Agenda item

Please note that Councillors are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named above (acting on behalf of the Director of Resources) not later than noon Friday 14 May 2010.  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 Councillors Nick Fogg, Trevor Carbin, Ernie Clark, Peter Colmer and Jeff Osborn.

Details of the questions and responses given were tabled at the meeting and attached as Appendix D to these minutes.

 Supplementary questions were made in some cases summarised as follows:

Cllr Fogg – honoraria payments made by the former Kennet District Council. Cllr Fogg commented that use of the word honoraria was perhaps misleading. The report although exonerated those concerned did comment that the confidentiality clause gave the matter an air of secrecy. He requested that the circumstances and details of this matter should be made publicly available.

The Leader responded by emphasising that this related to the former Kennet District Council and not Wiltshire Council. She confirmed that legal advice had been taken to ensure that information considered confidential including the names of individuals was treated accordingly. She explained that matters which could be made public had already been included in a Part I report to the Audit Committee which had endorsed the actions taken. The Leader also added that her understanding was that honoraria payments were made in recognition of additional work carried out by officers during a particularly difficult time.

Cllr Carbin – publication of Valley News. Cllr Carbin sought clarity over what the media could do with the Council’s strapline which would warrant a ban of their publication from Council premises.

Cllr Thomson emphasised his response which stated that the publication in question had not been banned from Wiltshire libraries but asked to follow the Council’s guidance.

Cllr Clark – Private Eye article. Cllr Clark sought information on the number of payments and total amount the Council was seeking to recover.

The Leader responded that the Council was seeking to recover two amounts totalling £20,000.

Cllr Clark – Housing Revenue Account debt plan. Cllr Clark asked what was the Council’s views on an increased debt of £115m.

Cllr Brady commented that he was unable to give an answer at this stage and that he was awaiting advice from the new Government.

Cllr Clark -  Affordable housing in villages. Cllr Clark sought clarification on whether or not villages would be involved in developing affordable housing policies. 

Cllr Brady confirmed that villages would be consulted. He also added that villages could help in developing affordable housing policies and gave an open invitation to parish councils who wished to speak with him.

Cllr Colmer – cost of administering the Area Board process.  Cllr Colmer asked that aside from the distribution of grants, when would Area Boards be given further delegated powers to provide more benefit to their communities.

Cllr Thomson emphasised that the main role of Area Boards was to influence decisions at a local level.

Cllr Colmer – Removing people from the Homes 4 Wiltshire database who no longer required housing. Cllr Colmer enquired as to the timescale for this filtering process.

Cllr Brady asked Cllr Colmer to email his question to him and he would provide a written response.

Cllr Jeff Osborn – Non implementation of SATs and guidance issued to governing bodies.  Cllr Osborn sought information on what the guidance contained.

Cllr Grundy gave an undertaking to give a written reply in order to provide as accurate information as possible.