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For information only - details of other motions submitted
Note:
For information only: the motions set out below were also submitted for this meeting. Due to time constraints (see agenda item 12 above), the motions set out below will not be considered at this meeting.
As follows:
a. SENIOR MANAGEMENT SEVERANCE SETTLEMENTS
Motion submitted by: Cllr Eddy, Conservative, Bishopsworth ward
“Council is increasingly concerned that the role of its Human Resources committee is being weakenedparticularly in the recruitment and removal processes followed for its most senior management posts.
Whilst private settlement agreements or confidentially clauses can be expedient or useful for employers and departing employees alike, this practice also fosters frustration, suspicion and cynicism towards how local government is run.
Confidential severance payments are contrary to the Mayor’s professed long-held commitment to achieving greater transparency, openness and accountability in decision-making bodies. Indeed, it is often the case that even the existence of such a deal – let alone its contents - is deemed highly confidential and subject to legal redress.
Whatever the merits/demerits of these kinds of contractual terms, it is this Council’s considered view that there should be very limited circumstances for the application of these compromise arrangements especially in relation to early redundancy or severance of first and second tier officers.
Moreover, these expensive exercises are damaging to the reputation of this cash-strapped Authority and in reality are rarely successful in remaining concealed.
Accordingly, Council calls on the administration to limit the use of such settlement agreements and to make appointments more open and transparent in the future."
Motion submitted by: Cllr Eddy, Conservative, Bishopsworth ward
Date submitted: 3 November 2017
b. COFFEE CUPS COST THE EARTH
Motion submitted by: Cllr Clare Campion-Smith, Liberal Democrat Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze
“Council notes growing concern about ‘single use’ drinking cups and the effect on the environment. Concerns are based on the following:
· To make takeaway coffee cups waterproof, the card is fused with polyethylene. This material cannot be separated out again at a standard recycling plant.
· There are only 2 highly specialised recycling facilities in the UK that are able to recycle such coffee cups.
· UK throws away 2.5 billion coffee cups a year, creating approximately 25,000 tonnes of waste.
· Only 0.25% of the 7 million coffee cups thrown away every day in the UK are recycled.
· Over 6.98 million coffee cups thrown away each day go to landfill or end up in the environment.
· Paper or cardboard coffee cups which are properly recyclable in the public waste disposal system do exist.
Council therefore calls on the Mayor:
To request the government to legislate for a small charge to be levied on such cups noting the success of the plastic bag charge in increasing the use of ‘bags for life’ and reducing plastic.
To require a small charge to be levied on the cups in use in the Council House and other venues controlled by the Council to initiate a change in habits for consumers and purveyors.”
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40951041
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36882799
c. MENINGITIS
Motion submitted by: Cllr Gill Kirk, Labour, Lockleaze ward
“Full Council notes:
1. The tragic deaths of George Zographou and Izzy Gentry, two of a number of students from St Brendan’s College to have been diagnosed with meningitis since 2016.
2. The almost tenfold increase in cases of meningitis and septicaemia in England between 2009/10 and 2015/16, which the National Health Service attributes almost entirely to the aggressive Men W strain.
3. That, while most people with meningococcal disease make a full recovery in the event of early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, one in three teenagers with Men W sadly die from the disease.
4. The warning from Public Health England, after eight cases of meningitis in the city in the last year, that a further case of meningitis B would see further vaccinations given out, particularly at Bristol University.
5. That the then-most-signed Parliamentary e-petition in history called for free meningitis B vaccinations to be provided for older children and young people was dismissed as ‘not cost effective’ by HM Government in 2016.
This Council believes:
1. Our NHS and Public Health England provide vital services to our young people and everyone in society.
2. That the Government has a responsibility to maximise the resources of the NHS and others so that they may do their utmost to protect citizens from the known dangers of diseases such as meningitis.
3. That the expertise of the World Health Organisation and other medical bodies should continue to guide an evidence-based approach to public health and well-being policies.
Full Council resolves to ask the Mayor to:
1. Encourage parents to take up the offer of vaccinations currently provided on the NHS for their babies and young children, introduced in 2015, and teenagers and first-time college and university students to strongly consider getting the MenACWY vaccination.
2. Ask Bristol’s primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, sixth forms, universities, and other community spaces to raise awareness amongst their students around the symptoms and dangers of meningitis, and support the calls of Meningitis Now, a charity, for local radio stations, including BBC Radio Bristol, and other media organisations to play their part too.
3. Lobby the Secretary of State for Health to increase efforts to raise awareness and educate young people and parents.
4. Continue to liaise with Kerry McCarthy MP (Bristol East) ahead of the meeting which she has secured with the Secretary of State for Health to discuss this important topic.”
d. NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL (NJC) PAY
Motion submitted by: Cllr Kye Dudd, Labour, Central ward
“Full Council notes that:
· NJC basic pay has fallen by 21% since 2010 in real terms.
· 1.5 million NJC workers had a three-year pay freeze from 2010-2012.
· Local terms and conditions of many NJC employees have also been cut, impacting on their overall earnings.
· NJC pay is the lowest in the public sector.
· Job evaluated pay structures are being squeezed and distorted by bottom-loaded NJC pay settlements needed to reflect the increased National Living Wage and the Foundation Living Wage.
· There are growing equal and fair pay risks resulting from this situation.
· The drastic ongoing cuts to local government funding the need for the Government to provide additional funding to fund a decent pay rise for NJC employees and the pay spine review.
This Council believes:
· In and supports the NJC pay claim for 2018, submitted by UNISON, GMB and Unite on behalf of council and school workers and calls for the immediate end of public sector pay restraint.
· That NJC pay cannot be allowed to fall further behind other parts of the public sector.
· That the joint review of the NJC pay spine would remedy the turbulence caused by bottom-loaded pay settlements.
Full Council therefore resolves to ask the Mayor to:
· Call on the LGA to make urgent representations to Government to fund the NJC claim and the pay spine review and notify us of their action in this regard.
· Write to the Prime Minister and Chancellor supporting the NJC pay claim and seeking additional funding to fund a decent pay rise and the pay spine review.
· Meet with local NJC union representatives to convey support for the pay claim and the pay spine review.”
e. SUPPORTING THE FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS TAX (FTT)
Motion submitted by: Cllr Carla Denyer, Green, Clifton Down ward
“Full Council notes that:
1. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, English councils have had their revenue budgets cut by £15bn (in today’s prices) between 2009-10 and 2016-17;1
2. According to the Local Government Association, English local government still faces a challenging overall funding gap of £5.8 billion by 2019/20.2
3. Extending the current Financial Transaction Tax on share transactions to other asset classes such as bonds and derivatives could raise more than £5bn of additional revenue in the UK every year;3
4. At least 10 European nations including France, Germany, Italy and Spain are moving ahead with FTTs on shares, bonds and derivatives estimated to raise £19bn a year.
Full Council believes that:
1. By 2020, local government will have seen a 7% decrease in government grant funding every year for a decade;4
2. Local government deserves to receive a significant proportion of FTT revenues, making an important contribution to both capital and revenue expenditure such as reversing cuts to adult social care;
3. Whilst an FTT might have a negligible effect on jobs in the City of London, investing FTT revenues in a smart and progressive way would see a significant increase in employment levels in other sectors.
Full Council resolves that:
1. The UK government should extend the current FTT on shares to other asset classes, such as bonds and derivatives.
Full Council further resolves to ask the Mayor to:
1. Write to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Chancellor and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government stating this council’s support for extending FTTs;
2. Write to all local MPs outlining the Council’s position;
3. Support or host a meeting to discuss the ways of supporting this proposal.”
Notes:
2. https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.20%20budget%20submission_06.pdf
3. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2908464
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Overview-Local-government.pdf
f. CLOSING THE COLD HOMES LOOPHOLE
Motion to be moved by: Cllr Martin Fodor, Green, Redland ward
“Full Council notes:
1. The private rented sector is a major source of housing for families in the city, with many living in fuel poverty due to poor energy efficiency standards. Fuel poverty is defined by having to spend at least 10% of income after housing costs on fuel bills. For many it means a choice of ‘heat or eat’. An estimated 25,000 people in Bristol are classed as being in fuel poverty, many in the private rental sector.
2. After many years of delay, Government regulations will now require landlords of poorly insulated properties to upgrade them in order to make life more comfortable for their tenants and to cut carbon emissions. Homes rated in energy bands F and G (e.g. the coldest) must be brought up to band E.
3. However, an exemption exists allowing landlords to not undertake this work if it will cost them money - which it almost certainly will since government energy efficiency schemes that they could have applied to have mostly closed or been significantly scaled down. As long as this loophole is open, the hardest to heat homes in the city will be left uninsulated.
4. Living in a cold home is bad for your physical and mental health; it damages children's educational development and affects many families in the city as well as many older people who then risk hypothermia.
5. The Mayor has done commendable work so far in bringing together Fuel Poverty stakeholders and with winter approaching more must now be done.
Full Council believes:
1. With colder weather on the way, the campaign to close the loophole that allows private rented sector landlords to duck their obligations to make their homes warmer is very timely.
2. There should be a replacement for the Green Deal Finance scheme which enabled investment to be made to upgrade homes at no upfront cost to the landlord or owner (with financing costs being paid for out of savings gained for the occupier from improved energy efficiency and lower bills – this is known as a Pay As You Save Scheme).
Full Council resolves to call on the Mayor to:
1. Support a national campaign by climate change charity 10:10 which is campaigning to close the loophole.
2. Write to all the local MPs and ask them to press the government to remove the exemption and provide a source of finance for landlords to upgrade their homes as required by the legislation.
3. Look into what the Council can do to further alleviate fuel poverty and encourage insulation through the Private Housing team.”
g. ACTION ON RESIDENTS PARKING
Motion submitted by: Cllr Stephen Clarke, Green, Southville ward
“Full Council notes:
1. That the Mayor has recently refused to allow an extension of the Southville RPS scheme across to the South side of North St in Southville to include a small number of roads with terraced houses such as Friezwood Rd, Carrington Rd and Truro Rd.
2. This refusal is despite many requests that local councillors have received from residents in these roads to protect them from overspill from the Southville RPS schemes and traffic from the football and rugby crowds at Ashton Gate.
3. The recent consultation on changes to the Southville RPS also demonstrated strong support from the residents of these roads to an RPS extension to cover their area.
4. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that these few roads are squeezed between the Southville RPS scheme and newer housing that has off street parking.
Full Council believes that:
1. When residents of a specific area ask for help from the council in this way they should be listened to, otherwise they will perceive the whole process of consultation as being a meaningless tick-box exercise.
2. Inevitably there is going to be spillover problems from many existing RPS schemes but this is a specific area of only a few streets where intense problems have been caused by a council decision regarding parking. At very little expense this could now be solved by the council listening to the residents’ request.
3. If a change is not made now it will probably not be made for many years.
Full Council resolves to call on the Mayor to:
1. Carry out a swift review of the situation in this specific area.
2. Depending on the results of that review, implement a strictly limited extension to the Southville RPS to cover the relevant roads.
3. Explain to the local residents what is happening and why such a clear request from residents and local councillors (who are supposed to be in charge of the process) has been ignored for so long.”