Changes at the Top
IN her crusade to reduce the size and the cost of special responsibility allowances, Mayor Fiaz has announced some changes to the cabinet, following Cllr Mohammed’s departure.
The mayor retains the following portfolios.
Portfolio lead for Inclusive Economy and Strategic Housing Delivery; Culture; Climate Emergency, Youth Empowerment, Youth Safety, Early Help & Children’s Health, Performance and Transformation. In addition she is supported by the following councillors, it would be interesting to know what difference they have made to the lives of the people of Newham in return for their significant special responsibility allowances.
It’s a good job that the mayor is not obsessively micro-managerial, otherwise you might wonder at how she could manage such a large portfolio. But, she has a team with her who definitely are worth every penny and manifestly deliver improvements for the borough and are not there simply to pad the voting numbers.
Councillor John Whitworth - Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning and Development, Air Quality and Climate Emergency
Councillor Caroline Adaja - Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Wealth Building, Business, Enterprise and Future World of Work
Councillor Rohit Dasgupta - Deputy Cabinet Member for Equalities, Social Justice and Culture
Councillor Steve Brayshaw - Commissioner for Skills and Lifelong Learning
Councillor Ruiz retains the portfolio for Environment, Sustainable Transport, Children Services and Education. It is not immediately apparent how this mixed bag of responsibilities holds together but clearly it is not a problem for Cllr Ruiz. She is supported by
Councillor Miraj Patel - Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment
Councillor John Morris - Deputy Cabinet Member for Highways and Sustainable Transport
Councillor Madeleine Sarley Pontin - Deputy Cabinet Member for Education
Cllr Ali retains the sole authority for Finance and Resources. The one benefit of this is that there is no-one else to blame. Strange then that no-one has made a pointed effort to call for his resignation on the basis of the abject financial failure he has overseen. Cllr Mohammed eventually fell on his sword, Cllr Ali seems clearly unwilling to do the same, despite an arguably greater failure on his part.
Cllr Neil Wilson retains Health and Adult Social Care and is supported by
Councillor Mumtaz Khan - Deputy Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care
Cllr Charlene McLean is still the Cabinet Member for Resident Engagement and Resident Experience and is supported by:
Councillor Canon Ann Easter - Commissioner for Interfaith and Interreligious Dialogue
Then we come to the changes. Cllr Amar Virdee takes over from the luckless Shaban Mohammed as Cabinet Member for Housing Need, Homelessness and Private Rented Sector. Because it is clearly such an easy portfolio he will now do this while he continues to oversee the climbing levels of crime in the borough.
A new addition must be one of the fastest climbers in history. After three months on the council Cllr Blossom Young becomes Cabinet Member for Housing Landlord and Tenant Experience Improvements. This may be a good move as Young brings her professional experience from Poplar HARCA with her and hopefully, a little more energy than her predecessor. But gone are the days when cabinet members were expected to treat their position as a full time job for full time pay.
Perhaps one of the other councillors might invite one or two of the cabinet and deputy cabinet members to submit a report on what they have done for their money. In what ways has the life of Newham residents been improved by their actions?
As a final reflection, it is astonishing how few of the people who worked to get Fiaz the nomination still remain around her. It’s almost as if she alienates all of those who get to know her.