MOTIONS
REV PAUL FLOWERS – BRADFORDIAN’S WANT CRYSTAL CLARITY NOT MYTHS
To be moved by Councillor Karmani,Seconded by Councillor Shabbir
This Council is deeply concerned that the revelations regarding Rev Paul Flower’s Personal life specifically it is concerned about his:
• Drug use
• Misuse of council laptop for personal use not authorized within council IT policy
• The lack of clarity regards the investigative process used to ascertain the nature of the material and its legality. Was the police consulted on this matter and is there anyone in the council to make such a judgment.
• The rise of Rev Flowers through the ranks of the co-operative council and become the chairman of its banking arm without any formal qualifications in banking or business
• The nature and appropriateness (if any) of the references provided by the then Council leader Ian Greenwood.
All these issues have all combined to further undermine the trust and faith in the council. The council believes that in order to increase the trust of the citizens of Bradford in the Council it resolves to:
1. Ask the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to be fully transparent and disclose all aspects of the Investigation in particular who determined or made decision
that the material found on the laptop was not illegal. If no such process or expertise exists within the council why has there been statements saying that the material found was not illegal.
2. The Labour group needs to reveal any references provided about Rev Flowers and what influence it used to get Rev. Flowers to become chairman of the banking side of the co-operative bank. 3. The Council and the leaders of the political groups meet to stream line processes regards matters similar to this. Furthermore establish clear investigative processes to determine outcome of such issues in future.
4. Make clear what role the former leader Ian Greenwood, present deputy and Whip had in the affair.
5. Demonstrate how any similar situation can be avoided in the future.
HAMZAH KHAN SERIOUS CASE REVIEW
To be moved by Councillor Shabbir, Seconded by Councillor Karmani
This Council is deeply concerned that the Serious Case Review into the death of Hamzah Khan appears to give legitimacy to the view that another death of a child or vulnerable adult is inevitable in Bradford. Furthermore, it is deeply concerned that a report, whilst quick to point out community resistance to mixed marriages in 1986, yet offers no empirical evidence to this assertion – is very reluctant to app ortion blame or take any responsibility for the disjointed and inadequate response of services in which Hamzah Khan disappeared and eventually was found lifeless, this was achieved through the persistence of a PCSO, in his cot under a pile of clothes .The Council is concerned that fundamental questions remain unanswered, which require answering as to how Hamzah Khan and Amanda Hutton, the mother of Hamzah, became neglected by many different agencies to the point where she became invisible- to the statutory agencies charged with protecting the most vulnerable members of our city remain unanswered. This type of tragedy must not be allowed to happen again. This can best be achieved by learning the lessons and taking the necessary next steps towards this objective.
The Council resolves that it will:
• Publish and make available the response to the set of questions sent to the Children’s Minister Edward Timpson in relation to the serious case review into the death of Hamzah khan.
• Commit itself to the prevention and avoidance of any future death of a child or vulnerable adult.
• It will undertake a thorough race equality review of the statutory services involved within the Hamzah Khan case so as to learn the lessons and to improve services. Recognising that there are increasingly diverse communities
SAFEGUARDING OF YOUTH SERVICES
To be moved by Councillor Faisal Khan Seconded by Councillor Collector
This Council acknowledges:
That the youth services provide an essential service that supports some of the most vulnerable of our young people.
That Bradford has the youngest and fastest growing population outside London at 11%. We also have the largest proportion of people aged-19-and-under at 19%.
By 2020 Bradford will be the youngest city in Europe with 50 per cent of the population under 25.
Our young represent one of our most vulnerable groups in society, and also represent an opportunity to be our biggest asset in years to come, in terms of a young vibrant workforce that can rejuvenate the city and therefore should be one of our highest priorities.
That cutting youth services deprives the city of great opportunity to build on our youth and will store problems in the near future.
The Council resolves to:
To interpret the June 2012 guidance by the department for education which placed a duty of care on Local authorities to secure services and activities for young people aged 13 to 19 (up to 24 with learning difficulties) as follows:
To safeguard youth services as a priority services for the city instead of considering cutting these essential services
Put safeguards in place to ensure that quality and level of youth service provision are not any way diluted and undermined by any future attempts to outsource and contract out Bradford youth services
Ensure that a minimum level of service is set at 25% across the whole district of young people aged 13-19 and those with learning difficulties
Write to central government seeking additional funding given the demographics of the city.
QUESTIONS (To be answered at council meeting)
Councillor Shabir: When is the Council going to do something about the blocked drains on the main A650 located between at the bottom of Heaton Grove and the top of Park Grove? The drain is blocked whenever there is heavy rainfall and is now causing significant danger to cyclists and other road users and pedestrians. Can the leader instruct highways to look at this issue and
come up with some long term solution?
Councillor Faisal Khan: In its discussion with Westfield, can the council detail what it has done to ensure the Westfield ‘preparation works’ translates to a real start in development (by the end of this year) and is not just a checkbox exercise by the developer?
Councillor Faisal Khan: What is the current cost benefit case of City Park and when is the projected payback, is it in line with initial estimations and projections?