168 THE COUNTY COUNCIL OF THE CITY & COUNTY OF CARDIFF The County Council of the City & County of Cardiff met at City Hall, Cardiff on Thursday 24 September 2009 to transact the business set out in the Council Summons dated 18 September 2009. Present County Councillor Griffiths, Lord Mayor (in the Chair); County Councillor Hyde, Deputy Lord Mayor. County Councillors Ali, Aubrey, Aylwin, Berman, Bowden, Bowen, Bridges, Burfoot, Burns, Carter, Chaundy, Clark, Ralph Cook, Richard Cook, Cowan, Cox, Kirsty Davies, Tim Davies, Dixon, Finn, Foley, Ford, Furlong, Gasson, Goddard, Goodway, Grant, Greening, C Holland, M Holland, Hooper, Howells, Hudson, Ireland, Islam, Jerrett, Brian Jones, Margaret Jones, Jones-Pritchard, Joyce, Kelloway, Lloyd, Macdonald, McEvoy, McKerlich, Montemaggi, David Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Elgan Morgan, Linda Morgan, Page, Jacqueline Parry, Patel, Pearcy, Pickard, Piper, David Rees, Dianne Rees, Robson, Rogers, Rowland-James, Salway, Smith, Stephens, Wakefield, Walker, Walsh, Williams and Woodman. Apologies: Councillors Lansdown, Keith Parry and Singh, (Prayers were offered by the Rev Dr John Payne) 62 : MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Lord Mayor. 63 : CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS (The Chairman reminded Members of their responsibility under Article 16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct to declare any interest, and to complete Personal Interest forms, at the commencement of the item of business.) County Council of the City & County of Cardiff 24 September 2009 169 1. Awards Congratulations were extended to the Private Sector Housing team who had made the finals of the prestigious Chartered Institute of Housing’s UK Housing Awards with their Landlord Accreditation Wales Scheme. 2. Councillor John Dixon The Lord Mayor offered his congratulations to Councillor Dixon on his recent marriage. 3. Steven Phillips, Corporate Director The Lord Mayor wished Steven Phillips every success in his new post of Chief Executive of Neath Port Talbot District Council. Councillors Berman, Ralph Cook, Cowan, McEvoy and Walker all added their own thanks for his work with the Council and their best wishes for the future. 4. Webcasting and Recording of Proceedings Members were reminded of a decision of the Constitution Committee on 10 July 2008 to webcast the Council meeting. Members were also reminded that the Constitution Committee had previously agreed that Council proceedings be recorded for administrative purposes. Formal approval to record the proceedings was granted. 64 : PUBLIC QUESTIONS Question: Mrs M Bond Chapel Wood was the first estate to be built in Llanedeyrn, yet it has no proper play area for the children. What proposals, if any, does the Council have to make the estate fit for children to play and enjoy the outdoor? County Council of the City & County of Cardiff 24 September 2009 170 The children used to use school pitches and they were fenced off and, now the fields have been fenced, this only leaves the main road. This is an accident waiting to happen. Reply : Councillor Nigel Howells Chapel Wood contains a substantial amount of green space, although I appreciate that the majority of it is in the form of small scale, geometrical blocks of open space which are not suitable for use by older children for ball games. However, it can be used by younger children and, of course, by residents of all ages for relaxation purposes. In addition, there is still a sizable area of open space next to the school playing fields that is outside the new fence line and which could, if local residents agree, be used by older children for ball games. If local residents wish to explore this option, then can I suggest that they contact their local Ward Councillors to pursue this matter. With regard to formal play facilities, the estate is served by a small equipped children’s play area at the northern end of Chapel Wood and a modern, enclosed multi use games area approximately 400 metres away next to the car park at the Maelfa Shopping Centre. While I would agree that the level and extent of play provision is not ideal, I do think that there is a reasonable range of facilities within a modest walking distance of the estate. Notwithstanding this, I would be happy to liaise further with local Councillors on this matter. Supplementary Question: Mrs M Bond The playground you’re talking about is for toddlers. It has two small swings and two small rocking horses. The children I’m concerned about are the children who are playing football on our main roads. They have nowhere else to play football. All we want is a decent football pitch so we can get them off our roads. Can you help? Reply : Councillor Nigel Howells Thank you Mrs Bond, I do appreciate that the play area there is for small children and youngsters but as I’ve said, if you liaise with your local County Council of the City & County of Cardiff 24 September 2009 171 Councillors then we will set up a series of meetings to explore what options we can take in order to improve the situation. Question: Ms Jenny Rathbone What is the Council's policy on food in schools? Given widespread concerns about obesity and healthy eating amongst young people, what standards does the Council set for the quality and availability of food and drink in Cardiff's schools? Reply : Councillor Freda Salway Since the introduction of Fair Funding legislation in 2000, schools have had the budgets for the provision of support services delegated to them. Schools have been free to choose their provider of catering, cleaning, building maintenance, grounds maintenance etc. from the in-house service or the private sector or operate the service themselves. Cardiff Council’s Catering Direct Service Unit (DSU) provides a school catering service to 100% of the city’s schools. There are only two local authorities in Wales that have retained all their catering services in-house – Cardiff and Pembrokeshire. Food purchasing for Cardiff Council is managed by the Council‘s Procurement Team and the Catering DSU determines the quality and specification of the food destined for school meals. Full traceability of all food used on the primary school menu is provided on the Council’s website at: www.cardiff.gov.uk/schoolscatering This enables both pupils and parents to view recipes and ingredients and to access full information about any item from its origin to its nutrient value. I can also confirm that we use RSPCA approved Welsh Free Range Eggs and RSPCA approved Freedom Standard Chickens. All local authorities in Wales are working to the WAG Appetite for Life guidelines, which place particular focus on healthy food and achieving a good nutrient intake for children. Clearly, this will only benefit children who purchase or qualify for a school meal. In Cardiff, the uptake of meals is 42.83% in primary schools and 38.46% in secondary schools. The Appetite for Life initiative has given all local authorities in Wales two years of grant funding. Cardiff Council uses some of this money on County Council of the City & County of Cardiff 24 September 2009 172 an Appetite for Life Coordinator, who has already facilitated a range of improvements to the meal and the wider issues of health, namely: • Developed partnerships to provide support to schools in a whole school approach to food and fitness; • Provided exemplar Food and Fitness Policy for all schools; • Arranged School Nutrition Action Groups in 15 secondary schools and 16 primary schools; • Arranged a Primary School Cooks Focus Group; • Provided After School Cooking Clubs run by school catering staff who have trained in OCN Level 2 Nutrition. We are also looking at the other influences of children’s eating at school – for example, the increasing number of schools that are shortening the time available for pupils accessing meals. In some schools, paying a half- term in advance puts some parents off. It is also worth noting that the Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Cardiff Central, Jenny Randerson AM, has put forward the first private member’s Bill, otherwise known as a Legislative Competency Order (LCO), to be considered by the National Assembly for Wales under its new law-making powers. The proposed Healthy Eating in Schools Measure, which will compel schools to teach children about healthy eating, has been supported by an all party committee of AMs and is expected to receive Royal Assent next month. I am pleased to say that Cardiff Council is already well on the way to achieving much of what is contained in the Bill, and I will let you have afterwards a list of what we have done and are doing and a sample of the menus. Supplementary Question: Ms Jenny Rathbone Thank you for confirming that schools catering in Cardiff is directly managed by the Council, which is all the more important then that the Council has a duty to ensure that they are already implementing ‘Appetite for Life’. Why then, 18 months after ‘Appetite for Life’ was published are we still selling drinks in our vending machines that are not on the list of acceptable drinks? It is a waste of time to compel schools to teach children about healthy eating if the Local Authority is not doing as it says. If we still have in our vending machines Coca Cola, Dr Pepper and other fizzy drinks of no known nutritional value, as well as crisps and chocolates, we are undermining the policy on snack foods, which is not to County Council of the City & County of Cardiff 24 September 2009 173 deter people from eating decent food. We are obviously just compounding the obesity problem as well as the discipline problem.