The General Purposes Committee met on Tuesday 17 June 2025, to elect a vice-chair, approve the minutes from the previous meeting, note the committee's terms of reference, and approve nominations for local authority governors at maintained schools in Tower Hamlets. Councillor Abdul Wahid was elected as Vice-Chair of the General Purposes Committee for the municipal year 2025/2026.

Local Authority Governor Appointments

The committee approved applications to nominate applicants to the available positions for local authority governors at maintained schools in Tower Hamlets. Farhad Ahmed, Head of Governance Information and Traded Services, told the committee that 50% of the appointments were from a global majority, and that 50% were local community governors who live in Tower Hamlets, with a further 30% working in the borough.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, thanked Farhad Ahmed for his hard work, saying:

I think I've sat on previous GP committees where questions were raised about sort of governors not representing, not being local. So it's positive to see that at least 50% of the governors here do leave locally. And you're saying 30% work. So, you know, where efforts have been made, now we're seeing the success and the fruits of the labor.

Farhad Ahmed also mentioned that the recruitment process had been tweaked to encourage schools to liaise with local community candidates.

General Purposes Committee Terms of Reference 2025/26

The committee agreed and noted the terms of reference, quorum, membership and meeting dates as set out in the appendices of the report. The report before the committee set out the dates of scheduled committee meetings for the year. Members requested that meetings take place either before or after Ramadan, and Justina Bridgeman, Democratic Services Officer, said that she would confirm arrangements with Farhad Ahmed, because nominations around that time may need to be agreed beforehand.

Other Business

• Councillor Ahmodul Kabir, Chair of General Purposes Committee, opened the meeting and noted apologies from Councillor Abu Talha Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, who was substituted by Councillor Kabir Ahmed.
• The minutes of the previous meeting held on 2 December 2024 were approved.
• The committee noted that a report on both the Constitution and the Election will be presented in due course.
• Councillor Shafi Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency, raised concerns that not all members had been invited to the meeting, and Councillor Abdul Wahid said that the meeting had not appeared in his diary until very late. Justina Bridgeman apologised on behalf of Democratic Services, saying that as far as she was aware, the invitations had been sent out.