Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Mr Murphy and Mr Sweetland, for whom Mr Kite was in attendance.

RESOLVED that there were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 July 2022 were a correct record and that they be signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2022 were a correct record and that they be signed by the Chair.

1.    Mrs Bell (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) provided an update on the Kent Drug & Alcohol Strategy 2023- 2028 Consultation which was launched on 6^th September. The Consultation sought the views and experiences of Kent residents regarding local drug and alcohol services in order to help shape a new five-year strategy. This was overseen by the Kent Substance Misuse Alliance - a partnership of key organisations including councils, Kent Police, emergency services and health providers. The consultation focused on the 30 strategic priorities which were grouped under 3 areas: prevention, treatment and recovery, and community safety. All the priorities in the Kent strategy were taken from local needs and were also aligned to the National Drug Strategy: “From Harm to Hope”. Figures for 2021 estimated that nearly 308,000 people in Kent were drinking above the recommended levels of alcohol and an estimated 15% were binge drinkers, with around 10% of adults reporting drug use within the past year. The consultation was due to close on 31 October 2022. Further information was available via: www.kent.gov.uk/drugandalcoholstrategy 

World Suicide Prevention Day took place on 10^th September 2022. A  Maidstone-based mental health charity, which was part funded by Kent County Council, urged people to access free suicide prevention and awareness training. Information regarding the training was available on their website: www.maidstonemind.org and sessions lasted about 3.5 hours. People were also reminded of the help available in Kent including an easy-to-use mental health text service and helpline ‘Release The Pressure’ which was free to call on 0800 107 0160 or people could text the word ‘Kent’ to 85258. Further information was available via: www.releasethepressure.uk

Kent County Council’s Counter Fraud team joined Swale Borough Council’s Parking team as they visited several streets and car parks on Thursday 4 August to check that Blue badges were being used by the authorised person and in the correct way. Blue badge holders who were spoken to throughout the day welcomed the news and gave positive feedback about the need for badges to be inspected in the Borough. In total 209 people had badges inspected and most people spoken to were using the badge in accordance with the scheme. The civil enforcement officers ceased 13 badges that had expired. Changes in the eligibility criteria meant there had been an increase in the number of badges used in Kent. It was therefore paramount that available spaces were used for legitimate purposes. Abuse of the scheme would not be tolerated, and members of the public could report the misuse of a blue badge online via: www.kent.gov.uk/reportfraud  

To conclude, the council’s commissioned digital care programme project ‘Kara’ won another award at the Health Tech Digital Awards (1 August) coming first in the “Best COVID-19 Solution for Safeguarding the Vulnerable” category. Mrs Bell reminded Members that in March 2020, Kent County Council commissioned healthcare transformation consultancy Rethink Partners and pioneers of virtual care Alcove to launch a programme to deliver up to 2,000 Video Carephone devices to vulnerable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Rachel Kennard, Chief Analyst was in attendance for this item.

1.    Rachel Kennard outlined the report for Quarter 1 (Q1), 2022-2023 and highlighted that out of the 37 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) contained within the Quarterly Performance Report (QPR), 21 achieved target (rated green), 8 achieved and exceeded the floor standard but did not meet target (rated amber), and 8 did not meet floor standard (rated red).  Changes made to the Q1 report included an additional 6 KPIs and increased targets for 10 of the existing KPIs. With regard to the direction of travel, 5 indicators had shown a positive trend, 27 were stable with no clear trend and 5 had shown a negative trend. A summary was provided of the 8 indicators which had been RAG rated as red.

2.    Mrs Bell (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) addressed the negative trend against the proportion of new Care Needs Assessments delivered within 28 days and explained that this was largely due to a higher number of complex cases alongside additional requests for support. This was also detailed within the financial monitoring report (item 7 of the agenda pack) in relation to the significant forecast variance for older people in residential care services. Assurance was provided that both the performance and delivery of assessments was closely monitored and that appropriate steps had been put in place to address areas of improvement. A number of digital initiatives were also being explored to enhance access to self-service tools which in turn would help to reduce demand within the service and create capacity within the system which was financially sustainable.

3.    Mr Kite (Deputy Cabinet Member for Communications and Engagement) said that whilst the qualitative nature of call handling remained high, difficulty in staff recruitment and retention within the Contact Point was a contributing factor as to why performance levels had fallen in respect of calls answered and complaints responded to within timescale. Work was being done within the service to identify opportunities for career progression to retain experienced staff.

4.    Mrs Chandler (Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services) commented on the percentage of Education, Health Care Plans (EHCPs) issued within 20 weeks and advised that this was indicative of the challenges across the county for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Assurance was provided to Members that improvement within this area remained a strong focus.

5.    RESOLVED to note the report.

John Betts, Interim Corporate Director of Finance, was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Oakford (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services) introduced the report which set out the overall forecast position as at the end of June for 2022-23. Revenue overspend was +£50.6m and a capital underspend was -£11.2m. Such an overspend was of serious concern for the Council and created a large degree of financial uncertainty which would require immediate action, especially due to the ongoing impact of inflationary pressures which were continuing to increase through quarter 2. In particular, the forecast for Adult Social Care and Children, Young People and Education showed significant overspends of £25.6m and £24.5m respectively. Any overspend at the end of the financial year would need to be met from general or earmarked reserves; however, this approach would not be sustainable in the medium term. Unless mitigated, the current level of overspend would require close to 50% of the Council’s total reserves at the end of the 2022-2023 financial year.

2.    The capital forecast which showed an underspend of -£11.2m consisted of +£21.0m real overspend and -£32.2m rephasing variance.

3.    The projected deficit on the High Needs budget had increased by £47m for the year 2022-2023, from £101m at the end of the 2021-22 and was estimated to increase to around £148m by the end of the 2022-2023 financial year. The High Needs deficit was the Council’s single most significant financial risk. 

4.    RESOLVED to note and agree the recommendations in the report.

David Whittle, Director of Strategy, Policy, Relationships & Corporate Assurance, was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Whittle introduced the report which set out Kent County Council’s response to the cost-of-living crisis. The paper highlighted that whilst the primary responsibility for easing the crisis at the population level sat with Government, through existing schemes and grant programmes following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council already had in place several support programmes that were helping vulnerable residents in Kent with financial hardship and cost-of-living issues. The report also set out a range of next steps, particularly regarding an enhanced response working alongside strategic partners. Issues of the inflationary pressures on KCC services or budgets directly, or those of our providers, would be considered through the budget development process.

2.    Members were advised that the report was based on the paper intended for County Council on 15 September, which was postponed due to the death of the Queen. An addendum paper had since been produced, summarising key announcements in the interim, including energy support schemes for residents, businesses and non-domestic users. This information was detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.

3.    Further to comments and questions, it was noted:

·         A third round of Household Support Fund was expected to be provided by the Government. This was awaiting final approval from the Treasury.

·         That a multifaceted, coordinated approach with partners at a local level was essential in ensuring that frontline teams had greater visibility of those experiencing financial and/or social difficulty so that they could be easily identified and provided with the right help, at the right time, through the correct organisation.

·         KCC had launched a secure referral system called ReferKent across the county for organisations to refer individuals for financial advice and wider holistic support. The system would also provide the ability to track referrals.

·         The scope of the Financial Hardship programme (initially established to support people struggling with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic) was being expanded to support new workstreams which were required to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

·         The Integrated Care Partnership was identified as the vehicle through which Kent and Medway partners could work together to jointly address the medium to longer term impact of the cost-of-living crisis.  A paper was due to be presented to the Integrated Care Partnership on 19^th October 2022 on the cost of living which would identify ways in which resources could be utilised.

4.    Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for Environment) advised that a number of environmental initiatives were being explored to help improve energy saving costs, including working with utility companies and identifying ways to reduce food wastage. The Environment team were also producing a bid to the public sector Decarbonisation Scheme. This grant would be used to help towards the cost of replacing domestic heating systems which were not included as part of the governments energy price cap scheme. If successful, the replacement programme would include Kent Primary schools.

5.    RESOLVED to note and endorse the recommendations as outlined in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.