Agenda item

Government Budget implications

Councillor Hayley Spain asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Could the Leader please update Council on what the Government budget of 30 October means for Nottingham in terms of transport, jobs, healthcare and the services we provide, and would she join me in welcoming the news that Clifton will be retaining its Clifton Town Fund?

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Spain, for your question. At last, we have a Labour government budget that can begin to turn the page on 14 years of Tory austerity. A responsible budget that acknowledges the hard path ahead of us to get this country back on track as the Tories have left Britain broke and broken. We have the worst living standards on record, our NHS and public services are on their knees, and we have an enormous black hole in the nation’s finances. Let’s not forget Liz Truss, whose 49-day stay as Prime Minister is the shortest on record. Her disastrous mini-budget caused significant upheaval, deepening the cost-of-living crisis, and throwing the country into chaos. The latest Labour budget is a million miles away from that disaster. Labour’s budget is fixing the foundations which will allow for future currency stability. Nottingham, like many cities, has been hit hard by the government’s cuts to grants. We’ve had to deal with the increasing demand for social care services, especially for vulnerable children and adults, while seeing our funding slashed year after year. This budget under Chancellor Rachel Reeves begins to acknowledge the challenges we face. In a number of cases the exact impact on Nottingham will become clear over time, but change has begun. I am pleased that the Chancellor has announced a range of measures for local government that will help us to continue supporting our communities and residents. I welcome the announcement of £1.3 billion increased funding for grants to support our essential services, £600 million additional funding to support adult social care, £500 million for the affordable homes programme to build up to 5,000 additional affordable homes, £233 million additional funding to tackle homelessness, an increase on the national living wage by 6.7% to £12.21 per hour, additional funding of £650 million to support local transport projects, continuation of the household support fund, a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day health budget, and a £3.1 billion increase in the capital budget. This will hopefully improve healthcare outcomes across the city. The list goes on, but with time constraints I have just picked a few of the proposals. The government’s budget contains wide-ranging proposals that provide more support to low-income working people. As Nottingham is a city with a higher number of low-income working people this is good news for our city and its residents. The increase in national living wage will be a boost for low-income workers. Increased wages will also mean more spending in the city. There is £100 million to support local authorities to install and upgrade cycling and walking routes. This will help us in our goal to be carbon-neutral by 2028. By improving the way people get around the city, it will build on the good work we are already doing in this area. I must also pay tribute to Nottingham South MP Lillian Greenwood, who has secured half a billion pounds to fix roads and repair potholes. Funding for potholes will not only provide a tangible benefit and improve roads across the city but will also be a visible programme of works that will improve the city and reassure residents that the council and government are improving their lives. These investments show that under Labour’s leadership, we are committed to supporting communities and making sure money is starting to get back to the people and places it is needed most while also rebuilding the trust that has been lost under the Tories. Finally, like you, Councillor Spain, I am happy that Clifton has retained its £20 million Clifton Town fund. Lord-Mayor, the country, like Nottingham, still has a long way to go. We have all suffered under the Tories, but this feels like change has begun and we are finally moving in the right direction on the road to recovery.

Transformation Programme

Councillor Samina Riaz asked the following question of the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education:

Could the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education update Council on the success of the Council’s Children’s Transformation Programme in reducing the number of children in the care of the Local Authority; but would she further explain why, despite having less children in our care, the costs of caring for these children have increased?

Councillor Cheryl Barnard replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Riaz, for your question. Our transformation plan for Children’s Integrated Services has helped us to develop new ways of working for families that results in less children entering the statutory care system. We have provided social workers and managers with more tools to use when they support families. The impact of that means that we have fewer children in all areas of our service, including those children on the child protection plans and children who have become looked after by us in children’s homes or foster care. We had 732 children in care in July 2022, the number having risen consistently in 3 or 4 years. It is reasonable to assume that this growth would have continued, and we could be looking at a figure nearing 750 children in care now. Our transformation work started in the autumn of 2022, and focused on working better to respond to need, supporting children to remain with their own families, supporting children to safely leave care, and increasing our own in-house fostering capacity. The work also involved supporting the social workers to approach their work with families differently, focusing more on stress, and ensuring that interventions to support positive change were delivered in a more timely way. This meant that families were getting meaningful help more quickly, so that problems didn’t get any worse. Within our transformation work is our service improvement work, meaning that best practice was underpinning our activity. We also ensured that all other family options were considered prior to taking children into care, and that children did not stay in care for longer than necessary. This is an enormous achievement, given the national context where numbers have continued to rise. CIPFA recently commented that children’s residential care is a major factor in driving cost pressures and accounts for over a third of spending on children in care. Supply constraints and higher demand are pushing up costs. The situation is so dire that the Department for Education has categorised the risk of market failure in children’s care placements as critical to very likely in 2023-24. In Nottingham City there were 641 cared-for children at the end of September 2024 – almost 100 less than last year. But despite that, our costs have continued to rise above inflation. Costs charged to the council vary despite best efforts to negotiate fair charges. So, for example, the cost for a very similar care for a child varies between two different providers from £8,800 a week to £13,000 a week. A residential education placement for a child with special educational needs is on average £10,000 a week, and secure accommodation – often directed by the court – particularly for young people in the criminal justice system, is in the region of £20,000 per week. As a council we pride ourselves on welcoming children through the national transfer scheme, despite the pressure that creates. We have a shortage of the right kind of care for those unconfirmed asylum-seeking children, so often end up paying far more for them than the government funds us for. There are now 27 of these young people who are now over 18 years old and for those with no recourse to public funds the cost falls to the council to provide essential support. This is a heavy burden, and failure from the previous government to deal with asylum applications efficiently and effectively has contributed to our costs. We know that’s we’ve got a crisis in care costs to address, which is why we’re working so hard to recruit more foster carers through our shared fostering hub with Nottinghamshire, Derby, and Derbyshire, Foster for East Midlands. It’s too early to see the level of impact we’d like from that, but already innovations like our Mockingbird foster care constellation are showing that existing carers can do more for our children with the right level of support and care. The journey of improvement in Children’s Integrated Services continues, and whilst we can see evidence of better outcome for children, we can’t see that benefit in our budget, which disappoints myself and the team enormously. Despite commissioning the independent reviewer of children’s social care, lead by Josh McAllister, which was published in May 2022, the Conservative government failed to act on any of the recommendations in that report, choosing only to ask for expressions of interest in Kinship Care pilots. I am confident that, given time, our Labour government will take stronger measures to address the blatant profiteering at play across the market.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Councillor Nayab Patel asked the following question of the Executive Member for Communities, Waste and Equalities:

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed on 25 November 2024. Could the Executive Member for Communities, Waste and Equalities outline how the Council plans to raise awareness about this day and what actions the Council is taking to protect women and girls from violence in Nottingham?

Councillor Corall Jenkins replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor, and thank you, Councillor Patel, for asking this important question. I’m pleased to be able to outline that we will be doing this year to support our key providers on domestic abuse in the city. So, in preparation, Nottingham City Council will light up the Council House and Wollaton Park orange. The council leadership, corporate directors, senior managers, and the executive team will wear something orange. We will ask the same of all councillors on the day as well. There will be a photoshoot at Loxley House of the senior team, and the leader of the opposition will be invited. We will all wear something orange to mark this day. In addition, all councillors should have received Juno’s Turn it Orange flyer and an information pack via email, requesting the same, and to raise awareness on their social media platforms. In the information sheet that we’ve got it tells you all about why it’s orange, it gives the history, the hope, ways to get involved and things to remember. And, like I say, this is all being sent to everybody via email. Nottingham City Council will share Turn It Orange on the social media platforms as well, and its internal communications with staff, as well as with community contacts, to also raise awareness. We have in the past aligned ourselves to the White Ribbon campaign, to encourage men never to commit, excuse, or remain silent about violence to women and girls. This year, the women’s network is encouraging everyone to get involved. Nottingham has a long history dating back to the ‘70s in support of support against violence. In the ‘90s, we were one of the first councils to employ a domestic violence worker, and in 2000 Juno opened the first 24-hour free phoneline. We have grown. The coordinated community response set out nationally involves community safety teams, housing, homelessness, and social care teams working together to hold perpetrators to account so that adult and children survivors can be free from fear. And what we have done in Nottingham ensures that a strategic approach involving Adults and Children’s Services, the Health and Wellbeing Board, and other relevant departments is that when they come together we can minimise fear and have that coordinated response. Juno works with other departments across the city. This year in the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, we have our own Labour councillor, councillor Angela Kandola, and she is Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner with the lead on violence against women and girls. Just like we are, Nottinghamshire Police, and the fire service, are looking to turn out all in orange to raise awareness on the 25^th November. I look forward to working with the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner. Finally, I’d like to say that John Lewis has also played a pivotal role in supporting the Juno women’s aid and I would like that to be acknowledged here. I have been down there to see it myself and they have done an excellent piece of work in making sure that people can be as comfortable as they can when they go there in the circumstances they arrive. So, please acknowledge and share the email I’ve sent and if you could also look on the Juno women’s webpage. There will be more information and more activities you can do to promote this very important day. Thank you.

Council House sales receipts

Councillor Michael Savage of the Executive Member for Housing and Planning:

Could the Executive Member for Housing and Planning confirm what the impact of the Government proposals to allow councils to keep 100% of Council House Sales Receipts would be for Nottingham City Council?

Councillor Jay Hayes replied as follows:

Thank you, Councillor Savage, for your question. The new government announced plans to build one and a half million new council homes, new houses. We are proud of it, and it is an ambitious target, and it’s one I look forward to working with the government on. To meet this target the government has had to make a number of changes, one to planning, and others to right-to-buy, that’s benefitted councils all up and down the country, but this relates to the fact that the previous government under the Conservatives only allowed councils to keep 50% of profits from our sales, with the other 50 actually having to be borrowed or used from HRA accounts in order for us to replace houses lost to right-to-buy. This council has sadly lost 50% of our housing stock to right-to-buy, which has contributed to people living in private rented accommodation where some of our right-to-buy properties have been put on the private rented market for £1000 per month, and as I said before that is ridiculous and people in Nottingham cannot afford that amount of money for rent every month. So, we welcome these changes, we can now keep 100% of the right-to-buy receipt and we can combine that with section 106 money, giving us more power in terms of building or buying back houses. This government has lifted the cap on our decisions so we can get this, more of the council houses back into the housing stock. In September, I wrote a joint letter alongside the Chief Executive and we wanted £10½ million back. We had to give that money back to the government because we couldn’t spend it in time, and I’m pleased to say that this government has listened to us, and in late September we have got back our £10½ million of right-to-buy receipts. That money, and the changes, will bolster our ability for us to build more council houses and build back. In the next couple of months officers are working hard on putting these plans into action and will be making a series of decisions which I will be sharing with you all. I am looking forward to seeing new council houses being built across the city, and Nottingham people living in them with secure, long-term tenancies. It’s taken this Labour government four months - just four months - to acknowledge the crisis, and has put plans in action to meet, and to end this crisis, something the Conservatives failed to do for the last 14 years.

Carers Allowance

Councillor Gul Khan asked the following question of the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health:

Does the Executive Member for Adults Social Care and Health agree with me that the Government’s announcement of increasing the weekly earnings limit for Carers Allowance is vital in supporting carers across Nottingham?

Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor, and thanks, Councillor Khan, for your question. I wholeheartedly agree that the increase of the weekly earnings limited for the carers allowance announced by this Labour government is great news for our carers. Under the Tories, carers have laboured under a system that spoke the language of support yet imposed a reality of neglect. The same Tory government that often praised carers as heroes has systematically undervalued, exploited, and disregarded their contributions. Carers UK and WPI Economics have published a new report which explains the scale at which carers experience greater levels of poverty and economic hardship. It was found that 1.2 million unpaid carers live in poverty, and that would count for one third of unpaid carers in the UK. Those findings highlight what more than 10 years of austerity can do under the Tory government. How Tory policies have harmed our carers. Our carers who provide support to family members and friends. Our carers who keep our elderly citizens safely at home and away from care homes and hospitals. Our carers who sacrifice their own work opportunities, their personal development, and personal wellbeing, for the wellbeing of others. This Labour government, in this budget, has provided the first step to a future where there will be long-awaited justice for our carers. From April 2025 our carers will no longer need to choose between giving up their job or receiving their carers allowance. Currently based on a 52-week year, carers can earn up to £7,800 per year and be eligible to claim carers allowance.  The new rate, from the 7^th April 2025 will make carers who earn up to an increased £10,200 approximately per year now be eligible to claim carers allowance. This also coincides with national living wage increases, meaning that from April ’25 carers on the new national living wage who work up to 16 hours per week can receive carers allowance. Under this Labour government carers will now be able to work more, earn more, and still build their income with carers allowance. That’s how Labour is opposed to the cost-of-living crisis. What that does, is that it brings a massive economic security for many people who were left to leave precarious lives under consecutive Conservative governments. Now 60,000 more carers who work part-time will be eligible to receive the carers allowance without having to reduce their hours. 60,000 more people will be able to increase their disposable income and lead better and more fulfilling lives. There is also clear benefit with regards to personal productivity and worker’s participation, allowing carers to earn more without losing benefits encourages more people to stay or re-enter the workforce, even if it is just part-time. This helps maintain professional skills, builds connections, and contributes to the world as a whole. Overall, this legislation provides practical support to carers by easing financial strain, recognising the invaluable role carers play in our society and by giving carers more flexibility to balance work and caregiving. Thank you.

New Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Executive Member for Strategic Regeneration, Transport and Communications:

Can the Executive Member update the Chamber on how the anticipated cuts to the Department for Transport’s budget will affect the sign off of funding from the Transforming Cities Fund provisionally allocated to the new pedestrian/cyclist bridge connecting Colwick with Lady Bay?

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor. Thank you Councillor Rule for your question. We have received no indication from the Department for Transport that our existing Transforming Cities allocations are to be reduced and that we will not receive our full funding allocation as programmed. Therefore, no impact on the delivery of the new waterside pedestrian and cycle bridge over the river Trent is expected as a result of any announcements made in the Autumn Budget. Like I said earlier in my answer, the budget included some positive announcements on local transport funding for the 2025-26 financial year that should be beneficial to the city including additional funding for highway maintenance, additional local transport funding for the mayoral combined authority in areas including ours, additional funding to support local bus services, additional funding for cycling and walking infrastructure, and additional funding to support the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

No Fault Evictions ban

Councillor Kevin Clarke asked the following question of the Executive Member for Housing and Planning:

Will the Executive Member join us in welcoming the Government’s intention to continue the last Conservative Government’s work in banning no fault evictions?

Councillor Jay Hayes replied as follows:

Thank you, no I will not be supporting the government that didn’t deliver for 14 years. If the Conservative government wanted to end no-fault evictions, they had 14 years to do so as they had a majority in that time, so why have they not done it? The previous government saw homelessness increase by 75%. Private renting becoming unaffordable for so many in our city and up and down the country. The housing targets nationally imposed, then scrapped, then imposed, then scrapped again, because they failed to deliver any new housing. And the lack of support in funding to councils who build new social housing. In Nottingham we have over 10,000 people on our waiting list. In 2023-24 we’ve seen 225 cases were due to no-fault eviction in the last year. Many of these had to go into temporary accommodation, which has put a constant burden onto the council. The Conservatives had chance and chance and chance again to end no-fault evictions. They failed to do so, passing the burden, the blame, and the costs on to local authorities. As I said earlier, it’s taken this Labour government four months – just four months – to come up with ideas to address these problems by allowing councils to keep more of their funding and to expand the law so we can build more houses. This government is committed to ending no-fault evictions and shoring up the rights of private tenants. So no, I do not support the Conservatives’ work on no-fault evictions because they didn’t do anything. I do support the Labour party’s work because they were the ones who actually put it into law. So, the Conservatives failed, it’s always up to Labour to pick up the pieces, take action, and make things happen. So, Councillor Clarke, I hope you will join me in welcoming Labour’s approach to ending no-fault evictions.

Tram strikes

Councillor Kirsty M Jones asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Will the Leader of the Council accept the frustration of residents of Clifton, Wilford and Silverdale who during the recent strike activity on the trams suffered a complete cancellation of service preventing commuters from getting to work and children getting to school?

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Jones, for your question. Let’s be clear: no-one wants to see disruption on any of our transport networks. Nottingham’s tram is a fantastic part of our integrated transport system that moves millions of people around our city each year, so I sympathise with the people whose journeys were affected by the one-day strike. However, the council supports unions and workers’ right to take industrial action. The reasons behind the one-day strike that took place on the 27^th September were for the tram operator and the unions to resolve. We were disappointed that an agreement was not reached in time to avoid the one-day strike, but in the interests of ensuring the continued successful operation of Nottingham’s tram system for residents, we urged the parties to get together and work towards a resolution. I am pleased that the sides reached an agreement, and the threat of further disruption was avoided. Of course it was frustrating for customers who regularly use the system, but the excellence of Nottingham’s public transport network meant that in most cases residents had other options to make their journey, including by using Nottingham City Transport buses, and we just heard earlier how fantastic they are.

National Insurance increases

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Executive Member for Skills, Growth and Economic Development:

Can the Executive Member comment on how increases in National Insurance made in the Labour Government’s recent budget will affect the ability of businesses in Nottingham to take on new staff thus helping to reduce unemployment in the City?

Councillor Ethan Radford replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor, and thank you, Councillor Rule, for your question. So, the treasury’s forecasted an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions will raise approximately £25 billion in the financial year 2025-26. In the Chancellor’s budget there was a clear intent to stimulate economic growth, to rebuild the economy and build better standards of living. To do this requires investment though. The revenue generated from this increase will contribute towards addressing the UK’s financial position and support investment in public services. It is quite clear that for businesses to succeed and thrive they need effective infrastructure, a skilled and healthy workforce, and consumers with more pounds in their pockets. The first Labour budget for 14 years sets out a plan to achieve these conditions. There are a range of views expressed about how the national insurance increase will impact business’s hiring intentions. The British Chamber of Commerce recognises that the budget outlines a longer-term framework to provide stability for the economy, rather than a short-term boom for a long-term bust, and the Federation of Small Businesses recognise that it is unavoidable and welcome the increase in the employment allowance supporting small businesses in the UK. A local economist, Professor Will Rossiter from Nottingham Trent University, doesn’t consider that the impact would be hugely material in attempts to reduce unemployment, due to the demand for labour being quite strong. In terms of employment in Nottingham, he indicates that the key issue is addressing the almost 25,000 city residents who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness. High levels of investment in public health, such as we have seen in the Chancellor’s budget, would go a long way to address that. In the meantime, this council will continue to work with our business partners and local employers as part of our economic plan for growth we developed earlier this year to provide the right conditions for Nottingham’s businesses to thrive and deliver the jobs and wages our residents need.

Restriction on decorating graves

Councillor Kevin Clarke asked the following question of the Executive Member for Carbon Reduction, Leisure and Culture:

Could the Executive Member please explain the rationale behind the decision to restrict families from decorating the graves of their loved ones given the huge distress and hurt it has caused them?

Councillor Sam Lux replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor, and I’d like to thank Councillor Clarke for this question. The Cemetery and Crematorium Service manages 68 hectares of land for burial space across the city, which contains thousands of grave plots, both new and old. In order to maintain these areas in a safe and correct way, the service has clearly set out how burial plots will be managed. This way of working was established for a number of years, and information is provided to families when purchasing a lease of a burial plot. It is appreciated that the subject is highly sensitive and personal to all the families concerned. Each burial plot will have a defined area that is leased by the family, and any expansion beyond this has an impact on other families as it starts to encroach on their site, and/or issues with burials in the grounds. To ensure sites are maintained to an accepted standard, regular access to the surrounding areas of the grave is required to enable activities such as grass cutting to take place. The placement of items made from glass, metal, plastics, or loose stones can cause severe issues with our teams maintaining the grounds and employee safety when trying to cut the grass. Aside from the placement of personal items, the service also have rules related to the erection of memorials. Each memorial requires a permit to be issued by our service. We have an approved list of stonemasons for families to use with clear guidance on stone, type, and inscriptions for each memorial in relation to the burial plot in question. The service has been applying the rules on a gradual basis across our cemeteries given the scale of the task at hand. In dealing with hundreds of burial plots, we have only encountered a few ongoing issues with families. Most families have been positive, and we have worked with our teams to address these issues. In response to the specific question raised, the more traditional graves have a curb surrounding them within these areas. With the exemption of glass items or items that have spikes that might cause injury, families can decorate as they wish. The lawn graves usually have a memorial plinth where items can be placed, ensuring the grass area is clear so that regular maintenance and cutting can take place. When items are placed outside of the designated areas, the team works sensitively to try to help families, and also ensure that notice is provided for any actions they intend to take such as removal of items, and continue to publicise information directly to families as well as others. Thank you.

Departure of Chief Finance Officer/ Section 151 Officer

Councillor Maria Watson asked the following question of the Executive Member for Finance and Resources:

Could the Executive Member confirm what impact the departure of the Chief Finance Officer/ Section 151 Officer will have on the Council’s ability to balance the in year gap in this year’s budget?

Councillor Linda Woodings replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord-Mayor, and thank you, Councillor Watson, for your question. As you will note at point 13 on our agenda today, we are pleased to recommend to Full Council the appointment of a new Corporate Director for Finance and Resources, Stuart Fair, who has joined us on an interim basis from the 1^st of November, and I look forward to working with him. Subject to the approval of his appointment at Full Council today there should be no impact upon the council’s existing ability to manage its in-year position. I can also confirm that our finance team stand ready to assist the Nottingham Independents with preparing an alternative budget proposal, should they finally be bothered to do so after two years of failing to submit an opposition budget we are very keen to know what ideas and proposals you might want to share with us and the public, and our finance team stand ready to assist you with putting those proposals together.