1.        The following motion has been received from Councillor Walshe:

“Rewiring Public Services

This Council, noting

-          that England is now widely recognised to be the country with the most centralised system of government in Europe;

-          that devolution has brought decisions about tax and spending, and the quality of public services, closer to voters in Scotland and Wales, while English voters have not gained comparably greater influence over decision-making that affects their taxes and services; and

considers

-          that the likely scale of change in how public services are funded and provided  makes it democratically unsustainable for those changes to be decided within the existing over-centralised model;

-          that services need to be reformed and integrated across local agencies to enable them to prevent problems rather than picking up the pieces;

-          that voters should be given back a meaningful say on a wider range of tax and spending decisions, through place-based budgetary arrangements, the abolition of the discredited Barnett formula and the reinstatement of fair financial distribution agreed among English councils, the re-creation of a municipal bond market, and the certainty of multi-year funding settlements for the life of a Parliament;

-          that central government should enable that local decision-making by joining up and reducing in size Whitehall departments in order to facilitate local place-based budgets, by reducing Ministers’ powers to  intervene in local decisions, and replacing bureaucratic tick-box inspection regimes with local service users champions; and

-          that such a new more mature settlement between central and local government should be put beyond future revision by giving formal constitutional protection to local democracy; and

resolves

-          to support the Local Government Association’s Rewiring Public Services campaign, which embodies these objectives;

-          to ask the District’s Members of Parliament to support the Rewiring Public Services campaign to improve local voters’ influence over services, tax and spending; and

-          to make the council’s position clear to the Secretary of State.”

Councillor Walshe proposed, and Councillor Mrs Purves seconded the following motion:

This Council, noting

·         that England is now widely recognised to be the country with the most centralised system of government in Europe;

·         that devolution has brought decisions about tax and spending, and the quality of public services, closer to voters in Scotland and Wales, while English voters have not gained comparably greater influence over decision-making that affects their taxes and services; and

considers

·         that the likely scale of change in how public services are funded and provided  makes it democratically unsustainable for those changes to be decided within the existing over-centralised model;

·         that services need to be reformed and integrated across local agencies to enable them to prevent problems rather than picking up the pieces;

·         that voters should be given back a meaningful say on a wider range of tax and spending decisions, through place-based budgetary arrangements, the abolition of the discredited Barnett formula and the reinstatement of fair financial distribution agreed among English councils, the re-creation of a municipal bond market, and the certainty of multi-year funding settlements for the life of a Parliament;

·         that central government should enable that local decision-making by joining up and reducing in size Whitehall departments in order to facilitate local place-based budgets, by reducing Ministers’ powers to  intervene in local decisions, and replacing bureaucratic tick-box inspection regimes with local service users champions; and

·         that such a new more mature settlement between central and local government should be put beyond future revision by giving formal constitutional protection to local democracy; and

resolves

·         to support the Local Government Association’s Rewiring Public Services campaign, which embodies these objectives;

·         to ask the District’s Members of Parliament to support the Rewiring Public Services campaign to improve local voters’ influence over services, tax and spending; and

·         to make the council’s position clear to the Secretary of State. 

Councillor Walshe spoke to the motion stating that it was a suggested one by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Council should show support of their campaign.  This Country had the most centralised government in Europe, and he referred mainly to England rather than Scotland and Wales.  It was an all party campaign many other authorities had already shown support for.  A video clip from the LGA website was shown to support the motion.

Councillor Fleming agreed with the motion in principle and supported its key aims, but advised that since the suggested motion by the LGA had been published, things had moved on.  For example different language was now being used.  Also it was such an important debate and involved more than just the local authority but the wider community and partners too, and at this stage it would be more beneficial to have the Chairman attend and address the Council at this stage.

Councillor Fleming therefore moved an amendment, which was seconded by Cllr Ms Lowe,

“that a decision on the motion be deferred until such time as the Chairman of the LGA could attend and enable a wider debate with the community and partners.”

Members debated the amendment.  The amendment to the motion was then put to the vote and it was carried.

The substantive motion therefore being considered was:

“That a decision on the motion be deferred until such time as the Chairman of the Local Government Association could attend and enable a wider debate with the community and partners.”

Members were keen that the wider debate also involve local MPs and be expedited.  It was noted that a wider debate would not be as part of a formal council meeting due to the number of people and groups to be consulted, but that any findings from such a debate would progress through the committee system.  Councillor Fleming undertook to complete the process by the end of the municipal year 2013/14.

Resolved:  That a decision on the motion be deferred until such time as the Chairman of the Local Government Association could attend and enable a wider debate with the community and partners.