Agenda and minutes

The Mayor was pleased to present the following awards:-

·                APSE - Service Award 2013 recognising excellence in local government frontline services, which saw Rotherham win the national award for Best Service Team – Highways, Winter Maintenance and Street Lighting.

·                “Improving the Business Mix” for the Retail Investment Team from the Association of Town Centre Management.

Congratulations were offered to all those involved in gaining these awards.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 24^th July, 2013, be approved for signature by the Mayor.

Mover:  Councillor Stone                            Seconder:-  Councillor Smith

(1)  The Chief Executive submitted the following petitions which had been referred to the appropriate Directorate for consideration:-

·                Containing 406 signatures from local people requesting that consideration be given to Rotherham By The Sea being returned to a two week long event rather than one week.

·                Containing 945 signatures and 70 emails from local people highlighting the value of the Ministry of Food which has remained closed.

·                Containing 112 signatures from residents against the opposition to the cutting of the No. 4 bus service.

·                Containing a substantial number of signatures from local people requesting an independent enquiry into the past case of child sexual exploitation.

(2)  The Chief Executive submitted apologies for absence from Councillors Akhtar, Falvey, Goulty, Hoddinott, Johnston, Lelliott, Mannion, Sharman and Whelbourn.

The question from the member of the public was withdrawn.

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet (Section C) (pages 1C to 10C) be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Stone                          Seconder:-  Councillor Smith

Children, Young People and Families Services – Pages 1D to 15D (Section D)

Communities and Cohesion – Pages 1E to 4E (Section E)

Culture and Tourism – Pages 1F to 6F (Section F)

Regeneration and Development – Pages 1G to 7G (Section G)

Adult Social Care – Pages 1H to 7H (Section H)

Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods – Pages 1J to 6J (Section J)

Health and Wellbeing – Pages 1K to 4K (Section K)

Waste and Emergency Planning– Pages 1L to 8L (Section L)

Deputy Leader – Pages 1N to 5N (Section N)

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of Cabinet Members as listed below be adopted:-

·                Children, Young People and Families Services – Pages 1D to 15D (Section D)

·                Communities and Cohesion – Pages 1E to 4E (Section E)

·                Culture and Tourism – Pages 1F to 6F (Section F)

·                Regeneration and Development – Pages 1G to 7G (Section G)

·                Adult Social Care – Pages 1H to 7H (Section H)

·                Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods – Pages 1J to 6J (Section J)

·                Health and Wellbeing – Pages 1K to 4K (Section K)

·                Waste and Emergency Planning– Pages 1L to 8L (Section L)

·                Deputy Leader – Pages 1N to 5N (Section N)

Mover:- Councillor Stone                           Seconder:- Councillor Smith

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee (Section P) (pages 1P to 3P) be adopted.

Mover:  Councillor Sangster                      Seconder:  Councillor Kaye

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Board (Section Q) (Pages 1Q to 6Q) be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Wootton                      Seconder:-  Councillor Barron

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board (Section S) (pages 1S to 7S) be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Wyatt                           Seconder:-  Councillor Doyle

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Planning Board (Section T) (pages 1T to 16T) be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Pickering                    Seconder:-  Councillor Dodson

(1)           Councillor Vines asked why was Rotherham Council not using the secondary schools to hold parent/grandparent evenings to promote awareness training into identifying child grooming to enlighten parents what signs they needed to be looking for and a route to reporting there concerns.  Surly these were the ones that should be targeted.

Councillor Lakin confirmed that Rotherham Council was already carrying out considerable work through schools to support schools, children, young people and parents to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation and help identify and refer young people who might be at risk or experiencing child sexual exploitation.

Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police have been working with secondary schools across the borough to help staff and students understand what child sexual exploitation was, how to protect children and young people from it and how to report concerns. The Team Manager from the Child Sexual Exploitation Team had attended the Schools Forum to work with school representatives responsible for PHSE (Personal Social and Health Education) understand child sexual exploitation and provide support and guidance to parents, carers and pupils. Many schools have a CEOP (Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection) Co-ordinator who works with students and parents/carers.

Leaflets were available for young people and parents/carers about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham schools and they also have access to information through the LSCB (Local Safeguarding Children Board) website.

Feedback from young people, parents, schools, youth workers and other organisations working with them was that rather than just giving specific information about child sexual exploitation, it needed to be incorporated as part of the broader PHSE curriculum in a wider programme of education for young people, parents and carers about how to manage the potential risks in the community, including substance abuse, domestic abuse and sexual health matters. 

Over the last six months 126 staff from different organisations working with children have undertaken Local Safeguarding Board training on child sexual exploitation.  These include staff working in and with schools and also all Elected Members apart from three.  The training included awareness raising, recognising signs of child sexual exploitation and referring children and young people to Children’s Social Care where there were safeguarding concerns. The ‘Space Group’ had been run for parents and carers who have children who have been victims of child sexual exploitation. The largest proportion of referrals to children’s social care and the sexual exploitation team were from schools, which demonstrated their understanding of their role and what they were seeing.

It was now more evident that there was more opportunity to work with parents and carers, which was why there was wider commitment to prioritise and discuss child sexual exploitation within the Council and the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board Sub-Group.  This had also been placed as an agenda item at the next meeting of the Secondary Head Teachers.

(2)  Councillor Middleton asked what was the present cost of leasing/hiring the official foreign cars provided for the Mayor and the Leader and when was it intended to change them?

The Leader  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

There were none.