Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Steed, Busuttil, Murtaza and Alexander.

Councillors Blacker, Kim Nagpal, Rai, Bains and Sahota were in attendance virtually.

Councillor Crawford declared that he would recuse himself from item 8 – questions from members of the Council due to potential legal action he was bringing against the Council.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2023.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2023 be agreed as a correct record of the meeting.

The Mayor updated the Council on his activities and it was noted that:

·       The Mayor had been involved in local commemorations of the NHS’s 75^th anniversary of its founding.

·       The Mayor had led the Borough’s marking of Armed Forces Day and Reserves day though a public ceremony on the Saturday and private reception for staff who were veterans serving reservists on Reserves Day.

·       The Annual Civic Mass was held on 2 July.

·       The Mayor had attended various events to mark Windrush 75, including an event organised by the Council as well as a reception for pioneers from the Windrush generation.

·       The Mayor attended the London Pride March and joined staff on the march for the first ever time. He also held a pride reception for local LGBTQ+ groups.

·       His future plans were that he would be attending Ealing Beer Festival, and there would be a summer event at a cricket club.

·       Best of luck to the Lionesses and Ealing’s Chloe Kelly in the Women’s World Cup.

·       The second Mayoral Charity would be announced imminently.

There were no petitions from members of the public.

There were no petitions from members of the Council.

There were no questions from Members of the Public.

The Mayor moved, Councillor Shaw seconded, and it was

RESOLVED: That the Majority Group Motion for Debate be considered as the next item of business due to external speakers being invited to contribute to the debate.

Councillor Anderson proposed and Councillor Mason seconded the Majority Group Motion for Debate.

Margaret Noel, Judy Wellington and Blossom Jackson were invited to speak to Council about their experiences of coming to the UK from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation.

Councillors Hersch, Mason and Knewstub responded to the motion.

During the debate, it was moved, seconded and agreed that the question now be put.

RESOLVED:

This Council Notes:

·       On 22nd June, people from across the United Kingdom came together to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, which brought over 800 people from the Caribbean to London in 1948.

·       In the 75 years since, those British-Caribbean pioneers – and their descendants – have contributed hugely to the Britain we are all proud to call home today.

This Council Believes:

·       That those who came to the UK as part of the ‘Windrush generation’ made a huge contribution to making modern Britain

·       That the treatment of this generation by successive Conservative Governments has been shameful.

·       That the Windrush generation have had to make do with pleasant words and platitudes for too long, and that the Government must take corrective action immediately.

This council therefore resolves to demand that the UK Government commits to implementing all 30 recommendations submitted by Wendy Williams in March 2020 – in full – as soon as possible.

We ask that the Government urgently prioritise:

·       The Home Secretary clearly setting out specifically how she, her Department and, where necessary, other institutions, will implement each recommendation and to what timescale.

·       The Home Secretary reversing her decision to disregard introducing a Migrants’ Commissioner; review the role of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration; and to run reconciliation events.

·       The Home Office regularly reporting to Parliament and the public the progress it is making on implementing each recommendation.

·       Providing an unqualified apology to those affected by this grave injustice, as per Recommendation 1 of the Williams Report.

Councillor Rice asked Councillor Donnelly:

Does the portfolio holder agree with me that in these challenging economic times, it is more than important than ever that this administration continues to handle the council's budget responsibly?

Councillor Donnelly Responded:

I couldn’t agree more. The Council under Labour has a track record of sound financial management. The resilience built in had allowed the council to manage economic shocks that had taken place including COVID and the damage to the economy from the Truss premiership. The Council had built up its reserves appropriately, but after a decade of austerity there weren’t many more savings that could be made. The pressure on budgets had left some authorities to take risks with public finances that had left them dangerously exposed to increases in interest rates. Funding simply wasn’t enough to keep up with demand and increases in pressures in several areas such as adult social care and homelessness were a threat to the financial sustainability of the sector as a whole. Michael Gove had announced the launching of the Office for Local Government but hadn’t announced what Oflog would do.

Councillor Ball asked Councillor Knewstub:

The Log Cabin Charity has been operating under a licence ever since 2011, as the previous lease had expired, and has been seeking a new lease ever since. When will the Council finally agree their new lease?

Councillor Knewstub responded:

The Council was looking to renew the lease with the charity and will hope to get it agreed in the next few months. There were several reasons for the delay including needing to align terms with other providers and agree a concurrent service level agreement for the delivery of the statutory service the charity delivers for the Council.

Councillor Conti asked Councillor Kamaljit Kaur Nagpal:

Will there be any capital costs to be met from Ealing schools’ budgets as a result of the London Mayor’s one-year universal free school meal policy?

Councillor Kamaljit Kaur Nagpal responded:

55 Schools in the Borough were members of the Ealing Schools Catering Consortium, as well as four schools whose catering needs were met by a PFI consortium. For the consortium, investment was being held back until longer term plans had been made on this policy. However some investment was being made to replace old, inefficient equipment and purchasing additional equipment costing £275,000 across the 55 schools and members of the consortium working at an average of £5,000 per school. This expenditure had already been planned but spending was brought forward to meet this emerging need. The costs will be recovered from the individual schools and therefore won’t cost the schools budget. The costs to the PFI schools was not known. The Council was not involved in the provision of catering for schools not in the consortium. The total grant from the GLA for school meals is anticipated for £4.5 million and there wasn’t intended to be any clawback if participation was below 90% therefore if there was lower than expected participation some of this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Councillor Conti moved and Councillor Gallant seconded the Opposition Group motion for Debate.

Councillor Malcolm moved and Councillor Ball seconded an amendment to the motion.

Councillors Costigan, J Anand, Mahfouz, Johnson, Manro, Stafford, Mohamed, Raza, Ball, Wesson, Knewstub, Blacker, Gallant and Rice responded to the motion.

Councillor Malcolm summed up the amendment and Councillor Conti summed up the motion.

Following the debate, a vote was taken on the amendment and it FELL.

A vote was then taken on the motion and it FELL.

There were no motions not for debate.

RESOLVED: That the changes to the Constitution set out in the appendices are approved.

There were no appointments to Committees and Other Bodies.

There were no urgent key decisions exempted from call-in.