Agenda

(Members must indicate which specific agenda item any declaration relates to.)

Disclosure by Members of “Disclosable Pecuniary Interests” (as defined by The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012), and Members’ “Personal Interests” in accordance with paragraph 12.1 of Salford City Council’s Code of Conduct for Members.  

(a)  from Chelsey Atherley - Salford resident and a home care worker for Premier Care

“Back on April 29^th 2023, at the Eccles Town Hall meeting, myself and other workers from Premier Care highlighted to Salford City Council councillors a lot of issues facing us, as we try our best for service users. 15-minute visits were meant to be removed from our rota’s, but to this day, they are still being used. We view this practice as dehumanising and still do not understand how they are a legitimate form of care. When will Salford City Council ensure that they are stopped once and for all? 

(b)  from Angie Fisher - Salford resident and a home care worker for Premier Care

“Back on April 29^th 2023 at the Eccles Town Hall meeting, we expressed concern for our service users and how vital work such as a hot meal and the correct medication were being administered incorrectly. We have worked with Council officers, who have spent an enormous amount of time and resources to correct the mistakes of Private Care Companies operating in our city. When the heat was taken off Premier Care, their old dysfunctional practices began to arise once again. When will Salford City Council admit that outsourcing home care has been a failure?” 

(c)  from Claire Barnes - Salford resident and a home care worker for Premier Care

“Due to the difficulty of working in home care, staff turnover is sky high. Mandatory training is usually completed at home at a personal cost to our own time. Time spent with our family is being used up and we are not being reimbursed for the time it takes to complete the training. Workers leave the sector because they are not given the tools to correctly look after vulnerable Salford residents. Workers leave the sector because Adult Social Care is a highly skilled job, and the training is lacking. The constant need to recruit in this sector is expensive and time consuming. Will Salford City Council take home care back under its direct control and give workers the respectable training and career path they deserve?”

When submitting petitions, elected members are requested to provide contact details (preferably including an email address) for the lead petitioner to which correspondence can be sent.

Petitions should also clearly state what issues they concern and any potential outcomes and actions which are sought.

To be moved by Councillor Alex Warren and seconded by Councillor Andrew Walters.

Salford City Council notes that:

·         The Elections Act is a huge piece of legislation with implications for the residents of Salford. This includes the use of mandatory photographic voter ID at the polling station and changes to overseas voting, and voting / candidacy rights of EU citizens.

·         According to the 2021 census, one in six usual residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK. They live, work, study, make use of public services, and call the UK their home.

·         Many foreign-born residents of this local authority from Hong Kong, the EU and Commonwealth countries are allowed to vote in our local elections.

·         Approximately over 1 million residents across England and Northern Ireland from non-EU and non-Commonwealth countries, and some from Hong Kong do not have a right to vote.

·         The Scottish and Welsh Governments implemented residence-based voting rights where all residents with lawful immigration status have the right to vote in local and devolved national elections.

·         Every resident, no matter where they are from, should have the right to vote, at the least in local elections.

·         There should not be taxation without representation.

·         All residents of the city, no matter their nationality, call Salford their home and bring significant value to our area.

·         The voting and candidacy rights of EU citizens with pre-settled and settled status who entered the UK before 2021 will be maintained through the Elections Act.

·         The London Assembly passed a motion in support of residence-based voting rights on the 11th of November 2021.

This Council has three major concerns:

1. EU citizens who enter the UK from the 1st of January 2021 are not covered by bilateral voting rights treaties. These are only currently only active with Poland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain. When the Elections Act is fully implemented by May 2024, these residents will lose voting and candidacy rights in local elections. This will create an unequal situation where some EU citizens will have the right to vote, where others will not.

2. The complexity in voting eligibility will cause confusion and will reduce voter turnout in local elections amongst migrant voters, a group already seen as having a disproportionately lower voter registration rate compared to British voters.

3. Removing a significant number of EU citizens from the electoral register is burden on council officers and budgets. This also may result in some people being wrongfully removed from the electoral register.

Salford City Council resolves to:

·         Ask that the City Mayor write to the Minister of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that the franchise for local elections be

in line with the existent eligibility criteria in Scotland and Wales. This would ensure a UK-wide parity and fair approach to the law and voting rights.

·         That the Council writes to all residents outlining the changes to voter eligibility stemming from the Elections Act legislation.

·         Deliver training to Councillors and relevant officers on the changes brought by  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13a

To be moved by Councillor Andrew Walters and seconded by Councillor Alex Warren.

Salford City Council notes that:

·         Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) in oil and/or flower form have been legally available under prescription in the UK since 1^st November 2018.

·         There are over 30,000 patients prescribed CBPMs in the UK, the vast majority of whom receive private prescriptions.

·         CBPMs are prescribed for a multitude of conditions, including:

o   Chronic pain conditions:

§  Arthritis, Back and/or Neck Pain, Cancer Related Pain, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes, Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia, Musculoskeletal Pain, Neuropathic Pain, Other condition that causes Chronic Pain, Palliative Care Pain

o   Psychiatric conditions:

§  Agoraphobia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Cancer Related Anxiety, Eating Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Insomnia, Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Other condition that causes Anxiety, Palliative Care Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Substance Use Disorder

o   Neurological conditions:

§  Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cluster Headaches, Epilepsy, Migraines, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Stroke, Tourette’s Syndrome, Tremors

o   Other conditions:

§  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Crohn’s and/or Ulcerative Colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Restless Legs Syndrome

·         Most, if not all the above-mentioned conditions to which cannabis is prescribed can meet the statutory definition of a disability and are covered in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010 and in Regulation 7 of the Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010.

·         As with any medication, it is needed to alleviate or prevent the symptoms of a condition, and often in the case of vaping cannabis the medical user will decide when it is needed. This is not dissimilar to the use of an asthma inhaler or an insulin injection for diabetes.

·         Medical cannabis is provided in two forms, an oil which is taken orally and the flowering tops of cannabis plants for vaporisation. The oil often takes longer to take effect and is often taken at certain intervals, whereas the flower provides an almost instant effect and is administered as required. This quick effect is often helpful for people suffering from neurological pain conditions or epilepsy.

·         The vaporiser is a medical device that does not cause combustion and so is absent from legislation for smoking or vaping e-cigarettes indoors.

·         Tandem mass spectrometry has shown that there is no risk of second-hand exposure for bystanders.

·         The Equality Act 2010 Statutory Code of Practice (6:20) states: It is never unlawful to treat a disabled person more favourably than a nondisabled person. Therefore, service providers may provide services on more favourable terms to a disabled person compared to a non-disabled person.

·         Requiring CBPM users to use an outdoor smoking area to consume medication may be a breach of the Equality Act, and puts their health at risk by exposing them to the dangerous carcinogenic second-hand smoke of tobacco smokers.

·         Due to lack of awareness, housing associations across the UK have been threatening tenants with evictions and anti-social behaviour bonds for using their prescribed medication at home and officers from police forces have been unlawfully arresting  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13b

To be moved by Councillor Andrew Walters and seconded by Councillor Alex Warren.

Salford City Council notes that:

• Publishing the voting and attendance records of elected representatives is critical for democratic accountability. It allows residents to make informed decisions during elections and hold elected representatives to account.

• Pursuant to Article 10 of Part 2 of the Constitution, in order to give local citizens a greater say in council affairs, eight Area Committees (which in Salford are called ‘Community Committees’) have been created.

• Additionally, Devolved Budget Sub-Groups and Devolved Highways Sub-Groups have been created to make recommendations and vote on prospective schemes.

• Pursuant to Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, several Neighbourhood Resilience Fora have been created.

• Attendance at some resilience and committee meetings is poor and, in some cases, have struggled to be quorate. There are cases where members do not attend committees, and no apologies are sent. In practical terms, this means that residents are not being fully represented.

• The council currently publishes on its website the agenda and minutes of council, cabinet, executive, governance, regulatory and scrutiny committees, and voting and attendance records of the elected members.

• Since April 2022, Community Committee agenda and minutes have been published on Salford City Council’s website. However, attendance statistics aren’t.

• Further, agenda, minutes and attendance statistics are not currently published for Devolved Highways and Devolved Budget Sub-Groups.

• Whilst certain parts of the minutes should be properly redacted under the Official Secrets Act 1911 or other exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act, this does not apply to attendance statistics of elected members.

The council further notes that:

• Whilst the constitution provides the facility for recorded votes at council when requested by three members, this is time-consuming and subject to human error and ambiguity due to hard-to-hear voices.

• Further, a simultaneous vote is not possible, and, being taken in alphabetical order, representatives at the beginning of the alphabet will always cast their votes first.

• The alternative method of ‘show-of-hands’ means that residents are unable to see how their representatives have voted.

• Electronic voting systems can ensure that recorded votes:

o Can become the norm, rather than the exception.

o Will be simultaneous.

o Will save time.

o Can be broadcast, in real time, in chambers and on the WebCast.

o Can be published with the minutes.

• Electronic systems can also indicate when a member wishes to speak, raise a point of order, or a personal explanation, reducing the risk of a member being unnoticed by the chair.

• Many local authorities in the UK and worldwide already use electronic voting systems.

Salford City Council resolves to:

• Urge the City Mayor to publish attendance and voting records of Members at Community Committees, Devolved Highways meetings, Devolved Budget meetings and Resilience Fora on its website.

• To the extent not exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act, urge the City Mayor to publish  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13c

Please note in relation to items 14, 15, 16 and 17 below, it is requested that, wherever possible, any questions are submitted in writing and e-mailed to the Democratic Services Section at decisionmakingandscrutiny@salford.gov.uk

by no later than 48 hours before the meeting (i.e. by 9.30 am on Monday, 13 November 2023).

·         Cllr Tracy Kelly - Statutory Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property and Regeneration 

·         Cllr John Merry - Deputy City Mayor, Lead Member for

Adult Social Care and Health

·         Cllr Sharmina August - Inclusive Economy, Anti-Poverty and Equalities

·         Cllr Barbara Bentham - Lead Member for Environment, 

Neighbourhoods, Sport and Leisure

·         Cllr Jim Cammell - Lead Member for Children’s and Young Peoples Services

·         Cllr Bill Hinds - Lead Member for Skills and Work, Business and Workforce

·         Cllr Mike McCusker - Lead Member for Planning, Transport and Sustainable development

·         Cllr Jack Youd - Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and Industrial Relations

·         Cllr John Mullen - Overview and Scrutiny Board

·         Cllr Adrian Brocklehurst - Children’s Scrutiny Panel

·         Cllr Stuart Dickman - Community and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel

·         Cllr Samantha Bellamy - Health and Adults Scrutiny Panel

·         Cllr Robert Sharpe - Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny Panel

The following reports are submitted for information with the intention they be noted. Members who have any questions, or require further information on the contents of these reports, are in the first instance advised to contact the representatives respectively indicated:

·         The Salfordian Trust (Cllrs August, Lancaster and Saunders)

·         North West Employers Organisation (Cllr Hinds)

·         Centre for Local Economic Strategies (City Mayor and Cllr Jack Youd)