Minutes:
(1) The Leader updated the Council on events since the previous meeting.
(2) Mr Carter welcomed the Chancellor of the Exchequers recent announcement of an additional £2 billion for social care across the Country. Kent County Council had received the second largest allocation of £18 million phased over 3 years and guidance was awaited regarding the use of this money. He identified areas in which this money should be invested including increasing capacity and strengthening the care market and delivering support to reduce pressure on hospitals in relation to admissions and discharges. He stated that the Cabinet Member and senior officers would be meeting with care providers across the County to discuss capacity, costs and the recruitment and retention of employees in care provision across the County. He made reference to the role of the enablement service in supporting the timely discharge of patients from hospital.
(3) Mr Carter referred to the Chancellors decision regarding not making changes to National Insurance contributions for the self-employed.
(4) Mr Carter highlighted the “Made in Kent” campaign to encourage businesses to offer more apprenticeships on the basis that training grants for new trainees had removed the age barrier and with the aim of doubling the number of young apprentices. He stated that currently there were 1,000 young people looking for apprenticeships starting in the new academic year.
(5) Mr Carter mentioned the “Keep Kent Clean” campaign and the co-ordination of the efforts of District/ Borough Councils, Town/Parish Councils and Highways England and expressed his thanks to those partners.
(6) Mr Carter referred to the extra half a million pounds for pothole repairs and stated that “Find and Fix” would be launched shortly.
(7) In conclusion Mr Carter referred to current Ofsted inspection of children’s services and expressed the hope that the report would reflect the effort and hard work of staff over the past 7 years to achieve improvements in the service.
(8) Mr Latchford, the Leader of the Opposition, welcomed the increase in government grant for care of the elderly. In relation to delayed discharges from hospital he expressed the view that this was a Central Government responsibility. A strategic approach was needed to address the issue of long term sustainable funding which had been acknowledged by the Chancellor. He referred the Cabinet Member to the successful scheme that had been introduced in Mansfield and Ashfield.
(9) Mr Latchford referred to the new apprenticeship scheme and expressed the hope that this would lead to job creation and learning skills for the future without further cost and pressure on employers.
(10) Mr Latchford welcomed the opportunity that the current Ofsted inspection of Children’s Services provided to showcase the hard work of officers and the Select Committee on Corporate Parenting chaired by Mrs Wiltshire.
(11) Mr Latchford mentioned the reference made by Mr Carter to potholes, and sought an assurance about the quality of repairs.
(12) In conclusion Mr Latchford paid tribute to officers for their dedication, commitment and support of Kent in general and to his group in particular who for the first time in 2013 were the opposition group.
(13) Mr Cowan, Leader of the Labour Group, congratulated the Chairman on the impartial and fair way in which he had Chaired meetings of the County Council.
(14) In relation to the issue of delayed discharges, Mr Cowan agreed that this was a Central Government rather than a Local Government issue. He welcomed the additional government funding for social care but expressed the view that this would not address the shortfall as demographic pressures on the social care system were rapidly increasing. This issue needed to be addressed by a properly funded strategic plan. Mr Cowan referred to the funding inequality between urban metropolitan boroughs and shire counties.
(15) Regarding the apprenticeship levy Mr Cowan emphasised the importance of meeting the governments targets to support economic growth and close the skills gap that the UK had with countries like Germany. He highlighted the particular need for apprenticeships in Thanet and Swale to address the skills gap in those areas.
(16) Mrs Dean, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, also welcomed the additional funding for social care but was disappointed that there had been so little time for implementation. She was pleased that some of this funding would be used to improve the salary of social workers, who carried out a demanding job requiring excellent skills.
(17) In terms of apprenticeships, Mrs Dean stated that she was pleased with the progress of the scheme but questioned whether the wage level for an apprentice was high enough to attract candidates. She also referred to the skills and productivity gap between the UK and other countries and question whether, unless the wage levels of apprenticeships were higher, it would address these issues.
(18) Mrs Dean commended the “Keep Kent Clean” campaign and referred to its success in encouraging the public to support local littler clearance events. She mentioned the need to encourage the Highways Agency to clean up motorway slip roads onto truck roads in the County.
(19) Mr Whybrow, Leader of the Independents Group, thanked the Chairman for the good humoured and fair way that he had presided over the Chamber.
(20) Mr Whybrow referred to the vagaries of central government funding for local government. Whilst welcoming the additional funding for social care he expressed the view that it would have been helpful if this area had been properly funded initially rather than the Government responding to the crisis. He hoped that the awaited guidance would not be too prescriptive. Overall he stated that the Council had done a good job with reducing resources.
(21) In replying to the other Leaders’ comments, Mr Carter referred to the additional money to help and support the most vulnerable which would be available from 1 April 2017. Mr Carter acknowledged the need to find a long term sustainable solution to fund social care services and referred to the Dutch system.
(22) Mr Carter responded to concerns regarding quality control of pothole repairs especially the challenges of carrying out temporary repairs during the winter and explained the quality control that was in place.
(23) Mr Carter referred to comments made on the apprenticeship programme and expressed the view that there should be more higher level apprenticeships such as those in KCC legal and financial services.
(24) In conclusion Mr Carter endorsed what the other leaders had said about Members standing down at the coming election and referred to the hundreds of years of experience that would be leaving the Chamber. He referred to the challenges of the past four years and commended the responsible way in which the Opposition had worked with the Administration to achieve efficiencies to support and improve services. He referred to the way in which Members had collectively contributed to the running of the authority to improve the quality of life for all Kent residents.
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