Leader Shabina Qayyum's Column 22 October

Tonight I will attend the first ever Spark Awards, organised by our council to celebrate all those people, community groups and organisations who support and inspire children.

I cannot wait to hear the stories of the winners and those nominated and we will be sharing details of them after the event.

We are reliant on the support of thousands of people across the city to meet that goal – from professionals and frontline staff to volunteers and community champions, including parents and family members too of course. As they say, it takes a whole community to raise a child.

These awards are about celebrating those people, highlighting their good work, and saying thanks.

I look forward to sharing with you the details of the winners when they're announced tonight at the event at The Marriott Hotel - fully funded by sponsorship I might add. On that note, a thank you to our sponsors, Lindum, Morgan Sindall and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

They say that Full Council meetings are the theatre of local government, and we certainly saw that at last week's meeting.

It's good to witness the ambition for our city that we are seeing at these meetings from across the political spectrum, but it is frustrating when some members use that time to grandstand on issues that have already been dealt with elsewhere.