To deal with supplementary questions arising from the attached questions of which written notice has been given. 

 

Notes:

 

(i)         Answers to written questions shall be circulated at the commencement of the meeting.

 

(ii)        The Lord Mayor will have regard to the list of questions and the political composition of the Council in calling on Members to put their supplementary question to the Leader of Council and Portfolio Holders.

 

(iii)       A period of up to 30 minutes shall be available for supplementary questions to Members of the Executive. 

 

QUESTIONS TO MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE

 

1.         Councillor Dunbar

Will the Leader agree with me in saying that the budget announced by the Chancellor earlier this month is bad for Bradford and the country as a whole as it attacks the young, vulnerable, business owners and older people in need of support?

 

 

2.         Councillor Brown

Given the current doubts as to whether the use of Bio-mass fuel actually reduces the amount of carbon added to the atmosphere (when considering the change of use from food to bio- mass production, transport, processing , amount of carbon returned to the soil via natural “mulching”, etc.) when compared to use of more traditional carbon fuels , can the Leader of the Council confirm whether the Council’s  climate change function, holds a quotable view on this current, and more comprehensive, thinking? Further, are there any statistics available for the Council’s use of these and other “renewables” and the, impact positive or negative, on their contribution to carbon in the atmosphere?

 

 

3.         Councillor Jeanette Sunderland           

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport - Can the Portfolio Holder explain the rationale behind the Executive’s decision not to support the decision of the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to approve the formalisation of the ban of A Boards across all clearly identified urban centre of the district?

 

 

4.         Councillor Warnes

Can the Leader of Council please explain how a new motorway linking the A65 with West Yorkshire will reduce traffic along the Aire Valley corridor, cut air pollution, help Bradford reduce its overall carbon emissions and thereby make a positive contribution to the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan’s objective of making “substantial progress towards a low carbon, sustainable transport system for West Yorkshire”?

 

 

5.         Councillor Hassan Khan

Will the portfolio holder give an update on the progress of our campaign for a Northern Powerhouse Rail stop in Bradford?

 

 

6.         Councillor Warburton

Can the Leader join me in congratulating three Bradford brass bands – Black Dyke, Hammonds Saltaire and City of Bradford – for their success in the Yorkshire championships and their entry into the national finals later this year?

 

 

7.         Councillor Whiteley

As the Local Plan has set a  target of a minimum of 700 houses in Burley in Wharfedale and 600 in Menston, this would place a significant strain on local infrastructure of all kinds and I should be grateful if the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transportation could explain the process by which applications can be made from monies collected (£100per square metre) in respect of my ward, to support necessary infrastructure schemes within the ward and over and above any money paid to the Parish Councils?

 

 

8.         Councillor Dunbar

National Carers Week will take place this year on 12-18 June. Will the portfolio holder explain the Council’s plans to mark this important week to recognise the contributions made by carers in our district?

 

 

9.         Councillor Dunbar

Bradford has recently hit the headlines after running a successful LGBT History Month Festival which has been recognised nationally. Will the Leader advise what work we plan to do going forward to ensure the rights of the LGBT community are recognised and met?

 

 

10.       Councillor Gibbons

Would the Leader of the Council provide colleagues with an update regarding progress with the works at St. George’s Hall, including any completion date and variances to the budgeted cost?

 

 

11.       Councillor Lal

Does the Leader welcome the £1.8m investment the Science Museum Group has made in the newly named National Science and Media Museum?

 

 

12.       Councillor Stelling

To ask the Portfolio holder for Environment, Sport & Culture - Given the abolition of the pest control department within the Council, can the portfolio holder confirm that access to information related to this department will still be provided by the Council to the general public?

 

 

13.       Councillor Dunbar

The recent announcement to make age appropriate sex and relationships education compulsory in all schools is to be welcomed. Would the Leader agree with me on how important this is for all schools and all pupils in Bradford and beyond?

 

 

14.       Councillor Ellis

Can the Leader of the Council provide details of how the Council has acted to ensure that the potential cost to the Council of the Apprenticeships Levy, is offset by creating apprenticeships for young people within the Bradford District?

 

 

15.       Councillor Dunbar

I am deeply concerned at the news that the House of Commons narrowly voted in favour to close the Dubs scheme to protect unaccompanied child refugees by the end of the financial year. Does the Leader agree that the scheme should be kept open and does she agree that the government should provide councils with the resources to do our bit in providing places?

 

 

16.       Councillor Watson

Can the Leader tell us what the council did to mark International Women’s Day and does she agree that although around a third of councillors in our chamber are women it should be more like 50% to reflect the general population? 

 

 

17.       Councillor Whiteley

Can the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, please confirm how much money was paid to outside fostering agencies in the years 2014-2015 and 2015- 2016  and in 2016- to date, along with providing details of the budget forecast for agency foster carers for the year 2017-2018?

 

 

18.       Councillor Farley

We are all looking forward to the restoration of Cliffe Castle Park being completed. Can the portfolio holder give us an update on the work done so far and what we have to look forward to in the summer?

 

 

19.       Councillor Dunbar

The Royal Society of Medicine has suggested that as many as 30,000 excess deaths could be due to national cuts in health and social care. Does the Leader agree that government needs to properly fund adult social care including more prevention work which keeps people well and out of hospital? 

 

 

20.       Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

Question to the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing - According to estimations in the BRE Client Report; in 2011 18% of Bradford’s dwellings were in the private rented sector and of those 16%, some 28277 homes, had a Housing Health and Safety Rating System Category 1 hazard.   Can the Portfolio Holder please tell us what steps have been taken to reduce the number of homes in the private rented sector in this rating?

 

 

21.       Councillor Dunbar

Recent investigations by the Alzheimer's Society show that as many as one in three home care workers have no dementia training. Does the portfolio holder agree that the Government needs to fix this broken system and provide better support for people with dementia, their carers and home care workers themselves?

 

 

22.       Councillor Miller

Would the Leader of the Council be so kind as to inform members of the nature and numbers of contracts provided to consultants and the costs of these, broken down by department and the dates of the contracts, for the last three years? 

 

 

23.       Councillor Love

Please can the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport enlighten us as to why it is now impossible for members of the public to email comments about an application to the relevant case officer?  Given the regularity with which the Planning Portal is unavailable or incredibly slow, particularly for applications with a large number of documents, could a departmental mailbox not be used to accept comments?

 

 

24.       Councillor Pennington

In light of the Council’s decision to not cut the grass at many bowling greens, would the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Culture advise members as to why we still tend the unused Riddlesden Golf Club and can we have confirmation of when this site will be transferred to the Scout Movement?

 

 

25.       Councillor Stubbs

To ask the portfolio holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport - Can the portfolio holder provide details of the number of highway and footpath maintenance jobs undertaken by the Council that have not been completed during the initial time allotted over the past 12 months across the district, how many required a second visit to complete the work and what was the additional cost to the Council?

 

 

26.       Councillor Shaw

Can the Leader of the Council confirm whether the presence of the Pokémon app on the Council Website has any costs involved and would she confirm whether anyone has considered whether the Council would be liable if any child using this were to come to harm in doing so? Further, if there are any costs involved, would the Leader confirm whether she agrees with me that these funds and the officer time in organising this frivolity would be better directed to essential front line services?

 

 

27.       Councillor Davies

Would the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Culture inform Council why BMDC has chosen to become only the third council in the country to fund digital post-mortems, which are only effective in 70% of cases and according to the Chief Coroner cost “within the range of £400-£1000”, compared to the £96.80 cost of a traditional post-mortem?

 

 

28.       Councillor Pennington

Further to the announcement six months ago, that an experienced Commercial Property Agent would be employed by the Council, to revitalise priority streets in the City Centre, can the Leader of the Council confirm, the cost so far, any tangible benefits and who the agent is?

 

 

29.       Councillor Ward

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Education, Employment and Skills - At the Council meeting on 17 January it was resolved to “ask the Government to account for growth in demand of additional SEN in this district”. Will the Portfolio holder for Children’s Services describe how this was done and what the Government’s response was?

 

 

30.       Councillor Whiteley

Can the Portfolio Holder for Health & Wellbeing provide a breakdown of the children brought into Local Authority Care for the previous two years broken down by age, ethnic background and nationality?

 

 

31.       Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

Question to the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport and Culture - Can the Portfolio Holder advise how many trees each month per ward in the District have been felled as a result of Health and Safety implications?

 

 

32.       Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Education, Employment & Skills advise members, why did the teacher recruitment bus tours start with primary schools, not secondary, when secondaries are where we have the most recruitment difficulties?

 

 

33.       Councillor Love     

Please can the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Culture update members on the current situation regarding St George's Hall?

 

 

34.       Councillor Pennington

Can the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport confirm how many Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued in accordance with the Public Space Protection Order, intended to reduce anti social behaviour in the City Centre?

 

 

35.       Councillor Fear

To ask the portfolio holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport - How many businesses received support from the Council when starting up and have gone on to close within 3 years?

 

 

36.       Councillor Miller

Would the Leader of the Council be so kind as to inform members of the number of Council employees working to Zero Hours contracts?

 

 

37.       Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

To ask the leader of Council - Following the decision of the Executive to prioritise awards to families what steps is she taking to protect those vulnerable people who are in receipt of a Discretionary Housing Payment who live in Extra Care Homes?

 

 

38.       Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Culture confirm whether he shares my view, that it would be simpler and more ethical to encourage people to shop around for the best energy deal from all providers rather than promoting one company in return for cash?

 

 

39.       Councillor Pennington    

Can the Leader of the Council confirm, that regardless of the tenancy changes, whether there are any business rate arrears at the Odsal Stadium?

Council Document “AB” details the questions from Members to the Leader of Council and Portfolio Holders and the answers given.