Agenda item

Children’s Services budget savings

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:

The Portfolio Holder will be aware that one of the budget savings put forward by the Children’s Services Directorate is to return looked after children to their birth families on the rationale that this will reduce longer term care costs.  Can the Portfolio Holder detail what safeguarding measures will be put in place to ensure that the reliance on savings from this proposal does not lead to the welfare of looked after children being compromised?

 

Councillor Cheryl Barnard replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Rule for asking this question.  Any plan for a child to return to their family or relative via rehabilitation will be based on a robust assessment which will include the views of their Independent Reviewing Officer and will be part of their agreed Care Plan.  I would add that, in most cases, the aim at the outset of a child entering care should be reunification with their family.  As part of the management oversight, a Panel will be held to provide assurance and scrutiny of the children identified.  This Panel will consider the plan and give approval, if deemed safe and in the best interests of the child.  If at any point during the rehabilitation assessment and work undertaken, information becomes available that would deem the prospect of reunification as poor, as not in the best interests of the child or as unsafe then the plan would cease.  The rehabilitation of children home has always been part of social work duties, by having a dedicated team it will ensure that assessments are timely and robust, including the views of the child and those professionals in the child’s network, it will be based on the child’s lived experience and what that will be if they return home and will provide a support plan based on the family or relative’s needs once the child returns home to ensure that the child continues to be safe and well cared for.  We are also looking at targeting some children who are in their mid-teens and are expected to choose to return home when they reach 18.  The work with the family in those last couple of years will mean that they are more likely to be safe once they reach 18.  The safety and welfare of any child will be the prime priority and consideration in any decision to rehabilitate him or her home to parents or relatives.  Can I assure Councillor Rule that I have looked carefully at this decision and am confident that this approach will not compromise child safety. 

 

However, we face a national crisis in relation to children services.  The Local Government Association reported as far back as August 2019 that children’s services across the country were facing a £1.4bn shortfall for 2021.  Rising numbers of children in care over the last decade, a reduction in funding from central government and a broken placement market that has resulted in spiralling costs have all contributed to this crisis.  Austerity and now Covid have resulted in families being unable to cope and we are yet to see the full impact in terms of domestic violence and mental health issues.  Perhaps Councillor Rule would follow our lead and lobby the Government for proper funding for children’s services. 

 

 

Enviroenergy

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Growth and the City Centre:

Could the Portfolio Holder confirm whether Enviroenergy has now repaid the £15.7m interest free loan owed to the Council as per its last set of filed accounts at Companies House?

 

Councillor Sam Webster replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor.  I think Councillor Rule is possibly referring to historical Steam debt.  I don’t recognise the interest-free loan headline he has asked in the question.  Assuming that he means the historical Steam debt, the majority of the historical Steam debt of £12m, and there are trade debtors of £3m as of 31 March 2019, it is expected that the balance of Steam debt will have reduced by £1m by 31 March 2021.

 

 

LOBO loans

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Growth and the City Centre:

Can the Portfolio Holder confirm how much the Council spent on its recent legal action against Barclays Bank in respect of LOBO loans taken out by the Council?

 

Councillor Sam Webster replied as follows:

 

The spend to date on the recent legal action against Barclays Bank in respect of LOBO loans taken out by the Council is £129,000.  The legal action was sought following legal advice back in 2018 and seven other local authorities were involved in the court case along with Nottingham City Council.

 

 

Covid-19 vaccinations

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Deputy Leader of the Council:

Could the Portfolio Holder detail what action the Council is taking to counter dis-information about the effectiveness and side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine and whether she shares my disappointment and concern about the effect this may be having on vaccine take up amongst the more clinically vulnerable groups in our communities?

 

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you for your second question about Covid-related disinformation in as many meetings Councillor Rule.  Recent published figures show that more than 75% of Nottingham citizens have received their first vaccine dose and we have been encouraging everyone who has been eligible to get an appointment.  I was glad to be able to take the opportunity myself quite recently.  It is vitally important that we continue to maximise the number of people in our communities who take the vaccine because it will save lives.  As Chair of the Outbreak Control Engagement Board for the City, I have been working with the NHS and other partners and share your concerns about the potential impact of disinformation about the effectiveness and side effects of the vaccine.  Nationally we have seen the vaccine uptake is lower amongst more deprived populations as well as amongst those from black and minority ethnic groups and this is a serious concern for us in a City proud of our diversity.  We need to ensure that all of our citizens benefit from this opportunity to keep themselves safe.  Local authorities have a unique understanding of the needs of their populations and we are well-placed to support activity targeted at our local communities and have been eager to help our colleagues in the NHS who have been rolling out the vaccine programme.  I am pleased to outline for you some of the key actions already taken by the City Council: Our Communications Team has been working with the NHS to actively counter disinformation and promote the key messages regarding the vaccination programme and we have created a range of bespoke content for Nottingham including producing and promoting video case studies.  In these videos a diverse group of councillors, local celebrities, community leaders and citizens have pleaded to local people to take up the vaccination and address some of the common myths and misunderstandings.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have taken part including Robin Hood, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Sat Bains, John McGovern and Vicky McClure.  Graphics that challenge fake news have also been shared on social media and point people towards credible official sources of information.  Working with community groups, videos in different languages have been made for them to share and a toolkit of messages and translations for faith and other community groups has been created as we know that people are often more likely to listen to their peers.  We have shared key messages at our weekly media briefings and provided guest spokespeople for local community media channels.  I am particularly proud of the support that we have been able to provide from our Customer Hub to our partners in the NHS.  The Hub has been calling eligible people who have not yet received their vaccination to offer support.  This means that not only are they able to make bookings on behalf of the citizens but they are also able to address queries and can refer citizens with particular anxieties for professional advice, for example from their GP.  As we move through the priority cohorts this approach taken to tackling disinformation and removing barriers to uptake will need to be flexible.  We will continue to work closely with the NHS but importantly we will continue to seek the views of those who represent the communities we need to target, whether this be people of particular ethnicities, those with learning disabilities, clinically extremely vulnerable or homeless individuals.  Their understanding of the issues and disinformation that is circulating, as well as their knowledge of the best way to counter this, is crucial.  We are very much committed to ensuring that no-one is left behind and you can feel assured that we will continue to challenge those insidious anti-vax messages which are circulating that will undermine efforts to control the spread of the virus and threaten us all.  I urge everyone with family and friends eligible for the vaccine to encourage them to grasp the opportunity as soon as they can.

 

 

Community Protection Officers budget savings

Councillor Kevin Clarke asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Employment and Community Protection:

In 2019 the Labour Group won a majority in this Council on the back of its 2019-2023 Manifesto.  In this Manifesto they committed to “maintain 100 CPOs (Community Protection Officers) to work across all areas of the City” and to protect that number from cuts of any kind.  The Portfolio Holder should be reassured that we in the Independents agree wholeheartedly with the Manifesto’s alleged belief that Community Protection Officers have made important contributions to achieving a fall in anti-social behaviour across the City.  It is therefore with sadness that we note that less than two years into that Manifesto, the Council is proposing to cut the number of CPOs by a full 20%, from 100 to 80.  Can the Portfolio Holder inform us what impact these reductions are predicted to have on how the CPOs currently operate and what actions are being taken to mitigate this impact?

 

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor Clarke for your question.  As we all know, the whole world continues to feel the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic and as we, as a City, respond to the significant challenges, we must reconsider what our priorities are, it is what the people in our City expect and deserve.  Unfortunately, that means having to look again at the services we deliver and having to make difficult choices about which services to safeguard in these challenging times.  It means having to make hard choices because we know if we make these now, not only will we secure financial stability in Nottingham but in years to come we will be better able to build back our services in new and creative ways.  In 2019 I was one of those Labour councillors who stood in the Council Chamber and proudly adopted the Labour Manifesto as the basis of Council policy and endorsed the Council Plan as our commitment to the people of this City.  It was the right thing at the time for this Council and I am proud to have endorsed that.  However, as many before me have said, we are custodians of this great City we serve and represent our communities with great pride, and in doing so we are not just here to lead in the good times.  I know how valuable our Community Protection Officers are and I would like to thank every single one of them for the amazing work they do.  Labour colleagues take every opportunity to tell me how grateful they are for the work Community Protection Officers do in their areas.  During the pandemic Community Protection Officers have gone above and beyond: they have carried out important welfare checks on our most vulnerable; have delivered essential food parcels to people in our City; as well as investigating flytipping and all the other important jobs they do to protect our City.  As Councillor Clarke will be aware, even if he is often silent on the issue, the Conservative Government continues to unfairly fund local authorities like Nottingham which has consequences for local services.  Councillor Webster and other colleagues will be talking in more detail about this later in the meeting.  I am pleased that we have still managed to protect 80% of the Service and have more Community Protection Officers than most other local authorities in the country.  Believe me when I say we would not want to lose any of our brilliant Community Protection Officers, believe me when I say that Nottingham Labour has done everything in the last 11 years to avoid cutting Community Protection Officer numbers.  As part of the budget proposal we will discuss later this afternoon, a transformation programme has been developed to ensure that all our communities in Nottingham continue to be served by Community Protection Officers and ensure all of our communities are ultimately kept safe and clean.  This remains our vision and one that we intend to deliver.  Work is taking place to review Community Protection Officer workstreams by threat, risk and harm to ensure that the right tasks are continuing to be prioritised.  As part of the programme specialist training will be delivered to Community Protection Officers by identified trainers ahead of moving to the new model.  As we move forward we will also make the most of technology to help with performance management and service delivery.  The Service remains completely committed to offering the City the best service possible and I am confident that this new operating model will see us fulfil our statutory and regulatory functions while keeping the City safe and clean and protecting our most vulnerable citizens.  This will also be helped by weekly meetings with both universities, monthly anti-social behaviour meetings with a range of partners, monthly transport-hub meetings and regular updates to the Crime and Drugs Partnership Board.  Nottinghamshire Police will be a key partner in continuing to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour across the City.  Their officers work very closely with our Community Protection Officers and are very important in keeping Nottingham communities safe.  I am pleased that our Police and Crime Commissioner will have recruited 260 new more officers by April and I will be making the case for the City’s fair share of those in order to keep our streets safe.  I do not wish to prejudge the decision of the Council but should we endorse the proposal before you this afternoon we will seek to ensure that our Community Protection Officers are allocated in a way that covers our statutory and regulatory functions as well as the operational level through distinct geographical hubs.  Finally, I would like to say that, as the Government continues to diminish resources to this City Council, it is crucial we work with other partners to keep communities in our City safe.  I hope this reassures you and answers your question.

 

 

Area Committees

Councillor Kirsty Jones asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Democratic Services:

We register that this Council is in a financial situation that requires firm and immediate action, and we further register that some of those actions are going to be difficult for everyone involved.  With this in mind however, we feel that the Council could be doing a better job of communicating these actions and why the decisions were made to the stakeholders involved.  Precisely, we would like to have seen the proposal for the reduction in area committee meetings individually communicated to those involved in those area committees and those individuals given an opportunity to contribute their opinions beyond resorting to the general public consultation.  In the last year this Council has been accused of a worrying lack of accountability.  Considering that this specific proposal could be regarded as undermining the democratic process in local communities, would the Portfolio Holder not agree that individual consultations with Wards would have been appropriate?

 

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor Jones for this question.  In January 2021 the Council’s Executive Board agreed to consult on a number of budget proposals which we will consider for approval later on this agenda today.  This was a considerable and comprehensive consultation process with internal staff, the business community, the voluntary and community sector as well as hosting a number of online consultation events for members of the public.  Over 600 people have chosen to engage with our consultation in one way or another so I would like to take the opportunity to thank them all for making their views known.  We have a duty to set a legal budget within a legal deadline and we do our best to engage those affected, as well as members of the public in as many ways as possible. 

 

I take no pleasure in having to present proposals such as these to Council but, as we have discussed here before and will no doubt do so again, local government finances across the country are in a parlous state, having been slashed and burned by successive Conservative governments over the last ten years, and with the added impact of Covid for which we still have not been wholly reimbursed.  We have to use what resources we have wisely and in considering all the options area committees were considered to be one of the least worst.  Removing area committee meetings will do two things: reduce the work load and save money.  For far too long staff across the Council have been asked to continually add duties to their already burgeoning workload while seeing a reduction in their staffing levels.  This includes the team in Constitutional Services who are responsible for the administration and minuting of all our formal meetings.  Several new committees and boards have been added to the schedule in recent times, from our Companies Governance Executive Sub Committee to the City Outbreak Control Engagement Board.  In order to continue to deliver services effectively we have to consider how their workload could be managed and therefore agreed, as a non-statutory function, we could propose to stop the area committees which account for 28 meetings a year.  The financial saving linked to this comes in the deletion the Special Responsibility Allowance of £6,763 which has been paid to each of the seven councillors who chair area committees saving £47,000 a year in total.  As members will know as part of the Recovery and Improvement Plan we are reviewing our Constitution, and the various specific delegations which form part of area committees will be included in that comprehensive review.  I wouldn’t want to prejudice the discussion on the budget this afternoon but should we proceed with the proposal we would also embark on a comprehensive review of how we currently engage with our communities on a ward level, on a partnership level and on a City wide level.  This will enable us to consult with councillors and communities to see how best to engage with people in the future.  We will also be writing to all of our community representatives as part of this process thanking them for their commitment and encouraging them to continue to be involved.  Since the Covid pandemic we have all been operating in a very different way and a positive outcome of that has been the development of the area partnerships.  We have actually been reaching more groups of people and individuals than before through our wider engagement.  So while online meetings do have their benefits I am sure we are all looking forward to the day when we can meet face to face again, but I expect a blended approach to engagement to be needed for some time to come.  Area committees often attract a small range of regular attenders and they may not be representative of the communities we serve.  I think each area and ward will come to their own decisions about how they will continue to engage with their citizens and there is nothing at all to stop councillors meeting with citizens on a regular basis but it will be outside the very formal process of the area committees in future, which I believe often puts some people off participating.  So no, I don’t agree that this will dilute local democracy in our wards.  We councillors have a duty to keep our constituents informed and consult with them and I am sure we will all find ways to continue to do so in a variety of methods.

 

 

Covid-19

Councillor Maria Watson asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:
I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say how disappointing it was to see the Police forced to break up crowds in Nottingham’s parks last week.  After nearly a full year of lockdowns and restrictions, to still see people unable to follow the rules intended to keep us all safe is frankly disheartening.  With the weather getting warmer, does the Leader consider it necessary for the Council to take extra steps to ensure we don’t see the kind of behaviour that could lead to further Lockdowns?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Watson for her question.  The Police are the enforcers with regard to social Covid gatherings.  Nottinghamshire Police, under the current Police and Crime Commissioner, has seen an increase in Police numbers deployed across our City, for which we are very grateful.  So while I am disappointed that some behaviour in our parks showed little regard for the fact that we are still in lockdown with declining but still high levels of Covid infections in our City, I am pleased to see that our partners in the Police responded to complaints in the way that they did.  As part of their duties Council Community Protection Officers will continue to attend parks and open spaces to provide hi-vis patrols and an engagement presence.  Community Protection Officers will enforce legislation with regards to leaving litter, breaches of the alcohol related public spaces protection orders and other associated offences.  If Community Protection Officers witness social gatherings they will engage with the group and will escalate to the Police when required via the Police Control Room.  This is now part of the Community Protection Officer order for the roadmap to reopening.  In addition, Street Scene and Grounds Maintenance staff will also provide additional bins and litter picks during the weekends.  The Services will also increase communications on social media to inform park users regarding distancing rules and asking them to keep the parks tidy.  I reported an overflowing bin just yesterday and was very pleased to get an almost instant response to clear up the mess, even on a Sunday afternoon. 

 

 

International Women’s Day

Councillor Chantal Lee asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Communities, Highways and Strategic Transport:

How will Nottingham be marking International Women’s Day given people are unable to get together in person?

 

Councillor Rebecca Langton replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you to Councillor Lee for her question.  I would like to wish everybody a very happy International Women’s Day.  It is a strange time to be thinking back one year, on this exact day one year ago we were in the middle of hosting the first ever International Women’s Day at the Council House.  More than 500 Nottingham women came along to an open house, enjoying stalls, discussion, friendship, connection and cake.  The event was put on by a diverse group of women.  We got together because we wanted to do something, made it inclusive, accessible and it was brilliant.  It was the last big event many of us were part of before Covid and the strength that I took from our City being full of inspiring women has kept me going at times during this challenging year.  We also unveiled a plaque on the side of the Council House which celebrates the first women, and first ethnic minority women to hold certain elected positions in the City.  We themed our events around celebrating Nottingham women.  We wanted the events to be for all Nottingham women, so whether in person or online, they were able to recognise the achievements of ordinary Nottingham women. 

 

For obvious reasons we can’t repeat last year’s celebration but we are still marking International Women’s Day and there is loads going on across the City.  For the first time we have an International Women’s Day banner across the Council House.  The banner was designed in partnership with different organisations and community groups to ensure diverse representation in the design.  Community cohesion and community equalities colleagues at Nottingham City Council have been part of a working group established with partners across the City to plan for International Women’s Day.  The group has created a website which holds an online events calendar, full of activities happening virtually in Nottingham on and around International Women’s Day.  It aims to keep people campaigning, celebrating and inspired.  Some of the online events include free yoga and Zumba classes, employability workshops, poetry sessions and panel discussions and difficult conversations led by the Community Cohesion Hate Crime Team on misogyny and sexism.  Nottingham libraries have organised workshops on forgotten voices of women’s literature, whilst the Sports and Leisure Team have been involved in the This Girl Can week, highlighting events for women.  Events will continue throughout this week and the full programme is online at www.iwdnottingham.com. 

 

The national theme for International Women’s Day this year is ‘Choose to Challenge’.  We have invited women to share how they have persevered through the pandemic, challenged stereotypes and stigma.  We have invited women to share videos and photos which we will be posting online this week.  We also encourage everyone here to post a pledge of what they choose to challenge on this International Women’s Day because, whilst today is a day to celebrate women, it is also a day to recognise the ongoing challenges, under-representation and discrimination that women face in society.  Covid has exacerbated this problem.  We have seen this throughout the last year.  We have talked about health inequalities more than ever before but, on the whole, Covid hasn’t created inequality.  What it has done is entrenched it wherever it existed and exposed it for all to see.  Of course this is not only true for women.  We have seen a consistent disproportionate impact of the pandemic on black, Asian and ethnic minority communities and six in ten of those who have died from Covid have been disabled – a huge over-representation and massively disproportionate.  But as it is International Women’s Day I will focus on the disproportionate impact on women, remembering of course that women are also black, Asian and ethnic minority, disabled, LGBT, pregnant, of all ages and religions.  So how has Covid challenged women?  Well the answer is: massively.  According to the Office of National Statistics, women did two thirds of additional childcare duties during the initial lockdown as well as spending more time on unpaid work; women picked up more non-development care than men, household jobs like cooking and washing; women were more likely to be furloughed than men meaning more women experienced the 20% loss of income that came with this; unemployment has risen more for women than men, a trend that is replicated across Europe and North America, some of this was due to a lack of childcare.  The Trades Union Congress found that two in five working mothers struggled to do their work due a lack of formal or informal childcare, forcing one in six to reduce their hours and, with it, their pay.  Single parent families were amongst the worst affected – nine in ten single parents are women and of them, one in ten lost their job and one in three was furloughed leading to a dramatic rise of children in single parent households experiencing poverty.  Let’s not forget that frontline healthcare is massively gendered, with 77% of the NHS workforce women, on the frontline exposed most to the dangers of Covid.  It’s not just about work or money, women’s experiences have been damaged in many ways due to Covid, for example Covid has worsened access to the maternity care.  For much of the last year pregnant women have had to attend ante-natal appointments completely alone and some experienced the vast majority of childbirth without the support of their partners.  This left partners out of the excitement of the experience and at the other end of the spectrum left women to deal with the trauma of pregnancy loss alone.  This has had a long term and lasting impact on too many women and I remain convinced that if more women had been making decisions something would have been done to address this much sooner.  Calls to domestic violence helplines in Nottingham have risen by 50% during Covid and we have seen a huge rise in referrals to the Sanctuary Scheme.  Young girls and women are amongst those worst affected by worsening mental health in Covid.  All of these things don’t just go away if and when Covid does.  They illustrate existing and structural inequality that was there before and so a commitment to challenge and change these things will be needed to improve them.  International Women’s Day is a day for women but that doesn’t mean that it is a day for men to be silent.  It remains a fact that men still dominate board rooms, cabinet rooms, rooms where the decisions are made and whilst that is true we need allies that elevate the voices of women and stand alongside us.  I hope that on this International Women’s Day, many men around us will commit to choosing to challenge discrimination, under-representation and inequality wherever it still exists for women.  We only need to think of the Covid response to be reminded that this is true.  Women’s voices have been overwhelming missing from the narrative, you can see that from the Government press conferences, at Cabinet briefings.  The impact on decision making at a national level is clear.  We need more women’s voices in our decisions.  That means men and women choosing to challenge the status quo. 

 

There is a lot to feel angry about when it comes to the disadvantage that still affects women in society but International Women’s Day is also about celebrating women who overcome this everyday and it is not about the names you read in the history books, although they are amazing too, it is about celebrating every woman.  I would like to recognise the women who work for Nottingham City Council.  We are lucky as a Council to have committed women who make up our workforce.  I know it has been said before but we must never take for granted our female majority Council and Cabinet.  On International Women’s Day I would like to recognise the women of this Council, from all walks of life and all backgrounds, being in local politics as a woman is a challenge and I am proud to sit amongst you all.  As a young woman on this Council I sometimes forget how unusual this is, but when I go to meetings outside the City that remain predominantly old, white and male I am reminded quite how far we have come and quite how far there still is to go in representation in politics. 

 

I asked a few colleagues and local residents to tell me women in the local community who deserve celebrating this International Women’s Day.  The response was overwhelming and, although I would love to, I would certainly exceed my time if I told you every story that was shared with me and I don’t want to single out some people for fear of missing others but, suffice to say, the women of Nottingham’s communities have stepped up in Covid, doing amazing things for their families, communities and City.  They make a huge difference, not because they hold power or status but because they are the heart and the spirit of Nottingham.  Our City and community wouldn’t be what it is without you and today we celebrate you.  So this International Women’s Day, we have an exciting programme of virtual events but let’s mark the day by celebrating the women of our City and by committing ourselves to choosing to challenge injustice, disadvantage, prejudice and misogyny wherever we see it not just on International Women’s Day, but everyday. 

 

 

Police and Crime Commissioner elections

Councillor Toby Neal asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Democratic Services:

Can the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Democratic Services explain what work is taking place to ensure safety of voters and staff for the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner Elections?

 

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Neal for this question which raises an important issue as we approach the election for Police and Crime Commissioner on 6 May.  At the last meeting of Council I referred to the preparations being made and can confirm that they are well underway.  As this will be our first election conducted during a pandemic additional safety measures are being introduced to ensure that the voters, staff, candidates and agents are able to participate safely and with confidence whether attending the polling stations, postal vote opening or the count.  Although the election will be similar to previous polls in many ways, as everyone will expect, to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid, safety measures will be implemented at polling stations and other election venues.  These include social distancing, hand sanitising and wearing face coverings unless medically exempt.  Personal protective equipment is being procured for staff, and voters will be encouraged to bring and wear their own mask as well as a pen or pencil to mark their ballot paper, although both will be provided if not.  It is widely recognised that some people may not be able to, or prefer not to attend the polling station in person at this election.  Therefore, the option of voting by post or by proxy may be a more appropriate way to vote this time.  A press release has been issued and the Council has publicised through social media and on the website encouragement to register to vote and to apply for a postal or proxy vote if necessary.  I myself have been a bit die hard when it comes to attending the polling station previously but have this year applied for a postal vote.  To ensure that no elector is disenfranchised due to the pandemic, changes are being made to the proxy voting procedure to ensure that those who become ill at short notice or are told to self-isolate can apply for a proxy vote up until 5pm on polling day.  This also extends to an appointable proxy so that a replacement proxy can be appointed instead.  Officers have also been assessing the suitability of polling stations and appropriate staffing.  Amendments to polling places is a delegated responsibility of the Returning Officer and a thorough review has been carried out to reassess their suitability for this election.  This has been particularly difficult while premises have remained closed and with uncertainty over the availability of some venues.  Also, as part of this review, it has been a priority not to use premises used for educational purposes or located within sheltered housing accommodation in order to ensure that schools can remain open for teaching and to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens.  The outcome of the review is that a total of sixteen polling stations require a change of location and due to a lack of suitable venues in most of these districts there has been no alternative but to merge these stations with those in adjacent districts.  A list of changes to polling stations will be published on the Council’s website soon and I will share this information when it is available with councillors.  I would like to thank the Elections Team for their hard work in preparing for the election in these difficult circumstances and I hope that our citizens will feel reassured and will take the opportunity to vote on 6 May.  Register to vote and apply for a postal or proxy vote now please.

 

 

Adult social care

Councillor Carole McCulloch asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Local Transport:

On 13 December 2019, Boris Johnson said, “And so I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all, and with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.” Could the Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Local Transport Council explain what progress the Prime Minister has made in bringing forward his plan and fulfilling his promise? 

 

Councillor Adele Williams replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor McCulloch for the question which I could answer very quickly by saying: not very much it appears.  I think, however, that there has been some recent briefing that it will be out by the end of the year but we will wait and see whether that will go the way of previous promises.  It was disappointing after a year in which the Conservative Members of Parliament stood and clapped for carers, we have seen no progress at all with this.  As Angela Rayner MP said ‘claps don’t pay the bills and when it came to showing how valued carers were in the budget carers will have seen how it is’.  We know that adult social care is a sector which has been in crisis and in need of reform for years as a result of continued reductions to local authority budgets, increasing needs of older disabled people and their families and increasing cost pressures.  The pandemic has further highlighted this, where residential care homes in particular have been disproportionately affected by Covid and it has really shone a light on this sector in caring for the most vulnerable citizens in our society and ensuring they continue to receive the care and support they need.  Whilst there has been some additional investment into adult social care during Covid this has only been temporary and will do nothing to address the underlying problem.  Whilst there is a lot of work to be done, the White Paper is welcome in that there is a focus on integration and innovation and the impetus to work together across health and social care and that is welcome in acknowledging the need for change and improving that integration.  However, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has calculated social care needs investment of £1.3bn just to cover demographic and inflationary pressures nationally in this year to remain sustainable in 2021/22.  Without this funding and recognition of the need for parity of esteem with the NHS and parity of funding none of us can feel reassured that a sustainable future for adult social care is there in terms of funding.  We can get a better deal for citizens with a more integrated way of working where we are jointly working to get better outcomes for people in the City but we really need sustainable arrangements to fund social care to do that.  The costs of increasing pressures due to an older population and some areas which have markedly different health and wellbeing outcomes are being put on the backs of local taxpayers.  Adult social care funding which is a hotch potch of short term injections with no real long term plan and is well overdue the systemic overhaul that practitioners and politicians of all stripes know it needs. The Conservatives have been holding this ball for many many years now so it is really not good enough to be shaking their heads and saying how difficult it is.  In the Budget we were told they were waiting for a cross-party consensus to be built and there already is one: we all know that what we have now is not working and there is a growing consensus that the current strategy of pushing the problem onto hard pressed local taxpayers isn’t the fix that the country needs.  I would ask the Opposition to join us in asking the Government to put adult social care on a sustainable footing and I will share a letter with them that I would ask them to sign and stand with us and with politicians of all stripes to say we need better funding for adult social care, we need this to be sustainable and we need a better deal for our citizens and a better deal for the carers who have put their health on the line looking after vulnerable people in our City.

 

 

Key worker pay

Councillor Nick Raine asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Does the Leader agree that Nottingham’s key workers, the true heroes of the Covid pandemic deserve much, much better than a pay cut from the Chancellor?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Raine for his question.  On Wednesday Rishi Sunak delivered the long awaited 2021 Budget and in doing so announced the temporary extension of the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift via a one off payment and confirmed that the furlough scheme with support for the self-employed will continue until the end of September.  Everyone on this Council will know that in January I wrote to the Chancellor urging him to extend the £20 per week uplift and this will, in the short term at least, give the people of Nottingham some reassurance although it falls way short of making it permanent.  Like many at Council I have stood on my doorstep or outside the gates of a local care home and applauded the efforts of key workers who have given absolutely everything and, in some cases, their lives over the past year to keep the public safe.  At the start of the pandemic people across the country gained a renewed sense of appreciation for the workers who kept the world going.  Customers thanked supermarket staff, applauded the delivery vans and painted rainbows in their windows to thank the NHS.  Our gratitude for their efforts is not enough however, so when the Government announced a 1% pay increase for NHS staff, slipping the news out the day after the Budget signalling it as a sign of the Government’s gratitude for their service during the pandemic their efforts were met with an insult from their Government.  The Chancellor pledged to give the NHS whatever it takes to fight Covid-19 yet there was no sign of an increase to core funding in Wednesday’s Budget.  Yet more broken promises.  None of the recognition has translated into pay rises, no extra holidays, no extended sick pay.  Let me be clear, a 1% increase for NHS staff is expected to be a real terms pay cut after inflation.  For all other public sector workers who have worked tirelessly across our City, keeping people safe no increase at all in fact a pay freeze.  What is clear is that the heroic efforts of keyworkers up and down the country and here in Nottingham streets and parks and care homes, bin lorries, telephone lines, food parcel delivery services they have been rewarded with a cut in their income in real terms by this Government.  They have been left with the bill for the costs of the pandemic.  Clapping on the steps of Downing Street is easy and cheap, failure to reward those heroes of our nation is apparently too expensive for Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson. 

 

In November las year the Chancellor said that there would be no return to austerity in his upcoming Spending Review but let me take a moment to describe how this Government is driving public services into further austerity, particularly in relation to day to day departmental spending which is the money spent on employing staff and delivering routine services like social care and policing.  On Wednesday the Chancellor announced that departmental spending is rising but not as fast as was planned before the pandemic.  What he didn’t mention in his speech, just like the paltry NHS pay rise, was that his budget plans included a roughly £4m a year cut in departmental spending starting in 2022/23.  This follows a £13bn reduction in those departmental budgets in last year’s Spending Review.  The implication is that by 2023/24 those departmental budgets will be some £16bn lower than they were projected to be before the pandemic.  As we know that £16bn cuts hit unprotected departments, such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).  Having reviewed the Chancellor’s announcement on Wednesday the Office for Budget Responsibility has said that all unprotected departments such as MHCLG are facing a cut in this autumn Spending Review for 2022/23 which comes on the back of a decade long series of cuts to local government.  For us in local government we are now faced with 77% less departmental day to day spending than we had in 2010.  The pandemic has led many of us to think in a new way about what is essential and, more importantly, about the risks those essential workers took to keep us fed, cared for, taught and protected.  The pandemic is a reminder that our lives are in the hands of so many people whose work has for so long been underpaid.  Economic recovery and ensuring public services are sustainable should go hand in hand.  Both are essential to the kind of society we want to live in.  When we rebuild, public services should be at the heart of that recovery.  It is a kick in the teeth for all of our key workers who are now expected to tighten their belts as a reward for serving our nation. 

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 15:35 and reconvened at 15:45.