Agenda item

1.1           Questions by Councillors

NOTED

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

2.               The revised table provided below which replaced the table provided as the original response to question 28. 

Question 28 – from Councillor Laban to Councillor Sitkin, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Business Development

The other costs cover a range of expenditure including the Mayoral car and driver, staff mobile phones, insurance, events costs, printing and photocopying.

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

Question 1 (Results of Enfield Lock By Election) from Councillor Maguire to Councillor Taylor, Leader of the Council

“Can I thank the Leader of the Council for that information and I am sure he agrees that is an excellent result and congratulations to Councillor Erbil.  Would Councillor Taylor remind members of the achievements of this Labour administration that have led to the people of Enfield giving this Council this vote of confidence?” 

Reply from Councillor Taylor

“This is a fantastic achievement following eight years in office and reflects the improvements in education and council housing which have been achieved, despite reduced funding.  Our policies have been endorsed by the electorate in the election of Councillor Elif Erbil at Enfield Lock.  That is a great day for Enfield and long may it continue.  He expressed concern that if things carried on in this way, there would be no Tories left in Enfield”. 

Question 4 (New Telephony System) from Councillor Laban to Councillor Achilleas Georgiou, Deputy Leader. 

“In the response it is stated that the system is due to go live in June, as it is now June, when will this happen?”

Reply from Councillor Achilleas Georgiou

“The system is ready to go live”. 

Question 5 (Encouraging people to vote) from Councillor Jemal to Councillor Achilleas Georgiou, Deputy Leader

“Was the outcome of the voter registration campaign positive?”

Reply from Councillor Achilleas Georgiou

“Lots of time and effort has been spent calculating how to get people to register to vote and encouraging them to vote using many different methods including effectively social media.  The campaign was successful as more people voted. The result proved it not just because of the election of three Labour MPs in Enfield.  There was a high turnout across the borough.  People were motivated and the Council did work hard to encourage people to vote and when people work hard to encourage them, more people are motivated to go out and vote.”

Question 9 (Financial Outturn 2016/17) from Councillor Keazor to Councillor Lemonides, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency

“What does the level spend outturn look like and how have we achieved it?” 

Reply from Councillor Lemonides

“For the past 3 years the Council has shown sound financial management by reviewing its financial the situation on a monthly basis and work has been carried out to offset savings.  There has been a good approach to corporate contingencies, using earmarked reserves appropriately.”

Question 13 (Meridian Works) from Councillor Lappage to Councillor Sitkin, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Business Development

“Can you remind the Council what your vision is for Meridian Works?”

Reply from Councillor Sitkin

“The vision is multifaceted including a mixture of large, small and medium sized businesses, micro businesses and start-ups.  At Meridian Works we have concentrated on start-ups to create a healthy business ecology.”

Question 14 (GLA Strategic Land Review) from Councillor Smith to Councillor Sitkin (Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Business Development)

“Thank you for the clear answer, but do you not think that it is shocking that the Council were not informed about the GLA Strategic Land Review.  Will you be writing a letter of complaint?”

Reply from Councillor Sitkin

“I think that you have misunderstood the answer, I said that the Council had received no formal notification, but given that we have been speaking openly and frequently with you, you should be aware that the Council has been in contact with the GLA on a regular and frequent basis, through the whole time period. 

Question 15 (Government plans for policing in London) from Councillor Dogan to Councillor Fonyonga, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health

“When was the last time that the policing formula for London was revised?” 

Reply from Councillor Fonyonga

“This was before my time on the Council but I believe that the last time the policing formula was reviewed was over ten years ago.  We need to work to ensure that Enfield does get its fair share of resources.”