set that target for a reason. So we have asked the relevant director to take a look at what resources need to be put in place to keep this at consistently 100%. So moving to the next slide, we have the progress of our pledge to pick up all phone calls to our central number within seven rings. So we've seen some great progress, but there is still some way to go until we get where we want to be. I think we're now steady on 87% of calls. You know, recognizing this isn't enough, the customer services team has already been reorganized to improve their capacity. And that has led to an increase in the number of calls being answered within that time. And it's worth saying that just one year ago, the number of calls being answered within seven rings was below 50%. So we're already driving frontline progress. And while this is positive, we are, of course, still looking at what needs to be done to get us closer to 100%. And on our pledge to give two free bulky waste collections a year to all households, I'm pleased to say more than 5,000 collections have been booked in a couple of months since we launched that scheme. As you can see from the graph, this is increasing in popularity. And it's also popular with residents. We sent out a survey to thousands of residents, and the average rating was 4.8 out of five. So you can actually see it's getting good feedback as well. And the take-up I was talking about, you can see before the service was made free, 40 or 50 people a day were using it. But then once it becomes free, we quickly see it coming up to around 130 bulky waste collections a day. So fantastically helpful if you've got a mattress or a bookcase in your house, and it's helping us to drive down fly-tipping. And hopefully these pledges show that we're listening to the priorities of our residents and being transparent and accountable about our performance. So that's my overview. We'll now move on to the second item, which is Cabinet updates. Just a reminder, there are no formal papers on the agenda for tonight. So this evening, we're going to run through key updates from each Cabinet member, what's been taking place in your portfolios, and how you're continuing to deliver on residents' priorities. Tonight is the first meeting in the Cabinet, following the initial phase of our democracy review, which will improve and modernise the way the Council's run. The next Council meeting will take place on Monday, the 12th of May. The agendas and reports will be published the week before, and residents, as always, on the live stream will be able to see us take those decisions on their behalf. So, Councillor Yates, I wonder, could you start by updating the Cabinet on what's been happening in transport since our last meeting? Yes, good evening, everyone. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. So, as usual, with transport, we're very busy with our ambitious programme on road and pavement renewals and town centre improvements and lots of work on active travel. I'm very pleased that we've now started and got shovels in the ground on Queenstown Road. Now, this is the section of Queenstown Road between Queen's Circus and Chelsea Bridge, which is an incredibly important cycling route in the borough. Cyclists converge from east, west and south at the big Queen's Circus roundabout, and then they go on north over the bridge, commuting into London. It's a big commuting cyclist route, and then they make that journey back in the evening. So, it has a very high volume of cyclists, and there are cycle lanes, but they are substandard. So, most cyclists cycle. They don't cycle on the cycle lane on the park side. They cycle in the road, and, of course, it's a heavily trafficked road. So, we really need to make this road safer, particularly for cyclists, but, obviously, for all road users. Now, this scheme, as with all transport schemes, takes some time to develop. The designs have to be done. The consultations with residents carried out. Detailed design work done. Often, you need to move utilities, the pipes and the wires underneath the surface. It's part of the strategic road network, so we have to reach agreement with Transport for London on the changes to the road. But I'm really pleased. It has now got started. So, it includes wider and extended cycle lanes along the whole length of the road in both directions, with clear segregation from vehicles and pedestrians. You've got protected right turns for cyclists into and out of Battersea Park at Carriage Drive North with controlled traffic lights. That's really important because that is where collisions tend to happen, is at junctions and turnings. We've got the removal of traffic lights at the junction with Sopwith Way, replacing that with a push-button crossing. We're resurfacing all the footways and the carriageway for a smoother road, a better quality road. And we're putting in additional street trees to enhance the look and feel of the street and boost biodiversity. That, in particular, is being done in response to the resident consultation, when residents said they really wanted more street trees and greenery. And we're going to have more cycle parking to encourage more people to cycle and give them somewhere to, you know, store their bikes safely. So, that's Queenstown Road update. Really pleased about that. Many residents will be aware of the changes that we made to improve the junction by Putney Bridge at the bottom of Putney High Street to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. But, you know, obviously a very busy, congested area there, particularly with the ongoing closure of Hammersmith Bridge. So, it's really important that the traffic lights, it's a very complicated junction with basically two sets of lights, that they do work as well as possible, which is called, in the transport jargon, optimizing the lights. So, the most possible cars and buses and other vehicles flow through the lights as quickly as possible. The sensors are now all under the road and the algorithms are gathering data and TfL, we're in very close touch with Transport for London on this and we would expect the lights to be optimized later this month in early May. We continue to do everything we can to reduce congestion on Putney High Street. We are working very closely on that with Transport for London, with utility companies, so that their works are, if they're not essential works, that they are not done during the working week. Obviously, sometimes essential works have to be done, so working very closely with the utility companies and Transport for London on that particular stretch of road, because we know that residents get frustrated about how busy and congested it will be. And, of course, you know, that's one of our key river crossings in the borough. Thank you. Thanks very much, Councillor Yates, for that excellent update. Are there any comments or questions? Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Yates. I am just wondering if you could tell us how you can get a bike hanger on your road, because quite a few of my residents would like one and they don't know how. Yes, thank you, Councillor Akinola. So, currently, we're putting in an additional 120 bike hangers, part of our ambitious bike hanger programme, which is currently the most ambitious programme in London. To get a space in a hanger or get a hanger put on the street, residents just need to go on our website, or, of course, they can phone and their call will be answered in seven rings. So, and then, you know, their request for a bike hanger on their street will be registered, and we keep the lists and we review the lists. In some parts of the borough where, you know, particularly where there's lots of houses in multiple occupation, where you've got lots of flats, then we do have waiting lists, and that's why we are working, in particular, in those areas where residents have requested additional hangers to put in more bike hangers. If there's already a bike hangers on your street, and you think there could be a space in it, but you're not sure, you just need to Google Wandsworth Council bike hangers, and you'll be able to check that. But, yes, we basically need to put in more bike hangers as we are doing, and, of course, when we go through each phase of bike hangers, like the 120 we're currently putting in, we do need to do a careful exercise first to look at where on the street is the best location, and we consult residents. Because sometimes they have, you know, because sometimes they have, you know, really valid reasons why it shouldn't go at one part of the street, and then we endeavour to accommodate resident views. We generally try and put them towards the end of the street, where often you don't, it's not right in front of someone's door, but we do, obviously, endeavour to put them in, because residents need and want to use them. It's also worth saying that we do also put in what are called the Sheffield bike stands, the hoop that you see all around the borough, just at the edge of the roads, in response to resident requests, and we're having a push on that at the moment. We've been putting out quite a lot of social media, encouraging residents to, again, go on our website or phone us if there's a street where they would like one of those Sheffield hoop bike stands, where they would find it convenient. Again, of course, we'll have to look, you know, is that the appropriate place, or do we need to put it somewhere nearby for a particular reason? But, like I say, we're keen to put more of those in, in response to resident demand as well. How often are those spaces reviewed, like if the space isn't being used? So, the cycle and the bike hangers on the streets are managed by cycle hoops, and they review that all the time, because obviously they, you know, they want to make sure that the bike hangers are being used. On our housing estates, they're managed by the housing estate managers, so, and we're putting in more bike hangers on our housing estates in addition to that 120 in this current phase. Then we'll be moving on to another phase in a few months' time of about another 100 hangers, which is all part of our walking and sighting strategy. Thanks very much, Councillor Yates. If it's all right, moving on to you, Councillor Henderson, can you please give us an update on health? Thank you, Councillor Hogg. Starting with adult social care, the main activity of offices, and indeed a central focus for myself, is the Care Quality Commission assessment, which we are currently in the middle of. For members of the public, who are the most forgiven for not being aware of, the Care Quality Commission is appointed to review all social care systems, adult social care systems, across England and Wales. So, this is a routine assessment. It's the first one that's actually been done in England since 2008. The Conservative government stopped the process in 2012 to save money for austerity purposes. So, these assessments have resumed, and they have been taking place across the whole country, and certainly in London. The process actually started into December, I think probably two and a half weeks or so before Christmas, when the CQC announced that they wanted to assess Wandsworth. This did involve a very considerable amount of work on the part of officers over the Christmas and New Year period. A considerable amount of documentation had to be sent. The CQC sent a list. To be fair, they sent it to all local authorities. They sent a list of various information that they want, including a list of stakeholders, a request to see 50 case studies. They also wanted to receive certain documents associated with how the council actually works. So, this actually involved a very considerable amount of work over the Christmas and New Year period. The second stage of the assessment, following our submission of the documents at the end of the first week in January, the CQC asked us to give them a presentation last week, which we duly did on Tuesday. And that covered our structure and covered information about the borough. It covered not only the functions of adult social care, but also how we promote health and health and well-being and social care across the entire council. I gave a presentation specifically on those areas. Officers obviously commented upon very specific aspects of the very extensive work that adult social care actually covers. Needless to say, we didn't get too much of feedback, but it suddenly appeared that the presentation was well received. The third stage of the assessment is when the CQC assessors come back to what's in-person to interview a number of people, senior people. They have already started speaking to a whole range of stakeholders. But the main purpose of the visit over three days, immediately after the bank holiday in May, is to speak primarily to senior officers, etc. And apparently I've been selected as the first person I want to speak to on Tuesday, the 7th of May at 10 o'clock. So, I mean, we are actually looking forward to this. Although this has involved an enormous amount of work, it has, I think, enabled us to have another look, another focus at what we do and how we do it. And whilst I'm very confident about the outcome, clearly there's always room for improvement. No one is at all perfect. We know there are areas where we have improved considerably over the past three years, such as co-production and co-determination, which was virtually non-existent before we took control three years ago. So, there are a number of areas where things are work in progress. But nonetheless, we look forward to welcoming the CQC assessment team when they come to us in May. In the area of community safety, I was very pleased on Friday to attend the launch of the Roehampton Police Touchdown Space opening. And this is yet another example of excellent cooperation between the Metropolitan Police locally, ourselves as the council, and also Fleur Anderson MP. The purpose of the Touchdown Space is to enable local ward officers to go somewhere, to make phone calls, to pick up urgent emails, to make telephone calls, et cetera. In other words, to enable them to spend considerably more time in the locality, in the neighbourhood, than they would otherwise. Currently, dedicated ward officers in wards have to travel to and from their bases, which, given the traffic problems, can sometimes mean journeys of 45 minutes to an hour in either direction. That obviously significantly reduces the amount of time that dedicated ward officers can actually spend in the area. So this is a significant step forward. It is something that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mark Rowley, is very keen to develop. The reality is that councils have a considerable number of premises where these things can actually be set up. We have really set up a very successful touchdowns base in Tooting, and we are certainly looking to expand there. It is, I think I should say, another example of our continued investments in the Orton Estate and in Roehampton. We are aware that antisocial behaviour, in particular, and crime are concerns of residents in Roehampton, and the principal concerns of residents are also our principal concerns. So we have been taking, as I have mentioned in previous executive meetings, a whole range of activities around community safety, which have significantly improved not only statistics, but the reality of what's happening on the ground. For example, in the last 12 months, knife crime was reduced by 16%, which is very much against the trend if one analyses other local authorities in London. So it was great to meet senior police officers for Anderson attending the event, and we look forward to that being a model, which we can hopefully roll out in other parts of the borough. There's a lot of other things going on besides. Last meeting, I mentioned our new CCTV strategy, the first of its kind in Wandsworth, which may be surprising given the fact that we have almost 1,300 cameras, but we will actually be sending out guidance to councillors in order for them to respond to residents' requests for CCTV. I have to say there are strict legal requirements in terms of the use of CCTV, and it's vitally important that any deployment of any CCTV camera actually meets those requirements. But providing they do, and it's certainly our intention to respond positively to requests for CCTV cameras, particularly deployable cameras, which can be used, for example, in any way of eye tipping or other antisocial behaviour. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Henderson. That's an excellent update. Are there any comments or questions on that? Councillor Dinkham. Yeah, you'll be aware of the case that we've kind of liaised on a little bit on the Doddinton estate, where residents have been dealing with some quite serious antisocial behaviour. And could I get a bit of an update on the council's actions and how we can try and use this as a case study for how we communicate between housing and the community safety team? Because I think residents are happy with some of the progress, but it's a really good case study for how we can, you know, try and marry up some of those departmental overlaps. Thank you, Councillor Dinkham, and I can actually thank you for your contribution to this, because as someone who is a councillor in Bedford City, I know you have very close connections with a number of residents there. And clearly, in the face of such serious problems associated with antisocial behaviour, drug taking and criminality, it is vitally important, first of all, to get the community on your side. And I'm pleased to say that we were given considerable intelligence, which enabled us as a council, and that is the Housing Department of Community Safety, to work closely with the Metropolitan Police in tackling this issue. And it is yet another example of the excellent partnership and working between ourselves and the Metropolitan Police. Most of the complaints are related to one particular block, and I'm very pleased to say that last week, as Wimbledon Magistrate School, we did obtain a block-wide closure order. This means that only residents with a legitimate reason to be in that particular block will be permitted, or the police will move them on. And clearly, if that continues, there can also be other penalties applied to them. But I should say that this is almost a culmination of a whole range of actions which have been taking place on the Doddington, including successful police raids on premises associated with crime and antisocial behaviour, leading in the arrest of a number of people. Police patrols, police patrols, police patrols have been stepped up and have been regular. It's also very important, as I said, it's important to keep residents on side and for them to know what we are actually trying to achieve and what we are doing to protect them. And so there has been regular communication with residents to keep them updated on the action taken. There are also a range of different agencies which are involved in this process, and so there have been multi-agency engagement events with residents. And we have also tried to improve the environment in the blocks by improving the cleaning of them, because our experience is that if people actually respect the area they live in, they're much more likely to respond positively in terms of how they behave. So, this is just on part of the problem. We know that, again, as with most things in life, there are challenges elsewhere. But this, I think, is a very good example of how we, working with the Housing Department, closely with the Housing Department, who have control over tenancies and therefore can exercise control and influence upon people engaged in antisocial behaviour. So, it's vitally important that housing and community safety work in tandem, I believe they have, and I think they are also working incredibly closely and effectively with local police as well. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Henderson. And if it's okay, next we'll come to you, Councillor Dekodem and Housing. Great. So, I'm going to cover a brief update on the Homes for Wandsworth and then talk a bit about the response to the regulator result and the special committee that we had. So, on the Homes for Wandsworth, we have some of our larger schemes coming forward to open to residents in early summer, and that's the Patmore site and Randall Close, which will be some of the larger units that are coming forward. And we're hoping that offers will be made through our local lettings plan to families on those estates who are overcrowded or in need in the coming weeks. We also are nearing planning on Tynum Close, which is also an embassy and notices have been served, and our engagement teams are active and on the ground on sites where planning application has been passed, particularly in Putney and the Ashburton. And I recently attended a really wonderful forum that had been set up by our new engagement officers who are working to make sure that estates have improvements done alongside any building work that's taking place, which I think is a really important part of the process because it gives people buy-in. On the social housing regulator, I think we had a really good special committee, which I think the way that these cabinet meetings are changing in relationship to the democracy review, it was a good test case of what committee might now become, rather than like a set of kind of preordained papers that are spoken on, but having a specific area to debate on that then can be fed to these meetings and can be added up. So I think it was very useful, and it was an adult discussion, and anyone, any resident who's concerned about the social housing regulator response, I think it's definitely worth watching because there's a lot of detail, there's officer responses, and there was a good kind of atmosphere of adult scrutiny from both opposition and from our side and our benches. On an update on the areas that were flagged by the regulator, so on EICs, which is electrical safety certificates, you'll be aware that we were in the kind of 60% area in tenanted flats, but quite low on communal areas. So that now, as of last week, we're up to 95% in communal areas, so we have managed to close the gap on that area that was flagged by the regulator. And we have, of the 1,800 fire safety measures, which I want to clarify, and again, I think it's really worth watching the committee that took place on the 8th of April, but those fire safety measures were what we would say is that they're labelled kind of non-serious ones, but they were outstanding, and so we've got through about 700 of those and are working through, and these are things like no smoking signs in corridors, making sure that signage is appropriate, and that is in the context of 38,000 serious fire safety measures that we had completed prior to the regulator. So one of the good things to come out of that committee was a kind of collective agreement that our homes are safe, but that we need to make sure that we're managing contracts better, so particularly on the EICs. And a further update was a discussion around how we're going to try and, I guess, shift some of our resident engagement strategies. So while we are committed to empowering and building residence associations, we're aware that some estates just don't have resident associations and struggle with setting them up, and the regulator rightly pointed out that it's important that estates that don't have residence associations also have access. So in tandem with what is happening in the Homes for Wandsworth programme, where we have an engagement team that is running kind of repair surgeries and a kind of hub model, we're thinking about rolling that out, whereby officers and estate managers might be in a certain area for a period of time, so a whole day, so an estate might get noticed that all day you know that your estate managers are going to be there, and you can drop in and discuss your issue, and your councillors can come for a certain part, and it moves away from that two-hour evening meeting, which we know some residents can't access. So, yeah, I think what has been useful coming out of the kind of inspection is that it gives us an opportunity to really kind of reshape some of those participation structures, and I think that is something that, you know, bears appetite for, and I'm kind of looking forward to moving forward with that. Lovely. Thanks so much. I don't know if there's any questions on that update. Okay. Sorry. I've got a question about private renting. I know this is a key priority for you personally. I met a private renter at the weekend, and they told me they'd been having trouble with their landlord, and we know how important it is that we crack down on rogue landlords. Please, could you give me an update on the progress with your licensing scheme? Yeah, so it's kind of exciting times. So landlord licensing is about to be rolled out in the first patch of Wandsworth. So that's the selective license, and that will be in the kind of tooting corner of the borough, which is where we found the evidence base for the Category 1 hazards. We had to only start with 20% because previously you had to go to the Secretary of State to ask if you wanted to go above that, but actually the new Labour government has changed the rules, so we might be able to roll out in other areas of the borough as well. But in that tooting area, it's July 1st is when the scheme will become live, and that will be the first time in Wandsworth that we have a selective licensing scheme, which will protect private renters, allow us to have a closer inspection regime. We're also rolling out an additional HMO license across the whole borough. So for those residents who I know struggle with HMOs where the landlord is absent and there's lots of people maybe crammed into a flat and it's hard for them to get in touch with their landlords, that additional license will also help us to make sure that those kind of landlords are regulated properly. We know historically that because Wandsworth had a very low regulatory framework that it took ages and ages in the court. And, you know, there was a case in your ward where the resident really was trying, and it was really frustrating because we didn't have the schemes in place to help that resident, and we had to go through this long process to get there. And so this has really been a sign to say that, you know, previously Wandsworth had kind of had a laissez-faire attitude, and now we're moving into a much more modern regime, which is akin to what most London boroughs have, and also I would say in step with the Renters' Rights Bill, which, you know, encourages this kind of licensing regime. Thank you. And I just want to say thank you and well done on pursuing that because I know how tough it was and you had some success in court a couple of weeks ago. So well done to you and Craig. Thank you. Lovely, thanks so much. And next, Councillor Akinola, would you like to give us an update on the voluntary sector business and culture? And I think we may have a video. It's a very good experience for all of the musicians to come together in different diversity. We see all the people in the audience. It's such a great experience and very exciting. It's something I've been waiting for and preparing for for a very long time. It helps tie one place together. Like, it's so, like, big and, like, amazing. I've made a lot of friends. Waterpacing and London Avenue. It's such a big theatre and it's so nice to have a performance from so many people. It's an amazing opportunity. Really exciting when you, like, first get onto the stage. Which borough won the London borough of culture? I'm really excited that Wandsworth a new London borough of culture. Five, four, three, two, one. Yeah, that was really good fun. And I just think we should all be really, really proud of all of our children and young people. The musicianship was outstanding. They were brilliant. Those kids were there playing Destiny's Child on the steel pans. But, like, that wasn't the half of it. The operas. They did a, what do you call it, West Side Story as well. That was, like, whole, first half of it was West Side Story. Whereas, we've never been prouder of our young people at the Royal Albert Hall. What an opportunity. And also what talent we have in our borough. We should just all be really proud. And, of course, confetti cannons. What's there not to love about confetti cannons? So, that was on the day, the official, it was the official opening of our borough of culture, which was on the 1st of April. There was a little pre-taster in Southfield with the art festival that they did there just at the end of March. And then moving forward, there is just so much going on. Homegrown Festival starts at Battersea Arts Centre next week in April. Personally, I'm looking forward to the Battersea Poltergeist show, which is going to be shown there. It's called Museum of Horrors, so check it out. The London Borough of Culture Champions also awarded their first grant to the South Asian Heritage Month awardees through participatory grant giving. So, in line with what you were saying, actually, Councilor Dickerton, it is part of us showing people that we are doing things differently and putting the money in the hands of our residents, because they do know best where it's meant to go, where it could go, and how it can benefit our residents. And they'll be awarding Black History Month 365 grants shortly. I hope to have an update for you all on the accessibility guide from Access Able, which will also provide information to all of our disabled or less-abled, D-deaf, neurodivergent people about the venues that they can access and how they can access them and where the quiet spaces are. I know that on the 26th of April, and we're all in Battersea Park dancing, doing the dance event, which Councillor Hogg already said has sold out, but sign up, you never know what might happen. There will be a quiet space in there for anyone who maybe feels a bit overwhelmed by all the noise, and that's being designed by a disabled artist as well. So that will be in Battersea Park, so everyone can enjoy it. And yesterday, we had the boat race in Putney, and all the flags from Urban Flow, which were designed in Putney Arts Centre and also in Pakistan, where they're welcoming people to come through. I got to fly some with our wonderful MP, Fleur Anderson, but they look beautiful as well, and I know they're going to be part of the Urban Flow Festival in Roehampton later on in the year. There's a lot going on, so I'm just going to update you each one of these meetings as we go along. So in the past month, we've also launched, well, supported GLL to launch the Literary Fund, with a lot of the writer alumni coming from my ward of Tooting, so very proud about that. I met with businesses at the Chamber of Commerce and really spoke to them about how they can be involved in London Borough of Culture, if not an officially part of it, but ways that their businesses can benefit from us having such a high-profile event in the borough. And hopefully some of the evidence we'll get from increased footfall at the boat race will encourage them to really put a lot of effort in to benefit from our Borough of Culture. In other things in business, we're gearing up to Connect to Work, which is supporting people long-term unemployed, disabled, and care leavers into supported work and also work trials to see if they're able to do it or for them to try new things. It has been a while since we met, so we actually launched the VCS hub and strategy, the five-year plan in this time. We met with the Migration Board to discuss their forward plan for the year, and I was told today we have found three experts with experience. These are people with lived experience of migration to join the board today, so I'll update you on that later on. And in my own ward, and I think this is something that we could probably bring into the family hub, which I attended with Councillor Hogg and others, I met with some Asian women who were talking about menopause and how that's not really spoken about, and that's a policy that we brought into the council here, but they've also said outside of the council, outside of formal situations, it would be great to have things like menopause cafes where people, women, can just come around and just talk about their experiences and to support them. Any questions? Wonderful. If there's no questions, Angela, do you mind finishing off the updates for today with finance? Thank you, Councillor Hogg. We've just sent out the council tax bills. Monsworth has the lowest council tax in the country. Keeping council tax low is the single biggest action we can take to help most of our residents financially. It's very important for us. And while other councils are cutting support to residents, we continue to offer one of the most generous council tax reduction schemes in London, and over 10,000 of our lowest income households are paying zero council tax. And we're very proud of that. We also have a continuing programme of investment in public infrastructure, correcting years of underinvestment in the borough, and that's worth £264 million. Over half of the funding for this programme is being met by developers through SIL and SETLE election, making developers pay, and it's happening. We have one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest levels of reserves in London. During the past financial year, the council repaid the debt inherited from the previous administration, and as of the 31st of March 2025, we have zero external debt. That's it. Thank you. Thanks so much, Councillor Ireland. Any comments or questions? Councillor Hogg, thank you. Yes. Councillor Ireland, I mean, I was chatting recently to a resident from the Wandsworth Order People's Forum who wondered if there was any continued financial assistance that we can provide for vulnerable older residents. Thank you. Oh, yes, definitely. We've just finished the results of a very successful attendance allowance campaign. Now, attendance allowance is additional income that offers over £5,500 a year for eligible pensioners people in receipt of state pension who need regular support with personal care. Now, we've used the low-income family tracker. We targeted and contacted residents who knew are eligible but who are not claiming this government benefit. And since then, these households have claimed payments worth more than £230 to be worth over £1.5 million over their lifetimes. Now, helping residents to maximise their household income, again, is a key priority of this administration, just to help residents cope with the cost of living crisis, moving from the crisis support to building resilience. Thank you very much, Councillor Ireland. Thanks, everyone. It's really useful for us to come together to meet up like this and keep the public informed about what the council's doing on their behalf. So, we will continue to deliver on the public's priorities and be as ambitious about it as possible. So, thank you for your work and for coming this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.