Agenda item - Notices of Motion.

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

(a)               Council Structure & Service Delivery.  Proposed by Councillor Janio.

(b)              Reject the Benefit Cap.  Proposed by Councillor J. Kitcat.

(c)               Fair Deal for Brighton and Hove.  Proposed by Councillor Deane. - Withdrawn

(a)               Council Structure & Service Delivery

86.1         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Janio on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor Cox.

86.2         The Mayor then put the following motion to vote:

“This Council notes that local authorities have a statutory obligation to their residents to secure continuous improvement in the way in which their functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Therefore, this Council notes with concern the recent assessment of the Audit Commission that spending at Brighton & Hove is ‘generally in the top 10%’ of councils and that the Council’s unit costs ‘also appear high compared to other local authorities’.

This Council further notes that the ratio of managers to staff in the organisation is relatively high in comparison to the private sector and, given that staff account for over a third of the Council’s total expenditure, agrees that a review of staffing structures would be beneficial for council taxpayers.

This Council also notes that there are functions still being carried out, such as the collection of large volumes of performance data, that Communities & Local Government has recommended should stop, and that are continuing to absorb funds that could be usefully redeployed to front line services.

This Council is also greatly concerned that the current Administration has effectively abandoned any attempts to introduce and bed in a commissioning model of service delivery and continues to prioritise in-house services for political reasons without any evidence that they provide taxpayers with better value for money. This failure to take an open-minded and holistic approach to the delivery of services condemns the local authority to years of further salami-slicing of budgets with the result being an inevitable deterioration in the standard of essential frontline services.

Therefore, this Council:

(i)           Requests the Chief Executive to carry out a review of the structure of the organisation as part of the modernisation programme, with particular reference to layers of management and numbers of managers per member of staff, and to report back to Policy & Resources Committee;

(ii)         Requests the Policy & Resources Committee to consider the report and make decisions about who delivers Council services based on objective evidence of costs and benefits to residents rather than on political dogma.

86.3         The motion was lost.

(b)              Reject the Benefit Cap

86.4         Councillor J. Kitcat confirmed that he wished the Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda to be taken.

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

“This council notes that the Government plans this year to implement an annual cap on the total benefits a household can receive. This cap will be £26,000 a year for a household with children living in it, and £18,200 for those without [1].

This council believes the cap is a punitive and unnecessary measure which penalises the poor whilst the government has failed to make the wealthy and major companies as Amazon and Starbucks pay their fair share for supporting the costs of running a fair and decent welfare system. It is estimated that 60% of those in receipt of benefits and tax credits are in some form of work. Rather than seeking to reduce the welfare bill by cutting benefits, the government should seek to increase wages taking people out of the need to make ends meet through benefits.

This council also notes the logistical difficulties the government is experiencing in delivering this ill-considered policy, including the recently delayed implementation date for the cap from April 2013 to as late as September 2013.

It is estimated that when it is implemented the cap will force around 300 of Brighton and Hove's poorest families out of their homes. The government has confirmed that they cannot be considered 'intentionally homeless' and so the council will have a duty of care to them. The council estimates the cost of housing these families will be approximately £1.1m in the first year alone.

This council also notes the Department for Communities and Local Government's 2011 New Burdens Doctrine, which states that:

"the Cabinet has agreed that all new burdens on local authorities must be properly assessed and fully funded by the relevant department… [this is] to ensure that the pressure on council tax is kept down"[2]

The Council therefore resolves:

(1)         To note that the benefit cap will unfairly penalise and dispossess the poorest families in our city and result in perverse additional costs to the public purse; and

(2)         Requests the Chief Executive to write to the senior ministers responsible in both the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government seeking;

(i)           the abolition of the benefits cap,

(ii)         to acknowledge that should it not be cancelled, the results of the benefit cap impose a new burden on local government; and

(iii)       As such, this new burden should be funded by central government so that the council can support those affected by its introduction.”

86.6         The motion was carried.