Tonight's cabinet meeting was quicker than usual. I understand one of the administration wanted to watch a football game on TV!
As usual there were lots of interesting topics but one I thought was very important...
Advice Services:
The Council spends lot of money in many forms to provide advice to residents. On a related matter there has not been a CAB (Citizen Advice Bureau) in Ealing sadly. The Council tonight agreed to spend £200,000 on providing advice services (financial, housing etc) and reviewing a lot of the current advice services that they and other bodies offer in the borough.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Harvey Rose has been active for a number of years in trying to get a CAB based in Ealing. This is a partial move to something like this. I spoke on this item and raised the matter that it crucial that Ealing Council ensures that it is clear as to what advice is needs to provide and then refers people to other bodies if they cannot be helped via the Council.
Also I said that most people know what the CAB does, as it has a great brand, even if they have never used their services. So it is crucial that Ealing Council still tries to have an CAB in Ealing, whether it be a shared operation, as it will be so clear as to what services they offer.
In reply to a question from me the Council officer said that three neighbouring CAB branches might wish to bid to run the services for Ealing. Time will tell.
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