Agenda item

Public Questions and supplementaries were asked and answered.

Supplementary questions were asked and answered as follows (paraphrased):

Supplementary question to PQ3 to Deputy Mayor Dacres (Acting as Mayor)

Q: Does Lewisham Council have humanity?

A: Within all of us we have humanity.

Supplementary question to PQ20 Councillor Schmidt

Q: Do you think that overview and scrutiny has a role in ensuring that consultation for CPZs are run in an ethical and competent manner?

A: Yes consultations should be done in an ethical manner. At the beginning of the municipal year, chairs of scrutiny committees decide on their work programmes. If they believe that consultation should be part of the work programmes, they will bring them to the appropriate committee. 

Supplementary question to PQ21 to Councillor Cooper.

Q: What does mobilising a stock condition survey mean? Earlier this year, the Council announced an increase to the hosing repair budget specifically for damp/mould related problems. How much of that has been spent and on what.

A: Mobilising stock condition survey is when officers go into properties and decide whether they meet the decent homes standard. In this financial year, Lewisham dealt with 292 damp and mould cases at a cost of £421k. More financial information would be provided when the new repairs system and the computer system across the housing department was up and running.

Supplementary question to PQ36 to Councillor Barnham.

Q: Should this Council be lobbying the government for more support for schools, particularly in deprived areas?  Allowing schools to run slightly smaller class sizes until numbers pick up again or challenging the pupil premium equation.

A: I am proud of the achievements of Lewisham Schools, 99% are good or outstanding. Falling rolls and financial constraints that come with it, is a challenge to all schools. Lewisham lobby government about school funding. Last month London Councils published a report on falling roles in London with specific recommendations for central government and local authorities. This included recommendations for more flexible funding from the DfE to help protect London schools in the future, to ensure that academies were part of local planning to better manage pressure and to work with local authorities to ensure that children with special educational needs are properly supported in mainstream education. This work would continue. Lewisham understands the pressure faced by schools and intended to support them in every way possible.

Supplementary question to PQ37 to Deputy Mayor Dacres (Acting as Mayor)

Q: Will the Mayor provide details of what efforts Lewisham have undertaken in support of Palestinian residents, including discussions on the importance of the Council calling for full ceasefire and divesting from companies complicit with genocide.

A: The website has been updated so that help and support can be offered to anyone, particularly from that region, who have been affected by the conflict and hate crimes. I want to ensure that Lewisham remains a borough that the community can reach out to. I am proud that Lewisham is a borough of culture and welcomes those who are fleeing atrocities.

Supplementary question to 43 to Deputy Mayor Dacres (Acting as Mayor)

Q: Will this Council acknowledge that there are war crimes and call for a full ceasefire as demanded by 1000 Lewisham residents.

A: We are in a politically restricted period, so I cannot answer politically. However, I refer you back to my previous response and the one at the January Council meeting.

Supplementary question to PQ1 to Councillor Walsh.

Q: The money allocated to LGBT+ community activities was low. What did the cabinet member intend to do about it?

A: I am proud that this Council has opened an LGBT cultural centre in Deptford. Other LGBT spaces have opened across the borough over the last 3 years. Hate crime against LGBT people is rising. As an authority, we will do all we can. I am an LGBT activist, and I invite the resident to join with me in pushing forward the LGBT agenda.

Supplementary question to PQ5 to Councillor Bell.

Q: Councillor Bell has a direct interest as cabinet member for adult social care and health and the NHS more widely. According to new government guidance on health scrutiny, cabinet members who hold executive responsibility for the NHS should not Chair health scrutiny panels. Please could this be considered seriously.

A: There is no conflict of interest because I do not Chair these panels. If I had executive oversight of decision making in the NHS, different decisions may be made. The main point in the answer is that the healthier communities Select Committee no longer has the power for a formal call in from the Secretary of State.