Public Document Pack You are hereby summoned to attend a meeting of NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL at the Council House, Nottingham, on Monday 27 January 2014 at 2.00 pm to transact the following business: 1 Apologies for absence 2 Declarations of interests 3 To receive: (a) questions from citizens; (b) petitions from Councillors on behalf of citizens. Please note that questions to Council are received after the agenda has been published. Questions will be uploaded to this agenda by 5pm on Friday 24 January 2014 4 To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of Council held on 9 225 - 238 December 2013 5 To receive official communications and announcements from the Leader of the Council and/or the Chief Executive 6 To receive: (a) answers from the City Council’s lead Councillor on the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority to questions on the discharge of that authority’s functions; (b) answers from a Councillor from the Executive Board, the Chair of a Committee and the Chair of any other City Council body to questions on any matter within their remit. 7 To consider a report of the Leader on the Local Government Act 239 - 240 1972, Sections 85 and 86 8 To consider a report of the Leader on Members’ Allowances Scheme 241 - 242 2013/14 – Review by Independent Remuneration Panel 9 To consider a report of the Leader on the Nottingham City Council 243 - 286 (City wide Extension) Alcohol Consumption in Designated Public Places Order 2014 10 To consider a report of the Leader on decisions taken under urgency 287 - 290 procedures 11 To consider a report of the Deputy Leader on the Council Tax 291 - 316 Support Scheme 2014/15 12 To consider motion in the name of Councillor Chapman: “The City Council is greatly concerned by the effect the cuts in welfare and local government spending are having on many of our citizens and on the economy of Nottingham. This Council believes that these cuts are targeted disproportionately at the poorest in society and at the urban areas of the Midlands and the North. In particular, it calls upon the government to reverse the spare room subsidy, commonly known as the bedroom tax and the iniquitous and arbitrary reduction in Council Tax Support which hurts the poorest of our citizens, the majority of whom are either working in low paid jobs, disabled or carers.” 13 To note the following changes to Executive Assistant remits: Councillor Rosemary Healy appointed Executive Assistant for Strategic Regeneration and Community Safety; Councillor Sam Webster appointed Executive Assistant for Children’s Services. 14 To note the addition of Councillor Anne Peach to Health Scrutiny Panel for the municipal year 2013/14 IF YOU NEED ANY ADVICE ON DECLARING AN INTEREST IN ANY ITEM ABOVE, PLEASE CONTACT CONSTITUTIONAL SERVICES ON 0115 876 3759, IF POSSIBLE BEFORE THE DAY OF THE MEETING. Dated 17 January 2014 Deputy Chief Executive/Corporate Director for Resources To: All Councillors of Nottingham City Council Agenda Item 4 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL held at the Council House, Nottingham, on Monday 9 December 2013 at 2.00 pm ATTENDANCES Councillor Bryan Lord Mayor Councillor Ali Councillor Longford Councillor Arnold Councillor McCulloch Councillor Aslam Councillor McDonald Councillor Ball Councillor Malcolm Councillor Battlemuch Councillor Mellen Councillor Campbell Councillor Molife Councillor Chapman Councillor Morley Councillor Choudhry Councillor Morris Councillor Clark Councillor Neal Councillor Collins Councillor Norris Councillor Culley Councillor Ottewell Councillor Dewinton Councillor Packer Councillor Edwards Councillor Parbutt Councillor Gibson Councillor Peach Councillor Grocock Councillor Piper Councillor Hartshorne Councillor Saghir Councillor Healy Councillor D Smith Councillor Heaton Councillor W Smith Councillor Ibrahim Councillor Spencer Councillor Jeffery Councillor Steel Councillor Jenkins Councillor Trimble Councillor Johnson Councillor Unczur Councillor Jones Councillor Urquhart Councillor G Khan Councillor Watson Councillor N Khan Councillor Webster Councillor Klein Councillor Wildgust Councillor Liversidge Councillor Wood Page 225 66 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Campbell, Heaton, Norris, Piper and Watson. 67 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS No declarations of interests were made. 68 QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS FROM CITIZENS Questions from citizens Nottingham City Children and Young Persons’ Plan The following question was asked by Mr Kasparinskis to the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services: In light of current budget cuts affecting Children and Families teams please could the Council explain how it is meeting principle three of its commitment in the Nottingham City Children And Young Persons’ Plan and its aspiration to provide mainstream services "that can be used by children who previously may have needed specialist services e.g. children with disabilities," in relation to the area of access to Youth Clubs and outreach projects for young people? Councillor Mellen replied as follows: Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Mr Kasparinskis for his question. As the question recognises it is difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of the changes in the landscape since the Children and Young Persons’ Plan was launched in 2010. We have faced, as a Council and as part of the Children’s Partnership, unprecedented challenges in the intervening years, including huge cuts in the Council’s budget as a result of continuous reductions in government funding for Nottingham. For these reasons, we reviewed and revised the Plan in 2011 to take account of these new realities. I am proud to say, however, that we retained the commitment to develop services to be used by children who previously required specialist services. In the particular case of children with disabilities as is asked in the question, we have made sure that the services commissioned through the ‘Aiming High’ programme have been maintained despite the loss of Government funding. So, all children and young people with disabilities are entitled to access Council youth and play sessions for a minimum of 2 hours per week, with inclusion support where it is needed. This provides support for children with disabilities to attend mainstream play, youth and leisure sessions and ensures that they have the same opportunities to participate in positive activities as their peers. In fact, we have increased the number, in 2012-13, 111 young people were supported in this way compared to just 91 in 2010-11. As part of our Short Breaks programme, the Link Work scheme offers community-based one to one support to enable children with more severe disabilities to access community activities in their area. With partners we have maintained a range of dedicated provision for children and young people with disabilities, including Jigsaw for children with autism in Page 226 Sneinton, New Ventures in the Meadows, the Deaf Youth Club in Hyson Green and the City Hospital Youth Club for young people who are spending some time, long or short, in hospital. Crocus Fields in the Meadows provides residential short breaks that give opportunities for children and young people to access play and youth provision wherever possible, and provides outreach services for young people with learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities to help them and their families to access services in their own communities. Finally, we have invested in capital projects across the city to improve access for children with disabilities to mainstream services. These have included the adventure playgrounds and play centres, particularly Balloon Woods in Bilborough and ‘The Ridge’ in Bestwood, the NGY Youth Centre in the city centre and Green Lane Youth Centre in Clifton where the second stage of its development starts next year. Of course, we don’t only have to make sure that resources are available, we also need to make sure that families can find them. We have maintained our Family Information Service where many councils have been cutting theirs’ back, to provide easy access to information about services, both online and by telephone. Most recently, we have opened our new Children and Families Direct Service. This provides a single point of access to all children and families services, where people are more likely to be able to find what they need at the first try. As we move forward from the current plan which ends in 2014 and consider as a Children’s Partnership what comes next, I believe that we can look back with some pride on how we have fulfilled the commitment we made in relation to disabled children, in the most challenging of circumstances. Petitions from Councillors on behalf of citizens No petitions from citizens were received. 69 MINUTES RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2013, copies of which had been circulated, be confirmed and signed by the Lord Mayor. 70 OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS Chief Executive reported the following communications: City Council by-elections First of all I would like to welcome Councillors Anne Peach and Neghat Nawaz Khan, the newly elected Labour councillors for Radford and Park and Dales wards following by- elections held on Thursday 7 November. Sport England Funding On the 20 November 2013 Phil Smith, Director of Sport for Sport England, came to Nottingham to present the City with 2 cheques. The first was for £1.941million following the successful approval of the Council’s Iconic Bid to develop Harvey Hadden. This funding will Page 227 add an outdoor cycle track, squash courts, outdoor changing as well as an 8 th lane on the athletics track all added to the existing plans for the 50 metre pool. The second award was for 3 years’ funding of a new project aimed at getting local communities more physically active. This project is in partnership with Nottingham City Homes and will be worth nearly half a million pounds investment over the 3 year period. Ray Gosling Former BBC broadcaster and gay rights activist Ray Gosling passed away on 19 November 2013.