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 5 December 2012).
Minutes:
Notice of 16 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) Mrs Watson said that there was no room for complacency as she considered was demonstrated in the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning’s response and asked her to comment further. The Cabinet Member disagreed and said that the key driver to school improvement were Headteachers and holding them to account. She quoted statistics from the recent OFSTED inspection outcomes of maintained schools inspected between 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2012 and highlighted nationally accredited Surrey schools such as Esher High, George Abbot and South Farnham Schools.
(Q2) Mr Forster requested that the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment ensured that the correct signs and legal processes outlined in his answer were available for the next parking reviews, to be considered at local committees in June. This was agreed.
(Q4) Mrs White requested that the Cabinet Member for Children and Families, who agreed, that the presentation of the Peer Review of partnership arrangements in Children, Schools and Families was circulated to all Members.
(Q8) Mr Kington said that the response had not addressed the issue of additional funding and asked the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment whether he would agree to use part of the £0.5m underspend in the Environment and Infrastructure Directorate to fund his request. The Cabinet Member declined to give this undertaking but agreed to bring this issue to the attention of highways officers and then respond with a timescale for the work, outside the meeting.
(Also, Q8) Mr Mallett asked the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment about the legality of zigzag lines outside schools that no longer existed and whether he could authorise their removal. The Cabinet Member agreed to provide the legal details for him. He also informed him that officers from the parking team were in the process of visiting all Surrey schools and changes would be made after consultation locally.
(Q9) Mr Colin Taylor asked the Chairman of the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee for clarification on the timescale for a review of the democratic structures and was advised that it could take place during the first year of the new Administration.
(Q10) Mr Butcher asked the Leader of the Council whether he would welcome an investigation into Members being informed of matters relating to their division. The Leader confirmed that the Cabinet had already agreed a process for communications with Members and cited the work of the Public Value Review and the work being taking forward on the theme – Think Councillor, Think Resident.
(Also Q10) Mrs Frost sympathised with Mr Butcher and welcomed the work being done to improve communications with Members. Mr Lake made reference to a protocol concerning Members visiting in other Member divisions.
(Q11) Mrs Watson asked the Leader of the Council for assurance that all options would be considered before a final decision was made about a Magna Carta Visitor Centre. She was advised that the decision taken by the Cabinet was ‘in principle’ and that officers had been instructed to do further work on this topic and report back to Cabinet.
(Q12) Mr Forster asked the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, who confirmed, that in future accurate information was provided to Members in response to questions.
(Q13) Mr Colin Taylor requested a list of the 10 Community Partnered Libraries (CPLs) with the timescales for their implementation programme. The Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games said that the timescales had changed. She also said that it was her intention to visit all CPLs to help them deliver their goals. Finally, she offered to circulate the revised timescales to Members and to meet with Mr Taylor outside the meeting to discuss any of his concerns.
(Q14) Dr Povey referred to the option, taken up by the newly elected Police Commissioner, to appoint a Deputy Commissioner and asked the Leader of the Council whether he would agree that residents would rather have extra police officers. The Leader responded by stating that it was important that the Police Commissioner made his own decisions.
(Q16) Mr Lambell made reference to a new fire station in Burgh Heath, which was not mentioned in the written response and Mr Wood asked for confirmation about plans to move an extra pump to Epsom. The Cabinet Member for Community Safety informed Members that the consultation had only just started and no decisions had been made. The Chairman of the Communities Select Communities informed Members that this matter would be discussed at his select committee on 16 January 2013.