The following is a guest post by Mayor John Biggs who wants to put his side of the argument on the youth sport funding row. It follows two previous guest posts (here and here) by Chris Dunne of the Tower Hamlets Youth Sports Foundation whose future is under threat due to funding problems.
This guest post is interesting because whether you agree with the mayor or not, you can see a logical and reasoned approach to decision-making – an insight never seen with his predecessor, Lutfur Rahman.
Doesn’t mean he’s right, though.
For those desperate for more politics, gossip, accusations of sexism and just general bitching, as well as the serious policy issues like this, take heart – I will report back soon.
By Mayor John Biggs
I should start by welcoming Ted back to the world of Tower Hamlets politics: your absence has been noticed and it is good to see you return to the fold. In a healthy democracy people should always feel able to question, quiz and disagree with decisions politicians make, I have no doubt you will do all three and keep us on our toes.
I know you ran a post from Tower Hamlets Youth and Sports Foundation (THYSF) and I wanted to set out my case for the decision the Council has made as a right of reply.
The 2012 Games promised a lot and whilst the Olympics have delivered some incredible economic regeneration results it’s fair to say the sports legacy from the Games has fallen below expectations.
This is in no small part due to decisions by the Coalition Government to slash funding to school sports and abolish the ring-fenced funding given to School Sport Partnerships like the Tower Hamlets Youth Sports Foundation.
Contrary to some assertions Tower Hamlets Council is not cutting the THYSF. It is not a council-funded service but we have provided them with emergency funding when they faced budget challenges. In fact over the past year we have provided around £150,000 to help cover their deficit..
The problem facing THYSF is that they have always been primarily funded by the schools they provide services to; aside from the small amount of funding the council gets from Sport England which we gave to THYSF to support their programmes.
As Chris Dunne rightly stated in his first article Michael Gove’s scrapping of funding for Sports Partnerships made this model far harder to work. The decision over following years to squeeze school budgets tighter and tighter made things more problematic for THYSF as school funding has reduced.
As a result the THYSF ended the 2016/17 year with a deficit of around £150k.
Valuing the service THYSF provides, the council agreed to underwrite those costs but asked that THYSF produce a business plan that addressed the financial concerns and demonstrated that THYSF can cover all its expenditure from the income it receives, whether by way of the agreements, called SLAs, with the schools to provide services, or from community activities from which additional income can be raised.
In addition to the financial support provided by the council, we offered officer support to better understand the challenges facing THYSF.
This work forecast a further deficit of up to £190k later this year and highlighted the overall challenge facing THYSF, that its costs are fixed, staffing etc, but its income fluctuates significantly.
Furthermore, the analysis found that school subscriptions have been falling for the past three years which has resulted in reducing income at the same time as there has been an increase in the charity’s cost base.
Chris Dunne, of the Tower Hamlets Youth Sport Foundation
In 2012 I understand there were 87 schools buying into THYSF services. In 2017 there are only around 37 with Service agreements with THYSF. That has hit THYSF’s income despite costs staying broadly stable. I appreciate that THYSF dispute these figures and may have others paying for some of their services via other means, but clearly they are facing an existential crisis because of reduced income.
I cannot speak for why schools chose to withdraw from THYSF however it is clear Government cuts have made school budgets far tighter over that time.
Whilst THYSF are not a council service, we have supported them by covering their deficit last year.
The Council has not withdrawn any of its existing funding sources, nor were we proposing to. In fact we have given THYSF more money than ever over the past year to give them time to come up with a new business plan.
Currently the organisation’s staff are formally employed by Langdon Park School. Given the increasing concerns about THYSF’s finances the school no longer wish to host them as they could end up liable for any deficit.
Sadly, we are left with limited options.
Why doesn’t the Council just fund THYSF?
The answer put forward by some that the council just take over THYSF and make them a council department is fraught with risk for taxpayers – it would mean assimilating a service with staffing costs in the region of £600,000-650,000 a year. It would mean adopting a service for which funding does not exist in our budgets and it would not be fair on existing employees who are facing tough choices and restructures.
Central Government cuts mean we have to save 1 in every 6 pounds we currently spend – that’s £58m over this and the coming years with yet more cuts looming on the horizon.
It may be easy for other political groups to play politics about this issue; however my administration has had to clear up the mismanagement of the past at the same time as facing devastating cuts from Central Government.
There is also an urban myth circulating that the council spends £3.8m on sports already and all we need to do is reallocate some of that. This just simply is not true. The actual budget for our sports team is around £1.1m which achieves excellent value for money providing services such as:
- Our weekly Disability Sport Programme enabling 10,000 mainly young people with disabilities participate in activities at Mile End Park Leisure Centre.
- Community programmes in the borough’s parks including a free health & fitness programme targeting approximately 2,000 inactive people, the majority of which have been women and girls.
- Our Summer Sports Programme in Parks, leisure centres and the community which last year saw over 13,000 people take part in a diverse range of sports and activities for young people ranging from athletics and BMX/cycling to canoeing and kayaking.
- Programmes like the Young@Heart for the Over 50’s, The Women and Girls Swim Programme, Sport4Women and Disability sport programme, free swimming on Fridays and Saturdays and under 16 swimming for just £1. These all make sporting activities accessible and affordable for residents of all ages.
- On top of that our Sports team has generated over £4 million in external funding from organisations such as London Marathon Trust, Sport England, The Premier League and FA Facilities Fund. Without this work, the improvements to the borough’s sporting infrastructure, particularly those in our parks, would cease. The Stepney Green Astro-turf, the refurbishment of the borough’s tennis courts, the replacement of the astro-turf at John Orwell Sports Centre and Mile End Stadium, the resurfacing of the athletics track at Mile End Stadium. All were made possible by the council’s investment in sports.
Much of this work would be at risk if we cut funding from the current service in order to reallocate it to THYSF. These are improvements which benefit the whole community including our young people.
What we are planning to do
THYSF’s future is in their own hands. The council has supported them for a year to give them extra time but we cannot do so forever as we just do not have the funds, much like the schools who are choosing to no longer buy their services.
Like any organisation THYSF must produce a plan which balances its income with its costs. They have to do so now as Langdon Park School have decided to end the relationship with THYSF. The Foundation either have to choose to employ its staff directly or to close.
It is clear that Government cuts have made it far harder for schools to afford the THYSF service; particularly if similar organisations offer it for less money. That is a decision for schools. It is a challenge that is facing schools across the country.
I have said all along that we would support THYSF to step out on their own should they wish to set up as a new social enterprise. They would still need a solid business plan and the council would probably commission them to run some of the services they offer. That is why the council is funding a consultant to work with THYSF to help them work up this kind of proposal. What we cannot do is take their organisation into the council without the finances to pay for it.
Should THYSF close, the council will use the funding we receive from Sport England, which we currently give to THYSF, to help us step-in and support the running of the inter-borough and School Games. Similarly, we will continue to support the borough’s participation in the London Youth Games, as we are committed to ensuring young people do not lose out on these opportunities.
We would also ensure schools are offered a core package of sports by other high-quality providers including specialist cricket, hockey, cycling, football and other sports in conjunction with national sport governing bodies and organisations like Middlesex Cricket, England Hockey and professional football clubs who run these programmes in many other areas. It is however important that we act quickly, to ensure our young people have continuing support in the new school year.
I have considered the information that THYSF have sent through and wrote to Chris on 3rd August setting out the support we have offered at each stage of the process. Whilst I sympathise with THYSF’s position, it simply isn’t the case that without them there would be no sport provision for young people. We have worked with them to support and underwrite their costs over the past year.
I also understand why in times of financial challenges Langdon Park School view their current position of directly employing all the THYSF staff as unsustainable. I would be more than happy to see THYSF spin themselves off as a charitable enterprise, and I have been clear the council would support that. What I cannot do is cut other vital services the council provides in order to save a model which has hit financial challenges and will continue to do so, as a result of schools choosing to pull out from funding the organisation.
Chris is entirely right that, with a few sad exceptions, politicians don’t go into public life to ‘do bad things for their electors.’ This is a tricky situation and not one which is anywhere near as simple as some have tried to make out but like Chris I believe in the power of sports to transform lives. That is why whatever happens to THYSF we will continue to ensure that young people in our borough have the opportunities to participate in high quality sports and inter-borough and London-wide games.
Trial by Jeory 
Good to have you back Ted!, John is kind of correct in regards to the funding, however I think what is missing at present is any kind of joint effort to solve this issue, education and the establishments that support schools/colleges have become increasing fragmented and unlike in the past there are less and less professionals willing to work together for the benefit of TH pupils. There are also greater issues that directly impact on ‘out of hours’ services such as the school funding crisis. There are huge changes coming through and it is only a matter of time before we see its impact, unfortunately my fear is the impact it will have on our young (and old) will be mainly negative.
It is great that Mayor Biggs has replied on here and not just hid in the cupboard like his predecessor. I am sure if there were more money in the pot then we wouldn’t be having this discussion, but I really think this service is worth saving and going the extra mile for.
Although THYSF isn’t directly a LBTH service, it is one INdirectly. If THYSF were not doing these things LBTH would (by John’s own admission) have to do them.
Obvious questions:
1 Can’t LBTH give THYSF office space? There are lots of places that come to mind that are underused.
2 Can’t we use the reserves? THING and PATH always say “use the reserves”. But seriously why not? We are not talking big sums here.
Above all I know that LBTH could not do such a good job if the service were brought in-house. I have seen the energy and dedication of the THYSF staff and unfortunately the council staff just have not got the same energy/enthusiasm – UMFF in other words.
The standard of coaching from THYSF is worth saving.
Some of these claims are laughable. The Council apparently delivers activity for 10,000 mainly young people with disabilities and had over 13,000 on a summer sports programme last year. Who are you kidding?! I am sorry but someone is cooking the figures – total nonsense. More likely a few hundred people that attended a programme multiple times over a significant period.
Anyone with common sense can understand that these types of taster activity programmes will only have an impact if linked to regular opportunities for young people to be active. The reality is Tower Hamlets has a very limited club structure and THYSF staff deliver the majority of the youth sport opportunities in the borough.
As the Mayor confirms, the Council spends £1.1m on Sports Development which doesn’t include much spend on youth sport. The Mayor is trying to down play this figure but it is a HUGE budget. I am sure everyone tax payer would agree that it is simply not acceptable that there is no strategy or published outcomes for the service. £11m spend over 10 years! What are the aims and objectives? What has been achieved in that time? How is the Council ensuring value for money and year on year improvements?
We know that Sports Development’s main remit is for adults so it is concerning that the Mayor is boasting that the Council’s flagship adult participation programme involves only 2,000 inactive people. Does the Council know how many inactive young people are involved with THYSF services? 10,000 per year? 15,000 per year? Do they understand the direct link between an individual’s experiences in sport as a child and their physical activity levels as an adult?
It seems the Council has not yet fully grasped the impact to youth sport (and young people in general) if THYSF closes. We should all be concerned with the passive approach from the Council and Sports Development. They view themselves as an “enabler” i.e. we will build the facility but it’s over to you to create the provision, we can point you to funding opportunities but we won’t apply on your behalf, we will bring local sports providers together to work collaboratively but won’t take the lead on development. Anyone that has worked in Tower Hamlets knows that this passive approach is not going to create the change that is needed!
Sorry I shut down as soon as he slagged of previous administration..
He has had his fingers in the pie for over 30 yrs one way or another…. No lover of “the other man” as he called him at a public meeting!!!
But John Biggs will spend £1.5m on free WiFi!!!!!
It’s the sort of thing that gets his name in the media so it’s really £1.5 million of free publicity for him. What’s the betting it will cost ten times that in the end and be used by every hipster who can find somewhere to sit down in Tower Hamlets?
Although a nice idea. spending money on free WiFI is not a way to balance the budget. In particularly when Tower Hamlets have some of the poorest high speed (Fibre) connections in the UK. This is courtesy of BT OpenReach not upgrading the infrastructure.
It might be cheaper if the council was to write to BT OpenReach and tell them to pull their finger out…
Meanwhile, other services could be saved.
The WiFi is a good idea. FFS even Barnet have free WiFi. I’d cut all mother tongue classes first and anything else that doesn’t help bring the community together.
Mother tongue classes should have gone years ago. The political hustlers of the eighties and nineties first proposed them and they were then enthusiastically supported by the left liberal elite, now known as snowflakes, because anything that came from an ethnic minority was genuine and real and had to be funded.
The mayor’s clarification seems reasonable and clear and specialist teams do need to change with the financial times and funding models; restructuring where necessary. However the additional council support described in his blog contains a little pet hate of mine…….’consultants’ helping to figure out how to help THYSF become a Social Enterprise. ‘How many days at what daily rate?’ I muse.
As someone who ‘benefitted from the ‘support ‘ of Gove’s henchpeople, sorry supportive consultants, when he was secretary for FE & Skills for five minutes, one day’s support from one person came in at £750 a pop. The consultant and her mandatory team of 8 spent two months rewriting the action plan we had already written with them a month prior! Yes we paid for that too.8x750x75….. you do the maths. Then consider whether one more year of a leaner THYSF in the 30+ schools who want their services!
He could start by sacking some of the dead wood of advisors he inherited from Rahman. He should have had a clear out when he was elected but was too timid.
For understandable political reasons it is easy to as John does to blame government for “cuts” to school funding for everything.
But the truth is not so simple. School budgets in cash terms at a national level have been protected. Tower Hamlets also receives more money per pupil then any other Council in the UK. I do not think people realise how much more money we receive per pupil then our neighbours (which is why the National Funding Formula is such a key issue in the future)
Between 2010 and 2015 school funding was protected and with investments in pupil premium especially and school lunches schools in TH benefitted. Since then funding has becoming more difficult but is still frozen in cash terms i.e. no cuts at a national level especially due the announcement in July of moving funding from new free schools to existing schools as a temporary measure to reduce the pressure on schools. This equalled £1.3 billion over 2 years.
And today we had the good news that for the first time in 15 years, July tax receipts were greater then public spending in the month so public finances are still improving but the total deficit this year is still forecast to be the equivalent of £888 for every person in Tower Hamlets (in effect you are borrowing £888 this year to fund government spending).
It is true though that after years of increasing budgets things are now tougher for schools. Pupil numbers are going up, pay is increasing (teachers move up the salary scale as they get experience), the introduction of the national living wage, higher employer contributions to national insurance and the teachers’ pension scheme, general inflation and the apprenticeship levy will mean additional costs for schools.
The impact of these additional costs will vary school by school, some will manage and some will have to save money in some areas to offset the cost increases detailed above. That may include some redundancies. All schools are having to look again at what they spend money on.
And from personal experience of working in the sector and being a former school governor (in West London) schools are generally not very good at managing their finances or planning ahead.
I know from personal experience that getting schools to ‘buy’ into externally provided services is a struggle. There is sometimes a feeling that either you can do it better more cheaply yourself or simply that you think other services are more important. I remember as a school governor dropping out of the Council provided music service as the musical instruments they taught were not a good fit for our pupils. It would be helpful to get a better understanding of why schools are not buying into the service, it maybe financial or it maybe that head teachers do not rank sport as highly as other activities.
It would be useful if rather then relying on Unite Union cuts propaganda if the Council actually reported real numbers on what is happening to the funding of Tower Hamlets schools rather then just repeating the mantra ‘government cuts’
Also the Council could find more ways to help schools to operate more efficiently and cheaply. For example through bulk purchasing deals or investing in LED lighting for all schools (paid for out of the £127 million of New Homes Bonus the Council has earn’t building more homes then anybody else). These measures wont on their own make a huge difference but every little bit helps.
Finally it would help if we had an explanation of why despite having the most funding per pupil of any Council our primary school OFSTED results are stagnating or worse then many similar boroughs (our Secondary schools are still highly rated fortunately)
Thanks Andrew. V interesting comment. Re your last point and question, i.e.
>>Finally it would help if we had an explanation of why despite having the most funding per pupil of any Council our primary school OFSTED results are stagnating or worse then many similar boroughs (our Secondary schools are still highly rated fortunately)<<
Why are they stagnating? What are your thoughts?
Dear Ted, I think complacency. TH schools improved considerably in the 2000’s with sustained effort to reverse the failures of the 90’s. But my guess is that they then stagnated while OFSTED expectations and standards continued to increase. Part of the problem is that the Council still thinks of the success’s and refers back to them not realising that OFSTED has not stood still. We are now not applying any pressure on our schools to improve because we continue to think they are the best in the country. Exam successes suggest we have great pupils. If they went to great primary schools as well how much better would our pupils perform?
The OFSTED Children’s Services failure also shows that the Council is not good at interrogating what it does and takes things at face value.
We have also had lots of turnover of Council staff responsible which does not help. We also have limited controls over schools but the turnaround of the 2000’s shows what can be done and those same limits apply to other Councils.
I have raised this several times in full Council and in other meetings but nobody was willing to look at the issue as it was seen as a political attack and of course all of our schools and teachers are wonderful and must be defended. Some seemed to think that OFSTED inspects pupils rather then schools so when I said our OFSTED inspection results were down they said I was attacking our pupils. But our children need to go to OFSTED rated Outstanding schools. The government cuts narrative also does not help, even if we did cut TH schools by 10% our schools would still have more money then many of our neighbours.
I would like to understand how our schools spend their money in comparison to less well funded places in London. My suspicion is that we employ lots of teaching assistants but research suggests that is not always the best use of money.
Also how easy is it for us to recruit good staff, given property prices?
I also showed the stats to the Council officer responsible, she was not aware of the aggregate trend, she left several months later for another Borough.
The data is here
https://public.tableau.com/profile/ofsted#!/vizhome/Dataview/Viewregionalperformanceovertime
Select Explore national, regional and local data
Then Phase – Primary
Then Provider Type – Local Authority maintained
Then select Percentage of Place/Learners
Split Outstanding and Good
Region click on London
Select showing Constituency
Sort area by Overall effectiveness
Poplar & Limehouse 8th from bottom
Bethnal Green and Bow – much higher up (but less then London average) but most of the constituencies above it get a lot less funding and many are in ‘poor’ Labour areas as well
When I first looked at the OFSTED analysis a few years ago our Secondary schools were very good relative to the rest of London but reviewing the latest numbers other areas have overtaken us and we are now in the middle of the London pack in terms of secondary schools.
In effect, Biggs wants to kill off the already successful THYSF then take it into the Council so he and his administration can claim it as their own 9 months before the next Mayoral and Local Councillor elections. Interesting.
There is no way John Biggs can turn the demise of THYSF into anything positive. I’m sure both he, as well as THING and PATH, know that. That’s why if I were in his shoes I would sort it out.
Watch him try and he will, of course, say he’s sorted it out.
Mayor John Biggs claims for Tower Hamlet sports dev are fairy tale.
10,000 disabled young people playing sport every week!! Where are they? Their are not 10,000 disabled children in Tower Hamlet.
American Olympic team laid athletics track. Funding for other facilities is targeted by national governing body on certain area.
No one knows about sports dev holiday programme except gll babysitting camp. Only thysf run proper sports programme for kids.
What’s the point in facility and infrastructure if only Tower Hamlet worker and not resident children play?
“Most robust estimates and local data suggest that there are approximately 2,000 children and young people aged 0-19 with a disability in Tower Hamlets”
Taken from the Council’s own executive summary of children with disabilities available here: https://democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/documents/s53402/6%203%20APPENDIX%20for%20CWD%20Report%20JSNA%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20CWD.pdf
Regardless of your opinions, surely there is some concern that information made public can be so wildly inaccurate? How many of those other claims are fictitious? It goes back to my earlier comment about Sports Development – no strategy, no outcomes and seemingly no-one holding an important service with a huge budget to account. The service needs to be reviewed.
Cllr. Woods is mainly spot on with comments on education ….”schools are not very good at managing finances…”Head teachers have no idea,practicing the dogma of public service and councils,in particular i.e. loads and loads of staff equates with good services.Schools are more than adequately funded.Waste is no more perfectly illustrated than by the sheer number of teaching assistants on the payroll.Brainchild of the last Labour Government…We’ve got loads of taxpayers dosh and we are going to spend it…waste it..Every week we see countless ads for these posts.From my own observations and talking to many other residents with children they are employed to do zero.A mass cull of these posts and head teachers reminded of their responsibilities when it comes to allocating school budgets would solve any perceived budgetary problems in the education system.The Government should make it clear, ring fencing budgets does not include this gross waste.
As for Biggs post,the usual rhetoric.. hands tied, government cuts, clearing up Rahman mismanagement clearly takes the residents for idiots.When it comes to judgement day at the polls next year all people will remember about the odious Rahman is that he never raised council tax.Unlike Biggs,successive five per cent increases to award himself and chums massive pay rises.More cash for the wasteful Rich Mix,appeasing his luvvie patrons.Likewise the Mela. Millions wasted yearly ,mainly on staff on a magazine .. OUR EAST END..Rubbish a sixth former to knock up in a afternoon.People forget the majority of council cash goes on funding the casual daily work life and then the cushy early retirement of these council shirkers.
Plus of course the continuing saga of Tower Hamlets Homes.The waste and ineptitude of this ALMO has been covered in previous posts.A reminder who made these statements pre election…..
“i think ending the current arrangement is the right way to go…”
“Tower Hamlets tenants and leaseholders deserve better” oh yes its the Mayor and his Housing chum Sirajel Islam(nice suit) “it is clear the current system is not working”Just some of their words of wisdom.
While most local authorities could not wait to axe their ALMOs once the Decent Homes Scheme was completed,Biggs and Islam’s stance is all very puzzling.Why this sudden eleventh hour conversion?
You would save way,way more than the £30 million mentioned.The irony is you could save this by actually persisting withTTH if the gross swollen workforce was reduced,procurement looked into and the unnecessary overtime and bonuses that are paid out.Cut the magazine and obsession with social media.
On a related note when our dear old neighbors Hackney saw the light or some might allege before the s**t hits the fan and abolished theirs. I heard TTH went into overdrive and quickly recruited many of the ex staff. Thus creating more non jobs and adding to the already swollen wage bill and work force.Perhaps the Mayor via Susmita Sen could confirm?
This council is now becoming a daily staple in the media…allegations of Islamophobia,sexism,council enforcement officers exposed as the lazy,cowardly shirkers they are and now the foster parent scandel. Residents crave the promised efficiency savings and reduced staffing Biggs promised.Sadly it will never happen under the gutless Mayor.What however he has achieved is to turn control of Tower Hamlets over to the anti social morons in the borough.Everywhere, the whole borough shrouded in graffiti,dirty streets,crime at a high.Biggs, Peck,Jones etc sowed the seeds pre Rahman and now they are attaining the dream of turning Tower Hamlets into one big S.**thole.
I believe the Government should send in the inspectors again.Go thorough everything,even Preferably less blinkered ones than the last lot