Agenda

The Civic Mayor to make any appropriate announcements.

At this juncture the Civic Mayor will retire from the Chair and the Chair of Council Business shall assume the Chair for the remaining business.

That the Minutes of the proceedings of the Meeting of Council held on 3 November 2020 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair of Council Business (or other person presiding) (Minutes attached).

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Council.

To receive any announcements or communications from the Chair of Council Business, the Executive Leader, Members of the Executive Cabinet or the Chief Executive.

To consider any questions submitted by Members of the public in accordance with Standing Orders 31.12 and 31.13.

To receive the minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Cabinet held on 28 October, 25 November and 16 December 2020.

To receive the minutes of the Meeting of the Standards Committee held on 17 November 2020 and approve the following recommendations arising from the meeting:

That the Standards Committee RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL to adopt the final version of the Local Government Association Model Code of Conduct for Members (appended to the minutes) to take effect for the New Municipal Year and the Monitoring Officer undertake the necessary training to effectively implement the revised Code.

(Attached are copies of the guidance recommended by the Standards Committee to be provided to all Elected Members to assist with role as referred to in the minutes of the Standards Committee:

(a)       The LGA Councillors Guide to handling intimidation;

(b)       The Lawyers in Local Government social media toolkit,)

To receive the minutes of the Meeting of the Overview Panel held on 23 November 2020.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Democratic Processes Working Group held on 16 December 2020.

To consider the attached submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission.

To consider any changes to appointments to various bodies.

Motion A in the name of Councillor Ryan:

This Council notes the spending commitments outlined in the one-year spending review

This Council regrets that:

·         The Chancellor failed to address the systemic underfunding of local Councils, opting instead for a series of one-off measures and further transferring the burden of paying for essential services to local Council Tax payers who have in many cases already been hard hit by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and years of Tory austerity.  

·         The Spending Review announced a £2.2bn increase in Councils’ Core Spending Power.  Of this sum, £1.5bn is assumed to come from Councils increasing Council Tax by 5% - the maximum the Government will allow without a referendum.  Only £600m of this is labelled as new money with £300m of it recycled from previous spending commitments.

·         The Government has not brought forward a plan to reform funding and provision of adult social care as promised and instead has given councils the power to raise a further adult social care precept – it assumes that this will be raised within the Core Spending Power increase. The precept can increase by 3% for 2021/22, but by using the ability to raise Council Tax as a means to generate income for adult social care, it is not linking to need. Those areas that can generate more Council Tax can raise more funding.

·         While the Government has provided significant additional funding for 2020/21, this still leaves a significant shortfall and the Government continues to break its promise to ‘do whatever it takes’ to support public services tackling the pandemic, including fully reimbursing Councils and schools for additional costs and reduced income

·         The Spending Review did not include additional funding for public health. This runs contrary to addressing the stark health inequalities exposed by COVID-19 and levelling up our communities. Keeping people healthy and well throughout their lives reduces pressure on the NHS and social care.

·         The Government has not temporarily removed the No Recourse to Public Funds condition. This would reduce public health risks and ease the pressure on homelessness services by enabling vulnerable people to access welfare benefits, who are currently unable to do so because of their immigration status. The Chancellor also failed to commit to making permanent the £20 a week supplement to Universal Credit that has been crucial to protecting people from poverty.

This Council condemns:

·         The wage freeze imposed on 2m public sector workers including firefighters, the police, teachers and local authority staff. Many of these workers have kept the country going during the pandemic and deserve more than a real term pay cut.

This Council believes:

·         That only with the right funding and freedoms, can councils lead local efforts to level up the stark inequalities the pandemic has exposed and level up the economy so that it benefits everyone.

This Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to:

1.    The Local Government Association to urge a vigorous campaign for a long term local government funding settlement, for reform  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13.

To answer questions (if any) asked under Standing Order 17.2, for which due notice has been given by a Member of the Council.

To consider any other items which the Chair of Council Business (or other person presiding) is of the opinion shall be dealt with as a matter of urgency.