Agenda and minutes

A minutes silence was observed following the death of Alderman June Joyce MBE

COUNCIL RESOLVED -    That the minutes of the meeting held 17 March 2016 be approved as a correct record subject to it being noted that Councillor P Maughan had submitted his apologies for the meeting.

(announcements may be made by the Mayor, Leader of the Council or the Chief Executive)

(A) Regional Armed Forces Forum

The Mayor announced that the Council was awarded the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award earlier in the year for outstanding commitment in supporting the Armed Forces.  Gateshead was the only council to receive such an award and one of only 16 organisations to do so nationwide.

Councillor Stuart Green, Armed Forces Champion, and officers have received positive feedback on the award from various agencies.  A letter has been received from the Regional Armed Forces Forum congratulating the Council on this fantastic achievement.

(to receive petitions submitted under Council Procedure Rule 10)

Councillor M Hood submitted a petition on behalf of residents of Kibblesworth regarding their poor broadband service.

(to consider any questions submitted under Council Procedure Rule 7)

Mr Paul Watson submitted the following question:

“Please can the Council tell me what action they intend to take in respect of the fact that council officers have repeatedly failed to follow the council’s procedure for dealing with complaints, and have repeatedly failed to acknowledge or respond to correspondence from Gateshead residents.”

Councillor M Henry, Leader of the Council responded to the question.

Consideration was given to a report seeking approval of a proposed Deferred Payment Policy, charging of interest and administration costs.

Consideration was given to a report seeking approval of the Intervention Plan for the Food Control and Health & Safety services for 2016-2017.

Consideration was given to a report seeking approval of a revised Corporate Health and Safety Policy covering all Council employees and others affected by the Council’s work activities.

Consideration was given to a report seeking approval of the new Councillor Engagement and Development Framework.

The Leader of the Council reported on a number of key issues currently affecting the Council.

(to consider any notices of motion submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.1)

Councillor Douglas moved the following motion:

“Gateshead Council notes that the Government’s White Paper, entitled Educational Excellence Everywhere, is a complete distraction from the very real problems facing schools and parents; that it poses a real danger to our education system and opens the door to privatisation.

We further note that Government plans to force all schools to become academies by 2022, at great and unnecessary expense to the tax payer of around £1.3 billion whilst schools face cuts in funding, has been greeted with disbelief and dismay by parents, teachers and politicians. Over 80% of local authority schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, which begs the question, why force them to change?  Evidence suggests the academy programme is not working. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, said that many academy chains were performing badly and letting down disadvantaged children.  A report of the Education Committee highlights that there is no evidence that academisation in itself leads to school improvement.

Gateshead Council believes that every child deserves an excellent education and acknowledges that across the UK schools and parents are facing a chronic teacher recruitment and retention crisis, a lack of school places, chaos in curriculum change and primary tests, and a funding crisis. Instead of dealing with these very real issues, the Government is pursuing a top-down reorganisation of education that has no basis in evidence and no mandate, as these proposals were not part of their 2015 election manifesto.  We also believe that breaking up national pay and conditions will be a further distraction for schools.

Gateshead Council opposes the Government’s proposals to force all schools to become academies. We will seek to encourage campaigning against the White Paper and we call on the Government to put their plans on hold as there is insufficient evidence that they will raise standards.

Gateshead Council also calls on the Strategic Director, Care, Wellbeing and Learning and the Service Director, Learning and Schools to continue to work with schools, governors, trade unions and parents to maintain cooperation, partnership and support school improvement across schools in Gateshead.”

On the motion being put it was declared to be carried

(to deal with any questions submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8.1)

There were no questions submitted