Decisions

Important – The two motions on this page are those that were published with the agenda. Both received amendments. Motion one was voted down. Motion two was agreed to with amendments. (Full details in Minutes).

Agreed Amended Motion 2

This Council

Thanks the huge number of people and community groups (including town and parish councils) who volunteered or offered to volunteer in their communities during the first phase of the pandemic.

Recognises that there is an opportunity to engage with individuals and volunteer groups that could help address long term issues such as loneliness isolation and mental health especially anxiety in our communities.

Acknowledges and supports the work undertaken by the cross party Covid-19 Recovery Working Groups in considering what is needed to enable new community groups to keep volunteers engaged in their communities for the longer term and supports these principles being incorporated into the recommendations to be considered by Cabinet in September 2020.

Resolved:

That the Council notes  the Annual Report of the Audit and Standards Committee.

Resolved:

1.    That the Council confirms the Committee structure and delegations to member bodies and officers as set out in the Constitution

2.   That the number of places on Council Committees be as follows:

3.    That the Council appoints the committees and membership:

4.         (a) That John Bridgeman be confirmed as the Chair of the Audit and Standards Committee.

5.         (a) That the Council confirms/amends membership to the following bodies:

5          (b) That Cllr Caborn is appointed as the Chair of the Health and Well-being Board

(c) That the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services is appointed as the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

6.         (a) That the following be appointed to the LGPS Local Pension Board and Fire & Rescue Local Pensions Board:

            (b) That the Council confirms that the Employer Representatives on the Fire & Rescue Local Pension Board be either members or officers of Warwickshire County Council.

7.         That the following County Councillors be appointed to the Police and Crime Panel: [5 = 2 CON 1LAB 2 LD]

            Councillors N.Davies, Gilbert, Wright, O’Rourke and Fradgley

8.         That the Council confirms/appoints to the following external bodies

9.         That Council confirms the delegations to officers as set out in the Constitution.

10.       That the Council authorises the Strategic Director Resources to make such amendments to the Council’s Constitution as may be required as a consequence of any changes agreed by the Council.

Resolved:

That Councillor Pete Gilbert be elected Vice-Chair of Council until the annual meeting of the Council in 2021.

Resolved:

That Councillor Alan Cockburn be elected Chair of Council until the annual meeting of the Council in 2021.

Resolved that:

1.         The Treasury Management Strategy for 2020/21 (Appendix 1 to the report) be approved and that its provisions have effect from 1st April 2020.

2.         The Investment Strategy for 2020/21 be approved (Appendix 2 to the report).

3.         The Council require the Strategic Director for Resources to ensure that gross borrowing does not exceed the prudential level as specified in Appendix 1 Annex B to the report, taking into account current commitments, existing plans, and the proposals in the budget report.

4.         The Council delegates authority to the Strategic Director for Resources to undertake all the activities listed in Appendix 1 Annex H of the report.

5.         The Council requires the Strategic Director for Resources to implement the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy as specified in Appendix 1 Annex I to the report.

6.         The Council notes the decision of the Leader to enable an option to make an early payment of pension fund contributions subject to the conditions set out at Section 7.24 of the Treasury Management Strategy being met

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 18 February 2020 were approved as a correct record.

Resolved:

That the Council approve the addition of the Historic Bridge Maintenance Programme to the capital programme at an estimated cost of £6.30m, funded from the Capital Investment Fund (CIF) and the Department for Transport (DfT) Challenge Fund.

Resolved:

1.         That the Council approves an allocation of £4.046 million funding from the Capital Investment Fund (CIF) to deliver a transport package for Warwick town centre (as set out in paragraph 2.1 and 3.1) and the addition of the project to the Capital Programme at a full cost of £4.418 million with the balance of funding coming from the Community Infrastructure Levy.

2.         That the Council authorises the Strategic Director for Communities to procure and enter any agreements to give effect to the proposals on terms and conditions acceptable to the Strategic Director for Resources.

Resolved

1.         That the Council note the results of the consultation and the resulting modifications made to the draft Warwickshire Rail Strategy.

2.         That the Council endorse the Warwickshire Rail Strategy 2019-2034 and agree that the document is addended to the Warwickshire Local Transport Plan 2011- 2026.

Resolved:

That Council notes the report.

Resolved:

That Council notes the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2019/2020.

Duane Chappell, Strategy and Commissioning Manager (SEND & Inclusion) presented the report to the Committee which gave full representation regarding funding for the SEND & Inclusion Change Programme.

It was noted by the Committee that national funding is an issue for SEND and as a result a concern for families with SEND children who fear their needs may not be met in the future. 

It was confirmed that parents and schools are key parts of the discussions around future funding to ensure that the needs of children can continue to be met.

It was noted that there are no spare spaces in Special Education Schools so the priority was to make sure that SEND children could have their needs met in mainstream schools; although there are fundamental issues with the funding of SEND children in mainstream schools.  Mainstream schools are able to adapt to accommodate SEND children and there is increased support for staff working with SEND children.

Following an in-depth and valuable discussion the Committee acknowledged that there will be a reduction in funding across SEND services and Warwickshire County Council will need to review how to work moving forward.  The Committee raised concerns relation to cuts as apposed to ‘invest to save’ measure that could be introduced.  This is a highly complicated area and officers noted that the input of members of the Committee will be invaluable; this is especially important in building confidence in a system that is currently lacking in confidence from its users.

It was agreed that the Committee will help shape what is needed; what can be done, what officers would like to be done, and what is in-between based on the current situation and look to realign resources not cut them.  It was agreed that Ross Caws would circulate the IMPOWER report to members of the Committee.

It was agreed that a formal response from the Committee would be drafted for Cabinet to recognise the challenge of balancing the budget while raising concerns of the impact on service users.

Resolved

That the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

considers the report presented to Cabinet on the SEND & Inclusion

Change Programme (Appendix A) and makes appropriate

recommendations.

That a further report is brought back to the Children and Young People

Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Autumn 2020 to allow greater

scrutiny of the SEND & Inclusion Change Programme once launched.