Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cabinet Member for Economic Development Mr Mark Dance who was substituted by Deputy Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Mr Sean Holden.

– report by Mr G Cooke, Cabinet Member for Corporate and Democratic

Services and Mr P Sass, Head of Democratic Services)

(1)       Cabinet considered a report which contained the decision and comments of the Scrutiny Committee from the meeting held on 17 April 2013 in order that a Cabinet response could be agreed.

(2)       It was agreed that the response as detailed in the report be agreed and as a result a six-monthly progress report to the Social Care and Public Health Cabinet Committee be submitted.

The Chairman, leader of the Council, Mr Carter, reported that an urgent information item would be considered by Cabinet after item 10 on the agenda. The urgent item would provide for discussion the council’s proposed response to the Government’s consultation on a new Lower Thames Crossing.

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

(1)     Cabinetreceiveda report seekingapproval of a SufficiencyStrategyfortheCouncil. The adoption of a SufficiencyStrategy was required to evidencethatthe council was takingstepstofulfiltheSufficiencyDutywhichcameintoforce inApril2011and required LocalAuthoritiesto secure,asfarasreasonablypracticable,sufficient accommodationfor ChildreninCareand those children in needwho are atrisk of care or custody.

(2)     The Cabinet MemberforSpecialistChildren’sServicesMrs JennyWhittleintroduced the itemandinparticular referredto thefollowing, that:

(i)     KentCountyCouncil was currentlyresponsiblefor1800youngpeoplein care.  Owingto the numberofchild  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

– Report of Cabinet member for Education and Health Reform, Mr Roger Gough and Corporate Director of Education, Learning and Skills, Mr P Leeson)

(1)     Cabinet received a report seeking approval of the Council’s Strategy for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

(2)     The Cabinet Member forEducationandHealth Reform,Mr Roger Goughprovidedan introduction to the item, he reported that:

(i)     Thestrategyhadbeenthesubjectofa comprehensiveconsultationand had beenconsideredandendorsedbythe Education Cabinet Committee.

(ii)  Thefocusofthestrategywasextremelycomprehensivebuthadthree overarchingprinciples,set out in the report.These were:

•        Capacity  –  Over  £100m  had  been  spent  over  the  last  decade  to increasecapacityinSpecialSchoolsacross the Countyandthiswork wouldcontinue.  Inaddition further workwasunderwaytoincrease capacity for provisionofserviceswithinmainstreamschoolsi  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

– Report of Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement and Mr A Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement)

(1)     Cabinet received a report detailing the latest position of the Revenue and Capital budgets, over and under-spending to date and future commitments for those underspends. In addition it contained various monitoring information for consideration.

(2)     The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement introduced the item. In particular he brought to the attention of members the following information:

(i)    Thatthiswasthethirteenthyear that the administration haddelivereda balancedbudget andalthough doing socontinued to presentchallengeshe was confidentthat thistrend wouldbecontinued.

(ii)  Thatthereportdetailedanunderspendof£16m.   £5mofthishadbeen previously agreedtobemovedtothe 2013-14budgettorelievepressures identifiedandthat £3.8mbesetasideforthecompletionofprojectsalready underway.  Further to thesepreviously agreedarrangementsCabinetwas askedtoconsider the allocationof£800,000ofthe£7.2muncommitted reservestocoverpress  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

– Report of Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement and Mr A Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement)

(1)     Cabinetreceivedthe first exceptionreportof2013/14thepurpose of whichwasto provideinformationonissuesarisingfromthe2012/13outturnas discussedatthe previousitem.  Inaddition the report provided initial forecasts forthe2013/14 revenueandcapitalbudgets.

(2)     TheCabinetMember forFinance andProcurementintroducedthereportandin particular referred to thefollowing:

(i)      That thisreportwaskey tomonitoring the successofthe 2013/14 budgetand showedsome progress toward the 95msavings allocated to next years budget by recordinga smallunderspendof£348,000.  Heurgedcautionatthisstage; the resultsweresatisfactorybut requir  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

– Report of Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director of Education learning and Skills)

(1)     Cabinet received a report, the purpose of which was to provide an update on the review of Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and Alternative Curriculum (AC) Provision and a summary of the consultation with stakeholders on the proposal to establish 8 new delivery hubs across the County for PRU and AC Provision. The report sought recognition of the changes to provision required by changes to national policy and approval of the changes to provision delivery described.

(2)     TheCabinetMemberforEducationandHealthReform,MrGough,introducedthe report.  Hereferred, inparticulartothefollowing:

(i)      Thatthereporthadbeensubjecttoconsiderableconsultationincluding consideration  by  the  Education  Cabinet  Committee  in  June  where  the proposeddecisionwasendorsed.

(ii)  That,whilechangestopolicyhadoccurredata nationallevel,KentCounty Council hadbeenlooking locally for ways inwhichimprovementscouldbe madeforthe groupof vulnerableyoungpeople that access these services.

(iii)       Thatthechangeswouldinvolvec  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

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

(1)     Cabinetreceiveda reportforinformation detailingtheCouncil’sresponsetothe Airports Commissiononproposalsforprovidingadditionalairportcapacity in the longer term.

(2)     The Leader of theCountyCouncil spoke to the item, he reported that he had met with the  Commission  and  its  Chairman  Howard  Davies  and  had  been  able  to  give evidenceonbehalfofKentCountyCouncilregardingthepotentialimpact for Kentof the variousoptions.  Hehopedthattheissueswhichhehadarticulated,inparticular in relationtotheThamesEstuaryproposal,werewell received by the Commission.

(3)     ThesubmissionfromKentCounty Counciltotheproposalswouldalsodispute the needfor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

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

(1)     Cabinet received an urgent report for information detailing the Council’s response to the Department for Transport (DfT) proposals for a new Lower Thames crossing.

(2)     TheLeaderoftheCounty Councilintroduced the item;inparticular he referred to the following:

(i)   That the reportwastaken under proceduresfor urgency.  It hadnot been possible  to  defer  the  decision  until  the  next  meeting  of  Cabinet  as  the responsehadtobesubmittedthedayafteritwasconsideredhere[16July 2013]andit hadnotbeenpossibleto publishthereportsoonerasofficers had beenconductingworktogatherviewsandincorporatetheminto theresponse, now publishedon theCouncil’s website anddistributedtothosepresent.

(ii)    MrCarter acknowledged,andaskedthat theresponsebe further updatedto acknowledge,thatther  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.