Agenda and minutes

– reportof Mr JohnSimmonds,DeputyLeaderand CabinetMember for Finance& Procurementand Andy Wood,CorporateDirector ofFinance and Procurement).

(1)     Cabinet receiveda reportseeking agreementto proposedchangesto the Council’s TreasuryStrategy, principallyby expandingthe rangeandtypes ofinvestmentwhich could bemade.

(2)     TheLeaderofthe CountyCouncil, MrPaul Carter,reportedthat MrBird, local memberfor MaidstoneCentral had requestedand receivedpermissionto address the meetingon thisitem.  MrBird came to the tableand spoke tothe item.He agreed withthe motivationforchanges statingthat returns on cash investmentswere currently negligibleand on suchsignificantsums ofmoneyas were availableto the councilit wasright thatlong terminvestmentsin higherreturnareaswere sought.  However,he did havesome concernsabout the informationcontainedwithin the report andhe set themout as follows:

(i)      Thatseekinghigher returnswould meanthe acceptance ofhigher risk.  Capital markets,includingequity incomefunds,by design,would fluctuate. Theperformance ofthe FundManagerwould be crucialto managingthis risk and that as such the choiceofmanagerwould be criticalto the success of any amended strategy.He welcomedthe due diligence proposedwithin the recommendationsofthereport.

(ii)     Thatproceduresby whichan opportunityfor investmentwere authorised mustbe open,transparent andproperly recordedand reportedwithout negatingthe co  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

– report of Mr John Simmonds, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement and Andy Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement).

(1)     Cabinet received a report providing the first full quarterly budget monitoring position for 2013-14 for both revenue and capital budgets, including an update on key activity data.

(2)     The Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement reported that the format of the report was changed to focus more clearly on those areas where variations to the budget may be needed or had already occurred and would now be received in this format at every Cabinet meeting.

(3)     The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement introduced the report; in relation to the revenue budget he made the following comments:

(i)        That the first quarter was of particular importance when such significant savings were being sought over the financial year. 

(ii)       That he welcomed the reported underspend for the quarter of £498,000 before any management action had taken place but reminded members that after the deduction of monies ring-fenced for the Social Fund for 2013-14 and 2014-15 there was in fact a pressure of £94,000.

(iii)      With management action planned for the year it was expected that an underspend of £2million would be achieved.

(iv)      That a key management action to be undertaken in Specialist Children’s Services, which currently had an overspend of £4.7million, was a targeted drive to recruit permanent members of staff and reduce reliance on agency staff which would significantly reduce cost and improve services.

(v)       That pressures continued on the Environment, Highways and Waste portfolio budget owing largely to additional monies targeted to ‘find and fix’ potholes caused by the long and severe winter.

(vi)      That a further invoice had been submitted to the Home Office, to a value of £2.2million for cost incurred as a result of the UK Border Agency delays in deporting young people not granted leave to remain but he remained cautious about the probability of receiving payment.

(vii)    That the government had awarded £4.5million of additional funding for various activities and that he proposed to allocate £2million of this to the reserves to protect against the possibility of further cuts to funding in the future. 

(viii)   That SEN transport continued to show an overspend of £1.3million partially offset by underspends in Home to School transport and 16+ transport.

(ix)      That the Freedom pass scheme continued to be popular but that in light of an £800,000 overspend recorded last year a review would be needed in order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme.

(x)       That the adverse weather conditions experienced last winter had increased spending by £400,000 and that a particularly harsh winter in 2013-14 would put enormous pressure on the budget even considering the provisions that had been put in place.

(4)     In relation to the Capital budget the Cabinet member continued as follows:

(i)        That the current working Capital budget was £319 million with a forecast outturn of £306 million.  Various variances had occurred but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

– report of the Leader and Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Audit and Performance, Mr Paul Carter and Corporate Director for Business Strategy and Support, David Cockburn)

(1)     Cabinet receiveda reportdetailingperformance inkey areasduring thefirst quarter of the financial year.

(2)     TheLeaderand CabinetMemberforBusinessStrategy, Audit& Transformation,Mr Paul Carter,introducedthe reportfor membersand requestedthatRichard Fitzgerald,Performance ManagerBSS, spoke todraw attentionto anyareas of particular relevanceand anynew informationnow detailedin thedashboard.  He drew attentionto the followinginformation:

(i)     Thattherewas significantnew content asa resultofrequests fromboth Cabinet and CabinetCommittees.Thisincludedinformationon:

•     Customerexperience and feedbackinformation includingGov metric data(covering the websiteand ‘ContactKent’feedback)and also informationon feedbackfromchildrenincare.

•     The‘Troubled Families’programme

•     TheKentSupportand AssistanceService.

•     Publichealthindicatorswere nowalso includedfollowingthe transferof dutiesfromthe NHS.

(ii)   Currentlythere werethreered indicatorsreported.Thesewere:

•        SocialWorkervacancies– previouslydiscussed [seeminute20]

•        Health checks –therehad been an expectationofsomedisruption following the handoverfromthe NHSto thelocalauthority.Invites for healthchecks had been distributedand itwas expectedthat performance incompletion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

– reportof the CabinetMember forEducationand HealthReform, MrRoger Gough,and CorporateDirector forEducation,LearningandSkills, PatrickLeeson)

(1)       Cabinet received a reportproviding an updateon theunvalidated2013 GSCEresults forKent.TheCabinetmemberfor Educationand HealthReformintroducedthe item. In particularhe drewthe attentionofCabinetto thefollowing informationcontained withinit:

(i)     Thatthe resultswere not yetfully validatedand had not been subjectto nationalcomparison,an exercisethat the Departmentfor Educationwould undertakeindue course.

(ii)   Howeverit wasclear that the figuresprovided strong,positiveindicators of improved performance.  Inparticular pupilsgradedA* - Cand abovewas set to have increasedby 4% to 65%, anupward trendthat wasunlikelyto be matchednationallywhereit waspredictedthat therewould be areductionin thenumberofpupils whoachievedthese grades.

(iii)          In addition,andnot includedwithin the report,early indications suggestedthat performance atKS1 and KS2 wouldalsobestrong.

(2)     Mr Goughthanked allofthose involved inthe deliveryof suchexcellent results.

(3)     TheCorporateDirectorofEducation,Learningand Skills, PatrickLeeson spoketo the item.He confirmed,as reported,that 65% ofpupilsattainingA* - C.when verified wouldbe the best resultsthat had everbe  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

– report of the Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services, Mrs Jenny Whittle, and Corporate Director for Families and Social Care, Andrew Ireland)

(1)     Cabinet receiveda reportsetting out the successfulprogress inthe deliveryof safeguardingservices to childrenin Kentby KCCand its partners.It includedan overviewof progresssince the criticalOfsted inspectionreportin 2010 and the subsequent impositionofan Improvement Noticeby summarisingthe positive outcomes ofall foursubsequentOfstedinspectionsandthe further stepsbeing taken to buildon thisprogress.

(2)     TheCabinetMemberforSpecialistChildren’s Services,Mrs JennyWhittleintroduced the report.She reported that Ofstedhad inspectedthe key areas ofsafeguarding, childrenin careand fosteringand adoptionin 2010 and had been criticalof performance.She remindedmembersofthescale ofthe workundertakenat Kent, beingthe second largestChildren’s Servicesdepartmentin the Country.It offered supportto 1600 childrenin care,approximately200 unaccompaniedminors anda significant numberofcareleavers and childrenplacedin Kent byotherlocal authorities.She drewthe attentionofmembersto the followingphases of achievementsince 2010:

(i)     Crisismanagementand the requirementto respondto the needs ofsome very vulnerablechildrenquickly

(ii)  Stabilising, consolidatingand buildingthe serviceto the levelrequired

(iii)          Improvementto transformation– t  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.