1. To Councillor Clark, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, from Councillor Wainwright:
"Would Councillor Clark please inform Members of the progress made by his Scrutiny Committee into the investigation of alleged bullying of Officers at Ryedale District Council?"
2. To Councillor Ives, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, from Councillor Wainwright:
“Would the Chairman of P & R update members on the Streetscene Review including recruitment and the procurement of new refuse and recycling vehicles?”
Minutes:
1. Councillor Wainwright submitted the following question:
To Councillor Clark, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
"Would Councillor Clark please inform Members of the progress made by his Scrutiny Committee into the investigation of alleged bullying of Officers at Ryedale District Council?"
The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Clark replied:
“Maybe to improve his question over the years it really is not “his committee”, i.e. my committee, it is Ryedale District Council's committee of which I chair. The answer to your question unfortunately is, I am unable to answer that question at this point.”
Councillor Wainwright asked the following supplementary question:
“At the Full Council meeting in June of last year you allocated £10,000 to investigate any bullying at RDC and you stated at that time that you would report back to Full Council as a matter of urgency. 16 months have passed and no report. Don't you think Councillor Clark that you're being grossly unfair and unsupportive of those alleged to have been bullied by not producing an open report with some suggestions as to how the bullying can be prevented. From past experience you're very good at putting off decisions, perhaps you'll not produce a full report by the next Council in October or even the next Full Council after that in December and by then you'll have the good excuse of not producing the report because it's too near the election of Councillors in May and then you'll say we'll put off a decision to produce a report for the next Full Council. When will a final report be published and when will it be made available to Council Members, the press and the general public?”
Councillor Clark replied:
“I probably need to expand a little bit on my previous answer for you then. You are aware of the exempt items that prevent me from telling you more - that's the first part. The second part is this report, I didn't say it would be done urgently - no I did not - the request came from Full Council to do it as a matter of urgency and I accept that it has to be done as quickly as possible but it has to be done according to due process. It cannot be done ignoring rules on exempt, it cannot be done in a hurry, because if you do that you're not doing it properly and for someone who voted against it being looked into and for someone who denied there could be anything remotely like that subject for 2 years in Full Council before we got to this stage, it is smileable that you wish it to be done quickly whatever the cost. It will be done properly and you Councillor Wainwright, are aware of two of the holding up factors with it. Both are in exempt - I cannot say more, I do not intend to say anymore, you are aware of that and on that basis I look forward to your question next Council meeting. I hope we have got further, we will get further when it is possible to do so.”
2. Councillor Wainwright submitted the following question:
To Councillor Ives, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee:
“Would the Chairman of P & R update members on the Streetscene Review including recruitment and the procurement of new refuse and recycling vehicles?”
The Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, Councillor Ives replied:
“The Streetscene review is now complete. All staff have been issued with their appointment letters and there are now several vacancies within the Streetscene area. There have been no redundancies as a result of the review and we've got several vacancies, I think we've got 3 at the moment so, I don't know if the press are taking notice of this, but we need people and we need them fast because we have got vacancies. No new refuse vehicles have been purchased. However 3 new recycling vehicles have been procured. However at present only one of the vehicles is being used and is currently in a testing phase due to technical difficulties. We are working with the supplier to work through those technical difficulties, while we are doing that we are not paying for the vehicles and within the contract there will be penalties if they do not come online soon, so we'll be refunded when we eventually start to pay for them. Members will be updated as soon as possible once there is an update on the implementation of those new vehicles.”
Councillor Wainwright asked the following supplementary question:
“Do you believe our new vehicle procurement has been a mistake this year and we've gone for the cheapest option and not the best value for money option, which may have been more expensive in the short term but at least the vehicles would have been more reliable?”
Councillor Ives replied:
“Once the new vehicles come online we will be able to reduce the overall number of vehicles from 5 down to 4, which should lead to significant savings, simply because the new vehicles should be able to compact a lot more recycling materials. The supplier is working very hard to correct the issues and they are a long standing supplier of the Council. I have asked that question about the service that they deliver and have been informed that they are trying their utmost and they've got a long standing history of doing this Council well and actually when we went out to procure those vehicles it was built into the contract that there would be a penalty if they didn't come online, so there was actually some foresight when that contract was determined. If the issues cannot be resolved in the long term this Council will not hesitate to take some difficult decisions including the potential procurement of new vehicles which will come at no penalty to this Council because the current aren't working. So no, I do not believe there has been an issue in terms of the procurement and actually I think there was quite a bit of foresight to begin with.”