Liberal Democrats on Kent County Council

Question by Mrs Dean To The Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement

In view of the transfer to KCC employment of former Health Service employees whose pension schemes would not include investments in tobacco; will the Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement reconsider KCC's previous stance on the withdrawal of Superannuation Fund investment in tobacco firms?

Question by Mr T Prater to the Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement

In view of the damming KPMG report of governance of the Laser scheme and the lack of any committee scrutiny of the setting up of Kent Cultural Trading, will the Cabinet Member for Finance agree to a review of the Governance of all KCC Trading Companies & Business activities to ensure they all represent best value for Kent's residents?

Question by Mr G Koowaree to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste

Will the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste inform this Council of the criteria for resurfacing deteriorated concrete roads, and provide me with copies of the analysis data reports for:

1. Bond Road, Ashford &
2. Osborne Road, Ashford

Question by Mr D S Daley to the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Public Health

A recent Kent County Council (KCC) report states that vulnerable elderly people and disabled adults may have to stay home for longer instead of being moved into residential care. KCC will depend on voluntary and private sector providers, our 'Partners in the Community', to provide home based care for these vulnerable people whilst they await to move into residential care.

Question by Martin Vye To Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Customers and Communities

Given that only half of the twelve Kent Districts have established Locality Boards with either draft or adopted Terms of Reference* (rather than the nine mentioned in your answer at the County Council meeting in February) and that of these only three allow the public access to their meetings, will the Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities admit that a major flagship KCC policy has stalled, and he needs to make it his urgent priority to persuade District Council Leaders to set up locally accountable Boards where County and Districts can be seen to be working together for the good of local people?

Question by Trudy Dean To Bryan Sweetland, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste

Can the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste please say how many voluntary organisations / charities in Kent have:

a) lost all of their 3^rd party recycling credits

b) retained fifty percent (50%) of their 3^rd party recycling credits

Question by Ian Chittenden to Graham Gibbens, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

Given KCC should have regular care management reviews and contractual inspection visits to all residential and nursing homes with KCC funded residents; will the Cabinet Member inform the Council what went wrong to leave 24 KCC funded elderly residents at serious risk of harm in two Kent homes - The Oast in Maidstone* (with 11 KCC funded residents) and The Gables in Wrotham** (with 13 KCC funded residents) and what measure he has put in place to safeguard all KCC 's vulnerable adults in residential & nursing homes to ensure no one will be placed at such risk again?

Question by George Koowaree to Graham Gibbens, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

For more than 2 months (since 23 January 2012) I have been asking a relatively simple request* - to be provided with details of the number of KCC funded clients in residential & nursing homes with details of those homes; will the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health give his personal assurance that KCC does know where all our clients are living even if KCC cannot provide me with the details and please inform me what the problems are preventing KCC from providing the information, when these will be sorted and when I will finally be provided with the details I have requested?

Question by Tim Prater to Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Performance & Health Reform

Given the Information Commissioner's concerns about Kent County Council's awareness of its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act, the Regulations, and the undertaking with the Information Commissioner's Office recently signed by the Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Performance & Health Reform; can the Cabinet Member please say what additional resources and training, at what additional cost, are to be provided to meet those undertakings with the ICO; and when will these resources be in place to ensure we meet our undertaking, avoid formal action by the ICO and clearly demonstrate to Kent's citizens this council has embraced the culture of openness and transparency the legislation seeks to promote?

Question by Malcolm Robertson to Mike Hill

"Delivering the Customer Service Strategy will only be successful if we build trust and credibility for it among KCC staff, our customers and our partners ….. The success of the Customer Service Strategy depends on it being communicated to ensure that staff, customers and partners know about it, feel consulted about it and support it" (Customer Service Strategy, p.23) . Will the Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities inform this council how customers, Members, staff and our partners were consulted and fully participated in the drafting of the Customer Service Strategy and specifically their consideration of:

Question by Dan Daley to Cabinet Member for Specialist Childrens Services

Following the inspections by OFSTED during 2010, 2,600 children were identified as being without an allocated social worker. Will the Cabinet Member for Specialist Childrens Services please say:

a) how many days or weeks since referral each of these children had to wait for a social worker to be allocated, and

Question by Tim Prater to The Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Waste

Given the Government announcement of charging foreign lorry drivers to drive on Our roads, and the long term stated aim by this Council of seeing such a scheme pay for a long term solution to Operation Stack, what reassurance has been received that Kent will see additional funding from this scheme to resolve Operation Stack and remove this long term burden on businesses, hauliers and residents?

Question by George Koowaree to the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

Along with increasing the Blue Badge issue fee from £2.00 to £10.00 KCC has restricted payment to 'payable by cheque only'* - there is no longer provision for applicants to pay by any other payment methods (i.e. postal order, debit card etc.); will the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health inform this council:

Question by Trudy Dean to Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities

Will the portfolio holder for Customer & Communities please state:

a) how much the County Council has spent in both capital and revenue on the creation and the ongoing running costs to the 31 March 2012 for the Gateway centres;

Question by Martin Vye to Alex King, Cabinet Member for Democracy and Partnerships

'Greater transparency and openness, making the decision making process more inclusive, robust and accessible' and 'greater accountability of decision makers' are two of the nine key objectives of our new hybrid model of governance*.

Question by Ian Chittenden to Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities

The proposed cuts to the youth budget could have a serious effect on young people, families and other citizens. Prior to the commissioning process starting with these reduced funds, Locality Boards in their various formats are being asked to meet and make a decision by the end of March on the way forward for their local Youth Service.

Question by Martin Vye to Paul Carter, Leader of the Council

Will the Leader assure the Council that he sees the function of the proposed Cabinet Committees to be that of scrutiny and evaluation of performance of the Council's services as well as assisting in the development of policy by pre-scrutiny of Cabinet and Cabinet Members decisions?

Question by Ian Chittenden to Bryan Sweetland, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Waste

Under the 'making it happen' section of the Kent Design Guide, section J5, Commencement of Works, the guide recommends to developers that they meet with representatives or inspection staff to take photographs of the site prior to commencement of works, so that any damage sustained to the existing highway can be assessed where necessary.

Question by Tim Prater to Trudy Dean, Chairman of Cabinet Scrutiny Committee

Will the Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee say what lessons have been learned on the operation of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee since her last report in July 2010?

Answer

In our July 2010 report we called for the Forward Plan to be improved, and that more Scrutiny work should be carried out by the Policy and Overview Committees. We therefore welcome progress on both issues being made, and in particular welcome the proposal for Scrutiny Committees to examine impending decisions before they are approved by Cabinet.

Question by Martin Vye to the Cabinet Member for Education, Learning & Skills

Will the Cabinet Member for Education, Learning & Skills inform the Council whether the numbers of children in each category of special educational need in any of Kent's districts exceed the capacity of the special schools assigned to that district; and how many children with special educational need currently have to travel more than 20 miles per day to attend a special school?

Question by Mrs Dean To The Cabinet Member for Environment Highways and Waste

"Would the Cabinet Member please say when the County Council was first made aware of any interest in developing the former SCA site in New Hythe Lane, Larkfield for treatment of waste, when contact with the County Council was first made by Biossense, and what major planning policy and highway issues will surround any future use of this site?"

Question by Mr I Chittenden to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Waste

"In recent years hundreds of trees on County Council land, in particular on verges and green areas adjacent to roads and footpaths have been cut down, with very few replaced. Many become diseased and die due to grass cutting around the base of trees with strimming tools which cut and removed the bark from the main trunks, resulting in disease and a slow death.

Question by Mr D S Daley to the Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities

"The Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities is reported as having said that the Youth Service proposals "... are intended to transform the way we deliver services to young people so that we can continue to provide a first-class service...". As I understand it you are expecting volunteers and Kent's voluntary sector to rush to the challenge.

Question by George Koowaree to the Cabinet Member for Children Services

"Will the Cabinet Member for Children's Services remind the Council of the total expenditure in 2010/11 on commissioning from the voluntary sector of services relating to children's safeguarding and wellbeing, of the planned expenditure on this in 2011/12; inform the Council of the numbers of Service Level Agreements with voluntary organisations working in this field which will be discontinued during this financial year, and of those due to be decommissioned on the 31st of March 2012?"

Question by Mr T Prater to the Leader

"Can the Leader of the Council reassure this Council and its staff that Kent will not use the approach of making large numbers of staff redundant and offering jobs back on a reduced salary, a practice recently used by a number of other authorities?"

Answer

I can confirm that we have no plans to use such an approach.

Question by Martin Vye to Sarah Hohler, Cabinet Member for Education, Learning & Skills

"Given the recent finding by the Local Ombudsman of maladministration on the part of Kent County Council will the Cabinet Member for Education, Learning and Skills inform the Council of action being taken, first, to establish procedures to rectify any errors or incidents which may affect selective testing at the time of testing; and second, to ensure that clerks, and chairs and members of Appeal Panels provided by the authority have sufficient capability and training to conduct hearings properly, and to make reasonable judgments on the complex issues presented to them in those hearings?"

Question by Martin Vye to Cabinet Member for Customer & Communities

Will the Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities inform the Council know how many District Councils have signed up to Locality Boards, and in the case of those which have not, give the reasons for the difficulties in achieving this?

Question by Trudy Dean to Jenny Whittle, Cabinet Member for Children's Special Services

Can the Cabinet Member please explain the circumstances under which 286 children in 2008/9, and 327 children in 2009/10, went missing out of care in Kent?

Answer

During the years 2008/09 to 2009/10, looked after children who were missing from placement without permission for more than 6 hours were formally classed as 'missing children'. The vast majority of those children subsequently returned safely to their placements. For those who did not return quickly, further action was initiated to locate them.

Question by Dan Daley to John Simmonds, Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement

There is running currently a very prominent national newspaper campaign to retain the 'First Past the Post' system of voting. These advertisements are taking whole pages in all of the national newspapers and possibly even provincial papers too.

Question by Martin Vye to Paul Carter, Leader of the Council

Given the taxpaying public's concerns about high pay in the public sector and the revelation that sums of more than £1,000 per day are being paid by the Council to several senior officers in interim posts, would the Leader of the Council ensure that Cabinet Members provide all Members with details of the work done justifying the payment of these sums, especially as the rate paid is often more than double that of the anticipated weekly salary for the equivalent permanent Corporate Director position.

Question by Dan Daley to John Simmonds, Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement

Even though all KCC employees have access to a corporate healthcare scheme which costs them £1.50 per person per week; Kent County Council spent over quarter of a million pounds* on private health care insurance for only 317 employees in the year 2009/10. Will the Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement inform the Council how much that figure has increased (or decreased) in the current financial year and if he will consider cancelling this benefit and offer it as part of the £20million staff savings, thereby reducing the number of job losses?

Question by Malcolm Robertson to Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste

With badly maintained roads costing Kent's 50,000+ small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) an average of £13,600 each per year, will the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste inform the council how he intends to ensure that no Kent postcode area will again feature in the AA 'Streetwatch' survey overall ranking of one of the worst three postcode areas (for potholes, patched repairs, kerb stones, inspection covers, road works, uneven footpaths, blocked drains, road signs and road markings); and advise if he will endeavour to ensure a Kent postcode area features in one of the best three postcode area in the next survey?

Question by George Koowaree to Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development

Will the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development inform the council how he intends to work with Ashford Borough Council to implement the Audit Commissions recommendations to improve Kent's one-star rating for the management of the growth of Ashford for the benefit of the whole community and in particular how he intends to:

Question by Martin Vye to Leader of the Council

Will the Leader of the Council inform the council what progress has been made since the resolution made July 2010 (see foot note*) with regard to the Group Managing Director's urgent review of the interview, appointment, contract and severance payment procedures and at which 2011 County Council meeting he intends to report back to Members with the proposals to strengthen those procedures so as to minimise the risk of such large payments being made in the future?

Question by Trudy Dean to Paul Carter, Leader of the Council

Can the Leader of the County Council say what he understands by the Big Society and say how today's budget will use this concept to protect the young, the old and the vulnerable from the effect of cuts?

Answer

Today's budget protects vital front line services for the young, older people and the vulnerable in Kent. This is demonstrated through retaining the highly popular and visible Community Wardens scheme, the Freedom Pass and retaining eligibility criteria for social care at 'moderate' when most local authorities have moved to 'substantial' or 'critical'.

Question by Mr George Koowaree To Mr Nick Chard, Cabinet Member for Highways, Environment and Waste

Will the Cabinet Member for Highways, Environment and Waste look into the removal of the bus gate in Beaver Road Ashford as the report of the Ashford Transport Forum (held on 26^th November 2010) minute on page 8 paragraph 6.5 suggests there is no monitoring or enforcement being done.

Question by Mr Malcolm Robertson To Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste

In order to improve community consultation on the highways budget in future years, will the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste take in hand the development of the role of the Highways Community Liaison Officers, in order to facilitate annual meetings between them, local parish councils and residents' associations, and local county and district members, in order to establish priorities for highways spending in their area?

Question by Mr Martin Vye Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education

In the light of the serious shortcomings in Kent's services which resulted in children being placed at risk, as detailed within the Ofsted Report on Safeguarding of Children in Kent, will the Cabinet Member for Children Families and Education:

County Council Questions

At each meeting of the County Council, there is 30 minutes allowed for Councillor's to ask questions of the KCC Leader, Cabinet Members or Committee Chairman. Any Member (or Councillor) can ask one question.

Questions must not:

• Ask for information already in the Member's possession or which has been published to Members either in a Committee report or otherwise.

• Be about something that is outside the responsibilities or powers of the Council.

• Criticise the motives or personal character of the other Members or any employee of the Council.

Question by Malcolm Robertson to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Waste

Will the Cabinet Member for Environment Highways and Waste please:

1. Report the responses from Joint Transportation Boards on his decision Policy for the management of Obstructions and Temporary Items on the Highway.

Question by Tim Prater to the Leader of the Council

Can the Leader of the Council explain the process that will be used to deliver the restructuring of this Council's Senior Management outlined in the "First Bold Step" proposals and "Changing to Keep Succeeding" Framework, and what risk assessment has been undertaken for the changes?

Question by Ian Chittenden to Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Waste

Bearing in mind the recent call by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to cut street clutter and the promise by Maidstone Council to remove 200 pieces of clutter from our streets, what action will KCC take to remove many of the redundant signs, posts and other items that litter our highways and pavements throughout Kent?

Question by Martin Vye to the Leader of the Council

Given the likely growing need for the County Council to make use of voluntary / not-for-profit organisations to deliver core services, and on the other hand to bear downon expenditure of all kinds, will the Leader explain to the Council how he will ensure that the County Council makes every possible effort to help voluntary organisations to grow their capacity; and at the same time to ensure that cuts in grants to the voluntary sector are carried out in accordance with the Kent Compact and have regard to the vulnerability of the voluntary sector.

Question by Trudy Dean to the Leader of the Council

Can the Leader of the Council please say whether, in the event of the Alternative Vote system being used in National Government elections, this council will lobby for Paragraph: the same system to be used in Local Government elections?

Answer

No - I am opposed to the Alternative Vote system. For 101 good reasons why I do not support AV, I asked my good friend Keith Ferrin, who gave me the following:

Question Trudy Dean To The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education

Will the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education please say what the consequences could be for Kent County Council Support Services, and for future admissions if a number of Kent schools opt for Academy status and can she say what representations KCC has made to the government on this issue?

Question by Ian Chittenden to the Cabinet Member for Community Services

Would the Cabinet Member for Communities please provide the total costs and an individual breakdown for each of the 6 people (identifying Member and KCC Officers) who travelled to the Open Golf Championship at St Andrews including:

Question by Malcolm Robertson to the Chairman of Cabinet Scrutiny Committee

Will the Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee say what lessons have been learned during the last year of the Committee's operation?

Answer

On my appointment as Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee I asked the Conservative/Labour Group Spokesmen and the Independent Member to serve as my Vice Chairmen. This has worked well as we share the responsibility and operation of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee.

Question by Tim Prater to the Leader of the Council

Will the Leader accept that the statement of the Chief Executive in writing to staff on 12th January 2009 informing them they would receive just a 1% pay rise but adding that "The highest paid of our colleagues, the Chief Officers Group, have decided not to take any bonus next year in recognition of the financial situation we all face." has caused upset amongst staff who now see from the 2009-10 accounts that some Chief Officers did take bonuses in 2009-10 totalling around £53,000, albeit for performance in 2008-09.

Question by George Koowaree to the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services

Will the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services please inform this council why there have been a 2-year delay in the introduction of a Disabled Person's Registration Card (proof that they are eligible to use disabled facilities) for people who have as a significant disability:

Question by Martin Vye to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste

Given the harmful impact of recent installation of Traffic Management signage on important views of the cathedral and of other historical buildings in Canterbury; and given insensitive replacement of road and footway surfaces in the Old City with locally inappropriate materials; will the Cabinet Member for Environment Highways and Waste agree to instruct Highways Services commissioning officers to insist that contractors have proper regard for the special sensitivity of the historical environment of the Old City of Canterbury when planning and implementing highways improvements?