Agenda item

Questions at Cabinet Meetings

Meeting of Cabinet, Wednesday 17 June 2020 10.00 am (Item 4.)

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Written questions

To answer any written questions from a County Councillor, (or any person living or working in the county, or is affected by the work of the County Council), about any matter which relates to any item on the agenda for this meeting.

The closing date for the receipt of written questions is 4.00 pm on Thursday 11 June 2020

Please submit any questions to jo.moore@gloucestershire.gov.uk

A written answer will be provided for each written question received (to be presented to the questioner and to Cabinet (in advance of the meeting). The questions and answers will be taken as read at the meeting and will not be read out. At the discretion of the Leader of Council, each questioner in attendance/joining the meeting will be allowed to ask one supplementary question under this item (in response to the answer given to the original question).

A copy of all written questions and written answers circulated at the meeting will be attached to the signed copy of the minutes of the meeting.

Urgent questions

An urgent written question may be asked by a member of the public about any item on the Cabinet agenda for that meeting which the Chairperson considers could not have been reasonably submitted by the deadline for the receipt of written questions, provided he or she gives notice of the question to the Chief Executive by 12 noon the day before the meeting.

Please note: in response to the Covid19 Emergency, this meeting will be conducted as a remote access meeting.

To ask a supplementary question at the meeting, (following submission of a written question), please contact Jo Moore at jo.moore@gloucestershire.gov.uk by midday on Monday 15 June 2020.

The meeting can be viewed on the Gloucestershire County Council website at the following link: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk

Minutes:

11 public questions were submitted for consideration prior to the meeting, plus 33 member questions.

The responses to the questions were published on the council website on Tuesday 16 June 2020, (the day before the meeting), and can be viewed at the link below: -

https://glostext.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=9232&x=1

The following supplementary questions were asked at the meeting:-

Public Questions:

Question 2. Mr Christopher Chiswell

Agenda item 9: West Cheltenham Transport Improvement Scheme

Mr Chiswell noted that the implemented schemes referred to in the answer to his question referred to pedestrian distancing, not active transport enablers. Mr Chiswell felt the response did not address the first part to his question and what Cllr Moor hoped to achieve to prevent a retrograde modal shift as people quite rightly, avoided using public transport.

Mr Chiswell asked, if the Council was committed to tackling the climate emergency, and noting the context of the ambitious and published* plans of many other local authorities across England, what measurable ambitions might Cllr Moor have for stimulating active transport as a specific mitigation to increased private vehicle use in the context of Covid-19?

Response by: Cllr Nigel Moor (Cabinet Member: Environment and Planning)

Cllr Moor informed Mr Chiswell that the Council was in contact with the 6 District Councils, all of whom had been asked to provide details of their respective schemes. Four trial schemes existed; (three in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Bourton on the Water, with a further site being developed in Gloucester). Each District Council had been asked to provide details of the priority sites for their areas. Cllr Moor stated that, as proposals developed, (on what he considered to be very ambitious schemes), he intended to work closely with the District Councils and would be looking at the proposals pro-actively.

Question 12. Molly Scott Cato (former Green MEP for South West England and Gibraltar)

Agenda item 5: Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) Covid-19 Response & Approach to Recovery

Reiterating her concerns, Molly Scott Cato asked, if the county had to make a rapid response to a local Covid-19 outbreak, who would make this decision, the Council or Public Health England? In the event of an outbreak in Gloucestershire, would the County Council take control and, if so, would it have the necessary data to make this decision?

Response by: Cllr Tim Harman (Cabinet Member for Public Health and Communities)

Referring to Council Motion 863 (Establishment of a local contact tracing system to stop Covid-19), submitted for consideration at the Council meeting on 24 June 2020, Cllr Harman agreed this was a very important issue, and one that would be responded to using an integrated approach involving the County Council and its partner organisations.

Cllr Harman stated that, whilst consideration had been given to the setting up of a local contact tracing system in March 2020, Ceredigion County Council had a very small population in comparison to Gloucestershire. Contact tracing test result returns for Gloucestershire would be sent to regional PHE Centres. This would enable PHE to take a lead in investigating potential local coronavirus outbreaks, and for the council to manage the consequences of such. Cllr Harman confirmed that he would work with all groups when responding to decisions made by PHE.

Member Questions

Question 1: Cllr Jeremy Hilton

Agenda item 5: Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) Covid-19 Response & Approach to Recovery

Noting the numbers of people who had received assistance from the Integrated Brokerage Team when transferring from hospital to residential care homes in March, April and May 2020, Cllr Hilton questioned why transfers had continued following the government’s lockdown announcement?

Response by: Cllr Carole Allaway-Martin (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care: Commissioning)

Cllr Allaway-Martin acknowledged this was a complex issue, for which a ‘Support to Care Homes during Covid-19’ report would be presented to the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 July 2020. The report provided details of the support provided to care homes during the initial response to the coronavirus emergency.

Question 2: Cllr Jeremy Hilton

Agenda item 5: Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) Covid-19 Response & Approach to Recovery

Cllr Hilton asked if a lack of testing for residential care home residents prior to their discharge from hospital might have contributed to some of the care home deaths in the county?

Response by: Cllr Carole Allaway- Martin (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care: Commissioning)

Cllr Allaway-Martin stated that, in its response to the pandemic, the council had adhered to Public Health England guidelines and had responded to any updates as they emerged. Cllr Allaway-Martin agreed it would be good practice to conduct a retrospective study of the council’s response to the pandemic, (including the significant number of updates received from Public Health England), but suggested this should be at an appropriate time. In the meantime, more information would be presented at the county scrutiny committee meetings in July.

Question 3: Cllr Jeremy Hilton

Agenda item 5: Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) Covid-19 Response & Approach to Recovery

Cllr Hilton asked if a full independent inquiry would be held later in the year to investigate the number of deaths reported in care homes in Gloucestershire during the Covid-19 emergency period?

Response by: Cllr Carole Allaway-Martin (Cabinet Member: Adult Social Care: Commissioning)

Cllr Allaway-Martin agreed that, at the appropriate time, a significant number of questions would need to be asked on the county’s response to the Covid 19 Pandemic. At the present time, however, it was important to concentrate on addressing the challenges of the emergency situation.

Referring to the Leader of Council’s ‘Covid-19 Response & Approach to Recovery Report’ to the Adults Social Care and Communities Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Allaway-Martin believed the County Council and its partners had reacted responsibly and appropriately. A huge amount of work had been involved in responding to the emergency, including providing appropriate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and training to residential care homes and domiciliary care workers.

Cllr Allaway-Martin described the scrutiny report as a positive overview of the council’s position going forward. She informed members that more information would be provided at the scrutiny committee meetings in July.

Question 5: Cllr Colin Hay

Reassured by the answers to his questions, Cllr Hay reiterated concerns about a possible increase in the number of children in care in Gloucestershire falling out of the education system due to the current coronavirus emergency. Cllr Hay stressed the importance of keeping the number of NEET children in care, (not in education, employment, or training, to a minimum and asked what the council and GFirst LEP was doing to ensure this?

Response by: Cllr Richard Boyles (Cabinet Member: Children’s Safeguarding

Cllr Boyles reaffirmed that the council’s NEET team had been working closely with the Virtual School to provide online training services during the coronavirus emergency. In addition. both GFirst LEP and the council were committed to working together to prevent more young people falling into the NEET category. A bursary was being paid to enable young people to upskill themselves with on-line traineeships.

Cllr Boyles believed the council was working more closely with young people than before the emergency and said how pleasing it was to see a significant number of applications for employment. Cllr Boyles assured members that the council was continuing to work together with partner organisations to assist young people during the Covid-19 recovery period.

Question 6: Cllr Rachel Smith

Agenda items 9 and 10: West Cheltenham Transport Improvement/M5 Junction 10 Schemes

Cllr Smith requested more information on the carbon emission and air pollution modelling for the M5 Junction 10 Improvement Scheme (Agenda item 10) and asked if Cabinet could commit to the approval of funding to achieve a carbon neutral position for Gloucestershire/C02 reductions?

Response by: Cllr Nigel Moor (Cabinet Member: Environment and Planning)

Cllr Moor noted Cllr Smith’s comments and advised that the council’s mitigation plans for reducing carbon emissions would form part of the improvements. Mitigation would only commence during the advanced stages of negotiations for the scheme.

Question 7: Cllr Rachel Smith

Agenda items 9 and 10: West Cheltenham Transport Improvement/M5 Junction 10 Schemes

In relation to both schemes, (agenda items 9 and 10), Cllr Smith asked if potential long-term changes in transport demand arising from Covid-19 and similar scenarios (including the impact of people working from home), would be considered before Cabinet committed to spending millions of taxpayers money?

Response by: Cllr Nigel Moor (Cabinet Member: Environment and Planning)

Cllr Moor noted Cllr Smith’s comments but said it was too early to predict long term results arising from the emergency. Although early days, Cllr Moor was optimistic that walking and cycling provision would be included in the scheme’s proposals.

Question 8: Cllr Paul Hodgkinson