Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield, S1 2HH

Contact: Paul Robinson, Democratic Services  Email: paul.robinson@sheffield.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

2.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Members to declare any interests they have in the business to be considered at the meeting.

Minutes:

3.

Suspension of Council Procedure Rules pdf icon PDF 182 KB

To approve, for the duration of this meeting and for the ordinary meeting of the Council on 28 March 2018, certain revisions to the Council Procedure Rules, as set out in the schedule included with this agenda, in order to apply, to these meetings, the changes to the operation of the full Council meeting that were used at the ordinary Council meetings held in September to December as part of a pilot exercise being overseen by the Review of Full Council Meetings Member Working Group.

Minutes:

4.

Public Questions and Petitions and Other Communications

To receive any questions or petitions from the public, or communications submitted by the Lord Mayor or the Chief Executive and to pass such resolutions thereon as the Council Procedure Rules permit and as may be deemed expedient.

Minutes:

5.

Members' Questions pdf icon PDF 567 KB

5.1       Questions relating to urgent business – Council Procedure Rule 16.6(ii).

 

5.2       Supplementary questions on written questions submitted at this meeting – Council Procedure Rule 16.4.

 

5.3       Questions on the discharge of the functions of the South Yorkshire Joint Authorities for Fire and Rescue and Pensions – Section 41 of the Local Government Act 1985 – Council Procedure Rule 16.6(i).

 

            (NB. Minutes of recent meetings of the two South Yorkshire Joint Authorities have been made available to all Members of the Council via the following link -

            http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ecCatDisplay.aspx?sch=doc&cat=13165&path=0)

 

 

Minutes:

6.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan & HRA Budget 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Report of the Executive Director, Resources containing recommendations made by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 17th January 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

7.

Notice of Motion Regarding "The StreetsAhead Contract" - Given by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed and to be Seconded by Councillor Adam Hanrahan

That this Council:-

 

(a)       notes the concerns reported in the press regarding the tendering process which resulted in the Amey StreetsAhead contract;

 

(b)       believes that this contract should serve the people of Sheffield; that the Council Administration should work towards achieving greater flexibility, timeliness, cost effectiveness and improve the safety whilst achieving better value for money from the StreetsAhead programme;

 

(c)        is deeply concerned by the reported allegations that Amey may have failed to declare legal proceedings that were pending or threatened, leading to a criminal conviction, and therefore believes this warrants further investigation as, if found to be true, it could be the basis to determine a legal validity of the StreetsAhead contract; and

 

(d)       resolves that due to the serious nature of the allegations, the Administration should ensure that an open and independent inquiry be carried out as a matter of urgency by a person such as a retired judge with expertise in commercial law, which would report back to full Council so an open, independent and transparent recommendation can be made to this Council to allow us to continue to invest in our highways infrastructure.

 

Minutes:

8.

Notice of Motion Regarding "Women's Equality & Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign" - Given by Councillor Olivia Blake and to be Seconded by Councillor Zahira Naz

That this Council:-

 

(a)       notes that this month we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act (1918), which first granted the vote to 8.4 million women in the UK, being initially only to those over the age of 30 who meet a property qualification;

 

(b)       notes that in addition to this important milestone, International Women's Day will be celebrated globally on 08 March and it is, therefore, a pertinent time to consider how far we have travelled in the fight for gender equality but to also recognise how much further we have to go, both in the UK and internationally;

 

(c)        believes that the challenge now is to build on past achievements and push for full equality for women: financially, in the workplace, in families and homes and in public spaces, but further believes, with regret and anger, that many policies introduced by this Government are retrograde for the economic equality for women;

 

(d)       believes it is outrageous that in 2016, women in the UK are more likely to work for less pay than men, in low paid sectors and be disproportionately affected by austerity;

 

(e)       notes that women approaching the pensionable age have also been badly affected by the 2011 Pensions Act, which legislated that women’s State Pension Age would increase to 65 by 2018;

 

(f)        believes that whilst the equalisation of the State Pension Age should be welcomed, the acceleration of that equalisation, implemented by the Coalition Government and overseen by former Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister, the Rt. Hon. Steve Webb, discriminates against women born in the early 1950s, and has left them with inadequate time to make alternative arrangements and adversely affected their retirement plans;

 

(g)       notes Steve Webb’s admission to the Institute for Government in December 2015 that he made a “bad decision” on raising the State Pension Age;

 

(h)       calls on Richard Harrington MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions, to immediately introduce transitional arrangements to provide protection for women affected by the equalisation of the State Pension Age;

 

(i)         notes with regret that the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) movement and the Labour Party have been demanding such transitional arrangements for seven years and yet Conservative governments, and the preceding Coalition government, have failed to implement such arrangements and have, as such, affected millions of women in the UK, which this Council believes is unfair and unjust;

 

(j)         notes that for 2016's Autumn Statement, 86% of the amount taken by HM Treasury through tax and benefit measures had come from women, with a disproportionate impact on women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds; and

 

(k)        supports the Labour Party's on-going consultation on a new Economic Equality Bill, as this Bill will aim to strengthen legislation around equal pay and tackle the structural and economic barriers that stop women, BAME communities and disabled people from reaching their full potential.

 

Minutes:

9.

Notice of Motion Regarding "Carillion" - Given by Councillor Lisa Banes and to be Seconded by Councillor Mark Jones

That this Council:-

 

(a)       believes Carillion’s collapse is deeply concerning and that the Government have significant questions to answer as to how this situation was allowed to develop and why they so recently awarded contracts worth billions of taxpayers’ money;

 

(b)       notes that Carillion’s demise will be felt right across the county, but gives reassurances that Sheffield City Council has no contracts for services with Carillion, and that all works under previous construction deals have already been completed;

 

(c)        notes that Carillion employs 250 people in Sheffield at their call centre on Broad Street West, and the Council’s Administration will provide whatever support it can to those affected;

 

(d)       believes that the Carillion case highlights Government negligence and corporate failure and, whilst the government have committed to an investigation, it is essential that this is thorough and of consequence;

 

(e)       notes that on 10 July 2017, Carillion issued its first profit warning, with its share price dropping by 39%, but only one week later the Transport Secretary, the Rt. Hon Chris Grayling MP, awarded Carillion a £1.4 billion HS2 contract as part of a joint venture;

 

(f)        reiterates the Labour Party’s belief that workers should have representatives on company boards, and that had such a policy been in place it would have almost certainly improved the governance of Carillion;

 

(g)       further notes that Carillion has had a long history of involvement in the blacklisting of trade union workers, and reiterates that, whilst under this Administration, this Council has previously passed a motion (November 2012) decreeing blacklisting as an unacceptable practice which cannot be condoned;

 

(h)       supports the Labour Party’s position that the Government need to act quickly to bring Carillion’s public sector contracts back in-house to protect public services and ensure employees, supply-line  businesses, taxpayers and pension fund members are all protected, as the Government cannot outsource its responsibility and duty of care to these workers and vital public sector projects;

 

(i)         notes that this Council Administration has never supported financing through the PFI model when work can be properly done in-house, but under the present Government, and the Coalition government before them, this is often the only means of securing funding to improve and maintain Council services and that organisations are forced to, in the words of the Shadow Chancellor, the Rt. Hon John McDonnell MP, use the “only show in town” as a means of getting required funding from central government;

 

(j)         notes that, where possible, Council services are being brought back in-house, such as housing repairs, human resources, payroll and the 101 telephone service (ran with South Yorkshire Police);

 

(k)        reiterates that a Labour government would review all large government contracts outsourced and that it is vital that shareholders and creditors are not allowed to walk away with the rewards from profitable contracts while the taxpayer bails out loss-making parts of the business; and

 

(l)         supports the Rt.Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP’s call for Carillion bosses to hand back bonuses recently paid – awarded despite running  ...  view the full agenda text for item 9.

Minutes:

10.

Notice of Motion Regarding "Cost Effective Improvement in Public Health" - Given by Councillor John Booker and to be Seconded by Councillor Keith Davis

That this Council:-

(a)       notes that South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and software, etc., to tell passengers where the bus is and inform the person at the bus stop how long they have to endure their wait there;

(b)       believes this Council should introduce a Ward trial where this type of system is applied to bin lorries, whereby customers could register their mobile phone with the advertised SCC number, and on bin collection day they would receive a text stating "your bin lorry is ten minutes away, please put your bin out for collection, today is green/black/blue/brown bin";

(c)       recognises that many people forget to put their bin out for collection; a black bin full of domestic waste that is not emptied on collection day will have waste up to a month old by the time of the next collection; and in summer months especially, this would be detrimental to public health;

(d)       believes that this would alleviate the amount of litter strewn around our streets resulting from bins being put out prematurely in inclement weather conditions;

(e)       notes the 'yield' of the rubbish/waste from the bin lorry, if weighed before and after the Ward trail, would prove if the scheme was successful and worth city-wide roll out;

(f)        further notes that Geo-tracking could replace mobile phone registration, if the number is registered from a home address, with linked postcode; and 

(g)       states that the objective of this initiative is cost effective improvement in publichealth, and requests the Administration to assess its feasibility.

 

Minutes:

11.

Notice of Motion Regarding "Public Accountability of Members and Officers" - Given by Councillor Robert Murphy and to be seconded by Councillor Douglas Johnson

That this Council:-

 

(a)       notes the recent application to the High Court by Sheffield City Council to commit Councillor Alison Teal, potentially to prison;

 

(b)       notes that the case was dismissed by the Court against Councillor Teal after the Judge agreed with Councillor Teal’s view of the facts and law;

 

(c)        is seriously concerned that a member of the opposition on this City Council was selected from a significantly larger group of protestors for the case;

 

(d)       believes that the nationwide bad publicity has brought severe reputational damage to the City Council and the City of Sheffield;

 

(e)       is seriously concerned that despite the Judge's findings, there has been no public apology, statement or investigation by the Administration;

 

(f)        calls for an independent enquiry into the conduct of members of the Administration and Council officers that led to this case being brought, the enquiry team being agreed by all groups represented on Sheffield City Council, and the findings made public; and

 

(g)       will ensure that the enquiry team will have access to all information requested.

 

Minutes:

12.

Notice of Motion "To Celebrate the Legacy of the Centenary of Women's Suffrage" - Given by Councillor Alison Teal and to be seconded by Councillor Douglas Johnson

That this Council:-

 

(a)       believes that the city of Sheffield should take pride in its heritage;

 

(b)       believes it is important to create a legacy to celebrate and commemorate Sheffield’s campaign for women’s suffrage, with the founding of the Female Political Association in 1851;

 

(c)        expresses a view that a cross-party steering group of councillors, community and university members be formed to develop proposals on suitable options to create a worthy legacy;

 

(d)       notes that a number of UK cities already successfully bid for funding to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 this year, and there is still time to apply for some Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme funding from the Government Equalities Office;

 

(e)       notes that Sheffield has a rightful opportunity to develop a lasting legacy to attract visitors and scholars to the city, as the place of the UK’s founding organisation for the political struggle for women’s suffrage;

 

(f)        notes possible legacies could include a wide range of ambitious projects such as a home for a centre for Women’s History, to smaller scale provision of a PhD scholarship with a women’s studies focus; and

 

(g)       requests that a steering group be established without delay to take advantage of current funding opportunities.

 

Minutes:

13.

Notice of Motion Regarding "Care Leavers and Council Tax" - Given by Councillor Alison Teal and to be seconded by Councillor Douglas Johnson

That this Council:-

 

(a)       notes that, last year, around 75 young people (aged 16 or over) left the care of Sheffield City Council and began the difficult transition out of care and into adulthood;

 

(b)       further notes that a 2016 report by The Children’s Society found that when care leavers move into independent accommodation they begin to manage their own budget fully for the first time and can find this extremely challenging, often with no family to support them and insufficient financial education;

 

(c)        further notes research from The Centre for Social Justice, which found that over half (57%) of young people leaving care have difficulty managing their money and avoiding debt when leaving care;

 

(d)       believes that as national welfare cuts are removing financial support and the national strategy on care leavers is inadequate, care leavers are a particularly vulnerable group for Council Tax debt;

 

(e)       notes that Sheffield City Council has statutory corporate parenting responsibilities towards young people up to the age of 25 who have left care;

 

(f)        further notes that there are around 440 care leavers in Sheffield liable to pay Council Tax at any one time;

 

(g)       believes that, to ensure that the transition from care to adult life is as smooth as possible, and to mitigate the chances of care leavers falling into debt as they begin to manage their own finances, they should be exempt from paying Council Tax until they are 25;

 

(h)       believes that the lost revenue of around £75,000 in Council Tax receipts is excellent value given the positive impact that exemption will have for this vulnerable group, the duty the Council has under its corporate parenting responsibilities and the savings in reduced instances of housing and social care staff input; and

 

(i)         therefore requests officers to take steps to exempt all care leavers from Council Tax up to the age of 25.

 

Minutes:

14.

Minutes Of Previous Council Meeting pdf icon PDF 151 KB

To receive the record of the proceedings of the meeting of the Council held on 3rd January 2018 and to approve the accuracy thereof.

Minutes:

15.

Representation, Delegated Authority and Related Issues pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To consider any changes to the memberships and arrangements for meetings of Committees etc., delegated authority, and the appointment of representatives to serve on other bodies.

Minutes: