Agenda item

Motions on Notice

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Minutes:

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Charter

Members considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor R. Jenkins:

"This motion is to endorse the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Charter, which sets out the care and support that people who are living with MND and also their carers deserve and should expect and to call upon the Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Environmental Services to ensure the Council adopts the Charter.

By adopting the MND Charter, this Council would be agreeing to promote the Charter and to make it available to all councillors, council staff, partner organisations and health and social care professionals who deliver services for the council.

As Bromsgrove District Council we would raise awareness of MND and what good care for those living with this devastating disease looks like, as stated in the Charter, and we will do everything we can as the Council to positively influence the quality of life for local people with MND and their carers living in our community.

Adoption would also mean taking on successful steps including identification of key programme leads by the Council, publicity and developing links with the Motor Neurone Disease Association who would provide resources and advice.”

The Motion was proposed by Councillor R. Jenkins and seconded by Councillor M. Sherrey.

In proposing the motion Councillor Jenkins thanked Mr Benbow for attending and for his support. She reiterated the areas covered by him and the five rights outlined in the charter, and also explained the complex needs and challenges faced by MND sufferers. It was important that all partner organisations worked together to ensure that those sufferers were supported as quickly and efficiently as possible. It was important that the Council and its staff raised awareness and the importance of the right care in order to help support sufferers in maximising their quality of life. As it was an disease that rapidly took hold it was important that their needs were prioritised, as a week in the life of a MDN sufferer was like a year. The Council must ensure that its services were able to respond to the needs to sufferers in providing such things as housing, disabled facilities grants and any benefits that they were able to access.

Councillor Sherrey was happy to second the motion and explained that she had experience of this disease and was aware of the rapid way in which it took hold and affected people. She hoped the Council could help influence all partner organisations in being able to provide support to those suffering and to provide them with prompt access to the services they needed. It was important to remember that it was also those caring for the sufferers that needed support too.

Members were in full support of having the charter and believed it was an excellent idea, and hoped that a way would be found in order to promote it locally and to do its utmost best to ensure that the services provided and support needed were available.

Members thanked Councillor Jenkins for bringing this matter to the Council’s attention.

On being put to the vote the Motion was carried.

Rough Sleepers

Members considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor P. McDonald:

‘In the light of Bromsgrove District now having experienced rough sleepers and the potential for an increase with the roll out of Universal Credit: we call upon the Leader of the Council to take whatever steps are required to ensure residents in Bromsgrove, should they know or come across a rough sleeper know who to contact to give the person immediate shelter.”

The Motion was proposed by Councillor P. McDonald and seconded by Councillor S. Shannon.

In proposing the motion Councillor McDonald commented that the Overview and Scrutiny Board had recently received a report which had contained data in respect of rough sleepers and he believed that this did not reflect residents view of the situation. He explained that residents did not know who to contact if they were concerned about a person rough sleeping that they came across and that it was the Council’s responsibility. He explained that there were varying degrees of rough sleeping and the people affected were often suffering from mental illness and vulnerably, so needed the Council’s support. It was important that the Council made every effort to get these people off the streets as quickly as possible. He believed that the roll out of Universal Credit would only make matters worse and from Government statistics he understood that 10 people every week were dying on the streets and as Members would be aware that this has happened in Malvern. Councillor McDonald went on to explain that the contact details on the Council’s website were for Street Link which was a charity in London. He had tried to contact them and it had taken him some 15 minutes to get a response, which was not satisfactory as it had taken some three days to help identify the person. He went on to provide Members with details of services within Bromsgrove District that had helped rough sleepers through providing shelter and meals over the Christmas period. However, he stated it should be made clear on the Council’s website who to contact to get immediate help for rough sleepers.

In seconding the motion Councillor Shannon gave his support and explained that he had been asked by residents what they could do and where to go to look for support. He reiterated Councillor McDonald’s view that the information provided on the Council’s website was difficult to find and did not provide local support. The Council Hub was able to provide information, but this was only open during office hours from Monday to Friday. He advised that there were cases where people had been sleeping in tents in parks. It was suggested that the information could be displayed on the noticeboard within the High Street; however he understood that this had been removed, although he had contacted the Chief Executive to see if this could be reinstated.

Councillor C. B. Taylor, as Portfolio Holder for Strategic Housing, responded to the motion and thanked Councillor McDonald for bringing the matter to Members attention. It was important the elected Members looked after those people with problems and gave them the support that was needed. The Council had an open door policy whereby if someone needed help then the Council would do whatever it could to provide that help, officers were always available to talk to anyone who came in to the Hub and asked for support. A number of steps had been taken to ensure the support was in place and the Council was working collaboratively with a number of partner organisations and the voluntary sector, including the Salvation Army in Redditch.

Information was available on the Council’s website and had been provided to town centre traders; it would also be included in a leaflet which would go out to all residents with the Council Tax bills. Councillor Taylor believed the Council was doing all it could and taking all necessary steps to help and to ensure that those that needed help knew who to contact. He explained to Members the difference between rough sleepers and being homeless and reiterated that officers in Strategic Housing were committed to help with a number of areas in order to get those in need off the streets. He encouraged all Members to contact them immediately should they have concerns about anyone in their ward.

Members discussed a number of areas in more detail, including the following:

· There was no clear pathway on who to contact.

· How residents could help and where to go for that help.

· How to deal with cases outside of office hours.

· The importance of not forgetting those in the outlying areas and the need for support to be available to those in the rural more remote areas.

· The Council had not been as proactive as it could have been in dealing with this problem.

· The inclusion of information through the WRS newsletter which was sent out to taxi drivers on a regular basis.

In summing up Councillor McDonald said he believed that this was an opportunity for all Members to join together and reach out to those in need, particular as often the rough sleepers were ex Servicemen who had fallen on hard times.

On being put to the vote the Motion was carried

In view of the time limited period for the discussion of motions Councillor S. Colella asked the Chairman to clarify the amount of time left and whether she was prepared to extend this in view of the number of motions which remained to be discussed. The Chairman confirmed that there was 19 minutes remaining from the allotted time and that she would review the position when the time had elapsed.

Active Kitchen Scheme

Members considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor C. Bloore:

Council notes

· In 2018, active kitchen sessions were held in Sidemoor and Charford, in partnership with the YMCA, NewSong Community Church and the Oakland Foundation.

· These sessions during half term ensured that local children could take part in fun sporting activities and enjoy a healthy hot meal afterwards

· Funding for these sessions was provided from the divisional funds of two county councillors in Bromsgrove.

· The shameful growth in the number of local people forced to use foodbanks and the appalling rise of ‘holiday hunger’ meaning children often go without the meals they need.

Council believes

· In the 21^st century, no child in Bromsgrove should go hungry.

· The botched roll out of welfare programs such as Universal Credit have put families in terrible economic predicaments that have placed many in hardship forced to choose between feeding their families, rent and other bills.

· That until the government officially records the number of people who have experienced hunger or have not eaten because they did not have enough money for food then we will be letting down the most vulnerable in our communities.

Council resolves

· To refer the matter to the Cabinet to consider the expansion of the Active Kitchen scheme and the associated funding in the budget setting process to enable the roll out of sessions during school holidays across Bromsgrove’s areas of highest need.

· For the cabinet member responsible for health and well-being to present to council a robust plan of action and delivery to ensure the schemes success and sustainability.

· For the leader of the council to write to the Prime Minister to urge her to provide government support for the Food Insecurity Bill that aims to ensure the government records statistics on how many people have experienced hunger or have not eaten because they didn’t have enough money for food.

The Motion was proposed by Councillor C. Bloore and seconded by Councillor L. Mallett.

In proposing the Motion Councillor Bloore explained to Members this was a scheme which he and Councillor Mallett had supported through their divisional funds from Worcestershire County Council (WCC). He explained how it helped both young people and their parents, who were often struggling to feed their children outside of school term time, often for a number of reasons. During term time the children were able to get a hot meal at school, but there was no service which provided this over the holiday period. Often the families were trying their best to provide for their children but due to zero hours contacts for work and changes to benefit payments, they were not able to do this without sometimes having to go without food themselves. Councillor Bloore spoke about how Bromsgrove was looked upon as an affluent town, but that there were a number of small pockets of depravation which were forgotten in many quarters. It was accepted that there was similar issues across the county, this project took the stigma out of the situation for these people and gave them the opportunity to learn how to cook, provide support for the parents and provide the young people, currently between 20-30 children, an opportunity to have a meal and take part in some activities. This was a project that worked well and Councillor Bloore believed it should be expanded in order to support families in similar circumstances in other parts of the District. It was an opportunity to give these young people the best start possible and for everyone to work together. He referred to a recent communication exercise which had quoted both Councillors M. Sherrey and P. Whittaker who had said the project was addressing a series of issue and they had supported the programme which was making a difference.

Councillor Sherrey proposed an amendment to the motion and suggested that the matter be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Board in order to get more details as there were a number of services being provided by other organisations such as the Basement Project and it was important to ensure that all areas were covered and to ascertain and verify what was being done in order to see how best the Council could help.

Councillor Bloore explained that unfortunately he was not able to accept Councillor Sherrey’s amendment as this was an existing programme which officers had been working on for a long time, and that short term funding had been provided. The aim was to ensure that this could be rolled out further and by taking the matter to the Overview and Scrutiny Board this would only delay matters further. It was important that the project became sustainable and that the Council built on the work that had already been done and reached those young people that needed the help, particularly in view of the February half term holiday coming up soon.

In seconding the motion Councillor Mallett was also concerned about the amendment as he understood that the project had already been evaluated by the team facilitating it and they were keen to see it continue. Whilst he appreciated the suggestion that it went to Overview and Scrutiny Board and the role that it played he did not think it appropriate on this occasion for the matter to be referred to it. The project had a good take up of young people and was providing them with a better start in life and the suggestion would only delay the matter further.

Following a brief discussion the amendment was withdrawn by Councillor Sherrey and a report would go to Cabinet on the matter as soon as possible.

Councillor C. B. Taylor commented that he had tried to find out about the project as he thought it came under his Portfolio but was unable to find any details and he therefore agreed with Councillor Sherrey that it would be useful for a report, including statistically information, to be brought to Cabinet in order that the matter could be given further consideration.

Members were keen for the project to continue and it was suggested that officers within Councillor Sherrey’s Portfolio would be able to provide further information and it was agreed that such a project and its success was recorded. Both Councillors Bloore and Mallett explained that they had been in a position to meet some of the children that had attended the project and to see for themselves, the positive impact it had had on their lives. In many ways it was an invisible problem as often the parents did not want to come forward and admit that they needed help, by having the project in place this allowed them to get the help needed in a discreet manner.

On being put to the vote the Motion was carried.

The Chairman confirmed that the allotted time for consideration of motions had elapsed. Councillor Colella proposed an extension of the time to allow the remaining two motions to be discussed.

On being put to the vote the extension of time for motions was lost.

The Chairman confirmed that the remaining motions would be carried over to the Council meeting to be held on 27^th February 2019.

Library Services

Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor C. McDonald.

Impact of LTP4

Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor S. Colella.

Supporting documents:

20190123 Notices of Motion, item 77\18 PDF 37 KB