Agenda item - Notices of Motion.

(a)               Connexions.  Proposed by Councillor Hawkes (copy attached).

 

(b)              National Public Sector Debt and Local Response.  Proposed by Councillor Mears (copy attached).

 

(c)               Support for Neighbourhood-Based Policing in Brighton and Hove.  Proposed by Councillor Duncan (copy attached).

 

(d)              The Impact of Cuts on Children and Young People.  Proposed by Councillor Fryer (copy attached).

 

(e)               Improvements to Education Provision in Brighton & Hove.  Proposed by Councillor Brown (copy attached).

 

(a)               Connexions

 

40.1         The Mayor noted that the Conservative Group’s amendment had been withdrawn and that a Green Group amendment to the Labour Group’s Notice of Motion had been moved and put it to the vote which was lost.

 

40.2         The Mayor then put the following substantive motion as unamended to the vote:

 

“This council recognises and values the work of the Brighton and Hove Connexions Service that provides high quality, impartial guidance to 13 – 19yr old young people relating to personal development, training and careers and seeks to ensure that young people make a smooth transition to adulthood and working life.  It also recognises the specialist work undertaken with young people who have special educational needs.

 

This council acknowledges that the work of the Connexions Personal Advisors has directly contributed to the reduction in entrants to the Youth Justice System and numbers of teenage pregnancies in the city, where the council’s own performance indicators demonstrate falling numbers.

 

In addition, there have been early signs of a welcome reduction in the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training. (NEET).

 

Therefore, this council expresses its great concern at the total reduction of £700,000 funding to the Connexions budget that has put the jobs of up to 40 Connexions workers at risk as well as significantly reducing the service to young people and jeopardising the progress made.

 

It calls on the Cabinet to continue the Brighton & Hove Connexions Service while urgently carrying out the following work:

 

·         To properly examine the government proposals for the future of careers guidance and support contained within the Education Bill, due to be published in Autumn 2010.

 

·         To fully consult with schools as to their capacity and willingness to take on this work and the implications for the transfer of statutory responsibilities.

 

·         To carry out an Equality Impact Assessment to show how the impact of closing the Connexions service will affect service users, particularly those with SEN.

 

·         To take into account the implications of the Government spending review.

 

·         To bring forward a report to Cabinet that sets out how a personal development, careers advice and training guidance service will be maintained in the city and supported so that young people can be best helped to make decisions affecting their future.”

 

40.3         The motion was carried.

 

 

(b)              National Public Sector Debt and Local Response

 

40.4         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Mears and seconded by Councillor Oxley.

 

40.5         Councillor Kitcat moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which was seconded by Councillor Steedman.

 

40.6         The Mayor noted that the amendment moved by Councillor Kitcat had not been accepted by Councillor Mears and therefore put the proposed amendment to the vote which was lost.

 

40.7         The Mayor then put the following substantive motion as unamended to the vote:

 

            “This Council notes with regret that national debt interest payments now total £120 million a day or £44 billion a year. To put this in context, these debt payments are higher than the national schools budget (£41 billion), transport (£15 billion), defence (£37 billion) and crime/justice (£21 billion).

 

            This Council further notes the comments of the Institute for Fiscal Studies that the previous Government’s approach to the public finances from 2001 had, even before the financial crisis hit “left the UK with one of the largest structural budget deficits in the developed world”.

 

            Furthermore, this Council welcomes the recent comments of the independent International Monetary Fund who have endorsed the Coalition Government’s deficit reduction plans concluding that they ”greatly reduce the risk of a costly loss of confidence in fiscal sustainability and will help rebalance the economy”.

            At a local level, this Council welcomes and endorses the work being undertaken to prepare the organisation for expected central Government funding reductions in the Comprehensive Spending Review. In particular:

 

·               The Intelligent Commissioning proposals which will focus scarce resources more effectively on the outcomes which residents want.

·               The ongoing work through the City’s Public Service Board, towards implementing Place Based Budgets which the LGA estimates would save £100 billion nationally over the lifetime of a Parliament and notes that this would not be possible without an Intelligent Commissioning approach.

·               The Value for Money review which will achieve savings of up to £35 million over 4 years with potential ongoing savings of up to £18 million. This will be in addition to the £30 million which has been saved over the last 3 years.

·               The Improving Customer Experience programme – working towards a one stop shop for residents accessing Council services.

 

            This Council seeks to reassure residents that these pre-emptive measures put the organisation in a very good position compared to many other local authorities, to absorb its contribution to the national debt reduction programme without adversely affecting vital frontline services.

 

            Therefore, this Council resolves to:

 

·               Endorse the pre-emptive measures outlined above.

·               Write to the City’s 3 MPs urging them to highlight the innovative work of Brighton & Hove City Council in Parliament.

 

·               Urge the Cabinet to continue to maintain a constructive dialogue with Government, both directly and through the City’s local MPs, in order to get residents the best possible deal from the changes announced in the June emergency budget, the CSR and the forthcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.”

 

40.8         The motion was lost.

 

           

            Motion to terminate the meeting:

 

40.9         In accordance with Procedural 17, Councillor Peltzer Dunn moved that the meeting should be terminated in view of the time and length of the meeting.

 

40.10    Councillor Kemble formally seconded the motion.

 

40.11    Councillor Kitcat requested a recorded vote, which was supported by a sufficient number of Members.

 

40.12    The Mayor noted that a recorded vote had been requested and put the motion to terminate the meeting to the vote:

 

 

 

	NAME	For	Against	Abstain
Cllr	Alford	ü
	Allen			-
	Barnett	ü
	Bennett	Absent
	Brown	ü
	Carden	ü
	Caulfield	ü
	Cobb		x
	Davey		x
	Davis			-
	Deane		x
	Drake	Absent
	Duncan		x
	Elgood		x
	Fallon-Khan	ü
	Fryer		x
	Hamilton		x
	Harmer-Strange	ü
	Hawkes		x
	Hyde	ü
	Janio	ü
	Kemble	ü
	Kennedy		x
	Kitcat		x
	Lepper		x
	Marsh	ü
	McCaffery		x
	Meadows	ü
	Mears	ü
	Mitchell		x
	Morgan		x
	Norman, Ann	ü
	Norman, Ken	ü
	Older	ü
	Oxley	ü
	Peltzer Dunn	ü
	Phillips		x
	Pidgeon	Absent
	Randall		x
	Rufus		x
	Simpson		x
	Simson	ü
	Smart	ü
	Smith	ü
	Steedman		x
	Theobald, Carol	ü
	Theobald, Geoffrey	ü
	Turton		x
	Wakefield-Jarrett		x
	Watkins		x
	Wells	ü
	West		x
	Wrighton		x
	Young	ü
	Total	25	24

 

 

40.13    The motion was carried.

 

40.14    The Mayor noted that the motion had been carried and therefore the remaining items would be put to the vote unless the mover chose to withdraw the item.

 

 

(c)               Support for Neighbourhood-Based Policing in Brighton and Hove

 

40.15    The Mayor put the amendment moved by Councillor Simson on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor Hyde to the vote, which was lost.

 

40.16    The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda proposed by Councillor Duncan, on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Randall to the vote:

           

            “The Neighbourhood-based policing model adopted in Brighton and Hove has been successful in reducing the fear of crime, actual crime – and improving public confidence in the police and residents’ belief that they live in safer communities.

 

            Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) have played a key role in the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing in the city, by attending Local Action Team and other community group meetings, listening to communities and setting local priorities for policing in line with residents’ wishes, and holding regular ‘street briefings’.

 

            Their regular patrols are welcomed and appreciated by neighbourhoods across the city, and they have built excellent relationships with all sectors and all ages in the community.

 

            PCSOs do not have the power of arrest, as they are not ‘warranted officers’ – and this has been key to their success in many ways – not least as they have been able to develop relationships based on trust and confidence rather than power and hierarchies in the communities they serve.

 

            Yet all this is under threat. As a result of successive cuts, by this Government and the last, to Sussex Police’s budget, the Chief Constable of Sussex Police has warned that more that 1,000 people currently employed by Sussex Police are set to lose their jobs.

 

            This council expresses its support for the Neighbourhood Policing model so successfully used here in Brighton and Hove in recent years, and its support for the valuable work of our PCSOs.

 

            Accordingly, it:

 

(i)           Requests the Chief Executive to write to the city’s MPs, and the Home Secretary, asking them to reconsider any cuts to Sussex Police budgets;

 

(ii)         Urges Sussex Police Authority to ensure that Neighbourhood Policing remains at the heart of the way policing is delivered in Brighton and Hove, and that  numbers of PCSOs serving the city are maintained at current levels in the 2011/12 budget;

 

(iii)       Requests officers to consider ways this council could directly fund PCSOs in the city, either through direct sponsorship or through the BID system; and

 

(iv)       Welcomes Sussex Police’s commitment to ensure that the proposed cuts in staff are assessed for their impact on equalities as a way of maintaining community support for the way policing is delivered in the city.”

 

40.17    The motion was carried.

 

 

(d)              The Impact of Cuts on Children and Young People

 

40.18    The Mayor noted that the amendment moved by Councillor McCaffery on behalf of the Labour Group and seconded by Councillor Davis had been accepted by Councillor Fryer.

 

40.19    The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion proposed by Councillor Fryer on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Kitcat, as amended to the vote:

 

            “This Council recognises that children and young people are uniquely vulnerable. As a result they mostly depend on adults to voice their needs to government and in political debate, and we acknowledge that responsibility.

 

            This Council notes that proposals by the national government and the Local Administration unfairly target children and young people by:

 

•         Withdrawing funding for Connexions services;

•         Restricting child benefit in a way which can unfairly penalise certain types of families;

•         Withdrawing free school meals for those families on low incomes;

•         Requiring significant cuts to the education budget whilst also preparing the way for increased university tuition fees;

•         Significantly reducing road safety budgets when 13 children have been killed or seriously injured on the city’s roads;

•         Drastic NHS reorganisations and budget freezes which will inevitably impact the city’s Children & Young People’s Trust.

•         Cutting the £1.1m playbuilder scheme that would have seen children’s playgrounds across the city renovated or rebuilt.

•         Scrapping guaranteed 1to 1 tuition in schools. 

 

                        Excessive cuts have dampened the economy leading to a lack of job creation which risks a lost generation for our young people

 

            This Council disputes the need for such rapid and hard hitting cuts especially when they affect the most vulnerable in our society and calls on the Cabinet to:

 

•         Reconsider budget cuts affecting children and young people;

 

•         Consider children and young people as a specific ‘at risk’ group in the equality impact assessment of the 2011-12 council budget;

 

•         Carry out an urgent consultation with schools to assess their readiness to take any further responsibilities and capability to deal with the impact of the National Coalition Government’s cuts to Children and Young People;

 

•         To carry out an Equality Impact Assessment to fully show how the impact of cuts will affect children and young people.”

 

40.20    The motion was carried.

 

 

(e)               Improvements to Education Provision in Brighton & Hove

 

40.21    The Mayor put the amendment moved by Councillor Phillips on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Fryer to the vote, which was lost.

 

40.22    The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda proposed by Councillor Brown on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor Kemble to the vote:

 

            “This Council warmly welcomes recent developments around schools and education provision in the City. These include:

 

·         The acquisition of the Connaught Centre in Hove to form part of a new 3 form entry primary school in the City.

·         The expansion of Davigdor, Somerhill, West Blatchington, Goldstone, Westdene, Benfield, Balfour and Queen’s Park Schools.

·         The opening of the new Brighton Aldridge Community Academy in September 2010, with the brand new campus due to open in September 2011, representing a £25 million investment in young people for one of the most deprived areas of the City.

·         The City’s best ever GCSE results, with the number of students gaining five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths, going from 44.5% to 49.1%. Three schools in particular – Hove Park, Portslade Community College and Varndean – improved their results by more than 10%.

·         28% of the City’s nursery, infant, primary and junior schools have obtained an outstanding Ofsted rating compared to a national figure of 19%

·         80% of the City’s childcare providers have a good / outstanding rating compared to a national average of 68%.

 

            Therefore, this Council would like to place on record its thanks to all the pupils, parents / carers, teachers, childcare providers, officers and partners across the City who have made these successes possible.”

 

40.23    The motion was carried.