Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Sub-Committee;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Item 5 – Call-In of Cabinet Decision (11 April 2013) – Special Needs Transport Change Programme 3 (SNT 3)

Councillor Sue Anderson declared a non pecuniary interest in the above item in that she was a member of a different branch of Unison and as her husband was Chair of Governors at Kingsbury School.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane declared a non pecuniary interest in the above item in that his sister was a teacher at Hatch End High School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Ajay Maru declared a non pecuniary interest in the above item in that his wife was a teaching assistant at Ambrose School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Jerry Miles declared a non pecuniary interest in the above item in that he was a member of a different branch of Unison.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Paul Osborn declared a non pecuniary interest in the above item in that he was the Portfolio Holder who had signed the decision on Special Needs Transport 1 (SNT1).  He would leave the room if the Sub-Committee discussed the SNT1 decision.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2013 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2013, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman outlined the procedure to be followed at the meeting and advised the Sub-Committee that they would not be able to decide that the decision was contrary to the policy framework or contrary to or not wholly in accordance with the budget framework as the decision had not been called-in on this ground.

RESOLVED:  That the Call-In would be determined on the basis of the following grounds:

(a)               inadequate consultation with stakeholders prior to the decision;

(b)               the absence of adequate evidence on which to base a decision;

(f)                 insufficient consideration of legal and financial advice.

The following documents are attached:-

a)     Notice invoking the Call-In;

b)     Extract from the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting held on 11 April 2013;

c)      Report submitted to Cabinet on 11 April 2013

The Sub-Committee received papers in respect of a call-in notice submitted by over 150 members of the public.

The Chairman invited the representative of the signatories, Mr Darren Butterfield of Unison, to present the reasons for the call-in of the decision to the Sub-Committee.

The representative of the signatories addressed each of the grounds for the call-in separately.

Ground 1 – Inadequate consultation with stakeholders prior to the decision

The representative of the signatories explained that at the Children and Families Departmental Joint Committee (DJC) on 19 March 2013 the information presented had been inadequate and had failed to include the Cabinet report, the Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) and the full business case.  A letter had been sent by the Unison Branch Secretary to the Leader of the Council requesting that the decision be suspended but a response had not been received.  Meetings with staff had taken place on 28 March 2013 and, due to the timing of the sessions, many Special Needs Transport (SNT) staff had been unable to attend.  The consultation did not satisfy Section 15 of the Recognition Agreement and consultation after the decision was not meaningful.  There had not been any consultation with the 515 service users but there were potential impacts on users including health and safety concerns and any future changes to the eligibility criteria.  There did not appear to have been any dialogue with officers in the Community, Health and Wellbeing Directorate or with other Members about the Cabinet report and the EqIA.  Two versions of the EqIA were available on the Council’s website, one of which was unsigned and undated, while the other had been signed by the Divisional Director Early Intervention Services.  It was not clear whether a recognised Council group, such as the Quality Assurance Board or the Corporate Equality Group had met to consider the EqIA.  There had not been consultation with Head Teachers on the EqIA.

Ground 2 – The absence of adequate evidence on which to base a decision

The representative of the signatories advised that the evidence provided was inadequate to assess the impact of the proposals and the EqIA assumed no impact on two of the protected characteristics, race and gender.  The proposals did not include information on what the new eligibility criteria would be for the service.

Ground 3 – Insufficient consideration of legal and financial advice

The representative of the signatories made reference to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and commented that full legal advice had not been given.  He explained that if full advice had been provided then the information lacking from the EqIA on race and gender would have been identified.

The Chairman then invited the Portfolio Holder for Children, Schools and Families to address the Sub-Committee.  She thanked the representative of the signatories for his presentation and introduced Councillor Phillips, her Portfolio Holder Assistant who had been involved with SNT 3.  The Portfolio Holder for Children, Schools and Families requested officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.