Agenda item

To receive questions from members of the public who wish to ask a general question in respect of matters within the Council’s area of responsibility or influence.

Subject to the Chair’s discretion, members of the public may ask one question and one supplementary question, which should relate to the original question and answer received.

Councillors may also ask questions under this agenda item.

There were two questions from members of the public:

1.    Mr Ashraf asked the Chair to commit to providing documentation to his email address from the second sub-OSMB meeting held on 30 April 2024 and the appendices of the OSMB recommendations of 24 July 2024. Mr Ashraf also asked for documentation to be sent that showed Cabinet had done or where in the process of doing any of the actions from the 22 OSMB Palestine recommendations that had been unanimously passed by the Cabinet. Mr Ashraf asked why there were discrepancies between those, and the letter sent by the Leader to Councillor Steele on 10 September 2024.

The Leader stated that there were no discrepancies. The Leader agreed to provide all publicly available information from the scrutiny meetings and to provide an update on the actions. The Leader was confident that actions were being delivered.

In his supplementary question, Mr Ashraf asked for any and all of the Council’s legal opinions and the sources of those legal opinions in relation to Palestine to be sent to his email address. That included information discussed inside and outside of the Council Chamber and communicated in any format.

The Leader explained that Mr Ashraf should submit a Freedom of Information request in relation to his question.

2.    Mr Azam asked for an update on Dignity. He stated that Councillor Sheppard has missed the last Muslim Bereavement Group meeting. Mr Azam understood that Dignity had given three proposals at the beginning of September, but the community were none the wiser on how the Council was progressing these proposals.  He asked what the latest was and how the matter could be concluded?

Councillor Sheppard explained that it was a long and technical process. The Council continued to have regular talks with Dignity. In relation to burials plots at East Herringthorpe and Wath, Councillor Sheppard stated that progress was being made. There was a lot of work going on behind the scenes and an update would be provided in the near future.

Mr Azam stated that the response was disappointing. The row of earthen graves was now complete. Mr Azam believed that three revised plans had been submitted for the Council to consider as well but there was still no update. The situation over the past two years had left the community feeling blindsided and having to go through processes multiple times. There was no movement forward. This particular matter was first raised in August 2024 as an urgent issue but in November 2024 it was still ongoing. Mr Azam asked the Council to make a decision as it was of the upmost importance and it was frustrating for the Muslim community.

Mr Azam made reference to the Kaushar Tai independent review and stated that a report had been submitted to the Council for consideration. He asked when this would be made visible so that work could be done on the feasibility of the recommendations.

The Council’s Head of Legal Services explained that the draft report had been received by the Council and was with legal services for review. It would be a number of weeks before that review was complete, after which the community would be consulted. The Leader committed to try and share a copy of the report with the Community prior to January 2025 Cabinet meeting.