Agenda item

The following Notices of Motion submitted to the County Council by the following Councillors have been referred to the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 8(2) for consideration, to refer it to another Committee or make a recommendation back to the Council:

 

(a)  Debate not Hate - Councillor Hannaford

 

(b)  DCC to Treat Care Experience as a Protected Characteristic - Councillor Hannaford  

 

(c)  Teachers Pay – Investing in Children’s Futures - Councillor Hannaford

 

(d)  Governance Review and Consultations - Councillor Atkinson

 

(e)  Devon 20’s Plenty - Councillor Hodgson

 

(a) Debate not Hate - Councillor Hannaford

 

RESOLVED that the County Council:

(i) recognises the actions already taken in support of the debate not hate agenda and endorses a zero tolerance approach to abuse of both staff and Councillors;

 

(ii) continues to develop tools and give advice that supports Councillors in relation to safety issues and tackling inappropriate behaviour, including encouraging Elected Members to use the reporting mechanism in place;

 

(iii) works with the Police to establish a link whereby advice and support can be sought and develop a procedure document to accompany this; and

 

(iv) write to Devon MP’s, copying in the LGA, outlining the Council’s support for the campaign and encouraging them to promote this agenda to Government and support any actions that seek to address the abuse and intimidation of those in public life.

 

(b) DCC to Treat Care Experience as a Protected Characteristic - Councillor Hannaford

 

RESOLVED

 

(i) that Council recognises that care experienced people are a group who are likely to face discrimination;

 

(ii) that it recognises that Councils have a duty to put the needs of disadvantaged people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration;

 

(iii) that future decision, services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a protected characteristic;

 

(iv) that in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes care experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a protected characteristic in services and employment; and

 

(v) that this Council will treat care experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic.

 

(c) Teachers Pay – Investing in Children’s Futures - Councillor Hannaford

 

RESOLVED that the Council continues its positive work with the F40 national campaign and its ongoing engagement with Government to ensure:

 

Equitable funding is provided by central Government to all Devon schools to allow them to maintain and deliver a high-quality education, to enable them to safeguard all children and young people and meet the full cost of any pay awards to support the recruitment and retention of a strong and dedicated school workforce in the County.

 

(d) Governance Review and Consultations - Councillor Atkinson

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to

 

(i) note that a Special Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee has been arranged on the 27 July to ensure Member Scrutiny and input into the process, as requested by the Motion, the outcome of which will inform the Special Cabinet meeting on 23 August, where three of the consultation outcomes are due for consideration;

 

(ii) note, that in relation to day care and respite services, no decisions have been made and both matters will come to a future Cabinet meeting later in the financial year; and

 

(iii) ensure that the Governance review incorporates a review of consultation processes as a separate workstream

 

(e) Devon 20’s Plenty - Councillor Hodgson

 

RESOLVED that the Council will work with communities that wish to see a new 20mph speed limit introduced, where it will be beneficial to road safety and sustainable travel, either via the “expressions of interest” process or where communities wish to self-fund their own speed limit.

(a) Debate not Hate - Councillor Hannaford

 

The Notice of Motion text is detailed below.

 

The intimidation and abuse of councillors, in person or otherwise, undermines democracy; preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, deterring individuals from standing for election, and undermining public life in democratic processes.

 

Devon County Council notes that increasing levels of toxicity in public and political discourse is having a detrimental impact on local democracy, and that prevention, support and responses to abuse and intimidation of local politicians must improve to ensure councillors feel safe and able to continue representing their residents.

 

Devon County Council therefore commits to challenge the normalisation of abuse against councillors and officers and uphold exemplary standards of public and political debate in all it does. Devon County Council further agrees to sign up to the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in local communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the response to and support those in public life facing abuse and intimidation.

 

In addition, this Council resolves to:

·       Write to the local Members of Parliament to ask them to support the campaign.

·       Write to the Government to ask them to work with the LGA to develop and implement a plan to address abuse and intimidation of politicians at every level.

·       Ensure that Devon County Council has a clear reporting mechanism which councillors can use to monitor and record incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers.

·       Regularly review the support available to Councillors in relation to abuse and intimidation and councilor safety.

·       Work with the local police to ensure there is a clear and joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councilors and their families and discuss the need to take a preventative approach that accounts for the specific risks that councilors face, as they do with other high-risk individuals, like MP’s.

·       Take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of councilors and officers’.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (LDS/23/7) which referred to the actions recently taken by the Council in relation to this agenda, such as regular bulletins, the mechanisms to log incidents, application of the customer behaviour policies, the employee assistance programme, home addresses on the website and the use of the sensitive register and how technology could support personal safety. 

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken, and:

 

RESOLVED that the County Council:

 

(i) recognises the actions already taken in support of the debate not hate agenda and endorses a zero tolerance approach to abuse of both staff and Councillors;

 

(ii)  continues to develop tools and give advice that supports Councillors in relation to safety issues and tackling inappropriate behaviour, including encouraging Elected Members to use the reporting mechanism in place;

 

(iii) works with the Police to establish a link whereby advice and support can be sought and develop a procedure document to accompany this; and

 

(iv) write to Devon MP’s, copying in the LGA, outlining the Council’s support for the campaign and encouraging them to promote this agenda to Government and support any actions that seek to address the abuse and intimidation of those in public life.

 

(b) DCC to Treat Care Experience as a Protected Characteristic - Councillor Hannaford  

 

The Notice of Motion text is detailed below.

 

Devon County Council recognises:

 

·       Every elected member and employee of this Council is a corporate parent to the children and care leavers in our care.

·       We are all responsible for providing the best possible care, safeguarding and outcomes for the children who are looked after by us.

·       That Councils have a duty to put the needs of vulnerable people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration.

 

Devon County Council notes:

 

·       A UCL study which showed 70% of care experienced people die early. Over 50% of people who are in custody up to the age of 21 have been in care (Become Charity) and a quarter of the homeless population is care experienced (The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care).

·       The Government commissioned an independent national review of children’s social care, chaired by Josh Macalister, and one recommendation was to look at making care experience an additional protected characteristic; another was that all public bodies become corporate parents.

 

Devon County Council believes:

 

·       Our children in care and those who have left care have the right to expect everything from a corporate parent that would be expected from a good and responsible parent. This includes how families continue their support, care, and ambition for their children after they leave home and gain independence including through employment opportunities.

·       This authority has already taken important steps to support our care experienced children and care leavers better, but we can always do more.

·       That we cannot wait until the government decides which recommendations to implement and therefore, here in the Devon County Council area of responsibility, we should act to be the best corporate parents we can be.

·       That when making any decisions in relation to our policies or formulating our Corporate Plan that we should recognise care experienced people as a vulnerable group who face discrimination.

·       That whilst we cannot change national legislation, we can use our powers to ensure that the Council consider care experienced people as part of its decision making to seek to prevent discrimination and improve life chances, in doing this. This will mean that we treat people with care experience the same as those with a protected characteristic.

 

Devon County Council therefore resolves:

 

1.    That the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer ensure that all council making decision documentation has in it appropriate sections to allow for the impact upon ‘care experienced people’ to be considered in decision making, where relevant.

2.    Officers consider how information might be captured and reported upon on these matters in a similar way to that of the Public Sector Equality Duty Annual report.

3.    Any publication of information relating to people who share a Protected Characteristic also includes ‘care experienced people’

4.    To proactively seek out and listen to the voices of care experienced people of all ages when developing new Council policies and plans and, where possible, those where the Council produces them in partnership with others.

5.    To request that the Chief Executive, as Head of Paid Service, explore with the Director of HR how the Council could seek to guarantee all care experienced persons an interview where they meet the essential criteria of the post applied for.

6.    That the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Schoolswrites to all public bodies represented in the Devon County Council area of responsibility ,the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses  to make them aware of this motion and, where possible and within available resources, offer training on corporate parenting and issues facing care experienced people and to work with our partners and our care experienced population to understand what corporate parenting means for them.

7.    That the Leader of the Council, writes to Devon’s MPs making them aware of this motion and asking them to press government to amend the law to include Care Experienced persons as a Protected Characteristic and for the extension of Corporate Parenting to all public bodies, following the recommendations of the Macalister Report.

8.    That the Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer, and Section 151 Officer attend a Corporate Parenting forum meeting to report on the actions taken because of this motion on notice.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (LDS/23/7) which referred to the struggles faced by Care Experienced People and the recent National Independent Review of Children’s Social Care as well as the many issues the Council had to consider on barriers and discrimination and inconsistent support.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed, and:

 

RESOLVED

 

(i) that Council recognises that care experienced people are a group who are likely to face discrimination;

 

(ii) that it recognises that Councils have a duty to put the needs of disadvantaged people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration;

 

(iii) that future decision, services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a protected characteristic;

 

(iv) that in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes care experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a protected characteristic in services and employment; and

 

(v) that this Council will treat care experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic.

 

(c) Teachers Pay – Investing in Children’s Futures - Councillor Hannaford

 

The Notice of Motion text is detailed below.

 

Council notes that:

 

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) have voted in overwhelming numbers to take strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.

 

Teachers across England have been offered a 5 per cent pay rise, which represents a 7 per cent real terms cut to their pay when compared to the very high rates of inflation.

 

One in four teachers leave the profession within two years of qualification: a third within five. Nearly one third of the teachers who qualified in the last decade are no longer teaching.

 

Children are losing out because there are not enough teachers. One in eight maths lessons is taught by a teacher not qualified in the subject.

 

The Government missed its target for recruitment of new secondary school teachers by 41 per cent this year and by 11 per cent for primary school teachers.

 

There has been a fall of 23 per cent in trainee teacher recruitment in 2022 compared with the year before.

 

Teachers are leaving the profession because of a mix of excessive workload and poor pay. A teacher who started working in 2010 and made normal progress up the pay scale has lost over £64,000 in real terms.

 

Teachers in England top the OECD league table for working time outside lessons. In addition to their teaching timetable, primary teachers spend nearly 32 hours and secondary teachers nearly 33 hours working in addition to their teaching every week. This means working weeks of 55-60 hours are commonplace in staff rooms all over the nation.

 

Secondary class sizes are at their highest for 40 years. Primary class sizes are now at their highest for 22 years.

 

According to a survey sent out by the Department for Education (DfE) to all schools and trusts in England in May 2022 regarding gas and electricity contracts, the average quote given on renewal for gas has increased from £0.03 per kWh to £0.09 kWh for gas; and from £0.16 per kWh to £0.32 per kWh for electricity. These substantial cost increases are placing significant pressure on school budgets.

 

This Council also notes that:

 

Our teachers do not want to go on strike – they want to be in properly resourced classrooms with enough support staff, teaching and supporting our amazing children and young people in the way they deserve.

 

Teachers in Devon are doing their best for our children.

 

However, the proportion of reception age children achieving a good level of development, the proportion of Y1 children achieving expected level in phonics; and KS2 children achieving expected standard in reading, writing and maths are all ongoing concerns.

 

In recent years there have been substantial ongoing increases in the numbers of children in Devon requiring additional support in school due to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), or significant anxiety and mental health difficulties which act as a barrier to accessing their education.

 

Staff and budgets can only stretch so far. Looking at the entire picture, is not difficult to see that faced with escalating running costs and unfunded pay rises heads will have no choice but to make cuts in areas which directly impact children such as additional support for those with SEND and other needs.

 

These growing cost pressures are borne out by projections for Devon County Council which show that without making compensatory cuts primary schools maintained by the local authority will struggle to balance their budgets in 2023/24, if no further funding is forthcoming.

 

It is short-sighted for the Government to expect schools to make savings which impact on children when it simply creates system pressures elsewhere such as increased demand for EHCPs and places at specialist schools and alternative provision.

 

This Council resolves:

 

To support the campaign for the Westminster Government to provide a fully funded, above-inflation pay rises for all teachers and support staff.

 

To write to the Prime Minister and Chancellor to call for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.

 

To resist the Government’s ongoing cuts to school budgets and call for more funding to be invested in education.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (LDS/23/7) which referred to the importance of pay awards to help recruit and retain a strong and dedicated workforce, concern of the impact of an unfunded pay rise, the costs of the increase of £1,925 for NJC staff along with the proposed 6.5% for teachers (an additional £13.8 Million in costs to DCC maintained schools in the 2023/24 financial year) and that Devon received historically low levels of funding.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and any other relevant factors, and:

 

RESOLVED that the Council continues its positive work with the F40 national campaign and its ongoing engagement with Government to ensure:

 

Equitable funding is provided by central Government to all Devon schools to allow them to maintain and deliver a high-quality education, to enable them to safeguard all children and young people and meet the full cost of any pay awards to support the recruitment and retention of a strong and dedicated school workforce in the County.

 

(d) Governance Review and Consultations - Councillor Atkinson

 

(Councillor Atkinson attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and spoke to this item).

 

The Notice of Motion text is detailed below.

 

It is noted that the council intends to review its consultations procedures as part of its governance review. This council notes that in response to the threat of a judicial review challenge by Mencap the consultation on the closure of the respite care facilities for disabled adults has been withdrawn. Other recent consultations also appear to be similarly flawed as not being genuine consultations as they were issued after a decision to make the cuts had already been made. These had not been made clear at the budget preparation and scrutiny and the budget cut had therefore not been scrutinised by the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee.  These are

 

·       The wellbeing Exeter Cessation of contribution

·       Homelessness18 + prevention: cessation of contribution

·       A cut in the day care service at the Nicholls Centre Exeter from a 5 day a week service to a 3 day a week service (plus closures of similar day care centres elsewhere in the county)

·       Closure of the respite facility at either Pine Parks in Honiton or the Nicholls Centre in Exeter

·       The reduction in the grant to Devon Carers.

·       Closure of North Devon Link Mental Health and Wellbeing Service in Barnstaple Bideford and Ilfracombe

 

This council therefore agrees to withdraw these consultations and to take no further steps to proceed with the planned cuts until after the governance review of its consultation procedures has taken place

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (LDS/23/7) which referred to the challenge of the budget, the financial envelope for the Council and individual directorates, the publication of six public consultations that would support IASC achieve a balanced budget, but that the proposals were flexible, subject to public consultation and no decisions had been made at this point.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken and any other relevant factors, and:

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to

 

(i) note that a Special Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee has been arranged on the 27 July to ensure Member Scrutiny and input into the process, as requested by the Motion, the outcome of which will inform the Special Cabinet meeting on 23 August, where three of the consultation outcomes are due for consideration;

 

(ii) note, that in relation to day care and respite services, no decisions have been made and both matters will come to a future Cabinet meeting later in the financial year; and

 

(iii) ensure that the Governance review incorporates a review of consultation processes as a separate workstream.

 

(e) Devon 20’s Plenty - Councillor Hodgson

 

(Councillor Hodgson attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and spoke to this item).

 

The Notice of Motion text is detailed below.

 

In light of the support for the ‘Devon 20’s Plenty’ campaign, this Council will support the implementation of 20 mph zones where the local Parish Council has passed the 20’s Plenty motion.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (LDS/23/7) which referred to the aim of the campaign group 20’s Plenty and that the Council understood that appropriate speed limits were important to communities. The first tranche of 20mph schemes had recently been agreed to be progressed and an additional £150,000 had been secured for a further tranche in the current financial year.  A number of communities had approached the Authority with regards funding their own 20mph limits and officers were working with them to deliver these projects.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken, and:

 

RESOLVED that the Council will work with communities that wish to see a new 20mph speed limit introduced, where it will be beneficial to road safety and sustainable travel, either via the “expressions of interest” process or where communities wish to self-fund their own speed limit.