Minutes:
(1) The Leader stated that Bold Steps for Kent set out the objectives for the county at length and the report later on the agenda detailed the substantive progress made in stormy, challenging times and particularly the enormous ask from central government placed upon local government in removing 30% of the county’s base funding.
(2) He stated that it was the Council’s intention to freeze council tax next year again despite less government money and rising demand for the third consecutive year. He stated that this was dependant on the Government not playing games on formula grant allocation, LACSEG (LocalAuthorityCentralSpend Equivalent Grant) and the Early Intervention Grant. In relation to finance he added finally that the finance team had negotiated the return to date of £38m of the Icelandic money with total recovery expected in the medium term.
(3) Returning to Bold Steps the Leader stated that the Council had certainly delivered on the four ‘P’s – productivity, procurement, partnership and prevention. He stated that the whole organisation has responded magnificently to the challenge of increasing productivity with fewer staff. Staffing numbers had been reduced by 1,500 and saved council tax payers some £50m every year, and the procurement unit had just reported savings of £6.5m.
(4) The Leader stated that the property unit was well on its way to reducing property holding costs by some £10m and to delivering capital receipts over the medium term of £80-90m which would keep the corporate overheads and costs down enabling the delivery of quality front line services against rising demand and freeze council tax for households in Kent.
(5) In relation to front line services, starting with the Administration’s top priority, Children’s Services, the Leader stated that he eagerly awaited the report from OFSTED who in the weeks leading up to the Council meeting had conducted a rigorous ten day, unannounced inspection of Children’s Safeguarding in Kent. Massive efforts had been made to transform and enhance safeguarding practices in Kent.
(6) The Leader stated that in education the county’s young people had delivered the best ever results for 16 years. He said that it was enormously significant and important that Foundation and Key Stage 1 attainment had exceeded the national average for the first time, and it was also significant that the attainment gap for young people on the Free School Meal register was narrowing. He stated that Key Stage 4 results continued to significantly outstrip the national average.
(7) Turning to another of the Council’s top priorities, Supporting Kent Business, the Leader stated that there had been enormous success in delivery as the activity report in Bold Steps for Kent portrayed with the £55m Regional Growth Fund to support the economy in the Thames Gateway and East Kent making KCC the envy of authorities up and down the country. He stated that securing the future of Discovery Park and creating 1000 jobs to date was another example; that setting an environment conducive to business growth had been the Council’s aim and that massive progress had been made towards achieving this.
(8) The Leader stated that in the Highways function improvements had been made, not just in pothole repair but substantial road maintenance going on across the county. The new contractor, Enterprise, was delivering an excellent value for money service and they were well prepared for the winter ahead.
(9) In summing up the Leader said that he would focus on adult social care, public health communities when he talked about progress on Bold Steps for Kent, under the ‘prevention and partnership’ badge. He thanked the staff and wished them all a happy Christmas and peaceful and fruitful new year.
(10) Mrs Dean added her congratulations to the senior management team for the solid progress report on Bold Steps for Kent. She also paid tribute to the staff who she said were exceeding targets against an extremely difficult background and in a situation where, for obvious reasons, morale was not at its best, that staff had paid for the success of the Council with wage freezes and staff cuts.
(11) She said she was rather disappointed Mr Carter had not started his report by congratulating Ann Barnes on her appointment as the new Police and Crime Commissioner who she wished well in a very demanding post, as she was sure all Members did.
(12) In terms of Bold Steps for Kent Mrs Dean said she had reviewed the original and the three major issues and themes of its purpose. The first theme was Rebuilding the Economy, some of the successes of which Mr Carter had raised. Mrs Dean wanted to return to the basics, those of creating jobs. She stated that indicators showed that job creation by the Council was actually running at 2000 less than in the 12 months previous to May this year. This seemed to indicate that although the Council was doing well in terms of recruiting apprenticeships in terms of jobs in the market it was not doing so well.
(13) The second theme was that of Reducing Disadvantage. Mrs Dean stated that although progress had been made in some respects there were many indicators that were actually working in the opposite direction, Members had heard earlier in the meeting of the underperformance of Kent schools for the forth year in succession. She said that this was accompanied by the issuing of SEN statements within 26 weeks, the indicator for which was red; Children’s Social Services, 4 of the 6 indicators were currently red; and the achievement gap for free school meals at Key Stage 4 was red. Mrs Dean listed several other indicators that were also still red and stated that many of our achievements were still underachieved
(14) Mr Cowan congratulated the Chairman on the DVD shown earlier in the meeting. He said that it was right to take on board the greatness of the Games and the Paralympics but that he was not so sure about the legacy and how much the county would get out of it; the Open Golf at Sandwich had left little in its wake and he hoped this would not be the case with the Olympics.
(15) He also offered his congratulations to all staff, from the bottom to the top, for the services they provided and the warm welcome and the help they give Members to fulfil their role despite the cuts across the Council.
(16) Mr Cowan turned to the budget consultation and expressed his thanks to those who had taken the time to respond. He said that he thought it was the most important budget the Council would debate for many a year. He said that to cut £18m from the adult social care budget due to a growing population who are living longer and the need to reduce budgets while still providing a sustainable service through transformation was a big decision and if these cuts could not be made to work, and Mr Cowan did not believe it could, the Council would pay dearly for this mistake. He spoke of the cuts to the Looked After Children’s (LAC) budget of £5.3m and the Children’s Services budget of £3m and said that cuts like this were hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.
(17) Finally Mr Cowan spoke about education stating that the Leader always focussed on the good news and refused to admit when there was anything bad to report. The Scrutiny Committee had congratulated everybody on the achievements that had been made but that no one could escape that 140th out of 150 was not good.
(18) In his response the Leader stated that he was glad that Mrs Dean had recognised many of the successes he had mentioned in his speech and he was sure she would be interested to know he had sent a personal letter to Ms Barnes congratulating her on her appointment and how he looked forward to the County Council working with her.
(19) He stated that, in response to job creation, he looked forward to assessing the new unemployment figures that had just been published and what it would mean for Kent. He also touched on partnership working on the troubled families agenda, something he wanted to dwell more on in the Bold Steps for Kent item on the agenda. The Leader stated that in relation to education there was no complacency. He said there was a need to reflect again, looking at disadvantage, on the enormous challenge our schools faced, particularly in the east of the county.
(20) In response to Mr Cowan the Leader stated that everybody recognised that the pound in everybody’s pocket was shrinking and the Council would do everything it could to give a third continuous year of council tax freeze.