Agenda item - Oral questions from Councillors

92.1      The Mayor noted that 14 oral questions had been received, although Councillor Deane had notified her that she wished to withdraw her question.  The Mayor stated that 30 minutes were set aside for the duration of the item and she hoped to get through all the questions on this occasion.  The Mayor then called on Councillor Janio to put his question to Councillor Yates.

 

92.2      Councillor Janio asked the following question, “The GMB have called for the resignation of the Council’s Chief Executive and the Executive Director of Economy, Environment & Culture over “The Failure of city Clean” I seek clarification regarding Labour’s leaked manifesto it shows the GMB logo on the front and I believe several Labour councillors are sponsored by the GMB, does the Leader of the Council support his paymaster’s in the GMB or the senior officers and especially the crews that have kept his administration along for the last few years?”

 

92.3      Councillor Yates replied “I don’t know whether I am declaring an interest or not, as there is not a decision I won’t, but I will declare I am a member of the GMB and proud to be so. I will also be very clear to Councillor Janio this is an opportunity for people to ask for matters of general council policy not of detail and not of general political interest because he doesn’t understand what is going on in the city. He also clearly doesn’t understand it would be entirely inappropriate for me to make comments about the employment of individual Members of this council and in fact it would be against the constitution of this council for me to do so. So I won’t be giving a response on that.”

 

92.4      Councillor Janio asked the following supplementary question, “Does the Leader of the Council support his paymasters in the GMB or the senior officers and especially the crews who have kept his administration going over the last few years?”

 

92.5      Councillor Yates replied, “I don’t intend to get into political point scoring.”

 

92.6      Councillor Mac Cafferty asked the following question, “The communal bins in my ward aren’t overflowing I have read that City Clean have either re-located 3 of them one on Western Street and two in Wilbury Road. I have now sent over 30 emails in the course of the past 24 months about the relocation of these and made a question to Full Council a year ago I have been passed from pillar to post none of this has involved complex committee decisions but are sadly symptomatic of this administration’s inability to get the basics right.

 

Residents have waited for two years in some cases for these bins to be moved. Will Councillor Mitchell instruct officers to move these bins?”

 

92.7      Councillor Mitchell replied, “I am very pleased to answer Councillor Mac Cafferty’s question.  There are two issues here as I think you are well aware, there are the location of some of the bins and there is a problem with containment capacity across the area. The service is currently reviewing the question of capacity in other areas of the city as well to ensure that it is adequate, and I think as you know we are considering using 3200 litre size bins and are looking for the location of those. This has got to be done in a planned way it isn’t just the case of ‘bunging’ in additional bins all over the show. We are thinking that perhaps streets across a wider area that currently do not have communal bins are consulted on having them because we know those residents use the communal bins in other areas. I am hoping when this piece of work is done we will be able to relieve the current pressures.”

 

92.8      Councillor Mears asked the following question, “Can the Chair of Housing give any reassurance that after the raid on the HRA budget of nearly £20m that this Administration will ensure that only money earmarked for investment in the housing stock is used properly as intended and not siphoned off to prop up the General Fund?”

 

92.9      Councillor Hill replied, “The HRA is self-financing and ring fenced in law. Any transfers to or from the HRA to our General Fund are subject to specific guidance and scrutiny and this is to ensure that the HRA does not subsidise the General Fund or vice versa.  Transfers between the HRA and The General Fund are subject to review by the Council’s auditors internal and external as are the wider accounts. Finance always ensures that any payment made to the General Fund by the HRA are appropriate and justifiable and therefore I can re-assure councillors that there has been no raiding of the HRA.”

 

92.10   Councillor Mears asked the following supplementary question, “Following on from Budget Council when Labour voted with the Greens to ensure their budget went through now with the response from the Secretary of State that there is no flexibility on Right to Buy receipts, what step has this Administration taken to address the money taken from reserves for emergency accommodation capital build using Right to Buy receipts as stated in the budget. Will the Chair of Housing give a commitment to actually repay the HRA for the money that has been taken out?”

 

92.11   Councillor Hill replied, “I am not able to give a detailed response to that right now it is quite a detailed question so I will supply a written response, but I will assure Cllr Mears once again that our treatment of Right to Buy receipts and of the HRA is above board it is all scrutinised.”

 

92.12   Councillor Wares asked the following question, “One of the key reasons for bringing litter enforcement in house was so that the rest of the city can have effective enforcement of which deterrent is one. Please could the Chair through you Madam Mayor confirm that the suburbs will see as much litter enforcement activity as the city centres.”

 

92.13   Councillor Mitchell replied, “Yes Madam Mayor I can.”

 

92.14   Councillor Phillips asked the following question, “Now the government has committed to double the number  of places on the prep impact trial when will those places be available in Brighton & Hove?”

 

92.15   Councillor Barford replied, “As you are probably aware as you have just mentioned the NHS is looking to expand the trial but at the moment we haven’t had confirmation of the numbers so as soon as we get that then we will be able to give you more detail around that. We are thinking it is probably going to be around doubling the capacity, at the moment they have currently put 235 places available and approximately  204 residents taking part in the trial and we do have to look at the cost impact that it will be because even though the trial is going to be covered by the NHS then we have the clinic appointments that aren’t covered. We think that might be around £63k cost pressure but we do have as you will be aware the additional £93k from sexual health in the budget so that we will be able to manage that but as soon as we actually have confirmation of numbers we will be able to confirm exactly when we can start that.”

 

92.16   Councillor Phillips asked the following supplementary question, “As relationships in sex education is a key element of HIV prevention can this cohort of labour’s councillors confirm that they are in support of this new subject when not all Labour MPs yesterday voted in favour of RSA?”

 

92.17   Councillor Barford replied, yes I can confirm that.

 

92.18   Councillor Nemeth asked the following question, “I think it took a lot of guts for a former labour councillor Andy Winter, the Chief Executive of Brighton Housing Trust to point out the dangers of tents on streets to both those occupying and particularly vulnerable women and to those housing support officers and volunteers helping the unfortunate occupants. In the real short term as in days a tent can, of course, save a life and this is the compassionate position that any longer can lead to tragedy. We all know this, but it is hard to say publicly especially with the abuse that Mr Winter inevitably received in mind. What is the Administration’s position on this matter and in particular on the safety of the more vulnerable occupants and volunteers in mind?”

 

92.19   Councillor Moonan replied, “Our position on tents is that we are working very hard over the last four years to reduce the number of rough sleepers in the city so that people aren’t having to sleep on the streets whether they are in a tent or out of a tent. We have introduced a whole number of new services including our night shelter, our no second night out hub, we have new accommodation services, we have lowered the figure for our SWEP service and a lot of other services all of which have contributed to significantly reduce the number of rough sleepers within the city. That is our aim that no one has to sleep out and we will continue to work towards that. Regarding tents we have two different tent protocols depending on the land where tent might be found, our first approach is to engage with the individuals in that tent, understand their circumstances. If necessary if the tent is causing a danger, then it has been removed and I think everyone in the city will know that we have worked consistently over the last few years to remove tents within the city.”

 

92.20   Councillor Nemeth asked the following supplementary question, “I do acknowledge that there have been improvements in the number of services. I am specifically after an answer rather than the actual protections that are in place. Because the number of tents has increased, we can argue separately about the number of rough sleepers, different question. But the number of tents had definitely increased, and I am really asking what protections are in place because this is a newer conundrum and challenge to tackle.  I am asking what protections are in place as in a newer policy that is emerging, newer practises to actually protect the workers, volunteers and those inside the tents?”

 

92.21   Councillor Moonan replied, “As I tried to explain we have a protocol for our approach that works with tents. It has been agreed across all the council departments in consultation with partners, such as the police, our street outreach service it includes how the staff will engage with the rough sleepers, how the tents or any other paraphernalia is removed. The priority of course is the individual in the tent and we engage with them in an attempt to move them on and into our city support services and then tents are removed and, if necessary, they are stored and then returned to that individual. It has been very carefully thought through and I can certainly provide you with more information if necessary.”

 

92.22   Councillor Gibson asked the following question, “Whilst it is very welcome that there has been lots of Government funds and there has been very good promotion of action of intervention such as the proposed year round night shelter and the expansion of Housing First, my question relates to the actual practical action that has happened particularly in the context of the 24 homeless beds lost by the closing of the West Pier and the fact that our winter night shelter is now closed, the church’s night shelter is now closed and we have two means of alleviating this loss of provision, of which one is Housing  First expansion and the other is the all year round night shelter, I am concerned that there is insufficient progress has been made I am aware that Housing First we have known about for six months and we are told that four properties are being reviewed, potentially there should be ten, we have a budget from the Government similarly with the night shelter we have been promised an all year round night shelter and the building has not yet been found. My question is around the need for a bit of urgency to deliver for people who desperately need these services, will you as Lead for Rough Sleepers pledge that by 1 May to have at least five of the ten Housing First placements in place for rough sleepers with the support that we have go funds for already and to pledge also that a night shelter which we have been told is happening is all the year round and that a building has been identified for that?”

 

92.23   Councillor Moonan replied, “Housing First, we have had a number of conversations about this and there is a lot of detail in the written question which I am sure you have read carefully. For Housing First there are two elements to it, the support element and the property. The support element funding only comes available in the next financial year, so we have not been able to fulfil those ten places until the support is there because you cannot place these very high needs, vulnerable people into the property without the support. The support is there it is ready, we have the service who are going to run it they are mobilised in terms of the staff. On the property side we have been looking actively at properties, we don’t just have four that we are looking at, we have four that we are looking at actively under our temporary accommodation, we are also looking at other social interest queue and the private rented sector etc. We are very close, we can’t get the people in yet, but we are very close to placing those ten individuals. They won’t all be there on day one, we need to carefully work with each individual client, but we will mobilise the project very swiftly, with a serious sense of urgency.

 

The same applies to all year round night shelter as the funding becomes available we are actively looking at buildings. There are a number that are being considered at the moment, it does need to be the right building that we can provide the right service in at the right location that will need to be carefully thought through we can’t just pick the first one, but we are dealing with it with a very real sense of urgency.”

 

92.24   Councillor Gibson asked the following supplementary question, “I welcome the sense of urgency and therefore invite a statement that the Housing First for which the funding will very shortly be in place and answer the original question and pledge that at least five of those ten places will be in place by 1 May and being realistic I could have said the same about the night shelter but I know there is not a chance of that happening but there is a chance that you might have found a building I am asking you to be ambitious to show some urgency, to concentrate on action and make those pledges, I will support you in trying to achieve them?”

 

92.25   Councillor Moonan replied, “I can make a pledge, but we are dealing with individuals and you have to look at each case, each piece of accommodation. I would hope that we would have more than five, but we need to deal with it on a case by case basis. I am happy to communicate more information with you as those places get filled. I will certainly, as I have said be, be working as hard as I can with officers in Housing and Adult Social Care and we will get there.”

 

92.26   Councillor Bell asked the following question, “As you well know we welcome the Government funding for the hospital in Brighton which is greatly needed and will be used by all of us. In the original plans for that the traffic was originally going to be coming down the A23 and has been mentioned many a time in this chamber unfortunately the traffic appeared to be diverted again through Woodingdean which created us quite a few problems, with pollution etc. Since then due to the Lewes Road works and that is forcing more traffic now through Woodingdean which is making it over used and causing traffic jam in a little village a green part of the city as we are an island which is getting really clogged up. I would like to know what as in the Administration you are going to do to relieve the traffic from us because at this moment of time it is continually getting worse and worse?”

 

92.27   Councillor Mitchell replied, “It is the case and in other areas of the city there has been an increase of actually 2.5% in the amount of daily 2-way traffic in Woodingdean over the past seven years along the Falmer Road and during this period there has indeed been a lot of development related activity in the city that has had an effect on traffic patterns and can affect areas away from the city centre. In addition to welcoming the huge investment in the city that these developments are bringing in terms of jobs and homes we have to in turn continue in our efforts to ensure that as many of the car trips as possible can be made by sustainable public transport especially for local journeys that will reduce air pollution for communities and so that is why we have a sustainable transport theme that runs through our local transport planning.”

 

92.28   Councillor Bell asked the following supplementary question, “We have unfortunately experienced on the Falmer Road two fatalities over the past few months, not necessarily due to the heavy load of traffic but unfortunately due to speeding and people using it as a rat run trying to beat the traffic and to get into the city and this is causing us concerns for the safety of our local residents. Could you give me some update on what we can do on that?”

 

92.29   Councillor Mitchell replied, “In the past three years there have been 15 injury causing accidents along the whole length of the Falmer Road. The majority of those collisions did occur at junctions where the main causation factor was “driver failed to look properly”, others had been under the influence of drugs and using a mobile phone while driving. Therefore, while all of those are very regrettable incidents, they are down to driver error rather than the physical layout of the Falmer Road and actually that does have a better record than some other roads in the area. The Aquarium roundabout for example is the highest accident spot in the city. We are working as you possibly know with the Rottingdean Parish Council to look at traffic speeds and to look at how those can be mitigated but also just to generally raise awareness of road safety I think on the part of drivers.”

 

92.30   Councillor Littman asked the following question, “At the meeting of Full Council on 31 January councillors unanimously voted for a motion requesting that the Electoral Registration Officer worked with the council’s Communications Team to run a specific campaign informing all residents of the city including potentially under represented communities of their right to both vote and stand in the local elections to be held on 2 May. That was two months ago there is now less than six days for those who wish to stand to delivery their completed nomination forms and only two weeks left for residents to register to vote in the elections three weeks thereafter. May ask what form the information campaign has taken and if we have any feedback on how success it has been at reaching our most hard to reach residents?”

 

92.31   Councillor Hamilton replied, “Electoral Services have been undertaking the necessary campaign by ensuring that under-represented groups, including EU citizens, are made aware of their right to vote and stand for elections at the forthcoming local elections.

 

We have a year-round approach to asking people to register to vote – with a particular emphasis on re-registering when you move house. This is shared directly with residents when they are setting up new council tax or housing benefit accounts, as well as with new council tax bills and through letting agents to new renters.

 

Register to vote notifications are sent to every single household in the city as part of the electoral canvass. Household notification forms are again sent to every household (in excess of 130,000) in mid-February as initial details of the local elections are shared. 2,600 additional non-statutory email prompts were sent at the end of March to those who have not responded to invitations to register or requests to provide documentary evidence.

 

Information was shared in the city explaining the registration deadlines and detailing who could register – including EU and Commonwealth citizens who live in the city, and students who are also registered at another address – which is different to national election eligibility.

 

Resources including posters, news stories, specialised briefings, screen images, and social media are being shared with council services, local media, education providers, community & third sector partners, and community networks across the city – particularly those known to have a high proportion of residents likely to be non-UK national, such as the universities, language schools, large employers and community groups. Communications include posters on all bus routes with a potential reach of 1 million journeys, in 15 busy council-run customer service locations throughout the city, as well as regular social media posts with an average reach of 2.2k.

With around a month to go before the local election, we will continue to communicate the register to vote details alongside the publication of the election notices, the issue of poll cards, key deadlines for postal and proxy voting, how to vote, what you need and where to go. This will include a film on how to complete a postal vote and a reminder to all, but particularly the most vulnerable, that your vote is your own. In addition to this, specialist information such as easy read guidance will be shared with, and from partners.

 

Members may be aware that, in addition to the Brighton & Hove specific information, the Electoral Commission are running a national local election campaign that includes TV ads, digital and printed posters, news stories and social media.   Election information has been supported by promoting Gov.uk’s EU exit campaign which locally has been displayed on bus shelters in the city. Communications on the council website homepage and through our social media channels has included practical information for EU voters including an additional focus on elections and registering to vote.

 

As of beginning of March, 202,450 are registered to vote in Brighton & Hove – including 16,366 of a possible 19,000 EU citizens. The figure of 19,000 includes EU citizens of all ages. If one were to look at those of voting age only and exclude those under 18, this suggests a healthy level of registration to vote among EU citizens. We will however continue to encourage people register and vote.  Our approach has been and remains purely factual and non-political throughout, focusing on who can register to vote, how and key deadlines.”

 

92.32   Councillor Littman asked the following supplementary question, “Some of the response seemed to reply to the usual ongoing campaign which was referred to in the Motion so that doesn’t count towards the new specific campaign that we asked for. The numbers that you quoted were very healthy and I am pleased to hear that. Is there any indication  of what affect the stand alone new campaign that was set up as a result of the Motion has had in addition to what we were doing year round anyway?”

 

92.33   Councillor Hamilton replied, “I gave you the figures for the European Union residents I don’t off hand have the other figures but I am sure that I can get a response and send it to you in writing.”

 

92.34   Councillor Wealls asked the following question, “In your Lead role for Public Health would you agree to ask officers to write on behalf of the council to the Head of CAMHS requesting that they invite and listen to the views of as many of their service users and their families as possible in order to inform their forthcoming review of their services across Sussex and for an update to be provided to the next Health & Wellbeing Board?”

92.35   Councillor Barford replied, “It may be useful to know that following discussions with the alliance of CCGs and the three Local Authorities covering the greater Sussex area a review of CAMHs has just started. The Executive Director for Families, Children and Learning is a member of the Oversight Group that will ensure the review is kept on track, together with the statutory Directors of Children’s Services for both East and West Sussex. An Independent Chair has been appointed and also part of the review team are the Lead Manager for Children’s Mental Health & Wellbeing, Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group and the Council’s Assistant Director for Health covering special educational needs and disability. The Terms of Reference for the review have been agreed and it is clear that there will be engagement with service users. The detail of how this will take place has yet to be discussed.

 

However, the Council are committed to ensure that the voice not only of service users, but families and carers are heard as part of this review so council officers have sought to engage with the review as well as offering opportunities for the reviewing officers to engage with councillors shortly after the elections. In addition, council officers have been asking to ensure that the Youth Council is also engaged in this process, so I am happy to formally request that the Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning passes on your request to the Oversight Group seeking assurance that any service user engagement would include their families and carers. I am aware that officers have already forward plans items about the CAMHS Review to both the Health & Wellbeing Board and the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee to keep the Council up to date with progress and final outcome. I hope this goes someway of reassuring you that the Administration shares you views in terms of affective stakeholder engagement.”

 

92.36   Councillor Wealls asked the following supplementary question, “I appreciate that response and we have worked together to make sure that we have co-ordinated on this because it is an incredibly important issue for families and their service users of CAMHs across the city and there is an incredible amount of frustration about this current service level. It is vitally important that we do this, so my question is just to re-iterate would you join me and Councillor Nick Taylor in writing a hand-over letter to the incoming Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board requesting they receive reports on the feedback CAMHs has received from their service users and their families and how this feedback has been incorporated into their planned service levels. I suggest that our letter requests that the performance of CAMHs is closely monitored as part of the regular work stream of CAMHs?”

 

92.37   Councillor Barford replied, “I will be very happy to do so, and I would also like to add that I would also like it to go to HOSC.”

 

92.38   Councillor Page asked the following question, “I have been in communication with the GMB today and they have confirmed to me that street cleaning services in the suburbs and residential areas, not the city centre and the seafront,  have been reduced in the last four years and I know there are various plans and modernisation  in City Clean but can Cllr Mitchell clarify whether there are any plans to restore the cuts in street cleaners in residential areas because I think many of us hear from our residents that their family and friends come to visit Brighton & Hove and they say ‘this city is a mess’?”

 

92.39   Councillor Mitchell replied, “I can give you that assurance because in our budget we have put in an additional £1.4m into City Environment and a lot of that will go into streets and then of course in addition there was the £55k that came from the Amendment that was agreed at Budget Council so I can fully assure you that the street sweeping services in the city will not suffer.”

 

92.40   Councillor Page asked the following supplementary question, “I thought that was good news but Cllr Mitchell ended by saying the street cleaners won’t suffer. I was asking if the services would be restored at least to their previous level outside the city centre and the seafront.”

 

92.41   Councillor Mitchell replied, “That is the idea, I didn’t say that the street sweepers would suffer, street sweeping will not suffer.”

 

92.42   Councillor Druitt asked the following question, “What guidance has been given by the council to the city’s schools around how to deal with the Youth Strikes for Climate?”

 

92.43   Councillor Hamilton replied, “A letter was sent to all the head teachers of schools and this is a summary of what it said:

Following discussion with schools the council provided a communication to all schools on 12 March. This message noted that we, as a council, are encouraging young pupils to be engaged in both local and global matters and that we also recognise the opportunities for children and young people to express their views about the issues important to them are beneficial to their development as conscientious citizens. The message stressed it was a matter for individual schools to consider, because it is the head teacher and the governors who decide these things, how they respond to the specific proposal for another protest on Friday 15 March and re-iterated the council’s clear expectation that all pupils should attend school every school day as made clear in the recent Miss School Miss Out Campaign. The message highlighted the concerns about pupils leaving the school site during the school day to attend the march especially if they are un-supervised and the attendance of a protest that may involve a procession on roads which are not formerly closed. It was important to remind schools that the council’s drive to approve attendance and by inference the legal responsibility for parents to make sure that their children attend school. It was important to advise them with both the clarity, but it was ultimately a decision for individual head teachers to make and reminded them of some of the risks that their young people could encounter should they attend the march unsupervised.”

 

92.44   Councillor Druitt asked the following supplementary question, “It was a slightly odd answer like the council was ‘hedging its bets’, on the one hand we encourage students to engage in politics and political involvement but on the other hand there are laws and responsibilities and so on. That is all true but the outcome of that leaves confusion everywhere.

Does Cllr Hamilton agree that we should actually be working with schools to facilitate the safe engagement of school pupils in the climate protests without any fear of retribution?”

 

92.45   Councillor Hamilton replied, “As Chair of the Children & Young People & Skills Committee I think you would not be surprised that I see, hear and agree with the officers and their recommendations because children are placed in a situation – have a day off school and go to the march or miss a day off school. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be possible to arrange the march at 4pm on that Friday, or on a Saturday morning or on an inset day or during the school holidays. Children shouldn’t be placed in a position where if they want to go on a march they have to take a day off school.

 

We are below the national average in secondary school attendance and I would not therefore in my role want to do anything that would reduce those figures even further”

 

92.46   Councillor Sykes asked the following question, “I have a written question to January Full Council about this matter and the answer which is in today’s minutes on page 28 is ‘a response to the written question will be sent directly to Cllr Sykes as soon as possible’. I didn’t get a response to that written question. This surprised me as these used to be figures that the council published as part of its KPIs on the website, so you could just go to the website and pull them down. I wonder if Cllr Mitchell has any figures on residual waste arisings?”

 

92.47   Councillor Mitchell replied, “I remember you asking the question and we have been trying to get to the bottom of being able to give you a definitive response. We have to do that in conjunction with East Sussex County Council who can provide us with the information and the issue comes down to what happens to wood and until we know that and can absolutely bottom that out we are not quite there with the response. What kind of wood? Is it MDF? Is it other kinds of wood because all the different kinds of wood go to different places to be recycled, some goes to bio mass but not wood that contains glue, other kinds of wood are sent to different places and so  I am afraid I still can’t give you a definitive answer on that but what I can tell you on the latest figures I have got the amount of was sent for energy recovery overall is down and recycling rates are up.”

 

92.48   Councillor Sykes asked the following supplementary question, “The result of high recycling rates should logically be reducing residual waste and so reducing cost to this council. We know that in recent budget rounds we have been asked for extra money to dispose of waste, and now we can’t get hold of the waste figures. We should have been able to do this in two months. We can’t get hold of the waste figures before an election.

 

Are this Labour council’s boasts about high recycling rates just ‘smoke, mirrors and garden waste’?”

 

92.49   Councillor Mitchell replied, No they are not the full figures for 2017/18.  The percentage of waste sent to energy recovery 69.75%.the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting 28.6% not including wood for bio mass and textiles and the percentage of municipal waste sent to landfill 5.3%”

 

92.50   The Mayor noted that concluded the item and adjourned the meeting for a refreshment break at 6.10pm.

 

92.51   The Mayor reconvened the meeting at 6.40pm.