Agenda

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

Minutes of the last meeting, held on 12 July 2018, are attached.

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.

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.

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.

Report from the Monitoring Officer attached.

(A)        A report from the Council’s representative on the work of GM Police and Crime Panel, Councillor Tariq

(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

The following Notices of Motion have been received:-

(i)            School Uniform Costs

The Council Notes:  

1    Increasing costs, in many schools, of school uniforms, sports kits and other ‘voluntary’ extra costs, which place an unnecessary extra burden on many families.

2    The practice in some schools of single suppliers of key items of uniform and/or sports kit, meaning parents cannot take advantage of lower price uniforms and sports kit items.

3    The Report by the Children’s Society in 2014 which identified that the total spend in Bury on school ‘extras’ by parents was £19,545,547.

4    The same report concluded that 3 million families in the UK are struggling to pay for school uniforms and school ‘extras’, an estimated 13,374 in Bury.

5     That 30% of children in the UK are living in poverty.

 This Council supports the Children’s Society in its recommendations:

1   That, as a first step, Government, should reissue existing school uniform guidance to all schools to ensure all schools are aware of the guidance and remind them of their responsibilities in relation to the affordability and availability of school uniforms.

2   That the government should make the guidance on school uniforms statutory so schools have a legally binding commitment to comply with this and make uniform cost a top priority.

3   Finally, that the government should explore capping the cost of school uniforms to ensure that parents are not paying unreasonable costs.

This Council resolves:  

1   To work with the Bury family of schools to address the issue of school uniform and ‘extras’ costs to minimise their impact on Bury families, and make sure schools are aware of existing guidance on this issue.

2    To consult, during the 2018-19 school year, with Governing Bodies on a new ‘Bury Guidance’ on school uniform pricing and ‘extra costs’

3    To publish, in time for the start of the 2019-20 school year, Bury policy guidance on school uniform pricing and extra charges made by schools.

4    To publish annually on the Council’s website (from the start of the 2019-20 school year), which schools in the borough are meeting the guidance on charging and which are not.

In the names of Councillors M D’Albert; T Pickstone and S Wright

(ii)       Academisation

This Council Notes:-

1.   Bury schools have demonstrated a good track record of delivering education within the local authority and have not chosen or moved to the Academy model or alternative forms of governance at the rate of other Local Authority areas.

2.   An increasingly high volume of schools in Bury previously judged by Ofsted as good or outstanding several years go under a different inspection framework are now being downgraded in their new inspection. There are a high proportion of such ‘legacy’ schools, and a number at significant risk of being judged as inadequate.

3.   The findings for the SEND inspection in June 2017 have put Bury schools under additional focus from Ofsted

4.   Ofsted’s annual risk assessment of school performance and standards data  and specifically in relation to  ...  view the full agenda text for item 10.

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).

Questions on the delegated decisions made by the Regulatory Committees and Scrutiny Committees contained in the Digest of Decision 2 published  since the last ordinary meeting of the Council, providing four clear working days’ notices has been given of the question.

Any item, which by reason of special circumstance, the Mayor agrees may be considered as a matter of urgency.