Liberal Democrats on Kent County Council

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?

49 Kent schools are without a permanent Headteacher, and an additional 37 Kent schools may have Headteachers retiring in the next few year.

Martin Vye, on Kent County Council, has expressed his shock and concern at the report that 49 schools in Kent are without a permanent Headteacher.

At the Education, Learning & Skills Committee meeting yesterday (15 March) Martin said:

At the County Council meeting on Thursday 9^th of February, Martin Vye, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Kent County Council, asked the Conservative administration to prepare plans for much greater involvement of local people in planning the services KCC provides for them.

Canterbury County Councillor Martin Vye said:

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*.

At the County Council meeting last Thursday, Martin Vye, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat Group expressed his concern about Councillor's ability to check how the administration is using taxpayer's money, and running services from them.

Martin Vye said:

"The new arrangements that the Conservative administration are bringing in are deeply flawed. The committees which are there to call them to account should be independent, so that searching questions can be asked and any waste or ineffectiveness exposed.

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?

At the County Council on the 20^th of October Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education, asked how many children with special educational needs in Kent had to travel more than 20 miles to attend their special schools.

Martin said:

"Cases brought to my attention cause me concern. Children with special needs in every district have schools specialising in their disability allocated for them. But from casework we know that journeys in excess of 20 miles there and 20 miles back are being made every day which is tiring and time-consuming for the children, and costly to the taxpayer."

Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children's Social Services on Kent County Council reacted with concern at the publication today of figures showing the performance of local authorities in looking after children in their care.

Canterbury County Councillor Martin Vye said:

"In 2010, government inspectors judged KCC's care for it's looked after children to be inadequate. A year later it seems little has changed. Kent is near the bottom of the league tables announced today. A large proportion of these vulnerable children are doing much worse in Kent at school than other children, both at the end of primary school, and at GCSE.

Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Canterbury, is angry and concerned about the proposed cuts in the Kent Youth Service. Youth Service cuts were discussed at a meeting of Kent County Council on 20th October, with the Conservative run authority seeking to cut Youth Service funding by almost one-third and "outsourcing" much current provision.

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?