Council

Tuesday 13 October 2009 18:30

Council Chamber, Civic Offices, Reading.

Chief Committee Administrator

David Moore

Contact Form

A meeting of Council will be held on Tuesday 13 October 2009 at 6.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Civic Offices, Reading.

The agenda for this meeting is set out below.

Access Arrangements 

• Most of the meeting rooms in the Civic Offices are accessible to wheelchair users and an audio loop induction system is available in the Council Chamber and Kennet Room for those with hearing difficulties (a portable induction loop is available for other rooms on request - please contact the Committee Officer above if you need this service or any further information). 
• If you wish to attend the meeting but have any individual requirements to enable you to do so please contact the Committee Officer above, as soon as possible before the date of the meeting. 
• We can provide information in other formats (e.g. larger print, audio tape, Braille etc) or in other languages, upon request. Please contact the Committee Officer above if you need this service, giving as much notice as possible.
  

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File	Type	Size	Download Time
Questions and Answers	PDF	154 KB	56Kbps Modem: 39 Seconds Broadband : 3 Seconds

Item No		Wards Affected	Report
1	DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST To receive any declarations of interest.
2	MINUTES The Mayor to sign the Minutes of the proceedings of the Council Meeting held on 23 June 2009		Item 2 (116 KB)
3	PETITIONS To receive petitions in accordance with Standing Order 8.
4	QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC Questions in accordance with Standing Order 9.
5	QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS Questions in accordance with Standing Order 10.
	REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM COMMITTEES
6	FIRM FOUNDATIONS – READING BOROUGH COUNCIL’S HOUSING STRATEGY 2009-14 Report by Director of Housing and Community Care		Item 6 (174 KB)
7	REVIEW OF THE STATEMENT OF GAMBLING LICENSING PRINCIPLES Report by Director of Environment, Culture and Sport		Item 7 (26 KB) Item 7 Appendix (32 KB)
8	ADDITIONAL MEETING OF COUNCIL - CIVIC HEADQUARTERS RELOCATION Report by Monitoring Officer		Item 8 (21 KB)
9	REVIEW OF ELECTORAL AREAS AND THE NUMBER OF WARDS, COUNCILLORS AND FREQUENCY OF ELECTIONS IN READING Report by Chief Executive		Item 9 (59 KB)
10	STANDARDS COMMITTEE – 14 JULY 2009 Report by Monitoring Officer		Item 10 (23 KB) Item 10 Appendix (32 KB)
11	AUDITED FINAL ACCOUNTS 2008/09 Report by Director of Resources and Head of Finance		Item 11 (24 KB)
	MOTIONS
12	CARBON EMISSIONS Councillor Gittings to move: “This Council through its actions and policies continues to give the highest priority to measures to tackle climate change, and to this end, pledges to sign the 10/10 commitment, which requires organisations and individuals to make a 10% cut in their carbon emissions in 2010.”
13	CARBON EMISSIONS Councillor Goodall to move: “This Council welcomes the first ten Councils to join the 10:10 pledge to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 10 % by the end of 2010. This council aspires to join the councils already signed up, for the good our shared environment. Accordingly Council resolves to: • Embrace this excellent 1010 campaign, started by Franny Armstrong; • Acknowledge the work of RBC officers to reduce associated carbon dioxide emissions for our own buildings thus far; • Augment Readings own Climate Change Pledge through the nationally recognised 10:10 campaign and lead with our own example by reducing our carbon dioxide emissions by 10% in 2010; and • Encourage all energy consumers in the borough to work with the Climate Change Partnership towards a similar 10% reduction in 2010.”
14	“WINDFALL” VAT REPAYMENTS Councillor Stevens to move: “This Council notes: 1. the action proposed by the Leader of the Council and adopted by Cabinet on Monday 25 September 2009 that: ’Cabinet note the 2009/10 Budget Monitoring Report and instruct Directorates to implement the measures necessary to seek to ensure overall net expenditure for each Directorate is kept within the Approved Directorate Budget’. [source: Cabinet minutes dated Tuesday 29 September 2009] 2. that following the Fleming t/a Bodycraft case ruling by the Court of Appeal, the Council will receive ’windfall’ VAT repayments totalling approximately £3.5 million [source: cabinet papers 28 September 2009 agenda item 21 ppK2] and Resolves: That the ’windfall’ be kept in balances during 2009/10 to enable the Council to minimize the need to increase Council Tax when setting the 2010/11 Budget.”
15	CHILD PROTECTION Councillor C Harris to move: “This Council believes that: (a) Children live and grow up in communities, which is why child protection is the responsibility of everybody and should not just be left to professionals; (b) Child abuse and neglect can be reduced significantly through education and support for those families in need of help; (c) Children have the right to have their feelings and opinions heard and acted upon, particularly when decisions are being made about their futures; (d) Inter-agency work is crucial if any significant progress and cultural change is to be made in the field of child protection; (e) Much of the excellent and challenging work done by social workers often goes un-recognised. This Council notes the findings of the Joint Area Review last year, which raised serious concerns, and the recent Ofsted findings from its unannounced inspection in August this year. This Council will, subject to available resources: 1. Make child protection everybody’s responsibility by communicating to the public i) the prevalence of child abuse and ii) the routes for people to report their concerns; 2. Work to ensure that all members of the children’s workforce in Reading have child protection training; 3. Help families to become more resilient under pressure by offering them support, including offering parenting classes through children’s centres to all parents taking up the preschool childcare entitlement; 4. Publish as much as possible of Serious Case Reviews in an anonymised form in order to make the child protection system more transparent and ensure that lessons are learnt; 5. Work to ensure that all children have the right to an advocate so that their voice is heard; 6. Improve multi-disciplinary training by making secondments between different agencies a part of social workers’ continuous professional development in Reading;