Issue - meetings

Questions by the Public

 

 

Meeting: 16/09/2013 - City Council (Item 44)

QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

To receive questions from and provide answers to the public in relation to matters which are about something the council is responsible for or something that directly affects people in the city, in accordance with Part B, paragraph 11 of the Constitution.

 

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Civic Centre, Plymouth, PL1 2AA, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five complete working days before the meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Four questions had been received from members of the public in relation to matters which, in the opinion of the Lord Mayor, were relevant to the business of the meeting in accordance with paragraph 10 of the constitution.

 

Mr Williams (Q8) attended the meeting and Councillor Lowry responded as set out below -

 

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q8/13-14

Mr J Williams

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Councillor Peter Smith (Deputy Leader)

 

Liability Order Court Summons

 

Please breakdown the Authority’s costs for summoning a Council Tax payer to a Liability Order Court hearing between: -

1.    Court charges

2.    Printing

3.    Postage

4.    Staff salaries

5.    Other costs. 

 

What is the Authority’s reaction to the Parliamentary Answer by Bridget Prentice in 2009 that the cost of issuing a liability order was £3?

 

Response:

 

The £3 charge referred to by Bridget Prentice relates to the cost levied to local authorities by the court for the issue of a Liability Order. This is just one element of cost of a process that involves a lot of staff time and resource over several months.

 

We do not break down our costs to the level of detail as requested in this question however, we can confirm that the biggest element of this cost is staff time.

 

Other than the standard issuing of bills, reminders and final notices, significant staff time is spent in preparing the evidence required for liability orders. Staff resource also has to be present in court to manage legal and customer queries on the day. Post court, further work is needed to finalise the process and request attachments to benefits or earnings.

 

Liability Orders are a tool of last resort for the council. We continue to prioritise and focus on proactively working with our residents to better manage their finances and ensure that individuals access all of the benefits to which they are entitled to. 

 

PCC benchmarks against the CIPFA Group of 80 local authority members which demonstrates that our costs are reasonable, being lower than average. Our liability order costs of £83 compares to the average of £88 (CIPFA group average for 2012/13)

 

I entirely appreciate the nature of this question, and am equally mindful that increasing cost unnecessarily goes against our principles as a caring council, therefore I can assure the gentleman that I shall look further into this matter to ensure our costs are kept to a minimum and will personally feedback my findings.

 

In the absence of Mr Gomery (Q9), a written response would be sent to him as set out below -

 

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q9/13-14

Mr S Gomery

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Co-operatives and Communities)

Councillor Williams (Children and Young People)

Impact of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme on families

 

The Joseph Rowntree Trust, describes Plymouth’s Council tax reduction scheme as among the harshest in the country in its impact on people on the lowest incomes.  This includes thousands of families  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44