Questions to Medway Council

Medway Tory Council Portfolio-holders challenged

At the January 2015 full Council meeting, the following questions were asked by the Liberal Democrat group

A total of 4 questions were asked:

• Tony Jeacock asked Cllr. Tolhurst about Medway's reputation as the worst performing primary schools in England
• Paul Chaplin asked Cllr. O'Brien about the delivery of free school meals in Medway
• Cllr. Geoff Juby asked Cllr. Jarrett about council contracts with the Citizen's Advice Bureau
• Tony Jeacock asked Cllr. Rodney Chambers OBE about the impact of immigration on the Medway Towns

Medway Liberal Democrat Chairman, Tony Jeacock, asked the Portfolio Holder for Educational Improvement Cllr. Tolhurst, the following:

"With the unenviable reputation of having, overall, the worst performing Primary schools in the whole of England, can the Portfolio Holder please advise me as to how they intend to reverse the situation and by when?"

Cllr. Tolhurst stated that this question appeared to be similar to previous questions therefore she would answer this question quite directly. There were two key parts to the question: firstly, it was true that Medway had the lowest proportion of pupils in good or outstanding schools and as said earlier, this was partly down to schools waiting for re-inspection and some, if they were inspected today, she believed would be outstanding. However, the Council was not complacent and one of the key parts of the School Improvement Strategy was Ofsted readiness as well as core categories such as outstanding teaching and recruitment and retention. She noted that the Council had no control over when schools could be inspected. Since October, four schools had been inspected.

The second part of school performance was the education that children were offered. As said before, the Council averaged at 75% with the lowest, nationally, being Luton local authority at 70%. This year the Council had improved by 4%, keeping up with the national improvement. She stated that the Council intended to increase performance in Key Stage 2 up to national average within 2 years. Schools were on board with the School Improvement Strategy, given the Council had consulted with Headteachers and Chairs of Governors, and she stated that the School Improvement Team's hard work was already paying off. She stated that, in summary, the Council and many schools would be rightfully recognised for where they were, which would improve the Council's standings nationally with Ofsted.

Mr. Jeacock asked whether the Portfolio Holder would agree with him that this abysmal situation would be better addressed by insisting upon engaging properly qualified teachers in all classrooms without exception, who not only knew their subjects but also knew how to teach them effectively in all circumstances and would the Portfolio Holders for Children's Services (Lead Member) and Educational Improvement agree that their own positions should be merged into one and perhaps occupied by someone who was better equiped to succeed in matters of education and if not, why not?

Cllr. Tolhurst stated that she was clear that she wanted anybody who taught in a school in Medway to be outstanding teachers and part of the School Improvement Strategy and part of the work the School Improvement Team did with schools was to source support that was provided to reach that ambition. She stated that she wanted to see, as Portfolio Holder for Educational Improvement, people in schools who were achieving results and enabling the children to learn and have a good level of education.

Gillingham & Rainham's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) Paul Chaplin, asked the Portfolio Holder for Children's Services (Lead Member) Cllr. O'Brien, the following:

"How much did the Government give to Medway to improve school kitchen facilities and how was this distributed? How is it that some schools are struggling to cope and have not been able to access any of this money?"

Cllr. O'Brien stated that Medway Council received £566,681 to support all maintained and voluntary controlled schools in meeting the capital requirements of the implementation of the Universal Infant Free School Meal programme. £98,445 was allocated in addition for Medway voluntary aided schools and academies which were funded through a separate funding stream, the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund. The voluntary aided sector opted to manage the allocation of funds and projects for their schools. Academies received funding directly and were therefore also able to manage their own preparations. For the element under the responsibility of the local authority, a full review of the capacity of schools to implement the programme was carried out; this included scoping potential adaptation, equipment requirements, full feasibility studies and liaison with schools and their catering contractors. The funding was therefore distributed according to need based on tis information. He stated that there had been a strong partnership approach to this programme with schools, Medway Council, Public Health and catering contractors working closely together to ensure this programme and implementation of the School Food Plan was a success in Medway.

Mr. Chaplin asked whether the Portfolio Holder would provide him with a list of schools which had benefited from this money and the criteria by which they had been chosen.

Cllr. O'Brien stated that whilst he had provided the general allocation of funds for the authority, he would investigate as to whether he could provide the individual figures and if this was possible he would provide it in writing.

Medway Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr. Geoff Juby asked the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Deputy Leader, Cllr. Jarrett, the following:

"We now seem to have a large number of contracts with the Medway Citizen's Advice Bureau. Could the Portfolio Holder please let us know how the Council ensure that the local taxpayer gets value for money?"

Cllr. Jarrett stated that the Council had two contracts with the Medway Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB), which may be large to Cllr. Juby, but to give it some context the Council had 3,000 suppliers delivering a variety of services for Medway, just two of which were delivered by the CAB. When the Council contracted with any supplier over a given amount it would go through a rigorous competitive tender process led by the Category Management team and the relevant service. This was to ensure that residents and others received a quality service from suppliers which was value for money. He sated that he took a lead on this process through the Procurement Board. Last year the Council started 14% of all contracts which subsequently increased to 15%. The work of the Category Management team and the Procurement Board actually delivered 17% savings on the contracts that had been let which was obviously a significant sum. He believed that this demonstrated the robust approach that the Council took to contracting was working. For smaller contracts, the Contract Procedure Rules in the Constitution required competitive quotes. Once a contract started the service who commissioned it was expected to monitor the progress of delivery of the contract through for example Key Performance Indicators and regular contact with the contractor. He stated that if Cllr. Juby had a specific concern about any contracts he would be happy to have a look at that.

Cllr. Juby stated that given that CAB was a registered charity and should not have any political affiliations, did the Portfolio Holder think it was appropriate that CAB had produced a Citizen's Manifesto which appeared to be being distributed by a named campaigner of a political party. In light of the number of contracts given to this organisation, which he believed was more than two, were there any hidden links between the Cabinet and the other political party, like in Portsmouth?

Cllr. Jarrett stated that he would certainly expect high standards of probity to exist in this Council with its Members and o also expect this from charities, particularly those receiving money from the Council. He stated that he was not aware of this issue and he asked Cllr. Juby to provide him with more details so he could look into it and make sure that the Council's money was being spent in a proper way and probity in public life was being honoured.

Medway Liberal Democrat Chairman, Tony Jeacock, asked the Leader of Medway Council, Cllr. Rodney Chambers OBE, the following:

"Does the Leader of Medway's Conservative Council agree with Cllr. Tolhurst's claims, that Rochester & Strood have been badly and heavily impacted by immigration and very much to the detriment of local employment particularly, or does he believe that immigration has brought increased prosperity to the Medway Towns as a whole? Which is it and why? "

Cllr. Rodney Chambers OBE stated that he believed Cllr. Tolhurst had said repeatedly during the by-election campaign was that immigration brought benefits, but uncontrolled immigration had had an impact on this area by increasing the demand on local services. He further stated that what he believed Cllr. Tolhurst had suggested that the Council could stop migrants, wherever they came from, accessing social housing until they had lived here for five years and had made a contribution. He stated that, after investigation, and in line with similar plans being proposed nationally, she was now supporting the introduction of a four year policy, and that this would be in line with similar proposals to those introduced by near neighbours, the Labour controlled Thurrock Council. He stated that, however, it was naïve to assume that it was possible to weigh up all the benefits that immigration and indeed migration brought and then compare them to the costs to services to come up with a polarised answer.

Mr. Jeacock stated that if he had understood the Leader correctly in that he agreed with Cllr. Tolhurst, did this mean that the Medway Tories would adopt a full-on UKIP approach or a watered-down UKIP approach with a view to diminishing or ending altogether immigration from the EU, ultimately leading to withdrawal from the EU and the possible break-up of the Conservative Party?

Cllr. Chambers OBE stated that this was not really a question, it was a statement and as far as he was concerned, he would stick to the answer he had given to the earlier question.