Agenda and minutes

(1)       The Chairman tabled the reply he had received from the Minister to the letter about the future of the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale which he had sent in accordance with Minute 37(10)(b).

(2)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2007 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman;

(b)       on Minute 33(1), the Leader’s agreement (reported by Mr Law) to meet the Committee’s Chairman and Spokesmen to discuss concerns that, at its meetings, Cabinet did not appear to be giving any consideration to Committee’s recommendations, be welcomed;

(c)        on Minute 37(d) and (e), the Informal Member Group on Member Information be asked to look particularly at the quality of information being provided to local Members about all KCC proposals or decisions affecting (indirectly, as well as directly) their Division.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the proposal in Note 1 (24)(c) be agreed and the Cabinet Member for Community Services be recommended that KCC representation on the District CDRPs should be reviewed to ensure fuller participation from the CFE Directorate, participation from the Kent Adult Social Services Directorate and in general, representation of the right Directorates at the right level of seniority;

(b)       the remaining notes of the Informal Member Group on the Community Safety Unit Business Plan held on 4 December 2007 be noted.

RESOLVED that the notes of the Informal Member Group on Budgetary Issues held on 10 January 2008 be noted.

RESOLVED that the report on the actions taken as a result of the Committee’s decisions at previous meetings, the responses of Cabinet to those decisions, and the updated report on progress with Select Committee Topic Reviews, be noted.

(1)       Mr K G Lynes, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services; Mr O Mills, Managing Director; Miss C Highwood, Director, Resources; and Ms C Martin, Head of Supporting People Unit, Kent Adult Social Services Directorate, attended the meeting for this item.

(2)       Mr Lynes and Mr Mills explained that Supporting People was a central Government programme which was administered by the County Council through a partnership comprising the County Council, the Kent District Councils, Health and Probation.  In accordance with the rules laid down by Government, governance was through the Supporting People Commissioning Body (SPCB) which, as the name implied, was responsible for commissioning services against a specification defined by Government.  Mr Lynes was the current KCC Member representative on the SPCB.  He had been elected Chairman of the SPCB but there was no rule that said that the SPCB had to be chaired by the KCC representative.  Officer support was through the Core Strategy Development Group (CSDG).

(3)       Members’ questions covered the following issues:-

Response to Audit Commission Recommendations

(4)       In answer to a question from Dr Eddy, Mr Mills emphasised that the Audit Commission’s overall finding had been that the Kent Supporting People Programme was “good with promising prospects for improvement”.  The CSDG had met recently to consider the Audit Commission’s recommendations and was preparing a response for Mr Lynes, as Chairman of the SPCB, to sign off by 29 January under powers delegated to him by the SPCB.  The response would be reported to the SPCB and to the Adult Social Services Policy Overview Committee (ASSPOC) at their next meetings.

Partnership Approach

(5)       In answer to a question from Mr Chell, Mr Lynes said that the SPCB was a good example of two-tier partnership working.  The SPCB had robust debates but aimed to reach decisions by consensus.

Involvement of Members

(6)       In answer to questions from Mrs Newell and Mr Law, Mr Lynes said that the relevant Audit Commission recommendation was “continuing to involve the wider body of elected members” in the development of the Supporting People Programme and he felt that the key word was “continuing”.  The wider body of Members was already involved but he accepted that this needed to be stepped up.  Within KCC, the headlines of SPCB business would continue to be reported to Cabinet and ASSPOC.  SPCB meetings were held in public and the papers for them were widely distributed within KCC.  He had also briefed Members on specific SPCB issues at District briefings and ASSPOC meetings.

(7)       Mr Mills said that, by its nature, the Supporting People Programme was complex and unique and he accepted the need to ensure that KCC Members had a good understanding of it.  On this point, Miss Highwood said that the CSDG at its recent meeting had recognised that one of the barriers to Members’ understanding of the Supporting People Programme was the jargon involved, and so it had decided that:-

(a)       future SPCB papers would include a glossary of terms; and

(b)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

(1)       Mr K A Ferrin MBE, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste; Mr R W Gough, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Supporting Independence; Mr A Wilkinson, Managing Director; Mrs E Haswell, Economic Development Officer, Environment and Regeneration Directorate; and Mrs C Toher, Kent First, Chief Executive’s Directorate, attended the meeting for this item.

(2)       Mr Ferrin explained the background to the Credit Union proposals.  Cabinet had felt that there was a real problem of financial exclusion for deprived people in Kent and that Credit Unions should be looked at as a way of tackling that problem.  Mrs Toher had been commissioned to research the subject.  She had found that there were a variety of different Credit Union models and she had looked in detail at four existing Credit Unions – Bristol, Portsmouth, Canterbury and Thanet.  Her findings suggested that one of the most successful Credit Unions was the one at Portsmouth.  Unlike many others, it had professional managers, operated from town centre premises, and offered a variety of financial products, not just low-interest loans.  As such it appealed to a wide market, not just the financially excluded.  It had proved successful and was now in the process of expanding across Hampshire.  Mrs Toher also found that the existing Credit Unions in Canterbury and Thanet, both of which were run by volunteers, would welcome the establishment of a Kent-wide, professionally managed, Credit Union.  As a result of Mrs Toher’s findings, it had been decided to pursue the idea of a Credit Union, hence the report to Cabinet which was now before the Committee.

Financial Commitment by KCC

(3)       In answer to questions from Mr Law and Mr Horne, Mr Gough clarified that the Feasibility Study was expected to cost approximately £20k.  If the Feasibility Study suggested that further work on establishing a Credit Union should not be pursued, then that would be all that the Council would spend.  However, if the Feasibility Study suggested that further work should be undertaken – and Mr Ferrin gave an assurance that this would be subject to a new Cabinet decision – then the other £80k mentioned in the Cabinet report would be required for the staffing and other expenses needed to complete a full business plan. 

Risks to KCC

(4)       In answer to questions from Mr Simmonds, Mr Bullock, Mr Chell and Mr Lake, Mr Gough accepted that there would be risks to KCC – both financial and reputational – in establishing a Credit Union.  However, KCC had so far committed only £20k in order to carry out a Feasibility Study, one of the purposes of which was to identify and analyse the risks, so that these could be used to inform the decision on whether to proceed any further.

(5)       Mr Gough added that, if it was decided to proceed with the establishment of a Credit Union, it was likely to be on the basis of a free-standing body, with funding from sources other than KCC,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

(1)       The Committee noted that this would be the last of its meetings to be attended by Mr John Wale, Assistant to the Chief Executive, prior to his retirement on 31 January.

(2)       RESOLVED that the Committee place on record its thanks to Mr Wale for his advice and support to the Committee since its establishment in 2001, and its best wishes for his retirement.