This meeting will review the progress the council has made during the past financial year on a range of policies, schemes and budgets, and set out its plans for delivery of the council's strategic priorities in the year ahead. It includes approvals for the 0-5 Public Health Nursing service, a significant procurement of community health services, and also for a report on how to improve parking enforcement across council owned estates. The council's progress on implementing recommendations arising from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report will also be considered.

Improving how the council looks after money

The report pack includes a financial review of the third quarter of the financial year 2024/25. The report says the council's finances are significantly impacted by a range of national issues, in particular cost pressures in homelessness, adult social care, and special educational needs and disabilities. It estimates that the General Fund ¹ will overspend by £15.4m for the financial year.

The council understands that the majority of pressures of concern are all national issues, with considerable amplification across our peer group in London. However, that does not dilute or detract from our recognition of the need to for careful identification of mitigating actions...

Budget Monitoring 2024-25 Quarter 3 Forecast Outturn Final

The report pack also says that £32.6m of the £37.4m savings planned for the year will either be delivered in full or will slip but be achieved. £2.5m will be achieved but are slipping, and £2.3m have been identified as undeliverable or unachievable.

The report pack also includes an update on how much money was actually spent on the council's capital programme ² in the third quarter of the year. It estimates that the General Fund capital programme will underspend by £8.2m, a position that is likely to be impacted by several projects, including the Whitechapel Road Tensile Structure, procurement of Underground Refuse Service Vehicles, and provision of day services at the former Cherry Trees School. The Housing Revenue Account capital programme ³ is estimated to underspend by £13.3m, with the most significant projects impacting the budget being the acquisitions programme and the approved rolling programme stock investment programme.

The report pack also includes a request for approval for a £600k re-allocation of funds to support winter fuel payments.

Parking enforcement on council estates

The report pack includes a request for approval to bring parking enforcement services on council estates in-house on 1 May 2025. The report says that at present, enforcement is undertaken by NSL, a private contractor, and that the current contract will expire on 30 April 2025. The report says there are concerns about the performance of the existing contractor and that residents are dissatisfied with how the service is being delivered.

There are significant concerns about the performance of the current contractor, which is best understood through the experiences of residents (rather than number of PCNs issued, which is not a targeted measure and is affected dually by compliance as well as activity of enforcement officers).

Bringing estates parking enforcement services in-house

The report pack says that at present, different parts of the council are responsible for managing different aspects of parking across the borough. Parking Services are responsible for parking enforcement on the public highway, whilst the Housing Service Centre are responsible for enforcement on estates. The report says this means the council is not able to use its resources as effectively as it could and that customers are confused by who they should contact about parking on estates.

The report pack says that bringing all of the enforcement activities in-house would enable the council to join up the services, and improve how the services are managed.

The report pack says that Parking Services would provide all of the parking services that are provided by the existing contractor on council estates, including a 7-day enforcement service, covering all estates between the hours of 8am and 8pm, and 72 hours of targeted night-time patrol enforcement each year.

The report pack says the council is planning to implement Traffic Management Orders on all estates by March 2025, which will enable the council to use parking charges to finance the service. It also suggests that bringing services in-house would provide an initial saving of £78k on the cost of a new contract and that once TMOs have been rolled out across all estates, the council would expect income to increase by £125k per annum.

The report pack also contains a request to approve a Service Level Agreement between Parking Services and the Housing Revenue Account for the removal and storage of nuisance and abandoned vehicles from estates, and for the provision of permit processing services.

Improving the council's waste services

The report pack contains a review of the third quarter of delivery on the Mayor's Waste Improvement Programme (MWIP). The report says the programme was started in response to the Mayor's declaration of a waste emergency in November 2022 and that the Mayor has provided £5m to improve the borough's waste services during 2024/25. The report pack says that the investment is being used to fund a range of activities including:

• Street and park cleansing improvements
• Introduction of time-banded waste collections
• Review of commercial waste services
• Review of the council's waste systems
• Recycling improvement initiatives
• Communication and community engagement on waste

The report says that in the third quarter of 2024/25 the number of waste collections missed by the service reduced by 30% compared to the previous quarter, and by 20.7% compared to the same period in the previous year. However, the report says that the council's recycling rate is currently 17.2%, considerably below the 23% target. The report says contamination ⁴ of recycling bins remains a persistent challenge and that whilst there are some positive signs of improvement, the service is still suffering from high levels of contamination. The report pack sets out what the council is planning to do to improve the recycling rate, including:

• Continuing with its programme of improving recycling infrastructure in blocks of flats across the borough by providing additional or replacement recycling bins.
• Encouraging more residents to use the council's food waste collection service by sending information leaflets to over 7,000 properties.
• Working with schools and religious institutions to encourage more recycling, providing additional recycling bins to schools where needed, and working with the East London Mosque to promote recycling during sermons.
• Developing and delivering a communication and engagement campaign in partnership with ReLondon ⁵ and Groundwork London ⁶, focussing on schools and mosques in 4 geographical areas of the borough that are considered to have the highest potential for change.
• Trialling the provision of single use recycling bags to residents in flats above shops.
• Recruiting 8 additional staff to promote recycling on estates.

The report pack also includes a separate report that details the progress being made on the council's Reduction and Recycling Plan 2023-2025, and its plans for increasing recycling rates.

0-5 Public Health Nursing services

The report pack includes a request for approval to procure a new contract for the council's 0-5 Public Health Nursing services. The report says the services, which include health visiting and the Family Nurse Partnership scheme, support all families with young children in the borough, and play a critical role in improving child development, school readiness, identifying physical health conditions and disabilities early, improving child nutrition, increasing physical activity and play, reducing stress and loneliness, increasing health literacy and identifying maternal mental health issues.

The report pack says that the current contract, provided by Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC, will expire on 31 March 2026, and a new contract is needed. It says that in 2023-24, the service completed 3,889 new birth visits, an average of more than 10 per day.

The report pack says the proposed new contract will be for 3 years, with potential for 3 x 1 year extensions, and would be worth £10m per annum. The report says the contract value is similar to that of other London Boroughs with similar levels of need. It argues that a longer contract period would provide more stability for staff, and would also give time to allow a new provider to implement and embed improvements to services.

The service evaluation surfaced important aspects of the delivery model which require significant transformation work. Whilst broadly positive and meeting family needs, the service model needs to improve the way in which it both engages with our more marginalised communities and delivers flexible and adaptable support which is culturally safe.

0-5 Public Health Nursing Services procurement

The report pack says the new contract will also include provision to ensure the service is able to provide NHS Agenda for Change pay uplifts to staff.

Annual delivery plan

The report pack includes a request to approve the council's Annual Delivery Plan 2025/26. The report says that the plan sets out how the council intends to deliver its eight strategic priorities during the final year of its Strategic Plan 2022-26. The plan includes details of the activities each service area in the council will undertake and includes a refreshed set of performance measures and targets.

The report pack highlights a number of activities which are scheduled to be delivered during 2025-26. Examples include:

• Completing the delivery of a programme to provide up to 1,000 new parking spaces.
• Developing and publishing a new Housing Strategy covering the period 2025 to 2030.
• Expanding the council's free swim programme for women over 16.
• Improving how the council supports residents who experience anti-social behaviour.
• Implementing a plan to reduce crime on the Isle of Dogs and Brick Lane by working with the police to provide new safety hubs in those locations.
• Developing and publishing a new climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy.
• Completing the installation of electric vehicle charging points across the borough.
• Holding ‘Mayoral surgeries’ and ‘Ask the Mayor' events to enable residents to talk to the Mayor, Lutfur Rahman.
• Completing a review of the council by the Local Government Association.

School performance

The report pack includes a review of school performance during the 2023-24 academic year. It says that Tower Hamlets schools continue to perform well, with outcomes often higher than the national and London averages, but that there are concerns about attainment at key stage 5.

The report highlights that:

• The average Attainment 8 score ⁷ at Key Stage 2 in 2024 was 71%, 10 percentage points higher than the national average of 61%, and in line with the London average of 69%. 65% of disadvantaged pupils in Tower Hamlets achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, 19 percentage points higher than the national average.
• The average Attainment 8 score at Key Stage 4 was 48.3 points, 2.2 points above the national average. The average Progress 8 score ⁸ was 0.13 points, again indicating that pupils in Tower Hamlets are making more progress between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 than pupils nationally. Disadvantaged pupils achieve an average Attainment 8 score of 46.4, compared with a score of 34.7 for similar pupils nationally.
• At Key Stage 5, the average point score per A level entry was 30.17, lower than the average scores for England and the council's statistical neighbours, with the report saying that performance at A-Level continues to be a focus for improvement.

Performance at the end of key stage 5 is an area of focus and improvement, particularly how we support schools and colleges to increase attainment at A-level at the higher grades, while supporting all pupils to make informed decisions on the right further education route for them.

Annual Report on School Performance for 2023-2024

The report pack says the council is working to improve outcomes at Key Stage 5, by providing a range of support and challenge to schools and colleges, including developing a new post-16 improvement plan.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry

The report pack includes a draft of a position statement on the recommendations arising from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, which the report pack asks the Mayor and Cabinet to endorse. The report says that the statement has been prepared in partnership with the London Fire Brigade, the Tower Hamlets Housing Forum, and other local stakeholders. The statement sets out how the council and its partners will work to implement the recommendations from the Inquiry.

This tragedy was a failure of the system meant to protect residents. We must make sure the lessons from Grenfell lead to real change. Housing safety is a basic right, and we all have a responsibility to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

Appendix. 1 for Endorsement of the council and its partners position statement following the publica

The report pack also includes details of an action plan to deliver the commitments made in the position statement. It sets out what actions each service area in the council will be taking, and details the current status of the actions.

Strategic delivery and performance

The report pack includes a report that reviews the council's performance during the third quarter of 2024/25, across the 56 operational performance measures and targets that it uses to monitor how well it is delivering its Strategic Plan.

The report says that 29 of the 56 measures are on track (graded green), 7 are off track but with mitigating actions in place (graded amber) and 4 are off track with insufficient mitigating actions (graded red).

The report pack details the reasons why each of the measures graded red are off track, what actions are being taken, and when the council expects them to be back on track. For example:

• The report pack says the proportion of Education Health and Care (EHC) plans completed within 20 weeks remains too low, with just 34% completed on time. The report says there continues to be a large increase in the demand for assessments for EHC plans, and that the council is working to address the backlog. It highlights that a new service model and additional staff were introduced in the third quarter of the year, and that the SEND Improvement Board is closely monitoring actions to ensure swift recovery.
• The report pack says that the household recycling rate is currently 17.2%, compared to a target of 23%. The report says that the rate has increased by 0.6 percentage points compared to the same period in the previous year but that the council's waste service continues to suffer from high levels of contamination. It details what the council is doing to reduce contamination, including working to improve recycling infrastructure on estates, delivering information leaflets to encourage residents to use the council's food waste service, and working with community groups and schools.
• The report pack says that resident satisfaction with the council's housing management services has dropped, with just 57.4% of residents satisfied. The report says that residents continue to be dissatisfied with how repairs are being delivered, particularly around how long it takes the council to complete repairs and the council's communication during the repairs process. It says that the council is calling 75 residents who expressed dissatisfaction with the service to discuss their issues. It expects that actions being taken to improve the service will lead to increased resident satisfaction over the next year.

DWP Connect to Work programme

The report pack includes a report that provides details of the government's Connect to Work programme, which is intended to help disabled people and people with health conditions find employment. The report says that the programme will start in April 2025 and that the council will be receiving funding to help deliver the programme in the borough.

The report says that Tower Hamlets is expected to support 500 people per year through the programme during its peak delivery years and that the council will be working with Central London Forward ⁹ to deliver the programme. It argues that the council is well placed to deliver the programme because it has already been successfully delivering two pilot projects that are similar to the Connect to Work programme.

It is proposed to build on these two pilots in LBTH and deliver the Connect to Work programme in-house.

Updated Document - DWP Connect to Work Grant 2025-2030

Record of Corporate Director's Actions

The report pack contains a list of decisions made by Corporate Directors under their delegated powers, which are included for noting. It details five decisions, with a total value of £821,174, all of which were to waive the requirements for a competitive tender process. One of these decisions was for £177,897 for the continued use of 4Leisure Recruitment Ltd to provide temporary staff to the council's leisure services. The report pack says the decision was made because the council did not have time to procure the services through a competitive tender process, and needed to ensure the continuation of services following the council's decision to bring its leisure services in-house.

Another decision listed in the report pack was to approve a direct contract award worth £171,753 to Parkguard to provide fire marshals at Odette Duval House. The report says that the decision was made after an external wall survey found issues with insulated panels, which created a risk of fire spreading rapidly across the building. This made it necessary to employ a fire marshall service immediately. The report says that the decision to waive the normal procurement procedures was made after discussions with the council's legal team.

As a matter of public law approval cannot be granted in retrospect. However, the contractor has provided and is providing the services and the Council has received an appreciable benefit and therefore the Contractor is entitled to remuneration for their services... Therefore it is open to the Corporate Director to determine that this RCDA is in the Council’s best interests.

RCDA Appendix 1

The report says that because Parkguard was already providing the services, the Corporate Director was able to make a decision in retrospect, and that a failure to do so would have created a financial risk for the council.

The decision to waive the procurement procedures for the other three decisions listed in the report pack were made because there was only one supplier available, or because it was considered to be in the council's best interests to do so. For example, a decision was made to waive procedures to allow the council to appoint Risk Flag Ltd to provide software to support the council in creating building safety cases. The report pack says the decision was made after a review of other providers in the market and that the software is considered to be the best product available.