AT LAST! Tower Hamlets Council’s Children’s Services has been awarded an “outstanding” rating, following an inspection by Ofsted at the end of last year. And Labour stalwarts tried to claim the credit.
The Council meeting on 22nd January began with a report from the Speaker. As he finished his report, the Speaker announced that to mark the Ofsted verdict, some children would sing to the public by way of entertainment. The Deputy Mayor moved a procedural motion to take the Ofsted Report as the following item, so that the children from St John’s, Bethnal Green could do their thing right away. Councillors agreed.
The choir of local young people then entered, in their blue uniforms, and marked the Ofsted rating by singing to a backing tape. One could only wonder what they made of their audience, who listened patiently. Councillors could have entered into the spirit a little and jumped to their feet – or at least have had a sway, even if they could not manage a full dance in the gangways. But the councillors and officers didn’t even nod. Perhaps they were shy – but they did give the youngsters a standing ovation at the end.
Then the Deputy Mayor surprised everyone by announcing that there was a second song. This time the audience were treated to a song about how Jesus could change the world – which had actions as well as singing. This one woke them up. The Chief Executive and the Mayor had a sway, and many in the audience started clapping in time to the music during what seemed an appropriate point. By the time of the next Offsted Inspection, most of the performers will be teenagers: will they remember their moment in the spotlight?
The Deputy Mayor, Cllr Maium Talukdar, thanked the children for the performance and then thanked officers for their work which had led to such an excellent inspection result. He thanked the Mayor and the Chief Executive and promised there would be further improvements in the near future.
Although this was a report for noting, not a motion, the Speaker called for a seconder – as if he was making a bid for the “most procedurally innovative Speaker” award. The next to his feet was Cllr Bodrul Chowdhury, who had chaired the Education Scrutiny Committee for the last two years. He congratulated all those whose work had led to the Ofsted verdict and hoped other Council services would get “outstanding” assessments too.
A Labour Councillor then spoke, strangely claiming some of the credit for the service’s improvement. Apparently the councillor had studied social work, so he felt he had some sort of right to know: well, we had already worked out he was no student of history. More councillors then spoke.
Cllr Mufeedah Bastin congratulated the children and the Council. It was an achievement for the children: as a result of a great deal of hard work, recognised by every councillor in the chamber. She looks forward to seeing the improvement plan which the Deputy Mayor had mentioned. It was a routine speech, with no references to modern music or popular culture and therefore somewhat disappointing. Any more speeches from Cllr Bustin without irrelevant, witty quotes and we’ll be asking for our money back.
Cllr Golds then rose to his feet. As a long term opposition member, he said, he found it unusual but welcome to stand up and praise Tower Hamlets Council so much. People should wear badges to celebrate this (the Ofsted, not his speech). He quoted paragraphs from the Report which showed what had been done for disabled children and children suffering from domestic abuse: everyone should be grateful for the excellent work this Council does. It was, as he said, an unusual Golds medal.
Cllr Abdal Ullah echoed Cllr Golds both in terms of his congratulations and how rarely he congratulated the Council. He then, in true Labour stalwart fashion, claimed credit for the 2025 Ofsted result. Cllr Ullah said that the result was the product of seven years of investment. This was strange maths.
•In 2012, two years into Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s first term as Mayor, Ofsted found Children’s Services “good with outstanding features”.
•In 2017, two years after Labour’s John Biggs became Mayor, Ofsted deemed Children’s Services “inadequate”: so inadequate that the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, who had been named in the report, resigned and was never heard of again; and so inadequate that the Government sent in “intervention advisers” to monitor the Service.
•Two years later, in 2019, Ofsted reported that in the absence of Cllr Saunders and with the intervention of government advisers, the Service had risen to “good”.
•After an inspection at the end of 2024, two years into Lutfur Rahman’s third term of office, Ofsted rated Children’s Services “outstanding” – which puts them into the top 20% of Local Authorities.
If Cllr Ullah believes that the inspection verdict was down to seven solid years of investment, that would take us back to 2017, when Children’s Services were deemed “inadequate” under Labour. Labour’s Mayor probably did invest some money to get the Service up to “good” in 2019 – but there were cuts too. In 2018, John Biggs closed the Council’s last day care surgeries; in 2021 he cut funding of special education needs and the Community Language Service.
In contrast, Mayor Rahman has funded free school meals for all pupils and reintroduced awards for post-16s in education and higher education bursaries. He is about to introduce a school uniform grant. If Cllr Ullah believes that the Ofsted result came because there was inevitable improvement since 2017, he is kidding himself. If he belives that the result came because of investment from John Biggs, he is trying to kid the public too.
Cllr Abu Talha Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, welcome the Offsted verdct, because Children’s Services help keep the borough safe, free from crime and exploitation. “Outstanding” is a monumental achievement and we must continue to support our youth.
Cllr Sabina Khan said she was proud to be in the Council today. Ofsted had commended the strong leadership from the Council and she was a governor so she experienced that strong leadership and its positive results. She added that “you can’t teach a hungry child”. When she was a Poverty Commissioner she had seen how many children were hungry. But our Breakfast Clubs and Free School Meals made a difference – as did other ways of supporting parents and families. On a personal note, she had recently been at Tower Hamlets Awards Ceremony and told her mum how proud she was to go from her village to be a leader in this caring Council.
Cllr Wahid Ali said the Ofsted was an amazing achievement.He stressed that, as a teacher in the borough,he knows what dedication and hard work is needed to get a judgetment like this from Offested. He congraulted the Mayor for the investment he had put in to the Service.
Cllr Ohid Ahmed went down Memory Lane and recalled that he had been interested in education back in 2005. He said that we needed a good sixth form: there were none in the borough. This was a strange statement: there were good sixth forms in Tower Hamlets in 2005 and there still are today. How has Cllr Ahmed not noticed?
Cllr Kabir Ahmed thanked officers for their work and the Mayor for investing in young people. He hoped we could enjoy this rating. In the words of the song we had just heard, the higher the barriers we face, the stronger we become as we clamber over them.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed said the rating put Tower Hamlets in the top 20% of Councils in the UK. It was the result of the work of dedicated staff and the leadership of the Lead Member. Their collective endeavours have paid off.
Labour Councillor Maisha Begum, one of the youngest councillors, then stressed that the rating came from collective effort from staff and children which had been in progress since 2017. She seems to have learned her history from Cllr Ullah.
Full Council agreed to note the briefing note. The Speaker deemed the report agreed. He did not give Cllr Talukdar a right to reply. It would help us all if the Speaker could distinguish between a report for information and a motion. Then again, he can’t distinguish between the political parties in the Chamber either.
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