Agenda and decisions

To receive any announcements from the Mayor and Chief Executive.

The Mayor conveyed congratulations to Carol Stump, former Chief Librarian, who had been awarded an MBE for services to public libraries in the New Year Honours 2024.

The Mayor acknowledged the 50^th anniversary of the M62 coach bombing and advised that a memorial service would be taking place on 4 February 2024 at Hartshead Moor Services.

Group Business Managers to submit any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Ali, Allison, D Firth, Gregg, O Donovan, Reynolds, Taylor and A Zaman.

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 13 December 2023.

Approved as a correct record.

Councillors will be asked to advise if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in the discussion or vote on any of the items.

Councillors Crook, P Davies, D Hall and Smaje declared an ‘other’ interest in Agenda Item 17 in their capacity as school governors.

Councillor Hussain declared an ‘other’ interest in Agenda Item 19 on the grounds that she has a family member who works in dental practice.

To receive any Petitions from Members of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.

None received.

Council will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

Council received a petition from Ashleigh Robinson in regards to residential permit parking fees in the Lindley area.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9(3) the Mayor directed that the petition would be referred to the relevant Service Director for investigation.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No questions were asked.

To receive the Minutes of the Meetings of West Yorkshire Combined Authority held on 7 September and 28 September 2023.

Received and noted.

To receive the report.

Contact: James Anderson, Head of Accountancy

The half yearly monitoring report on Treasury Management was received and noted.

To consider the report.

Contact: Leigh Webb, Acting Governance Manager

Councilor Sheikh Ullah appointed.

To receive written questions to the Leader, Cabinet Members, Chairs of Committees and Nominated Spokespersons in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.

A scheduled of written questions will be tabled at the meeting.

Council received written questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.

To receive the Minutes of Cabinet held on 14 November 2023 and 12 December 2023.

Received and noted.

(a)  To receive a portfolio update from the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services (Councillor Kendrick)

(b)  To receive oral questions/comments to Cabinet Members on their portfolios and relevant Cabinet Minutes;

-       The Leader of the Council (Councillor Scott)

-       The Deputy Leader of the Council/Corporate Portfolio (Councillor P Davies)

-       Children’s Services Portfolio (Councillor Kendrick)

-       Communities Portfolio (Councillor Pervaiz)

-       Culture and Greener Kirklees Portfolio (Councillor Butt)

-       Finance and Regeneration Portfolio (Councillor Turner)

-       Health and Social Care Portfolio (Councillor Ramsay)

-       Housing and Highways Portfolio (Councillor Crook)

-       Learning and Aspiration and Portfolio (Councillor Reynolds)

Council received a portfolio update from Councillor Kendrick, followed by oral questions to the Leader and Cabinet Members.

To receive oral questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13(4):

-       Appeals Panel (Councillor H Zaman)

-       Corporate Governance and Audit Committee (Councillor Homewood)

-       Corporate Parenting Board (Councillor Kendrick)

-       Health and Wellbeing Board (Councillor Ramsay)

-       Licensing and Safety Committee - including Licensing and Regulatory Panel (Councillor A U Pinnock)

-       Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee (Councillor Smaje)

-       Personnel Committee (Councillor Scott)

-       Planning Sub Committee - Heavy Woollen Area (Councillor E Firth)

-       Planning Sub Committee - Huddersfield Area (Councillor Ullah)

-       Scrutiny Panel – Childrens (Councillor Cooper)

-       Scrutiny Panel – Environment and Climate Change (Councillor J D Lawson)

-       Scrutiny Panel – Growth and Regeneration (Councillor Pandor)

-       Scrutiny Panel – Health and Adult Social Care (Councillor Armer)

-       Standards Committee (Councillor McCarthy)

-       Strategic Planning Committee (Councillor S Hall)

-       Kirklees Active Leisure (Councillor Sokhal)

-       West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Councillor Scott)

-       West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee (Councillor Anwar)

-       West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (Councillor O’Donovan)

-       West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee (Councillor H Zaman)

-       West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel (Councillor Lowe)

Council received oral questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13(4).

To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Taylor and D Hall;

“This Council notes that:

The ‘Election Campaign Material Policy’ (last updated 24 January 2023) currently allows for small posters to be placed on the authority’s lamp posts.

The use of election posters on street furniture is mixed across Kirklees and political parties and there is no discernible correlation between those areas where posters are used and increased engagement or turnout.  The policy distracts both Police and Council resources in needing to police it and where posters are used it can leave a place looking very untidy, especially when posters become defaced, damaged or start to peel.  There are also issues about fairness in that posters cannot be installed in areas where streetlights are hosted in other ways, such as on telegraph poles, which means some more rural parts of the borough do not have the same level of Council support.

Their use is often hotly objected to by residents, especially where the poster is from a candidate the resident does not support, generating further work for Council Officers.  Whilst there was a place for this type of advertising in the past, the current proliferation of media which are open to candidates to communicate their message to the electorate means that this is no longer the effective medium it may have been.

Furthermore, the Council does an excellent job in letting the public know when there is an election, and does so through a wide variety of media, as does the press, social media and political parties.

Removing the ability to erect posters on Council owned assets allows the following benefits:

•      Reduces workload for Council staff and Police.

•      Reduces the use of single use plastic (cable ties), which are often left to pollute the environment or remain around the lamppost.

•      Frees up time for candidates and activists to engage with the public directly.

•      Removes the health & safety issues and road safety issues associated with the erection and removal of posters.

•      Frees up election expenses to be used to communicate directly with the electorate.

This Council therefore resolves to update the ‘Election Campaign Material Policy’ to remove the ability for parties to use Council street furniture for the displaying of election posters.”

Motion not approved.

To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Cooper, Allison and Lee-Richards;

“This Council notes that;

1.    East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and Gaza are illegally occupied by Israel; and that Gaza has been subject to 16 years of blockade.

2.    The Israeli government has been withholding essential resources from Gaza and bombing civilian targets, such as schools, hospitals, and media organisations all of which constitute war crimes.

3.    Under Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as certain acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and that, under Article I, the UK has confirmed that genocide is a crime under international law which it undertakes to prevent and to punish.

4.    The UK, at the UN Security Council on 18 October 2023, refused to vote for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza.

5.    Deep concern is expressed about the conflict in Gaza by thousands of people in Kirklees.

6.    The impact of conflict on displacing people from their homes makes them asylum seekers and refugees who then understandably flee to safer countries like the UK.

7.    Hamas attacks took place on October 7^th, when hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed and taken hostage.

This Council believes that;

1.    All atrocities committed against civilians by Hamas or the Israeli Defence Force must be condemned and investigated.

2.    All forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia have no place in Kirklees and condemns any attacks on Palestinian, Jewish or Muslim people.

3.    All political leaders have a responsibility to try to prevent genocide, such as the annihilation of the civilian population of Gaza 

4.    That Hamas should release all hostages.

5.    The state of Israel is enacting a system recognised as apartheid by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’tselem and the South African Government.

6.    The only way to secure peace between Israelis and Palestinians is for a just political settlement based on the end of the occupation of Palestinian territories and an end to discriminatory apartheid policies, settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing.

This Council therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the UK Government requesting it to;

(i)             call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and to vote for this at the UN.

(ii)            cease all arms sales to Israel and end military aid for Israel.

(iii)          call on Israel to resume negotiations with the Palestinians.

(iv)          ask to push for an end to the occupation and all parties to adhere to United Nations Resolution 242

(v)           ask all parties to release hostages and prisoners held in “administrative detention.”

Motion approved (as amended) (Labour Group amendment carried).

To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Reynolds, Scott, Marchington and Munro;

“This Council notes that:

1) School uniform can be a significant expense for many families and the cost-of-living crisis means that buying school uniforms is an even bigger concern than usual for many parents;

2) Recent research by the Children’s Society found that parents spent on average £287 a year on primary school uniforms and £422 a year on secondary uniforms, with branded items costing more. The Children’s Society also found that pupils

are expected to have an average of 3 branded items of uniform, while almost a third of secondary school pupils are required to own up to branded items;

3) The cost of uniforms can be unnecessarily pushed up by practices such as sourcing a uniform from a single specialist provider;

4) The Government has published new statutory guidance aimed at making school uniforms more affordable after a legal requirement to do so passed into law in 2021. In contrast to the previous school uniform guidance, which was non statutory, the Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act, which was introduced in the House of Commons in February 2020, and completed its stages in 2021, became law with cross-party support and requires the Government to publish legally binding guidance requiring school authorities to consider costs when setting school uniform policies. Schools and their governing boards must have regard to the statutory guidance when developing and implementing their school and trust uniform policies. The main points of the statutory guidance are:

·       Parents should not have to think about the cost of a school uniform when choosing which school(s) to apply for. Therefore, schools need to ensure that their uniform is affordable.

·       In considering cost, schools will need to think about the total cost of school uniforms, taking into account all items of uniform or clothing parents will need to provide while their child is at the school.

·       Schools should keep the use of branded items to a minimum.

·       A school’s uniform policy should be published on the school’s website, be available for all parents, including parents of prospective pupils, and be easily understood.

·       Schools should ensure that their uniform supplier arrangements give the highest priority to cost and value for money (including the quality and durability of the garment).

·       Single supplier contracts should be avoided unless regular tendering competitions are run where more than one supplier can compete for the contract and where the best value for money is secured. This contract should be retendered at least every 5 years.

·       Schools should ensure that second-hand uniforms are available for parents to acquire. Information on second-hand uniforms should be clear for parents of current and prospective pupils and published on the school’s website.

·       Schools should engage with parents and pupils when they are developing their school uniform policy.

This Council believes that:

1. The statutory guidance set out by the Government is having a limited impact as some schools are still failing to  ...  view the full agenda text for item 17:

Motion approved.

To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Butt, Scott, Marchington and P A Davies;

“This Council notes that:

1) Most of the UK has a combined sewerage system, meaning that both rainwater and waste water (from toilets, bathrooms and kitchens) are carried in the same pipes to a sewage treatment works. However, during heavy rainfall, the capacity of these pipes can be exceeded, which has the potential to back up and flood people’s homes, roads and open spaces, unless it is allowed to spill elsewhere. As a result, the system is designed to overflow occasionally and discharge excess wastewater into our rivers and seas. However, data shows that the use of overflows is not occasional, as it should be;

2) Sewage and wastewater discharge is a significant factor in water quality and has an adverse impact on the health of river ecosystems;

3) According to the Wildlife Trusts, only 16% of waters in England are currently in good ecological health and none meet chemical standards. This means that, overall, there are no rivers, lakes, estuaries or seas in England that are currently in a healthy condition;

4) This is a local issue as well. Last year, the amount of time sewage was allowed to spill into Yorkshire’s waterways was 232,054 hours, with 54,273 monitored spill events. According to the Environment Agency, parts of Yorkshire have some of the highest number of serious water pollution incidents in England and Kirklees has ranked amongst the highest in recent years.

Data from 2021 has revealed that 5 of the top 20 most polluted rivers are in Yorkshire, with the River Calder the second most sewage-polluted waterway in the country, with sewage flowing into the river and tributaries for 27,901

hours;

5) The Labour Party has published a plan to end the Conservative Sewage Dumping Scandal, with action to:

• Deliver mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets

• Give the Environment Agency the power to properly enforce the rules

• Introduce a legally binding target to end 90% of sewage discharges by 2030

• Introduce automatic fines for discharges, and a standing charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in place

• Ensure any failure to improve is paid for by eroding dividends, not added to customer bills, or hitting vital investment in the system

• Make sure that water bosses that routinely and systematically break the rules will be held professionally and personally accountable, by striking off company directors and ensuring illegal activity is punished.

The national Liberal Democrat party has published a plan to help tackle the sewage scandal. This includes:

• A ‘Sewage Tax’ of 16% on water companies to create an emergency fund for cleaning up rivers. The party believe that a significant proportion of the profits that water companies make should be reinvested to protect Britain’s streams and rivers, as it should be the water companies and not consumers who should pay to clean up the mess.

• Local environmental groups to be added onto  ...  view the full agenda text for item 18:

Motion approved.

To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Ramsay, Kendrick, Marchington and P A Davies;

“This Council notes that:

1) NHS dentistry operates similarly to GP practices in that most dentists are not employed directly by the NHS but operate as independent contractors. In practice, this means that dentists purchase and equip the surgery, hire staff and pay all the running costs (such as wages, materials and insurance) in order to provide an NHS dental service;

2) Dentists enter into agreements with NHS England which commits them to perform a set number of ‘units’ of treatment every year. The contract gives NHS dental practices targets to hit, and this is known as units of dental activity (UDA). If dental practices do not hit their targets, they risk losing a significant part of their NHS funding;

3) Dentists are paid by the NHS according to the number of UDAs they provide. UDAs are a measure of the amount of work done during dental treatment. More complex dental treatments count for more UDAs than simpler ones. For example, an examination is 1 UDA, fillings are 3 UDAs and dentures are 12 UDAs, but the UDA bears no relation to the amount of work or true cost of the treatment. This means that NHS dentists have to subsidise more complex work. In addition, dentists have inherited different UDA tariffs, so different dentists get paid different rates for the same treatment.

4) There is a shortage of dentists in England. According to NHS figures, the number of dentists providing NHS care in England fell from 23,733 at the end of 2020 to 21,544 at the end of January this year.

This means that the NHS now has the smallest number of dentists it has had for over a decade. It is also a local problem, with Kirklees losing 11% of its dentists, meaning that it is the among the 25 most affected areas nationally.

This Council believes that:

1) Access to NHS dental care and treatment has become enormously limited and this is a huge issue. Many people across Kirklees and England have been forced to go private and are battling to get treatment as practices stop seeing NHS patients. Many people travel miles outside their areas to access NHS treatment and some have even travelled overseas for treatment. Sadly, there has been a rise in do-it-yourself dentistry, which is enormously risky and can be harmful to dental health;

2) Dental care is an essential part of health care and should be available to all, yet oral health inequality is widening across Kirklees and across the country. A shortage of NHS appointments and treatment is particularly affecting those on low incomes the hardest, as well as patients with high levels of need, including those who are vulnerable. A lack of access to NHS dental care has real implications; it is deepening health inequalities and resulting in a rise of health issues, such as tooth decay, gum disease and oral cancer;

3) Dental  ...  view the full agenda text for item 19:

Motion approved.

To receive, for information, the response to the Motion approved by Council on 15 November 2023.

Noted.