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 11 May 2016).
Minutes:
Notice of 11 questions had been received. The questions and replies are attached as Appendix E.
A number of supplementary questions were asked and a summary of the main points is set out below:
(Q1) Mr Essex asked the Leader of the Council whether ‘countries’ also included UK overseas territories and was advised that this was correct.
(Q3) Mrs Watson asked the Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing if she would agree that this underspend on youth services could be transferred to youth centres to provide more activities for young people. The Cabinet Member responded by stating that Children, Schools and Families Directorate took a ‘whole system approach’ to its services and budget and overall there was an overspend, partly due to service priorities relating to recruitment and retention of social workers and the on-going work of the Children Services Improvement Plan. The Leader of the Council also said that the accounts for the financial year 2015/16 had now closed and there had been no request for a carry forward for this underspend.
(Q4) Mrs Angell did not consider that Surrey Library Service had a good working relationship with New Haw Community Partnered Library (CPL) and asked the following supplementary questions:
(i) she considered that the response relating to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was unsatisfactory because it had been outstanding for over two years and it was unrealistic to expect a ten day turn around,
(ii) she was disappointed with the differing timescales for photocopiers,
(iii) she asked the Cabinet Member for confirmation that the minutes that he had agreed to provide would inform the CPL who, why and where the cuts would be made and why there had been no CPL involvement,
(iv) she asked for an undertaking that in future, any decision would be taken in conjunction with the CPL
(v) finally, she invited the Cabinet Member to attend the CPL’s Annual General Meeting on 2 June.
The Cabinet Member for Localities and Community Wellbeing said that he would provide a written response outside the meeting.
(Also Q4) Mrs Young raised the issue of timely and transparent information at Bramley CPL and asked for assurance from the Cabinet Member that, in future, this would be the case. Mr Essex asked whether it was an appropriate time to undertake a review by the Resident Experience Board on whether CPLs were working effectively.
The Cabinet Member provided assurance to Mrs Young in relation to her concerns, and in relation to Mr Essex suggestion, he confirmed that the library service continually reviewed its work with CPLs to ascertain where improvements could be made.
(Q5) Mrs White asked the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding whether local committees would be given the opportunity to discuss the type of treatment given to the repair of pavements. The Cabinet Member confirmed that it would be open for debate but in the first year of operation it was a question of available funding, plus the type of surface would also be dependent on highways officers’ advice.
(Q6) Mrs Windsor praised the facilities at St Piers School and College in Lingfield and requested that the Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement bore this in mind when considering placements for SEND children and young people. The Cabinet Member said that this school was within the non-maintained and independent sector and referred to the SEND 2020 strategy, which was to make Surrey schools more inclusive in the future.
(Q7) Mr Mallett asked the Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement what mechanism was in place for cross-checking the appointment of various school governors. Mr Robert Evans also drew the Cabinet Member’s attention to what he considered was a flawed system for the appointment of Local Authority governors to schools and asked if there were any guidelines from Babcock 4S on this matter. The Cabinet Member stated that all appointments at Surry schools were undertaken by Babcock 4S, although currently this is not include academies. She invited Mr Evans to send her details of any issues.
(Q8) Mrs Mason requested a statement from Surrey Highways, providing an explanation of delayed works on the Project Horizon programme. The Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding was not convinced that this would be a good use of officer time and said that, as stated in his written answer, Members would be having a briefing later this week where there would be a full update of schemes completed, removed and still to be done.
(Q9) Mr Kington asked the Leader of the Council to provide the cost of officer time at this County Council meeting, rather than the number of hours, which he agreed to do. However, the Leader of the Council did reiterate that the Constitution stated that the authority was required to hold an Annual General meeting and that it was right and proper that it was attended by officers.
(Q10) Mr Essex asked for more details in relation to the number of SEN school places and also whether there were any SEND children travelling to schools outside Surrey. The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement said that she could provide more information directly to Mr Essex outside the meeting, if he requested it.
(Q11) Mr Robert Evans referred to a recent residents’ meeting that he had attended and their concern that the recent changes made at Community Recycling Centres would result in increased fly tipping in Spelthorne. The Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning said that the County Council was proud of the quality of its recycling service and that changes had saved residents £1.8m on this budget. He reminded Members that fly tipping was a criminal act, referred to the fly tipping prevention strategy currently being produced and said that the information campaign for residents would start in June. Mrs Turner-Stewart said that residents needed more information and clarification on this matter and asked if details could be included in a future issue of Surrey Matters, to which the Cabinet Member agreed.