Agenda and minutes

To receive the record of the proceedings of the ordinary meeting of the Council held on 3rd April 2013 and the annual meeting of the Council held on 15^th May 2013 and to approve the accuracy thereof.

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, Integrated Transport and Pensions – Section 41 of the Local Government Act 1985 – Council Procedure Rule 16.6(i).

          (NB. Minutes of recent meetings of the three South Yorkshire Joint    Authorities have been made available to all Members of the Council via the following link https://meetings.sheffield.gov.uk/council-meetings/full-council)

Report of the Chief Executive

That this Council:

(a)      notes comments from the Independent newspaper on 18^th May 2013 ‘The extent of the suffering inflicted by the “bedroom tax” can be revealed for the first time today as figures show a 338 per cent leap in the number of people applying for emergency hand-outs in the month since it was imposed’;

(b)      further notes comments relating to Sheffield in the article ‘In 2012 the Council received an average of 100 applications for emergency help with housing per month. In April 2013 they received 1,400’;

(c)      further notes recent reports that the Council has received a 48 per cent increase in calls to its contact centre in the first half of April compared with last year and believes this is a consequence of welfare reform;

(d)      condemns this policy which will affect anyone of working age (below 61½) on housing benefit deemed to be ‘under-occupying’ a social housing home, which equates to around 7500 homes across Sheffield;

(e)      deplores the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam for allowing the Government to implement this deeply unfair policy;

(f)       notes that the following are not exempt from the “bedroom tax”

(i)              those couples who need an extra bedroom because of one of them having a medical condition or disability;

(ii)             non-resident parents who have their children to stay at weekends in the holidays;

(iii)            families who offer regular respite support to other family members; and

(iv)           people living in homes which have  been substantially adapted at tax-payers’ expense;

(g)      is committed to supporting all residents both children and adults, including those with disabilities and medical needs;

(h)      regrets that the Discretionary Payments Fund that the Government has made available is completely inadequate and is estimated to cover only a fraction of people affected by the “bedroom tax” and notes that this Fund is also expected to cover other welfare changes;

(i)       notes that the Government’s own Equality Impact Assessment estimates that two-thirds of households affected will have a member with a disability;

(j)       further notes that many independent analysts are predicting that households will move into the private rented sector, costing more, and that care needs for many disabled people will increase, again costing more;

(k)      further notes that there is not an excess supply of small properties available for households to move into in Sheffield;

(l)       further notes the “bedroom tax” is unfairly hitting many people including families with disabled children or adults, families who share the care of their children and families who offer respite care to other family members;

(m)     further notes that this policy may well end up costing the public purse more;

(n)      believes that disabled people – both adults and children – deserve respect and not to be penalised for their medical needs;

(o)      values the role of non-resident parents and believes they should be encouraged to play as full a part in the lives of their children as possible;

(p)      further values and appreciates  ...  view the full agenda text for item 8.

That this Council:

(a)      welcomes the recent Government award recognising Sheffield City Council as a ‘Best Council to do business with’ which was selected by a panel consisting of the Federation of Small Businesses, Confederation of British Industry, British Chambers of Commerce, Local Government Association, Cabinet Office, Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government;

(b)      further welcomes that the award recognised work around the Streets Ahead contract, the biggest in the Council's history, where bidders were encouraged to use local suppliers in their sub-contracting arrangements which has been extremely successful and around 80% of sub-contractors are Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) providing support on a variety of jobs;

(c)      confirms that the Council also ran events such as the Bidders Briefing with an open invitation to all local suppliers to attend giving them an opportunity to network with the market leaders in the highway maintenance sector;

(d)      welcomes other actions taken by the present Administration including providing free one-hour sessions for local businesses, filmed training sessions and put them on the internet, and filmed a 'how to' video on Council procurement and posted that online, filmed by a local digital media company;

(e)      welcomes that the present Administration are delivering on their commitment to be a business friendly council and welcomes initiatives to support local businesses including:

(i)              breaking down the barriers for SMEs to access the Regional Growth Fund;

(ii)             the RISE Graduate Scheme which supports local SMEs employ graduates;

(iii)            the export project supporting local SMEs in the export market;

(iv)     the Sheffield Apprenticeship Programme;

(v)      Skills Made Easy designed by Sheffield City Council, in partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), to put the purchasing power for training for the first time, in the hands of businesses in the Sheffield City Region (SCR);

(vi)     Business Summits;

(vii)     the small business loan fund;

(viii)    up to 50% reductions in off street parking charges;

(ix)     the Chapel Walk scheme;

(x)      the Digital Direction Programme; and

(xi)     securing a Start Up Loans for Young People, the only Council to have done so;

(f)       further welcomes the action of the present Administration of establishing the Keep Sheffield Working Fund, recognising the importance of supporting local businesses in the current challenging economic climate;

(g)      notes the national economic difficulties which have been created by the present Government’s economic mismanagement and notes that the International Monetary Fund have recently called on the Government to do more to promote economic growth;

(h)      acknowledges that the Government’s economic mismanagement, in addition to their decision to suspend the £12 million grant for the New Retail Quarter and the inaction of the previous Administration who presided over what this Council believes was three wasted years, has held back the development of the City Centre;

(i)       however, welcomes that the present Administration have taken a lead in securing the redevelopment of the Moor and the new market and secured the New Development Deal to help realise the new Retail Quarter  ...  view the full agenda text for item 9.

That this Council:

(a)      recalls the recent poll on The Star’s website, which saw 54% of local people state that waste collections in Sheffield were “not working”;

(b)      believes the Council’s waste strategy is still failing local communities, with reports of fly-tipping across the City continuing;

(c)      reiterates the admission of the Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Streetscene, made in The Star on 20th November 2012, that the decrease in recorded fly-tipping is “due to a change in how Sheffield Homes records figures for dumping on estates”;

(d)      notes that in fact fly-tipping in parks and public realm increased by more than 280% in the 2012-13 financial year;

(e)      reminds Members that the main opposition group’s budget amendment would have increased opening hours at local recycling centres; and

(f)       recommends that the Administration undertake an immediate review of local recycling centres with a view to increasing hours and providing a fairer distribution of hours across the City.

That this Council:

(a)      condemns and opposes plans of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP, to change planning rules which could see Payday Loans shops, fast food takeaways and betting shops open with no planning permission required from the Council;

(b)      notes that last year 1,800 leisure, retail and services shops closed in England and many were replaced by pay day loan shops, which saw a 20 per cent increase in openings;

(c)      is extremely concerned by the growth in payday lenders, some of which charge extortionate rates of interest of over 4000% APR and can often lead to people being engulfed in debts that they cannot pay;

(d)      welcomes the proposal by the Leader of the Opposition, The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP, to change planning law to give local authorities new powers to stop the development of payday lenders in town centres; and

(e)      calls upon Eric Pickles to abandon his plans and instead adopt proposals outlined by Ed Miliband MP.

That this Council:

(a)      is extremely concerned by recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which indicates that one in four children in Britain (3.4 million) will be in relative poverty by 2020;

(b)      notes the report’s findings that relative child poverty is estimated to have increased in both 2012 and 2013 from 17.5% in 2010 to 20.5% in 2013;

(c)      notes that the IFS provide the following explanation for the increases in child poverty “Relative child poverty is also forecast to increase as the incomes of low income households with children are projected to fall more quickly than median incomes. This is mainly the result of the cuts to benefits being introduced over this period”;

(d)      notes the following extract from the IFS report “In the UK, relative child poverty is projected to increase by 6.0ppts between 2010–11 and 2020–21, reversing all of the reductions between 2000–01 and 2010–11. In 2020–21, child poverty is projected to be 23.5% and 27.2% using the relative and absolute low-income measures respectively, compared to targets of 10% and 5%. This translates to increases across the decade of 1.1 million in the number of children in poverty according to the absolute low-income measure.”;

(e)      further notes the Guardian article ‘BMA warns of coalition policies failing children on a grand scale’ (16th May 2013) which states “A series of coalition policies threaten to have profoundly deleterious effects on children's lives, driving widening inequalities and sending more families into poverty, according to a scathing report by the British Medical Association.”;

(f)       believes that these reports are a damming indictment of the present Government’s appalling record and regrets that the regressive changes they have introduced will have a detrimental impact on child poverty and will result in almost all of the reductions made under the previous Government being reversed;

(g)      regrets that at the same time as they are making cuts to benefits which the IFS hold responsible for increases in child poverty, the present Government have prioritised a tax cut for higher rate income tax payers; and

(h)      resolves to closely monitor the impact that Government changes have on child poverty levels in Sheffield.

That this Council:

(a)      recalls the dedication of the previous Administration to supporting small and medium-sized businesses in Sheffield to bid for public sector contracts through the Buy4Sheffield project;

(b)      understands that this project, alongside numerous other policies, led to Sheffield moving from ‘the worst place to do business in South Yorkshire’ to the best;

(c)      is pleased to see this work recognised by the Government through its ‘Best councils to do business with’ awards;

(d)      regrets that Labour councillors are jeopardising this progress by projecting a dangerously ‘anti-business’ message, by – among other actions – providing a lukewarm welcome to the potential of new jobs from Ikea and Next;

(e)      notes the comments, reported in The Star newspaper, of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce that “Sheffield’s going backwards” and of the South Yorkshire Federation of Small Businesses that the Council has “lost touch with the business reality of the 21st Century”; and

(f)       believes that creating jobs and growth is the best and the most sustainable way to support local residents and recommends that the present Administration works immediately to shed their “anti-business” image and make Sheffield a genuinely business-friendly City.

That this Council:

(a)      notes that as part of the Government’s Red Tape Challenge they have launched the ‘Company and Business Names Consultation’ which is consulting on removing “Sheffield” as a protected name;

(b)      notes that “Sheffield” as a protected name dates back to the 19th Century which allows the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire the right to grant the use of Sheffield for company names as a quality control process and that hundreds of applications are made annually with the majority granted within 24 hours;

(c)      believes this is an important quality control process that protects Sheffield’s reputation for high quality and prevents companies with no links to the City using the Sheffield name and disagrees that the protection is red tape;

(d)      further believes that there is overwhelming support in the local business community to retain Sheffield as a protected name; and

(e)      fully supports the retention of ‘Sheffield’ as a protected name and resolves to forward a copy of this motion to the Government as part of the consultation.

That this Council:

(a)      regrets the decision of this Council to abolish Community Assemblies and centralise decision-making in the Town Hall;

(b)      highlights the public consultation, in which only 26% of local people supported the decision and just 9% supported plans to cut grants for community projects and groups, which Community Assemblies administered;

(c)      notes the proposed ward-based funding structure, which will see some communities receive five times more than others;

(d)      believes this is a further example of a ‘favoured areas’ policy pursued by the current Administration;

(e)      believes that, given the purpose and scale of this funding, Indices of Multiple Deprivation is not an appropriate tool for allocating funds; and

(f)       considers that communities across Sheffield are not getting a Fair Deal from this Council and calls upon the Administration to reconsider their unfair proposals.

That this Council:

(a)      believes that Liberal Democrats in Government are working to build a fairer society in a stronger economy;

(b)      notes that since the Liberal Democrats have joined Government over 1 million new private sector jobs have been created and 1 million people have started an apprenticeship;

(c)      highlights figures that demonstrate under the Coalition Government that the number of apprenticeships in Sheffield have increased by 54%;

(d)      welcomes measures announced in the Queen’s Speech last month that will help build a stronger economy;

(e)      understands that thousands of businesses across Sheffield will benefit from a cut in National Insurance Contributions, through the proposed introduction of a National Insurance employment allowance of £2,000; and

(f)       believes this measure will create jobs in Sheffield and undertakes to highlight the benefits to local businesses.