Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the Cabinet Member for Commercial and Traded Services, Brian Sweetland.

None.

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 January 2015, as a correct record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 January 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman accordingly.

To consider and endorse, for agreement by County Council, the KCC Strategic Statement for 2015-2020.

Cabinet received a report of the Leader, Mr Paul Carter, providing for consideration, the findings of the public consultation on the Councils draft five year strategic statement; ‘Improving Outcomes and Increasing Opportunities’ and seeking endorsement of the document, as amended, for agreement by County Council.

Mr Carter introduced the report, and recommended it to members for endorsement to County Council.  He welcomed the succinct and clear style in which the document was written and reminded all Directors that Directorate Business Plans must be derived from the strategic aims set out within the statement as the activity that followed any endorsement of the strategic aims by County Council would be critical to realising the vision set out therein.  Directorate Business Plans would be considered by the relevant Cabinet Committees in order to ensure that this was the case.

He also commented on the consultation that had been undertaken.  Although the response had not been overwhelming, Mr Carter welcomed the comments that had been received and regarded them as having helped to shape a better final draft document.

David Whittle, Director of Policy, Strategy, Relationships and Corporate Assurance, spoke to the item.  He acknowledged that engaging the public in the consultation had been difficult as it had in other similar consultations on Bold Steps for Kent and Toward 2010 for example and this had prompted the council’s decision to move to a series of in depth events around the county, engaging residents in a more meaningful way and providing the council with very useful qualitative data which added a great deal of value and lead to significant changes to the original draft document.

The Cabinet Member for Communities, Mr Mike Hill, confirmed that the document would be useful for directorates in producing business and commissioning plans and that it had already provided useful guidance within his portfolio during consideration of the future of the Libraries service in Kent in order to ensure that any proposals for the future delivery of the service was fit for purpose and helped to achieve the wider strategic aims of the County Council.

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health, Mr Graham Gibbens, commented on table 3 within the draft document, which described the desired outcomes toward the wider goal of older and vulnerable residents being safe and supported and having choices that enabled them to live independently.  He welcomed the recognition of the need for Health and Social Care to work closely together and the importance of early assessment and treatment for those with mental health issues.  

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Mr Mark Dance, welcomed the report and spoke of the benefits of economic development for all communities in Kent.  He particularly highlighted the work that had been facilitated by regional growth fund monies to work with young people who were not in education, employment or training, which would be the subject of a television programme that evening.

The Leader concluded the discussion by drawing attention to the suggested measures for performance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

To receive budget monitoring information for Quarter 3 of 2014/15, and agree necessary changes to the Capital Programme.

Cabinet received a report detailing the budget monitoring position for Quarter 3 of 2014-15 for both revenue and capital budgets and including an update on key activity data.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement introduced the report and in particular he referred to the following:

Revenue Budget:

1. That early signs had caused concern when an overspend had been initially predicted for 2014/15.  This was no longer the case as improved predictions were now reported owing to the hard work and determination of Directors and Cabinet Members to manage budgets effectively.
2. The current net position variance against the budget was predicted as £5.48million, predicted to rise to £6million following further management action. Since the figures had been compiled, good news had been received from the Government regarding the cost of supporting unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.  The changes would increase the council’s budget by approximately £1.4million and increasing the projected underspend accordingly.
3. KCC was legally obligated to roll forward £341,000 for commitments made to the Kent Youth Employment Programme for 2015/16.  In addition to this, should the underspend be realised, other roll forwards would take place, namely £2million for the Troubled Families Programme and £70,000 for the County Coroners Service.  It had also been considered that a roll forward of £2.2million might be needed in order to continue the Kent Support and Assistance Service but this had been included in the Governments funding announcement and was therefore no longer necessary.
4. He looked at each Directorate in turn:

·         Social Care, Health and Wellbeing presented a balanced overall position. Pressures remained in the areas of domiciliary care and as a result of the timing of realisation of transformation savings but these were offset by savings elsewhere, such as nursing and residential care.

·         Growth Environment and Transport continued to experience waste tonnage increases but efforts in the area of waste disposal had created economies that had offset those pressures by more than 50%.  Pressures remained on the Kent Freedom Pass and Young Persons Travel Card and on Home to School SEN Transport, the latter being partly offset by income from other authorities of £500,000 and reduced demand for other home to school transport.

5. Generally the revenue budget report was positive and the outlook optimistic.

Capital budget:

1. The current working budget was reported at £356million with an actual outturn of £259million a very large proportion of that variance was as a result of rephrasing of projects and these were detailed in full within the report.

Andy Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and procurement spoke to the item.  He clarified that the underlying position after roll forward requests was a £3m underspend against a total budget of nearly one billion.  The news on the costs of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum was welcomed an would increase that underspend to approximately £4.5million but difficult negotiations would continue to seek clarity on the position for future years.  Finally Mr Wood confirmed that there were reasons for concern within the indicative January and February figures and that he was confident  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

To consider and note performance monitoring information for quarter 3 of 2014/15

Cabinet received a report of the Leader and Corporate Director of Strategic and Corporate Services detailing the key areas of performance for the authority at Quarter 3 of 2014/15.

Richard Fitzgerald, Performance Manager, was in attendance to speak to the item.  He reported that the majority of indicators were classed as ‘green’ and therefore achieving or overachieving the target set and that there had been more positive direction of travel than otherwise in those that had changed status.  He highlighted for those present the key areas of success, change, or ‘red’ ratings, as follows:

1. Customer Services:

·         The contact Centre had exceeded the target related to call-answering in quarter 3, much improved from earlier monitoring reports and has also achieved a green rating for answering complaints within the required timeframe; up from an amber rating in quarter 2

2. Growth Environment and Transport:

·         Economic indicators showed a return to pre-recession levels and the annual population survey showed that employment rates in Kent were growing faster than nationally.

·         The RGF loan funds, managed by KCC were almost fully subscribed, with 5000 jobs to be created as a result.

·         Highways activity had reported a drop in performance as a result of systems changes made by the contractor.  An action and support plan was now in place to improve performance.

·         Diversion from landfill figures remained strong, partially as a result of a 2.5% increase in the household recycling rate, now almost at the EU target of 50%.  This improvement was credited to new kerbside collections rolled out by District Councils in Kent and supported by KCC.

3. Education and Young Peoples Services:

·         Annual attainment figures for pupils in Kent were not included in quarterly reports but had been good in 2014 – Key Stage 2 results were now at the national average and there had been a reduction in the attainment gap between those pupils receiving free school meals and those who were not.  The indicator reported quarterly, the percentage of schools rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in Ofsted reports, continued to improve at both Primary and Secondary level.  Early years performance in the same category had dipped slightly but still remained above the national average at 90%.

·         Figures for those young people classed as NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) had not met the January target but had shown a positive direction of travel and the number of apprenticeships created had remained constant from the same time in 2013.  In the 18-24 year old age range a reduction in jobseeker allowance claims to pre-recession levels, was reported KCC was also employing more young people, having and improved total of 7.7% of the workforce now being under 25.

·         The ‘Early Help and Preventative Services’ division was now fully integrated in to the KCC organisational model, having been newly created, and the Kent Family Support Framework had been rolled out to replace the common assessment framework, which would mean that more families would now receive integrated support.

4. Children’s Social Care showed continued good performance:

·         Adoption rates had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 109.