Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson prepares for second mayoral scrutiny committee
That's come around quickly - this Thursday will be the second Mayoral Select Committee.
At the meeting Joe Anderson will present his economic masterplan.
A paper will also be tabled which changes the nature of budget setting at the council.
Head of finance Becky Hellard writes in a report to the committee that March's budget will cover a four year period.
This is to: "avoid taking a series of annual short term decisions and to reflect the mayoral term. The vision is to imagine the Council in April 2016, and look back on how well the journey, over the 4 years, was accomplished."
Mayor Anderson will also answer questions from committee members, here are the questions submitted to date:
Questions by Councillor John Coyne:
ACADEMIC STUDY ON MAYORALTY
At the last Council meeting, the Mayor referred to a study he had commissioned from university academics. He expects to rely on the results of that study in future conversations about the wisdom of making the constitutional changes the city council made in February - to move directly to an election of a mayor without a referendum.
(1) What are the questions which this study has been commissioned to answer? (2) Which individuals or departments were commissioned? (3) What is the fee paid and what are the terms of engagement?
(4) What process was followed to procure the contract?
REQUESTS TO THE MAYOR TO SEEK ADDITIONAL POWERS FROM GOVERNMENT
Since taking office, how many requests has the Mayor received to seek new powers from government?
Which requests has he acted on and which has he declined to act on?
For those requests which he has acted on, what was the outcome in each case?
RESPONSIVENESS TO EMAILS
What is the target time for responding to messages to the new email address mayor@liverpool.gov.uk?
How many emails have remained unanswered after 14 days and after 28 days?
COMPOSITION OF THE MAYOR'S OFFICE
Which employees make up the staff of the Mayor's Office?
What are their roles?
How does the cost of the Mayor's Office compare with the cost of the previous Leader's Office?
Question submitted by Councillor Erica Kemp:
Can the Mayor outline what progress has been made by each of the commissions he appointed ? Further can the Mayor detail what financial costs the Commissions accrue to the City Council and where is this reported ?
Mayor Anderson will respond to these questions at the meeting.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
Read My Posts »
Interesting questions by Cllr Coyne
I wonder if the Mayor's office is subject to FOI requests?
Only one question from the Lib-Dems and nothing from ranting Radford.
Who is the opposition these days
Cllr Kemp's questions about commissions are good but don't go far enough.
We need a lot more information about these bodies, since there appears to be an idea that they can take the place of proper scrutiny of decisions and operations by select committees and panels of elected members.
We should know who they are, what their terms of reference are, what powers they actually have (to examine documents, ask questions etc.). i.e. the standard stuff.
And, most importantly, since the Council and the Mayor repeatedly state that they are committed to openness and transparency surely meetings of commissions should be held in public, like just about every other committee or panel.