Minutes:
(1) The Leader updated the Council on events since the previous meeting.
(2) Mr Gough said the Strategic Statement (Item 9) and the development of the Kent & Medway Integrated Care System (Item 11), which would have normally formed part of his report, were later items on the agenda. He also noted that some of the points he planned to address related to points that were raised in Questions (Item 7) earlier in the meeting.
(3) Mr Gough said he was pleased to celebrate Kent Day and said it was appropriate that, the day before, so many people had gathered in Canterbury Cathedral for a service in celebration of the life of the former Chairman of the Council, Mrs Ann Allen. He said it was a great occasion and expressed his gratitude to the Civic Office for their organisation of the event. He said it was a privilege to share the celebration with Mrs Allen’s family and expressed his gratitude, on behalf of himself and Members, for having been part of the celebration.
(4) Mr Gough referred to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and said the Council was one of the first authorities in the country to waive road closure fees to facilitate street parties. He said the Council had received 595 street party applications of which 575 had been approved. He said details of additional activities due to take place to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee were available on the Council’s website.
(5) Mr Gough said the Council continued to be extremely active on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme and said 3,106 applications from Ukrainian nationals had been matched to 1,255 sponsors in Kent. He said the County, District and Borough Councils were working hard to complete the relevant checks and he recognised the strain on capacity this was having. 1,272 of the £200 welcome payments had been made so far to Ukrainian guests and the first batch of £350 thank you payments was being made at the end of May 2022. Mr Gough commended the significant response that had been seen by the county and by public authorities in responding to the crisis. Mr Gough noted the growing pressures of rematching and in year school admissions and recognised the efforts of the Council in building up capacity and seeking to respond rapidly. Mr Gough said the Council had received nearly 6,500 expressions of interest to host Ukrainian guests from Kent households and acknowledged this could amount to, for example, 4,500 children entering the school system. Mr Gough said, alongside the Ukrainian crisis, the Council faced additional major changes and issues including the Asylum Dispersal System and the continuation of the Afghan Relocation Service.
(6) Mr Gough said inflation and the economic crisis continued to be a major risk to the Council and there would be a continued focus on financial reporting and the monitoring of budget plans. Mr Gough recognised the pressure of the economic crisis on residents and reiterated the point he made in response to a Member’s earlier question about focusing on both immediate and sustained long term support.
(7) Mr Gough said it had recently been confirmed by the Kent Resilience Forum that Operation Brock would remain in place until after the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend. Mr Gough acknowledged that Operation Brock was a traffic management system which sought to deal with something much deeper than a traffic management problem. Mr Gough said the issue required a comprehensive approach which recognised it as national infrastructure and a national issue, and this would be taken up with central government.
(8) Mr Gough said the Queen’s Speech on 10 May 2022 included several bills of considerable importance to the Council and included The Levelling up and Regeneration Bill. He acknowledged the importance of the infrastructure levy and said the detail would be seen in the regulations. He said it was a critical issue for the Council and played an important part in the Council’s Strategic Statement.
(9) Mr Gough said the Schools Bill encouraged schools to become academies and to join multi academy trusts. Mr Gough said this remained an important area for the Council and Mrs Shellina Prendergast, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, and Ms Christine McInnes, Director of Education, had engaged directly with the Department for Education. He said the Schools Bill was part of a set of wider initiatives across education, including the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) green paper and ongoing reform in the areas of skills, qualifications and post 16 education. He said on 28 April 2022 the Council launched its 16-19 Review and Action Plan which linked in with the Council’s commitment to work with partners to ensure a better set of options for the young people of Kent. Mr Gough also noted the importance of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, chaired by Josh McAllister and published on 23 May 2022, and said in many ways the programme for change reflected the Council’s existing focus and priorities including Early Help and the development of the Family Hubs Model.
(10) Mr Gough said the adult social care reforms set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper continued to highlight significant concerns in relation to the adequacy of central government’s financial support, which he said had the potential to destabilise both the Council’s finances and the provider market. Mr Gough said Mrs Clair Bell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, and he had written to Kent MPs setting out the Council’s concerns and asking for their support.
(11) Mr Gough said he and Miss Susan Carey, Cabinet Member for Environment, had joined the Chairman for the opening of the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Allington and commended those involved in achieving the award. He said the Amelia Scott building in Tunbridge Wells opened on 28 April 2022 and combined a museum, art gallery, library, registration service and adult education service, and was an impressive piece of joint working between the Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. He said funding had also been secured through the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and Mr Gough paid tribute to the work of Mr Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, and his team on the completion of the project.
(12) The Leader concluded his report by saying this remained a time of intense activity and although he had tried to cover a large amount, there would be further matters to address in items later in the agenda.
(13) The Leader of the Labour Group, Dr Sullivan, responded. She wished Members a happy Kent Day, Her Majesty the Queen a happy Platinum Jubilee, and all the people in Kent who were taking part in street party celebrations an enjoyable day. Dr Sullivan echoed the comments made by the Leader and the Chairman regarding the service of thanksgiving for Mrs Allen and said she felt it was very beautiful and fitting for someone who had given so much of her life to public service. Dr Sullivan thanked the staff involved for organising the event.
(14) Dr Sullivan referred to the cost-of-living crisis and criticised central government’s allocation of narrow criteria, tight deadlines, limitations to funding and increased data reporting. She felt this was not the way local government should be run in terms of providing help to communities and said central government should be called upon to fully fund local government and allow the Council to decide on how best to deliver support to the county. Dr Sullivan stressed the importance of providing a universal preventative approach and referred to the increased numbers of children living in poverty. She questioned why families, who had never lived in poverty before, should have to wait to be determined as vulnerable before they received support. She said many families had never had to choose between heating and eating before and there were many with more than one job. Dr Sullivan said the problem was exasperated for families on fixed incomes such as pensioners, and she asked for long term sustainable funding to be brought back to local government.
(15) Dr Sullivan joined the Chairman in expressing her outrage and support for the Ukrainian crisis. She said she was heartened to see the support offered by Kent residents and noted the fantastic spirt of Kent residents wishing to host Ukrainian refugees. Dr Sullivan said many people had had their lives turned upside down by the loss of family members, communities, and homes. She hoped that further support would be provided by central government to support the refugees who had arrived in Kent.
(16) Dr Sullivan said, in relation to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, she was disheartened that central government wanted to create another layer of bureaucracy further removed from local people. She said it was disheartening to see that combined authorities, or an elected mayor or governor, were an option and welcomed further devolution on a local level. Dr Sullivan welcomed the infrastructure levy and agreed with the Leader that further detail was necessary. She said money for the immediate vicinity of the development took priority over that of the wider community.
(17) Dr Sullivan referred to the Schools Bill and said she was pleased to see the step back towards more local government control of the education system. She was pleased to hear that the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills and the Director of Education were engaging with the Department for Education.
(18) Dr Sullivan agreed with the Leader that Operation Brock was a national problem which affected the county of Kent on a local level and noted the importance of ensuring that the national ports’ trade infrastructure needs were met.
(19) Mr Hook, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, thanked everyone involved for the moving and fitting service for Mrs Ann Allen, and commended the tribute given at the service by Mr Kite.
(20) Referring to the cost-of-living crisis Mr Hook said this was perhaps the biggest issue that currently faced families in Kent. Mr Hook asked the Leader and the Conservative Group to consider the introduction of a windfall tax on energy companies and suggested Value Added Tax (VAT) be cut by 2.5%. He said this could save the average family £600 per year.
(21) Mr Hook said it had been fantastic to see the warmth and generosity of Kent families supporting Ukrainian refugees and said Ukrainian refugees who wished to stay after the war would be welcomed as part of the richly diverse society in Kent. Mr Hook endorsed what was said by the Minister of State, Lord Richard Harrington, who had called for the scheme to be widened to people displaced by other conflicts.
(22) Mr Hook referred to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, and the issue of local government reorganisation, and suggested more power and resources to fill obligations be devolved from central government to a local level. He said those obligations should be decided by the democratic priorities of local people and he hoped there would be unity in resisting the idea of a directly elected mayor or governor. Mr Hook said power was better exercised by an assembly of elected councillors and a constitutional convention would bring together all civil society to form devolution on their terms.
(23) Mr Hook said Operation Brock was a total disaster and had resulted in queues of 25 miles and humanitarian relief organisations providing support to stranded drivers. Mr Hook said hard right politicians in central government who talked about Brexit and Singapore on Sea had led P&O to make the job redundancies. He said Operation Brock was also driven by the extra paperwork, caused by Brexit, needed by exporters and importers. He said Switzerland and Norway did not have these problems at the borders because they had the European Economic Area Agreement, and said Operation Brock was due to Brexit.
(24) Mr Hook referred to the Schools Bill and said it was a centralisation of power in government that had been condemned by Ken Baker and Estelle Morris and was the very opposite of the localism needed.
(25) Mr Hook said World Environment Day would be celebrated on 5 June 2022 and noted there would be terrible consequences if net zero was not achieved. Mr Hook referred to PRIDE month in June 2022 and said he hoped the PRIDE flag would be flown over County Hall and Members would support PRIDE events in their divisions.
(26) Mr Stepto, Leader of the Green and Independent Group, responded to the Leader’s report. He said, in reference to the cost-of-living crisis, that more than 2.1 million people had been forced to turn to food banks over the past year and the hike in energy prices had meant families were having to choose between heating and eating. Mr Stepto referred to the increased cost of private renting and the shortage of affordable homes and social housing, and the effect it would have on communities and young people wishing to rent or buy. Mr Stepto suggested that the government reversed the £20 cut to Universal Credit, a windfall tax be applied to energy companies, and authorities provided support to retrofit and refurbish homes to make them more energy efficient and cheaper to run.
(27) Mr Stepto said he had had the privilege of meeting some of the Ukrainian refugee families who had recently arrived in Tonbridge, and he was proud of the kindness of the host families and the organisations, including the Council, who were supporting them.
(28) Mr Stepto referred to the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill and welcomed the devolution of powers from central government. However, he said he understood that the Bill included clauses which allowed, through secondary legislation, the creation of new parts of the planning system and said this would reduce scrutiny and may have a fundamental impact on community rights. Mr Stepto said the Bill also lacked transparency due to the failure to consolidate planning law over the past 32 years, and the Bill contained amendments to amendments on the amendments. Mr Stepto said there were no new measures to address climate change nor were there measures that might enable communities to deal with the cost of living crisis. Mr Stepto welcomed the infrastructure levy and the change to the current system and commended the aim to enhance the transparency of developer contributions and to reduce complexity and uncertainty.
(29) Mr Stepto said he was disappointed at the plan in the Schools Bill to turn all schools into academies by 2030. He said there was no sound research evidence to support the claim that academies produced better outcomes than local authority schools. However, Mr Stepto welcomed the proposal that councils should be allowed to set up their own multi academy trusts but noted the downside of this could mean increased targets, a longer school week, more testing and more Ofsted visits, which would all add to teachers’ workloads.
(30) Mr Stepto said, according to the Local Government Association (LGA), the proposals set out in the SEND green paper would help improve the way that SEND support was delivered. He said this was encouraging for Kent given the rise in numbers of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) in the county. He questioned whether the paper addressed the current lack of funding and training, the shortage of Teaching Assistants and support staff, and the unaffordability of nursery care for many families.
(31) Mr Stepto said, his colleague Mr Mark Hood, attended the visit to Allington Household Waste Recycling Centre and was impressed by the intention to incorporate a re-use site in the future. Mr Stepto said a repair café in Tonbridge had recently been established that helped people extend the life of household goods.
(32) Lastly, Mr Stepto said he was pleased to note the opening of the Amelia Scott in Tunbridge Wells and said it was the kind of energy efficient civic centre building he would like to see across Kent. He noted that Amelia Scott was a suffragist who participated in the types of demonstrations which the Police Bill aimed to criminalise.
(33) The Leader thanked the group leaders for their comments and said he felt there was agreement between them on several issues. Mr Gough recognised the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis and the scale of the challenge, and said it was something which had been growing for a long time. He referred to the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic which saw the sudden increase in universal credit demand and people losing their jobs or being furloughed. Mr Gough said the Ukrainian crisis caused inflation to become a more significant problem, and increased food and energy prices pushed the cost-of-living crisis to a much higher level. Mr Gough acknowledged Dr Sullivan’s point regarding support for pensioners and said an element of the Household Support Grant was focused on supporting pensioners, and the Council had sought, over the last couple of years, to ensure pensioners were claiming the pension credit to which they were entitled.
(34) Mr Gough said that the group leaders were all in agreement with the county’s positive response to the Ukrainian crisis. He recognised the pressures of recruitment to ensure capacity for carrying out checks and to deliver support as effectively as possible. He commended the commitment of the Minister of State, Lord Richard Harrington, and Mr Gough said he recognised the scale of work that was required, and he would continue to push for what was of greatest concern to the Council.
(35) Mr Gough responded to points made regarding the Schools Bill and said he thought there was an aspiration for schools to become academies. He said there was a big focus on schools joining multi academy trusts and when schools joined together effectively, they could be very strong and deliver well. He noted it was not as easily done as had sometimes been suggested and the effectiveness of multi academy trusts was critical to address. Mr Gough agreed with Mr Stepto, that there were welcome elements in the SEND green paper but questioned whether it was an overall solution to the problem. He said it was important the Council continued, as agreed at a recent Cabinet meeting, to address SEND issues within the county.
(36) Mr Gough responded to points made about the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, and the role of county deals, and said he recognised the importance of continuing conversations with central government regarding Kent’s specific needs and said some of that would be addressed later under Item 7 (Strategic Statement).
(37) Finally, Mr Gough responded to points made on the infrastructure levy and agreed that the details of the regulations would have a big impact on the county. He said that the key questions were whether it would raise more money than the existing structure, particularly the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), and how closely the infrastructure delivery strategies would link to what had been spent on local infrastructure from the levy. He said he felt this was something that would need to be pushed extremely hard in the weeks and months to come.
(38) RESOLVED that the Leader’s update be noted.