Agenda and draft 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 S Wright declared a personal interest in any matter relating to staffing as his wife is employed in a Bury School. 

                    2.    Councillors Daly, Gartside, Harris, N Jones and Y Wright declared personal interests in relation to Item 6, Leader’s Question Time, as they are Members of the campaign group Bury Folk.

                    3. Councillor McGill declared a personal interest in respect of Item 10, Notice of Motion relating to Education, as his wife is an officer in a national education trade union.

                    4. Councillor Leach declared a personal interest in Item 7, Integrating Health and Care – Bury One Commissioning Organisation, as she is employed by the NHS.

                    5. Councillor L Smith declared a personal interest in Item 7, Integrating Health and Care – Bury One Commissioning Organisation, as her partner is employed by the NHS.

                    6. Councillor Mason declared a personal interests in relation to Item 6, Leader’s Question Time, as Chair of Save Manchester Green Belt.

                    7. Councillor Morris declared a personal interest in relation to Item 9 Joint Authorities Report, as her partner is employed by Transport for Greater Manchester.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 15 May 2019. (Copy attached).

RESOLVED:

            That the Minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 15 May 2019 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 welcomed Councillors Cummins, Gold, Hurst, Mason, Morris, Mortenson, Powell, Tegolo and Walsh to their first meeting of the Full Council.

The Mayor congratulated Nicola Schindler, Richard Searling and Janet Wood following their recognition in the Queens Honours list.

The Mayor thanked all those who attended the Mayoral Sunday Service held at the Guardian Angles.

Members stood in silent tribute to Lily Reid, a Freeman of the Borough, and local news reporter Jonathon Ali, who had recently passed away.

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.

On inviting questions from members of the public present, the following issues were raised:-

     Meeting of the Cabinet held on 25 June 2019 – Treasury Management Annual Report 2018/19

It was moved by Councillor O’Brien and seconded by Councillor Shori and it was:-

RESOLVED:

That, in accordance with CIPFA’s Code of Conduct on Treasury   Management, the report be noted.

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.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Shori, 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 19 to 33 inclusive, the Leader gave an undertaking that copies of those questions and responses 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 Leader’s Speech and the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting (without Notice)

Report attached

             It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor D Jones and it was:-

            RESOLVED:

             That the Council as a core statutory partner with NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Board:

1)         Agrees the proposed strategic approach and framework described in this report;

2)Agrees that a Strategic Commissioning Board will be established as a Joint Committee with delegated functions, to operate from 1 October 2019

3)Authorises the Council Solicitor to make the necessary amendments to the Constitution to enable implementation of the arrangements.

A report is attached.

             It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor D Jones and it was:-

            RESOLVED:

            That the revised Constitution be adopted.

(A)        A report from the Council’s representative on the work of Transport for Greater Manchester.

(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 Shori, the Council’s representative on the Greater Manchester Transport Authority reported on the work of the Authority to all Members of the Council.

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

Councillor Shori formally notified the Council of his intention to step down as Leader of the Council with immediate effect, necessitating Council to elect a new Leader.

It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor Cummins that:

Councillor David Jones be appointed as Leader of the Council.

Prior to the vote on the motion, in excess of eight Councillors requested that voting be recorded to show how each Member cast their vote, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 17.5.

The result of the vote was as follows:-

For the motion:

Councillors J Black, R Cathcart, C Cummins, R Gold, J Grimshaw, S Haroon, M Hayes,  D Jones, K Leach,  G McGill, C Morris, B Mortenson, E O’Brien, A Quinn, T Rafiq, R Shori, Sarah Southworth, Susan Southworth, L Smith, S Smith, T Tariq, K Thomas and M Whitby.

Against the motion:

R A Caserta, P Cropper, J Daly, I Gartside,  D L Gunther,  J Harris, K Hussain,  N Jones, G Keeley, S Nuttall, I Schofield, D Silbiger, R E Walker and Y Wright.

Abstaining from the motion:

The Worshipful the Mayor, Councillors McKay, Mason, Powell, Tegolo,    Pickstone and S Wright.

The Mayor declared the motion carried.

(Note: This item, which did not appear on the Summons for the Meeting, was allowed by the Mayor to be considered as a matter of urgency due to the constitutional requirement for the Full Council to elect a Leader).

(i)                 Education Standards in Bury:

 This Council notes:

The hard work and dedication of school leaders, governors, teachers, support staff and all professionals working within the education sector in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury.

That many schools within Bury are delivering good educational provision to our children and teachers are working tirelessly to achieve this.

However, Council is alarmed by the declining educational and behavioural standards at a number of schools within the Borough. In 2007 Bury’s schools were ranked 45^th out of 148 Local Authorities in the 5ACEM indicator and 3^rd in Greater Manchester, however in 2017 Ofsted ranked Bury 141^st out of a 162 Local Authorities and 21^st out of 23 in the North West. In 2017 21.6 % pupils attended an RI / Inadequate school and the situation is getting worst.

A recent OFSTED Inspection of a High School within the Borough found it was “ failing to give it’s pupils an acceptable standard of education.” Council is concerned that such comments highlight a wider problem with educational standards, especially within our High Schools. Furthermore it is inexcusable that a recent OFSTED report found that children with special educational needs and disabilities were being let down by Bury Council.

Council believes that the ruling Labour Group, in power since 2010 have let down children and families within our Borough by allowing such a deterioration in educational standards. It is inexcusable that we do not have a full-time Assistant Director of Education in place with a plan to drive up standards and the lack of leadership from Bury MBC over many years on this issue is shameful. How can it be the case that other comparable Local Authorities, whose schools have been funded in the same manner as Bury have seen educational standards rise whilst they have plummeted in many schools within our Borough.

Council therefore instructs:

1.   The Interim Assistant Director of Education to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 to confirm what immediate steps must be taken to improve educational standards within the Borough.

2.   The Interim Assistant Director of Education to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 identifying which individual schools within the Borough are failing to provide an acceptable standard of education to their pupils and highlighting what emergency steps must be taken by Bury MBC to address these problems.

3.   The Chief Executive to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 amending the Budget passed by Council in February to ensure that funding be made available immediately to invest in educational support services. If money can be found to employ highly remunerated directors it can be found to support services to the most vulnerable in our Borough. That within this report the Interim Assistant Director of Education highlight the amount of money needed to assist schools in improving their educational provision.

4.   That a cross-party committee of councillors be  ...  view the full agenda text for item C. 11

              Education in Bury

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

Councillors R Caserta, P Cropper, J Daly, I Gartside, D Gunther, J Harris, S Hurst, K Hussain, N Jones, G Keeley, O Kersh, S Nuttall,  I Schofield, D Silbiger,  R Walker, and Y Wright

It was moved by Councillor Daly and seconded by Councillor Caserta that:-

              This Council Notes:

The hard work and dedication of school leaders, governors, teachers, support staff and all professionals working within the education sector in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury.

That many schools within Bury are delivering good educational provision to our children and teachers are working tirelessly to achieve this.

However, Council is alarmed by the declining educational and behavioural standards at a number of schools within the Borough. In 2007 Bury’s schools were ranked 45^th out of 148 Local Authorities in the 5ACEM indicator and 3^rd in Greater Manchester, however in 2017 Ofsted ranked Bury 141^st out of a 162 Local Authorities and 21^st out of 23 in the North West. In 2017 21.6 % pupils attended an RI / Inadequate school and the situation is getting worst.

A recent OFSTED Inspection of a High School within the Borough found it was “ failing to give it’s pupils an acceptable standard of education.” Council is concerned that such comments highlight a wider problem with educational standards, especially within our High Schools. Furthermore it is inexcusable that a recent OFSTED report found that children with special educational needs and disabilities were being let down by Bury Council.

Council believes that the ruling Labour Group, in power since 2010 have let down children and families within our Borough by allowing such a deterioration in educational standards. It is inexcusable that we do not have a full-time Assistant Director of Education in place with a plan to drive up standards and the lack of leadership from Bury MBC over many years on this issue is shameful. How can it be the case that other comparable Local Authorities, whose schools have been funded in the same manner as Bury have seen educational standards rise whilst they have plummeted in many schools within our Borough.

Council therefore instructs:

1.   The Interim Assistant Director of Education to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 to confirm what immediate steps must be taken to improve educational standards within the Borough.

2.   The Interim Assistant Director of Education to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 identifying which individual schools within the Borough are failing to provide an acceptable standard of education to their pupils and highlighting what emergency steps must be taken by Bury MBC to address these problems.

3.   The Chief Executive to provide a written report to all councillors by Friday 9^th August 2019 amending the Budget passed by Council in February to ensure that funding be made available immediately to invest in  ...  view the full minutes text for item C. 11