Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home?EventId=12297.

Ernie White

The Chairman reported that Mr Ernie White had completed over 40 years continuous service, having been first elected to the Council in November 1975.

Members joined the Chairman in showing their appreciation for Mr White's many years of continuous service within the Authority.

Mr Noel Melvin

Noel had been a Leicestershire head teacher for 20 years and was retiring at the end of December.  He had been involved in setting up the successful School Behaviour Partnerships and the School Sports Partnerships.  More recently he had been the lead head teacher working with Children and Family Services on combating child sexual exploitation.  Noel was highly respected by his peers and had always provided good support to the local authority.  Members joined the Chairman in wishing Noel the very best for the future.

‘Century of Stories’ event

The Chairman reported that on 29^th October he had the great pleasure of hosting the Interfaith Schools Sharing Day at County Hall.  The event had been arranged by the Communities and Wellbeing Service.  The event had been attended by the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan MP, and children from the Falcons, Krishna Avanti, St John the Baptist, and Madani primary schools.  This unique sharing day had showcased the learning of pupils from the Sikh, Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities, which connected to their personal heritage and contributions to the First World War.

Visitors

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting all visitors and guests of members and anyone who was viewing the meeting via the webcast.

It was moved by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and carried:-

“That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 23 September 2015, copies of which have been circulated to members, be taken as read, confirmed and signed.”

It was moved by the Chairman, seconded by Mr Liquorish and carried:-

“That the minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of the Council held on 8 October 2015, copies of which have been circulated to members, be taken as read, confirmed and signed.”

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to make declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

The Chairman assumed that all members who were also members of a District Council would wish to declare a personal interest in relation to the Cabinet report on the Leicester and Leicestershire Combined Authority.

The Chairman assumed that all members who were also members of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority would wish to declare a personal interest in relation to the Cabinet report on that matter.

Dr Eynon declared a personal interest in the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health, as she was a salaried GP.

(A)   Mr Sharp asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-

“It is deeply disappointing to note that the Leader has chosen to scrap the lengthy trial of opposition requests for position statements. To date, these had allowed members outside of Cabinet to table issues of significant interest and allow full and frank debate of issues to both inform and challenge.

The Leader has chosen to restrict scrutiny and suppress democracy in this way as he is concerned that the last statement was ‘hijacked’ by the Labour Group and members had made ‘pre-prepared speeches.’

Could the Leader clarify:

1.     When every member requesting to speak had been called and the 20 minutes allocated had not been fully used how this constitutes a ‘hijack’?

2.     Whether pre-prepared speeches are now also not to be tolerated or could he explain the level of preparedness he will ‘allow’ from members of the opposition?”

Mr Rushton replied as follows:-

“1.    Whilst I accept that Mr Sharp in his questions largely followed the format given to the Lead Member for his Statement, that did not apply to Members who spoke afterwards.  Their role was also to ask questions, which they failed to do without a request from the chair.  Instead we had long statements and a strong sense the meeting was being turned into a medical seminar.  That clearly went against the spirit of the Requested Position Statement and was therefore a hijack, i.e. seizing something for a purpose for which it was not intended.  It was unfortunate since there was and is cross-party agreement on the importance of public health and prevention.

2.     Whilst it will ultimately be a matter for the Chairman during meetings of the Council, I am sure that the chair, and the meeting, will always be prepared to accept a pre-prepared speech, recognising it for what it is, if it is within the spirit of the occasion, is relevant and assists the Council in its business.”

Mr Sharp asked the following supplementary question:-

“The constitution rules exist to prevent a bad Leader riding roughshod and provide confidence to the public and serving members.  Now the Leader has time to reflect, can I ask whether he would be prepared to pick up his toys, put them back in the pram and reinstate the opposition requests for position statements?”

Mr Rushton replied as follows:-

“The scheme which was in operation was an experiment.  It worked quite well at times but, the last time we had it, it was an absolute fiasco but I am willing to discuss ideas which may benefit debate in this Council at the Leaders meeting.”

(B)   Mr Bray asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-

“In the past I have reported a number of incidents of vehicles flouting the "no right turn" exiting Trinity Vicarage Road on to Trinity Lane, and was grateful when the County Council increased the road markings in the area. Residents have now reported that they have seen an increase in the number of cars turning right on to Trinity Lane, which is extremely dangerous due to the close proximity of the pedestrian crossing. Would the Leader please ask highways officers to look again at this problem and see if further measures can be taken, maybe in conjunction with the police, to resolve this problem?”

Mr Osborne replied as follows:-

“The County Council is aware of the local concerns over vehicles contravening the no right turn" exiting Trinity Vicarage Road on to Trinity Lane. I am pleased to inform Mr Bray that as part of the development of our  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Leader presented a position statement on the following matters:

·       Combined Authorities;

·       Boundary Review;

·       Rugby World Cup;

·       Green Plaque Awards;

·       Terror Attacks.

The Deputy Leader presented a position statement on the Medium Term Financial Outlook.

A copy of the position statements is filed with these minutes.

It was moved by Mr Rushton and seconded by Mr Pain:-

“(a)     That the Scheme for the Combined Authority (‘the Scheme’) set out in Appendix 2 to the report of the Cabinet be approved;

(b)      That the Governance Review set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Cabinet be approved;

(c)      That approval be given to the publication of the Scheme and its submission to the Department for Communities and Local Government;

(d)      That the Chief Executive be authorised, following consultation with the Leader, to make any final amendments to the Scheme and Governance Review prior to their submission to the Department for Communities and Local Government in December 2015 or January 2016;

(e)      That the Chief Executive be authorised, following consultation with the Leader, to enter into discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government and such other Government departments and other persons as are considered necessary by the Chief Executive to agree the terms of the Order establishing the Combined Authority and to approve the final form of the Order on behalf of the County Council;

(f)       That the Chief Executive be authorised, following consultation with the Leader:

(i)       to negotiate, agree and execute all ancillary documents in support of the operation of the Combined Authority, including (without limitation) the constitution of the Combined Authority;  and

(ii)      to take all decisions and actions necessary to enable the establishment of the Combined Authority;

(g)      that progress on taking forward the proposal as set out in (e) and (f) above be communicated by the Leader and the Chief Executive to the Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission and the Labour Group Spokesman on the Commission on a regular basis and that any matters arising, for example in light of changes in legislation, be highlighted.”

The motion was put and carried, 42 members voting for the motion and none against.

It was moved by Mr Rhodes, seconded by Dr Feltham, and carried:-

“That the Leicestershire County Council Annual Performance Report 2015, as referred to in Section B of the report of the Cabinet, be approved.”

It was moved by Mr White, seconded by Mrs Posnett, and carried:-

“That the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2015 be noted with support.”

It was moved by Mr Osborne and seconded by Mr Shepherd:-

“(a)     That this Council notes:-

(i)       That there are significant financial pressures on the Combined Fire Authority (CFA) and the consultation proposals should be seen in that context;

(ii)      That the consultation proposals should be seen in the context of a 42% reduction in emergency incident rates in the last 10 years;

(iii)      That the proposals now outlined by the Chief Fire Officer (CFO) represent his and his management team’s professional assessment of the best use of reduced resources to deal with risk;

(iv)     That the CFA is required by law to set a balanced budget.

(b)      That this Council notes the concerns expressed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), the Retained Firefighters Union, retired members of the Leicestershire and Fire and Rescue Service and others about the potential impact of these proposals but expresses its disappointment at the lack of factual evidence presented to support their concerns;

(c)      That this Council notes that the consultation undertaken has been extensive, well publicised and enabled all those wishing to comment to do so;

(d)      That this Council notes that in seeking to address the difficult financial the CFA has already:-

(i)       disestablished 101 operational posts but has had to make financial provision to be made for these posts in the absence of an agreement with the trade unions as to a way forward, a situation which cannot be allowed to continue;

(ii)      pressed ahead with proposals for reducing its costs by engaging in shared service agreements and exploring a range of uses by other organisations of office space at its Headquarters.

(e)      That this Council whilst recognising that the proposals as now outlined are in the professional view of the CFO the best option going forward, requests the CFO and CFA to consider further the impact the proposals would have on provision to Leicester City Centre and consider any further mitigation that would address the concerns expressed regarding the response times and cover for significant buildings within the City Centre;

(f)       That this Council calls upon the FBU and others to engage with the CFO and CFA in a constructive manner in dealing with the significant financial challenges and in particular address how the necessary changes in operational staffing and practices including the 101 disestablished posts can be addressed by local arrangements outside the provisions of the grey book thereby avoiding compulsory redundancies and provide the additional resources required for any mitigating actions proposed as a result of (e) above.”

An amendment was moved by Mr Sharp and seconded by Mr Galton:-

“That the motion be amended to read as follows:-

(a)      That this Council notes that there is a clear need for the Fire Service to make financial savings and/or generate additional income;

(b)      That the recommendations put forward in the consultation document raise significant concerns as outlined below:-

                    (i)       whilst the use of Tactical Response Vehicles will improve efficiency the proposals now outlined are over reliant on their use and concerns remain about their capabilities as the first response vehicle on the scene;

                    (ii)      whilst accepting the assertion that the 10 minute response times will be met under the new proposals, the reduction in the number of fire engines and stations will heighten the risk of delays in the response times of the second and subsequent fire vehicles and ensuring sufficient and timely ‘weight of response’ to major incidents;

                    (iii)      the impact of any proposed changes in the scale of Fire Services in neighbouring authorities has not been properly addressed as part of the overall resilience of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41d

It was moved by Mr Kershaw and seconded by Mr Shepherd:-

“That the proposed amendments to the Contract Procedure Rules, set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Corporate Governance Committee, be approved.”

The motion was put and carried, 46 members voting for and 2 against.