Agenda item

(1)       Mr Hill and Ms Honey updated Members on the issues listed in their report and answered questions from Members:

Launch of Domestic Abuse Website: 28.11.12

(2)    Mr Hill welcomed the launch of the Domestic Abuse Website, referring to the important role that this website would play in providing a confidential way for victims of this hidden crime to get information and be signposted to organisations who could support them.

(3)    Members of the Select Committee on Domestic Abuse also welcomed the launch of this website.  A Member referred to the recent statement made by the new Police & Crime Commissioner suggesting that domestic abuse victims call her office for advice.  He did not consider this to be helpful as her office may not have the resources or knowledge to provide this advice.

Kent Sporting Legends: 30.11.12

(3)    Mr Hill referred to the Kent Sporting Legends event which was the final celebration of the Olympic campaign.  It had been a high quality event with a lot of young people attending and participating.

Kent Library & History Centre: Royal Opening: 11.12.12

(4)    Mr Hill referred to the opening of the Kent Library and History Centre by the Duke of Kent.

Edenbridge Community Centre: Official Launch: 6.3.13

(5)    Mr Hill informed the Committee that the Edenbridge Community Centre had opened its doors on 2 January 2013.  The library was fully functional with other facilities due to come on line in the next few weeks.  The formal opening would take place on 6 March 2013. He had met with partners, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and Social Care, who would be using the Centre and had got a positive response from them about the facilities being provided.

New Head of Commissioned Services

(6)    Ms Honey informed the Committee that Ms Diane Wright had been appointed as Head of Commissioned Services. Ms Wright was very experienced in work relating to Drugs and Alcohol Misuse and Supporting People. 

Troubled Families

(7)    Ms Honey undertook to make sure that fuller report on Troubled Families would be brought to a future meeting of the Committee. The programme had been launched in summer 2012 and was a very ambitious programme with Kent committing to working with 1082 families in the current year, the third highest number in the Country.  The first six months’ work had been focused on the validation and cross referencing of data on the families and work on the governance of this partnership programme. The next phase would be to work with these complex families to make a positive change to their lives.  The family intervention programme was employing 21 family intervention officers and also identifying mentors to work with these families.   

Young People

(8)    Ms Honey reported that she had been to St James’ Palace with Mr Hill to join 60 Kent young people who were receiving the Duke of Edinburgh gold certificate from the Duke of Wessex.  This year there had been 5,000 Kent young people enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, which was a significant number.  She stated that young people felt that the Duke of Edinburgh award was an excellent thing to have on their CV’s.  She expressed her gratitude to Mr Baker and his colleagues for their work to support young people in achieving this award. In relation to the Troubled Families programme it was important that all Kent young people had the opportunity to participate in and achieve this award.

Ash Dieback

(9)       Ms Honey referred to the work that had been carried out by the Emergency Planning Team and Trading Standards with Defra to produce a good Ash Dieback plan for Kent.

(10)     A Member referred to a County Council event that he had attended on Ash Dieback.  At this event the Forestry Commission had been very complimentary about the County Council’s response and had said that this was an exemplar for other authorities.

(11)     Mr Burrows stated that as part of this information campaign, there were a number of pages on Ash Dieback on Kent.gov and there had been a briefing for the media.  There had not been any hard copy printed information produced: all information had been provided via the County Council website.

(12)     It was suggested that an item on the campaign on Ash Dieback be submitted to the March meeting of the Committee.

Young Consumer of the Year

(13)     Ms Honey reported that the Kent Final of this competition would be held on 15 March 2013.  If any Member would like to attend they should contact her office.

(14)     RESOLVED that the update, and any comments made by Members, be noted.