Agenda and minutes

Before the commencement of business Mr Carter placed on record his thanks on behalf of the County Council to all those from KCC and its partners who had done so much to make the Open Golf Championship held in Sandwich such a success, which in turn had positively promoted the county of Kent on the national and international stage. Mr Carter also placed on record his thanks to those members of staff who had helped with the County Council’s stand at the Kent County Show.

Resolved that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2011 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

– report by Mr John Simmonds– Cabinet Member for Finance and Business Support and Mr Andy Wood, Acting Corporate Director, Finance and Procurement)

(1)       This was the first exception report for 2011-12 and the first report for the new KCC structure. The budget was currently being re-cast to reflect the new portfolio structure and this would be reported in the first full monitoring report to Cabinet in September. The overspend quoted in the report was not unusual, and similar if not larger overspends had appeared at this stage in previous years.

 (2)      Mr Simmonds said the report identified a number of significant pressures that would need to be managed during the year if the Council was to have a balanced revenue position by year end. However the report made clear the commitment of Cabinet and Corporate Management Team to deliver a balanced budget by year end. Mr Simmonds also said that although there would be challenges to be addressed beyond this financial year, a firm focus had to be retained on delivering the 2011/12 budget. 

(3)       Mr Carter said the forecasts in the report showed the vast majority of the £95m savings were on track to be delivered and therefore it was pleasing to note that the first quarter outturn figures were showing such good progress. Mr Carter also that the County Council had received from the Home Office some £500k towards its asylum costs and another £800k was the subject of further discussions.  Mr Wood said that whilst the Adult Services budget was showing a reasonable balance, strong management action would be needed in order to contain the pressures on the budget for Children Services.  There would be an update on Directorate management action plans to Cabinet at its meeting in September.

(4) Cabinet Resolved that:

                                    (a)       the initial forecast revenue and capital budget monitoring position for 2011-12 be noted;

(b)       agreement be given to the uncommitted balance of £2.128m from the 2010-11 under spend being drawn down from the Economic Downturn reserve and allocated to the Families and Social Care Directorate; and,

(c)        agreement be given to £0.534m of savings on the Children’s Centres and Early Years Programme being used to meet the pressures of £0.484m on BSF Wave 3 Unit Costs and £0.050m on Transforming Short breaks for Families with Disabled Children.

– Report by Paul Carter, Leader of the Council and Katherine Kerswell, Managing Director)

(1)       This report presented the final draft of the ‘Bold Steps for Kent’ delivery framework for consideration by Cabinet prior to its submission to the County Council for approval at its meeting on 21 July 2011. 

(2)        Cabinet resolved to:

(a)          note the arrangements for developing the delivery framework for ‘Bold Steps for Kent’. and

(b)          recommend the final draft of the delivery framework for ‘Bold Steps for Kent’ to the County Council for approval at its meeting on 21 July 2011.

– Report by Jenny Whittle, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children's Services, Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Performance & Health Reform and Peter Bole, Director of Information and Communication Technology)

(1)       Mrs Whittle said that following assessment by OfSTED areas for improvement were identified related to the Integrated Children’s System (“ICS”) in use by the Council and partner organisations.  The Council has therefore initiated a wide-ranging programme of activity to address the concerns raised in the OfSTED report and also now to take on board the recommendations in the Monroe Report. The procurement of this updated technology was therefore a top priority and demonstrated the County Council’s ongoing commitment to the improvement of Children’s Services.  

 (2)      Cabinet resolved to endorse the overall ICS Programme and Strategy as detailed in the Cabinet report so that the programme could continue to deliver against the immediate needs of Children’s Services. Also now having put in place a framework for the sustainable delivery of ongoing changes to the ICT system, practice and policies in use by Children’s Service, Cabinet further resolved that a process should now be commenced for the procurement and implementation of a suitable long-term ICT solution.

(Mr B Sweetland made a personal declaration of interest in that he is a non executive Director of Kent Community Health NHS Trust).

(Item 7 – Report by Jenny Whittle, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services and Malcolm Newsam, Interim Corporate Director, Families and Social Care)

(1)       Mrs Whittle said this report sought the agreement of Cabinet to proceed with the joint commissioning of emotional wellbeing and CAMHS (Child and Adult Mental Health Services) services with the Kent and Medway Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and Medway Council. The report also sought agreement to Kent’s contribution to the Integrated Community CAMHS continuing at the full amount of the current CAMHS grant i.e. £2.4 million. The PCTs currently spend £14m and therefore the total amount available is some £16.4m. Mrs Whittle said the proposed partnership reflected best practice and in commending this report to Cabinet she placed on record her thanks to officers for their part in developing this initiative. Mr Gibbens spoke of the importance of getting the right support for these young people in their transition from children to adult services. Ms Peachey spoke of the importance of working with partners in order to achieve getting waiting times down below 18 weeks. Mr Carter spoke of the links between the Performance Management Framework and ‘Bold Steps for Kent;’ and the need for the ongoing monitoring of targets and relevant bench marking so that time lines are reduced both in the short and medium term.

(2)      Cabinet resolved:

(a)           to note the contents of the report and agreed the joint commissioning with the Kent and Medway Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) of an Integrated Community Child and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS);

(b)                         to approve in principle the alignment of the Kent County CAMHS funding and a Partnership Agreement with the PCT for the provision and delivery of CAMHS

(c) to confirm and agree the level of KCCs contribution to the integrated CAMHS should be at the level of the current CAMHS grant of £2.4 m.

(d) to agree as already notified in the Forward Plan to proceed to the procurement stage, in line with the proposed timetable detailed in the Cabinet report.

Report by Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities and Amanda Honey, Managing Director, Customer and Communities (Angela Slaven Director of Service Improvement and       Nigel Baker, Head of Integrated Youth Services were present for this item )

(1)             Mr Hill said this report provided details of a consultation exercise to be undertaken on proposals for the transformation of the Kent Youth Service. He said the proposed changes were not budget driven but did present an opportunity to reform and revitalise the service in the light of current best practice. Mr Hill said although there would be more local delivery through partnership arrangements the Council would retain a robust in house delivery team which would be able to provide expertise and support as these changes progressed. The Council would also retain responsibility for the delivery for schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, outdoor centres and youth participation. Mr Hill said the consultation would be wide ranging and would naturally include young people, including those on the Youth County Council. Mr Hill said he was determined to see at the end of the process a better youth service for Kent which was matched to local needs.

(2)          Mr Baker said the proposed model opened up opportunities for the local delivery of youth services based on the ‘youth hub’ model as described in the consultation document. The consultation would be wide ranging and starting from 1 August 2011 would last for 90 days.   Following the consultation period there would need to be a Cabinet member decision on the way forward and it was envisaged any changes to the service would become operative from September 2012.

(3)         During the course of discussion members of Cabinet raised a number of questions to which officers responded accordingly. Mrs Hohler spoke of the good work which was already going on between KCC with its District partners and others. Mr Lynes spoke of his support for the statement set out in paragraph 2(1) on page 57 of the consultation document and said some less affluent areas may need more support in helping them to provide a local service. He also spoke of the work already under way in Tunbridge Wells to develop a youth hub and to employ a Community Youth Tutor. He also spoke of the development of a Tunbridge Wells Borough Detached Project. Members said they welcomed this consultation and the proposals for a commissioning model with local provision being matched to local needs. 

(4)       Cabinet resolved to endorse the commencement of a 90 day staff and public consultation on the proposals set out in the Cabinet report which contained the details for the transformation of Kent Youth Service from a directly delivered model to one combining commissioning and direct delivery. Following the consultation process, the Service Transformation Proposal would be reworked where required and would be followed by a Cabinet Member decision to proceed with the Service transformation and concurrent restructuring and tendering processes.

– Report by Bryan Sweetland, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste and Paul Crick, Director of Planning and Environment)(Mr Crick and Mr Max Tant, Flood Risk Manager; were present for this item. 

(1)       Mr Sweetland outlined the main points of this report and said up to seventy thousand homes in Kent could be at risk from some form of flooding. However the chance of flooding from a major storm was some 1:200 so although the risks were low this was nonetheless a matter which the County Council took very seriously. Mr Tant said the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment for Kent summarised past flood events and future flooding potential from surface water groundwater and ordinary watercourses in Kent. This was different form the responsibilities of the Environment Agency which was for the assessment of fluvial (main river) and Coastal Flooding.  

(2)       Cabinet resolved:

(a) to approve the submission of the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment for Kent; and ,

            (b) to note the flood risk in Kent that the Council now had a strategic duty to oversee.

– report by Mr Alex King – Deputy Leader and Mr Peter Sass - Head of Democratic Services)

The Chairman declared consideration of Appendix 2 to this report to be urgent as it was not available at the time of the despatch of the main agenda because there was insufficient time following the last meeting of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee for the Cabinet Member responses to be to be formulated and agreed.

 Resolvedthat the comments and actions detailed in the report be noted.