Agenda item

4.1

Urgent Business

4.1.1

With the permission of the Lord Mayor (Councillor Magid Magid), Councillor Paul Scriven asked the Leader of the Council (Councillor Julie Dore) the following question relating to urgent business, under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.6(ii):-

“In light of the issues that have emerged at Welcome to Yorkshire over the last 24 hours of over £40,000 of expenses having been falsely claimed and internal investigations having been set up and West Yorkshire Police now looking into possible criminal offences, will the Council suspend its £50,000 membership fees until such time as West Yorkshire Police and the internal investigations have been completed to ensure that Sheffield council tax payers’ money is safe?”

4.1.2

In response, Councillor Dore stated that the Council had not yet paid its membership fee for the coming year, and payment of the membership fee would be withheld until the Authority was satisfied that it was appropriate to do so.  She added that the issues that had recently emerged were allegations and that there was an investigation ongoing.  The Council had been alerted to the matter, and the Chief Executive had written to Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) asking for assurance that the funding provided by the Council had been used appropriately.  The payment of the fees now due would be withheld pending receipt of a satisfactory response from WTY.

4.2

Written Questions

A schedule of questions to Cabinet Members, submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 16, and which contained written answers, was circulated.  Supplementary questions, under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.4, were asked and were answered by the appropriate Cabinet Members.

4.3

South Yorkshire Joint Authorities

There were no questions relating to the discharge of the functions of the South Yorkshire Joint Authorities for Fire and Rescue or Pensions, under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.6(i).