Agenda and minutes

Members of the Council are requested to declare any interests which they have in any items or issues before the Council for determination.

1.     Councillor Connolly declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his partner is an employee of Bury Council.

2.     Councillor Jones declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his wife is an employee of Bury Council.

3.     Councillor Bevan declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his wife is an employee within a Bury School.

4.     Councillor Mallon declared a personal interest in any item relation to staffing as his partner is an employee within a Bury High School.

5.     Councillors D Bailey and M Bailey declared personal interests in Minute No. C.241(1), Notice of Motion NHS and Social Care as they are employees of an NHS contracted organisation.

6.     Councillor Pickstone declared a personal interest in Minute No. C.241(1), Notice of Motion – NHS and Social Care, as his partner is an employee of the NHS.

7.     Councillor Bury declared a personal interest in Minute No. C.241(1), Notice of Motion – NHS and Social Care, as his wife is an employee of the NHS.

8.     Councillor Simpson declared a personal interest in Minute No. C.241(1), Notice of Motion – NHS and Social Care, as she is an employee of a general practice from which the NHS contracts services.

9.     Councillor FitzGerald declared a personal interest in Minute No. C.241(1), Notice of Motion – NHS and Social Care, as she is an employee for an organisation which is part owned by the NHS.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 9 July 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 9 July 2014 be signed by the Mayor as a true and correct record. 

          To receive communications from the Mayor and any announcements by the Leader of the Council or the Chief Executive on matters of interest to the Council.

The Mayor informed Members that:

(1)    She and the Mayoress had attended  World War 1 Commemoration Services at Bury Parish Church and Manchester Cathedral, as well as a vigil at Bury Parish Church.

(2)    A reception was taking place for the successful recipients of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services, BIG and Bury Blind Society. 

To answer questions from members of the public, notice of which has been given, on any matter relevant to the Council or its services to the community.  Up to 30 minutes will be set aside for this purpose.  If time permits, further questions will be invited from members of the public present.

The Mayor reported that no written questions had been submitted.  On inviting questions from members of the public present, the following issues were raised:-

A petition has been received which was started on line using the change.org         website on 10 July 2014.  The following wording appeared on the petition:

“Say no to 3 weekly bin emptying. To have our grey bins emptied every 3 weeks is a disgrace.  It will lead to an increase in vermin and consequently disease.  The good people of Bury Borough should have their bins emptied as usual, as many residents already struggle with the way it is.  To change it to 3 weeks is a      selfish decision as there are surely other ways to make cutbacks. 

Along with the obvious hygiene and sanitation issues, we feel the decision has not recognised those who struggle to move their bins when full.  This is only going to get harder on the lesser able people as the bins get heavier.  The mess on the streets will increase; the number of rats and other vermin on the streets will          increase; and fly and fly lava will become inevitable.”

As the petition contains in excess of 2,500 signatures from people who live, work or study in Bury, the petition organisers are entitled to have the petition debated at Council.          

Under the petitions procedure, the petition organiser will be given 5 minutes to present the petition and then discussion amongst members takes place for a maximum of 15 minutes

It was reported that the petition organiser was not present to present his petition to the meeting.

(1)       Minute CA.139 of the meeting of the Cabinet on 16 July 2014 – Risk Management Annual Report 2013/14.

It was moved by Councillor Connolly and seconded by Councillor Shori and it was:-

RESOLVED:

1.     That the progress made throughout 2013/2014 and actions taken during the current financial year be noted;

2.     That support for the Council’s approach to Risk management be re-affirmed.

(2)    Minute 1 of the meeting of the Democratic Arrangements Forum on
26 August 2014 – Notices of Motion – Consideration prior to inclusion on Council Summons.

It was moved by Councillor Connolly and seconded by Councillor Shori that the recommendations be approved.

With 38 voting for, 9 against and one abstention it was:

Resolved:

1.     That Council Procedure Rule 12.4, headed “Scope”, be amended by the addition of:

“(2)   The Mayor, or in his/her absence the Deputy Mayor, on the advice of the Council Solicitor, may exclude from the agenda any notice of motion which may be out of order, illegal, irregular or improper.  In the event of non-acceptance, the Council Solicitor shall so inform the Member giving notice and the Member shall be entitled to submit a further Notice of Motion prior to the issuing of the Council Summons.

2.     That in order to provide sufficient time for Notice of Motion to be properly assessed, Council Procedure Rule 12.1, “Notice,” be amended by the deletion of “at least eight clear working days” and the substitution of “at least ten clear working days”.

(3)    Minute 2 of the meeting of the Democratic Arrangements Forum on
26 August 2014 – Questions to the Leader.

It was moved by Councillor Connolly and seconded by Councillor Shori that the recommendations be approved:-

With 35 voting for, 10 against and 3 abstentions it was:

RESOLVED:

1.     That questions continue to be asked through political group rotation but the sequence be dictated by political proportionality (resulting currently in 3 Labour questions to one Conservative question);

2.     That Council Procedure Rule 11.1(b) be amended by the deletion of “There will be a 30 minute time limit on this part of the Council proceedings,” and the substitution of “There will be a 40 minute time limit on this part of the Council proceedings;”

3.     That these arrangements be reviewed after a couple of Council meetings to assess the impact on the efficient management of Council business;

4.     That further discussion take place regarding written questions submitted by independent members or single members.

          To receive a Statement from the Leader of the Council on the work of the Cabinet and to answer written questions from Members of the Council to the Leader and Cabinet Members on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Borough, provided the necessary written notice has been given.

Verbal questions on the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting will be allowed subject to a limit of one question per Councillor.

(a)    Written questions (Notice given)

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Connolly, made a statement on the work undertaken by him since the date of the last Council meeting.  The Leader and the relevant Cabinet Members answered questions raised by Councillors on the following issues:

Due to the lack of time to answer questions 12 to 25 inclusive, the Leader gave an undertaking that copies of those questions will be circulated to all Councillors.  The Leader also gave an undertaking to make these available on the Council Web Site.

(b)    Oral questions on the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting (without Notice)

          (A)     A report by the Council’s Representative on the work of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, Councillor Cummings.

          (B)     Questions (if any) on the work of the Joint Authorities to be asked by Members of the Council for which the necessary notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

(a)    Councillor Cummings, the Council’s representative on the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, gave a verbal report on the work of the Authority to all Members of the Council.

(b)    The following question had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

The following Notice of Motions have been received:-    

1. NHS and Social Care Funding

"Given recent instances where Bury CCG has confirmed that it is underfunded by approximately £20m per annum and the recent front page article in the Bury Times (21 August 2014) that Adult Care in Bury is in crisis due to chronic underfunding from central Government, this Council calls on the Tory-led Government to:-

1. Immediately review and increase funding streams to the NHS and Social Care in Bury to meet demand pressures due to an ageing society.

2. Increase funding available for Public Health in a bid to focus on early intervention & prevention strategies that will prevent people needing help in the    first instance and save money in the long term, which is both ethically and economically sound. 

This Council also acknowledges that attempts by the Government to plug funding gaps in social and primary care via mechanisms such as the Better Care Fund are wholly inadequate and are akin to replacing a bucket full of resource with a thimble full."

          In the names of Councillors  P Adams,  D Bailey, M Bailey, N Bayley, J Black, S Briggs, P Bury, G Campbell, S Carter, D M Cassidy, M Connolly, A J Cummings, E FitzGerald L Fitzwalter, J Frith, J Grimshaw, S Haroon, P Heneghan, T Holt, A Isherwood, M A James, D Jones, S Kerrison, J S Lewis, A K Matthews, J Mallon, E O’Brien, N A Parnell, A Quinn, K Rothwell, R Shori, A Simpson, S Smith, J Smith, S Southworth, T Tariq,  S Walmsley and M Whitby.

2. Service Delivery Options

“This Council recognises that in order to put our nation’s finances back on a stable footing, all Councils are looking at alternative service delivery options in order to          make savings.

In relation to outsourcing or privatising services, this Council notes the recent documents in which this Labour Council is considering privatising Adult and Children’s care services.

Now that this Labour Council is looking at privatisation, this Council requests that Labour cabinet members and senior officers look at other opportunities to make savings and report back to the next Council meeting.

These opportunities (in or out of partnership) may include outsourcing and reviewing existing contracts in areas such as back office, legal, and security services.

This Council also resolves to continue to sell services such as payroll, that we can offer at the lowest cost base, in order to generate addition income to the revenue budget.”

In the names of Councillors I Bevan, R Caserta, J Daly, I Gartside, D Gunther, R Hodkinson, K Hussain, S Nuttall, R Walker, J Walton and Y Wright

Two Notices of Motion have been received and set out in the Summons.

1.      NHS and Social Care Funding

A motion had been received and set out in the Summons in the names of:-

Councillors P Adams, D Bailey, M Bailey, N Bayley, J Black, S Briggs, P Bury, G Campbell, S Carter, D M Cassidy, M Connolly, A J Cummings, E FitzGerald, L Fitzwalter, J Frith, J Grimshaw, S Haroon, P Heneghan, T Holt, A Isherwood, M A James, D Jones, S Kerrison, J S Lewis, A K Matthews,
J Mallon, E O’Brien, N A Parnell, A Quinn, K Rothwell, R Shori, A Simpson, S Smith, J Smith, S Southworth, T Tariq, S Walmsley and M Whitby

It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor Simpson:

"Given recent instances where Bury CCG has confirmed that it is underfunded by approximately £20m per annum and the recent front page article in the Bury Times (21 August 2014) that Adult Care in Bury is in crisis due to chronic underfunding from central Government, this Council calls on the Tory-led Government to:-

1. Immediately review and increase funding streams to the NHS and Social Care in Bury to meet demand pressures due to an ageing society.

2. Increase funding available for Public Health in a bid to focus on early intervention & prevention strategies that will prevent people needing help in the first instance and save money in the long term, which is both ethically and economically sound. 

This Council also acknowledges that attempts by the Government to plug funding gaps in social and primary care via mechanisms such as the Better Care Fund are wholly inadequate and are akin to replacing a bucket full of resource with a thimble full."

It was moved by Councillor Walker and seconded by Councillor Gartside as an amendment:-

That the Motion be amended by the deletion of the final paragraph and the substitution of:

“This Council also acknowledges attempts by the Government to plug funding gaps in social and primary care via mechanisms such as the Better Care Fund and seeks to appoint a delegation of members and relevant officers (from the Council and CCG) to meet with the Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP, the appropriate Minister of Health, to discuss Bury’s present health and social care finances and the possibility of a speedier improvement to our present position which NHS England acknowledge is currently funded”. 

The amendment was put to the vote and with 10 voting for, 37 against and one abstention was declared lost.

The substantive motion was put to the vote and with 37 voting for, non against and 11 abstentions was declared carried. 

2.      Service Delivery Options

A motion had been received and set out in the Summons in the names of:-

Councillors I Bevan, R Casterta, J Daly, I Gartside, D Gunther, R Hodkinson, K Hussain, S Nuttall, R Walker, J Walton and Y Wright

It was moved by Councillor Gartside and seconded by Councillor Walker:  ...  view the full minutes text for item C. 241

There were no Scrutiny Review Reports or specific items “called in” by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to be considered at this Council meeting.

Questions on the work of outside bodies or partnerships on which the Council is represented to be asked by Members of the Council (if any).

There were no written questions on the work of the outside bodies or partnerships on which the Council is represented, submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

          Questions on the delegated decisions made by the Regulatory Committees and Scrutiny Committees contained in the Digest of Decisions 1 (2014/15) published since the last ordinary meeting of the Council, providing four clear working days’ notice has been given of the question. 

          Members are asked to bring to the meeting their copy of Digest 1 (2014/15).

There were no written questions asked on the delegated decisions of the Committees or Scrutiny Committee contained in the Digest of Decisions 1 (2014-2015).