Agenda and minutes

To consider any announcements by the Mayor in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 3(2)(ii).

The Mayor was pleased to present his activity since the last Council meeting which was attached for information to the Mayor’s letter.  In doing so he wished to draw particular attention to the forthcoming Rotherham Show on the 8th and 9^th September, 2018.

The Mayor invited Members, officers and the public to join in him a minute’s silence following the recent deaths of Barry Elliott and former Mayor and Councillor, Peter Wootton.

To receive the apologies of any Member who is unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Andrews, Beck, Carter, Clark, B. Cutts, Hague, Khan, Jones, Price and Vjestica.

Any communication received by the Mayor or Chief Executive which relates to a recommendation of the Cabinet or a committee which was received after the relevant meeting.

There were no communications received.

To receive the record of proceedings of the ordinary meeting of the Council held on 25th July, 2018 and to approve the accuracy thereof.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 25^th July, 2018, be approved for signature by the Mayor.

Mover:-  Councillor Read                       Seconder:-  Councillor Watson

To report on any petitions received by the Council received by the Council and receive statements in support of petitions in accordance with Petitions Scheme and Council Procedure Rule 13.

The Mayor reported receipt of four petitions, three of which had not met the threshold for consideration by Council, and would be referred to the relevant directorate for a response to be prepared.  The petition calling for CCTV in the memorial garden in Clifton Park which would be referred for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board:-

·                From the Stand Up for Rotherham Group calling on the Chief Executive of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) to write a letter of apology to every individual who did not have an annual assessment completed, as best practice required, under the Care Act 2014 between 1st August, 2017 and 31st July, 2018 and to state publicly how many individuals this affects.

Mr. L. Harron addressed the Council as part of the presentation of the petition seeking a letter of apology for every individual from the Chief Executive who had not had an annual assessment.

·                Containing 1,921 signatures calling for CCTV in the memorial garden in Clifton Park. 

Councillor Cooksey addressed the Council on behalf of the Spafford Family who were seeking CCTV to prevent further vandalism and make safe the quiet area of the memorial garden.

·                Containing 300 signatures calling on the Council to provide for a Barber’s Avenue Community Park.

·                Containing 61 signatures opposing the proposed demolition of the former Kimberworth Infants School.

Mr. R. Wainwright addressed the Council requesting reconsideration of the demolition of the former Kimberworth Infants School and for this building to become a self-financing community hub.

To invite Councillors to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests or personal interests they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting, to confirm the nature of those interests and whether they intend to leave the meeting for the consideration of the item.

There were no Declarations of Interest to report.

To receive questions from members of the public who may wish to ask a general question of the Mayor, Cabinet Member or the Chairman of a Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.

(1)  Mr. L. Harron asked following his question at the last Council meeting and the Leader’s response, what action was taken after a Legal Officer referred his concerns on 12th January, 2016 to the Interim Director of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer and the Deputy Monitoring Officer.  Further details on this matter had been provided by email on 25th July, 2018.

The Leader confirmed the Interim Director of Legal Services left the authority in March, 2016, and it was not possible to say what action was taken in response to the email.

When the Chief Executive met Mr. Harron in July, 2017 she confirmed that an independent review of his concerns would be welcome, but that it needed to be dealt with by the Information Commissioner and that the Council would take action based on the outcome of that review. 

Mr. Harron raised his concerns with the Information Commissioner, who published their decision notice on 7th December, 2017.  The Commissioner’s decision was that the Council did not hold the requested information and had, therefore, complied with Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act, but had failed to respond to the request within the twenty working day time limit.

The Leader believed Mr. Harron then raised the same concerns when he appealed to the First Tier Tribunal and that his appeal was heard last week and the Council was waiting for the outcome. 

The Council’s position remained that it would consider the outcome of the appeal and take any appropriate action. 

In a supplementary question Mr. Harron indicated the information given by the Leader was false and he would evidence this.  He did refer his concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office when he received some emails that he requested that took seven months to be provided.  However, the Information Commissioner said he was out of time on that particular issue and have not, in fact, looked at this issue at all.

Mr. Harron, therefore, asked if he sent the Leader the information would he look into the matter again.

The Leader confirmed he would be more than happy to look into this.

(2)  Mr. M. Sylvester asked could the Cabinet Member please confirm that an approach had been made by the Nexus Academy Trust to take over the running of the Addison Day Centre and if so what was the nature of services they proposed to offer if successful in taking over its management?

Councillor Roche confirmed there was an initial meeting over two years ago with Nexus which did not come to any specific conclusion.  An options paper was also received in June, 2017. The options paper was not progressed at that time as it was unclear what the benefits would be. 

However, a recent approach to the Council had been made by Nexus and a meeting had been arranged with the Assistant Director and the Learning Disability Transformation Team to discuss the use of the building.  At this stage it was unclear what their proposal was. 

It would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Should it be necessary, in the opinion of the Mayor, to consider excluding the press and public from the meeting in relation to any items of urgent business on the grounds that private information is likely to be divulged.

There are no such items at the time of preparing this agenda.

Resolved:-  That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, that should the Mayor deem if necessary the public be excluded from the meeting on the grounds that any items involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs of Part 1 of schedule 12(A) of such Act indicated, as now amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

To receive a statement from the Leader of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.

The Leader of the Council was pleased to offer his congratulations to the young people of Rotherham who achieved amazing exam results with a 99.1% pass rate at “A” Level which was an increase on last year with further progress on GCSE results.  The provisional GCSE results for students was 60.6% with four or more subjects, including English and Maths and 38% of students with five or more subjects, including English and Maths.  He thanked everyone involved including parents and the schools for their contributions.

Attention was also drawn to the forthcoming Rotherham Show, which was the biggest open access outside event in the north of England this weekend - 8^th and 9^th September, 2018.

To note the minutes of the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting held on 6 August 2018.

Resolved:-  That the reports, recommendations and minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet/Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting held on 6^th August, 2018, be received.

Mover:-  Councillor Read                       Seconder:-  Councillor Watson

To receive, for information, the Cabinet response to recommendations in respect of the Health Select Commission’s review of Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services.

Further to Minute No. 25 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 6^th August, 2018, consideration was given to the report which detailed the outcome of the spotlight review that aimed to ensure the Drug and Alcohol Service, operating within a reduced budget, would provide a quality, safe service under the new contract.

The Cabinet considered and agreed the response enclosed to ensure that all Members were aware of the implementation of recommendations from the review.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the response to the scrutiny review of Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services set out at Appendix A to this report be noted.

(2)  That the response be referred to the next meeting of the Health Select Commission on 6^th September, 2018.

Mover:-  Councillor Roche                         Seconder:-  Councillor Read

To receive and note the contents of the Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18.

Further to Minute No. 20 of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 30^th July, 2018, consideration was given the submitted Annual Report 2017/18 which brought together in one document a summary of the work undertaken by the Audit Committee.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) had issued guidance to local authorities to help ensure that Audit Committees operated effectively and recommended that they should report annually on how they have discharged their responsibilities.

Resolved:- That the contents of the Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18 be noted.

Mover:-  Councillor Wyatt                      Seconder:-  Councillor Walsh

To receive an update on the activities of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny bodies in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14.

Councillor Steele, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, provided an update on the latest work carried out by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and the Select Commissions - Health, Improving Lives and Improving Places over the last few months.

The majority of the work included that of pre-scrutiny and he reported the Cabinet had accepted nearly all the recommendations put forward.  His thanks were offered to all scrutiny colleagues.

Further information was also provided on the work undertaken by the other Select Commissions carried out on behalf of the Council, which included:-

Health – evaluation of outside organisations and their procedures to ensure people’s health was fit for purpose.

Improving Lives – ongoing updates on child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse and challenge to officers.

Improving Places – consideration of modular housing involving visits to other areas as well as continued scrutiny of the contract with Dignity.

The work taking place demonstrated the value of scrutiny and plans were in place to work with Voluntary Action Rotherham in the next few months to explore collaborative working and further scrutiny.

In seconding the report Councillor Cowles, Vice-Chair, confirmed three visits had been made to areas with modular housing as part of the scrutiny review and the review group were now at the stage of preparing a report which he hoped members would find interesting. 

Councillor Cowles did express some concern about some of the issues presented to scrutiny recently and had questioned these appropriately.

Resolved:-  That the report be received and the contents noted.

Mover:-  Councillor Steele                          Seconder:-  Councillor Cowles

To approve the following changes to the membership of committees, boards and panels:-

Further to Minute No. 190 of the meeting of Council held on 23^rd May, 2018, consideration was given to the following proposed changes to the membership of committees, boards and panels:-

Resolved:-  That the appointments be approved.

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Audit Committee.

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Resolved:-  That the reports, recommendation and minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Wyatt            Seconder:-  Councillor Walsh

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Resolved:-  That the reports, recommendation and minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Roche                      Seconder:-  Councillor Mallinder

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Planning Board.

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Resolved:-  That the reports, recommendation and minutes of the meetings of the Planning Board be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Sheppard                 Seconder:-  Councillor Williams

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Licensing Board Sub-Committees.

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Resolved:-  That the reports, recommendation and minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Board Sub-Committee be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Ellis                         Seconder:-  Councillor Beaumont

To put questions, if any, to the designated Members on the discharge of functions of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11(5).

(1)  Councillor Carter was unable to attend today’s meeting so his question would be responded to in writing by the Designated Spokesperson for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

(2)  Councillor R. Elliott referred earlier this year to Labour amending the UKIP motion – Reinstate the second appliance in Rotherham adding “when finances become available“.

Recent published accounts showed a further £2.1m would be made available to the general fund and Councillor Elliott asked when would the second appliance be reinstated ensuring the ongoing safety of residents throughout the night?

Councillor Atkin explained South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue recognised that a responsible and transparent course of action must be adopted in order to generate the £1.4m savings per annum that the use of CPC had delivered; this must also be in the context of providing the best possible service to the people of South Yorkshire within the budget that was available.  

The Chief Fire Officer and his senior leadership team had therefore recommended a number of options for the South Yorkshire Fire Authority to consider as a response to the recent legal judgement. 

After consideration, the Fire Authority duly directed the Chief Fire Officer to prepare a revised Integrated Management Plan.  The planning process requires that a service periodically reviews resource disposition in light of the changing environment in which it functioned, and the production of an IRMP was regulated via the Home Office Fire and Rescue National Framework 2018.  Once the Fire Authority had approved the new draft IRMP, the Service would engage in wide ranging public consultation, including with the local Authorities, on the proposals and the impact that they were likely to have across the whole of South Yorkshire, no other guarantee could be provided at this time.

In a supplementary question Councillor Elliott made reference to the fire brigade being recently required to support the Police during the night in a search and rescue operation due to reduced manpower leaving no fire coverage whatsoever.  The fire appliance was moved from Dearne to Rotherham leaving no cover and he questioned was it going to take a major incident like Grenfell and urged for the second appliance to be reinstated immediately.

Councillor Elliott heard the argument that an additional £1.4 million was needed to cover the removal of CPC but this was deemed illegal.  This left £750,000 which would more than cover the second appliance.  This was on top of the additional £20 million which was ear marked for capital projects,  He, therefore, asked would Councillor Atkin please make ensure current fire authority accounts were made publically available and subject to a full scrutiny review showing that there was sufficient funds available to support the funding of the second appliance and that Labour honoured their commitment to do so.

Councillor Atkin explained the accounts of the Fire Authority were publically available, open to scrutiny and were externally audited. 

In terms of CPC the Fire Authority had been told it was illegal so this could not be done.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

To put questions, if any, to Cabinet Members and Chairmen (or their representatives) under Council Procedure Rules 11(1) and 11(3).

(1)  Councillor Jepson asked why the Rotherham Bus Partnership advertised on national television, why was this considered necessary for a local service and what was the cost to the Council as a member of this organisation.  

The Leader confirmed the advertising element of the Rotherham Bus Partnership (RBP) was funded through its own Marketing and Promotions budget, to which the Council did not financially contribute.  This budget was supported solely by the Bus Operators.

In relation to the Rotherham Bus Partnership paying for national advertising, this did not happen.  Owners of digital smart televisions received bespoke advertisements during ‘ad breaks’ on national TV stations based on their demographic and geographic location. For example Members may have seen an advert on a national TV channel for local buses, this would not have been a National Advert where people in other parts of the country would have received it.

(2)  Councillor Napperasked would R.M.B.C. promote the teaching of ancient history in our schools?

Councillor Watson confirmed Local Authority maintained schools were required to follow the National Curriculum. The teaching of history in the UK and the ancient world was included in the History Curriculum for KS1 pupils (5-7 year olds), KS2 pupils (7-11 year olds) and KS3 pupils (11-14 year olds).

Academies did not have to follow the National Curriculum, but the vast majority of them did as national tests and examinations were based on their content.

Therefore, the response to the question was ‘Yes,’ RMBC did promote the teaching of ancient history in its schools as it was a key element of the History National Curriculum.

In a supplementary question Councillor Napper referred to the young people of today who had the misconception that the Jews of Israel had pinched Jerusalem, which was not accurate so if schools taught history correct they may get rid of some of the conflict that had arisen.

Councillor Watson confirmed that all young people should be educated about the world, but the difficulty in schools was that examples in the national curriculum were non-statutory and schools could choose which bits of ancient history were actually taught.

(3)  Councillor Jepson asked how many households have signed up to the new green waste collection service that was due to start in October?

Councillor Hoddinott confirmed that as of this morning 2,530 households had signed up to the green waste collection.

In a supplementary question Councillor Jepson asked what percentage this was out of the total households in Rotherham.

Councilor Hoddinott confirmed that it was approximately 2% of the total households.

(4)  Councillor M. Elliott referred to Ulley Country Park recently having signage erected indicating the only means of payment was by mobile phone, using either a Debit or Credit Card and asked would the Cabinet Member for Green Spaces consider re-installing the coin operated ticket machine to operate alongside the RINGO SYSTEM of payment?

Councillor Allen had spoken to Councillor Elliott on this already so was aware of the changes that had been implemented.  The reason  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

Any other public items which the Mayor determines are urgent.

There were none.