Agenda item

(1)      The Leader of the Council or the appropriate Member of the Cabinet or the Chairman of a Committee to answer any questions on any matter relating to the powers and duties of the County Council, or which affects the county.

          (Note:  Notice of questions in respect of the above item on the agenda must be given in writing, preferably by e-mail, to Anne Gowing in Democratic Services by 12 noon on Wednesday 7 October 2015)

(2)     Cabinet Member Briefings on their portfolios

These will be circulated by email to all Members prior to the County Council meeting, together with the Members’ questions and responses.

There will be an opportunity for Members to ask questions.

Notice of 10 questions had been received. The questions and replies are attached as Appendix B.

A number of supplementary questions were asked and a summary of the main points is set out below:

(Q1) Mr Robert Evans asked the Leader of the Council whether he, or any of his colleagues, had any discussions with Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner. The Leader referred Mr Evans to the first paragraph of his written response.

(Q2) Mrs White asked the Leader of the Council if he agreed that Government changes to planning laws would not help Surrey and requested that he write to the Prime Minister. She also considered that ‘affordable housing’ was still likely to be beyond the reach of key workers in Surrey. The Leader considered that the Government was right to encourage builders but said that he would raise the issue with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at his meeting with him later in the week.

(Q4) Mrs Watson requested that a survey of all County Council roads be undertaken so that all county roads were included on the asset register. In the absence of the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding, the Leader agreed to ensure that the Cabinet Member was aware of her request.

(Q5) Mr Kington queried the response to the first part of his question because there was no direct link to the Ofsted reports or any search engine. The Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience reiterated (as stated in her response) that she had asked officers to review the importance of clear and accurate tagging when putting information on the website.

(Q6) In the absence of the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding, Mr Selleck asked the Leader of the Council why the County Council had recently received a cheque from Kier. The Leader agreed to make enquiries and to share the response with Members after the meeting.

(Q7) Mr Essex asked the Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience if it was possible to publish what the cost of the introduction of the National Living Wage on the Council would be and whether Central Government could be asked to provide additional funding to lessen the impact of its introduction. The Cabinet Member said that the budget figures produced in November, as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan refresh, may include an estimate and she confirmed that the Leader of the Council continued to lobby Central Government in relation to fairer funding for Surrey.

(Q8) Mrs White asked the Leader of the Council if it may have been financially prudent to appoint a new temporary Cabinet Member rather than a fifth Cabinet Associate Member. The Leader referred to the Scheme of Members’ Allowances and said that he was satisfied with his decision to appoint an additional Cabinet Associate Member.

(Q9) Mr Beardsmore expressed concern about the timescales involved for re-negotiating SITA Surrey’s contract with the Allington Waste for Energy Plant in Kent. The Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning said that he had nothing to add to his written response already provided.

(Q10) Mr Essex asked if the answer already provided to part of his question, before the meeting, could also be circulated to Members. The Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning agreed to this request.

Cabinet Member Briefings on their portfolios are attached as Appendix C.

Members made the following comments:

·         The Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience was asked for her comments on the scrutiny process for Orbis at both East Sussex and Surrey County Councils and whether there would be political support for any possible difficult decisions.

·         Flood Forums – a request for more information to be provided to local committees within the next three months.

·         Community Recycling Centres and proposed changes to the service – a plea to ‘keep it simple’ in order to continue to increase recycling rates in Surrey.

·         A request for information on the cost of fly tipping and how much of that cost was attributed to the County Council – it was agreed that this information would be provided outside the meeting. Also whether the numbers provided in the Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning’s update included waste tipped on private land - the Cabinet Member said that those figures would be impossible to determine. However, he advised Members that the County Council would be working with landowners and other key partners to develop a fly tipping strategy.

·         Enterprise M3 Growth Hub and the impact in the Guildford area – concern was expressed that little was known about Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), their decision making processes and what they do. The Deputy Leader referred Members to the LEP’s website and confirmed that the County Council was working with businesses and institutions so that the partnership developed and would provide support to businesses across the Enterprise M3 area.

·         MIPIM UK – a request for more information on this and whether Surrey was unique in being the only Local Authority taking part at this conference.