Agenda item

12.1    Urgent Questions (Part 4 - Paragraph 10.2.(b) of Constitution – Page 4-9)

With the permission of the Mayor, questions on urgent issues may be tabled with the proviso of a subsequent written response if the issue requires research or is considered by the Mayor to be minor.

Please note that the Mayor will decide whether a question is urgent or not.

The definition of an urgent question is “An issue which could not reasonably have been foreseen or anticipated prior to the deadline for the submission of questions and which needs to be considered before the next meeting of the Council.”

Submission of urgent questions to Council requires the Member when submitting the question to specify why the issue could not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the deadline and why it has to be considered before the next meeting. 

12.2    Councillors’ Questions (Part 4 – Paragraph 10.2(a) of Constitution – Page 4 - 8)

The list of 35 questions and the responses will be published, in accordance with the Council procedure rules, on Wednesday 5 April 2017, the day before the Council meeting.

1.1       Urgent Questions

There were no urgent questions.

1.2   Questions by Councillors

NOTED

1.          The thirty-five questions on the Council agenda and written responses provided by the relevant Cabinet Members.

2.          The following supplementary questions and responses received, for the questions indicated below:

Question 1 from Councillor Erbil to Councillor Oykener, Cabinet Member for Housing

“The number of properties is 400, this is less than the 2500 people waiting in temporary accommodation”

Reply from Councillor Oykener

“This council is against the government cuts and pressures on housing, there are 2500 properties in the pipeline and 10000 houses in planned in the next century, this administration is excited, it has been createive and we have been innovative.”

Question 2 from Councillor Neville to Councillor Taylor, Leader of the Council

“Thank you Councillor Taylor for the response, does he not accept however that an administration taking a robust view of finances would have taken the action such as was taken on the 1^st March 2017 this year, last Autumn?”

Reply from Councillor Taylor

“Firstly, it is not unusual to send instructions towards the end of the financial year as a reminder, CMB also sent instructions in June and January to staff curtailing expenditure, mitigations have been taken already by officers in order to control expenditure and I can assure councillor Neville that the Cabinet members and Senior Officers are aware and take action.  There is no doubt amongst staff that this is our objective and they should be doing their bit.”

Question 3 from Councillor Jiagge to Councillor Taylor, Leader of the Council

“Will the Leader indicate what other action has been taken.”

Reply from Councillor Taylor

“I met with the MP for Edmonton Kate Osamor, and she wrote to David Green.  She said in her letter there has been no public consultation on the impact of the closure of the Job Centre Plus, where is the listening government?  We have a high percentage of clients who attend the JCP who are in precarious situations, sometimes with mental health problems they are now being cast adrift with the decisions of this government.  This is a bad decision made by a bad government.”

Question 4 from Councillor Dines to Councillor Oykener, Cabinet member for Housing.

“Will the Cabinet member give a commitment tonight that no building will be on green belt ?”

Reply from Councillor Oykener

“Resisting building on green belt is the policy of the council and has been debated previously in this chamber.  One must read carefully the white paper, which is offering LA the choice, our position is to protect the green belt as it is now.”

Question 5 from Councillor Jemal to Councillor Anderson, Cabinet member for Environment.

“Can the Cabinet member tell me how trees are managed in the Borough?”

Reply from Councillor Anderson

“Trees are managed in accordance with the corporate tree strategy removing dead or diseased trees, planting new ones, benefits are reduced insurance claims with reduced number of trees being blown down, this is a very positive and proactive approach.”

Question 6 from Councillor Dines to Councillor Orhan, Cabinet member for Education, Children’s Services and protection.

“I understand the Cabinet member is not too keen on academies and free schools, but like it or not the Wren academy is a much needed secondary school for North Enfield, parents in Chase Ward have a number of questions, does the Cabinet member not feel that her and her officers should be proactively engaging with the Wren and taking a leadership role so we can let parents in North Enfield know answers to at least some of their questions?”

Reply from Councillor Orhan

“I think I have made it clear in my response to your question and I have also provided on countless occasions the same comment for the same question in the same manner.  This is your government policy the decision of funding rests only with the EFA and the department for Education, may I suggest humbly to you to talk to your government.  Please do me a big favour as my officers are constantly ask the government to liaise and share with us their statement and comments in terms of any new schools they intend opening in the borough, could you ask them on my behalf to talk to us so that we can give them our view, as it’s quite clear that the policy of this administration is committed to the Education of our children and increasing school capacity”

Question 7 from Councillor Maguire to Councillor Lemonides, Cabinet member for Finance and efficiency.

“Thank the Cabinet member for his response, can I ask does councillor Lemonides have any concerns about the level of borrowing?”

Reply from Councillor Lemonides

“Our borrowing levels are carefully managed the great majority of the debt relates to investments which will create a financial return or savings to the council.”

Question 9 from Councillor Dogan to Councillor Fonyonga, Cabinet member for Community Safety and Public Health.

“Can you tell us why we should use the Health kiosk, and is it called Serena after Serena Williams?”

Reply from Councillor Lemonides

“The new Health Kiosk is indeed named after Serena Williams who is indeed the greatest athlete of all times, on a more serious note to address why you should visit the kiosk, sadly this Tory government ignores concerns from residents and slashes funding to our public health budget, and so this listening labour administration prioritises the health of our residents and has provided this health kiosk free of charge to monitor their blood pressure, it is estimated that there are 31000 people in our borough that don’t know their own blood pressure and as my excellent colleagues in the public health team have educated me on,  high blood pressure is incredibly problematic as you may have no symptoms but it can cause heart attacks or strokes at any time. I urge everybody here to visit Serena on a monthly basis to monitor your blood pressure.”