To consider the following motions:
Motion A in the name of Councillor Ryan:
That this Council notes –
· The heroic work of the NHS and other public services in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic;
· In particular the astonishing commitment of Tameside Council’s own key workers who have worked tirelessly since the start of the pandemic;
· Councils across the country have been working alongside their local communities to lead the frontline response to the crisis and support local people;
· At the beginning of the crisis, Tameside Council responded, at pace, to set up a new dedicated helpline for local people who needed help getting food, medicine, or financial support. The service has managed over 7,000 requests for help and supported more than 2,100 local residents in need of food or medicine so far;
· The commitment at the beginning of the crisis, from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP, was to do “whatever it takes” in response to the Covid-19 crisis;
· The funding received to date from central government to help deliver the Council’s response to the crisis, but also notes that this support is currently inadequate to meet the council’s on-going costs of Covid - not only now, but for the foreseeable future.
This Council further notes –
· Council workers are public service heroes. They keep our communities clean, look after those in need and have kept our borough running. Without the professionalism and dedication of our staff, the council services our residents rely on would not be deliverable.
· Since 2010, central government, has pursued an austerity agenda that has seen huge cuts to public services and forced Tameside to make almost £150m of savings;
· Despite central government cuts, Tameside Council has prioritised the protection vital services that local people rely on and has tackled the issues that matter most to local people;
· The latest Local Government Association (LGA) analysis shows that local councils have lost £3.2bn in income from council tax and business rates, and from sales, fees and charges as result of the Covid-19 pandemic;
· The recent findings published by the LGA show that local councils require as much as £6bn more in central government funding to cover the costs of the Covid-19 pandemic through the course of this financial year.
This Council believes –
· The crisis has proven that local councils play a vital role in working with communities to provide services that residents rely on and the Government must listen to, and consult with, local government in developing its response to this crisis;
· That the Government must keep its promise to local councils to fully fund all costs related to the Covid-19 crisis. Local services cannot be expected to sustain any further cuts in funding especially following a decade of austerity, and cannot pay the price for this national crisis;
· Without additional emergency funding to make up the true losses sustained, central government will be forcing local councils to cut vital services which local people have relied on through this period.
This Council resolves –
· To continue to call on central government to keep its promise to fully fund the costs of responding to Covid-19, by urgently providing the full amount to local authorities needed to close the funding gap for this year;
· To call on the central government to provide sustained, adequate and fairly distributed funding to public services, including councils;
· Write to the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to also call for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with new money from central government.
· To prioritise the safety of local people and continue to support those who need it.
Motion B in the name of Councillor Wills
That this Council recognises that the Domestic Abuse Bill has finally reached Parliament almost three years after it was first promised, passing its stages in the House of Commons on Monday 6 July. This legislation is welcome and urgently needed, but will only be effective if it is underpinned by sustainable funding for specialist services. The next stages of debate for this bill are crucial.
This Council notes that:
· The police in England and Wales have recorded a 8% increase in domestic abuse compared with the same period last year;
· Complexity of casework and demand for help has risen significantly for national helplines and online support services;
· Services are reporting that casework is becoming increasingly complex, and digital inequality creates a significant barrier for people to access support remotely;
· According to the online project Counting Dead Women, since lockdown began on 23 March 2020 26 women (and two young children) have been killed by men and details about the killings of a further seven women are also expected.
· Over the course of the Covid–19 pandemic Women’s Aid have seen surging numbers of emergency calls to helplines – with rises of anything between 25 and 300 per cent, dramatic increases in internet searches for support for those affected by domestic violence, and higher numbers of domestic homicides. These are extremely disturbing trends, which must not be ignored.
The Council further notes:
· Children who live with domestic abuse are victims too.
· The causes and effects of domestic abuse are numerous and significant. Across Tameside there are a range of organisations that work directly or indirectly with residents affected by domestic abuse.
· The Office of National Statistics states that whilst 2 million adults aged 16-59 experienced domestic abuse last year, 1.6 million of these are women. Almost one in three women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and two women a week are killed by a current or former partner.
· The recent changes made to the legislation, which includes the recognition that children are victims in the statutory definition of domestic abuse; access to special measures, such as separate waiting rooms and screens, to protect survivors in family and civil courts as well as the criminal court and the ban on consent to ‘rough sex’ being used as a defence in murder cases.
· However, it remains disappointed by the lack of government commitment to guarantee equal protection and support for migrant women and deliver all of the changes survivors need. The legislation currently lacks support for migrant women – who face insurmountable barriers to escaping domestic abuse and are routinely denied their rights to safety and support.
· The previous government/s have promised this would be a ‘landmark moment’ for victim-survivors of domestic abuse, and a vital piece of legislation, which would change the lives of the estimated 2 million people a year who are subjected to abuse.
This Council resolves:
· To call upon the government to ensure that the prevention of domestic violence is a top priority for over the duration of this Parliament upon the passage of the bill;
· While the Bill is welcomed as a first step, Tameside Council believes the safety of people suffering domestic abuse must be made an economic priority.
· At a local level, continue to support throughout the Covid 19 pandemic and beyond, our residents, their families and communities to live a healthy life, free from abuse and violence;
· We will continue to do this by reducing the impact of domestic abuse on the population of Tameside through prevention, early intervention, response and support.
· To work in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and our partners to ensure an effective, evidence based response to perpetrators through to conviction and management of offenders, including rehabilitation and behavioural change programmes.