Minutes:
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Child Sexual Exploitation |
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The Lord Mayor (Councillor Peter Rippon) announced the proposal that an urgent of business be considered at this point in the proceedings. Council Procedure Rule 26 states that “An item of business may be considered at a meeting of the Council, a Committee or Sub-Committee as a matter of urgency, where it has not been possible to give five clear working days’ notice, on the recommendation of the Chair but the reason for such urgency must be recorded in the minutes. Any non-confidential or non-exempt report relating to such item must be made available for public inspection once it has been issued.” |
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The Leader of the Council (Councillor Julie Dore) had requested that the Council considers an additional Notice of Motion concerning child sexual exploitation. This follows the publication, after the Council agenda had been published, of Professor Alexis Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. In view of the nature of the issue and its relevance to Sheffield and the timing of the publication of Professor Jay’s report, the Lord Mayor stated that he was satisfied that there are clear reasons for taking this Notice of Motion as an urgent item of business. |
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The proposed Motion was circulated to Members of the Council on 2 September 2014 and was published on the Council’s website. Copies of the Motion were made available in the Council Chamber and Public Gallery. |
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RESOLVED: On the Motion of Councillor Julie Dore, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, that this Council:- |
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(a) notes with horror and disgust the extent and nature of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham described in the report by Professor Alexis Jay OBE;
(b) believes that the position of Shaun Wright, the Police and Crime Commissioner, is now untenable and that he no longer has the confidence of the public;
(c) therefore calls upon the Police and Crime Commissioner to resign with immediate effect;
(d) notes the current inability of any agency or public group to remove the postholder from office, and calls on the Government to rectify this unacceptable position;
(e) agrees that an assessment will be carried out of Professor Jay’s report, and that this assessment will benchmark practice in Sheffield against the situation described in that report, identifying any additional improvements that can be made; and
(f) confirms that this assessment will be reported within approximately two months to the Cabinet, the relevant Scrutiny Committee and the independently chaired Safeguarding Children Board. |