Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 8^th December, 2016 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

45.1      The Mayor reported that 5 written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Ms. Pepper to come forward and address the council.

45.2      Ms. Pepper asked the following question; “We are to see very deep, damaging cuts in this budget.  The loss of the city's Youth Service being a prime example of a cut that in the long term will end up costing the city a lot more both financially and sociably.    

What the residents of the city want to know is what is the Council actually doing to demand back the funding from Central Government?   There must be a plan, or our city will bleed.   Reassure us that you are doing everything possible. You must say no, as it is not enough to just 'make the sums fit'!”

45.3      Councillor Morgan replied; “I would like to reassure you that I do take every opportunity to speak up for our residents, their services, their council.  I’ve made the case for the government to change course on a number of occasions in recent weeks; on BBC Sussex, on Juice 107, in the Argus, in Brighton and Hove Independent, Meridian TV, Latest TV, Brighton and Hove City News and will again do so this weekend on BBC Sunday Politics. In addition I have written numerous blogs and articles for my own site and sites like Labour List. I’ve worked with colleagues on the LGA Labour executive and in turn with council colleagues from across the political spectrum in our representative body in making a united call for a better settlement. I‘ve taken up the case with the shadow DCLG team on Labour front bench which includes former council leaders such as Jim McMarne the MP for Oldham. I’ve spoken directly with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and I’ve started a petition, with almost 1000 signatures so far, calling on the Government to reverse the £33 billion in tax cuts for the highest earners and the biggest multinationals companies which I would urge everyone to sign. In the New Year I will be making further representations directly to government ahead of the budget and I look forward to support from across this chamber and across this city and across politics in securing a better future for our local services.”

45.4      Ms. Pepper asked the following supplementary question; “I’d like to know how you expect young people to continue to support local politics and get involved if you keep discrediting us and leaving us out of the picture?”

45.5      Councillor Morgan replied; “It certainly isn’t the case that we are excluding or ignoring young people. I’ve got a long experience of working with young people through working with the Crewe club in my own ward and if nothing else, this example of the cuts being imposed on central government ought to encourage young people to speak up, to find their voice and fight these kind of cuts and to make representations directly to their Members of Parliament and to government to say these cuts are directly impacting us. There are no cuts left that this council can make which don’t have an impact. If it’s not youth services it would be one of the other 700 services that we provide. I’ve been saying in the representations to media that I’ve made over the last few weeks that we now face a situation where our social care bill is £150 million and that’s £25 million more than we get in our total intake from council tax. So the situation now is desperate, the situation now is critical and I would welcome young people and indeed I will be inviting young people to participate in steps that I’ll take in the new year to speak up to government.”

45.6      The Mayor thanked Ms. Pepper for her questions and invited Mr. Furness to come forward and address the council.

45.7      Mr. Furness asked the following question; “Now that Hove Town Hall is once again able to host full Council and Committee meetings, can you please explain to us why, without any apparent warning, members of the public appear to have been excluded from the democratic process unless they have rung up the town hall the previous day and asked for a ticket of admittance?”

45.8      Councillor Hamilton replied; “Thank you for your question Mr. Furness and I’m pleased that you are happy to see Hove Town Hall being used for council meetings.  You might be aware of the recent and unprecedented events that have raised concerns about the safety of public servants and as such it was felt appropriate to consider the safety of councillors, officers and those attending meetings in Hove Town Hall. 

To this end, we are undertaking risk assessments for each council meeting and based on the information gathered will determine whether those members of the public wishing to attend and watch a meeting can be accommodated in the rear of the council chamber or directed to the public gallery and whether tickets will be issued.

I would point out that no decision has been taken to exclude members of the public from partaking in the democratic process; anyone wishing to ask a question or present a deputation can do so as long as they have met the required deadlines.  The gallery is fully accessible and does have a flat access area to accommodate wheelchairs and free standing seating. The Council also allows for those members of the public with disabilities that would prevent them from using the public gallery to sit in the rear of the Council Chamber.”

45.9      Mr. Furness asked the following supplementary question; “I’m delighted to hear that Councillor Hamilton has said that disabled people will be able to sit at the rear of the council chamber but I cannot see what the difference is between Hove Town Hall and Brighton Town Hall. There have been spontaneous demonstrations outside today. People will be able to come in half an hour before and obtain tickets off the security. What has happened at Hove Town Hall is different, it denies the spontaneity of democracy in other words people hear that something is happening; I’m going to go along and see what’s happening there, they are not able to. I’d just like to conclude by saying I hope this is nothing to do with the very nasty rumours that the current Labour administration is looking forward to excluding the hoi polloi by having a cosy cabinet system.”

45.10   Councillor Hamilton replied; “As far as I’m aware and obviously I’m not a member of the ‘Leaders Group’ but my understanding is that tickets will only be required on very few rare occasions and that for most of our meetings that the public will still be able to come along in the usual manor and it’s only if the council feel that there is going to be a large demonstration or something of that sort that there will be the requirement or possibility of tickets. By all means when we have meetings at Hove Town Hall come along and I’m sure some of your colleagues will come along and on the majority of occasions, as far as I understand it, there will not be the need for contacting anybody for getting a ticket; you will need to just come in. I will get a complete clarification on the ticketing policy and send it to you.”

45.11   The Mayor thanked Mr. Furness for his questions and invited Mr. Jones to come forward and address the council.

45.12   Mr. Jones asked the following question; “While I am aware of the financial straightjacket the Government has placed upon this Administration, it beggars belief that funds cannot be found for Cityclean to sweep up the Autumn leaves on the pavements of key roads such as Somerhill Road in Hove, a road with two schools, a heavily over-subscribed medical centre, a home for the elderly and the entrance to a very busy park.

Can I ask Councillor Mitchell whether spending our scant resources on safeguarding vulnerable residents is more important than frittering them away on wholly unnecessary vanity projects such as the Stanmer Park and Valley Gardens?”

45.13   Councillor Mitchell replied; “The council has invested in four new additional mechanical sweepers that were introduced during the autumn they’re small and lightweight in design and are used to great effect on foot paths. In recent weeks Somerhill Road has been attended to by one of these new mechanical sweepers on the 9 November, 16 November, 29 November and 8 December. This area is also cleaned manually at least once a week by a member of the street cleansing team. Our street cleansing operatives work very hard keeping our streets as clean and tidy as possible for us. From 5am through to 10pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It costs each household around £1/ week for the whole street cleansing service and performance levels compare very well with those of other councils across the country and to this effect out work force recently won the national award in recognition of the excellent service they provide and the challenges they face in relation to the Stanmer Park and Valley Gardens projects both which underwent a very rigorous bidding process and assessment to be awarded the money.”

45.14   The Mayor thanked Mr. Jones for his question and noted that Ms. Woodcock was unable to attend the meeting and therefore invited Councillor Bewick to send a written response to her.

45.15   The Mayor then invited Mr. Lowe to come forward and address the council.

45.16   Mr. Lowe asked the following question, “I would like to ask a question concerning proposal 2a of the 2017-18 budget proposal draft:  The Financial Recovery Plan proposes a saving of £0.65m by reducing the spend on the Learning Disabilities Community Care Budget.

The detail of these savings is unclear and therefore the impact on people with learning disabilities is uncertain.  There seems to be a commitment to provide services to those people with the most complex needs. What assurances can you give us that those of us with mild to moderate learning disabilities will not lose all of our support?”

45.17   Councillor Barford replied; “We continue to have commitment to provide support to eligible service users who have mild or moderate learning disabilities this is also a statutory requirement for us under the Care Act (2014) for all people with learning disabilities with eligible needs as you know we are facing a huge budget situation at present and have to do this differently whilst continuing to meet the needs of people that we have a duty to support. This will mean that there will be changes to some people’s current arrangements but we will work with them and support them through any change. We want to reassure eligible people with mild to moderate learning difficulties that they will definitely not lose all of their support but the support might look different in the future. It will have more of a focus on meeting our shared vision in the city and enabling people to lead independent and fulfilling lives and more details of this can be found in the four year council strategy published in 2015 ‘A Good, Happy and Healthy Life’ which, I think, you are familiar with but we can provide you with a copy if you would  like one. We want to enable greater choice and independence and will encourage eligible service users to manage their direct payments wherever appropriate to provide support in the community. We know that as a council we can’t do this alone so we will work closely with the service user but also our partners in the city to enable people to meet their desired outcomes. This includes social and better activities as well as supporting and empowering people to gain access to work opportunities such as apprenticeships, internships and other jobs. We are also assisting people with learning difficulties to live as independently as possible and we have piloted a project to support ‘Move on’ which has enabled a small number of people to access more independent housing and support. This has resulted in a significant financial saving but more importantly high levels of satisfaction from people with learning difficulties and their families involved. We are working with health colleagues and GPs to make sure that it’s easier for people with learning difficulties to access the right health care for them and to have their needs better understood which we know is an issue for many people.

            To summarise there will be a change to current provision for many people with mild to moderate learning difficulties but we remain committed to supporting them to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.”

45.18   The Mayor thanked Mr. Lowe for his question and noted that concluded the item.