Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from David Cockburn.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2019 were correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman. 

1.            Mr Oakford (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Traded Services) introduced this report.  This was the Council’s 19^th consecutive year of achieving an underspend and Mr Oakford recognised the work of officers.  The provisional outturn against the combined directorate revenue budgets was an underspend of -£7.326m (excluding schools and roll forward requests of £6.186m). 

2.            There had been an improvement in the pressure on the Asylum Service, there was an overspend of £600k which was an improvement of £2.2m since the 25 March report to Cabinet. 

3.            During 2018-19 the Council had found approximately £50m of savings, over the previous 8 years these savings equalled £640m and the approved net budget for 2019-20 included £73m of additional spending demands and costs. 

4.            Cath Head confirmed that the report asked for approval of £6.2m roll forward along with £70k to fund the tactical manager and emergency response standby cost. 

5.            Ms Head explained that there were 85 projects which had been rephased and the Council was in a good position with the £7.3m underspend. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet:  

i) Note the report, including the provisional outturn position for 2018-19 for both the revenue and capital budgets.

ii) Agree that £0.528m of the 2018-19 revenue underspending is rolled forward to fund existing commitments, as detailed in section 2 of Appendix 1.

iii) Agree that £3.825m of the 2018-19 revenue underspending is rolled forward to fund the re-phasing of existing initiatives, as detailed in section 3 of Appendix 1.

iv) Agree that £1.833m of the 2018-19 revenue underspending is rolled forward to fund the bids detailed in section 4 of Appendix 1.

v) Agree that the £0.070m of the remaining underspend funds the tactical manager and emergency response standby cost.

vi) Agree that the £1.070m remaining 2018-19 underspend is set aside in the earmarked reserve to support future years’ budgets.

vii) Agree that the £29.268m of capital re-phasing from 2018-19 will be added into the 2019-20 and later years capital budgets, as detailed in Appendix 2.

viii) Agree the proposed capital cash limit changes outlined in Appendix 3.

ix) Agree the contributions to and from reserves as reflected in Appendix 6, which includes all appropriate and previously agreed transfers to and from reserves.

Vincent Godfrey (Strategic Commissioner) was in attendance for this item. 

1.            Miss Carey introduced this report which set out the key areas of performance for the authority.  Of the 35 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) included in the report 22 were rated as Green, 10 were rated as Amber and 3 were rated as Red. 

a.    Customer Service

                                          i.    customer complaints not being responded to in target had improved.  The way in which customers were contacting the council continued to shift towards online methods.  

b.    Environment and Transport

                                          i.    Waste Management – target exceeded with 99% of waste diverted from landfill. 

                                        ii.    Greenhouse gas emissions reduction was ahead of target and on track to deliver the five year target.

2.            This report would be discussed at County Council and during the year Governance and Audit have looked at data quality to reassure Members that the information is properly audited.  Miss Carey congratulated KCC for having achieved so much alongside producing huge savings. 

3.            Vincent Godfrey commented that the report reflected strong performance with 22 of the 35 KPIs rated as Green.   Of the 10 rated Amber, all of those had hit the floor standard, (the level of performance expected) but they had not hit the stretched target level to get to Green. There were 3 Red measures:

a.    “Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plans issued within 20 weeks”: KCC was not solely responsible for accountable for performance with this target, this was largely dependent on colleagues to make plans and future reports would show demarcation between health and the local authority. 

b.    “Percentage of 16-18 year olds who start an apprenticeship”:  this had improved slightly, and there was a positive trend. 

c.    “Number of admissions to permanent residential and nursing care for older people – rolling 12 months”:  overall the trend was improving, however this KPI was marginally short of the target.

4.            Of the 8 targets showing a worsening trend, 3 remained Green and 4 were very marginal.   

5.            The Leader commented on the utilisation of the Apprenticeship Levy, it was important to consider the totality of Apprenticeship Levy being paid by both private sector business and public bodies.  It was concerning that the number of young apprenticeships had dropped nationally and KCC should monitor the 16-25 cohort to ensure the post 16 education supports apprenticeships. 

6.            Referring to EHCP it was important to differentiate between the responsibility of the Health Care partners and KCC, and the number of EHCPs that lead to a place in a special school, and how that compares to national figures.  The issue of High Needs Funding in schools was an issue of great concern and this would be monitored.    

7.            Mr Whiting commented on page 75 of the report, which stated that the Kent and Medway Energy and Low Emissions Strategy was out for public consultation, Michael Payne would be taking the strategy to Kent Leaders on Thursday 27 June and it would go out for public consultation after that date. 

8.            Mr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

Rita Boboye (Service Manager for UASC 18+ Leaving Care Service) and Penny Ademuyiwa (Assistant Director – Front Door) were present for this item. 

1.             Mr Gough introduced this report, there had been progress with increased funding support for 16 and 17 year olds, and there was now a £600k deficit in the Asylum service. 

2.            The latest figures showed that there were 281 Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC), this was a higher level than this time last year. 

3.            In response to a question Rita Boboye explained that a lot was being done to support Care Leavers, progress had been made with a reduction in the number of UASC who did not have Asylum status and with support from a point of contact in the Home Office.  Funding had also been received from the Controlling Migration Fund (CMF) which enabled the recruitment of additional support for emotional wellbeing and floating support staff.  Work was also being done with those young people who had ‘appeal rights exhausted’ and were being supported by the Local Authority.  The Officers were part of an operational working group established by the Home Office focussing on the challenges being faced by local authorities supporting UASC care leavers and issues regarding funding gaps.  Matters relating to the funding for Care Leavers remained outstanding and officers continued to lobby the Home Office to increase funding. 

4.            Mr Gough concurred that there were a number of variables involved in this process, with more young people converting to care leaver status would put upward pressure in the absence of any other action by central government. 

5.            Penny Ademuyiwa highlighted to Members the National Transfer Scheme (NTS), the UASC Governance Board on 12 June had received an options paper with proposals around how the NTS could work more efficiently.  The CMF was being used for under 18 year olds helping them to integrate into the community.

6.            Miss Carey referred to the report which suggested that in increase in criminal gangs operating in France might increase the number of UASC arrivals in Kent.   Miss Carey asked for confirmation that there was sufficient sharing of information to prevent such criminal activity.   Ms Ademuyiwa explained that this was a national problem in terms of exploitation of young people by gangs.  Any intelligence received about any young person who might have been trafficked was flagged through the national referral mechanism.  Information was shared with partner agencies and partners were doing what they could in terms of individual children.  Ms Boboye confirmed that they were working on producing a Memorandum of Understanding alongside the Kent Enforcement Team. 

7.            The Leader thanked the guests for their work on this issue, and for the progress which had been made.  This was a crucial issue for Kent by virtue of geography. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet note the Asylum Update.