Agenda and minutes

(1)       Mr Maddison stated that, further to Minute 4 (6) registration of births and deaths at libraries he had met with Cath Anley, Head of Service for Libraries, Registration and Archives and had been very impressed with the facilities he had seen and the work undertaken by the team.

(2)       RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2013 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(1)      The Cabinet Member referred to the Troubled Families programme.  He described it as a programme which was high on the political agenda, both nationally and locally.  Ms Honey, Corporate Director of Customer and Communities spoke about a conference that had taken place on the 9^th July 2013 which had been attended by over 400 managers and practitioners and at which Louise Casey, Director General at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and lead on the Troubled Families Programme, had endorsed the work being undertaken by Kent County Council.  The Council had committed to working with over 2000 families and had appointed lead workers in order that every family would have one named worker.  Ms Honey urged that the Troubled Families Programme should not be viewed as a pilot scheme but that it should and would be integrated as part of the Council’s core business

(2)      Mr Hill spoke about the Integrated Youth Service; he stated that a substantive report would be brought to the December Cabinet Committee meeting on the transformation of Youth Services when more detailed information would be available.  Figures for the first quarter were encouraging and the newly commissioned providers had settled in well with all 47 of them now operational.  Progress had been made in the major refurbishment of the youth hubs in Tonbridge and Folkestone and these would be completed by the end of September.  Good progress had also been made in Deal.  Difficulties continued in Tunbridge Wells, but temporary facilities for the delivery of services had been found, and work towards a permanent solution continued.  He asked Ms Honey to provide for the Committee, details of the work of Kent Integrated Adolescent Support Service (KIASS)

          Ms Honey explained that KIASS was a process bringing together Council services for adolescents, first across the County Council and then moving toward working with partners to provide a more streamlined and integrated system for users.  Pilots were underway and making good progress and adolescent work formed a key building block in the Transformation: Facing the Challenge paper that was on the agenda for the full Council meeting the next day.

(3)      Mr Hill announced that in August Turner Contemporary had received its millionth visitor and that, to celebrate this milestone 20 Nebuchadnezzar of champagne had been produced.  He expressed his satisfaction that a million visitors had been received in just over two years and described this as an extraordinary success. 

(4)      Building on the success of Turner Contemporary he spoke of the design by Guy Holloway for the Rendezvous site in Margate. The launch had been held at Turner Contemporary and he was sure that the planned hotel would be a valuable asset for all partners

(5)      Ms Honey continued on the cultural theme, stating that the Council’s UK City of Culture 2017 bid had not been successful.  She said that the bid had been very strong and emphasised that preparation of the bid had created a legacy that would be built on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Mel Anthony, Commissioning & Development Manager, was in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Corporate Director seeking endorsement of, or comments on, the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member to extend the Kent Support and Assistance Service for another year.

The Cabinet Member introduced the new service, for individuals experiencing crisis, which the Council had taken over from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and explained that it was now delivered differently.  Specifically, cash awards were no longer made, except in certain very limited circumstances.  He reported that this service was established as a one-year pilot with the intention of then procuring for a long term service.  However, there was not considered to be sufficient information available as yet with which to draw up a comprehensive specification for delivery and hence it was proposed that the pilot be extended to collect that information and enable a properly conducted procurement exercise.  

Ms Anthony spoke to the item.  She reported the following information for the Committee:

(i)   That the Council had chosen to not only meet the immediate needs of those presenting by awarding goods and food, rather than money, but was also attempting to identify the cause of the problems being experienced and signpost individuals to services that may help them to avoid further crisis in the future. 

(ii)  She stated that there had been approx 11,000 telephone enquiries in the first five months of the scheme.  The total number of applications received had been 3,483 resulting in 1,817 households receiving 2,921 individual awards.  The remainder had been signposted to other more appropriate services.  Food was the most commonly sought assistance and KCC worked closely with a large supermarket to provide balanced food packages.

(iii)The service had linked with voluntary organisations and other departments and programmes within the council to ensure joined up delivery, 

(iv)That KCC’s delivery was innovative and several other local authorities had been in contact to discuss how things were progressing in Kent with a view to amending their own delivery. 

(v)  The scheme continued to evolve but there had been positive feedback from stakeholders and users and successful outcomes for residents, including one case which she described in more detail. 

Ms Anthony concluded by reiterating the points made by Mr Hill, explaining that in order to allow a robust procurement the Committee was being asked to endorse the proposed decision that the pilot be extended for a further year until 31 March 2015 to allow more evidence to be gathered.  The short time the service had been in place and the fact that it had not been in operation over a winter period meant that the current data was insufficient to allow a properly informed procurement process.

The Committee debated the report received.  A member of the Committee expressed concern about the number of enquiries that were received compared with the number of grants awarded  The Chairman responded that she regarded that as a success of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Graham Rusling, Public Rights of Way and Service Access Manager, was in attendance for this item)

(1)     The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Corporate Director seeking endorsement of, or comments on, the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member to agree the fees to be charged in respect of applications made under The Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens) and Dedicated Highways (Landowner Statements and Declarations) (England) Regulations 2013.

(2)     The Cabinet Member introduced the report stating that a change in regulations meant that the County Council could now charge landowners a fee for processing applications designed to protect landowners’ interests.  In establishing a fee for the administration of applications the County Council could recover its reasonable costs and the Committee’s approval was sought to the scale of fees to be charged

(3)     In response to a question about whether fees were typical Mr Rusling explained that Kent was the first Council to bring forward a decision of this kind.  He would be attending a meeting with colleagues form the south of England later in the week where he would be able to find out more about how other authorities planned to move forward. 

(4)     Members agreed that the fees seemed reasonable and, further to a suggestion on providing an estimate for landowners with a large amount of land, endorsed the proposed decision.  Mr Rusling stated that this was something that could be investigated.

It was RESOLVED that: the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member to introduce fees to be charged in respect to applications made under the Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens) and Dedicated Highways (Landowner Statements and Declarations) (England) Regulations 2013, as set out in the report, be endorsed.

Richard Fitzgerald, Performance Manager, Business Strategy & Support was in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report of the Cabinet Member and Corporate Director detailing the progress by the Directorate against targets set in business plans for Key Performance Indicators.

(1)       Mr Hill introduced the report by congratulating officers on good performance and in particular the improvements reported in the Contact Centre, including the increased number of residents using the website to contact the council.. 

(2)       Mr Fitzgerald informed Members that the Dashboard was a standard report to the Cabinet Committee and this was the first report for the financial year 2013-14.  Members had been consulted on the development of the indicators that would be used this year through the business planning process.  Members who had previously been on the Committee would note that as requested eBooks had been in included in the Libraries section and some data on Troubled Families had also been included which would be expanded as the Programme developed and moved forward. 

The Kent Support and Assistance Service which had been discussed earlier in the meeting would be added to future reports.  This would allow the outcomes of what happened to those people who made a request but did not receive an award to be monitored

(3)       Mr Fitzgerald explained that for the first time Corporate Complaints for the whole Council had been pulled together and transferred to the Communities Directorate.  Each service was still responsible for responding to its own complaints so the indicator was not specifically a reflection of Customer and Communities but of the whole Council.

(4)       Speaking about variance and changes in the indicators Mr Fitzgerald reported that library visits and book issues had been red but the targets had been very ambitious when set.  A more realistic target had been set for this year thus giving a more accurate expectation and better performance results

(5)       Integrated Youth Service indicators had also shown improvement. 

(6)       Officers responded to comments and questions from Members on the Dashboard and the following points were highlighted:-

·                The low input from the Big Society Fund compared with previous years was based on only quarter one figures and were on track to be close to last year’s figures for the full year.

·                That feedback received regarding Commissioned services and service improvement indicators being removed at the behest of central government would be carefully considered.

·                That changes to targets considered to be too high or too low had been, and would continue to be, reported back to the Committee

·                That satisfaction scores would be considered further to establish any trends.  As a general rule dissatisfaction was related to the policy rather than the service received. 

·                Crime figures were tracked quarterly.  If an increase or decrease were shown for two or three quarters this would be considered to form a trend.

(7)       RESOLVED that the report and comments made by Members and Officers be noted.

Jessica Barclay, Commissioning & Development Manager and Gaby Price, Commissioning Officer were in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report providing an overview of substance misuse services commissioned by Kent County Council.

(1)     Ms Honey introduced the report.  She welcomed the opportunity to discuss the service with the Committee as it was a particularly significant service for the Council where spending exceeded £19m.  The services are delivered by commissioned organisations; the Council identified the needs relating to drugs and alcohol across the County and commissioned the necessary services to meet those needs, both for adults and for young people. 

(2)     Ms Honey reported that she was the Chairman of the Drug and Alcohol Board, which was a multi-agency board with representation from the key partners including the Police, Probation and Health as well as internal partners, Education and Specialist Children’s Services.  KDAAT was a high performing team and that they were recognised as such nationally.

(3)     Ms Barclay drew the following information to the attention of the committee:

(i)       That investment was predominately from Public Health with contributions from KCC, the Police and Crime Commissioner and Probation and over 30 methods of intervention being delivered by three providers.  Treatment of offenders was also part of the Kent delivery with treatment services for this group being delivered by a fourth provider.

(ii)      That it was hoped that levels of funding would remain at similar levels despite planned changes for the future delivery of such services.

Drug misuse treatment

(iii)     That just under 25% of the drug users currently accessing the service were currently injecting drugs and this was relevant in terms of preventative work related to the health and well being of users, and control of blood borne viruses.

(iv)     That a significant portion of service users had a dual diagnosis, ie they were also referred to mental health services with issues unrelated to their drug use.

(v)      That the largest cohort of the clients in treatment were white British males in their 20s and 30s. 

(vi)     Many clients had further difficulties, in particular in relation to housing.

Alcohol misuse treatment

(vii)   Alcohol misuse clients showed a similar ethnicity make up to those with drug misuse problems, but were significantly older.  In addition there were more people in this group with a dual diagnosis and more living with their children.

          Prison Services

(viii)  Services in prisons mirrored those in the community.  This group of service users was more ethnically diverse than those being treated in the community.

          General

(ix)     Fewer young people were misusing either drugs or alcohol, owing to a successful education programme allowing young people to make more informed decisions.

(x)      Treatment was based on recovery and abstinence models and included not only the user, but their families. 

(xi)     A pilot has been tested in East Kent based on a payment by results model for the provider and incentivisation models were likely to be rolled out further.  Commissioning in this way ensured that outcomes were the focus of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Jackie Hansen, Finance Business Partner BSS and Jane Gibbons, Principal Accountant - Central Co-ordination Team were in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Director providing budget monitoring information for the first quarter of the 2013/14 financial year.

(1)     Ms Honey stated that the Communities Directorate was projecting a small underspend of £140,000 against its cash limit.  There were two reasons for this variation.  The first was KSAS, as a new service, was projecting a significant underspend against the value of the awards.  Currently the forecast underspend was £592,000 but this could change during the course of the year, especially as future government funding for this scheme was unknown.  A commitment had been made that any underspend for this year would be rolled forward into next year and ring fenced for the scheme. 

(2)     The second reason was in relation to the Contact Centre.  Within the plan for this year a target of £575,000 in savings had been identified, not just from Customer and Communities but through the Channel Shift, which would be covered later on in the agenda.  The savings were expected from across the Council but, due to procurement of systems to implement the transformation, the savings were unlikely to be met this year.  Customer and Communities had agreed to try and find alternative savings to offset this as a one off.  After a balancing exercise was conducted it left the £140,000 underspend reported.

(3)     Officers responded to comments and questions from Members on the projected underspend and reiterated that any underspend this year had been ring fenced for the following year and that this action would require savings to be found elsewhere in order to avoid overspending on the budget.  That the money was not at risk if it was not spent this year.

(4)       RESOLVED that the Revenue and Capital forecast variances from the budget based on the first full quarter’s monitoring be noted.

Dave Shipton, Head of Financial Strategy was in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Director containing for consideration funding estimates for the next four years and implications for KCC’s financial planning.  The report also included information on two key government consultations launched over the summer and the likely timetable for setting the 2014/15 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan

The Chairman introduced Mr Shipton and commented on the scale of the challenge ahead for local government and the further savings that would need to be made owing to impending reductions in funding.

(1)     Mr Shipton reported that owing to the current uncertainties regarding funding the budget consultation, which had gone out in September 2012, would not happen before November this year.  However, he emphasised that it was important to engage early with Cabinet Committees to ensure awareness and encourage debate and discussion.  The new funding arrangements were extremely complicated and although baseline indications provided a good guide, this would not be confirmed until December.

(2)     The paper gave details of the position for 2014-15 and 2015-16.  2014-15 was very much as had been anticipated and published in the Medium Term Financial Plan.  2015-16, however, looked much more challenging than had previously been anticipated with a likely 13% reduction in core funding, although some monies would transfer to new streams delivering programmes such as “Troubled Families’.

(3)     The Chairman asked Mr Shipton to expand on the thinking behind New Homes Bonus (NHB) and money transferring to the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).  Mr Shipton explained that this would be applied to all tiers of local government and that the government was committed to moving £400m from the NHB budget, a 35% reduction, with consultation taking place regarding how this 35% reduction was split between contributions from the upper tier and lower tier authorities .

(4)     If KCC lost all its NHB monies this would result in an estimated £8m loss by 2015-16 whereas a pro rata share would mean an estimated £2.83m loss.  The consultation was due to close the day after the meeting and indications were that a number of people had responded negatively to the suggestion, claiming that the government should rethink the principle of top slicing the NHB.  It had only been introduced two years before as a way of incentivising local authorities to grant planning for new homes and the possibility of such a substantial change after such as short time and when many authorities, including Kent, had entered into commitments with NHB monies raised concerns about future spending plans.

(6)     Comments and questions were received from Members and the following points were highlighted:-

·                The current NHB was used to fund general services but for the future it had been earmarked for specific developments in the Thames Gateway, namely for transport and infrastructure improvements. 

·                That the Committee was welcome to receive a list of statutory duties should it wish but that it might not be as helpful as desired as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Steve Terry, Emergency Planning Manager and Tony Harwood, Senior Emergency Planning Officer were in attendance for this item)

 The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Director detailing the Council and its partners response to the Ash Dieback outbreak

(1)     The Chairman introduced the report stating that Kent was leading the way on this issue.  The Cabinet Committee had previously expressed concern about Ash Dieback (Chalara fraxinea) particularly where Ash trees grew along public footpaths and highways and the potential problems that could arise from this.  Mr Hill added that Emergency Planning had performed extremely well and to date was taking a national lead on this topic.

(2)     The Ash Dieback outbreak first came to the Council’s attention in the autumn of 2012 and was an ‘emergency’ as defined by the Civil Contingency Act 2004, the statutory piece of legislation which Emergency Planning worked to, and which covered “any situation which threatens serious damage to the environment”. 

(3)     In Denmark 95% of Ash trees had succumbed to infection, not all had died and the disease was being closely monitored.  Kent had the highest number of outbreaks in the open environment in the UK, followed by East Anglia.  There were currently some 45 confirmed infection sites in Kent.  The Forestry Commission believed that Ash Dieback was now endemic in East Kent.

(4)     Emergency Planning had been working with the Forestry Commission and Defra to understand the outbreaks and quantify the risks involved.  Major inroads had been made at both a policy and a political level and Kent had been asked by the Local Government Association to lead on Ash Dieback nationally, in recognition of the work that had been undertaken.

(5)     Mr Harwood explained that the main change since the Committee had been updated at its March meeting was that Kent was now proactively working to manage the outbreak.  When initial news of this pathogenic outbreak had been received, Emergency Planning had been in a reactive phase. Links with Defra had been fostered and strengthened and there were very good working links with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment and Science, Lord De Mauley, in relation to this work. 

(6)     In October a stakeholder event would be held to launch a bespoke Kent Management Plan for the response to Ash Dieback.  The Management Plan would demarcate the main outbreak zones.  Working within these outbreak zones with organisations such as utility companies, the Highways Agency and with arboricultural workers, prescriptive guidance would be laid down regarding bio-security measures. 

(7)     Officers responded to comments and questions from Members on Ash Dieback and the following points were highlighted:-

·                That although the spores may theoretically have blown in from Continental Europe, local spread of the pathogen by human interventions was the focus of biosecurity measures as this was easier to address than airborne spread.  Spread could be slowed by relatively simple measures such as not moving leaf litter or leafy brash.  Potentially infective  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Mr Borrows, Director of Communications and Engagement and Mr Crilley, Director of Customer Services Customer & Communities were in attendance for this item)

(1)     Mr Burrows explained that Channel Shift was about moving people from face to face and telephone contact to conducting business and finding out about the Council’s services and information online.  To this end, the Council’s website was currently undergoing a re-design process to make it more customer-focussed and easier to navigate.

(2)     Mobile access and contact was growing in all sectors, and within all demographics and there had been a 35% increase in access to the Council’s website in the first quarter of this year against the same period last year.

(3)     Mr Crilley gave the following statistics about the number of visits/contacts and the cost of these as an indication of progress made.

(4)     Calls to the Blue Badge scheme in August 2013 had gone down by 44% and online & card payments were currently doubling each month.  This was resulting in more badges being issued, less customer waiting time and increased satisfaction.

(5)     Officers responded to comments and questions from Members on Channel Shift and the following points were highlighted:-

·                Although maximising the focus towards online contact was desirable, members were assured that there would always be other options available to those who wanted it.

·                That the increase in online reporting of highways issues had been the result of a wider publicity campaign than in previous year.  Statistics show that calls were reduced and satisfaction increased as a result.

·                That the Contact Centre currently used 26 different systems to conduct its work, which were not linked or integrated.  It was planned that a more integrated Customer Manager System would be agreed and in place within the next year. 

It was RESOLVED that the information received be noted.

The Chairman, Mrs Hohler, closed the meeting and requested that members bring forward topics of interest for the Deep Dive item before the next agenda setting meeting in December.