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 Angela Guest in Democratic Services by 12 noon on Wednesday 15 March 2017).

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 21 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:

(Q2) Mrs Barton asked if the Council should be taking a £30m risk, to which the Leader responded that a full response would be available at Cabinet next week if Mrs Barton cared to attend.

(Q3) Mr Beckett asked if the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding agreed that the fear of crime was still prevalent even if not a crime.  The Cabinet Member responded that the police, safer neighbourhood teams and borough councils were working closely on fear of crime and where the fear was real it would be reacted to appropriately.

(Q5) Mr Sydney did not feel that his question had been answered and asked if his successor could be given a proper response.  The Cabinet Member for Localities and Community Wellbeing responded that he felt a full answer had been given and referred Mr Sydney to the Cabinet Member briefing.

(Q6) Mrs Watson asked if the Leader agreed that Members should have a copy of the CIPFA report before making a decision on the budget, to which he reiterated that the report was to be issued later today.

(Q7) Mrs White asked why Surrey lagged behind other authorities in the amount of additional funding it was to receive.  The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Wellbeing and Independence responded that the calculation was decided by the Minister and was linked to Council Tax.

(Q9) Mr Cooksey asked where the money would be found for extending the Alt contract by six months and would full consultation take place with residents of Mole Valley?  Mr Hall asked if the Cabinet Member would agree that the contract would be welcomed and in the summer all would have better chance of coming up with clear proposals. Mrs Saliagopoulos asked about a rumour of the closure of the Jarvis Centre in Guildford and asked for her comment on the users of the Blanche Herriott unit being spread across other areas when that closes.  The Cabinet Member responded that much consultation had taken place during the commissioning of the contract and agreed with Mr Hall’s comment.  She had no knowledge of the position of the Jarvis Centre but would find out.

(Q10) Mr Orrick asked if the Leader would make a statement against hate crime and agree that all employees were wanted regardless of where they came from.  The Leader agreed.

(Q12) Mr Essex asked if the local repair budget was to remain the same and asked why there were differences to resurfacing budgets between the boroughs.  The Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding explained that the amount of deterioration was key to the amount of money spent and that the local committees were to be involved in the decision on the repair budget.

(Q13) Mr Essex asked why Members were not shown the CIPFA report earlier.  The Leader responded that the report had to be read and checked for accuracy.

(Q14) Mr Cooksey asked when a decision would be taken regarding the 465 bus.  The Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning reported that talks had concluded late on the previous Friday and that there was an agreement in principle for the 465 bus to continue unchanged for the next five years. A joint statement would be made later today.

(Q18) Mr Evans stated that whilst age provided experience, the makeup of the council did not reflect society and asked if council was to review its working practices to attract younger members.  Several Members made comments to the effect that this was an ageist question and it should be about quality rather than age, and cited many examples of good works undertaken by older people, many of whom were volunteers.

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

Members made the following comments:

Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding: The Cabinet Member was urged to look at ways in which parish councils could be more involved as they knew their areas.  The Cabinet Member agreed that parish councils were underused, that they had been invited to take on more services and he would continue to work with all partners and review.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning: The waste recycling centres are said to have implemented changes and are now giving expected savings, so why have they not met their targets and the further savings needed.  The Cabinet Member responded that implementation of the charging did not take place until after April. The Cabinet Member also confirmed that involvement of parish councils would take place on highways, BOATs and byways.