Agenda and minutes

Resolved that the Minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2011 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

– report by Mr John Simmonds  – cabinet member for Finance and Mr Andy Wood, Acting Corporate Director, Finance and Procurement)

(1)       This report was the third full monitoring report to Cabinet for 2010/11.  Mr Simmonds highlighted the main areas of pressure within individual portfolios and reported on the current position with the Capital budget and the re phasing of some projects. Mr Simmonds also reported that the Icelandic Courts had now agreed in their judgement that the County Council was a preferential creditor under Icelandic law. This was a positive judgement but there remained the possibility of an appeal by the bondholders. 

(2)       Following discussion Cabinet Resolved that:

(i)                 the latest monitoring position on the revenue and capital budgets be noted,

(ii)               the changes to revenue cash limits within the CFE portfolio to reflect the directorate restructure, as approved by the County Council in June 2009, and which took effect from 1 October 2010, be agreed

(iii)             agreement be given to the changes related to the capital programme,

(iv)       agreement be given to the re-phasing of £24.919m on the capital programme being moved from 2010-11 capital cash limits to future years

(v)        agreement be given to £0.953m under spend resulting from delays on Regeneration projects due to uncertainty around the future of regional development agencies and other partners, and the new arrangements for local enterprise partnerships, be transferred to the Regeneration Fund to be used to fund the projects in future years, subject to approval by the Regeneration Board.

(vi)       a virement of £0.250m be agreed from the under spending on the debt charges budget within the Finance portfolio to the Libraries budget within the Communities portfolio to fund a stand-by facility for an increase in the cost of the Beaney project within the Communities capital programme, by way of revenue contribution to capital, should alternative external funding not be realised. That funding would not be required until 2011-12, so that under spend would be rolled forward in order to make the revenue contribution to capital next financial year, if necessary. If alternative external funding was secured and this stand-by facility was not required, then the £250k revenue funding would be returned to general reserves.

See record of Decision on page 5

report by Mr Roger Gough, cabinet member for Business Strategy, Performance and Health Reform and Ms Katherine Kerswell, Managing Director) (Mr R Fitzgerald, Performance Manager was present for this item)

(1)       This was the third quarterly Core Monitoring Report for 2010/11 and informed Cabinet of the key areas of performance and activity across the authority. Relevant sections of the Monitoring report would be presented to the relevant Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees and a final closedown report would  be presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 20 June 2011.

Cabinet Resolved to note the report 

- report by Mr Michael Hill, cabinet  member for Customer and Communities and Ms Amanda Honey, Corporate Director, Customer and Communities) (Mr David Cloake, Head of Emergency Planning was present for this item)

(1)       This report briefed members on the introduction of a community emergency plan template (and associated guidance) designed to assist Parish Councils and community groups in dealing with a range of emergencies and crises.

(2)       During the course of discussion members spoke about the importance of this guidance and its relevance for all Kent communities both rural and urban.  It was also said and agreed that the Council should seek to have this work recognised by applying for a “Kent Prepared” Charter mark  

(3)       Cabinet Resolved to support this initiative and that all members of the Council should asked promote the Plan within their constituencies. Also Officers be requested to apply for this work to receive a charter mark.

 report by Mrs Sarah Hohler, cabinet member for Children, Families and Education and Mr Andy Roberts Interim Director for Education Learning   and Skills) (Mr Scott Bagshaw, Head of Admissions and Transport)

See Record of Decision on page 7.

report by Mrs Jenny Whittle, cabinet member for Specialist Children’s Services)  )

(1)       A supplementary report had been previously circulated which the Chairman declared should be taken as urgent on the grounds that it contained additional information which members needed to take into account together with the recommendations set out in paragraph 3 of the supplementary report.

(2)       The supplementary report set out the proposed governance arrangements for Children’s Social Care Improvement in Kent. These governance arrangements were being established on a number of levels and were a direct and positive response to the targets set out in the Kent Improvement Notice issued by the Secretary of State in January 2011.  The arrangements would see the establishment of an independently chaired Kent Children’s Services Improvement Board. A cross party Children’s Services Improvement Panel would also be established with the role of receiving detailed progress reports on the Improvement Plan and management and performance data. The Panel would be supported in its work by a Corporate Parenting Panel and a Staff Advisory Group.  Cabinet emphasised its total commitment, together with that of the Corporate Management Team to ensuring this work received the highest priority in order to ensure that all the targets set out in the Improvement Notice were fully met.      

(3)       Following discussion Cabinet Resolved to note and endorse therecommendations set out in paragraph 3 of the Supplementary report which would be reported for approval to the County Council at its meeting on 6 April 2011

report by Mr Bryan Sweetland, cabinet member for Environment, Highways and Waste and Mr Mike Austerberry, Corporate Director, Enterprise and Environment)  (Mr Paul Crick, Director of Planning and Environment and Mr Stephen Gasche Public Transport Team Leader were present for this item)

See record of Decision on page 9.

– report by Mr Bryan Sweetland, cabinet member for Environment, Highways and Waste and Mr Mike Austerberry, Corporate Director, Enterprise and Environment) (Mr Paul Crick, Director of Planning and Environment was present for this item)

(1)       Kent County Council has a statutory duty to have a third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) in place by 1 April 2011. Local authorities now have greater flexibility to decide what to include in their LTP3 and the requirements to meet nationally prescribed transport performance indicators have now been removed. The intention is to make local authorities more accountable to local communities on the quality and delivery of local transport during the plan period.

(2)       During the course of discussion members spoke of the importance of the Plan in shaping the future transport strategy for the County and its relevance to the County Council’s recently launched 20 year transport delivery plan – Growth without Gridlock.  The report concluded that the proposed Local Transport Plan was a sensible and reasonable response to the current financial situation and provided a clear and coherent framework to guide decision making during the period of Kent’s third Local Transport Plan.

(3)       Cabinet Resolved that the third Local Transport Plan for Kent 2011-16 be endorsed and recommended for approval to the County Council at its meeting on 6 April 2011.   

– report Alex King – Deputy Leader and Mr Peter Sass - Head of Democratic Services) (Mr Peter Sass and Mr Adam Webb were present for this item)

(1)       Mrs Whittle referred to pages 410 and 411 of the report and gave Cabinet a position statement with regard to progress on the development of the Improvement Plan. The draft Plan was to be discussed at a meeting of the Kent Improvement Board taking place the same day as the Cabinet meeting. For that reason it had not been possible for the Plan to be also reported to Cabinet at this time as it needed to be discussed by the Board first. However the draft Plan would be reported to the next meetings of both Cabinet and the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee. In the meantime some of the issues already raised by the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee had been addressed by the governance proposals set out in item 9 of the agenda.    

Resolved  that the comments and actions detailed in the report be noted.

Appendix 1