Agenda and minutes

Members noted that Mr R Truelove had been appointed to serve on the Committee in place of Mr R J E Parker.

(1)               Mr Capon queried why Minute 73 (Kent TV) did not include his question asking the Chief Executive whether he had thought of seeking the views of KCC staff on his performance.  The Head of Democratic Services explained that the Minutes were not a verbatim report and aimed only to summarise the main issues raised by Members on each item. 

(2)       RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2007 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED that the report on the actions taken as a result of the Committee’s decisions at previous meetings, and the updated report on progress with Select Committee Topic Reviews, be noted.

Further to Minute 70 the Chairman and Spokesmen recommend that the business plans of the following units should be subject to detailed consideration by the Committee during 2007/08:-

1          Kent Highway Services (E&R)

2          Libraries and Archives (Comms)

3          Community Safety (Comms)

RESOLVED that three separate Informal Member Groups (1/1/1 – Members to be nominated by the Group Spokesmen) be established to review the following Unit Business Plans for 2007/08 during the autumn and then report back to the Committee:-

1.                  Kent Highway Services (E&R)

2.                  Libraries and Archives (Comms)

3.                  Community Safety (Comms)

Mr J D Simmonds, Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement; Mr N J D Chard, Cabinet Member for Finance; Ms L McMullan, Director of Finance; and Mr K Abbott, Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Children, Families and Education Directorate, will attend the meeting at 10.10 am to brief the Committee on this consultation. 

(1)               Mr N J D Chard, Cabinet Member for Finance; Dr T R Robinson, Cabinet Member for Children and Families; Ms L McMullan, Director of Finance and Mr K Abbott, Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Children, Families and Education Directorate attended the meeting to brief the Committee on this matter.

(2)               Following presentations by Ms McMullan and Mr Abbott, Members discussed the issues raised with the Cabinet Members and officers.  Mr Chard said that he would welcome suggestions from the Committee for points to be included in the County Council’s response to the DfES.

(3)               RESOLVED that:-

a)     Mr Chard, Dr Robinson, Ms McMullan and Mr Abbott be thanked for attending the meeting and briefing Members, with particular congratulations to Ms McMullan and Mr Abbott on the clarity of their presentations;

b)     The Cabinet Members for Finance and Education & School Improvement be requested to include in KCC’s response to the consultation paper, the points agreed by the Committee as set out in Appendix 1 to these Minutes; and

c)      The Cabinet Member for Finance’s agreement that KCC’s response to the Consultation Paper should be circulated to all Members of the Committee be welcomed.