(a) Question from Councillor Cartwright to the Executive member for culture, sport & leisure, communications & partnerships
“WW1 Silhouette Memorial to Fallen Troops
The 6ft aluminium Tommy Silhouettes have been purchased by cites around the world. But for hundreds of British Councils it seems honouring those who made the ultimate sacrifice is not a priority.
Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt personally wrote to 433 local Council leaders asking them to support the charity campaign. At the time of me writing this question to Council only 160 councils had agreed to make a £750.00 donation to buy one of the silhouettes to display in their town or city for the centenary of the end of the war.
Did Lord Dannatt write to Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council?
Has Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council purchased any WW1 silhouettes?”
Response from Councillor Cook:
“Thank you for your question
This Council has, and always will, honour those who serve today, those who fought, the many who died in conflict, and those who survive as veterans of our armed forces, and merchant navy.
General the Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL, writing as Patron of There But Not There, The 2018 Armistice project for the Charity Remembered, sent an e-mail to the Leader of the Council in late June.
The e-mail set out the campaign objectives of ‘There but not There’, described simply as:
• To commemorate the Fallen, highlighting the sacrifices made by so many through Tommy installations across the country
• To educate all, particularly our younger generation, to help them understand why and how 888,246 British and Commonwealth service personnel lost their lives
• To help heal those suffering from the hidden wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder and other legacies of recent combat operations, by raising funds for our beneficiary charities
The e-mail also offered support and advice for those wanting to purchase Tommies for their own installations.
I am very pleased to inform you and fellow Councillors that we have recently purchased two 6ft aluminium Tommy Silhouettes for installation at Hinckley War Memorial. One has been funded by our Economic Regeneration Team and the other has been kindly funded by volunteers from Hinckley Past & Present.
These two silhouettes will be installed within the Hinckley War Memorial setting during the month of October, in readiness for Remembrance Sunday.
We have also written to all parish councils giving information about the silhouettes and the charities that a purchase will help to support, suggesting that parishes may be able to raise the funds to purchase a silhouette for installation in their town or village.
These silhouettes compliment a number of initiatives which aim to ensure our War Memorials are looking their best allowing us to mark the 100 year Anniversary of the end of WW1.
We hope that you and other Members support and welcome our positive approach.”
(b) Question from Councillor Cartwright to the Leader of the Council:
“Would the leader of the Council please explain to me and all other members how he believes the Scrutiny function of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council works?”
Response from Councillor Hall:
“The formal bodies of the overview & scrutiny function operate in accordance with the council’s constitution as outlined in part 2e (responsibility for functions – overview & scrutiny) and part 3g (overview & scrutiny procedure rules).
The constitution gives a wide range of powers to the scrutiny function, not just to review performance and decisions but to be able to have a say in determining policy.
Amongst other things, overview and scrutiny is able to review proposals before they come to Council and to influence policy through its own recommendations. There are specific processes, such as budget setting, where Scrutiny can play an important part in shaping policy, where the responsibility is defined as follows:
The Executive's initial proposal shall be referred to Scrutiny Commission or to Finance & Performance Scrutiny. At the end of the consultation period, the Executive will draw up firm proposals having regard to the consultation responses. If the Scrutiny Commission or Finance & Performance Scrutiny wishes to respond to the Executive in that consultation process then it may do so. As the Scrutiny Commission and Finance & Performance Scrutiny have responsibility for fixing their own work programme and those of any scrutiny panels, it is open to the Commission (directly or through a panel) to investigate, research or report in detail with policy recommendations before the end of the consultation period. The Executive will take any response from the Scrutiny Commission or Finance & Performance Committee Scrutiny or a panel into account in drawing up firm proposals for submission to Council, and its report to Council will reflect the comments made by consultees and the Executive’s response.
Members make a range of decisions including, as we see in our agenda this evening, decisions to support a recommendation, suggestions of additional comments to be included in the final recommendation to Council, or neutral feedback simply noting the report. Personally I do not find a decision to simply note the report particularly helpful when the report under consideration has significant policy impacts, because it implies that scrutiny members have no views to express, when I know that is not always the case. I have noticed recently that it is being used less frequently and I hope that will continue.
I’m sure that there is far more work that Scrutiny could undertake within its remit, which may require more panels and meetings, which could be introduced if that is the wish of members of the scrutiny committee.”
Minutes:
(a) Question from Councillor Cartwright to the Executive member for culture, sport & leisure, communications & partnerships
“WW1 Silhouette Memorial to Fallen Troops
The 6ft aluminium Tommy Silhouettes have been purchased by cities around the world. But for hundreds of British Councils it seems honouring those who made the ultimate sacrifice is not a priority.
Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt personally wrote to 433 local Council leaders asking them to support the charity campaign. At the time of me writing this question to Council only 160 councils had agreed to make a £750.00 donation to buy one of the silhouettes to display in their town or city for the centenary of the end of the war.
Did Lord Dannatt write to Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council?
Has Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council purchased any WW1 silhouettes?”
Response from Councillor Cook:
“Thank you for your question
This Council has, and always will, honour those who serve today, those who fought, the many who died in conflict, and those who survive as veterans of our armed forces, and merchant navy.
General the Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL, writing as Patron of “There But Not There”, The 2018 Armistice project for the Charity Remembered, sent an e-mail to the Leader of the Council in late June.
The e-mail set out the campaign objectives of ‘There but not There’, described simply as:
• To commemorate the Fallen, highlighting the sacrifices made by so many through Tommy installations across the country
• To educate all, particularly our younger generation, to help them understand why and how 888,246 British and Commonwealth service personnel lost their lives
• To help heal those suffering from the hidden wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder and other legacies of recent combat operations, by raising funds for our beneficiary charities
The e-mail also offered support and advice for those wanting to purchase Tommies for their own installations.
I am very pleased to inform you and fellow Councillors that we have recently purchased two 6ft aluminium Tommy Silhouettes for installation at Hinckley War Memorial. One has been funded by our Economic Regeneration Team and the other has been kindly funded by volunteers from Hinckley Past & Present.
These two silhouettes will be installed within the Hinckley War Memorial setting during the month of October, in readiness for Remembrance Sunday.
We have also written to all parish councils giving information about the silhouettes and the charities that a purchase will help to support, suggesting that parishes may be able to raise the funds to purchase a silhouette for installation in their town or village.
These silhouettes compliment a number of initiatives which aim to ensure our War Memorials are looking their best allowing us to mark the 100 year Anniversary of the end of WW1.
We hope that you and other Members support and welcome our positive approach.”
(b) Question from Councillor Cartwright to the Leader of the Council:
“Would the leader of the Council please explain to me and all other members how he believes the Scrutiny function of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council works?”
Response from Councillor Hall:
“The formal bodies of the overview & scrutiny function operate in accordance with the council’s constitution as outlined in part 2e (responsibility for functions – overview & scrutiny) and part 3g (overview & scrutiny procedure rules).
The constitution gives a wide range of powers to the scrutiny function, not just to review performance and decisions but to be able to have a say in determining policy.
Amongst other things, overview and scrutiny is able to review proposals before they come to Council and to influence policy through its own recommendations. There are specific processes, such as budget setting, where Scrutiny can play an important part in shaping policy, where the responsibility is defined as follows:
The Executive's initial proposal shall be referred to Scrutiny Commission or to Finance & Performance Scrutiny. At the end of the consultation period, the Executive will draw up firm proposals having regard to the consultation responses. If the Scrutiny Commission or Finance & Performance Scrutiny wishes to respond to the Executive in that consultation process then it may do so. As the Scrutiny Commission and Finance & Performance Scrutiny have responsibility for fixing their own work programme and those of any scrutiny panels, it is open to the Commission (directly or through a panel) to investigate, research or report in detail with policy recommendations before the end of the consultation period. The Executive will take any response from the Scrutiny Commission or Finance & Performance Committee Scrutiny or a panel into account in drawing up firm proposals for submission to Council, and its report to Council will reflect the comments made by consultees and the Executive’s response.
Members make a range of decisions including, as we see in our agenda this evening, decisions to support a recommendation, suggestions of additional comments to be included in the final recommendation to Council, or neutral feedback simply noting the report. Personally I do not find a decision to simply note the report particularly helpful when the report under consideration has significant policy impacts, because it implies that scrutiny members have no views to express, when I know that is not always the case. I have noticed recently that it is being used less frequently and I hope that will continue.
I’m sure that there is far more work that Scrutiny could undertake within its remit, which may require more panels and meetings, which could be introduced if that is the wish of members of the scrutiny committee.”
By way of supplementary question, Councillor Cartwright asked where it stated that the Leader could influence the scrutiny process and referred to a particular matter, suggesting that the Leader or an officer had lied or the Leader had misrepresented an officer. In response to the first part of the supplementary question raised, the Leader confirmed that the constitution did not specifically say the Leader could influence the scrutiny process. In response to the second part of the supplementary question, the Leader did not provide a response as the matter raised did not constitute a supplementary question.