Minutes:
Mr Watkins, Cabinet member for Adult Social Care and Public Health), provided an update on the following:
(a) Three public consultations were due to be launched in the coming weeks:
· New Non-residential Care Home Charging
· The Future of Blackburn Lodge on the Isle of Sheppey
· Voluntary Sector Grant Funding
(b) A number of campaigns were due to launch in the coming weeks:
· Dry January
· Healthy Weight Services
· Release the Pressure - Mental Health
2. Mrs Chandler, Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services provided an update on the following:
(a) The High Court decision at the end of November 2023 determined that the Home Secretary has acted unlawfully and vindicated the actions that Kent County Council (KCC) had taken. The ruling found that the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) and the management of the scheme was inadequate, and for large periods of time unlawful; the Home Office received instruction to remedy the issues and create a NTS that worked both fairly and sustainably in the future. In particular, Mr Justice Chamberlain stated that the approach taken by the Home Office in the management of the NTS had been unreasonably slow and unlawful in the period December 2021 to 7th July 2023. The judgement was well received by KCC and confirmed that the Judicial Review brought against the Home Office regarding the management of the NTS, was the correct course of action. The Council had been in discussion with the Home Office regarding the funding required to ensure sufficient reception accommodation for all new UASC arrivals and several possible sites had been identified across the county, with local residents informed.
(b) England’s first Kinship Care Strategy was launched by Government and from April 2024 Kent County Council would be creating a new Kinship Care Service through the utilisation of existing staff within the fostering and district teams. The Kinship Care Strategy aimed to better support kinship carers - grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and wider family networks – who provide homes to children who can no longer live with their parents. The newly created service provided by the Council would attend family group conferences to meet with and assess potential carers, manage urgent entries into care, manage referrals into the Front Door that were subject to Special Guardianship Orders and would provide wider support to identify alternative measures of care that would minimise the need for extensive child protection measures and legal interventions. Section 17 funding would be utilised to support the new arrangements and the service would be closely monitored to review the impact that the formation of the service would have on improving the outcomes of vulnerable children and young people.
(c) ‘Any of Us’, a short fostering film project supported, and part funded by Kent County Council won two prestigious awards for the ‘Best collaboration’ and Best Creative Comms’ categories at the comms2point0 UnAwards which recognises excellence in public sector communications. The short film aimed to encourage people from backgrounds to consider becoming a foster carer for their local authority. A number of information sessions are held throughout the year with the next online session due to take place online at 7:00pm on Wednesday 10th January. Further information could be accessed via the website: Events - Kent Fostering
3. Mr Love, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, provided an update on the following:
(a) Congratulations were offered to the students and staff at the Northfleet Technical College who picked up the Zayed Sustainability Prize at the COP28 summit, winning £1180,000 for their onsite apiary business.
(b) Following a number of successful SEND Roadshows in 2023, the next event is due to take place on 18th January in the Dover district. Details of upcoming events are communicated via the SEND newsletter which is available on the Council website. Further sessions were planned throughout the year as part of the Council’s commitment to improving SEND services for Kent families.
(c) A competition was held amongst Kent Primary Schools to design a Christmas Card, with the winning design created into a digital card for circulation by Mr Love. The winner was a student from St Stephens Primary School in Canterbury. Mr Love visited the school on 12th December and had the pleasure of meeting the winning student in person, who assisted Mr Love on a tour of the school where he met a number of staff and pupils taking part in Christmas activities. Mr Love concluded the visit with both the school Headteacher and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aspire Academy Trust.
4. Mr Hills, Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment, Provided an update on the following:
(a) Plan Tree had delivered the plantation of 169,313 trees to date and had received £1m in grant funding. The planting rate had accelerated above the 50,000 required per year with the onward trajectory indicating that KCC was on target to achieve its 1.5m tree ambition by 2045.
(b) From October 2023, the Kings Hill Solar Park had generated 152,000kw and Bowerhouse II solar park which opened in 2022 had generated 32 million kw, thus making process towards net zero.
5. Mr Thomas, Deputy Cabinet Member for Growth and Economic Development, provided an update on the following:
(a) The Kent and Medway Business Fund (KMBF) had launched in November 2023 and to date had received pre-applications totalling £8m. Work was underway to review the pre-applications with those eligible to proceed onto the next stage contacted in the coming weeks. The eligibility criteria could be found on the Kent and Medway Business Fund website.
6. Mrs Bell, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, provided an update on the following:
(a) on 5th December 2023 the Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company hosted their 25th anniversary gala. Mrs Bell attended the event and watched an exert from the company’s show ‘Alice’ which was due to go on tour shortly. Mrs Bell paid tribute to the incredible performance and talent of the dancers.
(b) On 7th December 2023, Kent County Council hosted the John Downton awards for young artists from local schools. The quality of work entered for the competition was outstanding and was on exhibition within the Stone Hall at Sessions House. A number of pieces were due to be on show at the Turner Contemporary. The event provided an opportunity to both recognise and celebrate the talent that exists among the young people of Kent; and remind them of the opportunities available within the creative arts industry, one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK which contributed over £100bn each year and employed 2.3m people.
(c) The Kent Films Office help to facilitate a number of television series that were shot in and around Kent, including:
· Call the Midwife – filmed at Chatham Dockyard
· The Crown Season 6 – filmed at Discovery Park, Rochester and Cobham School
· The Serial Killers Wife – filmed at Saltwood in Folkestone and various locations within Dover
· Mr Bates Vs The Post Office - - filmed in Folkestone, Westerham and Plaxtol
7. Mr Oakford, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, provided an update on the following:
(a) The Human Resources and Organisational Development (HROD) team alongside Kent Supported Employment and Kent Special Schools had worked in collaboration to develop a programme which supported students in gaining experience in the workplace and had started to implement supported internships through Special Schools.
(b) Internal communications had carried out a number of actions, including, but not limited to:
· The migration of Knet onto a new platform which was more robust and offered better functionality.
· The 2023 staff surveys, which had a participation rate of 4561 responses (47% of staff)
· Provided communications and engagement support to the Kent Communities and Family Hubs Programme
· The launch of a manager mini series to reflect the change of management style required for staff to align with the Council’s new ways of working. Training programmes were in development.
(c) Within Learning and Development 25 staff had completed levels 3 and 5 of the Chartered Management Institute programme with 24 awarded distinction.
(d) The first cohort of Social Work apprenticeships graduated in the autumn and created 21 newly qualified Social Workers, with a second cohort due to start the course in the new year, of which 32 had enrolled.
(e) The Infrastructure team were responsible for the management of 885 tenancies across the Council’s estate portfolio, of which 80 were negotiated this year. From April 2023 to December 2023, the Council collected £3.4m in rent from income produced in tenancies and by year end would have invoiced circa £4.8m of income from the Council’s estate. Kent County Council were on target to generate £16m of capital receipts from disposals for the year 2023-2024, and over £10m of that had already been deposited, despite properties being removed from the programme to support the Council’s response to unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking children and the need for reception accommodation.
(g) The Council had delivered a number of school expansions which created places for 692 pupils. Throughout 2024, further expansions and new schools were expected, creating an additional 650 places for students. There were also three Specialist Resource Provisions that were being developed within mainstream settings, which included Garlinge Primary School, St Nicholas satellite provision at Parkside Primary School and the modernisation of Herne Bay Infant School.
(h) The Kent Estate Partnership Team had supported the most successful round of brown field land release funding. The round was submitted in March 2023 and had been awarded £7.6m for nine projects delivered by six councils.