Agenda item

Please note that Councillors are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the first page of this agenda (acting on behalf of the Director of Resources) not later than 5pm Tuesday 10 May. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

The Chairman reported receipt of questions from Cllrs Mike Cuthbert-Murray, Ernie Clark, Mark Packard, Chris Caswill, Russell Hawker, David Jenkins, Helen Osborn, Jon Hubbard and Peter Colmer, details of which were circulated and attached as Appendix 3 to these minutes together with the responses given.

Questioners agreed to take their questions as read and were given an opportunity to ask a relevant supplementary question to which the relevant Cabinet member responded. Supplementary questions are summarised as follows which should be read in conjunction with the questions and responses:

Cllr Clark – recovery of non pensionable honoraria – did the Leader have an indication as to when the issue was likely to be resolved?.  The Leader said that the matter was in the hands of the solicitors.

Cllr Clark – expenses claimed by the Chief Executive – how was the monthly accommodation costs of £600 decided? The Leader explained that it had been agreed by the Staffing Policy Committee as part of the terms and conditions of employment.

At this point and in relation to a question from Cllr Clark on the subject of the Chief Executive’s pay, the Leader made a statement that in light of recent press coverage, the Chief Executive would not be taking an incremental pay rise this year. She explained that the Chief Executive had listened to the strong feelings of staff and the people of Wiltshire and considered that it would not be appropriate to take such a pay rise.

Cllr Clark – publication of salary bands – did the Leader agree with the Service Director for HR and Organisational Development that tier 1 and 2 level be shown in 1 and 2 bands? The Leader agreed.

Cllr Mark Packard – departure of Chief Internal Auditor – Did the Council really mean to offer this postholder redundancy?  The Leader explained that a number of staff in the Audit section had been served with at risk letters and she understood that this postholder had applied for redundancy.

Cllr Mark Packard – questioned the need for confidentiality over report to Audit Committee over the future of the audit service. The Leader explained that this issue had been discussed at the Audit Committee on 13 May when the advice of the Monitoring Officer was given over the reasons for considering the report in Part II, namely on the grounds of commercial sensitivity and staffing issues. The Audit Committee had agreed that the matter should be considered in Part II.

Cllr Chris Caswill – Given the excellent work of the Internal Audit section, questioned the decision to make the Chief Internal Auditor redundant and also questioned the need for confidentiality of the report to the Audit Committee.

Cllr Fleur de Rhe Philipe – confirmed that she valued the work of the Internal Audit section. The Postholder had requested redundancy. She also confirmed that the duties of the Chief Internal Auditor had already been reallocated by the S.151 Officer to ensure there would be no impact on the work of the Audit Committee. The issue of treatment of the report as confidential had already been clarified as above.

Cllr David Jenkins – household recycling centres – although no charges apply at present, at what point will Council consider charging.  Cllr Toby Sturgis reported that there was no timetable for this and as such there were no plans to charge at the present time.

Cllr David Jenkins – household recycling centres – due to number of proposals for waste sites, will sites be considered for incineration?  Cllr Sturgis explained that the Council will always be reviewing its processes.

Cllr David Jenkins – Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant (MBT) – as the MBT will be completed by the Summer 2013, would this mean that the long awaited reclamation centre as was included in original plans. Cllr Sturgis explained that the Council would be reviewing the waste service after the doorstep collection and look at other recycling.

Cllr Jon Hubbard – Future of Internal Audit service – sought an assurance that before any decision was made to outsource the service, an opportunity would be given to debate the matter in open session.  Cllr de Rhe Philipe confirmed that no decision had been made to outsource the service only to negotiate. A report excluding the confidential/sensitive information would be considered in Part I.

Cllr Jon Hubbard – future provision of youth services – expressed concern that there would be very little time for any handover.  Cllr Lionel Grundy reported that he was aware of the point made but he believed there would be sufficient time and all efforts would be made to carry this out on time.

Cllr Jon Hubbard – providing council tax relief for Police Specials – confirmed that the proposal only related to the Wiltshire Council element of the council tax. Did the Leader believe that Southampton City Council were wrong to introduce their scheme and could it still be considered for Wiltshire.  The Leader considered that Southampton City Council was not wrong. Each authority would operate according to their own particular area and circumstances. In Wiltshire there were a number of volunteers which would also need to be taken into account in order to treat such volunteers consistently.

Cllr Peter Colmer – number of empty properties – was there a full time Empty Homes Officer as previously promised.  Cllr John Brady confirmed that presently there was not, but within the Housing team, there was a member of staff whose full time role was to administer empty properties.

Cllr Peter Colmer – comparative figures on Homes for Wiltshire register – what was the Council’s target?  Cllr Brady explained that the number on the waiting list had significantly reduced from the figure of 14,784 across the 4 former district councils. Changes were anticipated as a result of the Localism Bill which would result in a different set of statistics.

The Chairman reminded Councillors that they could of course seek responses to their questions by asking relevant officers either face to face or by email or via the relevant Corporate Directors to help with identifying appropriate officers.