Cabinet - Wednesday 7 January 2026, 5:30pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Cabinet
Wednesday, 7th January 2026 at 5:30pm 

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An agenda has not been published for this meeting.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for coming to our cabinet meeting and welcome and happy new year to each and
every one of you, although we do have a very sad announcement which we will do in due course.
The usual drill about fire lance and filming applies.
There are no public questions as far as I know.
Any apologies?
Nope.
Steve is going to make a statement.
I'll make a statement afterwards.
Any declarations of interest in one?
None.
Okay.
Announcements, Steve, then I'll come in.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
I wouldn't normally read from a script, but I'm going to tonight because of the nature
of what it is I'm about to reflect upon.
So there are three things that I'd like to refer to.
Firstly, it was with deep sadness that I must report the passing of Simon Baxter, Corporate
Director for Communities, on Sunday the 4th of January, 2026.
Simon was an incredible person, an outstanding colleague and a great friend to many of us.
He leaves a strong legacy of improving the social and physical fabric of London.
He dedicated an incredible 41 years to public service, working across the capital.
This included two periods at Tau Hamlets Council where he was head of Clean and Green in 2010
and then Director of Public Realm from 2015 to 2016.
Simon returned in May 2023 as Corporate Director for Communities.
His leadership, commitment and presence have always been a valued part of our organisation.
It has been an instrumental part of the Council's Corporate Management Team, leading the newly
formed Communities Directorate and overseeing the significant improvements across the waste
service, leisure, culture and community safety.
Most importantly, Simon was a trusted friend and supportive colleague and it has been a
privilege to work with him.
He championed the welfare of our staff, including those on the frontline, and was a passionate
advocate for equality and anti -racism.
A great many residents and staff at Tower Hamlets have experienced Simon's kindness,
support and humour which, like us all here today, has no doubt left a lasting impression.
It is for that reason that yesterday we set up two books of condolence, one here at the
Town Hall and one at the Blackwall Depot, which will be shared with Simon's family.
In Simon's memory, Mr Mayor, I would like to invite you all now to take part in a minute's
silence, if we could stand for the show.
Thank you.
On a further note, for the purpose of the minutes, cabinet should please note that with
temperatures reaching minus five in London, the Council has activated its severe weather
emergency protocol to help provide accommodation to rough sleepers and our staff have also
been out gritting the roads as we have been normal practise at this time of year.
The New Year's honours announcements that were made last week so far because we do not receive this information formally but it sort of comes in in drips and drabs.
We are aware that two New Year's honours for people who live and work in Tower Hamlets, the headteacher at the Ismani Primary School was given an MBE and teaching assistant at Cyril Jackson Primary School also received an MBE. Thank you.
Thanks Steve. Before I move on to the order of business, can I similarly express my gratitude and sadness to Simon and over Simon's death.
someone I have known personally for some 20 years or so, a very kind, warm -hearted person
and someone dedicated to this borough and was part of our journey like other colleagues
here and across the council in delivering the improvement, making sure the people of
or protected, looked after and served well.
And when I instead went to see him just before Christmas,
you know, we were very optimistic that he will be here with us soon.
But to know now that he sadly passed away is very sad for all of us.
So I wish his family all the best and may he rest in peace.
Thank you.
Can I now move on to the business for today, please?
If that's okay.
I too want to make, before I make a statement, let's do the business.
So we've got over on the scrutiny, please, is there anything you want to say?
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
So the chair of the overview and scrutiny committee is not in attendance tonight, but
he will address the mayor and cabinet once the committee has considered the budget and
and the MTFS report at the 12th of January, 2026.
Thank you.
I'm grateful to you.
So we've got one item today.
It's the budget report 26, 27, and our financial midterm
financial strategy 26 to 29.
Can I just make a statement in support
of that, lead member and Mr. Raza,
before we hand it over to you?
But I do want to say at the outset, I want to thank you and Steve and the team for the
fantastic work that you have done over the last one year to get us to this position.
While there are still a long way to go before the MTFS Financial – our Financial – Midterm
Financial Strategy Report is adopted at February's full council meeting, budget full council
meeting, I would like to say a few words on the journey that we as an authority have been
on since the administration has taken place, has taken office. This MTF first report is
the latest in a series of strategies that demonstrates the seriousness with which this
council now takes its financial responsibility. It is a demonstration of how fiscal prudency
and investment in our borough and its residents do not need to come at the expense of one another.
They can be jointly achieved through diligence, hard work and a commitment to finding efficiencies
while protecting the vital frontline services and staff integral to delivering for our residents.
We were scoffed at in our first year in office for front -loading, investment and turbocharging
service redesign and improvements through the use of reserves.
However, we were confident as an Administration and as a Council in the belief that for too
long vital investments that were once available to residents had either been scrapped or cut
to the bone and a new approach with a new offer was required.
We believed strongly that through meticulous and continuous reviewing of this Council's
finances alongside a strengthening of financial governance mechanisms that had been neglected
for nearly a decade.
We could replenish the reserves, revitalise our services,
and improve the lives and quality of life,
lives of our residents.
And this MTFS report once again demonstrates that we have
done that, and it is possible to do that.
We have removed all reliance on the use of reserves,
and have in fact increased the amount above the statutory
recommendations and in line with ZIFF's good governance guidelines.
And due to this new approach of twin -principal financial planning, fiscal prudency and investment
in frontline services, we are able to continue to, one, provide educational maintenance allowance
and university bursaries for our poorer students, give them a chance to pursue their academic
dreams regardless of the class or circumstances.
Two, provide free school uniform grant for 7 ,000 students
a year, meaning that families are not left behind,
are not left wondering at the end of the month
on how they will pay their bills and keep their children warm
and comfortable at school.
Three, provide free school meals for all children
in both primary and secondary schools,
guaranteeing them a healthy, nourishing lunch
that will keep them alert and attentive in their classes.
Four, provide free swimming sessions for all women
and girls aged 16 and over, and all men aged 55 and over.
We take health inequality very seriously
and want to ensure that hard to reach adults
have the ability and the opportunity to exercise and enhance their well -being.
Next, on top of this, our approach has enabled the building of a state -of -the -art £67 million
leisure centre at St George's in Shadwell, alongside 33 new 100 % social -rented family -sized
homes. We will continue to invest £13 .7 million in the housing sector, and we will continue
pound a year in our youth services, keeping open at least one youth centre in every ward,
providing bespoke, extracurricular support to young people across the borough.
We will continue to invest in London's most ambitious house building programme.
By May 2026, we have, we will deliver our targets of 4000 new homes and even more, with
with nearly 3 ,500 additional and predominantly social homes
to be delivered on council -owned land in the coming years.
Investment, invest additional 110 million pound
on top of the 140 million pound already earmarked
into the improvement of our existing housing stock.
A programme of decent homes, too,
that builds on the work we undertook
to our previous administration, and that's a quarter of a billion pounds investment into
our housing stock alone.
And we can continue to make our boroughs safe, and over some eight million pounds have already
been invested in community safety, including increasing the number of TEOs to some 72 TEOs,
a dedicated draught squad and millions invested in upgrading existing and installing new CCTV
cameras across the borough.
We've also delivered a state -of -the -art CCTV control room.
These are, ladies and gentlemen, just some of the groundbreaking policies that we as
a Council, we can deliver and have been delivering thanks to a measured and sensible approach
to this authorities' finances.
Gone are the days, days where accounts remained unsigned for some six years, saving targets
that were missed and overspending was allowed to be rampant.
We have implemented an approach that prioritises continual reviewing and health checking of
our finances and I will ask the leader member to expand on this during his comments on the
report.
The MTFS report shows the benefits of our approach
and maintains investment in frontline services
while embedding a shift toward prevention
and resilience in line with London Council's call
for systemic reform.
I would like to thank the Chief Executive once again,
the Corporate Director for Resources and his team,
and obviously the lead member and my councillors
and officers throughout the organisation for a transformative budget.
Now, lead member and corporate director, please, you're welcome to continue.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
I would like to firstly echo your comments regarding the sad passing of Simon Baxter.
He was an excellent colleague and a deeply decent and committed person who will sorely
be missed by all who had the privilege of working with him.
I would like to also extend my sincere thanks to the finance team, particularly the Section
141 Officer and the Chief Executive for their tireless efforts in facilitating the delivery
of this transformative MTFS.
Their professionalism and dedication has been central to the strong and sustainable position
we are able to present today.
Mr Mayor, as you have set out, this council continues to face significant pressures across
several critical services, especially in adult social care, housing need and overcrowding
and the rising of send demand, all of which remain at historical high levels.
These challenges are further intensified by our position as an inner London borough with
high deprivation, rapid population growth and acute housing needs.
However, through the dual approach that has been consistently emphasised,
fiscal prudence paired with preventative investment,
we have again demonstrated that we can rise to these challenges.
Since we came to the office, we have adopted a value for money approach
to this authorities finances.
We recognise that every penny counts.
It is not our money, but our residence, and we have always looked to spend in a prudent
and sustainable way going forward.
This MTFS reflects a continuation of this approach, delivering a balanced and sustainable
financial plan for the next three years, and crucially, it maintains reserves above their
recommended minimum amounts.
This year, the financial context has further shaped the government's first major revision
in over a decade to the way funding is allocated to local authorities.
On top of all the work that we have done, the Council proactively engaged through our finance officers and our section 141 officer
in the consultation process over the summer, ensuring that Tower Hamlets needs as a unique borough were fully represented,
resulting in a positive outcome when it comes to funding settlement.
Provisional figures were issued on 17th of December and are incorporated in this budget,
although they remain subject to confirmation next month and will continue to be confirmed
annually.
Despite these uncertainties, our commitment to providing and protecting frontline services
and investing in prevention remains unwavering.
This budget includes a £22 .5 million additional investment into adult social care, ensuring
that our most vulnerable residents receive the dignified support they deserve.
It also includes a £15 million investment for temporary accommodation, ensuring we meet
our statutory duties while accelerating routes into safe and affordable homes for our residents.
Alongside this, we are continuing to deliver London's most ambitious house building programme,
with over 6 ,000 homes in the pipeline by May 2026, supplemented by the Mayor's Accelerated
housing programme, delivering nearly 3 ,500 additional homes on 40 -plus council -owned
sites.
We are also significantly strengthening investment in our existing council housing stock, with
an additional £100 million committed over the next five years on top of the ongoing
plan to invest £140 million to address dampen mould, decent home standards, fire and building
safety works, bringing the total planned investment to £318 million.
To reach a position where we can sustain these levels of investment while maintaining a balanced
budget has required discipline, collaboration and innovation across the organisation, which
resulted in a lot of work and a lot of time put in together collectively.
A number of key measures were introduced to ensure we maximise efficiencies while protecting
frontline essential services.
First, we established two strategic fiscal boards,
the Financial Sustainability Forum
and the Spending Review Panel.
The Financial Sustainability Forum took place weekly
and chaired by yourself, Mr. Mayor, with myself
and the CEO, the Section 151 officer and senior officers,
reviewed savings delivery, shaped the MTFS
and explored further opportunities for efficiencies
and income generation.
These discussions informed the Spending Review Panel, which met weekly and sometimes twice
a week.
Directorates presented their financial positions and worked collaboratively to identify mitigation
strategies, efficiencies and ways to safeguard frontline services.
These conversations were robust but deep constructive, deeply constructive, and their impact is clear
in the MTFS before us today.
I want to again thank all directorates for their honesty, creativity and relentless commitment
during this process.
Second, we implemented expenditure control panels to scrutinise all spending by distinguishing
between essential and non -essential costs.
Through subsidiary panels at directorate and divisional levels, we ensured that statutory
and vital services were fully protected, while expenditure that could be absorbed within
existing budget was not progressed.
I personally sat on over 50 of these panel sessions, and this strategic financial discipline
has been central to the strong position we are in today.
Third, we implemented strong controls around people's resourcing.
While the technical details sit with the CEO of the Section 151 officer, this measure has
prevented unnecessary spend and created the space for a broad organisation -wide review
of spans of control and staffing resources.
With appropriate safeguards for statutory and essential roles, this has contributed
significantly to the deliverability of this forward -thinking MTFS.
These three significant measures represent another step into our cultural transformation
when it comes to value for money.
Financial sustainability and awareness on how departments are spending their money.
Alongside these measures, this budget includes transformation savings of £10 million next
year, new savings of £6 .4 million and a strategic funding substitution totalling £25 million.
We are boosting resilience by allocating 20 million pounds to a risk reserve, increasing contingency from 5 million pounds to 10 million pounds, and setting aside 5 million pounds annually again for transformation.
This results in a net general fund revenue budget requirement of 482 million pounds next year.
The general fund capital expenditure is set at £207 million, while the HRA capital expenditure
will total nearly £1 billion.
Supporting investment in existing homes, new property acquisitions, new development and
community resources such as state -of -the -art women's centre, drugs rehabilitation centre
and infrastructure improvements across the borough.
All of that has come within the capital expenditure.
The DSG deficit remains, which currently stands at around £30 million, but we await further
clarity from the Government on how this will be treated in future years.
Mr Mayor, I am proud to confirm that protections for those most in need remain firmly in place.
The Council Tax Reduction Scheme continues unchanged, offering up to 100 % support, which
which is one of the best support in the country.
The cost of living council tax relief fund is also maintained,
which we introduced.
And this is to support those not covered by the reduction
scheme, protecting residents with household income less
than $50 ,350.
So that basically means no increase
in council taxes for them.
And for council tenants, we are establishing a £400 ,000
hardship fund to support those facing rent increases,
but who are not eligible for other benefits.
In conclusion, this MTFS represents a robust, sustainable and forward -looking financial plan,
one of that protects the most vulnerable, invests in prevention, strengthens organisational resilience
and maintains the Council's financial health during a period of national instability and high demand.
It continues our commitment to a culture of value for money,
spending public money sensibly and ensuring that every penny is
spent with our residents and services in mind.
This culture is now embedded from top to bottom across every
directorate and division in the council and every officer who
controls the budget.
This is also the fourth council budget I have had the privilege
to present here as a cabinet member for resources.
and I am proud to say that this is the most resilient, ambitious and transformative to date.
It builds on the three years of disciplined proactive work, front -loading investment where it mattered the most,
securing a sustainable long -term position and ensuring our reserves remain healthy and strategically aligned to future risks.
Most importantly, it enables the residents of Tower Hamlets to continue benefiting from the Council services,
some of which are unique only to Tower Hamlets and work as great prevention on safeguarding the council, like Meals on Wheels,
universal free school meals for primary and secondary students, the only borough in the country to do so,
free free school uniform, free swimming for women and girls aged over 16 and
and for all men over 55,
the free home care for all vulnerable and elderly residents, just to mention a few.
The people of Tower Hamlets place this trust in this Mayor and this administration to deliver stability, ambition and real outcomes.
And this budget demonstrates clearly that we have honoured the trust and delivered on our promises.
I look forward to presenting this full report in February in the Budget Full Council.
My sincere thanks once again to the Mayor for your leadership in driving this and CEO for your leadership as well.
and the Section 151 Officer Abdur -Razak, our finance colleague Chris and the team.
And I would also like to thank my cabinet colleagues here,
Sam and Ali Bob from the Mayor's Office who work tirelessly around the clock to get this going,
and all of our corporate directors and the directorates for their exceptional and unwavering work
in delivering a budget that serves our residents today, securing a borough's future for tomorrow.
I would like to hand over to Abdul -Razzaq to add your comments at this stage.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Said and thank you Mr Mayor and Steve.
We have covered a lot of the points I was going to say but I'm just going to echo and
repeat them.
We began this year's budget much, much earlier than previous years because we recognised
the scale of the financial challenge facing both the Council but also the wider sector.
The early start allowed us to really look deeply and honestly at our services, our pressures
and our capacity to deliver change and crucially to build a shared understanding of the issues
across the whole Council.
Over the past months we have made a significant shift in how we manage our finances.
This has not just been technical change.
It required new behaviours as commented by Councillor Said.
Stronger discipline and more proactive mindset.
Financial management is now something owned across the organisation, supported by improved
reporting but also spending review panels and title controls.
We have also embedded a genuine one council approach.
Rather than us working in silos, services have come together thanks to the corporate
and to members as well.
We have come together to address our challenges collectively.
This collaboration has been essential in arriving at a balanced and sustainable budget
in such challenging and difficult conditions.
Demand -led pressures, particularly homelessness and out of social care and SEND, remain volatile.
The DSG deficit is a major national and local issue in addition to wider inflation and market conditions.
These are the reasons why in this year's MTFS we have strengthened our reserves, our contingency,
enhanced our governance and applied greater financial grip.
Protecting the MTFS now requires continued prudence, delivery of agreed savings and unwavering commitment to the transformation programme in the MTFS.
But I also want to be clear about the progress we've made and continue to make.
The organisation's financial understanding is much stronger, our controls are much stronger
and now we have a deliverable budget and a sustainable medium -term plan built on shared
ownership and collective action.
We need to continue these behaviours, the discipline and collaborative approach that
we have established in the past few months and I am confident that we will deliver this
budget and continue to strengthen our financial resilience in the years ahead.
I would like to thank senior managers, our corporate colleagues and directors and also
members, the mayor and CEO for enabling us to really take this action and deliver this
budget.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Wozniak.
Steve, you want to come in at this stage?
Please.
I would only, having experienced the budget setting cycle for many years, I really do
want to emphasise the joint effort that has gone on here.
These are always challenging moments and when you add in the complication of the fair funding
review and the way in which that's been adapted and the speed with which we've reacted to
the many challenges that we're facing, I'd just like to congratulate, not just thank
everybody, congratulate everybody that's been involved.
They know who they are for all of their efforts.
Thank you.
Deputy Mayor.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Firstly, I would like to thank yourselves for your leadership and the CEO and obviously the lead member and our finance acting corporate director and his team.
I think it's been a journey since we've been elected, May 2022. It's been a difficult journey for various reasons.
and I think you've made a promise to the people of Tower Hamlets
to rebuild Tower Hamlets and rebuild the future of Tower Hamlets
and I think this is exactly what we're doing
since every budget we've been going through
has been a positive, prudent budget
which is about investing into the people, investing into the community
and I think that's exactly what you promised, that's exactly what we're doing.
Where other councils are busting, where other councils are getting support from Labour government,
and here we're working in partnership with our officers, with their leadership, and I think the budget says it all.
And we're putting back nearly 50 million into the reserves. I mean, this is fantastic.
And also, if I look at the children's services, for example, 25 million additional money is
going into the investment into our young people. I mean, throughout this budget, it's an ambitious
budget, it's nowhere, you can nowhere in the country any council is delivering this budget,
delivering this kind of investment. And it's all down to the political leadership. Yes,
we work in partnership with our officers.
We've seen how the partnership was in May 2022.
So it's not just about, it's about the leadership.
And I think you've shown that bold leadership
when it comes to our resident of this borough.
So I'm really proud of this budget.
And I would like, I'm grateful to our officers,
lead member and everyone.
And I think it is a very, very good budget
and I'm really proud as a lead member that we are continuing with the additional investment
when it comes to our young future of this borough, the free school meals, the year -made
bursaries and so on, and especially with the...
So thank you very much for everything.
Thank you very much.
Colleagues, Councillor Sabina.
Thank you, Mayor.
So first of all I would like to congratulate the entire team, to the lead member, to the corporate director,
for the leadership of the mayor and the entire mayor's office, the cabinet.
Always trying to get the books balanced or working on the budget isn't easy.
And you can see clearly in this budget, the draught budget, that it's not just serving, it's not just having the commitment,
It's the passion for all the various departments and I'm really happy to see my own department
as the lead member for health, the investment that we're putting in.
It shows a huge difference compared to other boroughs, you know, providing free home care
and the investment that we're providing or investing, it's not comparable to other
boroughs.
It kind of really shows how much we are committed to serve the most vulnerable and the most
need in the borough.
Also, I'm really happy to see the hardship fund.
Usually when we do speak to residents,
they always do say, look, we don't
get some of the benefits, universal credit,
or any other benefit.
And sometimes the rent increase or other financial difficulties
that we're having at the time.
But I can see the $400 ,000 that would be put aside
for those residents who don't meet that criteria always,
but on the low income could actually apply for some kind of financial support, which is good to see.
And where we do always meet residents and say, you know, we don't want to have a budget,
or we always see the people on benefits getting support.
So it's really nice to see, and it's reassuring that we can go back to residents and tell them this.
I just had a question on the leaseholder charges.
When there are increases of lease holders, I know it's an inflation rate that we have to increase,
but sometimes residents to get upset about the constant increase each year,
is there something that we can say in terms of this is why you're getting this,
it's meant to be for the support for your block increase.
Sometimes when they don't see that kind of in their blocks,
for example, not being cleaned, but they're still
having to pay that extra service charge.
So perhaps something that we can tell residents
why the service charge has to increase each year,
obviously due to inflation, and how we can form the housing
department, how we can make sure that we meet that kind of,
that not performance, but that kind of effect
that if we are paying extra we want to see that kind of input into the services in the
blocks.
So I'm really happy to support this and I really think the whole cabinet should be really
proud and again thank you to the leadership, to the mayor.
Thank you.
Do you want to either David or Mr Azak I'll bring you in just on the leasehold charges
I just want to make any comment on that.
Service charges, etc.
So in terms of the rents and service charges in the HRAs, that's the question.
So that is capped in terms of by the government to, I need you to remember this,
RPI or CPI plus one one percent CPA plus one and that's what we will be
implementing but the important thing about that is that the money we receive
from those rental increases we're investing back into the existing stock
so that tenants and leaseholders benefit because I think in a similar spirit to
what the lead member said around council tax and other income being the
residents money that also applies within the housing revenue account to the money that
we receive from tenants and leaseholders.
Service charges are for services, you know, and you need services in order to keep those
blocks going, and especially at this time of the year when you get some problems, people
need to go in and do the work.
So, however, what is very important, if you look at the report, on page 11 of the report, paragraph 9,
over the next five years, we've set aside £318 million to upgrade our stock,
so we're going to do a, hopefully, a decent homes programme,
to bring those stocks up to a decent standard.
It was the last time we did it.
We were in power.
I was in power.
No work has been done since then, you know,
where we 160 million pound, decent homes programme,
new bathrooms, new kitchens, new windows we did.
Last 10, 15 years, 12 years, hardly any investment
has gone into upgrading those properties.
But also, as homeless homes has come in -house,
what we inherited are not very good, a good stock.
They need to be brought up to as not a decent standard,
but a safe standard is very important.
And given the House of Regulator has identified,
we've identified that fire safety works
needs to be carried out on those properties,
but also major works.
I was talking about early on in a forum
But every winter there are some blocks we get water stops, heating stops, they need
immediate work.
And I spoke about the Collingwood State, which needs immediate investment.
I spoke about Oran House.
I mean, luckily we've not had heating issue or water outages in those two blocks in what
to market. But so I've requested David and the team that we need to immediately identify
what blocks need investment now. The heating needs to be sorted out. The mould and damp
is a continuous work we need to do across the borough and invest money. So and we, people's
Those who, a lot of people get rent,
they get rent repaid or they get support.
However, those who do pay the extra rent,
the money will be reinvested either in house building
or in building those stock up to a good standard.
So money is wisely spent.
So 380 million pound over the next five years or so.
A lot of money.
Okay, Tala.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Like other members, I did want to share my thanks to the lead member, the finance team
and of course the mayor and the chief exec for the leadership in developing this budget.
Of course it spans wider to corporate directors, the relevant directorates, so I think I did
want to say that from the offset.
Also in terms of setting the scene, we are operating in a country, in a sort of environment
where 14 councils have gone bust since 2018.
More than 100 from an independent research that I'm looking at
warn of insolvency by 2027.
We're talking about serious pressures in temporary accommodation,
in adult social care, where to meet our statutory requirements,
councils are having to decide to close down libraries,
stop working on roads, to close down so many frontline services.
And I did want to say that from the offset because this is what other councils have to contend with.
Other councillors like us have to sit in a room like this in response to a 114 notice and come up with a recovery plan.
And I'm so glad, and not just glad, I think I'm proud that as a team, this corporate management team and the cabinet,
we've got together over a few years now, but I've seen every year we've built on the financial management aspect of things,
or controls this year, whether it's suspending review panels or the financial sustainability
forum, holding corporate directors and leaders to account, and that one council culture that
you speak about, this behavioural change, I've seen it evolve over time, and I'm genuinely
proud of that culture change. Another thing I wanted to mention, as part of some of the
partnership work that we're doing, I heard a comment quite recently about a perception
of the council and this is a historic perception that this partner had.
The partner described us as an elastic band where we go above and beyond for a little
while and then things start constricting and coming back.
And from a financial point of view or a funding point of view, it's like investing in a lot
of things and then saying, oh, we don't have the money in one, stop investing in those
things.
And the reason why I make that point is because even though in community safety, for example,
we haven't come up with any new investment, but the fact this year, but the fact that
we're continuing investment is a big thing as well.
So there's a lot of things that we are continuing from last year and the year before to make
us not that elastic band that some people may perceive us to be.
So, I wanted to just mention some of those examples before I close off.
Before I talk about some of the community safety measures, of course there's things that drive crime in our borough.
I'm going to focus on community safety and members have already spoken about how we're tackling the cost of living
and the poverty issues that we've got in the borough and the housing crisis and how that contributes to feelings of safety.
So I'm not going to touch on that too much.
But those are really important in terms of addressing the drivers of crime.
But when it came to the investment of timeless enforcement officers,
we've quadrupled the size of that team.
When we make a decision in a budget to commit to something,
the actual fruition of something like that takes time.
So we may have announced it, you know, two years ago, the actual investment,
but we've only recently got a full suite of timeless enforcement officers.
So we're starting to see the fruits of that investment.
And to give you an example, we are seeing on average per quarter
around 20 ,000 uniform patrol hours.
This was much, much lower in previous quarters and in previous years.
That visible sort of presence at residency is making them feel safer in the borough.
And that's not me just saying that, that's the annual residence survey saying it,
where over the past year people are saying they feel more safer.
The investment in CCTV, whether it's on the streets that we did initially and now on housing
estates, is leading to more arrests.
You look at the last quarter, there was 98 CCTV arrests.
That's 123 % increase from last year.
So what we're saying is all this investment that we're putting in, it's leading to performance
increases.
You look at the drug squad, that's something that we've recently invested in.
Between July and October last year, we saw a reduction of 20 % in drugs possession and intent to supply offences,
which may be an early indicator of some of the work that the drug squad are doing.
Youth services, a monstrous investment of nearly £14 million.
Maybe that's what's prompted the government to look at us as best practise and look at us as the only London authority
to receive the Youth Futures Fund, I think it's called.
And you look at some of the impact that the youth service is already making.
If you look at knife crime figures, knife crime in the last year has reduced by nearly 20%.
That's more than the whole of London and our neighbouring boroughs in Hackney and Newham.
So we're starting to see some of this benefit from our youth services.
And finally, I can go on and on, but finally the Culturally Sensitive Recovery Centre that we've invested capital money in,
That will be ready imminently and that will hopefully help the residents in their treatment
journey and reduce demand for drugs in the borough.
Mr Mayor, I think the point I'm trying to make with some of this investment is the continuation
of some of your priorities shouldn't be seen as, you know, just business as usual.
Councils are having to choose between, this is non -statutory, council having to choose
between closing some of these services or, you know, just focusing on statutory stuff.
So the fact that we're continuing that I wanted to thank the team and I look forward to
seeing some of this
budget into fruition
Thank you, and can I just add to this before I bring other members in you know during the sixth year of the MTFS
We would have we would invest some
250 million pound
additional money
into the communities of Thai Hamlets.
Show me another council in the country who will spend that kind
of money in improving the lives, place shaping,
and giving our kids a better future over the six years
of the MTFS.
Let me give you an example.
On page 13, if you look at the recommendations,
and if you look at recommendation 21, 22,
just look at our ambition when it comes to capital projects.
We have healthy reserves, but despite the healthy reserves,
we're also investing people, investing money
into capital programmes, place shaping.
In recommendation 21, in the general fund capital
programme, over the period of 25, 26 to 28, 29, you know,
We will be investing some over £207 million into
just general fund capital programmes,
the leisure centres of the world,
the money that we invested in the leisure centres,
the new leisure centre, our capital programme.
You mentioned the drugs project at the nervous centre,
other capital projects that we would spend,
but also very importantly we are one of the most ambitious, we were always been
ambitious when I was here previously, you know, very ambitious when it comes to
house building, house building. Over the same period, same period we will spend
nearly a billion pound, a billion pound, into house building.
You know, where other councils going slow, or closing swimming pools, etc.
or leisure centres, we're opening leisure facilities,
we're spending money on general fund capital,
but on the HRA capital, a billion pound we will allocate.
Then the mass accelerated housing programme, the
four to four sites we've identified, David, you and
your team are working on, that will deliver
additional homes.
You know, so we are, we want to alleviate
overcrowding in the borough.
We want our children to have a space of their own.
It's not going to happen overnight.
It needs to be out of time.
Yeah, if we were here during the seven years that
we missed, believe me, we would have been in a
better position.
But, inshallah, I'm very confident over the next few
years when it comes to house building, the leadership
we have in the corporate management team now, and
the office of core, I strongly believe this
council will once again lead in house building and
family sized homes in the country.
So, that's something else we should note.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
Councillor Kabir.
Thank you, Mayor. Can I start off by giving my condolences to Simon Baxter's family.
I've known Simon since I first became a councillor in 2010 and I've known him to be a committed
selfless individual who has served this council very well.
So coming back to this budget.
It's a budget that's transparent, open and robust.
financially it manages to deliver growth around pressures of TA, SEND and adult social care.
While there are statutory requirements, there are clear political choices that the Mayor
and this administration chooses to invest in the people of Tower Hamlets.
I'm just going to give a big picture overview of this budget.
There's an additional 15 million allocated to temporary accommodation.
The HRA has set aside nearly a billion pounds worth of capital programmes, 996 million pounds.
The General Fund has set a 207 .5 million pound capital programme.
There is an additional 100 million pounds totalling 318 million pounds over five years
to support our residents and their housing estates.
There's also an additional HRA hardship fund of £400 ,000 to support our tenants with the difficulties they might be facing.
This is a budget that supports all and the many.
And in closing, I'm just going to thank the lead member, our 151 officer, Abdul Razak,
the mayor and all the officers who I know have been working day and night in order to
prepare this budget over the last year.
There's been multiple challenges faced in order to balance our budget.
And again balancing our budget is a really important thing because councils can borrow money and
Go into section 114 territory, but this budget doesn't do this this budget
shows growth and
responsible financial and prudent
financial management
and with that
I'll be supporting this budget
should consider including a recommendation under section the next
section recommendations after paragraph 11 that re -emphasises the fact that this
budget is a combination of the work that you've done this year but also last
year's budget and what have you where we list free school uniforms free school
meals home care all those things that we support it's implicit but it's not
And I think it's relevant in members making decisions at council to support this budget
that they are reminded of those initiatives because they comprise part of the base.
And thank you, Steve.
I was going to come on to that.
As Hans in my opening comments later on said, over six years of the MTFS we'll be investing
additional money of £250 million.
That needs to be explicit.
The first year we came in, yes, we drew front -loaded and drew down on reserve.
But for what?
It's one, to make sure the manifesto pledges are introduced and implemented, but also they're in the base.
We never needed to go into reserve again, it was one off.
So I think you're right Steve, on paragraph 12, Mr Vazza, we need to introduce another paragraph 12 into the recommendations
and we've got to list one, the money, what we put in the base,
and two, the services that we're rolling out for the people of this borough.
List them please. Say OK Chris, can you make sure you do that please?
OK, thank you.
Can I just make the point, because I need to be really clear,
I think that section 151 would say it and the CEO would say it as well,
this is not a political point, this is the basis upon which our base budget is based.
There's a lot of bases in there, but you know what I mean.
It's in the base and that was what I was just mentioning, asking for a spot.
Thank you.
I just want to add, just to sort of support what you're saying, so I think in, we went
through a journey, isn't it?
So when we first come in, we have to front load investment, which meant, yes, we had
to dip into reserve to put those services in place.
Then the next couple of budgets that we've had was just to make sure that we are delivering
those areas and keeping afloat.
And more.
and we're keeping a flow.
I think now where we come to a point is we've built that resilience
and now we've gone one step ahead where we're pumping money back into the reserve
but continue all the good stuff that we've done.
So we've actually got both things going at the same time.
It's not just front loading. We've done the front loading.
We're now building and we're driving faster. That's what it is.
Thank you. And you, as Steve said, you alluded to it, but let's be explicit.
It's not about politics. It's about what we're doing as a council
and our people come first.
You know, we're not doing anything at the expense by in their support. So okay. Yeah should be explicit
Thank you. Anyone else anyone else anyone else?
Chef Eden, please. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor and I'd like to echo yours and Simon's and everyone of our colleagues here
who've
made condolences for Simon
I have been a cabinet member for two years and I've been working with him closely and
and I believe he was a gentle, caring person who loved Tower Hamlets
and all those transformations.
We worked together to ensure that some of the vision that this administration had with the mayor
was delivered under his leadership as well.
So I'd like to... my deepest condolences to his family. May he rest in peace.
I would like to come back on to many of our colleagues have already mentioned about the
enthusiasm of this budget, the farsightedness and the vision of this budget going forward.
It's key again and again, the leadership and under our staff and our members, our cabinet
members as well as our officers, we would like to thank you all for bringing this together.
This shows that we are not stopping here.
We are continuously driving
and working for our residents
to make sure the residents of
the Tower of Hamlets are put first.
We are people's first borough
and this budget shows
that we are people's first borough.
I'm hugely proud
that being the youngest growing young borough
in the Tower of Hamlets,
the investment in youth
is commendable and also keeping a flow our elders with that of social care and the free
Mills on Wheels service, all of these things add up to what we really want this borough
to be. We want to make sure that under your leadership we are going forward, leading the
way so we lead and others can follow. Thank you very much everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you for those comments.
Anyone else?
Councillor Mustak, then Councillor Botteri.
Please.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
To start with, I'd like to express my sadness at the passing of Simon Baxter.
As the Chief Executive, the writer said that Simon cared deeply about Tahemlitz and the
people he served, and his commitment to improving residents' lives leaves a lasting legacy.
He will be greatly missed and my heartfelt condolences goes to his family.
Coming to the budget and the MTFS, I would say at a time when many councils are struggling
to balance their books, Tahel Melsi is taking a different path.
One built on strong leadership, financial discipline and a clear focus on what matters
most to our residents.
I would like to thank the Mayor for his clear leadership and robust leadership, the Chief
Executive, the Cabinet Lead Member for Finance, Councillor Saeed, Finance Directors and Officers
across all departments for their collective effort behind this work.
This has been a genuine team effort grounded in collaboration, realism and shared responsibility.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Abboud.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
Yes, I'd like to, obviously, Simon, such a gentle human being.
He will be sadly missed and my wishes, condolences go out to his family.
Regarding the budget, Councillor Said, I've got a nickname for him.
I call him the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Tauranget.
The mayor and the CEO and the officers who have tirelessly worked throughout the last few months, I think, getting this together.
So I will be in favour of this and the work that has been done and the money that has been invested in different parts of the departments.
It's amazing indeed.
The youth's investment, EMA bursary, that has been said by my colleagues.
Additional money that's gone into the housing stock for repairs, decent homes.
So yes, I will be in favour of this.
Saeed, thank you for your hard work and obviously the leadership of the mayor and the team itself.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other members? Chris, anything you want to add? You've also worked hard along with Abderraja.
Thank you. No, nothing more from me. I think it's been said. Thank you.
Subject to Steve's comment on the recommendation, can we approve? Can we agree on to it?
Yes.
Thank you. All agreed.
Thank you very much. That's the end of the cabinet. Thank you.