Q1. The Armed Forces Covenant – and Oldham Council’s Commitment:
This Council has a long history of working on a cross-party basis to recognise the commitment, dedication and, tragically on occasions, self-sacrifice of citizens of this Borough who are or have been service personnel in Her Majesty’s armed forces or in the emergency services.

This has included awarding the honorary title of Freemen of the Borough to members of the Royal Tank Regiment, supporting the retention of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and endorsing the Royal British Legion Manifesto and the Government’s Armed Forces Covenant.

In recent months, my colleague, Councillor John McCann, has proposed, on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group, that streets be named in this Borough after fallen service personnel and that ex-service personnel seeking employment with this Council be offered guaranteed interviews.

I am pleased to say that these two proposals have found favour with my fellow councillors.

With Remembrance Sunday next month and the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the First World War next year, I therefore welcome the recent announcement by the Leader to implement measures to make the Council’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant a reality at a local level.

My first question to the Leader tonight comes in three parts:
a) Could he please outline for Council what presently these measures will be?
b) Will he charge a cabinet member with responsibility for championing these measures, as has been done by neighbouring Rochdale, for example?
c) Will he be happy to support my call for overview and scrutiny board to identify best practice from other local authorities that can be adopted here and to consult with relevant organisations in our Borough for their recommendations, such as veterans’ associations and charities which provide support for ex-service personnel?

Q2. Recent Stabbing and Lack of PCSOs:
I am sure that the Leader will join me in condemning the recent stabbing in Shaw.

For many months (over 12 in fact), ward members have both at district meetings and at meetings with the police reported recurring instances of anti-social and intimidating behaviour by a gang of young offenders in central Shaw, and have repeatedly demanded action.

Despite the police undertaking undercover operations, I am convinced that the lack of visibility of PCSOs in Shaw has meant that this gang has operated without apparent interference for months (that is what the public think) – and this unsatisfactory situation has now led to this stabbing.

The Leader may recall that at last December’s Council I asked him to join me in condemning a change in procedure requiring Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to parade at Oldham Police Station prior to deployment to their assigned beat?

This has meant that PCSOs have less time on the beat to actually detect crime, apprehend criminals and help the public as they now have to travel between central Oldham and Royton, Shaw and elsewhere, rather than simply reporting for duty on their beat at the start of a shift.
In Shaw, this has resulted in us now hardly ever seeing any PCSO’s in our town centre, and the public have noticed and regularly comment about this fact at every opportunity.

At December’s Council, the Leader agreed that a meeting should be arranged for Group Leaders to discuss our concerns about the new arrangements with the Police.

This appears not to have happened?

In light of the recent incident in Shaw, can I again request that the Leader agree to arrange such a meeting as a matter of urgency?

Q3. Regulating Chuggers:

In this chamber in the recent past, we have had a number of discussions about how we can revitalise and support our high street.

I hope that the Leader will agree with me that one of the irritants deterring shoppers from returning to our town centre is being accosted by one of the many fund-raisers (known less affectionately as ‘chuggers’, or charity muggers) who seem ever prevalent on our high street?

Although sporting garments advertising whichever charity of the day they are promoting, many of these individuals are in fact employed by agencies.

These agencies operate for profit through taking a fee from funds raised and in turn pay commission to the fund-raiser.

Can the Leader please tell Council what is being done by this Administration to regulate the activities of these ‘fund-raisers’, in particular to ensure that shoppers and visitors to our town are not harassed and that 100% of the money raised goes directly to the charity?