Issue - meetings

Questions on Notice

Meeting: 03/11/2021 - Council (Item 54)

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.

A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions. This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.

Minutes:

The Chairman explained that 9 Questions on Notice had been received for consideration at the meeting. These questions would be considered in the order in which they had been received. There would be no supplementary questions.

Question submitted by Councillor P. McDonald

"How many employees are being paid less than the Living Wage Foundation’s £9.50?"

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling responded by explaining that the Council paid the Foundation Living Wage, which was set at £9.50 per hour. There were no employees who were being paid less than £9.50, other than one apprentice post, which was being paid at the appropriate apprentice rate for the age of the employee. This was in line with the national apprentice pay rates.

Question submitted by Councillor C. Hotham

“This council has five strategic purposes. Three make no mention of climate change. Of the remaining two, there is a brief mention of making recycling easier and improving home energy efficiency. There is also a brief vague mention of a “green thread” running through council policy. I don’t think this now demonstrates sufficient commitment to fighting climate change. We have a newly appointed Climate Change Cabinet Member, a climate change working group and a general strong consensus across the council that time is running out and that now is the time to act.

Does the Climate Change Cabinet Member agree with me that tackling climate change should become a strategic purpose of this council in its own right and will he undertake to make sure this happens?”

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Change commented that he was delighted that the importance of climate change had been highlighted. The Council had agreed that the ‘green thread’ should run throughout the Council Plan, as it was not something that stood on its own. Responsibility for climate change cut across all services and portfolios and was something that everyone had responsibility for, as opposed to being a distinct stand-alone purpose. In this respect, the Portfolio Holder for Climate Change had a co-ordinating role across all of the strategic purposes.

The Council was fully committed to the authority’s climate change duties and as such the Portfolio Holder for Climate Change invited Councillor Hotham to highlight this again when the Council Plan was due a review in a year’s time.

Question submitted by Councillor S. Baxter

“Please could the leader provide an update on the redistribution of the many surplus Council ipads to schools.”

The Leader responded by commenting that in April 2021, contact was made with Worcestershire Children First, which was responsible for the delivery of services to children and young people in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Children First were offered Members’ old ipads for distribution amongst children attending local schools. In response, the Council was advised that there was no scheme operated for this purpose by Worcestershire Children First. However, they suggested that contact be made with the social enterprise NewStarts about donation of the equipment, as NewStarts operated a recycling scheme where they repurposed donated ... view the full minutes text for item 54