Overview & Scrutiny Committee - Monday 23 March 2026, 6:30pm

Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Monday, 23rd March 2026 at 6:30pm

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1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

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7 a) Chief Executive Spotlight

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Cover sheet CE Spotlight

8 a) Q3 Strategic Delivery Performance Report 2025-26

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8 b) Q3 Budget Monitoring 2025-26

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9 SCRUTINY LEADS UPDATES

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1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Good evening everybody.

Welcome to last onus meeting of the year before we break up.

So I'm going to, my name is Kanzir Abdim -E -Manan.

I'll be chairing today.

Fortunately Wahid is not well, so I replaced him.

So I hope he get better soon as well.

And we have for the festival is Sabina Khan is replaced by Harun Miah.

And I think there is someone else coming in replacing Waheed is Abdul Kabir.

Anyway, let's start.

First of all, just remind everybody this is going to be a work cast for public domain.

Anybody on the internet, please, when you want to speak,

raise your hand counter on your laptop and I can see it.

Fantastic. So we are able to take questions.

Those who are here, please raise your hands

and I'll give you a chance to speak, put questions across.

Any technical issues, I'll take advice from the officers and follow the direction.

Fire exit, we all know, as well, we're there.

I want to speak on the microphone, please.

Speak clearly on the microphone.

Those in the web, please, when you're not speaking, put your microphone on mute, please.

Members speak in my direction.

Naseema, is there any apology, apart from what I mentioned?

Yes, Chair, we have received apologies from Councillor Abduaihi, who is substituted by

Councillor Ahmed Uqabi, who has not been here yet, and Councillor Sabina Khan has sent her

apologies, substituted by Councillor Haran Miah.

As I said, I have nothing to declare on DPI.

Anybody want to declare on DPI?

I'm going to start on my right.

Introduce yourself and if you can declare, please say so.

Sorry, could you say that again?

My name is Jahid.

I'm the Jahid Ahmed.

I'm a co -opted member of the overview and scrutiny committee and nothing else

Council at the Mohammed scrutiny lead for community safety Natalie Bian fake scrutiny lead for environment and climate emergency

Counsellor s my Islam no DP eyes

Counsellor Amy Lee nothing to declare

accuracy of the meeting from 16 February.

Somebody second it please.

Fantastic. Thank you.

And moving on to Action Log.

Any Action Log that need to be updated?

Look, it's been updated.

It's been updated. Yes.

It's in the agenda. Yeah.

Anybody got a question on Action Log at all?

We are happy, yes? Fantastic. Thank you. That's good.

I was going to say quickly, Chair, I can't seem to find page for the recruiting spotlight on the Chief Exec, page 1718.

My laptop's not working. Can somebody help me with where the presentation is?

It is a verbal update.

What is page 17 and 18?

It is just the top note.

Thank you.

Thank you, Claire.

So, we will move on to the next item, which is the agenda for the Spotlight.

Chief Executive.

There is one question I did have about callings.

I know on the agenda there isn't an item about the JPMorgan Chase memorandum of understanding.

I appreciate an individual mail decision is being used but surely it should have come to overview scrutiny.

So once it noted it hasn't come to overview scrutiny.

I appreciate it's all moving quite quickly, but scrutiny is scrutiny to do these things properly.

It should have come here.

Can I just clarify, was the chair approached about it or did we get a chair's note or anything to indicate?

Thank you for raising up.

Can you make a note on that, please?

And make a note on this.

I was just going to say the chair was approached in terms of the paper.

If there are, I know it's not on the agenda formally, but I can pick up some questions, if helpful,

I think that is a really helpful thing to do.

So it should be, I don't think it's appropriate quite frankly.

I mean, again, I can talk about the urgency and so on,

and where that pressure's coming from really largely,

not just ourselves, but particularly a national government issue

at the highest level, at chancellor level.

But I can talk more about that when we get there.

I was asked to come along this evening to give a verbal update.

Given that it's the last meeting of this particular overview and scrutiny, and because there's

an awful lot to cover, I actually took, I don't normally do this, but I decided to write

down and read from a speech, which I'm going to, I have, however, got copies of it, because

I don't want there to be any confusion over what it is I'm about to say.

So hopefully that will be helpful and you'll be able to follow.

And I'm obviously more than happy to take questions and sit here and take those questions

for as long as the chair thinks would be helpful.

So I'll just, if you don't mind, I'll just wait for it to get.

It's not a committee report.

It's just a copy of the verbal update that I'm about to give.

Forgive me.

But given the fact that I'm going to comment on the last year and the new directions that

have come out from the Secretary of State, I thought it would be helpful to make sure

that I read from something I've already written down and I was consistent.

So, if that's okay, I'll begin and I will be as quick as I can and I normally get stopped

when I go on for too long, but I will try and be as quick as I can.

So, the past year has shown that we have a great deal to be proud of and of course a

great deal still to do.

First, there is real progress to celebrate, strong operational delivery, improvements

that matter to residents and a borough that continues to show resilience and ambition.

Second, we remain on a demanding improvement journey and we must stay clear -eyed about the

distance left to travel. That combination, pride and realism, is what shows us to be optimistic

without ever being complacent. Before turning to the year, I want to recognise the challenge that

that's now set out in the new ministerial directions,

which raise the bar on governance, audit,

use of resources, transparency,

and how we demonstrate impact.

We accept the seriousness and urgency conveyed.

Don't necessarily agree with every aspect

of the government's assessment,

and that has been discussed in some detail

with the minister and MHCLG officials,

7 a) Chief Executive Spotlight

but that does not distract us from the work

that needs to be done.

If anything, it reinforces our determination to move further and faster with evidence,

grip and candour.

And I want to address something directly.

Despite our commitment to openness and cooperation with envoys and auditors and partners and

scrutiny unsubstantiated allegations have been discussed with the envoys this week and

with MHCLG and the Minister and Secretary of State.

Unsustained allegations have continued to circulate publicly, including those recently

reported in the press.

Some of these claims are not only unsupported by evidence, they risk undermining trusted

officers, partners and communities who work tirelessly for this borough.

It is right to say that this is frustrating, but it will not deflect us.

We will continue to work transparently, respond to concerns based on facts and support the

as they undertake their deep dive work.

That is how we maintain confidence by focusing on evidence.

I also want to thank members, particularly those of you in scrutiny,

for the challenge, commitment and steer you have brought throughout the year.

Your willingness to ask difficult questions and to strengthen decisions through rigorous scrutiny

has been vital to our progress and to the quality of our governance.

There is still much more to do.

Looking ahead, we do so with a shared framework for ambition.

Our Tower Hamlets 2035 publication sets out our intention to work with kindness, creativity

and determination so every resident can live a good life.

It doesn't place hard work, it gives it long -term direction.

Let me address some specific issues.

Firstly, in relation to interventions and external order.

Let me comment on what we've done so far and what we intend doing next.

We are now a year into statutory support package.

That underpins our improvement journey.

The 2024 Best Value Inspection clarified where governance, decision -making and political

culture needed strengthening.

Clarity that enabled us to move with purpose.

The new directions sharpen expectations again, particularly around use of resources, external

audit and statutory recommendations, transparency and record keeping, scrutiny, culture and

recruitment and the statutory deep dives into the areas of recruitment, resource allocation,

housing, licencing, planning and governance, particularly in the Mayor's office.

We welcome clearer expectations and expanded envoy capacity.

We are working openly with the envoys and sector peers so our plans match the scale

of the challenge.

Our external auditor, Ernst Young, identified long outstanding issues, four statutory recommendations

and an additional six significant weaknesses.

Our response, I hope, has been decisive and has been recognised by envoys and the auditor.

We have cleared historic accounts and set a pathway to unqualified opinions.

We have strengthened risk management with a refresh strategy.

We have launched procurement and contract management improvement and funded dedicated

improvement capacity in the medium -term financial strategy.

We have not shied away from difficult issues.

Together with the envoys, we are commissioning deep dives into those areas – recruitment,

resource allocation, housing allocations, licencing and planning, and governance in

the Mayor's Office – with strengthened governance and full transparency.

We have also invested in cultural change, co -produced a member pledge, strengthened

induction and mentoring, conducted a People's Survey with 50 % response rate, and a new representative

staff forum that clearly shows where staff need to feel safe to speak up.

Secondly, in relation to corporate performance, our latest quarterly review, and you're going

to be looking at that later on, shows strong delivery in many areas but are clear challenges

where we need to continue to intervene.

So we are performing well in areas such as waste collection around 99 .8 % on time, early

help and youth engagement, in relation to adult social care and in relation to temporary

accommodation.

Where we need to improve is well known and understood by everyone in scrutiny.

You've discussed these things in the past when you've been looking at quarterly performance

reporting.

Overcrowding, PRS inspections, tenants perceptions and repairs, damp, mould, ASB and the speed

with which we deal with those issues and continuously our recycling performance.

Our annual residence survey offered some interesting insights.

Satisfaction with how the council run things was up eight points.

confidence we act on concerns, up six points, trust significantly higher than national comparators

and 83 % satisfied with the local area, 91 % people say that people from different backgrounds

get on well together.

Residency progress, but they're also clear about what we need to do further.

Thirdly, there are some key moments that I think are worth bringing to your attention.

We've launched a Future Places strategy which was launched at MIPIM a couple of weeks ago

where we met with some key providers and set out a 52 ,000 home growth pipeline

with residents making it very clear about what stable, decent housing means for them.

We've submitted a new local plan. We have transformed some opportunities for young people

opening the first dedicated girls youth centre, over 181 ,000 youth centre attendances

across 20 centres.

We've delivered 2 million free school meals

and we've launched the first council -led drug squad.

We've also set a prudent budget.

Although it's not written down here,

I just wanted to comment on that.

I'm very happy to report that we've met with the Minister

and MHCLG officials to talk about the use of resources

in addition to the directions.

And to be very clear about that,

I fully accept that that is around grip.

That is about the way we govern,

it's about the way we address statutory recommendations.

I think it's generally accepted that the MTFS,

certainly by MHCLG, is robust and sustainable,

which has been supported by EY.

Each of these moments tells a storey about the borough we are building.

We want to be ambitious, we need to be practical,

we need to be people -focused and unafraid to innovate,

where perhaps we have been reticent in the past.

Of course, this agenda was informed by achieving an Ofsted rating of outstanding in relation to children's social care and good CQC rating when other London boroughs have not performed quite as well.

Moving forward, we need to be proud but we need to be realistic and I think informed by a shared direction.

direction, officers, members, the community, residents, businesses.

Through the Corporate Peer Challenge revisit, we have external validation that there are

major building blocks of improvement and they're now in place.

We have better governance, we have a clear delivery grip, a more unified leadership team,

but statutory audit work, cultural change and the new directions demand faster and deeper

progress and I accept that absolutely.

There is no qualification about that.

We are accelerating delivery through one corporate team, embedding the people strategy and maintaining

open collaboration with envoys and peers.

And we will keep doing the hard yards on what residents care most about.

Decent homes, cleaner streets, youth opportunities, safety, prevention and value for money.

Our Tower Hamlets 2025 -35 document gives us long -term direction.

Our improvement work builds on that foundation.

Our people, members, staff, partners and residents make it real.

My ask of all of us, and I've been to various partnership meetings over the last few weeks,

I've been meeting with the government, I've been meeting with envoys, I've been meeting with staff,

my ask is simple. We need to keep doing what this year has shown we can do,

focus relentlessly on improvement, which we must do,

back our people and deliver for residents at pace.

We can celebrate the winds, then move quickly

onto the next piece of work.

We are proud because we've earned it.

We should all be proud of what's been achieved.

We are realistic because the challenges are real

and we must do better in key areas and we are focused

because together we can deliver even more.

Thank you, Jack.

Thank you, Steve. Members, those are... let me take them down. Abdi, Asma, Amy, James,

on this side. Khan. Excuse me. Abdi, do you want to go first?

Thank you very much chair and thank you for that Steve. I want to pick up the issue of

defensiveness and optimism bias that's mentioned and that's kind of a theme

that goes through the second report from the MYS and the ministerial and MHCLG

civil servants and engagement with us. I think it's quite stark when you read

the submission that you and the mayor made and it talks about the

defensiveness in particular but also most recently the statement that the

the Council put out in response to the ministerial new directions.

So on one hand you say you recognise the need to go further and faster,

but the bulk of the letter comes off as defensive,

it spends time challenging the government's conclusions,

saying the narrative is not consistent with evidence

and raises concerns about selective use of findings.

So I want to really get to, do you accept that the response

risk reinforcing the perception that the leadership is still too defensive.

So you've made a submission jointly with the mayor.

Quite frankly, I was surprised by the defensiveness of that letter,

but also the response on the 17th of March from the Chief of the Council

around the response to the government's new direction.

So I'd really keen to hear from you about,

do you not think this perpetuates a cycle of kind of being too defensive

or being seen as too defensive.

Because when I speak to residents,

they're genuinely surprised it's happening to the council.

I don't think people always question the quality of service.

We've got fantastic officers delivering services,

but there's a disconnect between what we're saying

and what the government are seeing and everyone's seeing.

So I'd welcome your thoughts.

Thank you, Abdi.

Can members give the question to someone

so everybody gets a chance to answer questions?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for the question.

I would say, first of all, just in relation to the fact that the mayor and I co -signed

a letter, because I think that's important, it's been raised elsewhere.

Under the executive mayor model, we were encouraged to do so.

So under an executive mayor model, as I know you know, I'm not trying to be in any way,

the mayor, under the current constitution of the council, is a key decision maker and

policy initiator.

And the way that we deal currently with delegations and the Mayor's delegations require that we

have a joint responsibility, me for delivery I suppose is a general way of putting it,

and in for strategic development policy initiation and what have you, and how we work together

is key.

So the response was meant to comprise both those elements, the first thing, and we were

encouraged to make sure that the response included the Mayor, not just an officer response,

under an Executive Mayor model it should.

Number two, yes, I think in hindsight I can understand why people feel informed of the

view that I or the mayor or however you want to phrase it have optimism bias and I will

be the first to say that there is a very fine line, a balance to draw, as we've discussed

in the past I think when I was here last time, leadership is relational.

When you're leading or the most senior officer in an organisation that employs nearly 10 ,000

people, you have to motivate them to improve, but you also have to be realistic.

And if I was considering those two issues again, I would suggest that given what's happened

over the last few weeks, I could have veered more to realism as it's perceived by some,

as opposed to promoting all the good things that we've done.

But I do want the organisation to continue, the officers of the organisation, to continue

to be proud of what they've achieved.

One of the things I found really interesting from a recent People's Survey that we've undertaken,

and where I think just over 3 ,000 staff completed it,

is the strongest element that came through

was the passion and commitment that staff showed

to delivering services, and they love working here.

And that's not just me, that's me summarising,

but they are the individual comments that we've got,

and I don't want to lose that unique element

of working in Tau Hamlets.

Staff love it, they're committed,

and they're passionate about it,

and we see that in some of the service delivery

that I've spoken about.

So there is a very fine line to draw, but I do not want anybody to think that optimism

bias prevails the way in which we deliver services or go about things, but I can understand

why that is a perception given the responses that have been written.

I would also say there was comment in the letter about how there was, I think the phrase

we used, selective commentary from the LGA peer review.

So there was, I think you've mentioned it.

So that was following discussions with the LGA.

And I think they were, they expressed a view at Transformation Assurance Board, I think,

on one occasion.

I'm not sure who was there on that occasion.

But certainly in meetings with me and senior officers of the Council, that the optimism

bias comment and the plan for a plan comment that was in their response was within a report

that said 17 out of the 18 recommendations have been progressed.

And it was interesting at the time that those two elements were picked out, but the other

17 odd paragraphs weren't.

So we've had detailed conversations with MHCLG about that, and we've also had a conversation

with the minister about the way that was perceived and promoted.

So I hope that picks up everything, but I do take your point.

I don't intend to move forward constantly being optimistic all the time and denying

that there are challenges.

I hope what I've said tonight about being realistic, but at the same time proud, goes

some way to showing that.

Asma, do you want to go ahead?

Thank you so much, Chair.

I do want to start off by saying I do agree with your sentiment that there are some really

great stuff this Council does and our officers work really, really hard.

But two things can be true at the same time. We also do things, some of the services, some of the standards are so poorly.

And I'm going to give you one example, and both related to you, governance, and both with housing.

I raised a case with you, I phoned you, about an ASB issue, serious safeguarding issue in Weaver's Ward,

and you were so kind, you got Dau Babu to be on that case, you understood how serious it was.

Within a few hours, Dau Babu and some officers, theos were in the ward, looking after the residents

and generally taking the time out. That's this council, that's how good it can be.

But I want to give you another example which I'm really, really, really, really upset and hurt about

because this makes me worry about how many residents are falling through the crack

and it doesn't give me assurance.

It's a shame that I feel like this at this point of the term.

I emailed, I put an ME in, a very serious ME, by the way.

It's probably one of the most serious cases

I've dealt with in my eight years.

I've emailed you and I've emailed David Joyce.

It's about housing.

I don't want to talk about it

because it could turn into a legal case.

But I expected, and I put an ME in straight away

because I wanted to do things properly.

I should have got an acknowledgement from that email.

It was put in on the 17th of February.

17th of February.

I chased it up again on the 17th of March.

I chased it up again after a month and now it's a week later.

I've not had an acknowledgement and I didn't call you this time, but I should have had

a response back about what happened in that case.

I've not had that.

And so that makes me worry about when things go wrong, they go badly wrong.

And I think, you know, there's lots of things here I agree with, and I understand where

you're coming from, the protectiveness about and taking care of the workforce, totally

understand that.

But there's a bit here, the third paragraph, where you talk about some of the incorrect

information out there.

I assume it might be the community you're talking about, or partnership or political,

whatever it is.

I feel that that section is extremely inappropriate.

Since when did council officers and the council start rebutting what is out there?

Local government and officers face this all the time, or residents or whoever might be

out there, especially with the times of social media.

Things are out there.

When does that become a point?

Sorry, I'm really sorry, Chair.

When does that become a point?

Please ask me because others are waiting.

Yes, and lastly, last point, Chair, thank you for your generosity with the time, is

when you talked about, you were quite open about where there's a difference, where you

disagree with probably parts of the reports, if we're still in that same place, how are

we going to get to a point where this is working? I'm just hypothetically imagining if the envoys

are deep diving and they find something or they are suggesting an improvement, if you

disagree, how are you going to make that work?

Thank you for your time.

Others are waiting as well.

Steve, could you quickly answer because we have other questions to come through as well.

Thank you.

So there's several points there.

The first point about not getting a response unacceptable.

Yes, you did ring me on one occasion and I did intervene.

I would expect the response to be as timely every time an important issue comes through.

I'm going to ask David to make a comment in a moment.

I would say that it has been interesting over the last month or so to look at the quantum of members inquiry

This is no excuse. This is a capacity issue that I need to address

So we have thousands of members inquiries live at the moment

We have a higher proportion than any other local authority in London, and we need to match

Resource to deal with them quickly. I've had a meeting the storey

This is I'll get to the point had a meeting with the lead envoy today

and we were talking about exactly that, the speed with which we respond to FOIs, SARS,

members inquiries, corporate complaints, member on member complaints, all of those things,

and there are thousands of them, and the speed with which different cohorts in the political

realm get their responses, you know, do we respond quickly to this type of issue or that

type of issue, and we're doing a thorough piece of work at the moment to make sure that

you don't experience that type of delay moving forward.

Can I just ask David in a moment just to come back to that?

In relation to the bit where I say we don't expect,

where I talked about not agreeing with every aspect

of what the, and that directly came from the fact

that the Secretary of State had commented in discussion

and in correspondence and publicly

that the council's finances were,

I can't remember the exact word,

but I think it was were deteriorating.

and clearly following the external auditors view that they're not, following our position

around the MTFS, the 130 odd million pounds of reserves, the reinvestment and what have

you, it was helpful to receive clarity from the Minister last week when we met that it

isn't, as I mentioned, it's not about the MTFS, it's about the use of resources element

of the best value regime.

So I think where we don't agree we can have robust conversations with them to make sure

that we're using our resource to best effect to make change.

But there is, it's interesting,

we've had a conversation today with the envoys

about reserve powers, about how they operate

and how they work and how they would be invoked

or initiated in the process of escalation.

And I think there's a common understanding

that if ever we got to the point where a reserve power

had to be used, then as a group we have failed.

Because the escalation process should mean

that we address any concerns that the envoys have

before they get to that point.

So I do not envisage there continuing to be areas

where we disagree.

I think we're gonna spend a lot of time

over the next few weeks making sure

that we understand the foundations that we're building upon,

the terms of reference, for example, for deep dives,

and that we move forward in the right way.

In relation to the third paragraph,

I need to be really clear.

When

Media coverage is inaccurate and it's obviously inaccurate and we make complaints to the press commission

Or we do whatever we need to do to try and rectify

Inaccurate report and we do it for one reason we do it to ensure

I say one reason I'm summarising

This council relies on grant funding we rely on government support

We rely on effective engagement with the local community.

We rely on an ability to engage with a diverse community.

As you know, we have the most diverse population in London

in only seven and a half square miles.

When the perceptions of the local authority

and the reputation of the local authority as a council

is impacted by misreporting, I have a responsibility,

the monitoring officer has a responsibility

to address that. So there was some interesting reporting over the weekend, for example, which

we have now met with the envoys and MHCLG officials, and we've received clarification

from then and an apology for the way in which that information was handled. We have to challenge,

in my estimation, because we represent the Council. That is not a political statement.

That's an officer statement with the responsibilities I said for continuing to motivate, to deliver

nearly 10 ,000 staff that are committed to doing so.

I feel I've missed something off.

Did you raise a ... Can I just ask David to comment on that?

I know you don't want to go into detail and I understand that completely because you've

already said that there's a legal element to this.

But David, can I just ask you to comment?

Yeah.

First of all, my apologies that you haven't had a response to your email from last month,

particularly. I do know as well that when we get inquiries in and we also get them as

members' inquiries we then log them and track them in a different place but you've not had

a response to either so for that I can only apologise and say sorry to you but I'll make

sure that you're called with utmost urgency. I am aware of this case having just read it

Now I'm aware it's a very serious one and I'm sure someone calls you tomorrow to give

you the background and also then provide you with a subsequent response.

But please accept my apologies for my own failure to respond in February in particular.

Just want to clarify.

You mentioned about deep dive.

Is it a historical deep dive or the current issue?

So, sorry, so what are, so the deep dives that I'm referring to are deep dives that

are included in the new directions into five specific areas, performance now.

It's talking about how we conduct business now in those five areas.

So they are housing allocations, planning and licencing, the mayor's office, recruitment

and promotion.

Is that five?

Oh, no, there is another one.

Grant giving.

Any other one on this side?

No, it's in the front.

Do you want to go on, please?

Thank you, Chair.

My question to the chief executive.

There is so much misinformation and videos circulating surrounding the fake news regarding

the new directions.

What comes to help the Council or step you are taking to tackle these situations?

Okay, thank you for the question.

I think to be really clear, and as we hurtle towards local elections, there is a very clear

distinction between the political environment and the council stroke

officer environment. So there is a lot of, as returning officer, which is not

something we're here to discuss tonight, I'm party to a lot of information that

comes in around activity in the communities we run up to the election.

I'm not going to comment about that, I'm not prepared to comment about it, where

issues are of real concern as a result of media coverage they refer to the

police and there are several that are currently being investigated. My concern

is to make sure that the new directions are understood.

So the key issue that that has come about in that respect

is the nature of reserved powers and what that means.

And I've been contacted by various members about that.

So to be absolutely clear, the powers that Kim Bromley -Derry has

as the lead envoy and those collectively the assistant envoys have

are in relation to those issues that are covered in Appendix B

to the letter that I received from James Blythe.

So basically what that means.

If at any time Kim Bromley -Derry feels, or the envoys feel,

that we are not complying with our best value duty

in the areas that are specified,

there will be an escalation process.

And if after however many stages that will comprise,

we haven't sorted that out yet, four or five stages,

he will be able to act on the council's behalf,

or on my behalf, or on any corporate director's behalf,

or a section 151, or a monitoring officer,

or the council in terms of non -executive functions.

And the point I was trying to make earlier on

is if we get to that point, then we have collectively failed,

if the escalation process works effectively.

I'm not... So, claiming that the powers don't mean this

or they do mean that, we will get some lines out, I think,

that would be helpful so that the general population

can understand to the extent that will be helpful.

But misinformation, I don't really have a view on that.

I've not been advised that there's,

I'm sure there's lots of information around

in relation as we run up to the election,

but that isn't the concern of the council

so far as it doesn't impact upon member behaviour.

And at the moment, any member behaviour

that's been reported is being dealt with within the Council's procedures.

Thank you, chair. You're doing an excellent job.

I wanted to ask about, so in my reading of these documents and these letters back and forth

is that there is essentially an agreed position, but it would be helpful if you could clarify that for me.

And I think you referenced it yourself, this sort of idea of planning for a plan and essentially sort of

doing a lot of planning and a lot of talking for how we're going to improve and not much improvement.

and I can see how some of the changes that have been imposed have tackled that problem,

but what I want to hear from yourself on behalf of yourself and your team is what role do

you play in this in terms of actually getting to this delivery? I think if I recall, I think

when we were talking about this intervention way, way, way back at the start, this was

concern is how are we actually going to get to this point where things have changed and things are better

instead of just constantly talking about how things are going to be better and

it is a little bit worrying to me that it's sort of a year and the

the prevailing view is well

we've done a lot of talking and I'm not saying not much else because obviously there have been changes and we can see that

but I think I've all of us would have expected us not to be in this position and

and didn't want to be in this position, and I'm sure you're as disappointed as the rest of us that we are,

so how do we get to that change? How is this actually going to happen?

Because it seems to me time is running out.

Thank you, so I would be the first to accept that you're right.

There's an awful lot of talk, we've done a lot of talk, a lot of talk with the envoys,

and I think there are three reasons for that.

First of all, we didn't have plans for some things.

It had been, you know, for however long there had been an attempt to deliver services without

any real building blocks, which is what the OGA referred to.

So we had to develop plans.

That's number one.

Number two, I think there was confusion about where, which is why I mentioned earlier on

about the new escalated, and they are escalated, directions give us clarity.

There was confusion about where we needed to improve.

So it's interesting that the envoys and everybody else will say, yes, you get outstanding children's

services, yes, you get good CQC, yes, you've got a medium -term financial strategy, yes,

you have your resident survey, but they're not the issues we're concerned about.

We're concerned about governance.

We're concerned about where the executive mayor model operates in a London local authority.

So even this morning, we've been meeting to talk about focusing down on those areas, making

sure that we do the third thing, which is resource them.

So for the first time the council set aside nearly 23 million pounds in its MTFS to make sure we deliver

So the the Secretary of State's really clear. We haven't delivered quickly enough in the areas that are concerned to the Secretary of State

I accept it. I'm the chief executive. I accept it. I don't have and and that goes with the territory

I but my role in that place and you can see the guy I should have introduced these two by the way

We're halfway through and I haven't introduced Richard Ennis who's our new section 151 and

and Gillian Marston who's taking up Simon Baxter's portfolio.

My responsibility is to make sure that they have the resources to do their job,

because it is their job, some of it is statutory, some of it is not,

that they are enabled to do it, so they feel empowered to do it,

that they operate in a culture where we can make mistakes,

because without that we don't have any creativity,

and to make sure that when the challenges occur,

occur, I don't just support them, but I give them clear direction about how to address

those things.

All of that needs to be done within a framework that John, who's sitting over there, John

Lloyd you know, will lead because we have now agreed with the envoys that we need to

address capacity.

We haven't got enough people, obviously we might not feel like that, but we haven't got

enough people in the centre.

We haven't got enough people giving that corporate grip.

So delivery will be ensured by empowering the corporate directors and making sure that we're monitoring performance and reporting back to

Forums like this through the work that John will do to ensure delivery if we don't deliver it pace

Then there will be consequences and I'm really clear about that

I'm going to move over to Apadur, please.

Thank you, Csar. I'll be very quick and very brief.

Thank you, Osti, for your presentation.

And I have a very brief one.

How content are you with this progress and timeline of the full clearance,

particularly full clearance of MHLG? Thank you.

So if I understood the question, how happy am I with the time scale for...

How content you are with this progress of the timeline?

Okay, so first of all, my objective,

and I've been very open about this,

is to have no envoys, is to have no intervention.

To do that, we need to move at pace.

Are we going to be in that place within the next 12 months?

I very much doubt it.

Are we going to see intervention through to the time scale

of March 2028, which is currently what the directions outline.

I hope not.

Key to that are some clear building blocks.

We have to address the statutory recommendations.

Whilst we have statutory recommendations, the intervention is going to remain.

So the role of the Audit Committee, the members on that Audit Committee, the infrastructure

that we've put in place to address the statutory recommendations is absolutely key.

Am I happy about intervention?

No, of course not.

Am I content that we're moving quickly enough?

Clearly we're not.

Are we going to address that in the next six months to 12 months?

Yes, we are, and you'll hold me accountable when I come back here to talk about it next

time.

Finally, you get your turn.

Thank you.

The mayor yesterday tweeted about the recent leak of supposed government meeting notes

of allegations regarding the council.

Have you seen these notes, and have you raised them with the envoys or MCHLG?

So, we have had confirmation from the journalist involved that he has received those notes.

We've had confirmation that those notes represent a meeting that took place.

We've also had...

Have you seen the notes?

No, no, I haven't seen the notes.

You haven't seen the notes?

No, no, I haven't seen the notes, personally.

We have had written confirmation from the envoys about how that happened and their regret

that it did. And MHCLG have put out a statement in that respect as well. I don't know what

the Mayor tweeted and I don't know in what capacity he did it. So he told me that he

has but I'm not party to that.

Okay, you're saying that MCH LG you have a spoken about it or release a statement about it

I can't find that so information about that would be useful but

If you've not seen the notes and it's not been verified that they're correct by either yourself or the mayor

Why is it being spoken about I?

Think it's being discussed publicly

referred to I think publicly by the mayor because the allegations and the content were made public and

And I'll go back over what I said previously.

So the article that appeared in the Telegraph had inaccuracies in it.

We have made a complaint, not because the notes that the journalist claims to have access

to and in his words were leaked to him, not in relation to the people that he has confirmed

attended that meeting, but in relation to the fact that what the Telegraph printed was

inaccurate.

So, I'll give you an example.

It would be interesting to reflect on this, actually.

So the deep dives that are taking place, for example, in relation to grant giving, we've

been very clear, very specific and very focused about what that will be.

It will be a data exercise.

At no time was it ever discussed, unless it's been discussed without my knowledge and certainly

without the envoys' knowledge, that this was about resourcing the Bangladeshi community

only over any other community, which is what appeared online in the Telegraph an hour and

a half before the deadline that we'd agreed for the Council to comment.

The Council then has a responsibility.

In relation to where MHCLG have put their press release, I don't know.

That's a matter for MHCLG.

Okay, well I'm reading the Telegraph article and there are no references to supposed or

leaked meeting notes.

So I ask you again, have you seen those notes and what discussions have you had with the

I'm happy to repeat again, no I have not, number one.

Number two, I'm not a journalist, I'm not responsible for what they write.

What I am responsible for is impacting the council's reputation when misinformation appears,

a view shared by the lead envoy.

Thank you, chair.

Thank you, Steve, for your presentation.

The ministerial statement says that we are not

moving fast enough on finance.

And deep drive to improve is insufficient.

Our adult social care was recently just good

and our children and education was also just

outstanding.

And we have very good feedback from the

from our annual residence survey,

has the minister taken these points into account,

is number one.

And number two, could you provide us about the progress

the mayor office has made in terms of reduction,

and are we on track?

Thank you.

Are we on track?

Yeah, I mean, I don't, all I can reflect upon is what the ministerial statement said when

it was laid before Parliament, the written statement last week, and the correspondence

that I've received from the Deputy Director of Intervention, Local Government, which is

there is an acceptance that service delivery is not the issue or the justification for

the intervention.

So in those places that you've talked about, yes, we perform well.

We do perform well.

We're not an exemplar in terms of service delivery.

We have very difficult circumstances, density of population, diversity of population, growth,

transient population, all of those things that we need to deal with.

But we do do well in some places.

But that is not the reason that we have intervention.

I know I've said a lot of this already, so I won't repeat it.

We're in intervention because there are concerns around those issues that I referred to in my opening statement.

As far as the Mayor's Office is concerned, I think it's on record that the number of people working in the Mayor's Office

has reduced from somewhere in the region of 36 down to about 10, I think, now.

9 or 10 now.

What we are talking to the envoys about is making sure...

That's just a movement of people.

What we need to do is to make sure that the work they're doing represents the council

and not just the mayor's office.

So that is the next, that is actually, will comprise part of the deep dive, which I've

already listed.

The mayor's office is one of those areas that will be subject to a deep dive.

Am I satisfied with the way in which we deliver services and the quality of those services?

Never be completely satisfied because we always want to do better.

I have been waiting for a long time.

I just need to correct myself.

Now having listened to Mr Hosey, when I asked my second question about

the third paragraph, I need to correct myself.

I had no idea you were talking about all of this.

I thought there was something out in the community that was wrong and you

were rebutting that.

It's also not my fault because why would you write it like that?

You've not said it's in the community.

in the telegraph and you're protecting the reputation of the council.

It doesn't allow me to follow through, so I was wrong in questioning that in that way.

Now I understand, but I do think that paragraph is wrong because it comes off like a political

statement than it does of a council factual accuracy, like this is what happened, this

is what the council is doing.

And also there's a lot of similarity between what you've written there and what the mayor

wrote, and so there's confusion.

Now I'm starting to understand what you mean and I get I do understand why you've done that

But it's just written in a way that doesn't do justice. I'm sorry. So I apologise

I wasn't meaning to be misdirecting you in any way

The telegraph issue was raised. I had to say it wasn't just a telegraph although they went to print and they went online

There were other media outlets that

So I'm sorry. I apologise. I didn't I didn't mean to mislead

I will try and keep it brief.

I want to talk about delivery and specifically on customer service.

There is a reason why we have got some of the highest number of member inquiries in

any London borough.

It's because it's really hard to get in touch with the council to get simple problems fixed

and even when people have complicated problems which people do more and more,

we know that from trends across the country that people have much more complex issues since Covid,

they're not able to find the person to answer those questions.

Even if they can do emails, they're not able to, you know, they send emails into a black hole

and then they get sent round and round in circles on the phone.

And certainly people who don't have access to emails find it even more frustrating.

And that's maybe the older generation but also people with accessibility needs.

So there was a resident here before the meeting who can't do email

and consistently requests accessibility adjustments, reasonable adjustments to be made.

We're a public body, we have to have a reasonable adjustments policy

and we have to make all of our communications and all of our forms

and all of our contact methods available in all of the different methods.

It's a complex task but it will actually save us time in the long run

and all of us councillors, our inboxes are full of people who are falling through the cracks.

It's just not really okay. And it wasn't okay when I first got elected in 2022 and it's still a problem four years later.

And I don't see this being addressed. It's like the number one issue that we need to solve, in my opinion.

Steve, do you want to answer, Steve?

I don't, I feel like I'm about to be flippant, but I don't mean to, you're right.

That's not an excuse, not me saying we're not doing, so my, what I find really interesting

here is that we have, so we have a building here at the moment which is Wi -Fi enabled,

we have no wires, we don't have a telephone system, we don't have cable laid to be able

to answer the phone.

I have an aspiration which we're trying to work towards to have a hard phone on every desk.

The reason I say that is because the most frustrating thing that we found through the Adney Residence Survey

is that people can ring up the council, they can go through through a contact centre, the contact centre put them through and no one picks up the phone.

And that is a consequence of what? That is either a consequence of people not being in the building because we have a hybrid working issue that we need to address,

It's a consequence of which every, I have to say, is an issue across London, in fact

an issue I think in the local government sector.

We have an issue about the occupancy of this building.

We have an issue, you quite rightly say, although we have the youngest population on average

of any local authority in the country, we also have an older population that don't want

to transact with us in the way that we would find convenient.

So then there is a piece of work that needs to be done.

In fact, David perhaps will talk about this in a minute, about where we deliver our services

from. There are people in this borough that want to have face -to -face contact, but they

can't come here. They can't get into the town hall for a whole host of reasons. How are

we going to address that? You all know that my history in the borough involved not just

working in housing, but under a one -stop shop neighbourhood regime. Now, I'm not suggesting

for one minute that we go back there. I wouldn't want that to be misunderstood, but I do think

there is an issue about locality planning and local service delivery.

We need to have offices across the borough, in my estimation, that deliver services locally

to those in most need on a face -to -face basis.

And where we can enable and do it virtually, we need to have an infrastructure that allows

us to do that.

Our biggest, by far the number of inquiries that we get are about housing.

So I am just going to ask, because I know he wants to say something, because he...

David, you want to comment about that particular issue and then I'll come back.

Thank you, Councillor Peter. In fact I was talking to the very resident that you mentioned at the start

and my first response was to say here is my email, please get in contact with me.

And obviously he said that doesn't work for me so we have put in place a different mechanism for him to meet with me

and my planning team around the issues that he's raising.

So you're right, we constantly need to think differently about different ways of people contacting us.

and one of the things that you know I have definitely seen working is things

like repairs, surgeries where we get out onto estates and we meet residents. One

of the things we've been doing in housing is the big door knock where

we've knocked on hundreds of doors and spoken directly to residents in a

different way than we're expecting them to either call or email and you know

we have found we've managed to pick up a lot of casework that we wouldn't

otherwise have received.

So I think it is really important that we do have different mechanisms, as you say,

and I think the kind of looking at the locality -based working through resident hubs or a similar

model and how we can get more services out into the community is really important for

the reasons that you've said.

My question to you, Steve, is on behalf of all my colleagues and residents as well, that

I think that the

problem is that the

government has to be

The government has to be

careful.

The government has to be

careful.

The government has to be

lot more improvement. What mechanism are you in place for the future to make sure that

somebody get prompt service?

If I understood the question, the answer is we need more people basically picking up the

phone that can get through to those officers in departments that have responsibility for

addressing the issues, number one. Number two, we need to make sure that we've got the

right ICT infrastructure, which we don't currently, to make it easier for people to do things

that want to do it, can do it virtually and online.

And we also need to make sure that where people

want face -to -face contact, that we have local outlets

that enable them to do that.

But I think the most important thing for me,

we're not, we don't know everything.

And I think it's really important that we listen

to residents as to how they want to be served.

Once we've done that piece of work,

and we're well on the way in some departments,

I mean, Richard could talk to you about the way in which we get council tax and our performance

in that space.

David could talk about housing and repairs and all of those issues.

And I'm sure Ginni could talk to you about the way in which we deal with ASP.

But the most important thing, and a host of other things, but the most important thing

we need to do is listen.

If we listen, it's an iterative process.

I need to make sure that the resources that address those concerns and that level of performance

are addressed.

We also need to make sure that we're working on fact, that we're working on data, not hearsay,

Not that somebody has found it difficult, but actually we get thousands, tens of thousands,

hundreds of thousands inquiries a year and we need to be able to track them more effectively

than we do at the moment so that we can allocate resource to address any weaknesses or challenges.

John, do you want to say anything about the way in which we might manage that performance?

Yeah, thank you Steve.

So what we're working on at the moment which would anticipate with your steer to start

to appear in the future editions of the performance report would be the number of times that residents

have to contact us to get a query done, the number of people that are carrying out or

getting a service or getting an answer in the way that they want to, whether that's

face to face but actually a large proportion of our residents as you know quite happy to

just do it quickly and easy via online.

And what will sit behind that will be

quite a lot of technological change,

but also some cultural change,

which we know that we need to work,

whether that's out in neighbourhoods

or whether that's with our staff.

So that will form a transformation programme

of which technology is an important part,

but not the only part, which will be updating you on this,

as we develop that and get permission

to invest within that area, the key way which we will free up capacity so staff can spend

more time with the people that need that extra level of care and attention will be ensuring

that people that are really happy for it to be done quickly and online get that service

as well because that frees up the time that we need for the people that need it most.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Thank you, Steve, for your team and David, everybody, coming over and give your view.

And I also thank the panel as well, ask them those questions as well.

Anybody who is free to go on the topic, do so.

We're going to move into next item.

I knew you.

The council is going to come down and do the presentation in relation to Q3 and corporate

directors here to support them.

I wouldn't want you to think I could add any value in that respect.

No, that's...

No, no, I did it on a connexion.

Oh, no, they were...

Okay, seriously.

That's right, yeah.

Said, are you ready?

No problem.

8 a) Q3 Strategic Delivery Performance Report 2025-26

I'm just going to, I think Richard has the first meeting and Gillian as well, so I forgot

to introduce you know all the councillors now, so welcome on your first meeting.

Also, did you have anything to declare on DPI?

Did you want to declare?

Thank you for clarifying that as well.

Sayid, are you ready?

I need a little bit of minutes.

Okay, no problem. Take care. I'll give him a minute.

I'm going to introduce the strategic development performance report 2015.

I think we have a quarter three performance of our delivery for strategic delivery.

What we have here is 39 measures that are being reported.

Out of the 39, we have 26 measures are green.

and there is a decrease from the last quarter.

A little bit of good news is that one of the previous red measure has now improved into

a green measure.

That is the percentage of education and healthcare assessments completed within 20 weeks.

That was one that was very crucial, very critical.

We spoke about it in detail in the previous overview and scrutiny committees, as well

as in cabinet and MAB.

The mayor was very serious about this KPR, making sure that we can actually hit time

So that's now improved. It's gone to green.

One previous AMBA measure, which was AMBA,

now it's gone to green as well, and that one is to do with the number of

new jobs, training and apprenticeships opportunities enabled for young people.

So this quarter we have 60 performance measures

divided in seven different categories.

To start with, I've got 26 that's green,

seven that is red, six amber, 11 are data only, five are reported annually.

Just to quickly go into the red measures, the red measures is KPI 10, KPI 11, KPI 25,

43, 47, 54 and 55.

We have had deep discussions about this throughout the processes and how we can improve those

KPI measures going forward.

No KPI should be red and that is not acceptable.

We have had intensive discussion around with corporate directors and lead members on how to get those improved.

We've got six measures which is AMBA, KPI 22, KPI 28, 45, 46, 52 and 58.

Those also we are watching them very closely because we don't want them to slip in any way and becoming red.

So these are very critical when to make sure that performance continues on those areas and they go towards the green rather than red area

So lead members and corporate directors as I say

Continuing to lead the services to tackle these challenges and all the all the ones that are within red measures are because of complex issues

There are issues not just a lot of them not just just our council per se. It's across London

But the main thing is that we continue to work as hard as we can and ensure that our

residents live in a borough that they can be proud of.

We've got John Lloyd leading in that department, thankfully, in safe hands.

And if you want to add anything, John, you can do so.

And that's from me.

Thank you, Che.

Thank you, Syed.

Thank you for your presentation.

It was nice and swift.

Over to the floor for the question.

I know the Gulaan, Colombia unit asked a question to Syed.

lead member Saeed. Over to you.

Thank you chair, thank you lead member for your nice presentation.

KPI

035, KPI 036,

KPI 038,

Adult Social Care. I am pleased to see that our KPI shows our overall performance is improving.

may take this opportunity to congratulate Georgiia on the recent CQC inspection outcome.

Much of this is down to her hard work of her past month and we are grateful to her.

Thank you Georgiia.

KPI 011 is read.

The commentary is not clear.

You seem to be saying that the unit is understaffed because you have recruited your agency staff

to permanent jobs.

So you are still short -staffed.

Can you clarify this? Do you understand what I mean?

Yes. Yes, Councillor. Thank you.

I think that's a very important KPI.

I'm going to ask David to come in.

But I think from what we know that this is our residents who are in

privately rented accommodations where we need to make sure that our visits are

at a certain amount of visits that we complete because we know the seriousness

of that KPI because our residents could be in private rented,

private rented accommodation which are not suitable or would there could be ongoing issues such as dam point infestation, whatever that could be so that sort of

Inspection is very very important. I understand that from quarter one to quarter two the

Work has improved but because of the kind of measurement we put in place

We decided we weren't able to hit that target yet

But I think I would ask David to elaborate on that and I'm sure we're going the right direction David

Thank you. Yeah, that's right. We I mean this is an area where we do have recruitment

and difficulties around basically environmental health officers who carry out these inspections.

This has been addressed and we do now have a full team in place and because of that the

rate of visits has increased.

We haven't yet met the target that we've set ourselves for the year but we believe we can

improve substantially now that we've got the full team in place between now and the end

the year this data is reporting for the first three quarters I'm confident we'll

see another improvement by quarter four and that going into the next year we're

in a much better position as a result of the recruitment that we've undertaken

it's worth also saying we did increase the target for this financial year

because we wanted to stretch ourself because it is so such an important area

for us to strengthen the regulation around private sector rented properties

Because as we know a lot of our residents live in the private rent sector.

Amy?

Thank you, Chair. It's just a quick one.

Could somebody just talk us through KPI 47?

It's the one that's gone from green to red.

I'm trying to get my head around this explanation and it's given me word salad.

and unfortunately I cannot really tell at all what's gone on here.

So if somebody can just talk us through that.

I'll look into comment if that's okay.

Yeah, oh did you want me to speak?

Yeah please.

I think to be brutally honest there probably isn't a great explanation for what has happened here.

We have just seen this drop off. We are now meeting the teams on a regular basis. I met

with the local managers as well to ascertain what has happened, because we don't believe

there's a reduction in the levels of fly tipping and littering in the borough, for example,

to warrant the decrease in FPNs issues. So we're picking that up with the team to get

the wider group. I know you once had a scrutiny of the integrated enforcement team as part

of that work. I have already met some of the team. So there probably isn't a sort of a

complicated reply to your question other than there just seems to be a drop in productivity

that has happened, which we are picking up.

Cillian and Natalie, please.

Thanks, Chair. I would like to ask about KPI 46.

So we are still below target for our recycling level and we've, Gillian I know you're new

but we've talked a lot about waste and recycling and scrutiny and some of the

recommendations that have come through from the committee have been around

consistency and communication with residents about the systems that we're

for recycling, communication about pilot schemes, about what the results of the pilot schemes

are, about any feedback that might come from residents, but also to the kind of very basic

level of sending out communications to residents, reminding them about their recycling days.

I'm a private renter, there's a third of the housing in the borough is privately rented,

and a lot of people like me move on after a year.

So students or even just to the young professionals

have a contract for a year.

And so, and there isn't any regular reminder

for those people about what they can recycle

and when they can recycle and how they can recycle.

And then there've been even more kind of issues

coming forward, got some issues coming forward

from flats that don't have any recycling bins at all

and have no space for them.

And so it feels like we are improving,

but there's so much more that we can do.

And I really hope that there is the energy and the drive

within the team to continue working on this,

because it's been a huge amount of work to get to this point,

but we've still got so far to go.

I just wanted to ask you about that.

Yes, you're absolutely right.

And the surface commissioned a report with MA.

Is it is defra still around they change government departments so many times

There was a we had some experts consultants come in with the government to look at how we could improve recycling

Obviously you will have heard and it is true recycling in a borough that so dense with a lot of blocks of flats

Does to them present problems that's not unusual one of the big ways of increasing recycling is food waste collections

That's about 30 % of household waste

So we are going to be testing out food waste collection so we should then see a big increase in the recycling level.

But we're going to test that out to make sure we get all those communications right and work with residents right.

Because that's more complicated if you like.

I'm actually meeting with the team this Thursday where we're going through the future recycling plan.

And that will need to cover off what you're saying about how we communicate.

and I think we need to be quite targeted in who we communicate with as well, so we'll be able to report back.

Thank you chair, thank you committee member for wonderful presentations.

My question is always to be brief, so I request a brief answer as well.

So that other colleagues can ask questions.

Oberkund household have reduced.

The commentary says that this is because of 42 % of our stock is one bedroom unit,

which are not suitable for a work -read household, but this stock figure is not new.

So it cannot be the reason why the leads have gone down.

What is the result of the led and what has reduced the number of leds reported here?

It's KPII 10 in red.

Thank you for the question, Councillor Khan.

So you're right, the profile of the stock hasn't changed but I think what does change

from quarter to quarter is the profile of the lets that become available and in this

particular quarter that we're reporting we've had a particularly high percentage of smaller

properties and also unfortunately a concurrently drop in numbers of properties overall that

we've been able to let, so if you take the two together, we have been able to prioritise

less to overcrowded households, less so than if we'd had a large supply of large properties

or a larger supply of properties overall.

So I think those are the factors.

The other thing obviously is that we have been looking to reduce, one of the ways we've

been looking to reduce the spend on homelessness has been by putting some of the letters towards

homeless households as well, so we're kind of constantly trying to weigh the priorities

overcrowding and homelessness and it's very challenging when you have a low

number of properties in a particular quarter. What I would say is it's quite

lumpy as we know though because as we see things like new build schemes come

on track from registered providers and also our own schemes as a council we do

see other quarters where we have much larger numbers of less and also

unfortunately for even just things like natural churn is lumpy it doesn't

necessarily come in in equal numbers between each quarter.

Thank you Chair. I want to focus on KPI 54.

So it's within the housing portfolio, so you David.

I wonder if you could talk a bit more about the percentage of tenants satisfied with the oval service.

I mean I won't be the only Councillor who week on week out kind of has tenants that talk about

How about their engagement with the council with and I know it was spoken a bit earlier on about with the chief executive

I know can't have been a fake speak about it. But the

Sometimes the the disregard the hostility that residents are met with is is genuinely quite shocking

And some of the emails you see I've seen as counter and no doubt across the board other counsellors will see so

What is the plan to to work on this in kind of from a strategic zooming out perspective?

because when I put in MBs about who's this residents housing officer for example, there's

been a reluctance to give it, it's only through me pushing it for example, so the bare minimum

of information residents can't even get a hold of.

So I wonder if you can speak a bit more about this decline but overall your plan to fix

it.

Thank you.

So I think in terms of overall tenant satisfaction, and so you are talking about residents who

tenants of the council as opposed to homelessness and housing options cases.

So I think we are doing a whole range of things to try and increase the information flow,

so things like the WhatsApp channel, things like the big door knob where we're actually

getting out and speaking to people, we're trying to add in to the existing things like

our tenant voice forum and our TRA engagement that we do, so we are trying to diversify

the ways that people can engage with the service.

I would point out, this isn't where any of us wanted to be the most recent quarters of data,

but it is typical that we see a dip at this point in the year because we have the winter pressures,

we tend to see increases of cases of damp and mould at this time of year.

It is higher than the same rating for this time last year, and overall this year the TSM's on average are better than last year.

We are a quartile for central London, but that doesn't mean we can rest in our laurels.

It's relevant in the sense of when we benchmark against other authorities, we perform quite well.

I'm shaking my head because it's irrelevant when it comes to residents.

I'm not shaking to you absolutely factually correct when it comes to other councils.

Say that to a tenant, say that to somebody.

I know it's bad, I know it's not great, but we're better than the other councils in the

area, that's why I'm shaking my head to be clear.

Can you quickly answer the question, please, David or Hubert?

I think I've said that we've tried to diversify the way in which we're working with tenants.

If there are any specific examples of poor quality correspondence as you've outlined,

I'm happy to look at that with some of the managers on my team.

I have to say it's not generally what I see because obviously I do review a lot of the

answers that go out and I would say that I do see dedicated responses from staff but

a lot of the lack of satisfaction can be done to things like long term stock investment

and obviously we are trying to do something about that with the major investment in planned works,

which will hopefully lead to improvements over time.

And the Qabir please.

Thank you chair, thank you.

I can't remember for your presentation.

I'll be very brief and quick.

I have a question for the Minister of Health.

KPI 43, 100 % of victims of this service are

satisfied but they do not

necessarily feel safe

and engaging with our services, feeling safe,

maybe down

their factor outside of our control.

Do you have

the right KPI there?

the

I think that

is to do

with the violence

against

women and girls

who feel safe

after

engaging with

commissioned

providers.

After they have

spoken to

Sollison, the

providers we

have out there

is how they

felt after

that engagement.

It is not

about generally

how women and

girls feel in

the borough, it

is about the

people who have gone

out to get the commission

service.

So I think that's the first element of that

In terms of how we are performing against it

I think we need to do better

Definitely want to do better when they come when they engage with the Commission provider and we need to ensure that those people

especially they're vulnerable the victims of

Violence and they need to come out from that service and they need to ensure that they do feel they do feel better

so I think

The Commission service itself stands at 100 %

It is rather looking at the three out of the 24 of those reporting that felt unsafe.

There was only three out of 24 that reported back.

It is going back and seeing exactly what they felt and why it was unsafe and making sure

we can fix this.

The 24 people came back and three people said they felt unsafe.

Thank you, Saeed.

Asma, are you ready?

Thank you, chair.

I have two KPIs I want to talk about.

The first one I know the chair is very passionate about because he's done some work around that

in his scrutiny lead, which is about the primary schools, free school data for both primary

and secondary.

I know we've had issues in the past about collecting data from schools, trying to get

this as accurate as possible.

Why are we still struggling to gather that data?

because when I look at it for primary school KPI 012,

it's quarter four and quarter three, there's a 4000 difference.

It's that how accurate is it and should we be worried?

And then KPI 014, which is a secondary school,

it's going up and down, I mean 11 ,000 to 3 ,000,

I assume that's because we couldn't collect the data.

Could you provide me with some context?

And on recycling, it's really good to hear we've got an interim director in place and

we wish you all the best, we've got some real challenges.

Sorry I had to leave for a little bit but when I came back I did hear some of the challenges

that we have as a borough.

But what I do think is really important to acknowledge is the bread and butter and the

things that we never got wrong before that we are getting wrong now and I don't understand

why.

for instance, we are now chasing trying not to miss collections, but in the process, and

this is something I've seen myself, and I know residents tell me all the time, all the

time is the general waste and recycling being mixed in collections.

So you're trying to do one thing and make that right, but you're doing something else

that is getting our recycling rate to a place where we're the worst in the country.

The other thing with recycling is even though we didn't fully have food waste and garden

because we don't have a lot of gardens, but we didn't have it everywhere,

like it wasn't universal in Taheemlitz, but the places that we did pick up,

it did help our recycling rate.

I have a garden, I also have a low -rise property,

which means I should be able to have my food waste collected

and my green waste collected.

I can tell you from my experience, that's not been happening,

and they're the low -hanging fruits.

Like you said earlier, the green waste and food waste

should be helping us increase our numbers.

I understand the piloting, I understand trying to get in flats,

That's the challenges, but we were doing this right for years and years.

I just don't understand why it's not working now.

Can I cross Gillian come in, if that's alright?

I think I answered previously, which I said that we are going to be doing a pilot of food waste collections.

Because I think what you're saying is low hanging fruit is food waste.

it's about 30 % off.

Not quite.

I understand that bit.

I heard a bit about the challenges,

and we need to get that.

And the government didn't end up getting that white paper

across the line to make food waste mandatory.

I'm talking about the food waste collections we've always done

for the houses, the low -rise properties.

We've always done them.

Now they don't get collected, almost to the point

where people stop using it.

Because food waste, putting it outside

and not having it collected, is not

like your general waste and your recycling.

What I'm trying to say, my point on both recycling, on all the points on recycling is, we are

not doing the bare basic.

We're trying to chase getting the collection right so we don't have a missed collection,

but they're mixing general waste.

The things that we've been doing, the bare basic, the bread and butter, the things we

know we can do, we're not even doing them.

That's why it's at this rate, because there's a 4 % difference between one of our lowest

in the past and what it is now.

This is the lowest it's ever been.

Okay, so what I understand is we're actually missing collections so people are losing confidence

in the service and not participating in the service.

And that is, yeah, absolutely, that, you know, if you do miss a lot of collections that is

what happens and we all need to drill down into that to see what the rate of missed collections

are on food waste.

I don't know, I don't have that figure to hand and with the team on Thursday doing a

deep dive on recycling to try and get those rates up, I'd plan to get those rates up.

Thank you for your question.

Gillian, I know you put on the spotlight, but I'm sure you were able to find out and

come back with the response to the officers and we'll take you from there.

Sorry, any other school meal question?

Can I ask a question related to the last point?

Just on the mis -collections, we've also had a lot of discussions around the mis -collections rate

which is reported to this committee. There isn't a way of verifying that figure.

We've had discussions with officers in the past about not reporting that figure to this committee

because it doesn't feel like a helpful figure that we can scrutinise

because it's not a kind of independently verified figure, it's something that the team owns

and it relies on resident reports and there isn't a way of the crews saying we have collected

that bin to then match up with the resident collection reports and there's a big issue

where perception where residents, well not even just perception, but residents have reported

so often that they've had missed collections that they've stopped reporting when they get

a missed collection and so it doesn't, so the team may have figures on missed collection

report, missed food based recycling that may not actually reflect the reality but nobody

knows what the reality is because there's no way of like independently verifying it

which I think is a real, it's a real frustration.

It is unusual to have, I'm thinking how would you get misrefuge collections verifiable.

It is unusual where I've worked in boroughs in London and outside of London that you would

rely on either residence reports and misbin reports from crews.

That is what you would normally rely on.

It is very unusual then to get those figures sort of verified.

I mean I could take it back to the team, but also your figures are always comparative to how you perform year on year and comparative to other boroughs

and I don't think other boroughs would verify, I don't know how they would verify.

I could certainly inquire, but I don't have an answer. It's not something I've come across.

I accept that it's not possible to verify it, but I think it's unhelpful to have the missed collection reports reported to us

because it doesn't seem to give us any information that's useful for us, that's the point.

questions. I think Steve, are you online about the free school meal? You are online. Steve?

Fantastic. Would you be able to answer Asma's question, please?

Thank you, chair. Just really quickly, as the Councillor said, it was a really good

piece of work that your scrutiny committee carried out on school food. We do have two

performance indicators KPI 13 and 15 which is the percentage of children who

access free school meals which are both on target but except the actual raw

data itself does fluctuate and it does change throughout the year. There's an

action plan that resulted from that scrutiny work on school food and we have

an independent organisation who do quality assurance and we'll be getting a

report from them later in the year, plus we will update the Children's Scrutiny Committee

on the action plan. Thanks.

And the Jaid, your final question, please.

Thank you, Chair. Just concern on fly tipping that I have in close to where I live, but

There's always, always, always somebody leaving a huge amount of furniture and etc.

I understand the council is introducing temporary cameras to record data, obviously which is

good.

So my question is how will the new recording protocols ensure data quality going forward

and when can we see it, that this validated dataset has made improvements?

You're asking me, sorry, I have hearing problems, which is why I keep clarifying what you say.

So you're asking me what data we will get on fly tipping and how we could report that

to the committee?

Yeah, so this is around KPI 47, Importsman Actions for Fly Tipping.

And we collect I mean we've just gone through a whole load of data which is

Particularly data that's reported by residents

We're now emerging it with data that we get from our crews that are out on the ground

So we've got a pretty good idea where the hotspots are and that that could be absolutely shared with that committee

And we're making sure that our enforcement actions match with that hotspot working

with the fly tipping hotspots obviously

The actions we take and the enforcement team work very, very closely with the waste team

and we're looking at different ways of working, like enforcement officers going out with the

waste teams, for example, to seek evidence and issue out fixed penalty notices.

We are also looking at introducing takeover fly tips, which basically say this is an environmental

crime scene that's been investigated.

But we certainly got the data that we could share here and then you'll be able to see

the actions that that matches where the hotspots for fly tips are.

Yeah, so, sorry, my question was how do you, with that data set, how would you validate

the improvement that's been made?

Or you don't have that as of yet and when can we see if there's any available, we can

and any improvement with what you just said.

Again, I think it's probably the same with the Ms Bing collections about validation of data.

I don't know how you would validate that unless you had somebody else following,

somebody counting the fly tips as well.

I don't know how you would independently validate that.

Other than obviously we do get the BVPI stats on cleanliness of the streets,

that's a form of independent validation.

So we rely on the data that we get from residents and what we will get from our crews.

The only, I don't, you would expect, you would expect to see a level of enforcement activity increase.

That's what I'd expect to see.

If we're improving, we would expect to see those levels increase, which is what we want to see over the next six months.

In terms of actual outcomes and cleanliness of the streets, you would perhaps expect some

of that to feed back into the cleanliness scores on the streets.

Whether you will get less reporting of fly tipping as a way of measuring that there's

less of it so you get less reports, I'm not too certain that that will happen.

I've not seen that happen elsewhere.

Thank you, Julia.

Thank you, Said, for your presentation and for answers to the panel as well.

We're going to swiftly move on to the next item, which is your item again as well.

8 b) Q3 Budget Monitoring 2025-26

Budget, strategy budget monitoring.

So you've got ten minutes to, or five minutes to introduce yourself, if you want.

Thank you, Said.

Thank you, Chair.

So the quarter three forecast shows they TV

The car the council is facing some financial pressures alongside significant mitigation that we put in place

And transformation activities to support the long -term stability of the council

So just to go straight into it

The general fund is projecting an eighteen point six million pounds overspent at q3

And how that is an improvement of zero point three million pounds from q2

There are new pressures included in this area when it comes to demands in children's social care

and also when it comes to our TAs and adult social care and SEND provisions.

These are pressures that is felt across the country, especially in London, and these are not unique to our hamlets.

Although we do have the pressures, we have used a planned substitution of funding from the use of parking reserves,

from the use of NSEAL, SEAL 106 and public health.

All of this is in the council's resources to allocate as suitable to make sure that we can continue supporting our services

and ensure that our service is running smoothly.

We have also used earmarked reserves to make sure that the funding what was earmarked for those areas is used appropriately as well.

We have also used the £4 million through the India mitigation.

We have put in corporate mitigation of £4 million, put £5 million of corporate revenue contingency which was built in to ensure these kind of pressures and we can actually make sure there's a cushion and buffer built into the MTFS.

We have 9 .9 million pounds overspending the DSG which is known and all councils have this

Deficit within the DSG

Council government has given some indication of what's going to happen going forward and all of that will be embedded into our MTFS as we have

discussed previously

We've got three point one million pound in our HRA

overspent. These are mainly to do with repairs and ongoing costs within the HRA. So the initial

investment of £609 million into the HRA will help this area going forward to ensure the

HRA doesn't overspend in these areas. Like I said, demand -led areas are to do with

homelessness, adult social care, SEND and supporting families. But what's happened is

The governance that we have put in place, we have ensured that those costs can be mitigated

and we are continuously working to improve our pressures.

As we have seen in our settlement, had we not put the work in before, the settlement

wouldn't have been enough.

So the work we have done, we have introduced serious panels that work through different

areas, forensically making sure that our finances are under control, including expenditure control

panels.

That reviews all council spending proposals.

You've got our corporate one and I've got departmental one.

And I've been on many, many of those panels and our corporate directors

and directors lead on them and they scrutinise every expenditure,

which is very, very important.

I'm quite pleased the way it's going.

We've got the People's Resource Board that looks at our recruitment

and make sure our agency cost is under control

and recruitment needs to go for the panel and every case has to be made

and the panel has to agree how it goes.

and it goes through rigorous process before we just hire people into our roles.

We've got the spending review panels and these are where we scrutinise

the department and the directorates from the finance lens,

with the Mayor and our Chair in those meetings as well.

That gives everyone that confidence that we know that

every department is performing the way it should be.

We also have the financial sustainability forum,

That gives us a high level strategic view of how things are going.

And to put things into more of a controlled area, we have dedicated boards to look at temporary accommodations, adult social care, SEND, because these are the critical areas that's putting the pressure in when it comes to reporting.

reporting. Moving on to savings, we have £30 .2 million in -year savings target of

that £28 .5 million is either achieved or forecasted to be achieved.

So that's 94 % really that we have achieved our savings target, while £1 .7

million which is 6 % is not achieved but what we're doing is we're asking

that that is not going to be just as undeliverable. We will look at phasing

those and make sure we can capture those savings in future years.

So I have spoken already about HRA briefly.

Within capital we have a £59 .2 million forecast and that represents 99 .8 % of the revised budget

of £59 .3 million.

There is a forecast variance of just £0 .1 million at year end.

Within the HRA capital programme, that is £170 .4 million, represents 92 % of the revised

budget.

And the rest of it, we will make sure that we re -profile wherever there is issues and

ensure that we can align it with our budget that we have set out in February 2026 of this

year.

We have got Richard and Abdul Razzaq, if they would like to add anything further.

Thank you, Chair.

I think, thank you, through you, Chair, I mean, the, the, the only things I'd add to

that sort of comprehensive explanation of where we're at really is, you know, look,

it's important to note that we have got a small improvement in position using a number

of, you know, a number of the reserve errors that we've got in an appropriate way.

The other point I make is that there are a number of authorities, as you know, that have

gone into the exceptional financial support regime.

It's really important to note that this Council hasn't done that and has been able to deliver

a significant amount in its savings, notwithstanding the national pressures that we are facing

that the Councillor has already outlined, particularly in the temporary accommodation

space and particularly in the adult social care space.

Some of the work we are doing and focusing on not within this report per se is about

how do we get ahead in terms of what we need to do for 2026 -27 and that's a real focus

of our attention at the moment as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Richard.

Anybody got any questions to ask?

We are running out of time.

So I will have the floor first, please.

Great.

Thank you very much, Chad.

I have two quick questions.

One, in terms of the finances, how much is there a caution

around everything that is going on internationally?

So obviously, potential inflation increasing and

interest rates, but also the financial situation.

how much are we confident

about the impact of having our finances?

The second one is

to Jillian.

First of all,

welcome to the council.

There is a

500K income generation

from CCTV

none of it has been

made.

I know there is

the talk of rephrasing

but what has gone wrong?

A lot has been spoken

about.

I appreciate before you were here,

but we have spoken

so many times

about this new CCTV

and the amount of money

that is going to be made

It is putting zero pounds.

I would love to hear what is going on.

Thank you.

I will first jump in with the inflation.

We have budgeted for everything into the new MTFS.

The current MTFS within the in -year area, we have cushion in place.

There is an overspend in terms of what we have set as a budget.

The thing is we have enough contingency in place.

We have EMR reserves.

On table 3, it shows we have a lot of money.

We have our closing reserves budget is already 87 .9 million pounds,

so there is cushion in place.

It's not like there isn't funds available.

But the main thing is we work towards mitigations.

We work towards ending the year within the budget.

So that's one thing that we do.

And we also at the same time build in contingency within the MTFS

to make sure that we don't need to always dip into reserves at certain points.

But at the same time, this is a demand -led area, whereas you can't really predict everything.

And we all know that it's not just the town that exists across London.

Everyone's facing that same pressure.

And the next question is to Mr Khan, please.

Sorry.

Yes, that's something I've got to get to the bottom of, what it was based on and so on.

We are sort of meeting with the RSLs in the borough where there are good opportunities

and we know a number of them want to work with us because obviously we've got the presence

in the borough so those meetings are all underway, supported by my colleague David Joyce who's

got those connexions as well.

But yes, that's something I've got to get to the bottom of so I don't have an answer

to you now.

Can I ask maybe if you write to me about this because I appreciate you're very minted about

This is before you were here.

Once you do get to the bottom of it, it would be really interesting,

in the screening position of community safety, understanding great promises were made about the commercialisation of it.

So I think it's really important we understand what's gone wrong and what the plan is.

So if you could, when you do understand what people are doing.

Yes, of course.

Yes, for updates.

Khan, finally the great question.

Thank you, chair.

My question is always is very brief.

Thank you to Councillor Sahid and officers.

They are doing quite wonderful job with this resource and budget as well.

So there is one thing I would like to ask is the housing revenue account was forecast

to spend 3 .1 million in this year. Are we spending too much or not collecting enough

income? Thank you.

So I mean in the previous year we actually topped up the reserve within the HRA. Again

Again it's one of those areas where spending is not always flat, it can depend on a number

of different factors and we have had a number of what I'd describe as kind of one off costs

within the year.

I think the underlying position is strong in the rate of show rate.

We have a healthy level of reserve and we are still trying to bear down on that overspend

within the year and see some further improvements within the year because we do always try and

But what I would say is that we did top the ASIRAE reserve up last year and we'll continue

to try and reduce that spend in the year.

Mr Colancubria, please.

Thank you chair, thank you Said for your presentation.

We always acknowledge adult social care is complex and complicated and we are serving

the most vulnerable people and we have a lot of statutory duties.

However, the adult social care overspend is large, 22 .9 million so far.

Of course, this is the problem nationwide and most comes in the UK as well.

Presuming we plan for an overspend this year, what do you do differently next year to keep

within the budget, is the first one.

And secondly, I understand that the Adult Social Care Board has been set up to monitor

this budget pressure.

Will it succeed and how confident are we?

Thank you, Councillor, for your question.

It's a very good question.

In fact, this is an area that is very complex, it's very vulnerable and it's very expensive.

It's one of the highest cost pressured area within the council.

It's got the biggest budget of the council.

I guess that's why when things move in a percentage in either direction, it results in millions.

That's why we have in the next budget put in 22 .5 million pounds into adult social care

to make sure that we can align the budget to the best ability that we can.

But more importantly, we know there's more to do because it's a demanded area.

We've got an ageing population and we've got a lot of pressure and we need to make sure

that our vulnerable people are well looked after.

And I think that's why Georgie and the team have done a very good job.

They are working hard.

They have come up with numerous number of mitigations to make sure that we can continue

providing the service that we are providing, but make sure that we can come under budget

going forward.

But there is no promise that we're going to always meet our target, but the thing is it's

about working towards it and having a proper plan in delivering that budget.

I will ask Georgie to come in to give us some examples.

But I think corporately what we have done is we have invested money into the service

where we know there is pressure.

We have put in 22 .5 million pounds but we will continue working with the department.

We will get the boards working properly to make sure we have got the right mitigations

in place and cost this control as much as we can.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sahid.

Shall I come in?

Thank you, Councillor Sahid.

Councillor Chamdu, there are no easy solutions when it comes to adult social care.

As you've rightfully said, this is a national problem, but at the same time, it is still,

we have our own local issues.

We have a number of things that we've put in place.

And in fact, some of these have been successful.

And I think if we'd not had the success that we've had this past year, I fear that our

overspend probably would have been higher in terms of adult social care.

So, we're trying to ensure in terms of our practise that our practise is very much about

supporting people to be independent and remain independent for as long as they can, rather

than possibly being a bit more paternalistic where we just give people support.

So that's part of what we're trying to do.

The Care Act is very clear in terms of our responsibilities as a local authority in terms

of we will only meet social care needs.

we should not be meeting health needs.

And to that effect, we are working very closely

with our colleagues in health to ensure that where people

are eligible for health funding, like continuing health care,

or Section 117 and the Mental Health Act and so forth,

that actually they get that funding,

because it's right that they get that funding,

and we should not be paying for health needs.

We're also looking at making sure that we make the fullest use

of our staff, but making sure that we've got

the right staff in the right places.

So for instance, our occupational therapy staff

are really important in terms of supporting

and promoting independence.

And it's about making sure that they are at key points

in the different aspects of the customer journey

to make sure that we are maximising people's independence

as much as possible.

So for instance, when you leave hospital,

you need to be seen by an occupational therapist.

If you go into a short -term placement

to get you back on your feet,

you've seen by an occupational therapist. If you have a setback in terms of your health,

you'll see very quickly by an occupational therapist, all of that works to support.

And also making sure that in cases where we place people out of borough, for instance,

because our provision, particularly when it comes to residential and nursing or supported living,

can be limited sometimes within borough. Sometimes it actually is expensive for people to be placed

out of borough and where that is the case, we make sure that if there's a circumstance that

has resulted in people being placed outside of the borough.

They're brought back into Tower Hamlets

where they can have their care delivered

as swiftly as possible

and hopefully at a much more reasonable cost.

So there's a long list,

but I just thought I'd highlight

that these are some of the things

that we are currently doing

and plan to be escalating certainly in the next year.

Thank you.

Thank you, Georgie.

And next swiftly moving over to Asma, please.

Thank you, Chair.

One of the reasons why we take both these papers together, reports together, is so we can actually use the performance report to actually inform us in the way we look at the budget report as well.

And I want to come into public realm and waste operation service so I can see that there's, I think we're...

Oh, sorry. We're projecting a 3 .4 million pound overspend, like this is making sense, what I'm reading the context.

But then I'm also looking at the Flats Food Waste Service.

I think we are looking at an overspend of 200 ,000.

We're adding extra money to the 1 .8 in order to get the project off the ground.

I just want to... I mean, this is okay. It's good to report this.

But is this year going to be spent before the next budget actually just resetting everything?

because clearly our performance in the waste service and recycling isn't where it needs to be.

And we talked about some of the bare basics that isn't in place.

What we as a committee or the next set of committee needs to be able to see

is a real identifying piece of report that says these are where the gaps are,

these are where we're not being able to match the service that we're trying to provide.

and this is how much it's going to cost and outline everything,

and then bake in the costing for the ongoing cost every year,

and just so that we're clear about,

because I know the mayor and this administration promised and have,

in previous budgets, put in the investment,

but they weren't baked in as a, right, this is how much the waste service

is now going to be costing us, and this is how much we're going to give on yearly,

but this is the injection.

I think there's been a difference and I'm not sure we fully understood the challenges.

The other thing with that is I will say this administration, this is more political, this

administration, this mayor have introduced or proposed development and more density into

the borough at magnitude level.

We haven't got this basic infrastructure in place and I think we need to see that in the

coming months.

is really important and I just wanted to link this in with the quarterly report.

Do you want to answer briefly, please?

Because we are running.

Yeah, I think one part that I would answer is that there is, in terms of the injection

that we put into the service and a plan, there is a proper detail behind it, whereas what's

the minimum requirement of the service, what the enhancement of the service was, and it's

full detail, Jillian's come new, I think all that is available, Ashraf has worked very

hard on that, as well as John Whitley, they have worked very hard. All that information

will be available for you Councillor Laitman if you need it.

You want to touch on the growth that's proposed for the borough and why this is really important

to get this right as well. So like I understand there's a bit of work that's been done on

what the growth looks like, but also can we actually see this and can we actually get

figure around this. This is the investment that's needed for the infrastructure, though that's the food waste

lorries, the

URS lorries. What else do we need?

Can we just get that final shopping list to say this is where

it's going to get us to the service that the people of this part deserve?

That's fine, I think we'll go through the process of that. I mean we see

the growth process when you do the budget process anyway, so all of that is available.

In terms of doing that deep dive and coming up with a new fresh plan,

It's going to be part of the, you could do your scrutiny work around it anyway, but I

think in terms of what we have done, the money gone into the department, we have based on

what we received from the services.

Ashraf and John Wheatley have worked really hard.

We know the investment that we put in there is based on an amount that we needed to put

in.

It wasn't just because we thought we would put 1 .2 million pounds in there.

It was because of the projection that we've got, based on the forecast from the department.

So if you need that forecast, we can give it to you.

In terms of going forward, realigning that budget, that's another piece of work we do.

We know that waste services isn't great, but the service is picking up, it is doing a better

job out there than it was in the last, let's say, four years ago.

So it's doing a lot better than what it was doing.

But in terms of going forward, we know the work needs to be done.

The mayor picked up on Mabda, but he still said his borough is still dirty, he wants

it clean, you know, he's still going at it.

It's not like we've said, you know what, borough's done, we need to sit back and relax.

He's still on it.

So yeah, work is still to be done.

Thank you.

Jaiad, do you want to come on, please, please?

Thank you, Chair.

So my question is around the high needs block, the dedicated school grant.

So with the deficit rising towards a 30 million number and only 90 % potentially written off,

What actions would you prevent further growth in 26th, 27th, given increasing EHCP demand?

I request Steve to come if that's alright.

Have you got your hands up, Steve?

Steve?

Thank you, Councillor.

Yeah, no, really good question.

We have got an overall position of around about 30 million, which is a huge number,

But does when you again benchmark with other places

Is significantly lower?

We do need to now produce a send reform plan

We have until June to do that and based on that we have a quality send reform plan

And we're still waiting for the details of how that's going to be judged by government

But a quality send form plan will deliver 90 % of the of the deficit

but the rest of the reform plan needs to demonstrate how exactly your question

how moving forward we're going to maintain delivery of effective SEND

services and support for our children families but reduce the spend and a lot

of that is about early health and prevention investment in early years and

a big investment in mainstream schools. You're probably aware from other

committees we are really proud of quite inclusive in our borough we have an

inclusive approach to education, but I think the SEND reform plan is going to ask even

more of that to make sure more of our children can be supported and educated in mainstream

education and that really is the solution to what is a significant national debt problem.

Thanks Steve, thanks everybody, thanks Said for your hardworking team, thank you for coming

over today and you're free to go.

the T

9 SCRUTINY LEADS UPDATES

today. What I would like to say, what do I start from this side?

Could we ask some more questions about the JP Morgan thing?

They said they would.

I will get Philip to get the questions so we get a response on the email. Can you do

We send the questions we get out and distribute it through.

Why don't we suggest this from RNS?

We want to ask, there is something about a report and a written response

but there's interaction that's actually, we want to ask some questions because this is such a big piece of work.

Can we have a briefing online and whoever's interested joins and we get to ask those questions?

Can we have that instead, Pirlo?

It is starting soon.

I will come back to that on the asthma.

If there are any updates?

I can be really brief.

I met with the new director of enforcement, Kieran, who came from West London.

I can't remember.

I appreciate, since I'm at Baxter's passing,

I haven't met with Gillian yet, but I'm due to meet with the new interim corporate director of the community.

So a lot of it is waiting for the youth offending paper that we brought to O &S to go to cabinet.

That's a brief update.

And on my right, do you have any updates?

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Chair. Just trying to update our CQC inspection result is good. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Do you take the credit or someone else? I'm sure you take the credit,

isn't it? Mr Khan, any update, please?

Thank you, Chair. It's not much going on in my side. It's because since last meeting

I was about to go to the housing subcommittee.

Unfortunately that meeting was cancelled so I couldn't give them the report.

So I don't know in the future meeting I will be able to attend.

That's the update. Thank you.

And Natalie, are you ready?

Yes, thank you. I'm also still yet to meet with the new Interim Corporate Director, Gillian Marston.

but the work on my report that I did is still ongoing.

And yeah, we're kind of rounding things off for the term.

But interestingly enough, I did conduct some of my own

research into the performance of the waste department

because my recycling was missed last week

and I reported a missed collection

and I will be discussing the results with the team

when I get to meet with them.

And finally, update from me on education.

I have an update on the hard piece of work you did last year and follow up on that, want

to get the report, how our work has been carried forward and Steve has informed me that there's

a new body set up and that report is going to come up every year now from now on, independent

body to see how our children are taking on lunch and stuff like that.

And second note that also some of the school is tackling now cyberbullying,

basic school bullying, stuff like that, online, offline.

And that I started, depends what's happened, who's going to carry forward.

If I'm still there, I want to make sure, finish off.

That is going to be length of piece of work.

It's a long, out -of -reach work. So that's an update from me.

One thing I would ask you to note, it is incredibly embarrassing, we haven't had an update from

the resources scrutiny lead for several months now.

I would like it to be noted, residents want to hear about scrutiny for resources and somebody

is drawing an SRA and is doing nothing for it.

Can it be noted, please?

Thank you for your update.

Can you make a note on this?

There?

Thank you, Chair.

I don't have any lead update, unfortunately, but what I do have is, as this is the last

session, and who knows if I might see you, any of you, Bob would like to thank you personally,

all of you, for a sterling job, and for those who will be here and for those who won't be,

thank you very much, and it's been a pleasure.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. I mean, this committee has had its ups and downs, but we've had our challenges,

we've had some really good moments and it's really nice that today you got to chair this

meeting because we've been here from the beginning and you did a really good job and I think

this is a really nice way to end this and for James and Amy and Natalie, they're not

going to be standing so we know they're not going to be here so I want to thank them three

for all their contributions and for all the scrutiny leads and the chair and everything,

all the hard work that goes into the work that gets done, and our officers who support us,

because without them we won't be able to get through anything.

So we're going to end on a very good note, a very sweet note for everybody.

I would like to thank Matthew and his team, Naseema is a newcomer on the board as well,

and everybody who hard work into the team over the years

and every community member is well done.

We had our ups and downs by the end of the day.

Outside this meeting we are all friends.

So, and we're going to miss James, Amy and Natalie.

God knows who will be here next year, so thank you.

On that note, I'll say the meeting is finished.

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Overview & Scrutiny Committee - Monday 23 March 2026, 6:30pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Overview & Scrutiny CommitteeMonday, 23rd March 2026 at 6:30pm

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1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

7 a) Chief Executive Spotlight

8 a) Q3 Strategic Delivery Performance Report 2025-26

8 b) Q3 Budget Monitoring 2025-26

9 SCRUTINY LEADS UPDATES

Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Monday, 23rd March 2026 at 6:30pm