Minutes:
(1) Mrs S Garton, Head of Corporate Performance, gave a brief introduction to this item.
(2) Mr Hotson stated that concern had been expressed by Members as to why the Annual Plan had not gone to each of the Policy Overview Committees to enable them to make specific comments in relation to their Directorate area. He stated that officers would be looking at the programming Policy Overview Committees to ensure that the Annual Plan could be considered by each of them. He informed Members that the report on the Annual Plan needed to be signed off late tomorrow afternoon and therefore if any Members had any further comments after this meeting they should contact officers directly.
(3) The introduction to the Annual Plan by the Leader and the Chief Executive and the covering report to the plan were tabled.
(3) There was a view from Members cross-party that in relation to monitoring performance it would be helpful to have at least half yearly if not quarterly reports to each of the Policy Overview Committees on their Performance Indicators within the Annual Plan.
(4) The Committee then debated the Plan during which Members asked a range of questions which covered the following topics:-
§ the Kent Agreement and how the targets are set – Mr Minter explained that these were a mixture of national targets and targets that KCC and partners agencies thought should be included, for example, the Criminal Justice Board wanted one of their national targets included so that partners could assist them with it. They had now completed the two year reporting as part of a three year programme and out of the 18 outcomes only one was red. The strength of the Kent Partnership approach was that partners were able to help and support each other in meeting these targets. He stated that all involved had learned a lot which would be very helpful for the target setting for the next Local Area Agreement.
§ The Kent Commitment - It was acknowledged that this was only at an early stage and therefore there was only a small section on it in this years Annual Plan.
§ Apprentices – Members were informed that there were currently 65 apprentices employed by the County Council. The target was 250 and therefore good progress was being made.
§ Regarding the percentage of Pedestrian Crossings with facilities for disabled people, Members were informed that officers considered that the target of 100% was realistic because as part of the routine maintenance programme work measures would be put in that would achieve this target.
§ Kent Agreement - Page 5-13 in relation to the agreement it says “Some success has been achieved in agreeing Freedoms and Flexibilities with government, but, in general, there has not been as much progress as had been hoped for.” Mr Minter explained that Kent was one of the 21 pilots for this type of local agreement. Most pilot authorities asked for one or two freedoms, Kent County Council had asked for 51, which was very aspirational. Some have been achieved such as crime measurement by a more accurate survey, therefore some of these were long term issues which would take time to achieve, some were rejected and some withdrawn. Full details were in the two year report..
§ It was confirmed that the two ticks symbol was the top rating.
(5) In relation to the individual Policy Overview Committee’s meeting to consider the Annual Plan, Mrs Garton explained that due to the tight timescale for the production of the Annual Plan this would mean that the five Committee’s would have to meet over a two day period next June.
(6) In addition to these questions a number of others were asked to which it was agreed that a written reply would be submitted to Members. A copy of the written response/list of questions is attached as an appendix to these Minutes.
(7) The Chairman thanked Members for the constructive and informative debate and congratulated Mrs Garton, Mrs Hill, Mr Fitzgerald and other officers involved with the production of the Annual Plan.
(8) RESOLVED that:-
(a) questions and responses on the Annual Plan be noted;
(b) in future years, the Policy Overview Committees meet individually to consider their directorates’ part of the Annual Plan;
(c) that further consideration be given to performance indicators being submitted to all Policy Overview Committees on at least a half yearly basis.