Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Preston

Contact: Dave Gorman  Tel: (01772) 534261, Email:  dave.gorman@lancashire.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies and Announcements

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were presented on behalf of County Councillors Albert Atkinson; Malcolm Barron; Julia Berry; Joe Cooney and David Stansfield.

 

Announcements

 

EDUcatering Excellence Awards

 

2019 saw Lancashire County Council Schools and Residential Care Catering win the coveted Local Authority Caterer of the Year Award. The award, which this year celebrated its 10th anniversary, recognised the outstanding individual and team who excelled within the school meals sector, making a true difference to school meals and the health and happiness of children in the UK.

 

Nigel Craine, Head of Schools and Residential Care Catering; Hayley Stafford, Business Growth and Development Manager; Diane Hunt, Contracts Manager (East); and Lucinda Ruddy, Contracts Manager (West) were present at Full Council and were congratulated on this achievement.

 

International Women's Day

 

The Chairman reported that International Women's Day for 2020 would be taking place on 8 March. Female county councillors were invited to remain in the Chamber at the end of the meeting for a group photograph to mark the occasion.

 

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Minutes:

Name of Councillor

Agenda Item Number

Nature of Interest (non-pecuniary unless stated)

Alan Schofield

15

Director of LPP Ltd

Andrew Snowden

15

Pension Fund Committee

Aidy Riggott

15

Pension Fund Committee

Stephen Clarke

15

Pension Fund Committee

Peter Steen

15

Pension Fund Committee

 

3.

Question Time pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Questions submitted under Standing Order B28.

Minutes:

County Councillors Anne Cheetham; Ian Brown; Jayne Rear and Lizzi Collinge asked their respective Questions as follows:

 

No.

Question From

Subject

For Answer By

1.

County Councillor Anne Cheetham

 

Suicide rates

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

2.

County Councillor Ian Brown

Care leavers

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools

3.

County Councillor Jayne Rear

New model of working with children, young people and families

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools

4.

County Councillor Lizzi Collinge

Appletree Maintained Nursery

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools

 

County Councillor Shaun Turner, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, and County Councillor Phillippa Williamson, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools, replied respectively.

 

Question 5 (from County Councillor David Howarth) on the Broad Oak Roundabout, Penwortham, could not be asked due to time constraints. In accordance with Standing Order B28(13), a written reply would be provided to County Councillor Howarth and copied to all Members.

4.

Confirmation of the Minutes from the Meeting held on 17 October 2019, the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 13 February 2020 and the Meeting held on 13 February 2020 pdf icon PDF 281 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved: - That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2019, the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 13 February 2020, and the meeting held on 13 February 2020, be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

 

5.

Members' Allowance Scheme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Keith Iddon moved a report setting out details of the proposed Members' Allowance Scheme for 2020/21.

 

The following amendment was proposed by County Councillor David Whipp, seconded by County Councillor David Howarth:

 

That the Special Responsibility Allowance for the Leader of the County Council be reduced by 10% and all other Special Responsibility Allowances be reduced pro-rata.

 

On being put to the vote, the amendment was LOST.

 

The substantive motion was then put to the vote and was CARRIED. It was therefore:

 

Resolved: - That the Members' Allowance Scheme for 2020/21, as set out in Appendix 'A' to the report, now presented, be approved.

 

 

 

 

6.

The Localism Act 2011 - Pay Policy Statement 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved a report setting out details of the 2020/21 Pay Policy Statement.

 

Resolved: - That the recommendations of the Employment Committee be noted and the Pay Policy Statement 2020/21, as set out at Appendix 'A' to the report, now presented, be approved.

 

 

 

 

 

7.

Financial Threshold for Key Decisions pdf icon PDF 122 KB

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved a report setting out a proposal to change the financial threshold above which decisions should be treated as Key Decisions as defined in Standing Order C19(1).

 

Resolved: - That the financial threshold for Key Decisions, for the purposes of Standing Order C19(1), be increased to £1.7m, for 2020/21 as set out in the report, now presented.

 

8.

Updates to the Constitution pdf icon PDF 44 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved a report setting out details of proposed updates to the county council's constitution.

 

The following amendment was proposed by County Councillor David Howarth, seconded by County Councillor David Whipp:

 

To amend Article 8 Citizens Rights, under point 5 after "find out what key decisions are to be decided and when by the Cabinet, Committees, Cabinet Members or officers", add the following:

 

"and the right to be represented by their local county councillor at any decision making meetings to speak on their behalf".

 

On being put to the vote the Amendment was LOST.

 

The substantive motion was then put to the vote and was CARRIED. It was therefore:

 

Resolved: - That:

 

(i)  The amendments to the constitution, as set out in the report, now presented, be approved.

(ii)  The Director of Corporate Services be authorised to approve consequential amendments to the constitution arising from these changes.

 

 

9.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There was no urgent business to be considered.

10.

Report of the Cabinet (Part B) pdf icon PDF 270 KB

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved the report of the Cabinet from its meetings on 7 November 2019, 5 December 2019, 16 January 2020 and 6 February 2020, together with details of an urgent Key Decision taken since the last meeting of Full Council.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Cabinet, now presented, be noted.

11a

The Urgency Committee pdf icon PDF 23 KB

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved the report of the Urgency Committee setting out details of decisions taken by the Monitoring Officer under the county council's urgent business procedure on behalf of the Urgency Committee.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Urgency Committee, now presented, be noted.

11b

The Audit, Risk and Governance Committee (Part B) pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Alan Schofield moved the report of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee from its meetings on 28 October 2019 and 27 January 2020.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee, now presented, be noted.

 

11c

The Employment Committee pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved the report of the Employment Committee from its meetings on 13 January 2020 and 10 February 2020.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Employment Committee, now presented, be noted.

 

11d

The Pension Fund Committee pdf icon PDF 20 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Eddie Pope moved the report of the Pension Fund Committee from its meeting on 7 February 2020.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Pension Fund Committee, now presented, be noted.

 

11e

The Overview and Scrutiny Committees pdf icon PDF 21 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor David O'Toole moved the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees from their meetings as follows:

 

Children's Services Scrutiny Committee - 9 October 2019 and 15 January 2020

Education Scrutiny Committee - 29 October 2019, 30 January 2020 and 5 February 2020

External Scrutiny Committee - 15 October 2019 and 21 January 2020

Health Scrutiny Committee - 5 November 2019 and 4 February 2020

Internal Scrutiny Committee - 17 January 2020

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees, now presented, be noted.

 

11f

The Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Shaun Turner moved the report of the Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board from its meetings on 19 November 2019 and 28 January 2020.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board, now presented, be noted.

 

12.

Report of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

County Councillor Frank De Molfetta moved the report of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority from its meeting on 16 December 2019.

 

Resolved: - That the report of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority, now presented, be noted.

 

13.

To consider Notices of Motion Submitted under Standing Order B36 pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Minutes:

1.  It was moved by County Councillor Andrea Kay and seconded by County Councillor David Foxcroft that:

 

Young people are facing varying challenges growing up in the UK in the 21st century. Social media, peer pressure and growing awareness of mental health challenges can cause many young people in our county additional stress and anxiety and it is not always clear to them which way to turn for help.

 

A recent initiative in the Wyre area enabled young people to access information about support networks and organisations in a way that was private and personal. Following the success of this initiative, Council requests the Executive Director of Education and Children's Services to work with secondary schools and further education colleges across the county to implement this scheme and support our young people to access the help they need, when they need it.

 

The following friendly amendment was proposed by County Councillor Sobia Malik in accordance with Standing Order B42:

 

Young people are facing varying challenges growing up in the UK in the 21st century. Social media, peer pressure and growing awareness of mental health challenges can cause many young people in our county additional stress and anxiety and it is not always clear to them which way to turn for help.

 

A recent initiative in the Wyre area enabled young people to access information about support networks and organisations in a way that was private and personal. Following the success of this initiative, Council requests the Executive Director of Education and Children's Services to work with secondary schools and further education colleges across the county to implement this scheme and support our young people. As an authority we recognise the excellent practice with safeguarding in schools and colleges.  Access to mental health services should be integral to their ongoing safeguarding strategy.

 

The friendly amendment was accepted by County Councillor Kay and became the substantive motion.

 

The substantive motion, as amended by County Councillor Malik's friendly amendment, was then put to the vote and was CARRIED. It was therefore:

 

Resolved: - That:

 

Young people are facing varying challenges growing up in the UK in the 21st century. Social media, peer pressure and growing awareness of mental health challenges can cause many young people in our county additional stress and anxiety and it is not always clear to them which way to turn for help.

 

A recent initiative in the Wyre area enabled young people to access information about support networks and organisations in a way that was private and personal. Following the success of this initiative, Council requests the Executive Director of Education and Children's Services to work with secondary schools and further education colleges across the county to implement this scheme and support our young people. As an authority we recognise the excellent practice with safeguarding in schools and colleges.  Access to mental health services should be integral to their ongoing safeguarding strategy.

 

 

14.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The Full Council is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading to the item.

 

Minutes:

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved a proposal to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the consideration of agenda item 15.

 

Resolved: - That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as indicated against the heading to the item.

15.

Local Pensions Partnership Proposed Capital Restructuring

Minutes:

Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The report contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

County Councillor Geoff Driver moved a report setting out proposals for the Local Pensions Partnership Capital Restructuring, subject to a correction in Appendix 'A' to the report to which Full Council's attention was drawn.

 

Resolved: - That, subject to the correction referred to above, the recommendations as set out in the report, now presented, be approved.