Agenda and minutes

To receive notification of apologies and substitutions

No apologies were received but Cabinet noted that Mrs Whittle had stepped down from the role of Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services and was replaced by Mr Oakford.  The Leader welcomed Mr Oakford to his first meeting of Cabinet.

No declarations were received.

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 April 2014 were agreed and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

To receive a report of the Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Finance seeking agreement to proposed changes to the Treasury Strategy.

–  report  of  the  Deputy  Leader  and  Cabinet  Member  for  Finance  and Procurement,Mr Simmondsand theCorporateDirector forFinance,AndyWood)

(1)   Cabinet  received  a  report  seeking  agreement  to  revisions  to  the  Council’s TreasuryStrategy. TheDeputyLeader,Mr Simmonds,introducedthe report.

(2)   Heconfirmedthat theCounty Council hadapproved theTreasuryManagement Strategy in February2014but,owing to thechanging natureofthe economic climate,amendments werenow desirablewhich Cabinetwere authorisedto make.    Thesuggestedchangeshadbeenconsideredby thead-hocall-party group onTreasuryManagementand werein linewith the relevantcode of practice forsuch matters.

(3)   Cabinetheardthatthechangeswere necessaryas aresultofdevelopments sinceFebruary,these were:

i.    Thechanged attitudeofGovernmentsto ‘bailingout’ banksthathad experienced financialdifficultyhad increasedthe levelof riskborne by investors.

ii.       TherequirementoftheStrategythat noonebankbeinvestedin beyond £40  million  was  increasingly  difficult  to  manage  owing  to  the  limited numberofappropriatebanks thathadbeenfurtherreducedby thedown rating of RBSandNatWesttoa level thatwas notacceptableto KCC.  In addition,depositratesremainedpoor atthosebankswith whichKCC couldinvest.

(4)   Finally,Mr Simmondsreported thatwhere successhadbeenachievedin new assetclasses suchas‘covered bonds’ returnswere restricted bythe initial limitationson investmentset out inFebruary.

(5)   HeadofFinancialS  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

To receive a report of the Cabinet Member for Economic Development seeking approval of actions relating to the Select Committee on Kent’s relationship with the EU.

– reportof the CabinetMember forEconomic Development,Mark Dance and Directorof EconomicDevelopment, BarbaraCooper)

(1)     Cabinet receiveda reportcontainingthe ExecutiveAction Plan(Annex1) summarisingthe key actionsproposedto progressthe recommendationsofthe EUSelect Committeeon Kent’sEuropeanRelationship.

(2)     Mr Dance,Cabinet MemberforEconomicDevelopmentintroducedthe report and inparticular referredto the following:

i.        Thatit waswelcomed that recommendationsofthe Committeewere coterminouswith workcurrently beingundertakenin theDirectorate.

ii.       Thatwork continuedwithpartnersin Nord-Pasde Calaisand a MemorandumofUnderstandinghadnow been signedbetweenKCC and WestFlanders,both reflected thefact that similarissues were beingaddressedon the Continentand inKent.

iii.               In relation to the HarledotCentre,mentionedwithin the Select Committee’srecommendations;an optionspaperwas beingproduced and wouldbe readyin thenext month.

iv.      TheCouncilwas at theearly stagesofa sixyearEU fundingbidding processand followingdefinedguidanceto beissued wouldbe well placetomake bidsthat wouldhopefullysecurerelevant moniesthat wouldbenefitthe residentsofKent.

(3)  Ron Moys,Head ofInternational Affairsat KCC,spoke to the item.He added to the comments receivedfromMr Dancein relationto thebiddingprocessof whichHardelotwas part.  He confirm  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

To receive a report of the Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Finance providing the latest financial outturn position for 2013-14.

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

(1)     Cabinet receiveda reportdetailingthe provisionaloutturnfor2013– 14provided fromtheaccountingsystem and expected tobe very closeto thefinaloutturn. Anyamendments wouldbe asa result ofinternal managementreviews and externalauditfindingsand finalisationoftheAsylum position.Thefinaloutturn reportwould be presentedto Cabineton 7 July.

(2)     TheDeputyLeaderand CabinetMemberfor Financeand Procurement introducedthe reportto Cabinet.He referredto the followingin relationto the revenuebudget:

i.        Thattheunderspendwas likelyto be £4.3m afterrephasingand managementaction.He proposedthat this moneywould be allocated to the uncommittedreserves.

ii.       Thatdeliveryof £175msavings inthe previoustwo yearsfollowed bya further75 millionin thelast yeardespitethe unexpectedcosts ofissues such asfloodingand potholedamagerepresenteda greateffortby Portfolioholdersand officers.

(3)     In relation to the CapitalBudget:

i.        Thatthe workingbudget wasreportedat £256millionwith anexpected actualspend of £203mowing to rephasing ofprojects.

(4)     Any Woodconfirmedthat the fulldraftaccounts wouldbe submittedto theexternal auditorsat theend of the weekand the auditwould be completedbeforethe accounts wereapprovedby the Governa  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

To receive a report of the Leader & Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Audit and Transformation setting out the Quarterly Performance Report for Quarter 4 of  2013-14.

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

(1)       Cabinet received a report detailing the key areas of performance for the authority.

(2)       Richard Fitzgerald, Performance Manager, was in attendance and spoke to the item.  He reported the following for articular consideration:

a.         That the report referred to Quarter 4 of the 2013-14 council year and also included a Strategic Risk Register update

b.         That 19 indicators were currently registered as ‘Green’ and overall there had been a net positive direction of travel

c.         That significant movement had occurred in the ‘Health Check’ indicator, which had been inherited from the NHS in April 2013 and had shown ‘Red’ all year until this quarter when it had improved significantly to ‘Amber’.

d.         The Customer Services indicator had slipped from ‘green’ to ‘amber’ largely owing to the significant pressures caused by flooding and pothole reporting creating extremely high demand.

e.         That Specialist Children’s Services had shown significant improvement in all areas and was now reporting at mostly ‘green’ indicators.

(3)       Overall the report showed a net overall positive performance with a positive direction of travel.

(4)       Andrew Scott-Clarke, interim Director of Public Health explained further the positive improvement in the ‘Health Check’ criteria.  He explained that the Council now met 100% of the invite target, equating to approximatley100,000 invites, and that this had been reflected in the take up rate.  He hoped that the positive direction of travel would be maintained an that the indicator would report as ‘green’ soon.

(5)       Cabinet Member for Economic Development Mr Mark Dance reported that work continued to improve job opportunities for young people in Kent.  He referred to the work undertaken under the regional growth fund and how this had provided valuable insight into how companies within Kent could succeed and grow.  The Leader acknowledged that work and reported that employment rates in Kent had increased faster than the national average but that work would continue to address disparities between different areas of the county.

(6)     It was RESOLVED that the report be NOTED.