Small mercies

The Council has announced supplementary funding for wards judged to be “deprived”. The amounts are tiny compared to the levels allocated to Ward Committees when the Liberal Democrats were in power.

Behind closed doors logo

Until 2011 a ward like Westfield could expect to receive around £60,000 a year. It was spent following a ballot of local residents priorities.

The amounts allocated are:
Westfield – £3,326
Clifton – £3,311
Heworth – £3,354
Hull Road – £2,609
Guildhall – £2,200

No indication has been given as to how the money will be spent athough an injection into dealing with weed growth, potholes and litter won’t be amiss.

The decision was taken at a “behind closed doors” meeting.

Winter maintenance (snow and ice clearance) consultation – more cuts expected

Damaged salt bin Cornlands Road

Damaged salt bin Cornlands Road

The Council is asking residents whether it should cut even further the number of salt bins available in the City. They also plan to reduce the number of roads that are gritted (salted).

From Monday 12 August until Sunday 1 September, residents and businesses are invited to complete a three-week consultation on the criteria which is used to help determine how and where the council provides winter maintenance across the city.

To take part in the survey or view the criteria and gritting maps please visit: http://www.york.gov.uk/info/200262/gritting/402/winter_maintenance_services (from Monday 12 August).
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“York Council breached Freedom of Information law” – Information Commissioner’s decision

The Information Commissioners Office has ruled that the York Council breached Freedom of information legislation when it refused to reveal how many “All York” bus tickets’ had been sold in the City.

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The decision notice will be published on the Commissioners web site shortly.

The case dates back 12 months to a time when the York Council announced that it was planning to subsidise a new bus ticket which would allow passengers to travel on services provided by more than one operator.

The Council allocated £20,000 of taxpayers money to fund the launch and then agreed to resource the backroom apportionment work involved in distributing fare income to bus operators.

The option was labelled an “All York” ticket. They were priced at £5 for an adult.

The Council were subsequently asked to indicate how many of the tickets had actually being sold?

The Council declined to disclose the information on the grounds that it was “commercially confidential”.

However, the Information Commissioner has now confirmed that the aggregated sales figures cannot be regarded as confidential as they don’t reveal the number of sales made by each bus company.

He has ordered the Council to release the sales figures.

The decision notice reads,

“The Commissioners decision is that the City of York Council has failed to demonstrate that section 41(1) of the Freedom of Information Act is engaged.

The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation –

• Disclose the information to the complainant”

Former Council Leader Steve Galloway, who raised the issue last year, commented,

“The mistake concerned one of several outstanding issues that bus passengers in York have with the Council.

The most serious of these is a failure to publish, on a regular basis, reliability information on local bus services.

Hopefully the Council will now side with passengers in their quest for timely information about bus service operations in the City”.

York Council spends £36,270 on “information screens” at West Offices

West Offices

The York Council has spent over £36,000 on providing “information screens” around its new West Office HQ.

Defending the decision the Council said,

“The information screens are being installed across the building to meet different needs.

Within the customer services areas they will allow us to present information in more accessible formats such as video supported with sign language.

The installation of screens in the staff areas is part of a wider internal communications initiative to ensure that all staff receive up to date information on key service changes and priorities.
The screens also show service performance information. This is routine provision in most Councils”.

The Council had been criticised for not ensuring that the work was undertaken by a York company.

York housing benefit claims now costing £45 million a year – up 80% in 9 years.

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Figures published by the Council say that the annual cost of paying housing benefit claims has increased from £25.2 in 2004 to £45.3 million in 2012.

Housing benefit is money paid by the Council to help tenants to pay their rent. For council tenants, housing benefit is paid direct into their rent account. Housing benefit for private and housing association tenants is paid to the tenant or landlord.

The figures also show that some tenants are claiming nearly £400 a week in benefit payments. Most are claiming considerably less.

A table showing the spread of claimants indicates a fairly wide distribution across the City although the largest number can be found in the YO24 post code area.

In total 11,059 families were claiming Housing Benefit in 2012.

12,998 were also claiming Council Tax benefit. This benefit reduced the amount that residents were liable to pay to the local Council to fund public services. It was replaced by the Council Tax Reduction scheme from 1st April this year.

York schools big spend on supply teachers

The Council has revealed how much each school in the City has spent on supply teachers .

supply teacher

Supply teachers are brought in to cover staff vacancies and sickness. In some cases the school sources the supply teacher themselves whilst others use agencies.

In total several million pounds is spent on employing supply teachers in York each year

Highest spending secondary school was Huntington at over £160,000.

In the primary sector Poppleton Road paid out £73,000

Locally York High spent £26,000

Westfield Primary school spent just over £70,000 while Hob Moor spent around £29,000.

A full list can be found by clicking here

Meanwhile York’s Liberal Democrats have welcomed an £880,200 increase in funding to York Primary Schools from the Pupil Premium in 2014/15.

This increase represents a £400 rise for every qualifying child and is the largest ever increase in the Pupil Premium for primary schools.

The Pupil Premium is a major Lib Dem priority being delivered by the Coalition Government.

It ensures that extra money is targeted at schools depending on the number of pupils who have been registered for Free School Meals at any point in the last six years.

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than 6 months, and children of Armed Forces personnel.

Labour reduce waste services while increasing charges

Changes to the service will take effect later this month and include amending Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centre’s opening hours.

Starting on Wednesday 31 July, Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) will remain open six days a week and will close on Wednesdays throughout the year.

Hazel Court recycling centre
Alongside this, new charges will be introduced at Hazel Court HWRC on Monday 29 July for York residents disposing of brick, rubble, gas bottles, plasterboard and bonded asbestos.

Non-York residents can also take waste to the site but this will be subject to a charge of £10 per visit in a normal family car. Payment must be made at Hazel Court HWRC at the time of tipping using either a debit or credit card only.

Residents wanting to dispose of large amounts of DIY related waste materials should consider hiring a skip, using a private waste collection company or buying a skip bag from DIY stores, builders’ merchants or garden centres

For more information about the changes to waste and recycling visit www.york.gov.uk/waste or call 01904 551551.