Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director of Education, Learning and Skills.  Mr Leeson was substituted by Mrs Sue Rogers, Director Education, Quality and Standards.

(Item 4 – report of Mr David Brazier, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment and Mike Austerberry, Corporate Director of Enterprise and Environment)

Cabinet received a report, the purpose of which was to present to Members for agreement the draft Local Flood Risk Management Strategy for Kent County Council.

The Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, Mr Brazier, introduced the report, he referred in particular to the following:

(i)        That the production of a Local Flood Risk Strategy was a statutory requirement of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.  In addition the act required that KCC conduct preliminary flood risk assessments.

(ii)       That this work had been conducted and further to those requirements a standing committee had been established to monitor and report on progress, and a Flood Risk Manager for KCC, Max Tant, had been appointed.

(iii)      The report detailed more fully the work carried out to date and put forward the draft strategy for approval.  He reported that the strategy included information regarding the relationship between KCC and other bodies with responsibilities in the area of Flood Management, actions to be taken in the event of an incident of serious flooding.

Director of Planning and Environment, Paul Crick and Flood Risk Manager, Max Tant were both in attendance to speak to the item.

In response to a question from the Leader, Paul Crick confirmed that the responsibilities of the Council in this area were confined to flood risk in relation to surface, ground and ordinary watercourses.  The role of the Council in these areas was to co-ordinate the various agencies involved in order that statutory responsibilities were met.  He reported that he was the Chairman of the Group to which Mr Brazier had previously referred and that its members had been fully involved in the creation and development of the strategy being considered.

He reminded Members that flooding continued from the sea and main rivers to be the responsibility of the Environment Agency. 

He further reported:

(i)        That the proposed decision had been considered by the Environment, Highways and Waste Cabinet Committee and had been favourably received.  The Committee had requested that yearly update reports be received.

(ii)       That more detailed action plans formed part of the strategy and all parties were keen to advance the work contained within them.

(iii)      That a robust strategy was crucial to the good management of water in Kent.  In particular in ensuring that work in one area does not negatively impact on another area.  Work to establish such risks had been identified within the strategy.

Flood Risk Manager, Max Tant, described the action plans in more detail.  He described the three areas for action and these are set out below:

(i)        KCC delivered County level actions.  This would involve the creation and embedding of strategies and policies by which a co-ordinated response could be adopted and maintained.

(ii)       Other responsible body actions.  Identified actions for which KCC is not responsible for delivery but which it would encourage other  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

(Item 5 – report of Mr Paul Carter, Leader and Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Audit & Transformation and David Cockburn, Corporate Director Business Strategy and Support)

Cabinet received a report which detailed the performance of the Council against key targets in the fourth quarter of the financial year and highlighted any areas of significant change or concern.

The Leader of the County Council, Mr Carter introduced the item as performance management now lay within the responsibilities of his portfolio.  He was pleased that the report was largely positive, and reminded colleagues of the importance of robust quality assurance statistics, particularly in relation to Looked after and vulnerable children in Kent.  He requested that the Quarter one paper for 2013-14 include how those services would be quality assured.

He also referred to the Health and Wellbeing Board and the debate which had occurred.  It had been identified that in this area appropriate performance criteria would also be needed, once developed there some of that data would be shared within the regular performance report.

Richard Fitzgerald, Performance Manager, spoke to the item.  In particular he referred to the following:

·                That detailed dashboard reports were currently being received at meetings of the relevant Cabinet Committees.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Mr Gibbens reported from the perspective of his portfolio, he made the following comments:

·                That he agreed with the need for public health performance to be reported.

·                Enablement would be a key part of the transformation process and although currently at amber improvements were being sought as the target affected the most vulnerable residents in Kent

The Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, Mr Gough, spoke to the item.  He reported that:

·                Standards and improvement indicators had showed improvement and that the direction of travel was good, However schools in category was proving intractable and work would be undertaken to improve this indicator.

·                That the overall account was positive and the work towards school improvement would continue

·                That the Health and Wellbeing Board was working with CCG’s currently to determine the indicators that would be used to measure performance in that area.

The Cabinet member for Communities, Mr Hill, reported that the Communities directorate was pleased with the improvements shown in particular in relation to the increased number of website visits.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Mr Dance, spoke to the item.  He reported that where his directorate had shown amber returns direction of travel was positive and referred to funding secured to entice companies to expand within Kent.

The Cabinet Member for Commercial and Traded Services, Mr Sweetland, asked cabinet to consider a further stretch target be introduced when a target reached green in order to encourage continuous improvement.  The Leader asked that Richard Fitzgerald to consider and pursue this suggestion.

The Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, Mr Brazier, reported that the results for his portfolio were satisfactory in most cases and above target in others.  He expressed concern that customer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.