Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

Resolved that the minutes of the meetings held on 20 July 2020 are a correct record, and that they be signed by the chairman.

(1)    Mrs Chandler said that conversations with the Home Office and the Department for Education had continued since the authority’s decision on 17 August not to accept any more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving at the port of Dover.  She also said the Government was consulting on the National Transfer Scheme which was currently voluntary; however, cabinet members and directors of children’s services in the south-east of England agreed with KCC’s view that the scheme should become mandatory and would respond to the consultation accordingly.

(2)    Mr Long acknowledged that the summer had been an uncertain time for many young people, as they waited for GCSE and A Level results and thanked parents and students for their patience.  He was pleased the Government had decided to allow pupils to receive the higher of the grades from OFQUAL’s algorithm or from Centre Assessed Grades.  In the lead up to that announcement, the authority had been preparing to make representations to the Government on behalf of the young people affected.  The confusion about results had an impact on young people in accessing their first-choice university, college or work placements and the authority’s skills and employability service was continuing to provide support and advice. Mr Long also said that detailed Government guidance on transport and examinations was received late in August and thanked officers who had worked tirelessly to ensure pupils could return to school safely. He concluded his update by saying that detailed planning for the Kent Test, which would take place in October, was underway and thanking school staff for making sufficient resources available to facilitate all those who wished to take the test. 

(3)    Mrs Bell said the Government had published its Adult Coronavirus (Covid-19): Adult Social Care Action Plan which set out the key challenges and actions for local authorities and other care sector providers in controlling the spread of infection in care and communities settings. She also said an additional £546 million had been provided to extend the Infection Control Fund to March 2021.  She said that a meeting with the Kent Integrated Care Alliance and other providers, chaired by the Leader, would take place later in the week.  Mrs Bell further said that: demand for Covid-19 tests exceeded the processing capacity of laboratories; only those with symptoms should book appointments for testing; and no one with symptoms should go to Accident and Emergency departments of doctors’ surgeries to be tested. 

(4)    Mr Payne said he had embraced the opportunity created by the Government’s Active Travel Fund and that KCC’s bid for funding from the first tranche of funding had been successful.  He said the schemes being delivered to increase walking and cycling should not disadvantage other road users; however, many had been introduced quickly to comply with the funding conditions and to capture improvements in air quality experienced during the lockdown.  The schemes had also been implemented to the Government’s deadlines with the result that residents had not been consulted.  He said the schemes would be reviewed and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 164.

Emma Feakins (Chief Accountant) was in attendance for this item)

(1)          Mr Oakford introduced the report which set out the budget monitoring position for both revenue and capital to 31 July 2020 but before the impact of the budget amendment agreed at the County Council meeting on 10 September.  He said the revenue forecast was for an overspend of £7.9million (excluding Covid-19) which was a decrease of £6.7million on the previous forecast, however, if Covid-19 risks were included the forecast overspend was £24.5million.  The biggest overspends were being forecast for Children, Young People and Education, Adult Social Care and Strategic and Corporate Services.  Mr Oakford said an underspend of £121.6million was  forecast for the capital budget which had increased by £73.6million from the previously reported forecast. He said the underspend was made up of £0.6 million real and £121 million re-phasing variance.

(2)          Mr Gough said it was encouraging to see the overspend, which had previously been forecast for some areas, going down and that to some extent the report had been superseded by the decision to amend the budget taken at the County Council meeting.

(3)          Resolved that the forecast revenue and capital monitoring position on 31 July 2020 be noted.  

(Rachel Kennard (Chief Analyst) was in attendance for this item)

(1)          Mr Gough introduced the report which set out information about key areas of performance to the end of June 2020.  He said the report reflected the changes to performance reporting previously discussed by the Cabinet.

(2)          Miss Kennard said a summary of the changes to the indicator set was set out in appendix 2 of the report.  She said: in Children, Young People and Education two indicators had been moved to the activity indicator section and replaced by two new ones; all five indicators  in Adult Social Care had been removed and five new ones introduced; and in Public Health, the key performance indicator – ‘Proportion of clients accessing GUM services offered an appointment to be seen within 48 hours’ had been replaced with a more challenging indicator – ‘Percentage of new first-time attendances at sexual health clinics who take up the offer and are screened for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and HIV’.  Miss Kennard said that of the 35 indicators, 22 had been RAG-rated green indicating that they were on or ahead of target and this was a decrease of one compared with the previous quarter; 10 indicators had reached or exceeded the floor standard and were RAG-rated amber, while three indicators had not achieved the floor standard and were RAG-rated red.  One of the indicators rated red related to Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) and the other two fell under Public Health and related to health checks and sexual health. All indicators which were RAG-rated red had been affected by the recent lockdown.

(3)          Mrs Bell said that it had been impossible to conduct health checks during the lockdown; however, other services, such as drug and alcohol services, had continued online.  There was evidence that some people were more comfortable accessing services online than in traditional settings and this was being considered for the future of the services.

(4)          Miss Carey said that the target for greenhouse gas emissions from KCC’s estate (excluding schools) was an ambitious ‘stretch’ target and had been rated amber. Although the ‘stretch’ target had not been met, the floor target had.  She said the authority’s £40million LED street lighting project had contributed to the achievement of the target and current projects, including the Solar Panels project, would contribute to further reductions in emissions making it likely that the ‘stretch’ target would be achieved by the end of the year.  She also referred to the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) on municipal waste sent to landfill and said the authority made great efforts to ensure waste collected by district councils was recycled.  She said less than 1% of Kent’s waste went to landfill and most of that was asbestos waste which was subject to specific deep fill regulations.  About half of Kent’s waste was recycled and the other half was converted to energy. 

(5)          Mrs Chandler said officers were working hard and good progress was being made in clearing the backlog of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 166.

(David Adams (Interim Director of Education) was in attendance for this item)

(1)          Mr Long introduced the report which gave an update on the support given to schools to enable them to open to all pupils from September 2020, following the lockdown that began on 23 March 2020, and highlighted issues identified since the beginning of the autumn term. He said that, although general guidance for the return to schools had been issued by the Government well before the beginning of the summer holiday, detailed guidance was not received by local authorities until late in August.  He thanked school leaders and teachers as well as David Adams and his team for the considerable efforts they had made to ensure the return to school was as smooth as possible for as many young people as possible. He said the situation continued to evolve but KCC was ready to respond.

(2)          Mr  Adams said the most recent figures from the Department for Education, based on returns from 423 of Kent’s 600 schools, indicated that school attendance was at about 90%.  This was lower than the equivalent rate at the start of term and might be attributable to teachers and pupils having to self-isolate.  It was, however, in line with the figures nationally. Since 9 September, 30 schools in Kent had reported Covid-19 related incidents and some schools had sent children home.  Mr Adams said there were concerns about capacity to test for coronavirus and there was a risk that increasing numbers of secondary school pupils would be out of school because of the virus.

(3)          Mr Adams said that: school buses were running at 70% of their normal capacity; there had been a significant increase in applications for travel passes; and that additional resources might be required if the increase in applications continued.  He also said there had been concerns about the pre-school sector, however 640 providers were open with 12 closed.

(4)          Mr  Gough thanked David Adams and his team, school staff and the transport team for their work in the run up to whole school opening including their efforts to respond to the understandable anxieties of parents and pupils. He also said the position continued to evolve and it was important that it continued to be monitored closely.

(5)          Resolved that the report be noted.

Discussion of this item was postponed because of reported delays to the Government’s White Paper.

(Mark Scrivener (Corporate Risk Manager & Interim Corporate Assurance Manager) was in attendance for this item)

(1)          Mr Gough said the purpose of including this item on the agenda was to consider the current corporate risk profile and whether the current risk levels associated with the Public Health, EU/UK transition, and winter weather risks were appropriate or whether further mitigating actions were required, and to create an opportunity to discuss their possible cumulative impact.

(2)          Mr Scrivener , Dr Duggal and Mrs Cooper gave a presentation to supplement the report which is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

(3)          Mr Hill said the major flooding event of 2013 had required the deployment of significant resources by KCC and partner organisations and, even though resources had increased and resilience strengthened since then, responding to multiple events concurrently would be very challenging.  Mr Gough said it was important to consider the potential impact of multiple events occurring at the same time and to link that with member engagement and the appropriate rhythm of reporting. He said the EU/UK transition would be considered at the County Council meeting on 22 October and other elements of risk would be considered at Cabinet or at all member briefings particularly when it was possible to draw out and build on the strengths of partnerships and from testing resilience.  It was suggested that informal all-member briefings be held in mid-October and late November and to review the corporate risk profile again at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for December.

(4)          Mrs Chandler said a combination of severe weather and an increase in Covid-19 infections would have a major impact on the most vulnerable and that, even in a perfect storm of events coming together, it was important to prepare in advance and ensure that help got through to those most in need.  Mrs Bell said that no matter how robust the contingency plans, they would only work if the guidance to stay safe and well was followed.

(5)          Resolved that:

(a)          the report be noted; and

(b)          all-member briefings be arranged for October and November; and the corporate risk profile be reviewed at the Cabinet meeting on 14 December 2020.