Minutes:
(a) The Tobacco and Vapes Bill which aimed to protect future generations across the UK from the harmful impacts of smoking and build a better future for children was introduced by Parliament on 20th March 2024. Under the new Bill, it would be an offence to sell tobacco products to those born on or after 1 January 2009, meaning that anyone who turned 15 years or younger in 2024 could not legally be sold tobacco products and it imposed certain restriction around vapes. Mr Watkins wrote to Kent MPs on 19th March, seeking support that the same measures be enforced for vapes. This would have a big impact on Public Health outcomes if achieved.
(b) A number of consultations had been launched, including:
· Best Start for Life - Nurturing little hearts and minds: a perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship strategy sets – closes 3rd April
· Best start for Life - Nourishing our next generation: a 5-year infant feeding strategy – closes 3rd April
· Adult Social Care Charging Policy – closes 7th April
· The Future of Blackburn Lodge Care Home – closes 7th May
(c) The Technology Enabled Lives Service (TELS) was launched at the end of 2023 which enabled adults to stay safe and live more independently in their own home through the use of person centred, innovative technology. To showcase the equipment offered through the service, a stall would be on display at Full Council on 28th March.
(a) On Thursday 22nd February Mrs Chandler, alongside the Leader and Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education, met with Michael Tomlinson, the Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, at a visit to the Kent Intake Unit in Dover. Concerns were raised in relation to the challenges that Kent faced with large numbers of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) arriving on Kent’s shores and the measures in place, including the opening of new Reception Centres, to ensure that Kent continued to meet its statutory obligations. Minister Tomlinson welcomed the progress Kent was making and welcomed the continued close cooperation between Kent County Council and the Home Office to ensure robust safeguards were in place for those children who come into the county.
Kent County Council continued to make the case for fair distribution of UASC across the other local authorities via the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to ensure that the council could continue to meet its legal responsibilities for what was a national, not a local issue.
(b) There had been a number of UASC arrivals at the start of the year, which had been the busiest on record. Preparations were actively underway to open new Reception Centres in 9 locations around the county to help manage the continued pressures presented through the arrival of new UASC. Mrs Chandler had met with local MPs and councillors in those 9 areas to help provide reassurance to residents around the nature of the sites. Mrs Chandler confirmed that all Reception Centre placements would strictly be on a temporary basis and that there would be staff on site 24 hours a day, as well as a schedule of activities in place for residents to help them prepare and adapt to life in the UK.
(c) Ofsted carried out a focused visit inspection of Kent at the end of January. The Inspection was carried out under the ILACS framework and covered the Canterbury and Folkestone and Hythe districts. The inspectors focused on child in need, child protection, children’s entry into care, and 16 and 17 year old young people who present as homeless.
Ofsted’s findings were published on 27th February 2024 in the form of a letter, which concluded that Kent County Council continued to provide a high quality of service, with only minor areas of improvement identified, which the service would look to address.
Mrs Chandler expressed thanks to all the staff for their hard work in preparing for the visit and helping the council to achieve a positive outcome once again.
(d) Kent County Council received confirmation in December that it had been successful in its bid to become a Children’s Social Care Sector-Led Improvement Partner for 2024-25; and would be working closely with other local authorities to help them improve their children’s services. The feedback as part of the process indicated that the council had met or exceeded expectations by demonstrating the quality of contextual safeguarding, commitment to ongoing improvement and quality of leadership.
(e) World Social Work Day was on 19th March. Mrs Chandler paid thanks to Kent’s Social Workers for all the hard work they do every day.
(a) Friday 1st March was secondary school offer day. This year, 96% of applicants received an offer from one of their four preferred schools, the highest proportion of the cohort in the last five years.The proportion of Kent pupils offered a place at their first-preference school increased this year to nearly 79%. The second round of offers would be held on Thursday 25th April for any spaces that become available.
Bespoke arrangements were made for applicants to the Isle of Sheppey Academy. Mr Love advised that once a final decision had been determined by the Department for Education regarding its proposal to open two new academies on Sheppey, Kent County Council would be writing to those parents with further information about their child’s school place.
(b) Friday 15th February was the Phase Transfer deadline for those children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan. This year, an up-to-date EHCP was issued for nearly 92% of placements.
Bespoke arrangements were still being considered for the remaining 8%. All parents were contacted by email or post to provide them with an update where the deadline could not be met. Work was underway to complete these as soon as possible so that pupils and parents could start to plan for September. In most cases the delays in the 8% were identified as being due to school capacity issues rather than issues with the council’s internal processes, which were significantly more robust than they were in the past. However, further planned improvements to the Phase Transfer process were planned for next year.
(c) On Friday 15th March Mr Love was invited by Kent Parents and Carers Together (PACT) to open their conference in Broadstairs for providers from across Kent who offered services of support for children with additional or special needs. Mr Love later joined a question-and-answer panel, accompanied by the Director of Education and other participants. A significant amount of work was being undertaken by PACT to map the services available to parents and carers and to identify gaps and duplication and improve signposting.
(d) On Wednesday 13th March Mr Love visited the Turner Free School in Folkestone and was joined by ITV Meridian News. Mr Love commented on the excellent provision that was in place to accommodate SEND pupils within their mainstream offer and was able to hear about the progress that young people were making. Mr Love reaffirmed that, where appropriate, mainstream provision offered the best outcomes for pupils with Special Needs, whether or not they had an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Mr Love paid tribute to the Turner Free School Leadership, as well as all the staff at the school for a very informative visit and looked forward to visiting other schools across the county throughout the year.
(a) Mr Thomas thanked the team for the support he had received following his appointment as Cabinet Member for Environment. There was a significant amount of work underway across the service which would be presented to Cabinet Committee in due course and the bi-monthly newsletter would continue to be circulated on a bi-monthly basis to coincide with the Cabinet Committees to ensure both Members and residents of Kent were kept informed of the good work being done within the department.
(a) National Empty Homes Week commenced on 4th March and Mr Steve Grimshaw, KCC Strategic Programme Manager, provided interviews to the local media. Since the launch of the No Use Empty initiative in 2005, there had been 8,815 properties brought back into use and all funds that had been allocated from the KCC Treasury to support the scheme had been used and repaid within the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Consideration of new applicants for the 2024-2025 fiscal year were underway. Mr Murphy also addressed the rates generated by the scheme, having contributed an additional £200k to the KCC treasury fund, and would continue to contribute a further £200k for 2024-2025, which included all administration costs.
(b) The relaunch of the Kent and Medway Business Fund (KMBF) was underway. Since its inception ten years ago, it had created 5289 jobs. The fund was split into three main areas of operation; small business fund loans (primarily aimed at small and medium sized enterprises), large business fund loans and debt recovery (with rates below the national figures for banks as a whole). Mr Murphy paid tribute to Mr Ron Rossiter, a long serving member of the KMBF Board who had stepped down. Recruitment was underway to find suitable Board members.
(c) Mr Murphy, in conjunction with Mr Avtar Sandhu (Chairman of the Growth, Economic Development and Communities Cabinet Committee), visited Bexley Council to discuss issues of common interest within the economic field and subsequent meetings would take place in due course.
(d) Mr Murphy recently attended the 13th meeting of the Straits Committee held in Lille; a voluntary partnership supported by the British Embassy in Paris which sought to advance Kent’s common interests with neighbouring areas of the channel. The meeting was attended by diplomats of the British Embassy in Paris, representatives of the French state and members of the Flemish government. Mr Murphy reported that Kent’s partners from the British Embassy had agreed to add their voices to the campaign for cross-channel rail services in Calais, Ashford and Ebbsfleet. Furthermore, Mr Murphy, on behalf of Kent, also agreed to promote the Horizon Europe Programme which facilitated research, and which helped to optimise investment and collaboration in achieving common cross channel projects. It was also agreed that further events would be organised through the Straits Committee for young people to meet and share both their experience and ideology on culture, the environment and the economy. And finally, it was agreed that a new cross-channel exchange programme for primary schools to raise the awareness of climate change would be established, and this would be led by the Kent Downs AONB and its French partner, Regional Parc de Calais. Mr Murphy expressed his thanks to the department of Nord and to the British Embassy in Paris for their invaluable support and participation.
(a) The funding received from the National Arts Grant Programme had enabled Kent County Council to launch virtual tours across 31 of its libraries. The introduction of virtual tours would help showcase the facilities on offer and also support visitors, particularly those with impairments, mental health conditions and those who were neurodivergent, to view the locations before their visit.
(b) In September 2022, the Government appointed Baroness Sanderson to conduct an independent national library review. A report on the initial findings was launched in February which identified:
· a lack of recognition from both national and local government on the work that libraries do
· a lack of awareness among the general public of what the modern day library offered
· a lack of comprehensive data on libraries; and
· a better sense needed as to what the Government wanted to see from libraries
The paper did not detail the finance or delivery model; however, it was anticipated that this would be included in the full strategy which was due to be published in the autumn. The key recommendations included the establishment of a national data hub, a national branding campaign to raise awareness, closer involvement of the British Library, expanded library membership, a stronger volunteer network and the creation of a Libraries Minister.
(c) The national Trading Standards led project, Operation Joseph, had granted £120k to Kent County Council over a 15-month period to help tackle illicit vapes at the ports. Those that were intercepted were linked to organised crime with one consignment containing 30kg of cocaine. Investigations were underway by the National Crime Agency, supported by Kent County Council.
(d) The annual Kent Community Safety Partnership Conference was held on 19th March 2024 at the Detling showground. The event was well attended by all key partners, including Matthew Scott, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and focussed on anti-social behaviour and the range of activity in place across Kent to address the issue.
The Leader thanked the Cabinet Members for their updates.