Minutes:
In accordance with notice on the agenda, Councillor Beattie proposed:
“This Council takes note and commends the recent campaign of Marcus Rashford to eradicate child hunger over holiday periods and also the recent statement from Doctor Julie-Ann Maney, a paediatrician from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children who is urging government to tackle child poverty.
Food poverty is a massive issue in normal times and during this pandemic we have seen a huge increase in the demand for food from vulnerable people.
Our children, our vulnerable and our elderly should not be going hungry this Christmas.
We as elected members of this City will do all we can to help those in need.
Therefore this Council will create a fund of 300k and immediately distribute those funds to Neighbourhood Renewal areas across all 4 quarters of this city to provide food parcels for our citizens and communities who are in most need this Christmas.
The amount of funding per area will be scaled based on the population size of the particular Neighbourhood Renewal area.
Furthermore this council will work proactively with the Department of Communities to come up with additional funding beyond our council commitment to try and address food poverty across our city.
Additionally in order to get this money out in time this council agrees to give council officers delegated authority to engage and fund organisations who have previous experience in the distribution of food parcels.”
The motion was seconded by Alderman Dorrian.
The proposer acceded to a request from Councillor Nicholl to amend the motion, agreeing to leave the first three paragraphs (ending at Christmas) and to replace the remainder of the motion with the following wording:
“Furthermore, this council recognises that there is a need to tackle poverty in its entirety, including access to cash payments for goods, utilities, foods and other basic necessities in order to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
This Council recognises the contributions played by key organisations throughout the city who work tirelessly towards addressing poverty and those organisations that have a vast amount of experience and established campaigns, hardship schemes and access to wider advice provision.
Therefore this Council agrees to create a fund of £300,000 to provide additional and holistic support to those who are in need this Christmas. The fund would be distributed on the following basis:
• £150,000 to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal; and
• £150,000 to be shared across BCC third sector partners for bespoke and targeted support programmes, with any un-utilised funding from this provision reverting to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal.
Furthermore this council calls upon the Department of Communities to release further funding to alleviate hardship in all parts of the city and commits to work with the department and community sector partners to alleviate imminent hardship while adopting a strategic approach and clear outcomes towards the elimination of poverty through the co-design and co-production of a comprehensive and resourced Anti-Poverty Strategy as a matter of urgency.”
At the request of Councillor Groogan, Councillor Nicholl agreed to add the following paragraph to the amendment:
“This Council also recognises the additional pressure that gift-giving at Christmas presents to some families and commits to bringing forward a pre-loved toys scheme as soon as practicable.”
The proposer, Councillor Beattie, acceded to the request from Councillor Nicholl to accept the aforementioned amendments to the motion.
Amendment
Moved by Councillor Matt Collins,
Seconded by Councillor Ferguson,
That the motion, as amended, standing in the name of Councillor Beattie and Alderman Dorrian be amended further so that paragraphs six, seven and eight be replaced to read as follows:
“That this Council agrees to create a fund of £600,000 to provide additional and holistic support to those who are in need this Christmas. The fund would be distributed on the following basis:
• £300,000 to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal
• £300,000 to be shared across BCC third sector partners for bespoke and targeted support programmes, with any un-utilised funding from this provision reverting to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal.”
The Council agreed to vote on the amendment, when seven Members voted for, thirty-two Members against and 18 no votes, and it was declared lost.
Accordingly, the motion, as amended, was put to the Council and passed as follows:
“This Council takes note and commends the recent campaign of Marcus Rashford to eradicate child hunger over holiday periods and also the recent statement from Doctor Julie-Ann Maney, a paediatrician from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children who is urging government to tackle child poverty.
Food poverty is a massive issue in normal times and during this pandemic we have seen a huge increase in the demand for food from vulnerable people.
Our children, our vulnerable and our elderly should not be going hungry this Christmas.
Furthermore, this council recognises that there is a need to tackle poverty in its entirety, including access to cash payments for goods, utilities, foods and other basic necessities in order to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
This Council recognises the contributions played by key organisations throughout the city who work tirelessly towards addressing poverty and those organisations that have a vast amount of experience and established campaigns, hardship schemes and access to wider advice provision.
Therefore this Council agrees to create a fund of £300,000 to provide additional and holistic support to those who are in need this Christmas. The fund would be distributed on the following basis:
· £150,000 to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal; and
· £150,000 to be shared across BCC third sector partners for bespoke and targeted support programmes, with any un-utilised funding from this provision reverting to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Family Appeal.
This Council also recognises the additional pressure that gift-giving at Christmas presents to some families and commits to bringing forward a pre-loved toys scheme as soon as practicable.
Furthermore this council calls upon the Department of Communities to release further funding to alleviate hardship in all parts of the city and commits to work with the department and community sector partners to alleviate imminent hardship while adopting a strategic approach and clear outcomes towards the elimination of poverty through the co-design and co-production of a comprehensive and resourced Anti-Poverty Strategy as a matter of urgency.”
In order to progress the matter, it was agreed that the allocation of the £150,000 community fund be considered, in the first instance, by the Party Group Leaders with authority delegated to the Council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee to take the decision in respect of the final allocation. It was noted that a special meeting would be convened for this purpose.