Meeting Details

This Council notes with regret the £2.38 million cut in real terms funding for Nottinghamshire Police for 2018/19.

In December, the Government announced that the core funding for police budgets will remain exactly the same as in 2017/2018.  For Nottinghamshire Police, this means that the core funding settlement from the Government remains at £76,843,070.  Taking into account inflation, this will mean a cut in real terms of £2.38m.

This Council notes that the Government announced in December that they will be investing an additional £270m in police nationally.  This Council acknowledges however that this this is entirely reliant on local Police and Crime Commissioners raising the police precept in their areas.  This amounts to a Council Tax rise by the back door and will not do much to protect the residents of Nottinghamshire.

This Council believes that the Government should be investing in front line policing proportionately across Nottinghamshire not cutting funding.  Also notes that overall crime has risen across Nottinghamshire by 12 per cent with a rise in violence against a person, theft crimes, possession of weapons, and public order offences.

This Council further notes with regret that Nottinghamshire Police failed to answer or respond to 36,000 '101' calls from residents in the last year. This Council believes that as a result, the rise in crime in the County could be the tip of the ice-berg. With crime rising, the government should have increased police budgets in real terms not ignoring the alarming rise in serious crime.

This Council calls for an urgent meeting with Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service with the Leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and Ashfield Independents alongside the current Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire.

This Council welcomes the decision of the Children and Young People's Committee to implement shorter summer holidays for pupils in Nottinghamshire in 2019/20.  The decision to reduce the summer holidays from six weeks to five weeks and introduce a two week October half term and fixed term break was made after a six week consultation.

This Council notes with concern however, that the increase in fines for unauthorised absence has increased from 1508 during the Summer Term of 2015/16 to 2470 in the Summer Term of 2016/17.  Parents fined for taking their children on holiday without permission rose at the same time from 1399 in 2015/16 to 2419 in 2016/17.

This Council believes that the changes in term times across the County was partly a result of the increase in the fines levied and welcomes the proactive decision to tackle this.

This Council notes however, the disgraceful behaviour of holiday companies which force the poorest to take holidays in term time.  August prices are often twice those in June, camping holidays quadruple in costs, and flights and ferry fares on peak summer weekends can be up to four times more expensive than at quieter times. 

This Council therefore resolves:

1. To write to Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and ask them to carry out a review of their member's pricing policies and consider withdrawing membership from those members who persisting in sustaining the 'Great Family Holiday Rip Off.'

    

2. To reduce or suspend any fines for the 2019/20 academic year for parents who take their children on holiday without permission as families get used to the new term time arrangements.

    

   Councillor Tom Hollis                   Councillor Helen-Ann Smith

    

(A)       For Councillors

(1)       Members will be informed of the date and time of their Group meeting for Council by their Group Researcher.

(2)       The Chairman has agreed that the Council will adjourn for lunch at their discretion.

(3)       (a)       Persons making a declaration of interest should have regard to the Code of Conduct and the Procedure Rules for Meetings of the Full Council.  Those declaring must indicate whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or a private interest and the reasons for the declaration.

            (b)       Any member or officer who declares a disclosable pecuniary interest in an item must withdraw from the meeting during discussion and voting upon it, unless a dispensation has been granted. Members or officers requiring clarification on whether to make a declaration of interest are invited to contact the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services prior to the meeting.

            (c)        Declarations of interest will be recorded and included in the minutes of this meeting and it is therefore important that clear details are given by members and others in turn, to enable Democratic Services to record accurate information.

(4)       At any Full Council meeting except the annual meeting, a special meeting and the budget meeting, Members are given an opportunity to speak for up to three minutes on any issue which specifically relates to their division and is relevant to the services provided by the County Council. These speeches must relate specifically to the area the Member represents and should not be of a general nature.  They are constituency speeches and therefore must relate to constituency issues only.  This is an opportunity simply to air these issues in a Council meeting. It will not give rise to a debate on the issues or a question or answer session.  There is a maximum time limit of 30 minutes for this item.

(5)       Members are reminded that petitions can be presented from their seat with a 1 minute time limit set on introducing the petition.

(6)       Members’ attention is drawn to the question put to the Chairman of the Children & Young People’s Committee under paragraphs 32, 39 and 40 of the Procedure Rules, and the answer to which is included at the back of the Council book.  

(7)       Members are reminded that these papers may be recycled.  Appropriate containers are located in the respective secretariats.

(8)       Commonly used points of order

36 – Supplementary Questions must be on the same matter

50 – The Member has spoken for more than 10 minutes

52 – The Member is not speaking to the subject under discussion

55 – The Member has already spoken on the motion

60 – Points of Order and Personal Explanations

79 – Disorderly conduct

(9)       Time limit of speeches

Motions

50 – no longer than 10 minutes (subject to any exceptions set out in the Constitution)

Constituency Issues

21 – up to 3 minutes per speech allowed

24 – up to 30 minutes for this item allowed

Petitions

27 – up to one minute per petition allowed

Questions to Committee Chairmen

32 – up to 60 minutes for this item allowed

Adjournment Debates

74– Mover has up to 5 minutes

75 – any other Councillor has up to 3 minutes

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(3)       This agenda and its associated reports are available to view online via an online calendar –

http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/dms/Meetings.aspx