Agenda item

14.1

It was formally moved by Councillor Neale Gibson, and formally seconded by Councillor Chris Peace, that this Council:-

(a)       condemns the Government’s decision to press ahead with relocating 247 jobs at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from Sheffield to London;

(b)       extends its sympathy to the workers affected;

(c)        believes this decision to relocate the department responsible for building the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ flies in the face of the Government’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ rhetoric;

(d)       notes the overwhelming case to retain the jobs in Sheffield put forward by the staff affected, trade unions, councils across the city region, the Local Enterprise Partnership, wider business community and MPs, based on it saving money for the Government, its importance for our local economy and it helping to retain talent in Sheffield; and

(e)       further notes that:-

(i)         despite repeated requests, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP, refused to meet with the Leader of the Council to discuss this issue;

(ii)        the Leader of the Council has also written to the Chancellor and Commercial Secretary to the Treasury expressing her dismay at this decision; and

(iii)       the Council will do everything it can to put in place support for local people to find new employment in the city as quickly as possible.

14.2

Whereupon, it was formally moved by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, and formally seconded by Councillor Martin Smith, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of paragraph (e) and the addition of new paragraphs (e) to (l) as follows:-

(e)        further notes the decision of HSBC to relocate 595 jobs from Sheffield and Tankersley to international locations, the redundancies at Polestar, resulting in 613 redundancies, and the 831 jobs still at risk at TATA in Stocksbridge;

(f)         calls on the Administration to do all it can with other partners to support those facing job losses across the city to help them find alternative employment and/or training;

(g)        believes that despite these setbacks, Sheffield has a lot of potential to be a great city with great opportunities - in particular:-

(i)        two world class universities and one of the highest graduate retention rates in the country;

(ii)       a fantastic location close to other northern cities and 25 minutes’ drive to a world class airport; and

(iii)      a worldwide reputation as a green city;

(h)       believes that this is demonstrated in the new and exciting developments in Sheffield City Region, with the proposed £300 million expansion to Meadowhall;

(i)         believes this a crucial time for Sheffield, with the recent devolution deal, which will devolve powers from Westminister to politicians in our region, giving local people more power over our own destiny;

(j)         notes the Centre for Cities report “A Century of Cities”, on the importance of knowledge based industries for improving wealth and prosperity in cities, and the Tech North report “The Digital Powerhouse”, on how the public sector can supercharge the tech economy of the north

(k)        believes that both of these issues are vital to Sheffield’s economy due to the abundance of technology and creative companies; and

(l)         calls on the Administration to:-

(i)        work across political party and with local industry to promote Sheffield more as the place in the north to invest, grow and do business; and

(ii)       ensure one full Council meeting a year is a ‘State of Sheffield’ business event, where local business report back on what improvements have been made and what Sheffield City Council needs to do extra in the coming year to support business, enterprise and innovation in the City.

14.3

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

(NOTE: Councillors John Booker, Jack Clarkson, Keith Davis, Douglas Johnson, Magid Magid, Robert Murphy and Alison Teal voted for paragraphs (e) to (g) and (j) to (l) and abstained on paragraphs (h) and (i) of the amendment and asked for this to be recorded.)

14.4

The original Motion was then put to the vote and carried as follows:-