Councillor Ginny Klein asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services:

 

Could the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services inform Council about recent success in attracting national funding to support families with young children in our city?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Klein for her question, it is always satisfying when the Chief Executive answers your question before you have got to it but there you are. I am pleased to be able to report that Nottingham has won £47 million of Big Lottery funding to improve the lives of babies and toddlers over the next 20 years. The partnership programme is called ‘Small Steps, Big Changes’. The bid was led by Nottingham CityCare and involved 18 months of work from a partnership including the Local Authority, NHS Nottingham City, voluntary sector organisations and parents. One hundred and fifty two local authorities were originally invited to submit expressions of interest and only five places have been successful in winning a share of £215 million. The successful five places are Blackpool, Lambeth, Bradford, Southend-on-Sea and Nottingham.

 

The work will start in 2015 in the four wards of St Ann’s, Arboretum, Aspley and your own ward Councillor Klein, Bulwell, it will expand across the whole city over ten years. The model aims to deliver a step change to improving the life chances of children aged 0-3 in the following areas: positive social and emotional development; improved, effective and age-appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills; improved nutrition through supporting parents to make healthy feeding choices during pregnancy and in the early years.

Small Steps, Big Changes will position parenting at the heart of the programme as a primary public health issue. It will build on the motivation of prospective parents to be the best they can be and prepare and support parents to achieve the better outcomes for their children. This will focus on providing evidence based parenting support programmes and a range of new activities chosen and developed together with parents in each area. The model will also include a number of new jobs – paid family mentors to support parent groups in each area.

Over the ten years, professionals will continue to work together with parents to change and improve support in the early years, using evidence and feedback of what works best. This is an exciting and important opportunity for Nottingham as an Early Intervention City, building on the successes and learning so far. As the government has systematically cut investment into this age group through the cancellation of the Early Intervention Grant, it is good to be able to report that some of that money is coming back to Nottingham, albeit through a different channel.

 

Councillor Azad Choudhry asked the following question of the Leader:

 

Could the Leader tell Council the latest news from the Growth Deals announced last week?

 

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor. Nottingham City Council has worked with partners in D2N2 to secure a Growth Deal with Government, which includes, project funding worth £16.5 million in 2015/16 and near enough £59 million in total,  support for the ‘Rebalancing the Outer Estates’ initiative to drive up employment and skills in North Nottingham and a Growth Hub for our businesses.

 

The key projects which are to be funded from this additional resources are as follows:

 

Bioscience Expansion – There will be £25.5 million expansion of floors space next to BioCity as it currently is to accommodate new business start ups in the Life Science Sector which is one of the city’s three key priority sectors for growth. We believe the expansion will deliver an additional 200 jobs and the funding is made up of £6.5 million Local Growth Fund and £19 million levered either through the City Council or loan funding.

 

Broadmarsh and Southern Gateway - £10.3 million has been awarded from Government to match £2.6 million of City Council will be putting in from its  Transport funding for a transport strategy to allow expansion of southern side of the city centre. That expansion will sit alongside the refurbishment of the Broadmarsh shopping centre and help improve connectivity to station. This funding will sit alongside the £150 million that is already committed to the refurbishment of the Broadmarsh which is of course, a combined local authority and private sector investment that will in itself deliver some 3000 jobs and significant improvements to the environment and the shopping experience in that part of town. 

 

Skills Hub – This will effectively be the provision of a new FE college which will be based on the Broadmarsh east side, if you are looking at it from Loxley House, that is to the right of the tram line. The project will not only generate employment opportunities across the city but will complement the work we are currently doing on our Work Programme, Youth Contract, Employer and Apprenticeship Hubs. The college overall is likely to cost of £60 million of with £30 million coming from Government with the rest being made up from loan finance and the proceeds from land sales. The new development is anticipated to deliver 490 jobs and will provide accommodate for some 1,200 extra learners over a 3 year period. 

 

Enterprise Zone Sustainable transport – a further £6 million will be available to look at sustainable transport initiatives around the Enterprise Zone site.The aim of the project being to ensure that all of the opportunities to get to and from the site are explored, in addition to the obvious car access. The aim will be to encourage people to go to and from the site, which is of course the Boots island site and the MediCity site, the aim will be to ensure that people go to and from that using transport other than the car.

 

NottinghamCycleCity ambition – This is slightly more than £6 million which will be spent on a package of infrastructure improvements to help improve the way citizens are able to travel around the City by bike. The package will include improvements to North – south and east – west cross-city cycle corridors; a network of cross city centre cycle routes; an investment in off road routes through parks and green spaces; and investment in our neighbourhood cycle facilities.

 

Lord Mayor, this administration has worked hard to put Nottingham on the front foot when it comes to regeneration and to establish a clear ambition when it comes to projects and initiatives designed to make that ambition a reality. Through those efforts we are now well placed to help businesses take advantage of the economic recovery that is beginning to be experienced in the city. This growth deal and the share secured by Nottingham are a reflection of the clear thinking, good planning and the willingness of the Council to invest. Given the resources available globally and directly to D2N2 this is a good deal for Nottingham, one that will make a real difference and that is a credit to the hard work and effort of all of those in the Authority that have helped make it happen.

 

Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Community Services:

 

Could the Portfolio Holder for Community Services update Council on the preparations for free school meals beginning in September, as well as explaining the impact that the new school meals standards will have for pupils in Nottingham?

 

Councillor Nicola Heaton replied as follows:

 

Thank you very much Lord Mayor and I would like to thank Councillor Ibrahim for his question. Many councillors will be aware that the Government has introduced free school meals for all Key Stage 1 pupils from this September and I very much welcome this. In Nottingham, we are well prepared to provide all Key Stage 1 pupils with a hot meal from September and I absolutely support this Government initiative. It is an important opportunity for us to support schools and to make sure that children in Nottingham see the benefits of this policy.

 

There is already a lot of work happening to make sure that schools and our schools catering service is ready for this change. Capital works are underway in 17 schools, ranging from extensive building work in a couple to more minor items like new ovens. We are also looking at buying in more food and making sure that we have enough staff. Free school meals is likely to create up to 27 full time equivalent jobs, posts and extended hours that would largely go to local people who will have the benefit of some extra cash in their pockets. We are also supporting schools with marketing and communications to make sure that they are able to maximise their pupil premium so that even when parents no longer need to register their children for free school meals the school will be able to take the benefit of pupil premium. It will be a challenge and head teachers around the country are rightly worried about this, but I do believe we are putting our schools in a good position to sustain their levels of pupil premium funding.

 

A wide variety of food will be available in our school kitchens. All schools will continue to offer a vegetarian option everyday, many of the city schools provide a regular halal menu and pupils with medical-dietary requirements are also catered for. In addition to the hot main courses, unlimited salad, bread and fresh fruit is available everyday so we know that Nottingham children will be getting a healthy lunch. The new food standards that come into effect from January will further seek to ensure that there is a clamp down on sugary and fried foods. It will ensure that school milk must be offered to all pupils which will address some of our concerns about calcium levels and will restrict fruit juice which is high in sugar.

 

This does all come with a caveat, the Coalition has massively under-funded this project and it is only down to this Council that we are able to say with some confidence that the roll out from this September will be smooth. The Government allocated Nottingham City Council £481,100 capital money to move from providing free school meals to a limited number of children to all children in Key Stage 1. However, we do estimate that the actual cost of this change will be £695,500 to roll out the new arrangements from September and therefore we ourselves have been forced to earmark over £214,000 of funds previously allocated for primary school building improvements and the meals at home project to plug the gap.

 

Councillors may be aware that this policy has caused issues around the country as well as chaos between the two Coalition parties. There have been newspaper stories around the country of schools who will be unable to provide a hot meal from September and schools and councils who, like Nottingham, are raiding their own budgets to pay for the scheme. In short, a policy that looks good on paper but is in fact massively under funded. Whilst Mr Gove and Mr Clegg point fingers at each other this is a story of Government incompetence and both of their parties form that Government. It is quite a shame actually because this is a good policy and whilst the Libdems have done it incompetently this policy is actually a relatively progressive one.

 

We know quite a lot about universal free school meals and what they can do for children because of two pilot projects that ran from 2009 to 2011 in two Labour authorities – Durham and Newham – in east London. All primary schools in these areas were given free lunches and data was collected to assess whether and how it affected their health and academic performance. Some improvements were immediate, the take up of meals from 50% in both areas to 72% for Newham and 85% for Durham. The average day meal improved significantly, the consumption of sandwiches fell by 27%, soft drinks by 16% and crisps by 18%, whilst the consumption of vegetables rose by 23%. Even more impressive perhaps was the academic results. Children in the pilot areas moved quickly ahead of their peers elsewhere by almost a term. This may be partly because universal free school meals solves the problem of feeding children who come from low income families but don’t quite qualify for free school meals. Actually, the effects were even more substantial for those already eligible. In Newham and Durham the improvements in attainment tended to be strongest amongst those pupils from less affluent families and amongst those prior lowest attainment. So, we think that the money the Council has put in for free school meals will prove money well spent. Nottingham City Council always puts the city’s children first and so we are happy to welcome free school meals for Key Stage 1 to Nottingham and I think we are well prepared to do so.

 

Councillor Georgina Culley asked the following question of the Leader:

I am sure the Leader of the Council will join me in welcoming yet more Government funding for projects in the city announced since our last meeting, including £30 million for the new Central College campus, £10 million for the southern gateway project and £12 million for Bio-City and the Nottingham Enterprise Zone.

With this is mind, does he agree with me that rather than being the villain that Nottingham City Council’s tax-payer funded propaganda often suggests, this Conservative led government is actually delivering for Nottingham?

 

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor, in response to the first part of Councillor Culley’s question can I refer to my response. As for the second part, ignoring the usual party political way she describes entirely legitimate and a-political produced from time to time by the City Council, can I say that only a half-wit, with not even a passing interest in the way local government has been treated over the last four years would need to ask that question. Since it is you Councillor Culley, I will spell it out. Of course, £16.5 million funding for next year is welcome as is indicative funding of a further £58.9 million for the years beyond that, even though it is collectively significantly less than the amount we might have reasonably have expected to receive when EMDA and previous funding arrangements were in place.

 

It would also be churlish not to recognise the personal contribution Gregg Clarke MP, the City’s Minister, has made promoting the Core Cities agenda and specifically the role cities can play in rebalancing UK’s economy. However, during the tenure of the Government, the city has also seen massive reductions in public, unlike other big cities in the midlands and north, disproportionately so compared with affluent south and the south east and towns and counties so often represented by MPs from her party.

 

So, for example from 2010/11 to 2014/15, we have lost around £72 million in Government grant or the equivalent of 27% of our settlement. Last year we received about £127 million in revenue support grant, which is that element of funding that the Government provides towards the total budget the City Council spends. This year RSG is £103 million, next year RSG will be £72 million and in 2016/17 it will be £58 million. So, revenue support grant, which the Government’s contribution to local government spending in this city will have more than halved from more than £127 million to £58 million over 3 years, in excess of the one off funding that we are already getting or have been promised as part of the growth deal. Add to that £50 million that has been taken from the police budget, the cuts that are having to be made in the health service and the benefit changes that have taken millions out of the pockets of Nottingham’s citizens, I think the answer to your question is obvious. So, no Councillor Culley I do not agree that this Conservative led Government is delivering for the people of Nottingham, indeed the opposite is the case.

 

Councillor Eileen Morley asked the following question to the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation:

 

Does the Portfolio Holder share my disappointment, along with my fellow Wollaton West councillors, that the independent planning inspectorate chose to over turn what I believe to be this Council’s correct decision to turn down planning for 140 dwellings on the Radford Bridge Road allotments? Can she tell me now what can the Council do to ensure that the local schools and infrastructure are sufficient for Wollaton’s growing needs?

Councillor Jane Urquhart replied as follows:

 

Thank you Councillor Morley for your question and thank you Lord Mayor and I know that this issue is one that councillors of all parties who represent Wollaton West have been concerned about. The recent appeal decision to grant outline planning permission at Radford Bridge Allotments was disappointing, particularly given the level of public concern and objection against the proposals and the wide ranging issues involved in the development proposals. From the Inspector’s report, ultimately the decision is based on a judgment that the provision of 110 houses (reduced by the developer from 140 to satisfy the highway reason for refusal) and provision of 170 new allotments, outweighs the benefits of retaining the allotment site in its existing layout and condition. The Council’s evidence was based around the benefits of retaining the well used allotments on the site but sadly, the Inspector concluded that these were too few in number and that the site is in need of investment.

 

So, the Council has already been taking action in terms of the questions of  infrastructure and education because, although it was not the decision the Council desired, the granting of planning permission is subject to a number of Section 106 requirements including provision of 20% affordable housing, an education contribution (both primary and secondary) based on the number of potential pupils arising from the development and a public transport contribution. The development will be predominately be family homes and the conditions attached to the planning permission secure those section 106 requirements and also the provision and future management of new allotments.

 

So, whilst the outline planning permission establishes the principle of development, a further detailed planning application will need to be submitted and numerous planning conditions discharged. Of course, as the Council, It is accepted that this will not diminish resident’s disappointment but this provides the Council with the opportunity to achieve a high quality development on the site and to ensure that the new allotments are delivered to the required standard, with an appropriate management regime in place. But, before I finish and for fear that this answer has been rather dry and constrained, as is the usual way with planning matters, I would just conclude with a comment about planning policy overall and an invitation perhaps to Councillor Morley. Overall, the Government’s approach to planning policy has I’m afraid, made decisions that go against the wishes of local people more likely. Whilst trumpeting the rhetoric of localism, the Tory-led Coalition has been undermining the means by which we can shape planning policy and meet local need. A clear example of this is the removal of the need for planning permission to change offices to residential units. Such a change might be right in some places, but surely that ought to be a matter for local determination, not a presumption that can be made in Whitehall, but that is exactly what this Government has done.

 

So, I do share all the Wollaton West councillors disappointment about the Inspectors decision about Radford Bridge Road, I will ensure that Planning Officers do use the powers that we do have to ensure that robust section 106 agreements for education and transport provision are in place but, I ask, does Councillor Morley share my concerns about the Tory-led Coalitions’ removal of local discretion and their apparent view that any development is worth having, no matter what the local perspective.

 

Councillor Georgina Culley asked the following question of the Deputy Leader:

 

Could the Deputy Leader of the Council inform the Council of what percentage of the City Council’s staff were involved in strike action last Thursday? Does the number of union members who voted for strike action represent a majority of members?

 

Councillor Graham Chapman replied as follows:

 

Thank you Councillor Culley. I am not yet able to answer this question until 28 July after managers have made their regular returns showing employees who did not attend work during the period. In relation to the numbers of trade union members voting in favour of strike action, these were national ballots Councillor Culley, the City Council is not given the information by each union of the voting pattern of its employees, so is not a matter for the City Council.

 

I would like to use this opportunity to thank officers of the City Council for way that they dealt with the consequences of the strike, they could have been quite severe but they weren’t, thanks to the contingency measures taken. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Unions for the spirit in which the strike was conducted and for agreeing to cover emergency and critical services. It can do nothing but help their cause, to which I am sympathetic but not entirely in agreement in the way they went about it. Nevertheless, they do have a case.

 

Councillor Eileen Morley asked the following question of the Leader:

 

I am sure the Leader of the Council agrees with me that ensuring our children get the best education possible is of the utmost importance, but that we cannot condone the actions of students who choose to tunnel out of schools in order perhaps to access better performing schools elsewhere.

 

He will also agree with me that ensuring that the schools within our boundaries are providing our children with the best education possible is vital. With that in mind, and not withstanding the changing relationship between the Council and city schools, could he update us on the achievements to date and future aims of the challenge board?

 

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

 

I’d like to thank Councillor Morley for her question. Our ambition for Nottingham children is that they should all be taught in schools judged by Ofsted as good or excellent so, of course I agree with Councillor Morley that making sure our children get the best education possible is of the utmost importance. Because, following changes made the current Government, we are no longer directly responsible for the schools within our boundaries, I believe that ambition shouldn’t be restricted to city schools but encompass every school attended by a city resident child, wherever that may be.

 

The aim of the Challenge Board is to promote school improvement and this structure aims to achieve this by focussing on themes that reflect those aspects of school life covered by Ofsted’s inspection framework. We will look to theme-leads to develop work programmes jointly with schools with practical outcomes that will help schools to improve and by working in partnership with school groups and schools academies and teaching school alliances we will try and ensure that themes are led by those with most to contribute.

 

So, for example, work on quality of teaching and learning, school leadership and the effective use of data may best be led by schools or groups of schools. I believe that the LEA by contrast have something significant to contribute as it has already shown, on attendance, behaviour, governance and recruitment. For early achievements I’d point to the very positive feedback Ofsted has published during June regarding the progress being made at Ellis Guilford, Big Wood, Bulwell Academy and Nottingham University Samworth Academy. They are also confident that the support provided at Farnborough School by Rushcliffe Academy is delivering real improvements. So, this demonstrates that whilst we still have much to do, Ofsted supports our view that these schools and academies, supported by the focus and collaborative effort of the partners involved in the Board, are making real progress to becoming “good” or “excellent”.

 

In terms of the future, what we have learnt is that we need to focus on securing improvements across the whole school system. We have already started an attendance campaign broadly welcomed by schools with improvements in levels of school attendance and many individual stories of excellence celebrated at the first Lord Mayor’s Attendance Awards held in the Ballroom last Monday. We are looking to launch a governors academy in partnership with Nottingham Trent University in the autumn. This will aim to ensure that governors are better able to hold school leaders to account and to ensure that progress for all children is in line with or exceeds expectations. Through the governors academy, our city governors will have the opportunity to receive high quality university accredited training.

 

Work has started to identify ways in which the city can help schools recruit specialist staff, in particular, NQTs and those in subjects where there is a significant local shortage. The aim will be to increase the pool of staff available to local schools rather than facilitate recruitment between schools which currently tends to be the case. Finally, we will be launching a new Education Strategy in the autumn term that will make clear within the context of a changing landscape what the Council is seeking in its role as the local champion of educational excellence and of children and families. Councillor Morley is correct in identifying a changing relationship between schools and the Council but I am convinced that the Council and schools still share the same desire and commitment to ensure that children and young people of Nottingham have access to the very best education and opportunities.