Subscribe to updates

You'll receive weekly summaries about Barking and Dagenham Council every week.

If you have any requests or comments please let us know at community@opencouncil.network. We can also provide custom updates on particular topics across councils.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Wednesday, 2 July 2025 7:00 pm

July 2, 2025 View on council website  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting
AI Generated

Summary

The Barking and Dagenham Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss updates from the Metropolitan Police and Ofsted, as well as to note the Committee's work programme. The Committee scrutinised the work of the Metropolitan Police in the borough since the last update in February 2025, and provided feedback on the latest version of the children's care and support self evaluation 2024/25.

Metropolitan Police Update

Superintendent Biju Premnath, Head of Neighbourhood Policing, Barking & Dagenham, East Area BCU, Metropolitan Police Service, provided an update on the work of the Metropolitan Police.

Neighbourhood teams across the borough are at 85% strength, with 64 out of 74 police officer posts and 24 out of 30 PCSO posts filled. Officers are abstracted from their ward duties for around four days per month.

Superintendent Biju Premnath reported that Barking and Dagenham was the east London borough with the second lowest crime count for January to April 2025. He highlighted several achievements, including convictions in the Whalebone Lane shooting case, arrests in connection with a stabbing on Longbridge Road, and the ongoing trial related to a bomb hoax at Al Medina Mosque.

The police have been using live facial recognition deployments in Barking Town Centre and Dagenham Heathway, resulting in 5-10 arrests on each occasion.

A funded team made 117 arrests between 1 January and 13 June 2025, for offences including robbery, burglary, theft, sexual offences, and assaults. The team also conducted 311 stop and searches, with 90 resulting in a positive outcome, and seized 55 vehicles.

Superintendent Biju Premnath noted that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) faces a significant funding shortfall for 2025/2026. The priority is to protect frontline services, including ward and town centre teams, but other units and services are at risk, such as reductions to dog units, the mounted branch, roads and transport policing, and forensic services.

Ofsted Update

Councillor Jane Jones, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care & Disabilities, and Elaine Allegretti, Strategic Director for Children's and Adults, presented an update on Ofsted's annual engagement meeting and a focused visit regarding children in need, child protection, and pre-proceedings.

The annual engagement meeting (AEM) with Ofsted took place on 30 April 2025, where the 2024/25 children's care and support self-evaluation and progress on improving the quality and impact of social work practice and progress against the improvement plan was discussed in detail.

A focused visit took place on 26 and 27 March 2025, with the final report published on 29 April 2025. Ofsted reported that leaders have sustained and, in some areas, strengthened practice since the last inspection in July 2023. Threshold decision making for children in need and child protection were reported to be mostly well applied, resulting in children receiving the right support at the right time. Social workers were found to be managing risk appropriately.

Ofsted noted that social workers know their children well and that children are visited regularly, and those visits are well recorded. Overall, child in need and child protection plans were better and clear to follow. Disabled children on child protection plans were found to be supported well by skilled and sensitive social workers.

However, the quality of stepping down children from child in needs plans and no longer in need of statutory services was not as effective, because social workers are having to sort out partner agency lead professional roles, which is taking too much time and therefore causing unnecessary delay for children.

Ofsted identified four areas for improvement:

  • The timeliness of pre-proceedings pathways.
  • The effectiveness of direct work and the more consistent use of tools to inform decision-making when children's circumstances change or when insufficient progress is being made.
  • The focus on safety planning and contingency planning to inform timely and decisive action when risks for children are not reducing quickly enough.
  • The effectiveness of supervision to inform and support decision-making for children.

Ofsted acknowledged that Barking and Dagenham has significant population growth and mobility with a high demand for services, and that children benefit from a well-regarded, permanent and stable leadership team. However, Ofsted reported that progress remains finely balanced within the context of challenging partnership priorities and a complex safeguarding landscape.

Work Programme 2025-26

The Committee noted the work programme for 2025-26.

It was suggested that the Committee look into the arrangements around the Council's Expenditure Control Panel for essential and business critical spend.

It was also suggested that the Committee receive a quarterly report on the budget to align with Cabinet reports. Councillor Andrew Achilleos, Chair, Overview & Scrutiny Committee, stated that reports would be requested where it was felt that the Committee could add value, rather than simply for information.

Attendees

Profile image for Cllr Andrew Achilleos
Cllr Andrew Achilleos  Chair, Overview & Scrutiny Committee •  Labour Party •  Whalebone
Profile image for Cllr Paul Robinson
Cllr Paul Robinson  Deputy Chair, Overview & Scrutiny Committee •  Labour Party •  Goresbrook
Profile image for Cllr Manzoor Hussain
Cllr Manzoor Hussain  Chair, Pensions Committee •  Labour Party •  Abbey
Profile image for Cllr Val Masson
Cllr Val Masson  Labour Party •  Northbury
Profile image for Cllr Regina Rahman
Cllr Regina Rahman  Chair, Personnel Board and Labour Group Secretary •  Labour Party •  Abbey
Profile image for Cllr Ingrid Robinson
Cllr Ingrid Robinson  Labour Party •  Heath
Profile image for Cllr Muhammad Saleem
Cllr Muhammad Saleem  Chair, Planning Committee •  Labour Party •  Becontree
Profile image for Cllr Muazzam Sandhu
Cllr Muazzam Sandhu  Deputy Chair, Personnel Board •  Labour Party •  Beam
Profile image for Cllr Phil Waker
Cllr Phil Waker  Labour Party •  Village
Profile image for Cllr Mukhtar Yusuf
Cllr Mukhtar Yusuf  Labour Party •  Whalebone
Sarfraz Akram
Sajjad Ali
Glenda Spencer
Leanna McPherson
Sal Asghar
Lois Taylor
Shabana Kausar
Profile image for Cllr Syed Ghani
Cllr Syed Ghani  Cabinet Member for Enforcement & Community Safety •  Labour Party •  Valence
Profile image for Cllr Jane Jones
Cllr Jane Jones  Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care & Disabilities •  Labour Party •  Valence
Chris Bush
April Bald

Topics

No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.

× Meeting image