Agenda item

Mr C T Wells, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Educational Achievement and Mr C MacLean, Head of Community Planning, will attend the meeting from 11:00 am to 11:30 am to answer Members’ questions on this item.

(1)       The Committee welcomed Mr P B Carter, Leader of the Council, Mr P Moore, Corporate Director, Thanet District Council (TDC) and Mr C Maclean, Head of Partnerships (interim) to the meeting for this item.

(2)       The Committee noted that the Working Neighbourhoods Fund was announced as part of the provisional Local Government Finance settlement towards the end of last year and is designed as a new dedicated fund for local Councils and communities to develop community-led approaches to getting people back to work in the most deprived local areas of England. It replaced the existing Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) and incorporates the Department of Work and Pensions Deprived Areas Fund (DAF).

(3)       Mr Carter began by stating that this was excellent news for the people of Thanet and that the funding would lay a foundation for effective partnership working to tackle work readiness and improve aspirations, particularly amongst some groups of young people in Thanet. Mr Moore echoed the introductory comments of the Leader, adding that TDC had committed a further £90,000 of Community Cohesion monies for each of the next three years, which would result in a total fund of just over £4.3m. Mr Moore added that the grant had already started to be paid by central Government, at a rate of £100,000 per month.

(4)       Mr Moore stated that TDC’s plans for the utilisation of the grant monies were at an early stage. However, there were some 12,000 people in Thanet in receipt of benefits, representing some 17% of the total population of Thanet. The figure of 12,000 comprised mainly incapacity benefit (approximately 6,000 claimants), job seekers (approximately 2,300 claimants) and lone parents (approximately 2,000 claimants). Mr Moore added that most of the claimants lived in one of the 7 or 8 most deprived electoral wards in the District, some of which were also amongst the most deprived wards in the Country.  The Working Neighbourhood Fund represented a fantastic opportunity to address some of the challenges faced by claimants and other groups of people experiencing difficulties in gaining access to work, training or education.

(5)       Mr Moore spoke about the likely key result areas that the WNF funding would tackle: Securing jobs; Signposting advice; Removing barriers to work; and promoting a culture of work. He gave brief details about the possible work streams in each of these areas.

(6)       Mr Carter spoke about the generational change required being a tougher nut to crack. He added that raising the expectations of the 16-24 year old age group and the expansion of the apprenticeship scheme would be crucial success areas. With regard to the latter point, Mr Carter commented that he wanted to see the number of apprenticeships being offered within KCC treble in the future and that the Council’s role in persuading other key public sector partners to expand their own apprenticeship schemes was also an important factor. Mr Carter stated that the aims of the strategy for the WNF needed to be clear, in terms of seeing a significant reduction in the number of young people aged 16 to 24 in receipt of benefits and a target of zero for people not in education, employment or training (NEET) by the end of the 3 year grant period.

(7)       Mrs Rowbotham warned against too much of the grant money being soaked up in bureaucracy and administration costs. Mr Moore agreed with this point, adding that it would be important to prioritise the programme and do a small number of specific projects well rather than to try to tackle everything.

(8)       Mr Daley suggested that, given the downturn in the construction industry, perhaps skilled but currently out of work people could turn their hand to teaching young people their professions, such as bricklaying, plumbing etc. Mr Carter stated that construction activity in Thanet over the coming years was looking quite good, with a number of BSF projects, the East Kent Access Road, phase 2, the Turner Contemporary and Kent International Airport. He agreed that Mr Daley’s suggestion should be pursued.

(9)       Mr Hibberd spoke about the importance of the Thanet Earth project to the rural community in Thanet in terms of supporting one of the area’s primary industries.

(10)     Mr Cowan stated that the announcement from the Government of new Working Neighbourhood Funding for Thanet was excellent news, but he warned against KCC being too dominant in saying how the funds should be spent.  He stressed that, whilst he appreciated the role of the wider partnerships in the County, this was Thanet’s money, to be spent on people living in Thanet, especially those living in deprived areas and for young people trying to gain access to training and jobs in the local area.

(11)     Mr Carter spoke about the work that KCC were doing that would complement the WNF strategy being developed by KCC. Specifically, he mentioned the KA2 targets on NEETs, the long-term unemployed and welfare reduction, which was being tackled through the Kent Partnership; and the expanded skills programmes, especially in the 14 to 16 year old age group. In response to a question from the Chairman, Mr Carter stated that he had asked the 14-24 Unit to consider how to add value to the existing work that would help supplement and support the work that would be tackled in Thanet through the WNF strategy and, in that regard, had written to the Leader and Chief Executive of Thanet District Council.

(12)     Mr Moore stated that TDC could not deliver the entire agenda alone and that the WNF funding had to be seen as energizing the partnership organisations in Kent to tackle these challenging issues. He added that a draft strategy was being reported to TDC’s Cabinet on 7 August.

(13)     Mr Law stated that, whilst a great deal of effort needed to be made with the 14-24 age group, it was also important to look at literacy and numeracy skills at Key Stage 1 and 2. Mr Carter agreed that it was important to continue to focus on this, particularly at Primary School level. He also spoke about the increasing number of people leaving school without the basic entry level qualifications for Further Education colleges, which also needed addressing.

(14)     Mr Hart stated that he represented one of the most deprived areas of Thanet, adding that it was the responsibility of all authorities and agencies to ensure that all of these challenges were achieved.

(15)     RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Mr Carter, Mr Moore and Mr Maclean be thanked for attending the meeting to answer Members’ questions;

(b)       the Committee welcomes the additional monies being invested in Thanet through the Working Neighbourhood Fund

(c)        the Committee is of the view that the key to the delivery of a successful programme is having clear objectives that are closely monitored to ensure ultimate success and asks, therefore, that regular progress reports are prepared and submitted to the relevant Policy Overview Committees, commenting on the impact of the WNF strategy and partner contributions

At this stage in the meeting, the Chairman stated that he proposed to move item F2 (Contract involving KCC in the management of motorways and trunk roads in Kent Surrey and Sussex), from the exempt to the public side of the agenda, following comments made prior to the meeting by a number of Members that a discussion about the key principles in open session was desirable. Mr Sass advised that a public version of the report of the Managing Director Environment and Regeneration had been prepared, but that the business case that had also been circulated with the agenda papers remained exempt and should not be discussed in open session by Members. Mr Ferrin and Mr Mee confirmed that they were content to discuss the key principles of the proposed contract in open session.