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 Farley

Will the portfolio holder join me and congratulate our officers throughout the Council and Merlin Top, Our Lady of Victories and Laycock Primary School on the successful launch of the Children’s Year of Safety in my ward?

 

 

2.         Councillor Mike Pollard

Does the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services acknowledge that Council Officers are more accurate in their statement relating to school funding, that “Bradford will be a marginal gainer in the longer term overall”, as is the Department for Education statement that schools in Bradford District will receive an extra £6.5m, than the teaching unions’ ill calculated claims that the District’s schools will lose over £28m of funding?

 

 

3.         Councillor Jeannette Sunderland

To the Leader of Council, given recent announcements of backlogs 1000 concerns about the risk of abuse to an adult and a backlog of 500 housing benefit appeal cases can the Leader advise Council of any other backlogs for example in Children’s Services or in the assessment of Carers’ or of those receiving care or Employee Grievances for example?

 

 

4.         Councillor Love

Can the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport tell us if the Council has responded to the DCLG consultation ‘Planning for Homes’ launched by Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP in September, which, if implemented as proposed, could lead to a significant reduction in the number of new houses required in Bradford.  If so, can he tell us what that response was?

 

 

5.         Councillor Morris

Question for the Leader of the Council - Following the findings of the investigation carried out by ITV and the Guardian, how many Bradford District residents qualify for a reduction in Council Tax on the grounds they suffer from a severe mental impairment and how many residents in the District are actually in receipt of this statutory discount?

 

 

6.         Councillor Ahmed

Does the Leader join me in supporting the initiative by Yorkshire Ambulance Service on 16 October of teaching CPR to 25,000 school children across the country at 134 schools in one day, including the following schools in our city: Bradford Girls’ Grammar, Darul u loom dawatul Imam, Dixons City Academy, Dixons McMillan, Prism Independent School and Queensbury School?  We hope that people will recognise the importance of early treatment and that the quicker a patient can receive CPR and a shock from a defibrillator, the greater their chance of survival. The month of October has hence been renamed ‘Shocktober’.

 

 

7.         Councillor Wainwright

Will the portfolio holder tell us if household waste recycling rates are heading in the right direction?

 

 

8.         Councillor Brown

Given the feed back from officers that the Keighley and Ilkley constituency Highways and Traffic department is suffering a shortfall of staff, be it through illness or recruiting issues, could the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport give a numerical report / overview of the recent past, current and anticipated future situation and further assure Councillors and residents in the outer areas that this is not a budget saving measure which will reduce services by stealth?

 

 

9.         Councillor Berry

Can the portfolio holder advise on how many Bradford adoptions in the last two years have ended with a return to other forms of placement?

 

 

10.       Councillor Farley

Does the portfolio holder join me in celebrating the opening of the restored Cliffe Castle?

 

 

11.       Councillor Ali

Could the Leader of the Council please advise colleagues of the latest position regarding whether Keighley College is to be sold or retained, in part or in whole and if sold what the revenue will be used for and if retained, what the site will be used for, as a seating area and a car park would be well suited to the site?

 

 

 

12.       Councillor Azam

Can the Portfolio Holder give an update on how successful the new Hockney gallery has been since its launch in the summer at Cartwright Hall?

 

 

13.       Councillor Nicola Pollard

To the Portfolio Holder, how many missed bin collections have been reported to the Council over the past 24 months in each of the 30 wards?

 

 

14.       Councillor Swallow

Would the Portfolio Holder please provide an update on the number of dangerous driving offences on the District’s roads and whether West Yorkshire Police have been able to make a difference to the safety of our roads?

 

 

15.       Councillor Ellis

Could the Leader of the Council confirm that actions have been taken to support “Centres of Community Life”, in securing WiFi4EU grant funding to provide them with free Wi-Fi connectivity? 

 

 

16.       Councillor Berry

Can the portfolio holder advise how many education and health care plans are in place for young people over the age of 18?

 

 

17.       Councillor Greenwood

Can the Leader give information on how the Council is moving forward to progress the Odeon project together with the developer and operator?

 

 

18.       Councillor Cooke

Can the Leader of the Council provide the gross running costs including utilities, cleaning, caretaking, day-to-day maintenance, insurance, business rates, telephone, broadband and management and also current income from hall rentals, including an amount for the library, and the contribution from the Town Council for Denholme Mechanics Institute?

 

 

19.       Councillor Swallow

Please would the portfolio holder comment on the effectiveness of the alternate weekly waste collection policy, and advise how many valid complaints there have been, how many missed bin collections and whether there is a distinct increase in recycling?

 

 

20.       Councillor Azam

Can the Leader comment about how far the £300m announced by the Chancellor will go for funding transport improvements in the North?

 

 

21.       Councillor Rachel Sunderland

To the Leader of Council, how many Council Contracts are coming to an end with the voluntary or 3rd sector in the next 6 months?

 

 

22.       Councillor Greenwood

Can the portfolio holder tell us how much of an impact we will see from the government’s announcement of £2bn for housing given the huge scale of the problem facing the country?

 

 

23.       Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport confirm what measures the Council has taken to investigate the feasibility of making significant savings from street lighting improvements, such as the schemes in Doncaster and North Lincolnshire?

 

 

24.       Councillor Tait

Will the portfolio holder join me in welcoming the arrival of Tim Peake’s spacecraft at the National Science and Media Museum to further raise our city’s cultural and STEM profile?

 

 

25.       Councillor Wainwright

Can the portfolio holder tell us about the latest activities and plans supporting the Education Covenant?

 

 

26.       Councillor Bacon

Can the portfolio holder comment on whether the Government’s school funding changes amount to real terms cuts for Bradford District schools?

 

 

27.       Councillor Senior

In light of the fact that the Council has previously claimed that the cost of roof repairs at Queensbury Pool were roughly £600,000, though local campaigners have more recently been told £186,000, would the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport provide clarification regarding the figures for significant expenditure at the pool, confirm whether decisions regarding the pool’s future have been made on the basis of real figures and provide an explanation to the people of Queensbury, if the pool is being closed due to significantly lower expenditure than we were led to believe? 

 

 

28.       Councillor Azam

Can the portfolio holder give an update on Bradford’s campaign for a city centre stop in Northern Powerhouse Rail?

 

 

29.       Councillor Wainwright

In relation to the debate around A-boards, Councillors were extremely concerned that vehicles were parking on footpaths and this was causing a major safety issue. What progress has been made in formulating a policy that will once and for all set out exactly when vehicles are parked illegally?

 

 

30.       Councillor Jeannette Sunderland

To the portfolio holder, how much additional Business Rate will be paid by charities in the District in 2017 since the Council removed the 20% subsidy?

 

 

31.       Councillor Berry

Can the portfolio holder advise on the numbers of 15-16 year olds excluded from Bradford high schools this year and the previous year.

 

32.       Councillor Riaz

Hull appears to have benefitted significantly from being the UK City of Culture for 2017. Whilst Bradford was correct in not making a bid for the next UK City of Culture in 2021, as it was unlikely to be awarded to two Yorkshire Cities in a row, can the Leader of the Council make a statement about the feasibility of making a bid to be the 4^th UK City of Culture in 2025, following the success of Hull, this year?

 

 

33.       Councillor Davies

Further to the recent announcement that there has been a £3million overspend in this year’s Children’s Services budget, we are told that Bradford’s Children’s’ Services Department is working on a host of savings plans, including comparing the scope and role of its work with the arrangements in other local authorities.  Could the Leader of the Council provide details of what each of the Council Departments are doing to this end?

 

 

34.       Councillor Stubbs

To the Portfolio Holder, how much has not been collected from developers in CIL and Section 106 for Education, Highways and Recreation over the past 3 years due to Deeds of Variation amendments with developers in each ward?

 

 

35.       Councillor Brown

Given the recent publicity regarding motorists being fined for pulling over into bus lanes to allow emergency service vehicles to pass whilst using “blue lights”, would the Leader of the Council confirm whether the council has a workable policy, to offer discretion from fines to motorists who are aiding the progress of emergency vehicles in order to potentially aid positive outcomes for ill or injured citizens?

 

 

36.       Councillor Cooke

Does the Leader consider that the sausage roll, especially if made using award winning sausages such as those from Ellison’s in Cullingworth, is a nutritious and appropriate part of a balanced diet for either adults or children?

 

 

37.       Councillor Riaz Ahmed

To the Portfolio Holder, how many affordable homes have been given planning permission in each ward over the past 3 years?

 

 

38.       Councillor Ali

Could the Leader of the Council please provide the residents of Bradford District with a reassurance that the Council will develop and implement an effective policy regarding the removal of waste dumped outside resident’s homes at no cost to them?

 

 

39.       Councillor Brown

With all the recent publicity around the “banning” of petrol and diesel powered vehicles, can the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport, provide guidance as to what proposals are in place for the introduction of more electricity powered vehicles, in relation to motorists who do not have access to secure private parking, to prevent wires potentially trailing across pavements, giving rise to safety and vandalism issues?  Further, has the Council ascertained from the national grid how they might improve the poor grid infrastructure and what impact any necessary works may have on local residents?

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