To consider the attached motions of which notice has been given.

 

1.         RESPECT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 

                                   

To be moved by Councillor Cooke

Seconded by Councillor Ellis

 

Council notes continued reports of abuse directed at members of the armed forces and the failure of public authorities to treat uniformed servicemen with respect.

 

Council affirms its commitment to support the Military Covenant and ensure that he contribution of the armed forces to our security and safety is respected.

 

Council asks that the Chief Executive engage positively with other public agencies including NHS bodies to ensure that they honour the national and local commitment to support and respect members of the armed forces.

 

 

2.         EDUCATION – CREATING A WEST YORKSHIRE CHALLENGE           

                                   

To be moved by Councillor Rickard

Seconded by Councillor Pennington

 

Council welcomes the Education Covenant for Bradford and recent initiatives intended to begin the process of improving educational attainment in the City including a positive engagement with potential academy sponsors.

 

Council recognises that Bradford needs external assistance in order to meet the targets for improvement and believes that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority presents the opportunity to share the task of improving education across the sub-region.

 

Council asks the Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Children to prepare proposals for co-operation across West Yorkshire in raising educational attainment including pooling budgets and knowledge as well as possible representation to the Department for Education to secure national support for the initiative.

 

 

3.         REFUGEES                                      

 

To be moved by Councillor Fear

Seconded by Councillor Stelling

 

This Council notes that since the conflict in Syria began, over 4 million people have been displaced.

 

This Council also notes that hundreds of thousands have risked their lives in unsafe crossings of the Mediterranean to reach safety in Europe and that thousands have sadly lost their lives while doing so.

 

 

 

This Council further notes that the Prime Minister has announced that the UK will accept 20,000 refugees over the next 5 years and that Britain’s £12billion foreign aid budget will be used towards Local Authorities expenses related to these refugees.

 

This Council believes that the UK should be resettling more refugees than it currently is and that it is our moral responsibility, for Bradford Council and for the British Government to do more to help alleviate this humanitarian crisis.

 

This Council resolves to increase the number of refugees we are seeking to accept into Bradford in response to this tragedy.

 

This Council further resolves to seek funding from all possible sources to cover the cost of resettlement and to provide funding from reserves to cover any shortfall in costs not met by outside organisations and the government.

 

This Council urges other Councils across the UK to follow its example in increasing the offer of assistance and in providing sanctuary for those fleeing conflict.

 

 

4.         BRADFORD EDUCATION COVENANT     

                                   

To be moved by Councillor Hinchcliffe

Seconded by Councillor Green

 

This Council believes that:

(1)        Every child in the Bradford District should have the chance to realise their full potential and that working together with shared determination, purpose and ambition among schools, parents, students, business, public services and our communities we can achieve this.

(2)        That in the past improvements in the educational attainment of the district’s young people have not gone far enough, fast enough and urgent and sustained action is required to drive up educational outcomes.

(3)        That securing better educational outcomes is a shared responsibility and won’t be achieved unless everyone - the Council, schools, families, business and employers, communities, the Government and young people themselves are committed to playing their part.

The Council notes the recent publication of the draft Bradford Education Covenant which outlines the action the Council will take to help deliver improved educational attainment along with what we are asking of others to ensure that our young people get the best possible start in life.  The draft Covenant is attached to this motion.

The Council resolves to:

 

(1)          Undertake a period of consultation with all interested parties on the draft Bradford Education Covenant.

(2)          Agree the Covenant at the December 2015 meeting of Full Council taking into account the results of the consultation.

 

 

 

 

 

The Bradford Education Covenant

What the Council Will Offer

Keeping schools and education as a top priority

Improving schools and educational attainment so that all our children are able to achieve their potential will stay at the top of our priorities. We will support all Councillors to be effective champions of children, parents and learning and work with schools and parents to develop a vision for education as we pursue our ambition of making all our schools good by 2018.
 

Driving school improvement

The Council will work to put schools themselves at the heart of driving improvement. We will challenge schools and governing bodies and hold them to account for their performance taking rapid and robust action where there are issues that may be preventing a school from making progress, whatever type of school it may be.

Promoting learning from the very best
We already have some outstanding school leaders and teachers. We will work even harder with schools to identify, celebrate, promote and share best practice and support them to assist each other to accelerate improvement.

 

Attracting, retaining and developing the best school leaders and teachers

We will invest resources in attracting, retaining and developing the best school leaders, teachers and classroom assistants. We’ve already set aside £660,000 to do this. Part of this commitment will involve promoting Bradford District as an attractive career choice for the best teachers and school leaders. Government policy is to increase the numbers of Academies so we will be proactive in seeking out high quality academy sponsors to attract to the District

Providing school places by working together with government

The Council will work with the Government to ensure the District gets the money it needs to provide enough school places and keep schools well equipped. We’ve invested £700,000 to match the Government’s money for extra school places but we need more money and more places.

Helping to make sure children are ready for school

Support will be there for families and children through the ‘early years’ helping to make sure children are ready for school and can do their very best at school from day one.

Supporting children and young people to be ready for work and life

Working closely with the business community, the University and colleges, the Council will provide real opportunities for skill development and jobs when young people leave school. We’ll continue, in partnership, to deliver the innovative Industrial Centres of Excellence, each covering a different economic sector, linking schools to employers’ needs and we’ll support business to get the right young person, with the right skills through our Apprenticeships Hub.

Raising aspirations through cultural opportunities
Providing chancesfor students to benefit from enriched cultural learning by maximising the District’s unique local learning opportunities and facilities - for example, with the National Media Museum and City of Film. This will provide inspiration to our young people and stimulate creativity.

The Bradford Education Covenant – Bradford Council’s Education Ask

Parents

·                     Access a nursery place – 15 hours a week is free and it can make a big difference to your child’s development.

·                     Involve yourself in your child’s education, encourage and celebrate their learning.

·                     Make learning fun at home, read, count and play every day with your young child.

·                     Make sure your child is at school on time, attends regularly and doesn’t take unauthorised absence.

·                     Support your child to get their homework in on time.

·                     Support your child to get involved in out of school activities.

 

Parents need to do this because their involvement in children’s education from an early age has a significant effect on educational achievement, and continues to do so into adolescence and adulthood.

 

 

Children and young people

·   Make the most of opportunities for learning at school and at home.

·   Take responsibility for your own education, build your skills, ask questions, take notes in class and get your work in on time, discover your talents – it’s your life, your future, your choice.

 

Children and young people need to do this because motivated and responsible pupils have a better chance of achieving success.

 

Schools

·   Put yourselves at the heart of driving school improvement, working together in partnership, recognising that all types of school are part of a wider education system and need to share solutions and ideas to raise education attainment.

·   Be active in the District’s networks of schools, assist each other each other to challenge and address failure and support the lowest performing schools to learn from the highest performers.

·   Share resources and expertise to invest in teaching, learning and facilities.

·   Take timely and robust action to deal with performance, governance, attendance and any other issues in your school to provide the very best education experience and outcomes for your pupils.

·   Support students to identify future careers opportunities.

 

All our schools need to do this to help us achieve our shared ambition of making sure every school is ‘Good’ by 2018.

 

Business and employers

·   Support and become involved with an Industrial Centre of Excellence or Bradford Pathways.

·   Encourage your employees to volunteer for the reading in schools project and to offer mentoring for young people at school.

·   Provide meaningful work placements to your local schools and be an active partner in educating young people about potential careers.

·   Provide apprenticeships for local young people.

Businesses need to do this because good education and good skills mean greater growth. In engineering alone the UK needs 1.82 million workers with relevant skills by 2022.
 

Communities

·   Everyone in every community and neighbourhood to play their part in making a positive contribution to the growth, development and wellbeing of young people.

·   Get involved for example as a volunteer reader.

 

We need our communities to do this because everyone shares in the social and economic benefits of improving education and everyone can play a part in helping to achieve it.

 

Government

·   Provide the funding for the District to have enough places for all our children.

·   Provide funding and support to help increase education achievement in the District, for example invest in a local programme to drive rapid and sustainable improvements.

·   Support us to attract outstanding teachers, leaders and, in line with Government policy, Academy chains to the District.

·   Trust local education partners and devolve more powers to local authorities to tackle failing schools and hold academies to account.

We need the government to do this because we have one of the fastest growing populations of young people in the country and will need extra places equivalent to two new secondary schools by 2018.

 

 

5.         TRADE UNION BILL

                                   

To be moved by Councillor Dunbar

Seconded by Councillor Duffy

 

This Council notes that Trade unions have been at the forefront of improving social conditions and tackling exploitation in this District and across the UK and have led the way in campaigning for the establishment of the NHS, for universal education and childcare provision, for safe working and living conditions, for equality legislation and against racism.

The Council believes that:

i     The Trade Union Bill will attempt to silence the voice of workers whilst restricting the ability of this Council to engage in effective industrial practices with its workforce and their representatives.

ii     Strikes are a last resort but the Government’s new requirement of a minimum 50% turnout amongst members entitled to vote and a further 40% yes vote threshold (i.e. 80% of those who vote) in ‘important public services’ are an attempt to silence working people.

iii    The right to strike is under threat and draconian measures seeking the names of pickets and restrictions on social media usage are a fundamental attack on human rights.

iv    Facility time arrangements for local union representatives and the deductions of subscriptions through payroll are matters between employers and recognised unions in the public sector and are the basis for good industrial relations. It is counterproductive for the Government to stop or restrict these arrangements.

v    Allowing the use of agency workers to break strike action could lead to staff carrying out work they are not trained for and potentially to unsafe workplaces and services.

vi    The attacks on Trade Unions’ political funds are a shabby attempt to undermine their public campaigning voice and the traditional relationship between many trade unions and the Labour Party, they are profoundly undemocratic and deserve our condemnation.

The Council resolves to

1     Campaign against the Bill

2     Promote the positive role that trade unions play in society and the economy.

3      Enter a submission to the Parliamentary Trade Union Bill Committee highlighting the damaging impact the Bill will have on industrial relations locally;

4      Write to the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Science confirming the Council’s unequivocal opposition to the Bill

5     Write to all employees of the Council informing them of the Council’s opposition.

 

 

 

6.   COUNCIL STANDING ORDERS – REPORT OF THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL          

                                   

To be moved by Councillor Green

Seconded by Councillor Val Slater

 

This Council recognises that the format of the current Full Council Meeting Agenda limits the opportunities for all Elected Members to receive the most up to date information on issues of significance affecting the District and to ask questions about any action that the Council or other parties are taking to address those issues.

 

The Council therefore believes that its Standing Orders should be amended to allow for a written Leader’s Report to be circulated at the meeting updating members on key issues and providing the opportunity for them to ask questions relating to issues raised in the report.

This Council resolves that Council Standing Orders be amended as follows:

To insert a new paragraph 4.1.9A in standing order 4 to read:

 

4.1.9A  Report by the Leader of the Council

 

To insert a new standing order 11A, to read:

 

11A      Report by the Leader of the Council

 

11A.1   At each ordinary meeting of Council, not including any meeting at which consideration of the Council’s budget is on the agenda, the Leader or a member of the Council nominated by the Leader will provide a written report, a copy of which shall be made available to every member of Council and the public at the commencement of the meeting.

 

11A.2   There shall be a period of up to 15 minutes during which any member of the Council may ask the Leader of the Council or the member of the Council nominated by the Leader a question on any matter arising out of the written report.

 

11A.3   The Leader of the Council or the member of the Council nominated by the Leader will reply to each question and the answer may take the form of:

 

11A.3.1            A direct oral answer.

 

11A.3.2            Where the desired information is contained in a Council publication or a publication of a relevant joint authority, a reference to that publication.

 

11A.3.3            Where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated to all members of Council.

 

11A.3.4            A reference to a written answer provided under standing order 12.9

 

 

 

7.         WEST YORKSHIRE PENSION FUND DISINVESTMENT FROM THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY                                         

 

To be moved by Councillor Warnes

Seconded by Councillor Love

 

1.         This Council recognises that, in financial terms, the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) is exceptionally well-managed by Bradford Council and appreciates the professionalism and dedication of the councillors and officers involved.

 

2.         This Council notes:

           

(a)        the growing worldwide movement to divest from fossil fuels in order to (in the words of Desmond Tutu) “break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change”;

(b)        that climate change is an environmental crisis for our residents and the global community;

(c)        that Bradford needs to play our part in carbon budgeting in order to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius – in other words, we must use our influence to ensure that 80 per cent of our known fossil fuel reserves is “left in the ground” rather than extracted and burned;

(d)        that governments are increasingly limiting carbon emissions to meet international decarbonisation targets, that a large proportion of the fossil-fuel reserves which companies are planning to extract will therefore become ‘stranded assets’, that this represents a ‘carbon bubble’ that is unsustainably inflating their equity value, and that investments in fossil-fuel equities will be adversely exposed when this bubble bursts;

(e)        the robust financial case for divestment, the recent concerns raised by the Governor of the Bank of England about ‘unburnable carbon’, and the significant and growing financial risks associated with fossil fuel equities;

(f)         that pension fund trustees owe fiduciary duties to scheme employers and scheme members and must act in the best long-term interests of their fund members;

(g)        that the ‘fossil fuel disinvestment movement’ is now worth over $2.6 trillion and that the UK organisations who have moved in this direction include Bristol City Council, Oxford City Council, the Church of England and several leading universities.

 

3.         This Council therefore requests:

 

(a)        that the Governance and Audit Committee and the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee complete a joint review of the scale of the WYPF’s investment in the fossil fuel sector (as defined by the Carbon Underground 200, a listing of the top 200 companies with the largest known oil, gas and coal reserves) and the options for a phased programme of disinvestment and report back to Council within four months;

(b)        that the Leader of Bradford Council writes to all employers participating in the WYPF to request their support for a policy of phased disinvestment in the fossil fuel sector to be completed over a five year period;

(c)        that Bradford Council encourages other local authorities, via the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Local Government Association, to similarly review their investments in the fossil fuel industry;           

(d)        that, in support of the above, Bradford Council’s three councillor representatives on the Investment Advisory Panel and Joint Advisory Group of the WYPF use their influence to persuade colleagues to exercise their fiduciary duty and initiate a review of the fossil fuel investments of the WYPF.