Minutes:
1. It was moved by County Councillor Gibson and seconded by County Councillor Dowding that:
Lancashire County Council condemns racism, xenophobia and hate crimes unequivocally. Racism, xenophobia and hate crimes of any description have no place in our country or our county.
We are proud to live in a diverse and tolerant society and note that a lot of good work is taking place across Lancashire:
· The Lancashire Strategic Hate Crime Group is devising the hate crime strategy and there is a dedicated hate crime unit within Lancashire Constabulary.
· There are excellent examples of partnership working to tackle racism, xenophobia and hate crime between the County Council, Borough and District Councils, Lancashire Constabulary, the Office of the PCC and the voluntary, community and faith sectors across the County.
This Council wants to assure all of the County's residents and visitors that they are valued members of our society and as elected representatives of the diverse communities across Lancashire, Full Council is asked to place on record that the County Council will not tolerate hate crime, racism or xenophobia in its communities.
This Council resolves to:
· Display the opening paragraph in this motion prominently on the county council website and that a press release is issued to publicise the motion.
· Ask the scrutiny committee to review the current measures taken to counter racism, xenophobia, and hate crime and report back to Full Council.
· Support and work with people who are victims of hate crime, racism or xenophobia to feel confident in coming forward and reporting it.
On being put to the vote the motion was CARRIED and it was:
Resolved: That,
Lancashire County Council condemns racism, xenophobia and hate crimes unequivocally. Racism, xenophobia and hate crimes of any description have no place in our country or our county.
We are proud to live in a diverse and tolerant society and note that a lot of good work is taking place across Lancashire:
· The Lancashire Strategic Hate Crime Group is devising the hate crime strategy and there is a dedicated hate crime unit within Lancashire Constabulary.
· There are excellent examples of partnership working to tackle racism, xenophobia and hate crime between the County Council, Borough and District Councils, Lancashire Constabulary, the Office of the PCC and the voluntary, community and faith sectors across the County.
This Council wants to assure all of the County's residents and visitors that they are valued members of our society and as elected representatives of the diverse communities across Lancashire, Full Council is asked to place on record that the County Council will not tolerate hate crime, racism or xenophobia in its communities.
This Council resolves to:
· Display the opening paragraph in this motion prominently on the county council website and that a press release is issued to publicise the motion.
· Ask the scrutiny committee to review the current measures taken to counter racism, xenophobia, and hate crime and report back to Full Council.
· Support and work with people who are victims of hate crime, racism or xenophobia to feel confident in coming forward and reporting it.
2. It was moved by County Councillor Prynn and seconded by County Councillor Beavers that:
This Council notes that:
1. Last year many young people (aged 16 or over) left the care of Lancashire County Council and began the difficult transition out of care and into adulthood.
2. A 2016 report by The Children’s Society found that when care leavers move into independent accommodation they begin to manage their own budget fully for the first time. The report showed that care leavers can find this extremely challenging and with no family to support them, are falling into debt and financial difficulty.
3. Research from The Centre for Social Justice found that over half (57%) of young people leaving care have difficulty managing their money and end up in debt when leaving care.
4. In ‘Keep on Caring: Supporting Young People from Care to Independence’, July 2016, HM Government highlighted how local authorities can also support care leavers financially in lots of different ways, including introducing exemptions from council tax.
5. The Children and Social Work Bill, currently progressing through parliament, introducing a new ‘Care Leavers Covenant’ underpinned by statutory duties to make sure local authorities set out clearly the entitlements for care leavers including housing, jobs and healthcare.
6. The local authority has a duty of care to care leavers.
This council believes that:
1. To ensure that the transition from care to adult life is as smooth as possible, and to mitigate the chances of care leavers falling into debt as they begin to manage their own finances, they should be exempt from paying council tax until they are 25.
2. Care leavers are a particularly vulnerable group for council tax debt.
This council, therefore resolves:
1. To write to the Minister of State for Children and Families, urging him to introduce legislation for a national exemption for care leavers from council tax up to the age of 25; specifically to introduce the following amendment to the Local Government Finance Act;
(1) In section 6, paragraph 4, after “or 4 (students etc.)” insert “or 11 (Care Leavers),”
- In schedule 1, following Paragraph 10 insert new paragraph 11:
Care Leavers
11.
(1) A person shall be disregarded for the purposes of discount on a particular day if—
(a) on the day he is a former relevant child within the meaning given by section 23C(1) of the Children Act 1989, and
(b) They are under the age of 25.
And also, in view of this, to amend the appropriate sections of the Children and Social Bill currently passing through Parliament, particularly looking at Chapter 2 Other Provision Relating to Children In England, Combined Authority Functions Relating to Children.
2. To write to all leaders of District councils across Lancashire County to make them aware of this issue and the opportunities to lobby central government as the above legislation is introduced. Future discussions could look at the opportunity through the use of partnership working and existing powers for further support to care leavers up to the age of 25.
County Councillor Charles moved an amendment to resolution 2) the effect of which would be "To write to all leaders of District Councils across Lancashire County Council and to all Members of Parliament covering the Lancashire County Council area….."
This amendment was accepted and on being put to the vote the motion was CARRIED and it was:
Resolved: That,
This council notes that:
1. Last year many young people (aged 16 or over) left the care of Lancashire County Council and began the difficult transition out of care and into adulthood.
2. A 2016 report by The Children’s Society found that when care leavers move into independent accommodation they begin to manage their own budget fully for the first time. The report showed that care leavers can find this extremely challenging and with no family to support them, are falling into debt and financial difficulty.
3. Research from The Centre for Social Justice found that over half (57%) of young people leaving care have difficulty managing their money and end up in debt when leaving care.
4. In ‘Keep on Caring: Supporting Young People from Care to Independence’, July 2016, HM Government highlighted how local authorities can also support care leavers financially in lots of different ways, including introducing exemptions from council tax.
5. The Children and Social Work Bill, currently progressing through parliament, introducing a new ‘Care Leavers Covenant’ underpinned by statutory duties to make sure local authorities set out clearly the entitlements for care leavers including housing, jobs and healthcare.
6. The local authority has a duty of care to care leavers.
This council believes that:
1. To ensure that the transition from care to adult life is as smooth as possible, and to mitigate the chances of care leavers falling into debt as they begin to manage their own finances, they should be exempt from paying council tax until they are 25.
2. Care leavers are a particularly vulnerable group for council tax debt.
This council, therefore resolves:
1. To write to the Minister of State for Children and Families, urging him to introduce legislation for a national exemption for care leavers from council tax up to the age of 25; specifically to introduce the following amendment to the Local Government Finance Act;
(1) In section 6, paragraph 4, after “or 4 (students etc.)” insert “or 11 (Care Leavers),”
- In schedule 1, following Paragraph 10 insert new paragraph 11:
Care Leavers
11.
(1) A person shall be disregarded for the purposes of discount on a particular day if—
(a) on the day he is a former relevant child within the meaning given by section 23C(1) of the Children Act 1989, and
(b) They are under the age of 25.
And also, in view of this, to amend the appropriate sections of the Children and Social Bill currently passing through Parliament, particularly looking at Chapter 2 Other Provision Relating to Children In England, Combined Authority Functions Relating to Children.
2. To write to all leaders of District councils across Lancashire County and to all Members of Parliament covering the Lancashire area to make them aware of this issue and the opportunities to lobby central government as the above legislation is introduced. Future discussions could look at the opportunity through the use of partnership working and existing powers for further support to care leavers up to the age of 25.