Council: Remove Charge for Companion Pass (Amendment)

Contents

Motion

Amendment

Vote Result

Votes in Favour

Votes Against

Absentees

Motion

Councillor Murray, supported by Councillor Bowler, proposed the following:

This council:

notes the ombudsman's report of 2 October, of maladministration in relation to the charges for companion passes; and
notes the particular failings highlighted in the report, of lack of consultation with user groups, impact on residents with disabilities, and lack of notification of changes to services.

This council calls on the administration to:

review its procedures for consulting residents in advance of any changes to services;
review its procedures for notifying residents of any changes to services;
ensure that in the future, any obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act are fully considered and applied when making policy, and that all existing policies are compliant; and
make a recommendation to full council to remove the charge for companion passes.

Amendment

Councillor O'Brien, supported by Councillor Mason, proposed that the motion be replaced with:

This council notes the ombudsman report of 2 October 2009 and agrees the recommendations of the statutory report of the monitoring officer - companion bus passes.

This council also notes that the government let down carers and companions of disabled people by failing to include them in the statutory national concessionary bus fares scheme.

Therefore this council calls on the government to make financial provisions for companion passes within the national bus concession scheme so that those passholders who have difficulty travelling by themselves can travel nationally on a bus with a companion free of charge.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried and became the substantive motion.

Vote Result

Votes in Favour 30

Votes Against 21

Absentees 4