Agenda item

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

The Leader was invited to present his statement. He shared his concerns regarding the current situation at Liberty Steel. Liberty Steel had withdrawn their original restructuring plan which had been intended to maintain the viability of the speciality steel plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge. There was still a legal process to run over the coming weeks, but the Leader stated that the potential inability to reach agreement with creditors in court was a matter of grave concern. Over 1500 employees across Rotherham and Sheffield would be rightly concerned about their employment. Earlier in the year, the South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, the Leader of Sheffield City Council, Councillor Tom Hunt and the Leader had met with the Business Minister Sarah Jones MP to share concerns about the future of the business. The Leader explained to the Chamber that the situation remained fluid and unclear, but he would be making further representations to the Government to seek to ensure that everything possible was done to protect the future of steel making in the borough. The Leader stressed that in an uncertain world, domestic resilience and sustainable supply chains were as important as ever. The country could no longer rely on imports and exports in the way it had previously done. The future of the Rotherham and Sheffield plants was therefore a matter of national significance. It was vital that everyone did what they could to ensure it was considered as such.

The Leader announced that Councillor Allen and Councillor Taylor would be stepping down from Cabinet at the conclusion of the meeting. He thanked them both for their hard work, commitment and dedication. The Leader subsequently announced his new Cabinet and the portfolio’s they would be responsible for:

• Leader of the Council – Councillor Read
• Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Children and Young People – Councillor Cusworth
• Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health – Councillor Baker-Rogers
• Cabinet Member for Finance and Community Safety – Councillor Alam
• Cabinet Member for Housing – Councillor Beresford
• Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Green Spaces – Councillor Marshall
• Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy– Councillor Williams
  
  

The Leader highlighted significant activity from across the borough that had taken place since the last meeting:

·       The opening of Vetro Lounge and the imminent opening of Signature Dish at Forge Island.

·       A number of events had been held to celebrate the 80^th Anniversary of VE Day.

·       The first of the baby packs had been delivered.

·       The latest stage of the Rotherham Roads programme had been agreed.

·       Work on the markets was gathering pace.

·       The planning application for the new flood defences at Whiston had been submitted and would be considered in due course. 

The Leader of the Majority Opposition Group, Councillor Z Collingham, was invited to respond to the statement. He agreed with the comments made regarding Liberty Steel, stating that it was a massive employer and very important for domestic production. He also passed on his thanks to Councillor Allen and Councillor Taylor for their work on Cabinet.

Councillor Z Collingham paid tribute to the Times journalist, Andrew Norfolk who had sadly passed away. He had been a dogged journalist who asked difficult questions of the Council at a time when some people did not want to answer them. His refusal to give up was a big part of why, eventually, the truth behind and extent of Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham was revealed. The Government had declined in January to pursue a national inquiry, and at that time, Councillor Read had said that he was not convinced that it would have been effective or feasible. Since then Baroness Casey had been asked to conduct a rapid audit that was supposed to have concluded within three months, but this was still outstanding after five months. Provision had been made for five councils to conduct local inquiries but just last month, Oldham and others had asked for additional statutory powers that they felt they needed but this was being denied. Councillor Collingham asked the Leader if he felt that it was incumbent on authorities like Rotherham to contact the government and make strong representations that more be done and quicker, in order to support victims and survivors.

Councillor Collingham also referenced the apparent collapse of the Ultimate Battery Company Ltd which had been expected to bring around 500 jobs to the area. It had ceased trading and taken £5.2 million of SYMCA grants and loans with it which had now been written off. Councillor Collingham made a comparison to Vetro Lounge and Forge Island, stating that public money had been entrusted with a developer and private organisation.

Concerns were also raised that the South Yorkshire Mayor had appointed a Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner to carry out his responsibilities, despite Mayor Coppard taking a pay increase to reflect those extra responsibilities. So now there were two people on two separate salaries doing that role. Councillor Collingham asked what actions the Leader would take to make sure that there were governance arrangements in place for these sort of things and to save money where possible and ensure public money was protected.

Councillor Collingham referenced the recent local elections that had taken place in other parts of the country and more specifically, Doncaster. The replacement of both Labour and Conservative Councillors with Reform Councillors showed that there had been a change in public views. The public wanted more action on issues like CSE, on wasted public spending and on other things like blanket solar farms in the countryside. Councillor Collingham stated that those priorities had now been made clear to himself and the Leader. He stated that the Conservative group had been making those arguments in Rotherham for the past four years. He therefore asked if the Leader would change what he was doing in anyway? Councillor Collingham stated that this was not aping Reform but listening to residents.

The Leader was invited to respond to Councillor Z Collingham. He confirmed that Louise Casey had been to visit the Council as part of the CSE rapid audit a number of weeks ago. She had spent a full day meeting with the Leader, senior staff, the EVOLVE team, the police and others. The report would contain her findings and the Leader was confident that she was dealing with the pertinent issues with all the certainty that was to be expected. The Leader stated that Baroness Casey was pleased to be able to reflect on the progress that had been made in Rotherham over the last 10 years. The Council had made representations to the Home Secretary in relation to the activities that were taking place in Rotherham. It had been made clear in the letter that the Council were ready to assist the government with any further work and information that they required in relation to the progress made. The Leader did not feel it appropriate to judge the safety of child protection in other local authorities. He did however feel that it was part of Rotherham’s legacy that other local authorities, police forces, health authorities and other bodies approach to child protection had changed because of the horrors and lessons from Rotherham. 

In relation to the Ultimate Battery Company, the Leader stated that there was always a risk in any set of business support grants like the kind that went to the Ultimate Battery Company. They were commercial enterprises, and the State would not always back winners. There was a careful selection process behind the decisions to make sure that those choices were informed. This was a different process to the Forge Island funding. Vetro Lounge had been provided with capital funding, but the Council would continue to own the assets, including tables and chairs. In relation to business support grants, there were a team of people at the Combined Authority who assessed the risks and the right way to spend the money. There record was remarkably good in terms of allocating that funding.

The Leader then addressed the comments made about Reform UK. He acknowledged that Labour and the Conservatives had performed poorly in the local elections across the country. Elected Members that had lost their seats in Doncaster were well known to Rotherham Elected Members and they had been dedicated and effective public servants who were caught up in a wave of public opinion that was not created by them. The Leader had smiled at the suggestion that the only people across the country who had got the agenda ahead of the public was the Conservative Group on Rotherham Council. Plenty of other people felt that they were dedicated to delivering services for their residents. The Leader stated that it was right to hear people’s upset and anguish – they had been crying out for change for some time and this could be seen in the Brexit vote and the numerous government changes. The Leader stated that his and the Labour group’s approach was to be straight with the people of Rotherham. They had been straight at the election about what they wanted to do, and they had set out a very clear plan on how that would be achieved in the four years that they had been elected for. Whilst the Leader agreed that concerns should be listened to, he disagreed that Reform policies were the way forward. He would not talk more about immigration or fly fewer flags or cut Council staff and services like the Reform Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire had proposed. The Leader did not think those policies would improve the lives of Rotherham residents and to say they would would be a lie. Rotherham residents deserved better than that.

Questions on the Leader’s statement were invited from all other Members. Councillor Currie placed on record his thanks to the outgoing Cabinet Members and his support for the incoming Cabinet Members.

Councillor Reynolds thanked the outgoing Cabinet Members for their work. In relation to CSE, Councillor Reynolds stated that he had watched a Channel 4 documentary that had mentioned three reports, the Jay Report, the Casey Report and another that had been commissioned by the Home Office. The Home Office report had been supressed and Councillor Reynolds wanted to know if it was deliberately supressed by a former Leader of the Council because of the conclusions it had drawn and asked whether he could have a copy. The Leader stated that subsequent reports referenced that report and further reports resulted from the Home Office report. All of the subsequent reports were still published on the Council’s website. Additional information on the website would provide Councillor Reynolds with clarity around timings and what information was known when. The Leader confirmed that he did not have a copy of the documentation from the Home Officer and as such, could not provide it.

Councillor Steele asked if the Leader could contact the Secretary of State for Defence and local MP, John Healey, about keeping the much needed local jobs at Liberty Steele. The Leader confirmed he would work with whoever he needed to in order to secure the jobs.