Ethan, Year 6,  asked the following question:

‘What will the council do to decrease the amount of drugs and cigarettes being used?’

The Principal Member for Public Health and Communications explained that the council had two workers who did lots of work in schools and young clubs to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs and alcohol.  They also worked with young people who took drugs or drank alcohol, to help them give up. Last month the council launched its Resilience programme. The council had a contract with an organisation called Cranstoun who worked with adults from a base in Reform Road to help with addictions.

To use money in the best way, the council had decided to focus its stop smoking service on particular groups would benefit most: young people and their parents and carers, pregnant women, people with mental health issues and people with really complex medical problems who had been identified by their doctor. The stop smoking service worked with young people and their parents and carers to help them to stop smoking.  Earlier that day the council had piloted a play at Woodlands Park Primary School which was all about the harmful effects of smoking.  The council wanted to roll it out to other schools including Riverside.  The council also had trained a Youth Worker specifically in stop smoking services.

Ethan, Year 6,  asked the following question:

‘Can the council build houses / apartments for temporary use by homeless people until they find a job?’

The Chairman responded that there was a lot of debate at the moment about building houses. The council tried to help homeless people in different ways. The council owned a building that provided emergency shelter that was open all year round. For people who had a job that was not well paid, the council had schemes in conjunction with Housing Associations whereby people could own part of the house and pay rent on the rest of the balance. Over a period of time they would get to own their own house. The council also had a number of flats that it rented out at an affordable level for people on a lower income. The council did not directly build houses but worked with planners and local builders to plan for where houses were to be built . Hopefully this would help avoid people becoming homeless.

Skylar, Year 6, asked the following question:

‘Can the council decrease the price of taxes  and / or increase wages for families in Maidenhead?’

The Lead Member for Finance explained that almost all taxes paid by people in the area were set by central government and therefore the council had no control. However the council did collect council tax and fees for various services such as parking and marriage licences. It was a matter of clear policy to ensure the amounts charged were as low as possible. Although council tax had increased somewhat this year, over the last 8 or 9 years the amount paid by residents had reduced by 30% in real terms. It was also a determined policy of the council to seek to promote as much as possible the regeneration of the area, in particular the Maidenhead town centre which had become depressed and tired over the last few decades. The council was investing substantial sums of money to ensure the regeneration of Maidenhead and to some extent also Windsor and Ascot. As commercial businesses were more successful, there would be more opportunities to employ people and a greater opportunity for higher wages. The council could not tell companies to pay more but could create the right economic environment to help them.

Skylar, Year 6, asked the following question:

‘I have really benefitted from the speech and language resource at Riverside Primary. How will the council make sure it is still here in the future for other children to benefit from?’

The Lead Member for Children’s Services responded that she would discuss the issue with the Director of Children’s Services and the Headteacher to ensure the all children who needed support received it. She would either send Skylar a letter or come and speak to her at the school when she had a full answer.