Scrutinizing Central Beds Council

I have posed the following questions to Executive Members at the Central Bedfordshire Council at the following Full Council Meeting: -

Central Beds Full Council Meeting - Thursday 22nd September 2011

• New Home Bonus - Central Bedfordshire Council received £1,120,673 from the New Homes Bonus Scheme for 2011/12. I understand that New Homes Bonus is paid by central government through section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 as an unringfenced grant to local authorities and that they and their communities have the freedom to spend New Homes Bonus revenues according to local wishes. Is Central Beds Council planning to adopt a policy that ensures that communities that accept the inevitable housing growth are rewarded with funding from the scheme to pay for the necessary supporting infrastructure or will the increasing yearly revenues from the scheme be used to plug holes in the authority’s budget?
• New Staff Contracts - With the deadline of 1st October fast approaching for employees of Central Beds Council to accept new contracts of employment, how many staff have not sign those contracts and what contingencies have been put in place post 1st October to ensure services will not be affected

Central Beds Full Council Meeting - Thursday 21st July 2011

• As of June 2011 there were 1308 mobiles and PDA's withing this authority (including 43 councillors) at a monthly cost of £11,000. I'm sure that residents would be astounded at this outlay. Anyway, I appreciate that the provision of mobiles is to be stopped under the Council's cost cutting measures, but why was it ever thought appropriate that this number of mobile devices was ever needed, other than for lone outreach workers?
• It has been claimed in the media recently that bullying of staff is occurring within Central Beds Council. With this in mind, is the anti-bullying policy set out in the authorities Equality and Diversity Policy sufficient or should the authority have a dedicated anti-bullying policy for staff with prescribed for reporting such incidents?