Agenda item

6.1

Urgent Business

There were no questions relating to urgent business under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.6(ii).

6.2

South Yorkshire Joint and Combined Authorities

6.2.1

The Lord Mayor (Councillor Colin Ross) reported that Councillor Douglas Johnson had given advance notice of three questions relating to the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority and Councillor Ian Horner had given advance notice of two questions relating to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.  Their questions concerned moorland burning and bus services, respectively. The advance notice of the questions had enabled Councillor Tony Damms, the Council’s Spokesperson on the Fire and Rescue Authority, and Councillor Tom Hunt, the Council’s representative on the Mayoral Combined Authority, to provide written answers, and copies of the questions and responses had been circulated at the meeting and published on the Council’s website.

6.2.2

Councillor Damms stated that although the document circulated at the meeting indicated that a written answer will be provided, he had now provided an answer to Councillor Johnson and would ensure that the answer would be published on the Council’s website.  He added that the Chief Fire Officer had confirmed that there was no legal requirement for the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority to be consulted in relation to any planned moorland burning.  Councillor Johnson thanked Councillor Damms for the answers which he had provided to him and for his years of service on the Fire and Rescue Authority, including in the role as the Council’s Spokesperson.  He added that the answer from the Chief Fire Officer had confirmed that the Service had not been consulted about moorland burning and he stated that the relevance of this was the extent to which land managers were complying with the code of good practice when burning areas of moorland.

6.2.3

Councillor Ian Horner, as a supplementary question, asked whether the additional funds for public transport which had recently been provided by the Government would be used to reverse the recent cuts made to local bus services.  In response, Councillor Tom Hunt stated that whilst he welcomed the additional funding recently provided by the Government for public transport in the region, this was in the context of many years of government underfunding for those services.  He added that it would be for the Mayoral Combined Authority to consider how best to utilise the additional funding received for public transport in the region.

6.2.4

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

6.3

Written Questions

A schedule of questions to Chairs of Policy Committees, 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 Policy Committee Chairs.