Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies.

It was noted that apologies had been received from Councillors J Baillie, Coombs and Parnell.

To authorise the signing of the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 18^th July, 2018, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th July 2018 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Matters especially brought forward by the Mayor and the Leader.

(i)  The Mayor announced that, Fairisle Junior School are one of just three schools in Southampton that were awarded the STARS Gold Award for Sustainable Travel at the end of last term.

  Modeshift STARS is the national schools awards scheme that had been established to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel.

The Gold Award requires schools to sustain commitment to active travel initiatives over a prolonged period.  One of the most significant achievements, and an essential element of the award, is that the school must reduce car usage amongst parents and carers by 5% during a three year period. This helps to ease congestion and improve local air quality around the school site, thereby encouraging more pupils and families to walk, scoot and cycle to school.

The school has undertaken a wide range of activities with pupils, parents and local residents including:

·  Travel Tracker- the school records pupils’ mode of travel on a daily basis and rewards those who travel actively with badges and resources.

·  Walk to School Week

·  A child-friendly street project with SCC and Sustrans.

·  Staff and pupils organised a road closure and held a street   party outside school to trial street furniture and traffic-calming   measures.  This provided an opportunity for engagement with   local residents.

·  The school arranged for a HGV to visit the school in order to   demonstrate blind spots and road safety issues for cyclists. This session received excellent feedback from pupils and   parents.

The Active Travel ethos is embedded across the school and supported by the Leadership team. Even the termly prize for best attendance is active-travel related - last term’s prize was a bike!  The School Travel champion ensures that links between active travel and other areas of school life are connected.  Southampton City Council’s School Travel Team presented the school with a Golden Rose to commemorate their Gold achievement.  The rose was planted by the Head Boy and Head Girl outside main reception area and is cared for by pupils in the gardening club.

We welcome Learning Leader pupils from Fairisle Junior School who are here today to tell us more about how they achieved their fantastic award and what they have planned for the future.

Thank you for your presentation, I would like to invite the Head Girl and Boy to come forward and receive their Gold STARS certificate and plaque.

(ii)  The Mayor announced that on the 5th September Councillor McEwing and Sharon Carroll (a current SCC employee and Reservist for 106 Royal Artillery Regiment) attended an award ceremony at Victory Museum, Portsmouth to receive a Silver Award from the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. The award confirms the Council’s growing commitment to ensure that serving and former Armed Forces personnel and their families are supported and receive opportunities during their employment with the Council.

(iii)  The Leader announced the appointment of Cllr Leggett to the Cabinet as the Portfolio Holder for Green City.

To receive any requests for Deputations, Presentation of Petitions or Public Questions.

(i)  The Council received and noted a deputation from Mr Alex Williamson  concerning Wave Trust 70/30 Campaign;

(ii)  The Council received and noted a deputation from Ms Amanda Guest and Ms Lisa Stead concerning Kentish Road Respite Centre.

Report of the Leader of the Council detailing the Executive business conducted since the last Executive Business Report on 18th July 2018.

The report of the Leader of the Council was submitted setting out the details of the business undertaken by the Executive.

The Leader and the Cabinet made statements and responded to questions. 

The following questions were submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.1.

1.  Contract Confidence

According to the Council's own internal reports, the Capita Contract was performing well. Now it has been cancelled by the Labour Administration. How can the public have confidence in any other contracts the Council has with providers like Capita, when the Council claims they are performing well and hides poor performance behind claimed "confidentiality"?

Answer

The Council is bringing the services delivered under the contract back in-house to ensure that we have full control and flexibility over these critical services going forward. This will enable these services to be managed in full alignment with the Council’s strategy and eliminate the administrative, commercial and legal constraints presented by the contract.

2.  Recording Meetings

The minutes of Full Council, according to Democratic Services, do not record proceedings, only resolutions. This excludes important actions taken by opposition councillors in holding the Executive to account. The minutes even exclude questions of concern asked to officers of the Council or that even questions were asked of members of the Executive. They even exclude reports and concerns expressed about courses of action being taken by the Executive, including on controversial and/or costly expenditure.  This could be resolved by recording Full Council meetings, whether by audio or video means, as is done in other councils in Hampshire (e.g. Basingstoke and Deane and Hampshire County councils). Will you commit to begin these recordings by the end of 2018?

Answer

The Council’s minutes are brief notes of the proceedings at any formal decision making meeting that, in particular, record the decision made by members not the debate. Minutes can take whatever form is preferred by an individual authority and styles vary but the Council’s approach has served the Council well over many years. There is no merit in a verbatim written report being produced and the Council’s approach follows the practice followed by the majority of Councils. The most important and overarching element is that the decision is accurately recorded.

Minutes are not designed to be used as records of political debate. Officers have explored the possibility of web-camming or streaming meetings, the technology is available on the market, but is costly and from the experience of the few others who do the hits are very few.

3.  Arts Complex – Expenditure

How much total Council money has been spent on the Arts Complex since its inception, how much additional money has been spent on the Arts Complex since you became responsible for it, and when will the taxpayer get this money back?

Answer

The total project spend to the end of August 2018 is £19,958,722.

Since April 2016, the spend has been £14,223,304.

Since opening, Studio 144 has attracted 18,000 visits to the John Hansard gallery and over 55,000 visits  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

(a)  Councillor Shields to move

“This Council is alarmed at the continuing financial crisis facing England’s adult and children’s social care systems which – between them account for over half of discretionary spending for upper tier local authorities like Southampton. This crisis is getting worse as a direct consequence of increased demand for Council-commissioned care services due to an ageing population and the negative impact of welfare reforms on vulnerable working age adults and their families. The problem is further compounded by the year-on-year Government reductions in Council finances since 2010 – with places like Southampton, hit particularly hard.

This Council accepts that local authority social care services up and down the country have reached a tipping point with some County Councils – like Northamptonshire, Somerset and West Sussex – facing bankruptcy. Moreover the social care funding crisis also threatens our valued NHS as we celebrate its 70th anniversary. For too long have governments – of all colours – put off meaningful action to address the chronic underfunding of our social care system and we look forward later this year to receiving a (thrice delayed) Government Green Paper on adult social care. We applaud the Local Government Association initiative in producing its own Green Paper for adult social care and wellbeing ‘The Lives We Want to Lead’ and the local response to this by the City’s Health & Wellbeing Board and other partners.

This Council urges the Government to commit to long-term funding for adult social care services along the same lines as for the NHS – i.e. free at the point of need and funded through general taxation. In recognition that a commitment of this magnitude may take time to fully implement, we call on the Government to avert the pending crisis in adult social care (requiring £3.56 billion more by 2025 just to stand still) by ensuring an immediate injection of an extra £2 billion to England’s local authorities in the autumn statement specifically for health and social care. This Council urges the City’s three MPs to make urgent representations to the ministers of state for care and public health (both Hampshire MPs) to ensure that Southampton receives a fair funding deal from Government in order to deliver its statutory care and health responsibilities.“

(b)  Councillor Mitchell to move

“This Council notes that Southampton has a relatively high incidence of domestic violence reporting and studies show that once in an unhealthy relationship economic abuse is one of the most common types of abuse faced by the abused partner.

This council believes that the system of paying universal credit to couples via a single household payment, rather than paying benefits to the separate individuals who claim, has the potential to exacerbate this kind of abuse by concentrating power and resources in the hands of a perpetrator.

This council recognizes that this puts individuals at further risk of coercive control and that it may also make it harder for them to leave an abusive relationship knowing they can’t put any money  ...  view the full agenda text for item 44.

(a)  Councillor Shields moved and Councillor Bogle seconded.

“This Council is alarmed at the continuing financial crisis facing England’s adult and children’s social care systems which – between them account for over half of discretionary spending for upper tier local authorities like Southampton. This crisis is getting worse as a direct consequence of increased demand for Council-commissioned care services due to an ageing population and the negative impact of welfare reforms on vulnerable working age adults and their families. The problem is further compounded by the year-on-year Government reductions in Council finances since 2010 – with places like Southampton, hit particularly hard.

This Council accepts that local authority social care services up and down the country have reached a tipping point with some County Councils – like Northamptonshire, Somerset and West Sussex – facing bankruptcy. Moreover the social care funding crisis also threatens our valued NHS as we celebrate its 70th anniversary. For too long have governments – of all colours – put off meaningful action to address the chronic underfunding of our social care system and we look forward later this year to receiving a (thrice delayed) Government Green Paper on adult social care. We applaud the Local Government Association initiative in producing its own Green Paper for adult social care and wellbeing ‘The Lives We Want to Lead’ and the local response to this by the City’s Health & Wellbeing Board and other partners.

This Council urges the Government to commit to long-term funding for adult social care services along the same lines as for the NHS – i.e. free at the point of need and funded through general taxation. In recognition that a commitment of this magnitude may take time to fully implement, we call on the Government to avert the pending crisis in adult social care (requiring £3.56 billion more by 2025 just to stand still) by ensuring an immediate injection of an extra £2 billion to England’s local authorities in the autumn statement specifically for health and social care. This Council urges the City’s three MPs to make urgent representations to the ministers of state for care and public health (both Hampshire MPs) to ensure that Southampton receives a fair funding deal from Government in order to deliver its statutory care and health responsibilities.”

UPON BEING PUT TO THE VOTE THE MOTION WAS DECLARED CARRIED.

RESOLVED: that the motion be approved.

(b)  Councillor Mitchell moved and Councillor McEwing seconded

“This Council notes that Southampton has a relatively high incidence of domestic violence reporting and studies show that once in an unhealthy relationship economic abuse is one of the most common types of abuse faced by the abused partner.

This council believes that the system of paying universal credit to couples via a single household payment, rather than paying benefits to the separate individuals who claim, has the potential to exacerbate this kind of abuse by concentrating power and resources in the hands of a perpetrator.

This council recognizes that this puts individuals at further risk of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

To consider any question of which notice has been given under Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

It was noted that no requests for Questions from Members to the Chairs of Committees or the Mayor had been received.

To deal with any appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees or other bodies as required.

Council noted that the following Members had been appointed to “The Future of Work in Southampton” Scrutiny Inquiry Panel:-

Councillors McEwing, Bogle, Coombs, Furnell, Fitzhenry, Guthrie and Laurent.

Council also noted that Cllr Leggett would be replaced on Health Overview Scrutiny Panel by Cllr Payne.  Council in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Management Procedure Rule 3.4.2 approved that Cllr Payne may serve forthwith on Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel and that the firebreak period is accordingly waived.

Report of Director of Legal and Governance recommending a Social Media Policy for Members, attached.

The report of the Director of Legal and Governance was submitted seeking approval of the proposed Social Media Policy for Members for inclusion into the Council’s Constitution.

RESOLVED: that the proposed Social Media Policy for Members be approved and adopted as a core guidance document in conjunction with the Members Code of Conduct.

Report of Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing seeking approval of the arrangements for Commissioning Substance Misuse Services for Adults and Young People in Southampton, attached.

The report of the Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing was submitted seeking approval of the financial envelope for the Commissioning Substance Misuse Services for Adults and Young People in Southampton.

RESOLVED: that the financial envelope of up to £20,862,737 for a maximum period of 7 years (5 + 2 years extension when applied to contracts) and maintaining the current level of annual investment be approved.