Agenda item

1) The Leader read Mrs Bell’s update:

Informed by a range of engagement events and co-production workshops earlier in the year, formal consultation on the newAdult Social Care Strategy 2022 - 2027 ran between 13 October and 24 October. The person-centred strategy summarises how it was planned to make changes over the coming years, focussed on putting the person first, improving and innovating across services, and measuring what matters. Contributions to the consultation were being evaluated and reviewed. A report on the feedback and the updated strategy was to be discussed at the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee on 1 December.

Sunday 10 October was World Mental Health Day and to mark the occasion this year, KCC’s Public Health team launched the Kent and Medway Listens project. The project aimed to uncover and explore the issues that were impacting on the mental health and wellbeing of communities across Kent and to create a multi-agency action plan. Contributions to the project could be made at  www.kent.gov.uk/kentandmedwaylistens

Congratulations were given to the KCC Public Health team whose suicide prevention programme won the Suicide Prevention Services category at the recent National Mental Health Awards. This was a remarkable achievement and was testimony to the approach adopted in Kent which highlights initiatives to encourage multi-agency working.

Mrs Bell was delighted by the success of the Rethink Partners organisation who gainednational recognition at the HealthTech Awards in September by winning the Major Project Go Live category. Rethink Partners together with Alcove delivered a £1.5million digital care project “Kara” on behalf of the council last year. By the end of July 2020, they had successfully equipped over 1,700 vulnerable and digitally disadvantaged adults in Kent with video ‘carephones’, so that they could talk to friends, family, carers and other professionals, via video, when they were unable to meet due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Princess Christian’s Farmin Hildenborough was to stay open under new management. A new provider, KASBAH (Kent Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus), had been awarded the contract to provide services to disabled people at the farm and they were to take over management of the service on 1 November. Thanks were given to those using the farm and their families. KCC had gone through the process of engaging a new provider and it was acknowledged it had been a worrying and unsettling time for many people. It was felt that Princess Christian's would go from strength to strength under its new management and Mrs Bell was looking forward to visiting the farm in the near future.

2) Mrs Chandler said that earlier in October, KCC had provided oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Committees inquiry into Children in Poverty: No Recourse to Public Funds, giving an account of Kent’s experience of assisting children and families subject to NRPF conditions, particularly those who were born in the UK. Kent’s evidence was presented by the Assistant Director for Integrated Children’s Services. The key areas addressed included discretionary welfare payments, the Household Support Fund and the challenges presented on how KCC would support NRPF through this fund. The burden placed on KCC’s Care Leavers was also addressed. Thanks were given to Penny Ademuyiwa, Assistant Director, for representing Kent County Council at the Select Committee and Mrs Chandler was looking forward to the seeing the outcome of that piece of work carried out by the Work and Pensions Committee.

It was National Carers Week and there were posts on KNet and on KCC’s social media pages which shared the views and experiences of our apprentices within the 18+ Care Leavers Service. A survey had been sent out to all the young adults KCC supported, to get feedback on their experiences. KCC needed to ensure that the utmost was being done to support young people in achieving the best possible outcomes as they move into independence.

On 1 November, it was the Regional Adoption Agency’s 1st Birthday. Adoption Partnership South East (APSE) was committed to timely decisions regarding ‘matching’ and securing permanence for children and during the last 12 months a significant number of adoptive homes for children within the South East had been secured, meaning children were kept close by and offered support directly both before and after the adoption order was granted. Adoption Partnership South East was supporting over 500 adopted children and their families either directly or indirectly and thanks were given to all teams involved, particularly the Participation & Engagement Team whose commitment to this work had been paramount.

The nominations for 2021’s Try Angle awards were open and were to close on 5 November. The Try Angle Awards recognised the outstanding efforts and achievements of young people and groups who really tried their best whether at school, work, college, in business or in their wider community across Kent.

Nominations could be made at the Try Angle Awards website.

Mrs Chandler attended the Kent Fostering, Foster Carer Award ceremony which was held on 13 October at Detling Showground which celebrated the achievements of foster carers and KCC staff for their outstanding contribution to the lives of our children and young people in care. Children, social workers, and other foster carers had put forward a record number of 204 nominations to a panel of judges who presented a total of 41 awards, including outstanding care of children, care of disabled children, keeping brothers and sisters together and permanency. Mrs Chandler expressed her gratitude for all our wonderful foster carers in Kent, and her pleasure in attending the awards to meet them and hear their stories.

Tribute was paid to Ann Allen who also attended the event. Ann worked tirelessly and selflessly as a corporate parent on behalf of Kent’s most vulnerable children for many years and would be missed enormously.

3) Mrs Prendergast said that KCC had welcomed newly appointed headteachers - a first face-to-face meeting of this type since the lockdown. Mrs Chandler and Mrs Prendergast met just under 40 headteachers to talk about their roles and share their appreciation of the vital role head teachers play in the education of our children and young people. As part of a yearlong induction programme for new headteachers, Matt Dunkley – our Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education – the Directors of Education and other key staff shared some useful information about Kent, the education directorate structures, the key services and the wide range of support on offer to schools. The feedback from the headteachers was very positive.

A number of schools had expressed concern that defunding the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme and the individual subjects would have a devastating impact on the provision of post-16 pathways and progression opportunities in schools offering these qualifications.  Flexibility and a variety of pathways were considered important elements for post-16 education in the public sector - the implementation of the Careers Pathway and Diploma subject courses had been a model of collaboration between the County, schools, teachers and the awarding organisation - which was at risk if funding was removed from these programmes.

A joint letter had been sent to the Secretary of State, Nadim Zahawi, stating that whilst it was understood that government policy was to encourage the uptake of T-Levels, it was KCC’s view that a more flexible pathway was still necessary for students who were uncertain of their future intentions at the age of 15/16 and were looking for programmes of study covering multiple pathways.

KCC had continued to offer support to schools around Covid measures to help mitigate the risk of children missing education. As schools returned following half term and in the runup to Christmas, KCC was to provide through various channels, guidance to Headteachers, reminding them about the DfE guidance and encouraging them to continue carrying out their own risk assessments to protect the school community.

4) Mr Brazier said that a Key Decision was to be enacted on 29 October regarding the publication and submission of a pre-settlement funding for Kent’s bus services improvement plan to the Department for Transport (DfT). The Plan described in detail how bus services were to work, how they could be improved and what funding would be required. The funding that was sought was in excess of £200 million and it was not certain when the DFT’s decision would be expected. It would have been convenient if this was before the draft budget was agreed, as the cost of the Kent Travel Saver and Supported buses had been included.

Public Transport has successfully bid to the DfT for £9.5 million funding For Zebra (Zero Emissions Buses Regional Areas) Programme to provide electric buses on the Thameside and future Dover fast-track bus networks.

The Kent Rail Summit was chaired by Mr Brazier on 20 October 2021 which was held online. At the Summit, there were updates on the Southeastern services, a presentation of Southeastern and Network Rail’s improvements to stations in Kent including the new booking offices at Maidstone East and at Swanley. There was also a presentation by C2E, a campaign to extend the Crossrail line from its truncated terminus at Abbey Wood to Dartford, Ebbsfleet and ultimately to Gravesend. The intention was to open up substantial areas of the London Borough of Bexley and north west Kent to growth.  There was a presentation from the Kent Community Rail Partnership regarding work underway to improve services and grow patronage on the lesser used lines in Kent.

Mr Brazier, Mr Murphy and Simon Jones were meeting with district councils, including Tunbridge Wells, Swale and Sevenoaks regarding cooperation, growth and partnership working.

Mr Brazier had visited the Sevington Inland Border Facility to meet Lord Agnew from the Cabinet Office and leaders of the various organisations; HMRC, Border Force, the Department for Transport and DEFRA.

5) Miss Carey said the Kent Downs and Heritage Coast had been selected as the fourth best region in the world to visit in 2022 by Lonely Planet, in their ‘Best in Travel 2022 Guide’.

6) Mr Murphy said that on 15 October, the Broadband Team had given a briefing to Members and 44 Members had attended, with another 5 watching the recording after the event.

The Department of International Trade had announced 8 Kent business leaders and firms as ‘export champions’ as part of a national peer-to-peer network for companies looking to export. The firms were Fudge Kitchen, Kent Crisps, Beck & Pollitzer, TPS Global Logistics, the Great Outdoors Gym Company, AbBaltis and Tenterden Old Dairy Brewery.

The Kent Developers Contributions Team at KCC along with Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and the company, Panattoni had finished Section 106 contribution negotiations which was to allow Panattoni to build up to 1.9 million square million feet of high-quality warehousing and distribution space on the vacant Aylesford newsprint site. Panattoni would also be funding the construction of a £7 million road link. They would also be assisting KCC to upgrade the local bus service for a further 5 years and there would also be a contribution to a cycle scheme. Low and zero carbon technology was to be installed on the site.

The government had announced Levelling Up funding for: Ashford, Thanet and Medway which was total of £48.9 million.

7) Mr Hill said KCC’s Country Parks team was celebrating the news that eight of its parks, one more than previously, had been recognised with the prestigious Green Flag Award. Parks and green spaces across the country were to raise their Green Flag Award with pride in a year when millions of people had seen the value of having great quality green spaces on their doorstep. The Country Parks were Shorne Woods, Lullingstone, Trosley, Teston, Manor Park, Brockhill, Pegwell Bay Country Parks and, new for this year, Grove Ferry Country Park, near Canterbury.

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, recognised and rewarded well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for their management across the United Kingdom and around the world. The eight Kent Country Parks were among the more than 2,000 sites across the country to collect the award for 2021.

?

The official opening of the Shorne Woods Changing Places Facility was on 14 October 2021.  A similar facility was to be opened at Lullingstone and work was being done on getting another facility at a third Country Park.

7) Mr Sweetland said the Communications teams at KCC had been working on a campaign to highlight the ‘twin’ Public Health threats of Covid-19, Flu and other respiratory viruses and bugs.

Residents, staff, and vulnerable groups and individuals would be provided with information and advice on how to avoid Covid-19 and the other respiratory viruses and bugs that were common in cold weather.

KCC had worked with partners, including district councils, Kent Resilience forum and Kent Police to develop an information campaign which could be used to deliver simple, clear messages about what could be done to help stop the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases.  If simple steps were taken, this would significantly reduce the strain on the care and health systems in Kent and Medway over the winter period.

Residents were to be encouraged to wear face coverings when inside public places. Although this was not mandated, it was known that masks helped to protect people from the transmission of airborne disease.  KCC staff were required to wear face coverings when moving around the offices and public buildings as part of KCC’s efforts to keep staff well, ensuring they could continue to deliver services to the public.

The KCC website was to be regularly updated with the latest information on how to stay safe. It was suggested that people meet up outdoors (or opened windows) when joining friends or family to celebrate Halloween, Fireworks Night or other events.

The information campaign was also to highlight the importance of communities working together – wearing face coverings, washing hands regularly, etc – to stop the spread of Covid-19 and protect key workers such as teachers and transport operators.

KCC was taking a number of steps to support Kent residents deal with the pandemic and its aftermath. Vulnerable people who needed access to support were advised to contact the Kent Together helpline on 03000 419292 or to visit the Kent Together page on the KCC website.

8) Mr Oakford said the announcements from the Spending Review had given better news than was expected but it was short of what was needed to offset the current budget pressures within KCC. It was estimated that an additional £20-30 million would come to KCC but there were additional pressures, for example, through the National Insurance increase and the increase in the National Living Wage. The referendum limit for council tax had not been increased. Further work was required to look at the detail of the various government department announcements.