Agenda item - Notices of Motion.

The following Notices of Motion have been submitted by Members for consideration (copies attached):

 

(a)         New Measures Needed to Address Housing Crisis – Proposed by Councillor Wakefield.

         Amendment from the Labour & Co-operative Group - Proposed by Councillor Farrow.

 

(b)        City in Bloom Brighton & Hove - Proposed by Councillor C. Theobald.

 

(c)         Drop the Bill – Proposed by Councillor Marsh.

 

(d)        Intelligent Commissioning and the Community & Voluntary Sector – Proposed by Councillor Wealls.

 

(e)         The Disproportionate Impact of Government Cuts on Women – Proposed by Councillor Kennedy.

 

Note:   Item 51(a) and the Labour & Co-operative Group amendment were deferred from the previous Council meeting on the 20^th October, 2011.

(a)               New Measures Needed to Address Housing Crisis

 

51.1         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Wakefield on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Randall.

 

51.2         Councillor Farrow moved an amendment on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group, which was seconded by Councillor Carden.

 

51.3         The Mayor noted that the amendment moved by Councillor Farrow had not been accepted by Councillor Wakefield and therefore put the proposed amendment to the vote which was lost.

 

51.4         The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

            “This council expresses its concern at the range of ineffectual polices introduced by the Coalition Government to address the housing crisis facing Brighton and Hove and the rest of the nation.  Furthermore, it believes Ministers should stand back and pause and reflect as they have done in other policy areas and reconsider their proposals.

It therefore requests the Chief Executive of Brighton and Hove City Council to write to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles urging them to take action to deal with the housing crisis by:

 

1.            Diverting a proportion of the £75 billion of quantitative easing away from the banks and devoting it to launching a national social housing building programme of 100,000 homes a year over the next three years, to shorten the national housing waiting list and create thousands of jobs and apprenticeships and training in the building industry, the building supply chain and professional services like architects and surveyors;

 

2.            Ending the sale of council homes and abandoning  their proposals to increase Right to Buy discounts for council tenants; and

 

3.            Abandoning plans to introduce 80 per cent market rents for new housing association homes and relets and new council homes, which will lead to increased housing hardship and homelessness.

It also calls on the city’s three MPs to lobby Ministers in support of the council’s case on these three points.”

51.5         The motion was carried.

 

 

(b)       City in Bloom Brighton & Hove

 

51.6         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor C. Theobald on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor A. Norman.

 

51.7         Councillor West moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which was seconded by Councillor Duncan.

 

51.8         The Mayor noted that the amendment moved by Councillor West had not been accepted by Councillor C. Theobald and therefore put the proposed amendment to the vote which was lost.

 

51.9         The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

            “This Council believes that a visually attractive and well looked after Brighton & Hove not only benefits the local economy by increasing visitor numbers, but also helps to make the city’s residents feel proud of where they live.

 

            This Council recognises the priority that the previous Administration gave to maintaining and improving the city’s parks, gardens and general street scene through measures such as planting additional flowerbeds, decorating vacant shop fronts, cracking down on graffiti and removing estate agents boards from central Conservation Areas. Furthermore, this Council agrees that this level of investment in the city’s appearance will be more important than ever in 2012, when the city will host the Olympic Torch and the Queen will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.

 

            Therefore, this Council notes with grave concern the decision by the current Administration to review its funding for the City in Bloom project. City in Bloom, which has enjoyed the support of the previous two Administrations, brings together volunteers, community gardeners and businesses from across Brighton & Hove, with one aim – to make the city a more attractive place in which to live, work and visit.

 

            This Council agrees that the £30,000 spent funding City in Bloom is far outweighed by the economic benefit it brings to the city and the civic pride that it engenders amongst local communities. Furthermore, the knock-on effects of withdrawing the funding could include cancellation of the city’s hanging baskets contract and turfing over of flower beds in the city’s parks and gardens.

 

            Therefore, this Council urges the Cabinet to rule out any cuts to City in Bloom when putting forward its budget proposals for 2012/13.”

 

51.10    The motion was carried.

 

 

(c)       Drop the Bill

 

51.11    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Morgan on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group and seconded by Councillor Marsh.

 

51.12    The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

            “The Coalition: Our Programme for Government', promised:

 

a)           “that health spending increases in real terms in each year of the Parliament"; and,

 

b)           to, “stop the top down reorganisation of the NHS”.

 

            However, this council notes that just over one year later:

 

a)           the NHS has been cut in real terms by £800 million; and,

 

b)           the Health and Social Care Bill includes the biggest reorganisation in the history of the NHS, at a cost of £2 billion.

 

            Moreover, this council is concerned that the Health and Social Care Bill risks:

 

1.            breaking up the NHS and creating an unfair postcode lottery with no national standards;

 

2.            increasing waiting times and a two-tier NHS as it scraps the cap on hospitals treating private patients at the same time as watering down guarantees on NHS waiting times;

 

3.            turning the NHS into a full-blown commercial market, putting competition before patient care, allowing private companies to cherry-pick quick profits;

 

4.            undermining the bond of trust between doctors and patients as it creates conflicts of interest where financial incentives could interfere with medical decisions;

 

5.            wasting money and creating bureaucracy in spending £2 billion on a re-organisation at the same time as asking the NHS to find £20 billion worth of efficiency savings.

 

            Patients in Brighton & Hove are already starting to see the NHS going backwards, with more local people having to wait longer for vital tests- for example, over 2,000 local people waited over six weeks for hospital cancer tests after being referred by their GP, compared to just over 100 patients facing similar delays last year.

 

            Furthermore, many thousands of people have already called on the Government to stop, including 1,500 local people who recently signed a local petition to ‘Save the NHS’ and this council fully supports city residents in this campaign.

 

            For the reasons outlined above, this council believes that this Government should drop the Health and Social Care Bill.

 

            Therefore this council resolves to:

 

1.      Write directly to the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary urging them to drop the Health and Social Care Bill; and

 

2.      Call on the Members of Parliament representing Brighton & Hove to actively oppose the Health and Social Care Bill in Parliament

 

51.13    The motion was carried.

 

 

Motion to terminate the meeting:

 

51.14    In accordance with Procedural rule 17, the Mayor noted that the meeting had been in session for over four hours and she was therefore required to move a closure motion to effectively terminate the meeting.

 

51.15    The Mayor moved the closure motion and put the matter to the vote which was lost and therefore resulted in the continuation of the meeting

 

 

(d)       Intelligent Commissioning and the Community & Voluntary Sector

 

51.16    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Wealls on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor Simson.

 

51.17    Councillor Gilbey moved an amendment on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group, which was seconded by Councillor Lepper.

 

51.18    Councillor Randall moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which was seconded by Councillor Follett.

 

51.19    The Mayor noted that the amendment moved by Councillor Gilbey had been accepted by Councillor Wealls and the amendment moved by Councillor Randall had not been accepted by Councillor Wealls.  She therefore put the proposed amendment from the Green Group to the vote which was lost.

 

51.20    The Mayor then put the following motion as amended to the vote:

 

            “This Council recognises and values the hugely positive impact of Brighton & Hove’s thriving localcommunity and voluntary sector (CVS). It is estimated that the local CVS contributes £96 million to the local economy each year with approximately 19,200 volunteer positions, giving 57,600 per week of volunteer hours.

 

            Furthermore, this Council strongly supports the principles of the Intelligent Commissioning process in the provision of public services in the city, as outlined in the Cabinet report of April 2010. In particular:

 

•     It should result in the best people, delivering the best outcomes at the best value for the taxpayer,

•     That there should be a genuinely level playing field between the Council and the local CVS (including social enterprise, co-ops and mutuals),

•     That service provision should be embedded within the local community.

 

            This Council warmly welcomes the contribution that the local CVS has made to the development of the Intelligent Commissioning process to date and embraces the enhanced opportunities that it brings for the sector.

 

            However, this Council notes with concern that the Intelligent Commissioning process appears to have lost much of its initial impetus in recent months and acknowledges real concerns from the local CVS that services will not be commissioned on a genuinely level playing field.

 

            Therefore, this Council requests that Cabinet:

 

1.   Renews its commitment to further developing the Intelligent Commissioning process as a potential means of delivering higher quality and better value services to the residents of Brighton & Hove; and

 

2.   Takes the principles outlined in this notice of motion fully into account in any future commissioning decisions.

 

51.21    The motion was carried.

 

 

(e)       The Disproportionate Impact of Government Cuts on Women

 

51.22    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Powell on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Phillips.

 

51.23    The Mayor congratulated Councillor Powell on her maiden speech.

 

51.24    The Mayor then put the following motion the vote:

 

            “This council notes the Government has embarked on an unprecedented cull of public services.  Budgets have been slashed in all areas, from health and education to the legal aid service and benefits for the neediest in our society.

Women are the main victims of these cuts, according to the Brighton Women’s Centre. More women than men work in the public sector, many of them part-time, and face unemployment as a result of the Coalition’s attack on public services. Indeed, according to research released in the Autumn by the GMB, 66.4 per cent of the jobs lost by councils this year were held by women, and female unemployment is rising across the board.

Other Government cuts, like those to tax credits for example, further penalise women.  Researchers from the House of Commons Library calculate that 73 per cent of the £2.37 billion the Chancellor plans to raise from changes to tax credits and a cap on public sector pay will come from women who will lose £1.73 billion. Deep cuts in social housing budgets are condemning a rising number of local women to homelessness and poor housing.

In its continuing work to end discrimination against women and others, the council recently adopted a new Equality Impact Assessment policy requiring the impact of all budget proposals to be analysed to make sure equalities implications are considered as part of any proposal. The council also supports organisations such as The Fawcett Society and the TUC who have been campaigning hard to ensure gender equality issues are factored in to the way cuts are made to ensure women don't bear the brunt.

Specifically, we note and support the Fawcett Society's 'Life Raft for Women's Equality' campaign [1], which calls on the Government and councils to do four things:

 

1.      Help support families

2.      Help support women and girls who are the victims of violence

3.      Help make work pay for low-income mothers

4.      Help protect women from poverty in retirement

 

            This council therefore resolves to:

 

(a)    Support Cabinet in its work to make Brighton & Hove City Council a 'best practice' authority in equality terms;

 

(b)    Ask the Chief Executive to write to the city's three MPs, expressing this council's concerns and asking them to support the Fawcett Society campaign and other campaigns aimed at achieving greater equality for women;

 

(a)         Endorse its support for the 'Life Raft for Women's Equality' campaign and work more closely with the Fawcett Society.”

 

            [1] http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/A%20Life%20Raft%20for%20Women's%20Equality%20FINAL(1).pdf

 

51.16    The motion was carried.