Agenda item

[That the Cabinet Members for Education and Skills, City Environment and City Economy  respond to questions received.]

That the responses to the written questions be noted.

a.     Pupils’ achievement and progress

Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre asked the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:

‘Would the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills care to comment upon the following; the improvement curve at Key Stage 2 in Wolverhampton pupils’ achievement, Continuing progress at Key Stage 4 and the improvement in OFSTED outcomes between 2009 and 2018.’

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Councillor Lynne Moran responded that she could confirm the improvement curve at Key Stage 2 for our 10 and 11 year olds, followed by continuing progress to Key Stage 4. Between 2009 and 2018 there was a distinct improvement in OFSTED outcomes.  This City stands for investing in long life learning to ensure that all our residents, very young and older can engage with education and training to prepare them for quality lives and real sustained employment opportunities. The performance of Wolverhampton pupils at Key Stage 2 had shown steady improvement since 2009. Validated results for 2018, against the new and more challenging curriculum and assessment system, indicated that 65% of pupils have reached the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths. This was an increase of 5 percentage points from 2017 and was the first time that Wolverhampton had been above the national averages with a ranking of 72 (out of 151) in the country. Specifically there had been great improvement in reading for Wolverhampton pupils at Key Stage 2. Validated results for 2018 indicated that 77% of pupils have reached the expected standard. This was an increase of 12 percentage points from 2016 and again the first time that Wolverhampton had been above national with a ranking of 52 (of 151) in the country.

She added in respect of continuing progress at Key Stage 4, the 2018 outcomes indicated that pupils achieving a strong 9-5 pass in English and Maths had increased and was 36.4% compared to 40% nationally. This ranked Wolverhampton 133 in the country. There was still work to do but our secondary schools progress was in exactly the right direction. Currently 69% of secondary schools were judged by OFSTED to be Good or Outstanding with sure signs of improvement in the other schools.

She added in December 2018, 81% of all schools (primary and secondary) in Wolverhampton were good or outstanding with nearly 40,000 pupils attending good schools in the last year.  The great news was that 98% (53 out of 54) Local Authority maintained schools in Wolverhampton were judged good or outstanding by OFSTED.

She added the measure of a good or outstanding school was much more about leadership and governance than about academy or local authority maintained status. She congratulated students, school teachers, the local authority support improvement staff and parents for all of their hard work and on these ever improving results notwithstanding dwindling resources from central government.’

Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre asked the Cabinet Member the following supplementary question:

‘Does the Cabinet Member agree that the Tory policy of Austerity means that Wolverhampton children and families have been incredibly successful given the cut backs caused by the Tory Government and the Austerity they have put forward.’

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills responded she believed there was a connection between childrens’ ability to succeed and their backgrounds and opportunities at home. The Conservative Government austerity does undermine public services.  If we were not careful we could be on the brink of only delivering statutory services because there would not be any money to do anything else, and education had of course borne its share of funding cuts.

She added it was not clear to her that academisation had been helpful, although at least the funding formula now treated academies and local authority-maintained schools just the same and that was an improvement. To be factual, 4.1 million children were living in poverty by the end of 2017. That was 30% of nine children in every class of 30. There may be inner cities that bear a disproportionate amount of children who were actually disadvantaged. The UK was the fifth largest economy and yet we preside over this shameful state of affairs. She had now visited nearly half of Wolverhampton’s schools and seen for herself the extent to which less fortunate children do cause concern. The home school liaison work, family engagement and the focus upon the attendance. Schools staff invest in this work because they know that children cannot learn effectively if they were worried, if they live in cramped circumstances or if they were uncomfortable. Both food and items of uniform are secured for children in need in our schools today and tomorrow and the next day. It is to their credit the children in schools exceed ever better notwithstanding the penny pushing, bean counting political climate. The Council should feel proud of them all.’

b.     Fly tipping funding

Councillor Udey Singh asked the Cabinet Member for City Environment:

‘Fly tipping in Wolverhampton continues to increase, particularly since opening hours at the City’s rubbish tips were reduced. Can the Cabinet Member for City Environment please disclose how much had been spent by the Council in each of the last five years to tackle this serious problem?’

The Cabinet Member for City Environment, Councillor Steve Evans responded that fly tipping had not increased over the last five years. The following table sets out the picture:

He added it was anticipated that the estimated cost in 2018/19 would rise slightly by the end of the financial year. From a peak in 2015/16 to this year and over subsequent years we have seen a 25% reduction in the spend. That was testament to the work of the officers and their team who attacked what was a national issue. We have also seen a reduction of 31% in reported incidents and we have renewed, re-energised and relaunched a new and radical campaign, to add to the excellent work that had been carried out. Already we have seen a 50% reduction in fly tipping incidents.

Councillor Udey Singh asked the Cabinet Member the following supplementary question:

After reducing household waste collection services, garden waste collection services, household recycling services and rubbish tip opening hours, the Cabinet Member now wants to hand out rewards to people who report fly tippers despite only 30 people being fined from 17,000 separate incidents. Will the Cabinet Member now finally see sense and open up the rubbish tips seven days a week and totally scrap the restrictive tip permit.

The Cabinet Member for City Environment responded that he had already reported on the Council’s plans to open a new supersite seven days a week, with longer operating hours. The Labour Group was the only side who, within the budget restraints, have increased the opening hours. It was the only side to put forward sensible solutions. The Conservative Group want to get rid of the permits and allow waste traders to use the tip for nothing, whereas we want to get the waste traders into the bigger site. In addition, with the  ‘Shop a Tipper’ campaign the £100 reward comes out of the £400 fine.  If you report someone that leads to a conviction and the issue of the fixed penalty notice of £400 you would receive the £100 reward.

c.     Westside project

Councillor Wendy Thompson asked the Cabinet Member for City Economy:

“In April 2016, Urban & Civic were selected as the development partner for the Westside project. Nearly three years on, not a single brick has been laid. Can the Cabinet Member for City Economy inform us when we will finally see building works commencing?”

The Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor John Reynolds responded that the Council entered into contract with Urban&Civic (U&C) in April 2017 for the delivery of a leisure-led scheme anchored by a multi-screen cinema, ancillary leisure uses and restaurants. This followed a period of exclusivity (which commenced in July 2016) with the developer as the Council’s preferred delivery partner. Since entering into contract, U&C secured outline planning approval in January 2018 and with the benefit of planning consent, the developer had been negotiating with prospective operators for the scheme.

He added U&C report good progress on the uptake from operators and we were confident of finalising arrangements with U&C shortly for the commencement of the scheme. However, this was a commercially led scheme so inevitably the programme was always going to be influenced by prevailing market conditions which were outside the direct control of the Council. We know from having engaged many other local authorities delivering similar schemes that these challenges were not unique to Wolverhampton. A full update report was proposed for Cabinet 20 February 2019.’

Councillor Wendy Thompson asked the Cabinet Member the following supplementary question:

‘Is the Cabinet Member aware the Westside link that is being proposed is already being described as the road to nowhere’.

The Cabinet Member for City Economy responded that he had two quotes from people to share.  The Council would have seen in the last few days a boss of a national chain saying Wolverhampton is on the up. Tim Martin, the boss of Wetherspoon’s, the pub chain when he was announcing a hotel development and a national museum to be based in Wolverhampton. The second quote was on Twitter from Mr Anderson, Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton south-west, who responding to a council story about the council being on the up said it certainly was. The Cabinet Member concluded by saying the Council was going to make sure that the scheme happens. It was doing its utmost to make sure that it happens and we needed to be positive about Urban&Civic to make it happen rather than being negative.

d.     Cash reward for fly tipping

Councillor Simon Bennett asked the Cabinet Member for City Environment:

‘Can the Cabinet Member for City Environment explain what evidence there is that a cash reward for reporting fly tipping will lead to a reduction in the crime, and not just an increase in cost to the Council?’

The Cabinet Member for City Environment, Councillor Steve Evans responded that there are dozens of academic studies. Skinner (1976), who identified that incentivising positive behaviour can is an effective tool in promoting behavioural change. Draca M, and Machin, S (2015 revised), in Crime and Economic Incentives, complete annual review of research papers looking at the relationship between economic incentives on both reporting crime, and the participation of individuals in criminal behaviour.

He added Crimestoppers offer a reward because it was conducive for people in the community coming forward and wanting to do the right thing. That was why the Council was mirrowing what Crimestoppers do. We know from the academic studies that rewards do lead to more people coming forward.  Sometimes anonymous reports work but cash incentives and rewards work even better. That was why if a bank is robbed they offer a reward leading to a conviction, otherwise no one would come forward with information. If you offer a reward people come forward and do the right thing. So there were plenty of studies and evidence that say rewards work. The Council was not just throwing money around.

Councillor Simon Bennett asked the Cabinet Member for City Environment the following supplementary question:

‘If fly tipping is reducing please explain why much-needed funds are being spent on slick city and not clean city, because that is all our residents want or in facts worthy of the purple bins.’

The Cabinet Member for City Environment, Councillor Steve Evans responded that he was not sure that the Council was spending funds on purple bins. The reality was the Council was not giving away money. As Cabinet Member he was getting on with the business of trying to support Wolverhampton and make it cleaner, greener, and better. He had said previously that the reductions in fly tipping was testament to the hard work employees put in. There would be further reductions going forward and this could already be seen. The Council had already seized one vehicle and had another ten under investigation. We would be seeking custodial sentences for people who fly tip waste. There were a number of investigations and a number of prosecutions already in the Courts. We would continue with this approach because it was the right policies to pursue. Regarding comments being made about the tip, the tip is not closed. People were using the service. Fly tippers, a small minority of them were criminals because it was a criminal activity. In a lot of cases we have evidence that they were being paid by businesses and they were not doing the trade waste. Therefore, it was not a good idea to withdraw the permits scheme because they would come here and just abuse the tip. The Council was also carrying out operations covertly and it had the support of the public. The Council’s policies on changes to the waste strategy would protect it for a further ten years. Lots of other councils provide a three weekly collections service or even a monthly collections service and over 55% were charging for a garden waste service. However, they were not offering any reductions for people on low incomes, disabled or pensioners and they were charging more than we are. We were being fair and getting on with the job. Any monies that come in would be reinvested into our waste strategy, and our cleaner greener strategies keeping Wolverhampton and our streets neat and tidy.

Resolved:

That the responses to the written questions be noted.