The Leader of the Council moved a motion without notice to change the order of the Council business (Council Procedure Rule 19.1(c)), to bring forward: Item 8 Resignation of the Leader of the Council and Item 9 Appointment of Leader of the Council, for consideration after the Lord Mayor's Announcements and Special Business. The motion was seconded by Councillor Karney.

Resolution

The motion was put to Council and voted on, and the Lord Mayor declared that it was carried.

Decision

That the order of business be changed to bring forward: Item 8 - Resignation of the Leader of the Council and Item 9 - Appointment of Leader of the Council, for consideration after the Lord Mayor's Announcements and Special Business.

1.    To receive a presentation: Our Year 2022.

2.    Lord Mayor’s Special Recognition Award – Presentation to Claire Mooney in recognition of her significant contributions to women’s rights, workers rights and tackling homophobia and social injustice across the city.

The Lord Mayor referred to the bye-election held on 18 November 2021 for Chorlton ward and welcomed Councillor Benham to his first meeting of the Council.

The Lord Mayor invited the Director of Public Health to provide a statement and update on Covid-19. Reference was made to the recent rise in cases of the Omicron variant of concern and the Council was advised that the best protection against Covid and its variants is vaccination and a booster jab and to follow government guidance, in particular wearing face coverings. The Director of Health made reference to World Aids Day and the work that has taken place to greatly reduce the threat of the condition.

The Lord Mayor invited the Executive Member for Children’s Services to introduce the Our Year 2022 presentation dedicating 2022 as Our Year, a Year to celebrate and further support children and Young People in Manchester. The Lord Mayor invited the following student representatives to make a statement to the Council:

·         Angelica Mason-Penny from Lancasterian School;

·         Kate Bibby and Hahan Ahmed from Connell College;

·         Filipos Kola and Hakeem Zaki Mohammed from Burnage High School;

·         Harrit Palmer and Rohit Kurien from St John’s Primary School, and

·         Noor Fatimar Rafi from Manchester Youth Parliament

The Lord Mayor also introduced a video that included students and representatives from St James Primary School, Norbrook Youth Club, Young Carers and children from the Parent and Carers Forum to recite a poem by Manchester PoetReece Williams.

The Lord Mayor thanked everyone for taking part in the inspiring presentation.

The Lord Mayor presented Claire Mooney with a Special Recognition Award in acknowledgement of her significant contribution to women's rights, worker's rights and tackling homophobia and social injustice across the city.

Councillor Craig congratulated Claire and spoke about her important work and how this has contributed to improving the lives of the people of Manchester.

The Lord Mayor notified the Council of the resignation of Councillor Sir Richard Leese as Leader of the Council.

The Lord Mayor paid tribute to Councillor Leese for service to the city and his contribution to the successes, challenges and changes that Manchester has experienced during the twenty-five years that Councillor Leese has served as the Leader of the Council.

Councillor Karney also paid tribute to Councillor Leese.

The Lord Mayor invited nominations for the appointment of Leader of the Council.

Councillor Leese proposed Councillor Bev Craig as Leader of the Council. Councillor Karney seconded the proposal.

No other nominations were received.

After the Council voted on this, the Lord Mayor declared that Councillor Bev Craig was elected Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council then addressed the Council in thanks and recognised the work of Councillor Leese. The Leader also highlighted the Council’s priorities and work needed to build on the City’s success and to move forward to ensure a safe, healthy and prosperous future for its residents.

The Chief Executive addressed the Council on behalf of all Council employees and paid tribute to Councillor Leese and congratulated and welcomed Councillor Craig as Leader of the Council.

Councillor Leech paid tribute to Councillor Leese in recognising his service to the Council. Councillor Leech also congratulated Councillor Craig on her election.

To submit for approval the minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2021.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2021 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Lord Mayor.

The Government’s austerity agenda has decimated police numbers and stripped youth service provision to the bone over the years, and this has clearly had an impact on the growth of Serious Youth Crime. The lives impacted by Serious Youth Crime often means we see lives cut short and futures lost. Families, friends, and communities devastated for what a turf war, toxic masculinity or more dangerously, criminal exploitation?

A 2021 report from Manchester Metropolitan University on Serious Youth Violence shows that while crime has fallen rapidly over the last 20 years, serious youth violence defined by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) as ‘any drug, robbery or violence against the person offence that has a gravity score of five of more’ – has been rising with figures showing that both perpetrators and victims of these offences are getting younger. According to the Youth Violence Commission Final Report, SYV in England and Wales generated a total economic and social cost of £1.3 billion in 2018/19; a rise of over 50 per cent since 2014/15.

Though the social and economic reasons for serious youth violence are multiple. However, one commonality is that serious youth violence is underpinned by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The 2021 report noted that youth justice workers interviewed for this research noted the high prevalence of ACEs among the children they work with. They noted how rare it was for a child to have only one or two ACEs, with most children having many more.

Adverse childhood trauma affects physical health, emotional balance, academic and professional capabilities and often interrupts lives with early death.

Therefore, this motion calls on Manchester City Council in 2022, which is also Manchester’s year of the child to champion not only greater awareness of ACEs and its consequences but ensure that children should receive trauma informed interventions by professionals at the point of adverse experiences. Children should have access to these services via schools, social services and health services. Early intervention in a child’s life can not only reduce the consequences of ACE but also potentially reduce the number of children presenting to services for Serious Youth Violence offences but also reduce the economic and social cost of Serious Youth Violence.

Proposed by Councillor M Dar, seconded by Councillor

Igbon and also signed (via email) by Councillors Battle, Doswell, Hussain and Riasat.

The Government’s austerity agenda has decimated police numbers and stripped youth service provision to the bone over the years, and this has clearly had an impact on the growth of Serious Youth Crime. The lives impacted by Serious Youth Crime often means we see lives cut short and futures lost. Families, friends, and communities devastated for what a turf war, toxic masculinity or more dangerously, criminal exploitation?

A 2021 report from Manchester Metropolitan University Serious Youth Violence shows that while crime has fallen rapidly over the last 20 years, serious youth violence defined by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) as ‘any drug, robbery or violence against the person offence that has a gravity score of five of more’ – has been rising with figures showing that both perpetrators and victims of these offences are getting younger. According to the Youth Violence Commission Final Report, SYV in England and Wales generated a total economic and social cost of £1.3 billion in 2018/19; a rise of over 50 per cent since 2014/15.

Though the social and economic reasons for serious youth violence are multiple. However, one commonality is that serious youth violence is underpinned by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The 2021 report noted that youth justice workers interviewed for this research noted the high prevalence of ACEs among the children they work with. They noted how rare it was for a child to have only one or two ACEs, with most children having many more.

Adverse childhood trauma affects physical health, emotional balance, academic and professional capabilities and often interrupts lives with early death.

Therefore, this motion calls on Manchester City Council in 2022, which is also Manchester’s year of the child to champion not only greater awareness of ACEs and its consequences but ensure that children should receive trauma informed interventions by professionals at the point of adverse experiences. Children should have access to these services via schools, social services and health services. Early intervention in a child’s life can not only reduce the consequences of ACE but also potentially reduce the number of children presenting to services for Serious Youth Violence offences but also reduce the economic and social cost of Serious Youth Violence.

Motion proposed and seconded:

Resolution

The motion was put to Council and voted on and the Lord Mayor declared that it was carried unanimously.

Decision

The Government’s austerity agenda has decimated police numbers and stripped youth service provision to the bone over the years, and this has clearly had an impact on the growth of Serious Youth Crime. The lives impacted by Serious Youth Crime often means we see lives cut short and futures lost. Families, friends, and communities devastated for what a turf war, toxic masculinity or more dangerously, criminal exploitation?

A 2021 report from Manchester Metropolitan University Serious Youth Violence shows that while crime has fallen rapidly over the last 20 years, serious youth violence defined by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) as ‘any drug, robbery or violence against the person offence that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

The Council notes:

This October hundreds of women and young people took to St Peter’s Square in protests against a sharp rise in spiking cases.

Even though drink-spiking is an offence and can carry a ten-year prison sentence, it is hard to get a clear picture of the scale of drink spiking and spiking including spiking via injection: there simply is no recent or comprehensive publicly-available data on the number of reported cases.

According to Stamp Out Spiking national research, over 97% of victims don't report being spiked to the police, and generally people don't usually report spiking unless there are further offences committed.

Manchester is the home of the Women’s rights movement. We are proud as a city to have active campaigning and support organisations who have continually fought for the safety and protection of women.

The Council resolves:

To support initiatives which actively challenge cultural attitudes that allow sexual assault and harassment to take place including improving education for boys and men regarding personal responsibility, respect, consent and healthy attitudes to sex and relationships;

To explore whether conditions on licenced premises can be included through the Council’s licencing regime to ensure venues have appropriate security and staff training in place to improve safety including the search for spiking paraphernalia and recognising signs that someone could be perpetrating this offence;

To commit to work with key stakeholders, particularly those in the night time economy, to review and implement all possible safety options as a matter of urgency;

To ensure that women’s safety is a key focus on the Council’s Commission on Tackling Violence and Misogyny against Women and Girls that will be launched in 2022;

To write to the UK Government and seek clarity on its plans to classify misogyny as a hate crime, which would encourage reporting of spiking incidents and enable better categorisation of crime to understand the scale of the issue;

To ask the CEO and the new Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Stephen Watson to write a joint letter to the government for a comprehensive review into the prevalence of, and response of the criminal justice system when investigating spiking offences. The review to consider the incidence rates and rates of reporting by victims; charging and prosecution rates for the offence; the adequacy of sentencing guidelines for the offence; the adequacy of police investigations into reports of the offence; re-offending rates, and rates of offenders who commit sexual offences following a charge or sentence for administering substance with intent; the impact of the offence on victims.

Proposed by Councillor Lynch, seconded by Councillor Stogia and also signed (via email) by Councillors Jeavons, Ludford, Midgley, Moore, Rahman and Russell

The Council notes:

This October hundreds of women and young people took to St Peter’s Square in protests against a sharp rise in spiking cases. Even though drink-spiking is an offence and can carry a ten-year prison sentence, it is hard to get a clear picture of the scale of drink spiking and spiking including spiking via injection: there simply is no recent or comprehensive publicly available data on the number of reported cases.

According to Stamp Out Spiking national research, over 97% of victims don't report being spiked to the police, and generally people don't usually report spiking unless there are further offences committed. Manchester is the home of the Women’s rights movement. We are proud as a city to have active campaigning and support organisations who have continually fought for the safety and protection of women.

The Council resolves:

To support initiatives which actively challenge cultural attitudes that allow sexual assault and harassment to take place including improving education for boys and men regarding personal responsibility, respect, consent and healthy attitudes to sex and relationships;

To explore whether conditions on licenced premises can be included through the Council’s licencing regime to ensure venues have appropriate security and staff training in place to improve safety including the search for spiking paraphernalia and recognising signs that someone could be perpetrating this offence;

To commit to work with key stakeholders, particularly those in the night-time economy, to review and implement all possible safety options as a matter of urgency;

To ensure that women’s safety is a key focus on the Council’s Commission on Tackling Violence and Misogyny against Women and Girls that will be launched in 2022;

To write to the UK Government and seek clarity on its plans to classify misogyny as a hate crime, which would encourage reporting of spiking incidents and enable better categorisation of crime to understand the scale of the issue;

To ask the CEO and the new Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Stephen Watson to write a joint letter to the government for a comprehensive review into the prevalence of, and response of the criminal justice system when investigating spiking offences. The review to consider the incidence rates and rates of reporting by victims; charging and prosecution rates for the offence; the adequacy of sentencing guidelines for the offence; the adequacy of police investigations into reports of the offence; re-offending rates, and rates of offenders who commit sexual offences following a charge or sentence for administering substance with intent; the impact of the offence on victims.

Motion proposed and seconded:

Resolution

The motion was put to Council and voted on and the Lord Mayor declared that it was carried unanimously.

Decision

The Council notes:

This October hundreds of women and young people took to St Peter’s Square in protests against a sharp rise in spiking cases. Even though drink-spiking is an offence and can carry a ten-year prison sentence, it is hard to get a clear picture of the scale of drink spiking and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

To submit the minutes of the Executive on 20 October 2021 and 17 November 2021 and in particular to consider:

Exe/21/98        Capital Programme Update

The Executive recommends that the Council approve the following changes to Manchester City Council’s capital programme:

·                Neighbourhoods – Blackley Crematorium Cremator Replacement Additional Funding. A capital budget increase of £0.203m is requested, funded by Borrowing.

Exe/21/113    Withington Baths Financial Support

The Executive recommends to Council a capital budget increase of £1 million for the purpose of a loan from Manchester City Council to Love Withington Baths Charitable

Trust, to be over a repayment period of a maximum of 25 years, and to be

funded from borrowing.

Exe/21/120    This City – Funding for Phase 1 Development

The Executive recommends that the Council approve a capital budget increase of £33m

funded by prudential borrowing.

The proceedings of the Executive on 20 October and 17 November 2021 were submitted.

The Council was asked to give particular consideration to the following recommendations:

Exe/21/98 Capital Programme Monitoring 2021/22  

The Executive recommends that the Council approve the

following changes to Manchester City Council’s capital

programme:

·         Neighbourhoods – Blackley Crematorium Cremator Replacement Additional Funding. A capital budget increase of £0.203m is requested, funded by Borrowing.

Exe/21/113 Withington Baths Financial Support

The Executive recommends to Council a capital budget increase of £1 million for the purpose of a loan from Manchester City Council to Love Withington Baths Charitable Trust, to be over a repayment period of a maximum of 25 years, and to be funded from borrowing.

Exe/21/120 This City – Funding for Phase 1 Development

The Executive recommends that the Council approve a capital budget increase of £33m funded by prudential borrowing.

Decisions

1.    To receive the minutes of the Executive held on 20 October 2021 and 17 November 2021.

2.    To approve the following change to Manchester City Council’s capital

programme: Neighbourhoods – Blackley Crematorium Cremator Replacement Additional Funding. A capital budget increase of £0.203m, funded by Borrowing.

3.    To approve a capital budget increase of £1 million for the purpose of a loan from Manchester City Council to Love Withington Baths Charitable Trust, to be over a repayment period of a maximum of 25 years, and to be funded from borrowing.

4.    To approve a capital budget increase of £33m funded by prudential borrowing in respect of This City – Funding for Phase 1 Development.

To receive answers to any questions that councillors have raised in accordance with Procedural Rule 23

Councillor Rawlins responded to a question from Councillor Shilton-Godwin regarding the safety on pedestrian path and cycle paths in poor weather.

Councillor Craig responded to a question from Councillor Nunney regarding arrangements for contacting the council.

Councillor Rawlins responded to a question from Councillor Nunney regarding access to climate emergency information.

Councillor Craig responded to a question from Councillor Nunney regarding reductions in airport related emissions.

Councillor Rawlins responded to a question from Councillor Leech regarding tree planting.

Councillor White responded to a question from Councillor Leech regarding development of Ryebank Fields

The Lord Mayor informed Councillor Leech that a written response would be provided regarding the question received on the Biffa Cleansing Contract.

Councillor Rawlins responded to a question from Councillor Leech regarding passenger mask wearing on public transport.

Councillor White responded to a question from Councillor Leech regarding the purchase of social housing in Manchester since 2015.

Councillor White responded to a question from Councillor Leech regarding the number of affordable houses built in Didsbury West ward since 2013 using the Housing Affordability Fund.

To note the minutes of the following scrutiny committees:

Communities and Equalities                      12 October & 9 November 2021

Resources and Governance                      12 October & 9 November 2021

Health                                                            13 October & 10 November 2021

Children and Young People                       13 October & 10 November 2021

Environment and Climate Change           14 October & 11 November 2021

Economy                                                       14 October & 11 November 2021

The minutes of the following Scrutiny Committee meetings were submitted:

Communities and Equalities 12 October and 9 November 2021

Resources and Governance 12 October and 9 November 2021

Health 13 October and 10 November 2021

Children and Young People 13 October and 10 November 2021

Environment and Climate Change 14 October and 11 November 2021

Economy 14 October and 11 November 2021

Decision

To receive those minutes.

To submit for approval the minutes of the following meetings and consider recommendations made by the committee:

Constitutional & Nomination Committee  1 December 2021 (to be tabled)

Health & Wellbeing Board                           3 November 2021

Licensing & Appeals Committee               25 October 2021

Licensing Committee                                  25 October 2021

Licensing Policy Committee                       15 November 2021

LPC/21/07     Revised Gambling Policy 2022 - 2025

The Council is recommended to approve and adopt the Gambling Policy 2022-2025.

A copy of the policy is attached.

Personnel Committee                                 20 October 2021

Planning and Highways Committee         21 October & 18 November 2021

Standards Committee                                 4 November 2021

The minutes of the following meetings were submitted:

Constitutional and Nomination Committee 1 December 2021

The Council was asked to give particular consideration to the following recommendations from those minutes:

              CN/21/26     Membership of Council Committees

Appointment of Co-opted Members for Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.

Parent Governor Representatives (voting Co-opted Members)

Appoint: Katie McDaid (replacing Zainab Derraz whose term ends on 28 November 2021. The vacant post previously held by Samantha Barnwell is yet to be appointed to and remains vacant).

Teacher Representatives (non-voting Co-opted Members)

Appoint: Saba Iltaf (secondary sector post – replacing Liam Duffy whose term ends on 30 November 2021).

Appoint: Laura Smith (primary sector post – filling the vacant post previously held by Joanne Fleet).

CN/21/27       Appointments to Joint Authorities and Joint Committees

To recommend the Council to make the following changes in appointments to the membership of GM bodies and committees and other external bodies.

Health and Wellbeing Board 3 November 2021

Licensing and Appeals Committee 25 October 2021

Licensing Committee 25 October 2021

Licensing Policy Committee 15 November 2021

The Council was asked to give particular consideration to the following recommendation from those minutes:

LPC/21/07 Revised Gambling Policy 2022 - 2025

The Council is recommended to approve and adopt the

Gambling Policy 2022-2025.

Personnel Committee 20 October 2021

Planning and Highways Committee 21 October and 18

November 2021

Standards Committee 4 November 2021

Decisions

1.    To receive those minutes submitted.

2.    To approve the changes in appointments to Committeesof the Council, as detailed above.

3.    To approve the changes in appointments to Appointments to Joint Authorities and Joint Committees, as detailed above.

To approve and adopt the Gambling Policy 2022-2025.

The report of the City Solicitor is enclosed.

The Council considered the report of the City Solicitor on key decisions that have been taken in accordance with the urgency provisions in the Council’s Constitution.

Decision

To note the report.