Tower Hamlets Council is committed to working with the Government on our continuous journey of improvement. We welcome the Government’s decision to appoint an envoy rather than send in commissioners, with a plan to work together with us on a support package, with the council retaining all its powers.
We look forward to working with the Ministerial envoy to build on the good Peer Review we received from the Local Government Association and an improved Investors in People inspection silver rating.
We thank the Government for recognising the progress we have made as an authority. This report praises the council for
- the dedication of its officers
- achieving financial stability
- making good progress with service delivery
- putting external challenge and
- support in place through the Transformation Advisory Board and running sound elections.
We have delivered innovative measures including being the only council in the country to provide universal free school meals to both primary and secondary schoolchildren; free swimming for women and girls, grants for college and university students; and we are on track to deliver one of the highest amounts of new housing in London. The results of our community-focused work are reflected in our extremely positive response from our residents in our borough-wide annual survey.
We are proud of our 5,000 strong workforce, and our permanent corporate management team, all appointed on merit following competitive processes. We are delighted to have increased our diversity at senior officer level, with eight people from ethnic minority backgrounds now working at Director level or above. We have brought in senior officers with significant experience from other councils. Only two permanent senior staff recruited had previously worked for Tower Hamlets, which is not unusual for the sector.
The report’s comments concerning culture include reference to rivalries between all parties and political groupings within the Council. There is a responsibility on councillors from all parties to address this.
As a council we believe external scrutiny is crucial to our improvement, however we disagreed with the justification for the Best Value Inspection given by the previous Government. It was disappointing we were advised after the Best Value Inspection that it was used an opportunity to search for extremism in the borough. This was not part of the published reasons at the outset. In May 2024 LBTH exceeded expectations in all categories of our Home Office Prevent Duty Assurance report, we note that the inspectors did not report any links to extremism.
Nevertheless, we recognise that these were the decisions of the last Government. We appreciate the new Government’s approach to local government improvement. We look forward to working in partnership with the new Government and the envoy as equals, along with continuing to deliver for our residents and businesses.
Notes to editors
- The report of Tower Hamlets Council’s Peer Review by the Local Government Association was published in December 2023.
- The results of the council’s latest independent Annual Residents Survey which uses a representative and statistically viable sample of the borough's population.
- Tower Hamlets is both the fastest growing and most densely populated place in the UK.
- Tower Hamlets has the youngest population in London.
- Tower Hamlets has the third largest economic output in the country.
- Tower Hamlets has one of the most diverse populations in the country and the largest Muslim population in the country.
Posted on Tuesday 12th November 2024