Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2006 were agreed as a true record.

(Report by Mr Nick Chard, Cabinet Member for Finance, and Lynda McMullan, Director of Finance and Managing Directors)

(1)       This Exception Report, based upon returns from Directorates, highlighted the main movements since the report to Cabinet in December.

(2)       Mr Carter said that the position regarding asylum payments remained unresolved and the County Council would now be seeking to lobby the government collectively on this issue with other Local Authorities in a similar position.  Mr Chard said that the asylum issue for KCC was significant and emphasised the importance of the County Council doing all it could to recoup from government its legitimate costs.  Overall, the pressure on the budget was reducing through effective management action being taken by officers and asylum costs notwithstanding, Mr Chard was expecting the budget to break even by year end.  Both Mr Gilroy and Mr Badman said that the pressure being created on the County Council’s budget because of the asylum issue was significant and there would be a growing pressure on services as the volume of young people seeking asylum continues to grow.

(3)       Cabinet noted the latest forecast Revenue and Budget Monitoring position for 2006/07.

(Report by Mr Kevin Lynes, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Mr Oliver Mils, Managing Director for Adult Services)

(1)       Mr Lynes said that this project was being procured in partnership with 10 District Council authorities and would result in the provision of up to 352 new homes for vulnerable people in Kent.  The project would deliver against the County Council’s strategic objectives to modernise Adult Services by providing innovative housing schemes which helped people to live independently with care delivered in a flexible way as and when individuals needed it.

(2)       Following discussion Cabinet agreed:-

(i)         delegated authority be granted to the Managing Director for Adult Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services to approve the signing of the contract documentation including the project agreement to enable it to be come operational;

(ii)        delegated authority be granted to the Managing Director for Adult Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services to approve the signing of the Back To Back Agreement to share the risks and benefits of the project with the County Council’s District partners;  and

(iii)       approval be given to the use of the designated sites for the project.

(Report by Mr Kevin Lynes, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Mr Oliver Mills, Managing Director for Adult Services)

(1)       This report outlined the findings of the inspection undertaken by the Commission for Social Care into the performance of Kent’s Adult Services Directorates over the past year.  KCC had retained its three star rating for the fifth year making it one of only four authorities who had retained their 3 star rating since the inspection process had started.  Mr Lynes said that this was directly down to all members of staff in the Adult Services Directorate and he congratulated them on their achievement.  The challenge now was to maintain this level of performance against a background of increasing pressure on the Adult Social Care budget.

(2)       Mr Mills said that whilst the report was excellent news for KCC and Adult Services it did highlight some areas for improvement and he gave details of how it was proposed to deal with those.

(3)       Cabinet noted the report and the Record of Performance Assessment for Adult Social Care for 2005/06 and the star rating letter.  Cabinet also placed on record its congratulations to all staff in the Adult Services Directorate on the achievement of retaining a three star rating for the fifth year in succession.

(Report by Dr Tony Robinson, Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services, Mr Graham Badman, Managing Director, Children, Families and Education and Trish Dabrowski, Head of Joint Planning and Development, (Children and Young People’s Service), Eastern and Coastal PCT, Kent)

(Trish Dabrowski and Joanna Wainwright were present for this item)

(1)       Dr Robinson said that this report reflected the shared concern of the responsible agencies and their commitment to a joint commissioning approach to helping the one in ten young people who have mental health difficulties.  The strategy would be the subject of wide consultation amongst key stakeholders prior to its implementation.  Trish Dabrowski said that the main thrust of the Strategy was to integrate and provide a framework for reform in the way that services are delivered.  This would provide opportunities to use and manage resources more wisely and allow for improved commissioning of services to meet the identified needs of children and young people.  Mr Badman said that he was confident the strategy would work and address previous concerns about the use and management of resources in dealing with young people with mental health problems.  Joanna Wainwright highlighted the eight key objectives of the strategy which are aimed at providing timely and effective support to children and young people who are experiencing mental health problems.  Amanda Honey said she welcomed the Strategy as it would also have an impact on helping to reduce the number of young people entering the Criminal Justice System with mental health problems.

(2)       Following further discussion, Cabinet agreed:-

(i)         that the Commissioning recommendations within the Strategy be agreed;

(ii)        a joint investment programme be determined and implemented following detailed service and financial analysis; and

(iii)       that the Strategy be distributed across key stakeholders for consultation prior to implementation.

(Item 6 –Report by Mr Peter Gilroy, Chief Executive)

(1)       This report summarised the outcomes from the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee held on 13 December 2006 and also detailed the overall work programme for Select Committee Topic Reviews as agreed by the Policy Overview Committee.