Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: John Higginbotham  Committee and Appellate Officer

Media

Items
No. Item

Available papers

The members had before them:

 

A.    The Agenda papers (previously circulated);

 

B.    14 questions submitted to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services (previously circulated);

 

C.   The outline of the presentation by Ms Ruth Forecast made under Agenda item 7 – Public Participation (previously circulated); and

 

D.   The Minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2017 (previously circulated).  

Additional documents:

1882.

Apologies and Declaration of Interests (Agenda item 1)

To receive apologies and invite any Councillor to declare any interest in any of the items on this agenda.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr A A J Adams and Mr R W Banks.

 

Mr J H Smith declared an interest in Agenda item 10 as a relation worked at the Heart of Worcestershire College.

 

Mrs L C Hodgson declared an interest in Agenda item 10 as a Governor of the Heart of Worcestershire College.

1883.

Chairman (Agenda item 2)

To elect a Chairman of the Council to hold office until his or her successor becomes entitled to act.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The outgoing Chairman described his year of office and thanked the Council and its officers for their support.

 

RESOLVED that Mrs A T Hingley be elected Chairman of the Council to hold office until her successor becomes entitled to act.  

1884.

Vice-Chairman (Agenda item 3)

To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Council to hold office until immediately after the election of a Chairman at the next Annual meeting of the Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The nomination of Mr B Clayton was moved by Mrs J A Brunner and seconded by Mr T Baker-Price.

 

It was then proposed by Mr P M McDonald and seconded by Mr R C Lunn that Mr A Fry be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Council.

 

RESOLVED that Mr B Clayton be appointed Vice-Chairman to hold office until immediately after the election of a Chairman at the next Annual meeting of the Council.

1885.

Appointment of Leader of the Council (Agenda item 4) pdf icon PDF 92 KB

To consider a report on the appointment of a Leader of the Council. (Yellow pages)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The nomination of Mr S Geraghty was moved by Mr A I Hardman and seconded by Dr K A Pollock.

 

RESOLVED that Mr S E Geraghty be appointed Leader of the Council.

 

Mr Geraghty thanked Council and announced that he would also serve as Cabinet Member for Finance and that he intended to appoint the following as members of Cabinet:

 

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care – Mr A I Hardman

Cabinet Member for Communities – Mrs L C Hodgson

Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning – Ms K J May

Cabinet Member for Children and Families – Mr A C Roberts

Cabinet Member for Education and Skills – Mr M J Hart

Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being – Mr J H Smith

Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure – Dr K A Pollock

Cabinet Member for Highways – Mr A T Amos

Cabinet Member for Environment – Mr A P Miller

1886.

Public Participation (Agenda item 5)

To allow a member of the public to present a petition, or ask a question relating to the functions of the Council, or to make a comment on any matter on the agenda.

 

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday, 24 May 2017). Further details are available on the Council’s website. Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr L C R Mallett presented a petition relating to the implementation of a 20 mph zone across the Millfields area of Bromsgrove.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Mallett for the petition and said she would receive a reply from the relevant Cabinet Member.

 

Ms R Forecast commented on Question No. 8 Syrian Vulnerable Persons' Resettlement Programme.

 

The Chairman thanked Ms Forecast for comments and said he would receive a reply from the relevant Cabinet Member.

1887.

Minutes (Agenda item 6)

To approve as a correct record and authorise the signing of the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2017 (previously circulated electronically).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2017 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

1888.

Chairman's Announcements (Agenda item 7)

To receive any announcements to be made by the Chairman.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman referred Members to the printed announcements.

1889.

Political Structures and Appointments (Agenda item 8) pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To make a decision on the Council's political structures and appointments. (Yellow pages)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

a)   Political and Constitutional Structures

 

The Council was responsible for establishing the political structures and establishing such Committees as it thinks fit to carry out the discharge of functions which were not the responsibility of the executive (Leader and Cabinet).  In consultation with the Leader of the majority Group it was proposed that Council continued the previous Committee and Overview and Scrutiny political structure as adopted under the previous Council.

 

Planning and Regulatory, Pensions, Standards and Ethics and Audit and Governance Committees

No changes were proposed to the existence of the 5 standing Committees established under the previous Council - Planning and Regulatory, Pensions Committee, Standards and Ethics, Audit and Governance, and Waste Credit Governance. It was proposed that these Committees continued with seats allocated on the basis of political balance. In addition, individual Appointments etc. Panels (dealing with appointments and terms and conditions of Chief Officers and Heads of Service etc.) would continue to be appointed as necessary from time to time, with membership appointed on an ad hoc basis in accordance with political balance and as nominated by respective Group leaders.

 

Overview and Scrutiny Arrangements

It was vital for the Council operating executive arrangements that it had an effective, constructive and (where necessary) challenging Overview and Scrutiny function. In consultation with the majority Group leader it was recommended that the Overview and Scrutiny political structure continued as under the previous Council.

 

The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) also included co-opted members from each District Council. The Council approved the outline Scrutiny programme, leaving flexibility for the OSPB to be able to deal with appropriate matters arising during of the course of a year.  The Chairman of the OSPB would continue to report annually to Council on Scrutiny matters.

 

The Council had allocated the OSPB as the nominated body to deal with crime and disorder scrutiny matters, and the Environment and Economy Panel dealt with the scrutiny of flood risk management, both as required under legislation.

 

 Constitutional Procedures

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services might need to settle any outstanding details and update the Constitution to incorporate the decisions of Council from time to time.

 

Political Balance

Legislation required that allocation of seats on ordinary committees must, as far as reasonably practicable, be in accordance with the principles of political balance.  These principles were based on the membership of political Groups within the Council which members join, rather than political parties as such.  These principles were that the majority Group is entitled to a majority on each committee; subject to this, the aggregate allocation of committee seats overall should reflected political balance, and subject to this, individual committee membership should reflect political balance as far as practicable.  Council could depart from these principles in allocating seats provided no member votes against doing so.  A proposed allocation of seats on Committees was set out in Appendix 1 reflecting the political composition of the new Council, and which would be compliant with the principles of political balance as far  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1889.

1890.

Constitutional Matters - Appointment of Head of Paid Service/Chief Executive (Agenda item 9) pdf icon PDF 89 KB

To consider the appointment of a Head of Paid Service/Chief Executive. (Yellow pages)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Clare Marchant, the Council's Chief Executive (who held the statutory post of Head of Paid Service), had tendered her resignation. The cessation date of employment was June 29 with the last working day being June 27.  The Council needed to make interim arrangements for her replacement in order to comply with its legal obligations.

 

The Council was required by law to have a Head of Paid Service (HPS) appointed by full Council, and the law did not distinguish between interim or permanent appointments. There was no legal requirement to have a Chief Executive (CX) as such, but to date this was the model the Council had operated, with the CX holding the role of statutory HPS. The Council could choose whichever model it wished.  The law required that full Council decided the appointment of the HPS, and our Constitution provided for the Appointments etc Panel to make recommendations on such an appointment.

 

It was not feasible to recruit to a permanent HPS/CX by the end of June (given search, select and notice requirements and the need for full Council to approve any appointment) and therefore an interim option needed to be selected to ensure compliance with the law.

 

The Appointments etc Panel met on 18 May to consider its recommendations to Council for the appointment of an interim replacement for the current Chief Executive.   The Panel interviewed suitable candidates and decided to recommend that Mr Stephen Stewart be appointed as Interim Chief Executive upon Clare Marchant's departure on 29 June.   It was anticipated that this appointment would last for 6 to 9 months to allow for further consideration of the nature of the permanent post and recruitment to it.

 

RESOLVED that the appointment of Stephen Stewart as Interim Chief Executive be approved.

1891.

Reports of Cabinet - Matters which require a decision by Council - Central Government Budget 2017 (Agenda item 10 (a)) pdf icon PDF 229 KB

To consider the reports of the Cabinet and to receive answers to any questions asked on those reports as follows:

 

a)    Report of Cabinet – Matters which require a decision by Council (Yellow Pages); and

b)    Report of Cabinet – Summary of decisions taken (White Pages).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Adult Social Care: Increased Funding

Councils would receive an additional and one-off £2 billion over the next three years for social care, with £1 billion of this to be provided in 2017/18. The County Council's allocation of the additional monies was as follows:

·         2017/18 - £10.1m

·         2018/19  - £6.8m

·         2019/20 - £3.4m

The additional funding was one off to be spent on adult social care and used for the purposes of meeting adult social care needs, supporting reducing pressures on the NHS and stabilising the social care provider market.

Schools Maintenance

An additional £216 million investment in school maintenance is to be provided nationally to improve the condition of the school estate. At present the specific allocation to the County Council is not known.

Extended rights to free travel

Central Government announced an increase in the entitlement to the rights for free travel to some schools. Further detail on how this scheme would operate and the grant that would be made available to the County Council to support this additional expenditure had not been provided yet. Confirmation had also not been provided at the point of writing this report of the existing grant award.

Infrastructure and Transport Investment

Central Government provided more details on the £23 billion National Productivity Improvement Fund (NPIF) announced in the Autumn Statement in 2016. The Budget papers included further details of how the fund will be invested including:

·         The launch of a £690m fund to tackle urban congestion. The Budget papers stated that this funding would be “competitively allocated to local authorities”. The County Council would be providing an application to Central Government for a share of this funding

·         Confirmation that the County Council would receive £2.7 million from the Regional allocations within the previously announced £220 million NPIF investment for pinch points on the strategic road network within Worcestershire.

Local Business Rates Reliefs

Central Government would provide £300 million over four years to support those businesses most affected by the revaluation of business rates, due to take effect from April 2017. District Councils within Worcestershire had been allocated £1.8 million. Central Government has issued a consultation on how the scheme should be implemented.

Following the announcement of the Midlands Engine Strategy on 9 March 2017, each LEP within the Midlands Engine received formal notification of its allocation for 2017/2018 – 2020/2021. For Worcestershire's LEP this equated to the allocation of an additional grant totalling £17.5 million for the following projects:

·         A38, Bromsgrove - £7.5 million

·         Pershore Northern Link Road - £5 million

·         Engineering Faculty at Heart of Worcestershire College - £4 million

·         Churchfields, Kidderminster - £1 million

This brought the total funding for Worcestershire's LEP from the 3 growth deal schemes to £71.7 million.

Central Government has confirmed that each LEP will continue to receive £0.5 million of core funding. This provided a base level of funding for all LEPs to cover overheads and running costs. This core funding for 2017-2018 was supported by matched funding from local partners including District Councils and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1891.

1892.

Report of Cabinet - Summary of Decisions Taken (Agenda item 10 (b))

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council reported the following topics and questions were answered on them:

 

·         Children's Social Care – Service Improvement Plan update

·         Resources Report

1893.

Notices of Motion - Notice of Motion 1 - Post of Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service (Agenda item 11) pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To receive the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services on any Notices of Motion received by him (Lilac pages).  Councillors are asked to note that any Notices of Motion must be received by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services no later than noon on Thursday, 18 May 2017.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion standing in the names of Mr P M McDonald, Mr R C Lunn, Mr A Fry, Ms P Agar, Mr R M Udall, Ms P A Hill and Mr P Denham.

 

The motion was moved by Mr P M McDonald and seconded by Mr R C Lunn.

 

The Council agreed to deal with the motion on the day.

 

Those in favour of the motion made the following comments:

 

·         The resignation of the current Chief Executive provided the ideal opportunity to reign in the pay of the Chief Executive which was in excess of that of the Prime Minister. The salary of the Chief Executive was claimed to have increased at a time when the majority of Council staff were the subject of a pay freeze and services including youth provision and homecare were subject to budget reductions

·         The appointment of an interim Chief Executive gave the new Council time to properly examine the job description, salary, and terms and conditions of the post and to determine the appropriate leadership model for the Council. The Council did not necessarily need a traditional Chief Executive post

·         The post was in relation to the whole Council, not just the administration. The appointment of the Chief Executive should be a cross-party decision. The OSPB should be given the time to come to a conclusion on the future of the role based on the relevant facts and evidence 

 

Those against the motion made the following comments:

 

·         The Leader of the Council thanked the Chief Executive for her work on behalf of the Council. He argued that the Council needed strong managerial leadership to complement political leadership. It was vital to attract the right calibre of candidate to the role in order to drive the Council's Strategic Economic Plan forward. July Council would debate the nature of the permanent role. The precise nature of the role would be considered by a cross-party Appointments Panel with a recommendation to Council

·         The request for the OSPB to undertake an investigation into the role of the Chief Executive would unnecessarily delay the appointments process. The position should be filled as soon as possible

·         The recruitment of the Chief Executive was a matter of research not a scrutiny issue

·         The comparison to the Prime Minister's salary was misleading.

 

On a named vote the Motion was lost.

 

Those voting in favour were:

 

Ms P Agar, Mr C J Bloore, Mr P Denham, Mr A Fry, Ms P A Hill, Dr C Hotham, Mr M E Jenkins, Mr R C Lunn, Mr P M McDonald, Mr L C R Mallett, Prof J W Raine, Mrs M A Rayner, Ms C M Stalker and Mr R M Udall. (14)

 

Those voting against were:

 

Mrs A T Hingley, Mr R C Adams, Mr A T Amos, Mr T Baker-Price, Mr R M Bennett, Mr G R Brookes, Mrs J A Brunner, Mr B Clayton, Ms R L Dent, Mr N Desmond, Mrs E A Eyre,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1893.

1894.

Notices of Motion - Notice of Motion 2 - Use of Schools as Polling Stations (Agenda item 11)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion standing in the names of Mr P M McDonald, Mr R C Lunn, Mr A Fry, Mr R M Udall, Ms P A Hill and Mr P Denham.

 

The Motion was moved by Mr P M McDonald and seconded by Ms P A Hill.

 

The Council agreed to deal with the Motion on the day.

 

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

 

·         Schools were required to make their premises open for use as a polling station if requested to do so by the Returning Officer. However the election dates were set with no consideration of the impact on schools or parents. Schools were unable to make up the teaching time lost and children were losing a day's education. In addition parents were being inconvenienced and forced to make childcare arrangements. There was a consequent impact on the local economy as a result of parents needing to time off work

·         In some schools in the County, children had lost 4 days education in the last year as a result of the elections

·         It should be acknowledged that only a small percentage of schools were being used as polling stations in the County. 25 schools were used out of 376 polling stations. It was a choice for the school whether they closed or not, and only 10 closed for the recent County elections. However it was recognised that for those schools, the inconvenience was considerable

·         It was recognised that fundamentally it was a matter for the District Councils in setting the polling places and the motion anticipated the County Returning Officer to ask the Districts to consider their approach.

 

On being put to the meeting the following Notice of Motion was carried:

 

"The general election and elections in general means huge disruption for teachers, parents and pupils as schools are forced to become polling booths.

 

Closing a school for a day does not just inconvenience parents, it's also a headache for the school.  As holiday dates are set by the local authority and individual schools can't change them, staff are not given leave and are still expected to do some form of work, so the school cannot make up the day's lost teaching time later in the year, which means that pupils have a day less education.

 

Therefore we ask the Returning Officer to ensure that all other alternative locations are looked at and schools are used as a last resort as far as practicable".

1895.

Notices of Motion - Notice of Motion 3 - Mercury Payroll and HR System

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion standing in the names of Mrs E B Tucker, Prof J W Raine, Mr M E Jenkins and Mrs F M Oborski.

 

The Motion was moved by Mrs E B Tucker and seconded by Prof J W Raine.

 

The Council agreed to deal with the Motion on the day.

 

Comments made in favour of the Motion included:

·         The introduction of the new Mercury Payroll and HR system had been poorly managed and led to innumerable problems for academies and maintained schools as well as causing financial difficulties for small businesses and external contractors and serious data protection breaches. The system was not fit-for-purpose. The problems should be urgently addressed and councillors kept informed of progress 

·         The Worcestershire Schools Forum had met recently to a chorus of dismay and frustration about the absence of lead members and officers, anger about the fiasco that had unfolded and scepticism about Liberata's promises to resolve matters. This was the worst example of the commissioning and out-sourcing of services. Head teachers and staff were not receiving their pay or expenses and this was leading to personal debt in certain circumstances

·         The problems associated with the system should be tackled in an open and transparent way. Consideration should be given to imposing some form of sanction/penalty on the contractors

·         The Council should have run the old system alongside the new system for a period of time. Council should be informed of the total cost of the exercise to resolve these difficulties. As a minimum, the relevant Cabinet Member should issue an apology to all schools 

 

Comments made against the Motion included:

·         The Council had already initiated an independent review of the service to establish what happened and whether any lessons could be learned. The Review would commence on 12 June 2017 and its Terms of Reference and scope could be shared with all councillors. The Independent Review would look at the whole project but also recognise the huge undertaking of modernising the HR and payroll system. It was acknowledged that things could have been done better and that the service faced a number of challenges. The Review was the proper way forward rather than applying sanctions against the contractor at this stage

·         The Leader of the Council commented that the Chief Executive had written to all Head teachers to apologise for the difficulties caused by the introduction of the Mercury system and he added his own apologies. It was important that lessons were learned from this process to improve future contract arrangements. 

 

On being put to the meeting the Motion was lost.

1896.

Question Time (Agenda item 12) pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To receive answers to any questions asked by Councillors (Orange pages).

 

(Members are reminded of the timescale adopted by Council for notice of questions. A Councillor may only ask a question if:

 

- It is delivered in writing to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services by noon on Monday 22 May 2017 or

- If it relates to urgent business, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services is notified at least half an hour before the start of the meeting.)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Fourteen questions had been received by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and had been circulated before the meeting. Eleven questions were asked at the meeting within the half hour allowed. (All answers are enclosed with these minutes.)  

1897.

Reports of Committees - Summary of decisions taken - Audit and Governance Committee (Agenda item 13 (a)) pdf icon PDF 129 KB

To consider the reports of Committees and to receive answers to any questions asked on those reports as follows:

 

a)    Audit and Governance Committee – Summary of decisions taken (White Pages)

b)    Pensions Committee – Summary of decisions taken (White Pages)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council received the report of the Audit and Governance Committee containing a summary of decisions taken.

1898.

Reports of Committee - Summary of decisions taken - Pensions Committee (Agenda item 13 (b))

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council received the report of the Pensions Committee containing a summary of the decisions taken.