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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chambers - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Anne Jenkins  Governance Team Leader

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Preliminaries

      i.        To receive any apologies for absence.

     ii.        To receive any declarations of interest.

    iii.        To receive any announcements by the Mayor.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 i.       To receive any apologies for absence

The Monitoring Officer reported apologies for absence (noted above)

 

ii.       To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest at this stage.

 

iii.       To receive any announcements by the Mayor

The Mayor asked all members to join with him in observing a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for a former Mayor, Noel Trigg, and also former Caerleon Councillor Adam Cox both of whom had sadly passed away.

 

The Mayor congratulated Councillor Matthew Evans on the award of his MBE.

 

The Mayor also expressed his sincere thanks to all concerned for organising and participating in the Remembrance Day and Merchant Navy Day commemorations that he attended. Although it was not possible to have the usual parade and public services due to the Covid-restrictions and the need for social distancing, it was important that we still remembered and recognised the sacrifice made by so many people.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 136 KB

To confirm and sign the minutes of the last meeting: 29 September 2020

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Council meeting held on 29 September 2020.

 

Resolved:

That the Minutes of 29 September 2020 were a true record.

 

3.

Appointments pdf icon PDF 69 KB

To consider any proposed appointments.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

To consider the proposed appointments set out in the report

 

Councillor Harvey moved the appointments set out in the Report, as agreed by the Business managers, subject to the additional appointments set out below.

 

Resolved:

That the following appointments be agreed.

 

Internal Appointments

 

None.

 

Appointments to External Organisations

 

None.

 

Governing Body Appointments

 

Organisation

Nominations Received

Number of Vacancies/Replacements

Caerleon High  School

Brett Childs

LEA Governor

Llanmartin Primary School

Richard Dale

LEA Governor

Bassaleg High School

John Jones

LEA Governor

Pentrepoeth Primary School

John Jones

LEA Governor

Tredegar Park Primary School

Derek Ross

LEA Governor

Ringland Primary School

ShahinoorAlom

LEA Governor

Maesglas Primary School

Bev Perkins

LEA Governor

Caerleon Lodge Hill Primary School

Councillor Gail Giles

Caroline McLachlan

Paul Huntley

All re appointed

Tredegar Park Primary School

Miqdad Al-Nuaimi

LEA Governor

 

 

4.

Police Issues

30 minutes is allocated for questions to the Gwent Police representative.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Due to technical difficulties, Superintendent Mike Richards was not able to join the meeting to discuss Police Issues. The Mayor agreed that this item should be deferred until the next Council meeting.

 

5.

Notice of Motion: Reduce the Impact of Fireworks to Support RSPCA

To receive the following motion for which the necessary notice has been provided.

 

This Council Resolves:

 

To require all public firework displays within the local authority boundaries to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for the animals and vulnerable people.

 

To promote actively a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people - including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks.

 

To write to the Welsh Government urging them to utilise any levers at their disposal to mitigate any negative impacts on animals and vulnerable people of the hosting of firework displays.

 

To write to the UK Government urging them to introduce legislation to limit the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90dB for those sold to the public for private displays.

 

To encourage local supplies of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.

 

The motion is to be proposed by Councillor R Truman and seconded by Councillor D Harvey.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered the following motion, for which the necessary notice had been given.  The motion was moved by Councillor Truman and seconded by Councillor Harvey

 

That this Council Resolves:

 

To require all public firework displays within the local authority boundaries to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for the animals and vulnerable people.

 

To promote actively a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people - including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks.

 

To write to the Welsh Government urging them to utilise any levers at their disposal to mitigate any negative impacts on animals and vulnerable people of the hosting of firework displays.

 

To write to the UK Government urging them to introduce legislation to limit the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90dB for those sold to the public for private displays.

 

To encourage local supplies of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.

 

A number of members spoke in favour of the motion.

 

Resolved:

It was unanimously resolved to support the motion.

6.

Pay and Reward Policy 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader presented the above report to Council highlighting that the Pay and Reward Policy required adoption and publication by Council on an annual basis to meet the statutory requirements of the Localism Act 2011. The policy set out the internal mechanisms for remunerating Council officers and supporting employment data.

 

There were two changes to the proposed Pay and Reward Policy compared with the 19/20 policy. Firstly, the Policy proposed removal of the car-block allowance for Chief Officers, altering the way in which mileage expenses were incurred and bringing Chief Officers in line with the rest of the workforce who were required to claim for the journeys they made as opposed to receiving a fixed payment.

 

Secondly, restricting re-employment to those who took voluntary redundancy or settlement agreements which meant that public funding towards severance packages was applied appropriately and that due diligence on staffing structures was thoroughly applied before any decision to agree severance packages was taken.

 

In addition to these proposals, the policy reported the annual gender pay gap, which was also published on the Council’s website.  The mean gap had decreased to 3.6% from last year’s reported 4.8%.  The Leader was pleased to report that the median gap had now closed as the analysis of the data showed that the median point of hourly pay was the same for both men and women.  The Council’s gender pay gap compared favourably with other Councils across Wales and the UK average of 17%.

 

In conclusion, the Leader advised that the Council would continue to review and monitor the gender pay gap to find ways of closing the mean pay gap through the objectives published in the Council’s annual gender pay gap report and by undertaking a second equal pay audit in 2021 to identify any further areas for improvement.

 

Resolved:

That the Pay and Reward Policy 2020/21 be approved and adopted.

 

7.

Democratic Services Committee Annual Report 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 233 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Ferris presented the 2019/20 Democratic Services Committee Annual Report to Council.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 required the Committee to report annually to the Council on the work carried out in the past 12 months as well as its future work programme.

 

The report covered the period from November 2019 to November 2020, where Councillor Ferris resumed the role as the Chair of the Committee in July 2020.  The Committee was previously chaired by Councillor David Fouweather from May 2019 until July 2020 during the time that Councillor Ferris was serving as Deputy Mayor. The Committee was a politically balanced group, working together in a non-partisan to consider various aspects of the Constitution and other matters that impacted on the governance of the Council.  

 

The report highlighted the important work carried out by the Committee last year, despite the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 lock-down restrictions. The Committee considered options for the appointment of a Presiding Member/Chair of Council and recommended to Council that the current arrangements continue.  The Committee considered the IRP annual reports and agreed that a summary of the IRP supplementary report be circulated to all members for their information to publicise the availability of care allowances.  The Committee completed a review of the officer Scheme of delegation, to include new sustainable drainage powers, and we completed the review of support for members in their ward work, and recommended that the current arrangements for ward meetings should continue.

 

Finally, the Committee completed a significant piece of work in relation to the Boundary Commission Review, and it was gratifying to see that the Boundary Commissioners took on board the comments of the Committee when they published their final electoral proposals in August 2020 and agreed to retain 3 ward members in Bettws and Beechwood.

 

The Committee was satisfied that adequate resource continued to be made available to fulfil the roles and responsibilities under the Measure, although we stressed the importance of recruiting to the vacant Democratic Services Manager and Scrutiny Adviser posts as soon as possible.

 

Resolved:

That the Committee’s annual report be received in order to meet the requirements of the Local Government Measure.

 

That the content of the Head of Democratic Services Annual Report be noted, as supporting evidence that the Committee carried out its responsibility to review the adequacy of staff to support members

 

8.

Standards Committee Annual Report 2019/2020 pdf icon PDF 89 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Hourahine was happy to present the 2019/20 Standards Committee Annual Report to Council.

 

This was the seventh annual report covering the period from November 2019 to November 2020, and followed on from the last report presented to Council in November 2019. The Committee met on two occasions during the last twelve months.  Unfortunately, the scheduled meetings in April and July were cancelled because of the Coronavirus lock-down but our meetings had now resumed remotely.

 

This year had again seen no formal findings of misconduct in the past 12 months.  Five complaints were referred to the Ombudsman about City Councillors in 2019-20, but only one of them has been accepted for formal investigation.  One complaint was referred to the Ombudsman about a local community councillor in 19/20 but the Ombudsman did not consider that the failure to declare a personal interest was a sufficiently serious breach as to warrant formal investigation and sanction. 

 

One complaint was successfully resolved under the Local Resolution Protocol. This demonstrated that the Protocol was successful in dealing with these “low level” complaints locally, without the need for any referral to the Ombudsman or the Standards Committee. 

The Committee was grateful to the officers and members concerned for their co-operation in resolving these complaints amicably.

 

Finally, the Standards Committee carried out an ethical standards audit of members and senior officers and, although the number of responses was disappointing, the responses received were very encouraging in terms of the perception of ethical standards and behaviour within the Council.

 

Resolved:

That the Standards Committee Annual Report for 2019/20 be received and the forward work programme noted.

 

9.

Questions to the Leader of the Council

To provide an opportunity for Councillors to ask questions to the Leader of the Council in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders.

 

Process:

 

No more than 15 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to the Leader of the Council.

 

The question must be addressed through the Mayor or the person presiding at the meeting and not directly to the person being questioned.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader announced the following before proceeding with Questions.

 

§   Business grants

The Leader stressed that supporting businesses during these challenging times was a priority for the council and shared some of the latest figures with colleagues:

 

A number of grants were administered by the council through the Council’s Business Services, Rates and Childcare teams. Almost 4,000 grants were awarded, to a value of £34.5m.  In addition, financial support and information was provided to over 5,500 Newport businesses.

 

§   Christmas

The traditional Christmas lights switch on looked very different this year with an online event coordinated by Newport Now.  The Leader was very pleased, as part of that event, to announce free weekend parking in council car parks during December and January.

 

This would support local businesses during a key period and would be complemented by the Council and Newport Now’s campaigns encouraging people to shop locally.

 

§   Healthy Travel Charter

At the start of this month, the Council and 21 partners from across Gwent launched the Healthy Travel Charter.

 

Through 15 ambitious commitments, the charter promoted walking, cycling, agile working and the use of public transport and ultra-low emission vehicles, supporting and encouraging staff to travel in a sustainable way to and from work.

 

The Council was already making very positive advances in Newport with electric buses, more electric charging points, improvement in active travel routes, to name a few and this was another demonstration of our commitment to creating a healthier city.

 

§  White Ribbon Day

25 November was White Ribbon Day.  An annual event that marked the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

 

In 2018, 149 women were killed by men in the UK. More than half were killed by a former spouse or partner, and almost all of them were committed by a man known to the victim.

 

Normally there was a community walk of one mile in Gwent to mark White Ribbon Day; however, due to Covid-19, this will not be possible this year.  Instead, it was being replaced with the #149Challenge

 

The Leader urged members to get involved, by setting a personal challenge focusing on the number 149 and sharing achievements online.  This could be seconds, minutes or whatever you liked, such as baking 149 cakes, climbing 149 stairs or writing a 149-word poem. 

 

The important part was that this message was shared to support others to take a stand against violence against women, and encourage anyone experiencing abuse to speak out – not to suffer in silence because help was available.

 

§   Terrence Higgins Trust

1 December marked the anniversary of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the victims that suffered from the stigma of Aids. One of the founders of Terrence Higgins Trust was Martin Butler, from Newport and Cllr C Evans was also a member of the Trust.

 

§   Compliments, comments and complaints

Earlier this month we published our annual Compliments, Comments and Complaints report which examined the positive and negative feedback received from residents during the last  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Questions to the Cabinet Members

To provide an opportunity to pose questions to Cabinet Members in line with Standing Orders.

 

Process:

No more than 10 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to each Cabinet Member.

 

Members must submit their proposed questions in writing in advance in accordance with Standing Orders.  If members are unable to ask their question orally within the allocated time, remaining questions will be answered in writing.  The question and response will be appended to the minutes.

 

Questions will be posed to Cabinet Members in the following order:

 

      i.        Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Services

     ii.        Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

    iii.        Cabinet Member for Social Services

   iv.        Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development

     v.        Cabinet Member for Community and Resources

   vi.        Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member Assets

  vii.        Cabinet Member for Licensing and Regulation

 viii.        Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure

 

For information:  A digest of recent decision schedules issued by Cabinet, Cabinet Members and Minutes of recent meetings of Committees has been circulated electronically to all Members of the Council.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Joan Watkins put the following question to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills.

 

Part one

 

Is there a disparity between funding for schools provided to Councils across Wales from the Welsh government

 

Response:

All Councils’ total funding is made up of (i) a share of the total Revenue Support Grant (RSG) which is determined by Welsh Government (WG) and (ii) Council Tax which is determined locally. 

 

So each Council receives a proportion of the available RSG set out by WG, based on a complex methodology and many different data-sets such as number of pupils by pupil age, number of free school meals and the sparsity of the region.  As you can see pupil numbers only form part of the calculation.  As no two Local Authorities and no two schools are the same therefore funding will not be the same.

 

How is the calculation for the process formulated and where does Newport sit on the scale across the whole of Wales?

 

Response:

The formula based methodology is driven by a needs based assessment which is applied consistently across Wales and utilises, for the schools’ element, additional to pupil number data. All Councils are treated equally but use of various datasets point to different ‘measured needs’ such as pupil ages, sparsity, number of free school meals.  Therefore the needs between Councils differ and therefore funding support.

 

The WG RSG distribution process is based on measuring a Council’s ‘need to spend’ driven by 52 relevant data-sets across 15 service blocks, with school’s being one. These are applied against the funding available and provides the distribution to each Council. The process, including the data-sets used are reviewed regularly by Welsh Government and Local Government officials and data is updated annually.

 

The funding that is passported onto service areas (including schools) is a local decision for Council based on their own spending priorities, including specifically, the availability of funding coming from their own decisions on council tax. 

 

Part two: 

 

If so how much per pupil does Newport receive as opposed to other cities like Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham?

 

Response:

Each Local Authority sets a school funding formula which must be based around a prescribe range of factors set by WG including funding for energy costs and the number of pupils within a school. This funding is agreed by the local authorities Schools Forum comprised of Head teachers, Governors and School Business Managers

 

If disparity exists what is this Council doing about it?

 

Response:

The data used for the funding formula is ambiguous and does not give a clear explanation of how the total schools budget is delegated for specific issues, for example to pupils with Special Educational Needs. If we were to consider the total school budgets given per local Authority you will note that Newport provided approximately £114 million pounds to its 57 schools in 2019/20, including £4068 per pupil but, nonetheless, was ranked in 21st place across Wales. In comparison another local authority which has 100 schools provided £163 million.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Questions to the Chairs of Committees

To provide an opportunity to pose questions to the Chairs of the Committees in line with Standing Orders.

 

Process:

No more than 10 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to each Chair.

 

Members must submit their proposed questions in writing in advance in accordance with Standing Orders.  If members are unable to ask their question orally within the allocated time, remaining questions will be answered in writing.  The question and response will be appended to the minutes.

 

Questions will be posed to Committee Chairs in the following order:

      i.        Scrutiny Committees -

            Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee

            Performance Scrutiny Committee – People

            Performance Scrutiny Committee – Place and Corporate

            Performance Scrutiny Committee – Partnerships

     ii.        Planning Committee

    iii.        Licensing Committee

   iv.        Democratic Services Committee

 

For information:  A digest of recent decision schedules issued by Cabinet, Cabinet Members and Minutes of recent meetings of Committees has been circulated electronically to all Members of the Council.

 

Additional documents:

12.

Part 2 Exempt or Confidential Items

To consider whether to exclude the Press and Public during

consideration of the following item on the grounds that it will

involve the likely disclosure of exempt or confidential information

as defined in schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and

exclusion outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Minutes:

It was moved and duly seconded that the Council should resolve to exclude the press and public before consideration of the next Item

 

Resolved:

To exclude the Press and Public during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it will involve the likely disclosure of exempt or confidential information as defined in schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and exclusion outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

 

13.

Council Representation on the Board of Newport Transport

Minutes:

The Chief Executive outlined the report and letter attached as an appendix, written by the Company Secretary on behalf of the Board of Newport Transport to the Chief Executive requesting that a Councillor Director be removed from the Board, following an independent internal investigation.

 

The Leader Moved option 1 of the report, that the member concerned by removed and replaced.  The Leader then proceeded to explain that this was a serious matter as the Board had lost trust and confidence in the member concerned and, therefore, it was no longer appropriate for the Councillor to represent the Council, as shareholder, on the Board.  Councillor Lacey seconded the motion.

 

The Monitoring Officer advised that it was not open to the Council to review the internal investigation carried out by the Board or their decision that the Councillor concerned had breached his duties to the Company.  That was entirely a matter for the Company.  The Council had to consider, as shareholder, whether the member concerned should continue to represent the authority on the Board.

 

After lengthy discussion by all parties on the matter, Cllr Mayer moved a closure motion in accordance with Standing Order 6.12.  The closure motion was seconded and put to the vote without further debate.  A recorded vote was requested by more than 5 members in accordance with Standing Order 7.4.  A roll-call was therefore undertaken by the Monitoring Officer which showed the following:  25 members were For the closure of motion, 11 were Against and there were five Abstentions. 

 

Councillor Name

 

For

Against

Abstain

Al-Nuaimi, Miqdad

1

Berry, Graham

1

Clarke, James

Absent

Cleverly, Jan

1

Cockeram, Paul

1

Cornelious, Margaret

Absent

Critchley, Ken

Absent

Davies, Deb

1

Dudley, Val

1

Evans, Chris

1

Evans, Matthew

1

Ferris, Charles

1

Forsey, Yvonne

1

Fouweather, David

1

Giles, Gail

1

Guy, John

1

Harvey, Debbie

Absent

Hayat, Ibrahim

1

Hayat, Rehmaan

1

Holyoake, Tracey

Absent

Hourahine, Phil

1

Hughes, Jason

1

Jeavons, Roger

1

Jenkins, Christine

Disqualified

Jordan, Jason

1

Kellaway, Martyn

1

Lacey, Laura

1

Linton, Malcolm

1

Marshall, Stephen

1

Mayer, David

1

Mogford, Ray

1

Morris, Allan

Absent

Mudd, Jane

1

Rahman, Majid

1

Richards, John

1

Routley, William

Absent

Spencer, Mark

Absent

Suller, Tom

1

Thomas, Herbie

1

Thomas, Kate

1

Townsend, Carmel

1

Townsend, Holly

1

Truman, Ray

1

Watkins, Joan

1

Watkins, Trevor

1

Whitcutt, Mark

1

White, Richard

1

Whitehead, Kevin

1

Wilcox, Debbie

1

Williams, David

1

25

11

5

 

The closure motion was duly carried and members of the Council proceeded to vote on the substantive motion. A further recorded vote was requested by more than 5 members in accordance with Standing Order 7.4

 

The Monitoring Officer therefore proceeded with a second roll-call to take a decision on the substantive motion to remove the Councillor as a Director of Newport Transport Company.

 

Councillor Name

 

For

Against

Abstain

Al-Nuaimi, Miqdad

1

Berry, Graham

1

Clarke, James

Absent

Cleverly, Jan

1

Cockeram, Paul

1

Cornelious, Margaret

Absent

Critchley, Ken

Absent

Davies, Deb  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Date of Next Meeting: 26 January 2021

Additional documents: