Lively debates over workers’ rights, ‘class war’ and a history-making motion were all on the table at a busy meeting of Sefton’s full council last night.
Councillors from across the borough met at Bootle Town Hall with a packed agenda, which included some testy discussions on a wide range of issues affecting Sefton and beyond.
From the elusive minutes of the children’s services improvement board to why Sefton Council lags behind other authorities in the area and refuses to live stream its council meetings – here are six things we learnt from yesterday’s full council meeting.
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No plans to clear sand from Crosby promenade
In response to a question submitted by Cllr Howard over lobbying by a local community group to remove some of the sand which has built up over time on Crosby Promenade, a written answer provided by leader of the council Cllr Maher said the proposal had been reviewed by officers at the leader’s request.
However, he added the work required would “have a significant impact on residents in the area” and other beach users because HGVs would need access in order to clear the sand. Mr Maher said, as a result, the decision was made not to progress with the idea.
At the meeting, Cllr Howard asked Cllr Maher to expand on his answer, to which he said: “It is something that would initially take a considerable amount of time, a year, well over two years, and will have to be done again and again” causing ongoing disruption to residents ultimately “making it all worse.”
No live streaming of council meetings after estimated cost revealed
A question was raised by Liberal Democrat deputy leader Cllr Leo Evans about the lack of live streaming of council meetings in Sefton.
At a previous meeting where the question was asked, the full council had been told it was too expensive to buy the equipment required to live stream meetings, which was estimated to cost around £100k.
Cllr Evans had asked at the time for a breakdown of those costs, which was not provided to him, leading to a follow-up question seeking clarification.
In a written response, Cllr Maher apologised the information had not been provided and said the figures followed consultation with “neighbouring authorities” – all of which do live stream their meetings.
Cllr Maher added the council had also “gone to market” to explore costs and found portable devices in the region of £34k to £49k, stating: “To date, there is no budget to purchase a new system, therefore further work is required to develop a costed and funded option.”
At the council meeting, Cllr Evans said: “It’s not David Attenborough level of production here, it doesn’t require £100k of equipment.
“Can I ask the leader could he please actually explore options on this – unless of course the answer is he doesn’t actually want the meetings streamed?”
Cllr Maher responded, saying Cllr Evans’ question was “disingenuous” adding: “We may well look at it again in the future but I won’t ask officers to explore it at every council meet I’m afraid.”
£17m children’s services overspend ‘not driven by improvements’
Responding to a written question put by Conservative leader Cllr Prendergast about where £17m of budget overspending had come from in the council’s troubled children’s services department, Cllr Maher said there had been “no direct impact” from the department’s poor Ofsted rating on its budget.
He said the increase in costs had been “driven by a number of events” since the original budget was set.
These included the effect of inflation on accommodation costs, increased costs being set by private providers, the reliance on agencies to staff social work positions and chronic government underfunding.
Cllr Prendergast asked whether, given recruitment was one of the issues identified, Cllr Maher wouldn’t agree that the service’s poor Ofsted rating had an indirect impact on its attractiveness to potential employees, which then fed into the increased staffing costs.
Cllr Maher said the problem of social workers going to agencies rather than taking roles directly with councils was a “national issue” rather than unique to Sefton. He added: “The Ofsted rating was more than disappointing and yes it’s important how we deal with that and recognise that going forward.”
However, he said the £17m overspend “would be reduced if the government got its finger out” and acted on agencies who “rip off councils up and down this country by holding local authorities to ransom”.
He added that the “lack of support with social care for at least the last 12 years needs to be addressed”
No update on elusive children’s improvement board minutes
Members of the council’s children’s services and overview and scrutiny committee have been raising the issue for several months that minutes of an improvement board – set up in the wake of the service’s poor Ofsted rating – have never been released for scrutiny.
Cllr Prendergast asked the cabinet member for children’s services Cllr Mhairi Doyle: “Is there any update as to when the public or the overview and scrutiny committee will be able to have sight of them – and if not, why not?”
Cllr Doyle said she didn’t want to “pre-empt” a visit from the children’s services commissioner to the next meeting of the overview and scrutiny board so would not be providing an update to full council.
Sefton made history as the first Merseyside authority to “put care leavers at the heart of decisions”
A motion submitted by cabinet member for education, Cllr Diane Roscoe, to treat ‘care experienced’ as a protected characteristic – meaning this would be something that had to be considered whenever policies were being devised or services planned – received unanimous approval by councillors across the board.
The motion, which also included a call to lobby other partners agencies to consider themselves corporate parents – which could free up social workers who often focus on basic tasks for people in the process of leaving care – was inspired by campaigner Terry Galloway.
Drawing on his own traumatic experiences in care with his siblings, Terry has been campaigning with local authorities to ensure ongoing consideration of the needs of people who grow up in care at the heart of council decision-making.
After passing the motion, Sefton became one of just a handful of councils at the forefront of this initiative – and the first in Merseyside.
The issue of workers’ rights sets the cats among the pigeons in Sefton
A motion brought by Cllr Sean Halsall caused quite a debate in the council chamber, with sometimes testy exchanges amid “history lessons” and exclamations about “class war” from across the political divides.
The motion called on the council to support striking workers up and down the country as many key workers and crucial public service workers fight for a pay rise amidst the spiralling cost of living.
It asked councillors to agree to put on record thanks for workers and support for “in their collective struggle” and calls on government departments to “negotiate fairly with trade unions and end” the current disputes “amicably.”
Cllr Halsall spoke to councillors of the importance of the trade union movement in progressing the rights of workers in Sefton and beyond, people who are striking as a “last resort”, and in many cases for the first time, amid huge rises in inflation and lack of constructive negotiations from the government.
A Liberal Democrat amendment, which deleted many of the references to the trade union movement and included a more broad list of people affected by “government ineptitude” was proposed by Liberal Democrat leader Cllr John Pugh, sparking a fiery discussion which included conservative Cllr Sir Ron Watson decrying the “outdated term workers”.
This led to a comment by Cllr Howard who asked which was the more outdated word, the one that referred to people who worked or the term ‘sir’, causing some laughter across the chamber.
Cllr Shaw accused Cllr Halsall of being a member of the “far left”, referring to his recent attendance at Enough is Enough events – leading to some joke about “comrade” and sparking a further debate about socialism and liberalism amid accusations Cllr Halsall was engaged in “class warfare.”
After a range of other discussions, including around the history of the trade union movement and the impact of Thatcher, with several councillors referring to the debate becoming at times a “history lesson” the Liberal Democrat amendment was ultimately rejected.
Cllr Halsall’s original motion passed with the vote falling along party lines – Labour councillors and former labour independents voting to accept the motion, Conservative and former conservative independents rejecting it and Lib Dems abstaining.
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