Agenda item

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working day before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Councillor Zoe Patrick had given notice of the following question to the Deputy Leader:

“Why are the sandwiches sold in the Common Hall cafe being bought from a company in London rather than being purchased locally according to the County's procurement rules?  According to the Source Oxfordshire website it states "We are supporting the Federation of Small Businesses' Keep Trade Local campaign - the Oxford part of which was launched in November 2008."  This is certainly not consistent with that policy.  It has also meant that there have been some days where there have been no sandwiches available because they have not arrived from London.”

Councillor Robertson replied

“When originally looking for suppliers of ready- made sandwiches for The Common Hall Cafe we invited several companies to produce trial samples of their products, including a local company called Brambles.  Only one company, Greencore, provided us with these samples and met with us, despite the other companies stating they would deliver samples, etc.

We are aware that there have been some problems recently with delivery from Greencore which we have addressed. However, we are currently looking again at alternative suppliers and will consider local suppliers, as we did in the first instance. However, while our preference would be to use a local provider, our choice of suppliers will be governed by cost and location as well as reliability.”

Supplementary

“Has consideration been given to this service being provided in house.”

Reply

“This service has in the past been provided in house and some sandwiches are of course still produced in County Hall.  Catering staff are I understand keen to resume provision of this service and I will look at all options available.”

Councillor Jean Fooks had given notice of the following question to the Deputy Leader:

"The lack of an information board in the reception area of County Hall is meaning that people, whether members or visitors, have to ask the reception staff where their meetings are.  This is unwelcoming to visitors and an unnecessary nuisance for members and the reception staff. I understand that in the present financial situation, it is not possible to provide a new electronic board giving the information. There is usually an A4 sheet to which the staff refer. Would it be possible to enlarge this to A3 or bigger and display it on the wall, so that it is immediately visible and would help people find where their meeting is without having to bother reception staff and often have to wait in a queue to ask ?"

Councillor Robertson replied

“The details of the meetings on the ground floor are now displayed on a notice board on the right hand side of the reception desk. This should help visitors find out where their meeting is to be held and, hopefully, reduce the need to wait in a queue. To cut down on costs we have utilised a notice board that was retrieved from Cricket Road for this purpose.

Visitors to meetings in secure areas of the Council building will still have to report to reception.

My thanks to Councillor Fooks for her suggestion.”

Supplementary

“Many thanks for providing a notice board, which I’m sure will be useful.  However, could something larger be provided.”

Reply

“Having provided the board I will be looking at options to provide something more professional although these things must be taking in the context of the funding issues facing the County Council.”