Agenda item

Mr James Pearson (Head of Libraries, Registrations and Archives) was in attendance for this item.

1.      Mrs Bell, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, provided an update on the following:

(a)     Kent Libraries had been hosting freecycle events across the county to help local families find costumes to celebrate World Book Day. Libraries across the county were offering themed story times and incentives such as one pound book tokens for preschool children.

(b)     From April 2024 to January 2025, visits to Kent libraries had increased by 4% compared to last year, with e-book and e-audio book usage up 12%. The archive service remained a key resource for Kent history, with in-person visits up 4%. The registration service continued to meet demand, with ceremonies increasing by 4%, including a 22% rise in citizenship ceremonies.

(c)     Broadstairs Library had been shortlisted for the Library of the Year award as part of the British Book Awards 2025. The Know Your Neighbourhood project in Thanet was helping vulnerable residents access library services and community support.

(d)     A long-term solution was being worked on for the Folkestone Town Centre Library and Mrs Bell had recently met with Creative Folkestone regarding their idea for the Grace Hill building. Proposals from other community organisations would shortly be invited through the Asset of Community Value process.

(e)     The Dover Discovery Centre's refurbishment was progressing on track for completion in the summer and multiple library spaces were being modernised using developer contributions.

(f)      Her Majesty the Queen visited Canterbury last week where she unveiled a statue of Aphra Behn, one of the first English women to earn her living as a professional writer. Mrs Bell said it was an honour to represent KCC at the event, alongside the Leader, the Chairman, the Chief Executive, and other senior officers. The Queen was taken on a guided tour of The Beaney by the Council’s Head of Service, Mr James Pearson. The visit received extensive media coverage and was a special day for Canterbury and Kent as a whole.

(g)     The archives service had resumed its popular program of talks at the History and Library Centre in Maidstone. Mrs Bell was looking forward to attending the first talk for this year on Monday, 10 March, which would explore the life of Sir Edward Deering, who lived from 1598 to 1644. The talks were free to attend and open to all. Kent Archives was featured in and supported the first episode of Edward versus George, which was a Channel 4 historical series exploring the royal feud between Edward VIII and George VI.

(h)     A webinar hosted by the Kent Association of Local Councils explored options for local parish councils to fund community warden services, and over 20 councils had shown interest and six had committed to funding. The wardens were being trained by the NHS to deliver advice on stop smoking, and signpost to the stop smoking service.

(i)      The coroner service had settled into their new accommodation at Oakwood House which provided excellent facilities for supporting families and delivering an efficient judicial service. The introduction of the medical examiner role had led to a review of operations with referrals now becoming more complex. On 13 February, the High Sheriff of Kent visited the coroner's facilities at Oakwood House.

2.         Further to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

•           Members expressed thanks to library staff for their continued dedication to the service.

•           Works had been undertaken to sustain the opening of Wood Avenue Library and the building would continue to be monitored.

•           Community wardens were engaging positively with local residents and community groups, however it was noted some areas of Kent did not have a warden and some parishes were working together to bring small pots of their resources together to fund part of a warden. Conversations outside of the meeting regarding specific locations were welcomed. Parish council funding would not subsidise the Council’s service but would be used to expand it.

3.      Mr Meade, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, provided an update regarding the Council’s partnership with the Chernihiv region in Ukraine which included the following:

(a)     In November 2024, the Leader of the Council and Mr Meade, at their own expense, travelled to Chernihiv to sign the agreement on behalf of the Council, and cooperation continued to evolve. In January 2025, Mr Meade visited the region again to take out 12,000 items of humanitarian aid directly to the hospitals in Chernihiv. He referred to a specific project at Mayfield Grammar School in Gravesend and paid tribute to Cobham Hall Independent School who had taken on three displaced Ukrainian students under full scholarship. Schools across Kent had continued to be outstanding in the way that they had welcomed and supported displaced Ukrainian children.

(b)     Chernihiv had suffered from the targeted destruction of libraries and the Kent Library Service was working in partnership through the National Libraries Connected Scheme to support their libraries. Work was underway to progress relations across a number of spheres including culture, health, development and commerce with a number of large Kent-based businesses starting to explore opportunities for mutually beneficial relationships.

(c)     To mark the third year anniversary the Leader of the Council and Mr Meade held a virtual meeting with Mr Chaus, the military governor of Chernihiv, to once again confirm the county's unwavering support for the people of Chernihiv and Ukraine.

(d)     Mr Meade had recently attended a meeting with Meopham Parish Council who had had twinned with the Ivanivka territorial community and thanked the Chairman of Meopham Parish Council and the Parish Clerk for their help. Mr Meade was currently working with eight other parish and district councils across Kent to progress twinning arrangements and invited Members of the Council to pursue relationships with their parish councils, schools and community groups. Mr Meade thanked the local NHS trusts across Kent for donating surplus stock, and the hundreds of schools, community groups and individuals who were collecting and donating aid. Mr Meade expressed his sincere thanks to the Chernihiv Governor, Mr Chaus, and his team for their work in develop these relationships and thanked Irena who translated every document passing between the two authorities.

4.      The Chair expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr Meade.

5.      Mr Murphy, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, provided an update on the following:

(a)     The Kent and Medway Economic Framework strategy set out five ambitions and 21 action areas that would support sustainable economic growth in the county and a full report would come later in the meeting.

(b)     Significant progress continued to be made since the relaunch of the Kent and Medway Business Fund scheme. The Investment Advisory Board and its subgroup had recommended the approval of 41 loans, totalling £4.7million in the last year alone to businesses.

(c)     Visit Kent continued to deliver a range of commissioned services to support the county's vibrant visitor economy. A recent report confirmed that visitor numbers and spend were back to pre-pandemic levels, with the sector providing over 77,000 local jobs in Kent. The 2025 Big Weekend, funded by KCC in April, would enable residents to enter a ballot to receive free passes to local attractions.

(d)     The Department for Education confirmed at the end of February that Kent and Medway's bid for local skills bootcamps program had been approved. The programme would enable 50 courses for over 500 learners to be delivered locally to help people back into work and to enhance career opportunities for existing employees.

(e)     Mr Murphy and the Kent Ambassadors would soon meet representatives from the Straits Committee from Belgium, Holland and France to understand the latest priorities for cross-border working and had recently met with the Deputy German Ambassador with the aim of promoting Kent and investment in Kent with international neighbours.

(f)      A property in Folkestone which had been empty for over 20 years had had been renovated into five brand new flats through the No Use Empty scheme. There was due to be a No Use Empty presentation to the Local Government Association on 27 March. Since inception, more than 500 individual loans had been processed under the empty properties Initiative, and all funds for 2024, 2025 had been allocated. In 2024-2025, No Use Empty generated a return on investment of 4%, which amounted to £650,000.

(g)     The Kent and Medway Business Growth Hub service, together with representatives from Kent and Medway Business Fund, had continued with a series of business road shows across the county offering signpost services to local and national businesses. The Growth Hub had launched a series of 11 accelerated workshops which were free to local businesses covering topics such as sales, marketing and finance. The workshops were recorded and uploaded to the Kent Medway Business Growth Hub YouTube channel for businesses to access in their own time.

(h)     Mr Murphy took the opportunity to thank members of the economic development team for their work and support over the last four years.

6.      Further to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

•        Regarding the Skills Bootcamps Programme two market engagement sessions with potential providers had taken place. These provided an indication of what courses were required in the sectors included in the initial bid. A balance between in-person and online would be considered to ensure it was available as widely as possible.

7.      On behalf of the Committee the Chair paid tribute to Mr Murphy and thanked him for his dedication and support in his role as Cabinet Member for Economic Development.

8.      Mr Jones, Corporate Director Growth, Environment and Transport, provided an operational update on the following:

(a)     The Kent and Medway Economy Framework was progressing and he highlighted work relating to the Kent and Medway Innovation Partnership, the Growing Places Fund, the Local Skills Improvement Plan, the Integrated Work Health Strategy for Kent and Medway and the South East Creative Economy Network, and the return of international rail to Ashford and Ebbsfleet International Rail Stations. Work was taking place with the Department for Work and Pensions to launch the Connect to Work supported employment programme.

(b)     Since April the Trading Standards team had saved vulnerable adults from losing almost £375,000 to fraud. In the last six months, the service had seized just over 185,000 unsafe items including 66,000 incorrectly labelled nicotine pouches and 100 packages of tooth whitening strips with dangerous levels of hydrogen peroxide. In 2024 the Trading Standers vape team seized over 25,000 illegal vapes and around 4,000 nicotine pouches.

(c)     In terms of community safety there were currently 24 active domestic abuse related death reviews. The first themed event for 2025 focused on parental conflict.

(d)     Regarding Kent Scientific Services, sample numbers at the laboratory were now 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels. All apprenticeships had completed their chemistry degrees and on the 26th of February, the lab hosted a delegation of food safety officials from Qatar investigating food safety controls.

(e)     The Resilience and Emergency Planning Service were continuing to review and embed the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower inquiry and other incidents and regulatory duties for nuclear and chemical sites, high pressure pipelines and reservoirs.

(f)      Active Kent and Medway Sport England had confirmed £250million investment to tackle inequalities in activity levels. The annual primary PE conference would be held on 26 March and Active Kent and Medway continued to run grant funding programs benefiting thousands across the county.

9.      RESOLVED to note the updates.