Cllr Kate Butler (Labour, Reddish North):
Research published earlier this year by the Children’s Society estimated that there are 1.6 million children in England living in families who have faced a Council Tax debt.
The Society’s report, called The Wolf at the Door, made eight central recommendations, including that Councils should not engage bailiffs in collecting Council Tax debt for families with children.
Will the Deputy Leader of the Council agree to review the findings of this important report and come back to elected members with details of how Stockport MBC can improve our Council Tax collection practices?
Cllr Iain Roberts, Deputy Leader of the Council (Liberal Democrat, Cheadle and Gatley):
I am very happy to come back with that. Of course there is a question whether they need improvement because I have certainly seen no evidence myself that is an issue in Stockport.
I have to say that one of the concerns I do have which I don’t see an immediate solution to is that our Council Tax team don’t have that information, so they have no way of actually knowing how many children there are in a household in debt, which is a concern.
I do know that when we do use bailiffs, we always take the utmost care in making sure it is done properly and correctly within the law and I am more than happy to come back with a report on that.
Our comment: If the Executive don’t have access to this information it is a cause for concern, but it is at least a step forward that the report will be reviewed and Stockport will see if any lessons can be learnt. The Lib Dems often seem to question whether there is any room for improvement which is not a constructive way of running a Local Authority
Cllr Tom McGee (Labour, Heatons South):
National Diabetes week took place 2 weeks ago, and we have about 14,000 in Stockport with Type1/Type 2 Diabetes…and there are probably another 3–4,000 people living with the disease who have not been identified yet. One of the things that we would like to see is what work is being done…to either identify Diabetes earlier or to prevent it altogether.
To put it in context, there are probably around 70 people in the chamber and that’s 3 or 4 people on average, in a room this size, with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
If we talk about 3-4,000 not having been identified, we need to get our GP’s and public health colleagues, in particular, working together to try and improve detection rates.
Could the Executive Member for Independence and Well-Being inform members of what plans we have got for improving in this area in the future?
Cllr John Pantall, Executive Member for Independence and Well-Being (Liberal Democrat, Cheadle Hulme North):
I first encountered the need to carry out pre-symptomatic diagnosis of Diabetes about 50 years ago and it’s been on the agenda and very recently.
I think because of the initiative of Simon Stevens, the Head of NHS England, who is very focused on prevention and early identification of disease, I am a bit more optimistic now.
I think when we talk about the [public health] motion later, we might also enquire whether politicians nationally are as focused on prevention, but I think there is some drive, after many, many years and many different governments into pre-symptomatic diagnosis.
It’s a major area and I hope it will move forward, as indeed I hope will work on screening for high blood pressure, which is also highly important.
Our comment: Very little by way of any concrete action which the Executive could inform Councillors that they are taking, despite the Council’s relatively new powers on public health
Cllr Wendy Wild (Labour, Davenport and Cale Green):
There is a very important meeting taking place in the next few weeks of the Healthier Together Committee in Common [a Greater Manchester NHS Partnership Group], who will meet on 15th July to decide the location of the next remaining general surgery site, could you explain to us what you are actually doing to lobby on behalf of Stepping Hill to become the fourth specialist site?
Cllr Pantall (as above):
Because I think the original process was a little tricky for Stockport, in that patients from Heald Green, Gatley and Cheadle flow towards Wythenshawe, we always had this task of making sure that there wasn’t a reduction of specialist services to one section of Stockport.
I think what we, the Health Scrutiny [Committee] and the Health and Wellbeing Board did was to try to focus on what we were seeking out of the Healthier Together Review in terms of improved services and outcomes.
What I tried to do in particular, but not always with great success, was to say that Healthier Together has three strands – it’s about integration, it’s about primary care, and it’s about specialist out of hours care for life threatening disease.
I think the process was quite interesting in terms of the engagement at a Greater Manchester level, but there gradually was a shift over the length of the consultation and members who were here at the time, will recall that the consultation period was extended.
I think the wider agenda will have been clear to anyone who went to the final consultation event at Stockport College, and that was the agenda I was supporting. Ann Barnes, the Chief Executive of Stepping Hill, recognises the importance of collaboration with other hospitals.
I think what was always quite interesting was that even though the press wanted to designate a hospital, Stepping Hill recognised, and I supported this view, that collaboration was important…the notion that Stepping Hill wasn’t a specialist hospital was daft anyway.
…quite a lot of time spent in a soft way influencing at various points. Like the rest of Greater Manchester I would be emphasising the need to make sure there was a balanced approach.
But we still need to make sure that wherever people are in Stockport, that they can get access to their hospital of choice. That wouldn’t be diminished because one hospital had a small number of patients, and you were given the figure by Dr. Ranjit Gill at the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny.
It was a frustrating process, but I think one in the end thinks yes they got a bit further along the road, and I think it’s positive locally.
Cllr Wild (supplementary question):
I would be very grateful if you would give us in indication of what lobbying you are doing now. I realise about the consultation, but I would be really pleased to have an indication of what lobbying you are doing before the meeting where the decision is going to be made.
Cllr Pantall:
Mr. Mayor, one of the points I made at Scrutiny is that I am not speculating.
But I think there is a positive result expected.
We do happen as well as the Health and Wellbeing Board on 15th July to have the Governors of Stepping Hill that evening, so that’s when I think we move forward, but I am working on an optimistic basis.
If I’m proved wrong, I won’t eat my hat, but kind of walk backwards or something in your presence, but I think on the 15th July we will get some good discussion.
I hope we will also be able to take on board what Cllr Holloway has raised and I think since January, I have been optimistic following the two day workshop which brought together various interests at Edgeley Park, which I know some people attended.
So I’m looking for an outcome that is sensible, and means that people in Tameside, High Peak, the Macclesfield part of East Cheshire as well as Stockport, have got a strong single service here, which Stepping Hill is central to.
Our comment: Since this question Stepping Hill Hospital has obtained specialist status which Labour has been consistently campaigning for. This response illustrates the lack of action the Lib Dem Exec took to stand up for Stockport in the run-up to this vital decision
Cllr Wendy Wild (Labour, Davenport and Cale Green):
The Independent Living Fund paid out an average of £300 a week to approximately 18,000 severely disabled people around the country, until it closed on Tuesday. Stockport had 80 recipients of this support who between them received almost £1.1 million in 2014-15.
A recent Freedom of Information request from the BBC and the charity Disability Rights UK has revealed that just under a third of Councils are now saying that they will ring-fence the money from Central Government to replace the ILF in order to support disabled people.
Can I ask the Executive Member for Supporting Adults to outline what provision he has put in place since I asked about this issue at the last Council Meeting on 2nd April?
On that occasion he simply said ‘we are looking at cases individually and that this work wasn’t completed yet’, but the fund has now closed and I think members of the public, and particularly those affected, would appreciate clarity on the Council’s plans.
Cllr Keith Holloway, Executive Member for Supporting Adults (Liberal Democrat, Cheadle and Gatley):
As I did say at the last meeting, we are not proposing to ring-fence the funding for the Independent Living Fund. At the moment we are still going through a process of working with our individual clients.
The interim funding [from the Government] which is coming through for this year will certainly be used for precisely that purpose. What then happens in 12 months, we are still working on and that will be part of our budget proposals for 2016-17.
Our comment: Whilst the Lib Dems are desperately trying to distance themselves from many of the decisions they took in Government, this a litmus test of how serious they are in helping some of the most vulnerable residents in Stockport.
Cllr Dean Fitzpatrick (Labour, Heatons South):
What steps has the Executive Member for Supporting Places taken to engage with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to ensure that Stockport is not left behind as a commuter hub if we are bypassed by HS2, and to guarantee that the borough realises the benefits the project will bring?
Cllr Martin Candler, Executive Member for Supporting Places (Liberal Democrat, Marple North):
On the matter of what steps I’ve taken in relation to the TfGM, I have to yield to my colleague who has now replaced me as a member of that Committee [Councillor Iain Roberts]. He will be very active on the issue of all the transport matters, particularly in relation to rail.
But before I yielded that post to my colleague Councillor Roberts, I was involved in conversations trying to ensure that places going to be bypassed by HS2 were going to be given opportunity to work together. I alerted staff in Stockport to the need to make contact with places like Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield, who were going to be similarly affected. I trust those conversations with other authorities will carry on.
However, I have to say that a lot of question marks have been posed recently about the future of HS2. The funding issue simply doesn’t appear to add up. I think my view is that the chances of HS2 making it within the next 30 years look slim…I may be wrong.
So, I don’t know whether HS2 is really going to be a serious player. A lot of people are asking questions where it doesn’t seem to add up and I’m not sure it’s going to. As far as other matters in relation to transport, again, I will yield to my colleague, Councillor Roberts, I don’t know whether he wants to come in on this answer, but certainly we are alive to all possible improvements to transport in this part of the world and we will continue to be.
Our comment: Another complacent response from an Executive Member. It seems Stockport’s Liberal Democrats seem to know what nobody else in the country does – that HS2 won’t be going ahead and that our borough won’t be affected. It should also be noted that Cllr Candler only stopped being a TfGM Committee member as recently as May 2015, so he should have a deeper insight to offer.
Cllr Alex Ganotis (Leader of the Labour Group, Heatons North):
Can the Executive Member for Safe and Resilient Communities outline how she liaised with Greater Manchester Police in advance of a press release from the Council on Tuesday entitled ‘Level 2 Heatwave Alert’ which advised residents to ‘open windows at night when the temperature has dropped’?
Cllr Shan Alexander, Executive Member for Safe and Resilient Communities (Liberal Democrat, Marple South):
I think it’s one of those things that go out, which the Police do send out, about opening windows. What exactly do you want to know about that?
Cllr Ganotis:
I will just repeat what I originally asked. How did you liaise with Greater Manchester Police in relation to that press release?
Cllr Alexander:
I was on leave, I’m really not clear on that. I will have to send you a written reply.
Cllr Ganotis (supplementary question):
Can I just ask to follow that up, as Stockport saw a 17% increase in violent crime and a 34% increase in sexual offences in 2014-15, and community safety should be a top priority of the Executive, is this advice which a force which has lost 1,100 officers since 2010 will thank the Council for?
Cllr Alexander:
I have taken over this portfolio very recently. I have been on leave. I honestly cannot give you a full reply to any of the questions on the communities’ portfolio, but I will send you a written reply.
Our comment: Community Safety ought to be a top priority for the Executive, especially in light of updated crime figures which show violent crime increasing even more during the last year. The lack of insight on partnership working with GMP is worrying
Cllr Philip Harding (Labour, Edgeley and Cheadle Heath):
Stockport’s Libraries are included in locality working proposals which will affect services across the borough. These proposals seek to identify options for delivering these important community assets differently, but to date members have seen very little detail at all on what this will mean in practice.
Can the Executive Member for Safe and Resilient Communities guarantee that none of the 17 libraries which serve our residents will close as a result of this redesign of services?
Cllr Alexander (as above):
It’s again a new portfolio. I understand the questions but I haven’t even had a briefing so far, and I understand I will be discussing the proposals and bringing forward a paper in the autumn.
Our comment: Again, the lack of an answer on such an important issue is amazing. The Executive Member responsible has been in post for almost 2 months and the lack of knowledge which is admitted to in her reply is very serious
Cllr Colin Foster (Labour, Heatons South):
Members across the chamber will have seen data which was recently published by the National Society for the Prevention of Child Cruelty (NSPCC) which said there were 1,825 recorded sexual offences against under-18s in 2013-14 in Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester had more recorded child sex offences than anywhere else in the country outside of London in the period referred to. The figures also marked a significant rise from the 864 recorded offences across our region in 2012-2013.
Whilst these latest figures predate the launch of Greater Manchester Police’s It’s Not Okay campaign to tackle child sexual exploitation last September, it is clear that there is more that all partner agencies and our communities can do to prevent these awful crimes being committed.
Will the Executive Member for Supporting Children undertake to re-double the Council’s efforts in tackling the sexual exploitation of children in our borough and across the region?
Cllr Wendy Meikle, Executive Member for Supporting Children (Liberal Democrat, Offerton):
Councillor Foster, of course I will.
Just to update you all, do you remember we had a presentation a couple of months back from Chris [McLoughlin, Children’s Service] and the team? We are planning another one for September and it will update all members.
I had a fantastic report at the Safeguarding meeting on Tuesday 30th June that I was going to share with all members.
What we have decided to do instead is to hold that back and do a presentation so that members can all come along and hear about the good work that we are doing and it will keep you up to date with things in Stockport.
Our comment: This is an issue which members from all sides of the Council are seeking to work across party divides on, and to promote increased awareness of the severity of some of the challenges with Stockport and Greater Manchester faces in tackling child sexual exploitation.