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The Council received five
questions from Members to Committee Chairs/Portfolio
Holders.  The responses to the five
questions had been published in the supplementary agenda for the
meeting.
 

(A)      
Question from Councillor Margaret Notley re: the
Council’s telephone enquiry system.
Supplementary question: “Please could the Executive Member
remind the Customer Services Centre Team to be mindful of those
residents whose experience in contacting the Council had not been
good, and challenge the Team to get telephone waiting times down
even further?”
 
The
Executive Portfolio Holder for Culture, Leisure & Information
Technology replied that the Council was always looking to improve
the service.  If the questioner had the
names of specific members of the public who had experienced
difficulties she would be happy to discuss those cases with the
Transformation and Customer Services Teams.
 

(B)      
Question from Councillor Andy McGuinness re: the
Councillors’ locality budget scheme.
In
the absence of Councillor McGuinness, Councillor Robin Parker CC
asked the following supplementary question – “Please
could the split in spending between Revenue and Capital items in
the SBC Councillors’ Locality Budget as a whole be provided,
and will there be guidelines given to councillors as to how they
would be able to spend their locality budgets?”
 
The
Executive Portfolio Holder for Co-operative Council &
Neighbourhood Communities replied that she would consult officers
and provide a written answer to this question.
 

(C)      
Question from Councillor Bret Facey re: the payroll
systems for staff and councillors.
Supplementary question: “Can the Leader of the Council
guarantee that there were no other questionable use of resources
(like the previous councillor payroll system) causing a small, but
unnecessary, cost to the Council?”
 
The
Leader of the Council replied that there were quirky accounting
processes in most local authorities across the UK.  He was pleased that the Council had taken steps to
integrate councillors’ payroll into the existing staff
system.  However, he was aware that
Hertfordshire County Council had separate staff and councillor
payroll systems and had no plans to change to a single
system.
 

(D)      
Question from Councillor Robin Parker CC re: the
effect of changes in the local media on the Council’s
Communications Team.
Supplementary question: “Does the Council provide all help
to the Local Radio, and is the SBC studio at the rear of the
Council Chamber still used and, if not, why not?”
 
The
Leader of the Council reminded the questioner that the Labour Group
had supported a Council motion submitted by his Group stressing the
importance of radio as a means of communication.  He was unaware of the studio mentioned in the
question, but would liaise with officers to find out.  He was aware that the SBC Communications Team were
in regular contact with all forms of media, and did what they could
to work with Local radio in publicising the Council’s
work.
 

(E)      
Question from Councillor Adam Mitchell CC re: the
impact of Right to Buy sales of the Council’s housing stock
on the town and residents.
Supplementary question: “Given the discounts available to
tenants for Right to Buy, how are these opportunities communicated
to them and how often?”
 
The
Executive Portfolio Holder for Housing & Housing Development
replied that all of the details on how tenants could apply for
Right to Buy were available on the Council’s
website.