Agenda and minutes

The Head of Democratic Services reported apologies from Mr D Baker, Mr P Harman, Mr M Heale, Mrs E Rowbotham and Mr N Thandi. 

(1)          Mr G Cowan declared an interest in that both he and his wife were foster carers for Kent County Council.

(2)          Mr M Baldock declared that he had recently purchased 10 Wises Lane, Sittingbourne and would amend his recorded Disclosable Pecuniary Interests accordingly.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2014 be approved as a correct record.

(a)                  Reduction in the voting age

The Chairman informed the Council that he had received an acknowledgement on behalf of the Prime Minister to his letter setting out the motion passed at the last County Council meeting on reducing the voting age.  He undertook to inform Members when he received a full response. 

(b)                  Office Visits

The Chairman stated that following the refurbishment to the first floor of Invicta House he and the Vice-Chairman had visited the teams.  They both enjoyed the visit immensely and were now planning to visit many teams and offices across the County.

Ms Birch, the Registration and Nationality Manager, had shown them around Archbishop’s Palace and he had been surprised to see so many different teams working within the building.  Ms Birch would also be showing him around the register repository in Tunbridge Wells in January. The Vice-Chairman had also visited Brenchley House with Mr Gibbens at the beginning of this week, to see the work being carried out by the social care teams.

The Chairman had found these visits interesting and informative and planned many more for the New Year.  He encouraged as many Members as possible to visit the different teams and various staff working across the County to see the fantastic services and frontline support that the County Council was delivering.

(c)                  Royal Mail’s Delivery Office Visit

The Chairman stated that he had visited Royal Mail’s Delivery Office in Maidstone to pass on Christmas wishes and encouragement during their busiest time of the year.  He had been shown around the office by Delivery Office Manager, Steve Nelson.  He had been pleased to meet many of the post office staff who went out in all weathers, and to see first-hand the effort put into delivering for the people and businesses of Kent during the run-up to Christmas.

(d)                  Royal Visits

The Chairman made the Council aware that there had been the following 10 Royal Visits to the County in the last six months:

HRH Duke of Kent – 3

HRH The Princess Royal – 2

HRH Duchess of Cornwall – 1

HRH Prince Henry of Wales– 1

HRH Duke of Gloucester – 2

HRH The Countess of Wessex – 1

(e)                  Variation of order of agenda items

The Chairman stated that in order to facilitate the more effective conduct of today’s business he proposed to swap the order of items 7 & 8 on the agenda and he drew Members’ attention to the version of the Outcomes Framework circulated separately.

(f)                   Eynsford Concert Band

The Chairman was pleased to announce that the Eynsford Concert Band had won the 2014 National Concert Band Symposium in a competition featuring some of the finest wind ensembles in the country. The band was celebrating forty years since its foundation.  It attracted players from all over the south east, worked to support instrumental music particularly amongst Kent young people, and raised substantial funds for charity each year.   

He had attended a spectacular concert at the Pamoja Hall, Sevenoaks staged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 1.17(4), eight questions were asked and replies given, these are attached as an appendix to the minutes. Questions 9 and 10 were not asked because the time limit for this item had been reached.

(1)          The Leader updated the County Council on events since the previous meeting.

(2)          Mr Carter referred to the announcement in the Autumn Statement that the government would commit £17m of capital funding for flood defences around Tonbridge and Yalding.  He stated that he had always made it absolutely clear that Kent County Council would underwrite the match funding from government, and had been consistent in expressing the expectation that this would include support through parish councils, borough councils, European funding and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). A Flood Funding Forum had been established to work with partners at parish and borough level, and with the business communities to help fund the £17m.

(3)          Mr Carter confirmed that there had also been plans for a LEP Round 2 Growth Fund bid for an additional £2.4m to help support the flood defence funding shortfall.   In addition the Environment Agency was pursuing the next European funding round to see whether it was possible to attract, with partners in Europe, a substantial sum of money for these flood defences.

(4)          Mr Carter expressed disappointment that, in the Autumn Statement, the government had postponed the LEP Round 2 Growth Fund. A significant amount of work had been carried out by business colleagues, officers and district and borough colleagues to produce a package of schemes for the LEP Growth Fund Round 2.  He had written to Greg Clark MP expressing disappointment about this delay. He referred to the £15bn capital that had been passported to the Highways Agency to build tunnels under Stonehenge. He expressed the view that this funding could have been used to empower localism through local government and significant business partners.

(5)          Mr Carter referred to the good progress being made in delivering “Facing the Challenge” and in producing the medium term financial plan which set out creative and innovative ways of making £12m of saving without impeding delivery or cutting any front line service.  The medium term financial plan would be shared through the cabinet committees in January 2015.

(6)          Mr Carter referred to the identification of £400-500k to retain around 70 community wardens.  He also mentioned the work of Newton Europe on their risk and reward contract on re-engineering adult social services and on their work to deliver greater efficiencies in children’s and preventative children’s services’.

(7)       Mr Carter stated that he had met with potential providers of back office functions.  In the New Year there would important decisions to be taken on commissioning these services. He referred to the valuable work being undertaken by the Commissioning Advisory Board to ensure that the very best providers either in-house or external were commissioned.

(8)       Mr Latchford, the Leader of the Opposition, expressed disappointment at Thanet District and Kent County Council’s decisions regarding Manston Airport and the impact on job opportunities in Kent.

(9)       Mr Latchford congratulated the Cabinet Member for Community Services on his decision regarding community wardens following the public consultation and referred to the motion for time limited debate later  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

(1)          Mr Carter moved and Mr Simmonds seconded the following recommendation as set out on page 53 in the report:

“The County Council is asked to agree the following:

·         The draft Corporate Outcomes Framework at Appendix 1 is approved for consultation.”

(2)          Following a debate the Chairman put the motion set out in paragraph (1) above to the vote and the votes cast were as follows:

For (67)

Mrs A Allen, Mr M Angell, Mr M Baldock, Mr M Balfour, Mr R Bird, Mr H Birkby, Mr N Bond, Mr A Bowles, Mr D Brazier, Mr R Brookbank, Mr L Burgess, Miss S Carey, Mr P Carter, Mr N Chard, Mr I Chittenden, Mr B Clark, Mrs P Cole, Mr G Cooke, Mrs M Crabtree, Mr A Crowther, Mrs V Dagger, Mr D Daley, Mr M Dance, Mr J Davies, Mr J Elenor, Mrs M Elenor, Mr T Gates, Mr G Gibbens, Mr R Gough, Mr M Harrison, Mr M Hill, Mr C Hoare, Mrs S Hohler, Mr S Holden, Mr P Homewood, Mr E Hotson, Mr A King, Mr J Kite, Mr G Koowaree, Mr R Latchford, Mr R Long, Mr G Lymer, Mr B MacDowall, Mr S Manion, Mr A Marsh, Mr F McKenna, Mr B Neaves, Mr M Northey, Mr P Oakford, Mr J Ozog, Mr R Parry, Mr C Pearman, Mr L Ridings, Mr J Scholes, Mr T Shonk, Mr C Simkins, Mr J Simmonds, Mr C Smith, Mrs P Stockell, Mr B Sweetland, Mr A Terry, Mr M Vye, Mr J Wedgbury, Mrs J Whittle, Mr M Whybrow, Mr A Wickham, Mrs Z Wiltshire.

Against (11)

Mrs P Brivio, Mr C Caller, Mr G Cowan, Ms J Cribbon, Dr M Eddy, Ms A Harrison, Ms S Howes, Mr T Maddison, Mr W Scobie, Mr D Smyth, Mr R Truelove.

Abstain (0)

Motion carried

(3)          RESOLVED that the draft Corporate Outcomes Framework at Appendix 1 to the report be approved for consultation.

(1)          Mr Carter moved and Mr Simmonds seconded the following recommendations as set out on page 27 of the report:

“The County Council is asked to agree the following:

·         The Commissioning Framework in Appendix 1 is adopted by the County Council and becomes part of the Council’s Policy Framework;

·         The principles proposed within the Framework are taken forward and embedded across KCC by Directorates and Change Portfolios as appropriate.”

(2)          Following a debate the Chairman put the motion set out in paragraph (1) above to the vote and the votes cast were as follows:

For (51)

Mrs A Allen, Mr M Angell, Mr M Balfour, Mr A Bowles, Mr D Brazier, Miss S Carey, Mr P Carter, Mr N Chard, Mr I Chittenden, Mr B Clark, Mrs P Cole, Mr G Cooke, Mrs M Crabtree, Mrs V Dagger, Mr D Daley, Mr M Dance, Mr J Davies, Mrs M Elenor, Mr T Gates, Mr G Gibbens, Mr R Gough, Mr M Harrison, Mr M Hill, Mrs S Hohler, Mr S Holden, Mr P Homewood, Mr E Hotson, Mr A King, Mr J Kite, Mr G Koowaree, Mr R Long, Mr G Lymer, Mr S Manion, Mr A Marsh, Mr M Northey, Mr P Oakford, Mr J Ozog, Mr R Parry, Mr C Pearman, Mr L Ridings, Mr J Scholes, Mr C Simkins, Mr J Simmonds, Mr C Smith, Mrs P Stockell, Mr B Sweetland, Mr M Vye, Mr J Wedgbury, Mrs J Whittle, Mr A Wickham, Mrs Z Wiltshire.

Against (17)

Mr M Baldock, Mr N Bond, Mrs P Brivio, Mr L Burgess, Mr C Caller, Mr G Cowan, Ms J Cribbon, Dr M Eddy, Ms A Harrison, Ms S Howes, Mr B MacDowall, Mr F McKenna, Mr T Maddison, Mr W Scobie, Mr T Shonk, Mr D Smyth, Mr R Truelove.

Abstain (7)

Mr H Birkby, Mr A Crowther, Mr J Elenor, Mr C Hoare, Mr R Latchford, Mr B Neaves, Mr A Terry,

Motion carried

(3)          RESOLVED that:

a)            the Commissioning Framework in Appendix 1 be adopted by the County Council and becomes part of the Council’s Policy Framework;

b)                  the principles proposed within the Framework be taken forward and embedded across KCC by Directorates and Change Portfolios as appropriate.

Community Wardens

To be proposed by Mr Baldock and seconded by Mr Burgess 

“This Council applauds the sterling work of our Community Wardens, and recognises the huge benefits that they bring to the communities that they serve. This Council further acknowledges that the social value they bring to those communities far outweighs the financial costs to the County Council. Consequently, we believe Kent County Council should continue to champion this scheme, publicise its achievements, and consider ways of promoting the concept to other councils. 

To this end, this Council pledges its full support to our team of Community Wardens, and will ensure that they continue to be able to provide such a constructive role in our communities.”

(1)          Mr Baldock moved and Mr Burgess seconded the following motion:

“This Council applauds the sterling work of our community wardens, and recognises the huge benefits that they bring to the communities that they serve. This Council further acknowledges that the social value they bring to those communities far outweighs the financial costs to the County Council. Consequently, we believe Kent County Council should continue to champion this scheme, publicise its achievements, and consider ways of promoting the concept to other councils. 

To this end, this Council pledges its full support to our team of community wardens, and will ensure that they continue to be able to provide such a constructive role in our communities.”

(2)          Mr Hill moved and Mrs Hohler seconded the followed amended motion.

“This Council applauds the sterling work of our community wardens, and recognises the huge benefits that they bring to the communities that they serve. This Council further acknowledges that the social value they bring to those communities far outweighs the financial costs to the County Council. Consequently, we believe Kent County Council should continue to champion this scheme, publicise its achievements, and consider ways of promoting the concept to other councils.

To this end, this Council pledges its full support to our team of community wardens, and welcomes the Administration’s proposals which will ensure that they continue to be able to provide such a constructive role in our communities.”

(3)          The amendment was accepted by the proposer and seconder of the original motion without the need for a vote, and the County Council then debated the substantive motion as set out in paragraph (2) above.

(4)          The procedural motion “that the question be put” was moved and duly seconded by Members who had not spoken in the debate.  This procedural motion was agreed without a recorded vote.

(5)          The Chairman put the substantive motion as set out in paragraph 2 above which was agreed without a recorded vote.

(6)          RESOLVED that this Council applauds the sterling work of our Community Wardens, and recognises the huge benefits that they bring to the communities that they serve. This Council further acknowledges that the social value they bring to those communities far outweighs the financial costs to the County Council. Consequently, we believe Kent County Council should continue to champion this scheme, publicise its achievements, and consider ways of promoting the concept to other councils.

To this end, this Council pledges its full support to our team of community wardens, and welcomes the Administration’s proposals, which will ensure that they continue to be able to provide such a constructive role in our communities.