Agenda and minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 April 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed accordingly by the Chairman.

To consider and determine the future of Library Service Provision in Kent.

(Item 5)

(Ms A Slaven, Head of Libraries and Archives, and Mr J Pearson, Service Improvement Programme Manager, were present for this item.)

(1)  Cabinet received a report which highlighted the findings of the recent consultation and parallel work streams into a proposed delivery model of a charitable trust for the Libraries, Registration and Archives (LRA) service.

(2)  Mr Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services, introduced the report and in particular he referred to the following:

• The public consultation on the preferred option of future service delivery by a charitable trust, which included the consideration of a petition.
• He confirmed that there was no intention to reduce services and that the County Council would retain statutory responsibility for these services. 
• There had been discussions with the General Registration Office (GRO) in relation to externalisation of the registration service and officers had been advised that this would require new primary legislation.
• The option of splitting the libraries/archives service from the registration service had been considered but it had been concluded that this would not be the most efficient way forward as it would impact adversely upon staff moral and would affect the stability of all three services.
• Now that the new government was in place, conversations were taking place with the GRO in relation to introducing new primary legislation as soon as possible and for Kent to be granted early pilot status.
• Therefore it was proposed that the Libraries, Archives and Registration service be kept in house while work to facilitate the externalisation of the registration service continued.

(3)  It was RESOLVED that

To consider and agree changes to the subsidy provided for the Young Persons Travel Pass Scheme and related proposed price increases.

(Item 6)

(Mr P Lightowler, Head of Public Transport, was present for this item.)

(1)  Cabinet received a report on the Young Persons Travel Pass (YPTP), KCC’s discretionary scheme which provides subsidised bus travel for Kent students in years 7 to 11. The report outlined the scheme, the background to the budget pressure and proposed a reduction in the level of subsidy to mitigate the financial pressure.

(2)  Mr Balfour, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, introduced the report and stated that it gave him no pleasure to have to propose these changes to the scheme but these were necessary due to the budget position.  He reminded the Cabinet that this was still a generous home to school transport scheme for children provided by the tax payers of Kent.

(3)  The Leader referred to the £1.4m overspend and acknowledged that this was a valuable service which gave parents a greater potential choice of schools for their children.

(4)  Mr Lightowler drew the Cabinet’s attention to the following:

·         When the scheme was changed from the Kent Freedom Pass to the YPTP, and the opportunity provided to pay for the pass half-yearly,  there was an expectation that the numbers using the scheme would reduce but this had not been the case.  This had led to a budget pressure of £1.4m.

·         He stated that there was a public misunderstanding re the YPTP.  The cost to the user was not the cost to the County Council.  In 2014/15 each pass cost the County Council an average of £588, Even with the proposed increase the YPTP represented good value for money for parents especially as the major bus companies normally charged children travelling before 9.00am the full adult fare.

(5)  The Leader suggested that consideration might be given to providing the facility to pay for the YPTP on a termly (three times a year) basis which might lead to a reduction in the number of passes for term 3 due to study leave.  Mr Lightowler explained that due to the administrative processes that would be required to make this change, it would not be practical to introduce this in 2015/16 but that it would be considered for 2016/17

(6)  Mr Balfour stated that he had discussed with officers how the scheme could be made more efficient, effective and better value for money.  An additional suggestion that he would like to put forward was that families with more than two children eligible for the YPTP should have passes for the third and subsequent children free of charge.

(7)       It was RESOLVED that

To consider and note the provisional budget outturn report for 2014/15.

(1)  Cabinet received a report detailing the provisional outturn for 2014 – 15 provided from the accounting system and expected to be very close to the final outturn. Any amendments would be as a result of internal management reviews and external audit findings. The final outturn report would be presented to Cabinet on 6 July 2015 and would provide further detail behind this very satisfactory outcome against a very challenging budget.

(2)  The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement introduced the report to Cabinet. He referred to the net underspend of just under £6m and paid tribute to the way in which Directors had managed their budgets.

(3)       It was RESOLVED that

To consider and note the 2014/2015 Quarter 4 performance position.

(Mr R Fitzgerald, Performance Manager, Business Intelligence, was present for this item).

(1)  Cabinet received a report detailing the key areas of performance for the authority at Quarter 4 of 2014/15.

(2)  Mr Fitzgerald stated that these were a good positive set of performance indicators which had been achieved despite the challenging budget situation.  He highlighted the following

• In Customer Services – the number of calls answered by Contact Point was above target and there had been a decline in the number of calls handled as digital contact improved.
• There was good news in relation to the key economic indicators which were back to pre-recession levels
• The Regeneration Growth Fund, including Expansion East Kent and TIGER had created or safeguarded over 5600 jobs.
• In relation to highways there had been an improvement in routine repairs performance over the quarter. 
• In waste management there had been a further improvement in the reduction of waste to landfill.
• In education there had been an increase in the percentage of schools achieving good or outstanding Ofsted results.
• There had been a dip in the percentage of SEN statements during this quarter but this was the end of the current process. In future the new Education and Social Care Plans would be reported instead which were on target.
• There had been a slight increase in the number of 16 – 18 year olds who were not in education or training (NEETS), however, this position was an improvement on the same period last year.
• The provisional start date for apprenticeships in the current academic year had shown an improvement.
• In the Early Years and Preventative Service there had been a further increase in the number of families with an Integrated Team Around the Family Approach, 81% of cases had been closed with outcomes achieved.   This had had a positive impact on children’s social care with a decrease in the number of Children in Need cases.
• There had been further improvements in the number of social workers in permanent posts.  There had also been a continued improvement in the quality of case files audited.
• In relation to Corporate Parenting, there had been a decrease in the number of Children in Care, although there had been an increase in the number of asylum seeking children needing support.
• In Adult Social Care there had been improvements in the number of clients supported with Telecare and a steady improvement in the number of clients receiving enablement to remain independent. As a consequence permanent residential care admissions for older people had shown a reduction.
• In Public Health the NHS health check programme was ahead of target.  

(3)  In response to a question from the Leader, Mr Leeson explained that a target approach had been adopted in relation to Early Years provision. There had been input into those setting which were not good and also there was monitoring of all setting including those that were good in order to identify any decline and provide support at an early stage.  He confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119.