Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Bill Hartnett and Paul Swansborough.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

Please note that under Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, any Councillor who is 2 or more months in arrears with their Council Tax payments cannot participate in any item at the Council meeting concerning the budget.  This statutory provision overrides any dispensation granted.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 26^th January 2015.

(minutes attached)

RESOLVED that

The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 26^th January 2015 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To consider any exceptional announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

a)         Mayor’s Announcements

b)         Leader’s Announcements

c)         Chief Executive’s Announcements.

(Oral report)

The Mayor informed Members that as this was not an ordinary meeting and an urgent notice of motion had been received (Members were referred to additional papers 1) it had been agreed that this would be dealt with under Item 8 Urgent Business.

Mayor’s Announcements

I)        Civic Dinner – the Mayor encouraged Members to attend this event.

II)        Jazz Night – on 6^th March being held in support of the food bank and organised by St Stephens Church.

III)        Fly the Flag – this event was being held at 10 am on 9^th March and the Mayor invited all Members to attend.  The ceremony this year would commemorate the centenary of the WW1 using light as the symbol of hope.

IV)        The Mayor asked all Councillors, who had not yet done so, to let Democratic Services know whether they would be attending the Member briefing by John Edwards from Worcestershire County Council being held on Friday 27^th February.  This was in respect of school changes and had been brought about following the Proposals for Change by Tudor Grange Academy Short Sharp Review. 

Leader’s Announcements

The Deputy Leader confirmed there were no announcements from the Leader.  However, the Leader was absent from the meeting to attend a meeting in London relating to the Alexandra Hospital and he hoped to be able to provide an update when the Notice of Motion was discussed.

To receive the minutes and consider the recommendations and/or referrals from the following meetings of the Executive Committee:

3^rd February 2015

·         Medium term financial plan 2015-16 – 2017-18.

23^rd February 2015

·         Medium Term Financial Plan 2015-16 – 2017-18.

Minutes, decisions and reports from the meeting held on 3^rd February are attached.  The report to the meeting on 23^rd February are included with the agenda papers for that meeting of the Committee.

Note that under the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the Council is required to take a named vote when a decision is made on the budget calculation or Council tax at a budget decision meeting of the Council.

Under Section 106 of the Local Government Act 1992, any Councillor who is 2 or more months in arrears with their Council tax payments cannot participate in any item at the Council meeting concerning the budget.  This statutory provision overrides any dispensation granted.

The Council considered the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 26^th January in conjunction with the recommendations as detailed and put forward, from the Executive Agenda for the meeting of 23^rd February 2015 in respect of the Medium Term Financial Plan and the Council Tax setting for 2015/16.

In proposing the recommendations, the Deputy Leader thanked all officers for the hard work which had ensured that the Council was able to achieve a balanced budget with a three year plan moving forward, without having an impact on frontline services.  It was highlighted that the Council would continue to provide free swimming for specific groups within the community together with concessionary travel before 9.30 am and continue to support the voluntary sector through the grants panel process.  A new scheme would also be created which would support new small businesses and Borough Council employees would be paid the living wage.

The discussion of a number of matters followed including:

·         Criticisms raised within the Auditors’ Report relating to unidentified savings which it was suggested left some services in a vulnerable position.

·         Support for the additional capital bids – the Essential Living Fund, Small Business Support and Energy Management.

·         The increase in Council Tax and the effect it would have on residents – it was anticipated that on average it meant an increase of 8p per week.

·         The benefits from increasing the Council Tax as opposed to the cumulative effect of not doing so.

·         The use of reserves and the sale of Council assets in order to present a balanced budget.

·         The reduction in government grant funding and the overall impact it  had on the budget.

·         Paying staff the living wage.

·         The availability of data to enable the Council to measure the benefits from providing free swimming and concessionary travel.

·         The increasing number of properties being built and the New Homes Bonus received as a consequence of this.

With reference to the inclusion of savings relating to a change in delivery arrangements for Leisure, a view was expressed that the level of risk in the proposal was too high for the decision on savings to be taken at his stage.  Councillors had not yet considered detailed information about the proposal.  It was accepted that money could be saved, but it was suggested that savings should be used to re-invest in the facilities and that achieving savings should not be the only driver for change.

The Deputy Leader responded by confirming that a number of options would be considered and that the report which would be considered by the Executive Committee would be compiled independently from the Council.  If the proposed savings were not likely to be achieved during the year than alternative options for achieving these would be considered. 

The recommendations on the Medium Term Financial Plan 2015/16 – 2017/18 were the subject of the following named votes in accordance with Council Procedure rule 17.5.  The Mayor agreed to take separate votes on resolutions 1, 2 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

There were no urgent decisions to report.

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in her by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

To consider an Urgent Notice of Motion in regard to recent events at Worcestershire Acute Trust Hospitals (WAHT).

The Mayor had agreed that the following motion could be considered as an urgent item at this meeting in view of the level of concern about the subject in the Borough and the need to respond quickly to recent developments.

The following notice of motion had been proposed by Councillor Greg Chance in respect of concerns at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. The motion was seconded by Councillor Juliet Brunner.

“The Council is becoming increasingly concerned at recent events at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust (WAHT) including:

·         the mass resignation of all the consultants in the A and E department at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch

·         the Trust declaring ‘a level four’ – one down from a major incident,

·         an expected £28 million deficit in January; and

·         reports of bullying

Council endorses the action taken by the Leader of the Council in writing to the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) in requesting they carry out an independent investigation into these recent developments as described above at the Alex.

In view of the importance of the Alexandra Hospital to the communities represented by Redditch Borough Council and surrounding areas also given the above concerns it is agreed that an urgent meeting is held with the Secretary of State for Health to discuss the following two requests:

1.    The option for University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust or other Trust being allowed to collaborate to deliver services from the Alex be investigated.

2.    The alleged problems with staff at the Alex and Worcester Royal Hospitals be independently investigated. ”

The Deputy Leader drew Members attention to a copy of a letter from Penny Venables, the Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT), which had unfortunately not addressed all of the concerns raised.  It was explained that the Leader was currently in London attending a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health, community leaders, Council Leaders from Bromsgrove and Stratford Upon Avon, the 3 local MPs and a representative from the Trust Development Authority (TDA).  In respect of point 1 of the motion it was understood that no action would be taken until the publication of the Clinical Senate Report on Friday (27^th February).  There would be an independent investigation into the bullying, however this would be carried out by David Flory of the TDA.  Whilst this was considered to show progress, the Deputy Leader reiterated that there was some way to go before a satisfactory resolution was achieved.

In seconding the notice of motion Councillor Brunner provided an update from the MP for Redditch, Karen Lumley, who had helped to set up the meeting with the Secretary of State for Health.  She suggested that the independent investigation into the bullying allegations was a step forward and it was understood that the talks that had been held were positive, with an acknowledgement that action needed to be taken.

In debating the notice of motion Members discussed the following areas:

·         The delays which had occurred in completing the Acute Hospitals Service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.