Proposed by Councillor Jeff Green

Seconded by Councillor Lesley Rennie

Council notes that at its meeting on 18th July 2011 Council agreed the following resolution:

(1)  This Council:

(i) Reaffirms its commitment to enhanced community engagement to ensure that major policy decisions include more robust processes of public consultation, as appropriate, before decisions are taken, as agreed unanimously by Notice of Motion at Council on 15 February 2010.

(ii) Believes that last year’s Wirral’s Future consultation, using the task force model and public questionnaire, followed the principles set out in that Notice of Motion to:

·  Share the problem or issue and develop broad support on the need for change before progressing on to possible solutions;

·  Develop a ‘green paper’ approach to setting out options and possible solutions within the operational, policy and financial constraints with genuine opportunity for people to influence decision making, and;

·  Improve the use of the Council’s website as a consultation portal, with a list of active consultations in progress and with the relevant supporting documents available as downloads.

(iii) Acknowledges the need for consultation to include a strong independent element and recognises the crucial work of the independent task forces - comprised of experts in their thematic fields - and thanks them again for their work.

(iv) Also believes that this approach played a substantial and legitimate role in achieving a balanced Budget for 2011/12 whilst protecting services, cutting the cost of running the Council and ensuring no compulsory redundancies.

(v) Calls on the Leader to:

• Confirm the venues and dates at which the public will have the opportunity to take part and notes that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, the main programme had already been circulated.
• Confirm which organisations, employers, service users and partners are involved in the consultation, noting that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, this information was already available.
• Publish the names of the individuals who have written the questionnaire and the names of those who will consider the responses from the public and notes that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, this information had already been circulated.
• State how many contacts and how many qualitative responses will be considered a ‘success’, noting his Party’s criticism of the contact with more than 40,000 people and 5,500 completed questionnaires in the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010.

(2)  Council notes that five months on from passing this resolution the Leader of the Council has still not complied with the content of this resolution.

(3)  Therefore Council calls on the Leader of the Council:

• to apologise to Council for ignoring its democratically expressed wishes
• to write to all members of the Council explaining the Council’s legal responsibilities to involve, inform and consult on its services with residents and stakeholders and how robust processes of public consultation, before budget decisions are taken, is to be achieved prior to introducing its 2012 – 2013 budget.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Phil Davies

Seconded by Councillor Steve Foulkes

Delete all. Replace with:

(1)  Council notes that two extensive Consultations have already taken place this year, one leading to the creation of Neighbourhood Plans, setting out particular priorities for individual neighbourhoods, and the other a Budget Simulation exercise which has given all those who are interested the opportunity to participate in a budget setting exercise, and in so doing to allow an analysis of favoured priorities. Both these exercises will inform the budget setting process.

(2)  Council notes that this is in addition to the widely publicised, if flawed, consultation, which took place last year which again drew conclusions on the priorities of Wirral residents.

(3)  Council is mindful of the guidance in the central government Code of Practice on consultation which refers to the “burden of consultation” and states that “formal consultation should not be entered into lightly”.

(4)  Council is also mindful of the fact that Consultation may well be required where a reduction or change in funding alters the level of service provided and affects third parties, and that there are particular responsibilities where services to people with disabilities are concerned, and that that Consultation would need to be very specific to the service altered and the relevant service users.

(5)  Council notes that, should such a situation arise, the Chief Executive has been granted delegated powers, in consultation with the Leadership of the Council to carry out the relevant consultation.

(6)  Council also notes that, given the upheaval and instability created by last year’s budget, including the loss of a fifth of the Council’s workforce, which did not form part of any consultation, it is the stated aim of this administration to do all in its power to avoid any further destabilisation or dramatic cuts in services and that its budget will be designed to avoid further trauma if possible.

(7)  Council expresses its concern that the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement which seeks a further £15 billion cuts in the Public Sector may well have a serious impact on Local Authority Funding, which is already in a state of crisis, but the timescale of that impact is not yet known.

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 7(8) the Council did not debate this matter.

The amendment was put and lost (29:35) (One abstention).

The motion was put and carried (35:29) (One abstention).

Resolved (35:29) (One abstention) –

Council notes that at its meeting on 18th July 2011 Council agreed the following resolution:

(1)  This Council:

(i) Reaffirms its commitment to enhanced community engagement to ensure that major policy decisions include more robust processes of public consultation, as appropriate, before decisions are taken, as agreed unanimously by Notice of Motion at Council on 15 February 2010.

(ii) Believes that last year’s Wirral’s Future consultation, using the task force model and public questionnaire, followed the principles set out in that Notice of Motion to:

·  Share the problem or issue and develop broad support on the need for change before progressing on to possible solutions;

·  Develop a ‘green paper’ approach to setting out options and possible solutions within the operational, policy and financial constraints with genuine opportunity for people to influence decision making, and;

·  Improve the use of the Council’s website as a consultation portal, with a list of active consultations in progress and with the relevant supporting documents available as downloads.

(iii) Acknowledges the need for consultation to include a strong independent element and recognises the crucial work of the independent task forces - comprised of experts in their thematic fields - and thanks them again for their work.

(iv) Also believes that this approach played a substantial and legitimate role in achieving a balanced Budget for 2011/12 whilst protecting services, cutting the cost of running the Council and ensuring no compulsory redundancies.

(v) Calls on the Leader to:

• Confirm the venues and dates at which the public will have the opportunity to take part and notes that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, the main programme had already been circulated.
• Confirm which organisations, employers, service users and partners are involved in the consultation, noting that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, this information was already available.
• Publish the names of the individuals who have written the questionnaire and the names of those who will consider the responses from the public and notes that, at this stage of the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010, this information had already been circulated.
• State how many contacts and how many qualitative responses will be considered a ‘success’, noting his Party’s criticism of the contact with more than 40,000 people and 5,500 completed questionnaires in the successful ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation in 2010.

(2)  Council notes that five months on from passing this resolution the Leader of the Council has still not complied with the content of this resolution.

(3)  Therefore Council calls on the Leader of the Council:

• to apologise to Council for ignoring its democratically expressed wishes
• to write to all members of the Council explaining the Council’s legal responsibilities to involve, inform and consult on its services with residents and stakeholders and how robust processes of public consultation, before budget decisions are taken, is to be achieved prior to introducing its 2012 – 2013 budget.