The opportunity is given to members of the public to put questions to Cabinet Members or Committee Chairs provided that a question does not relate to:
· Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or
· Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.
Minutes:
74.1 Steven Gower stated that many Members would be aware that he had slept outside the Council Offices on the previous night to highlight the case of a man who had been homeless for two years. He thanked those who had shown their support. He expressed concerns over the tendering of the homeless service and although he had not seen the contracts he understood that they were based on performance in returning homeless people to work and the licences were worthless. He asked the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning if he would give an assurance that this was not the case.
74.2 Councillor Organ, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning stated that he had met with Mr Gower and he believed that it was important to maintain that dialogue. He asked Mr Gower to clarify what he had meant by licences.
74.3 Mr Gower explained that providers would be paid in line with performance based contracts and the health, safety and welfare of the clients would be the responsibility of landlords.
74.4 Councillor Organ thanked Mr Gower for his question and noted that the contracts were a County Council matter but he would obtain further information and would be happy to meet with Mr Gower again.
74.5 Mr Gower asked if someone from the Labour Party could attend the meeting and he was advised that it was not a party political matter.