AT A MEETING of the CABINET of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday, 15 December 2003.

PRESENT:

Councillors: T.K. Thornber, CBE (in the Chair); D.G. Allen; K.B. Estlin; Mrs. S.M. Glasspool, DL; J.K. Glen; Felicity Hindson, MBE; D.A. Kirk; J. Waddington;

M.J. Woodhall.

Also in attendance: Councillors: A.P. Collett; B.D. Dash; M.S. Geddes and W.H. Wheeler.

285 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

286 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2003 were confirmed as a correct record.

287 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no communications.

288 2004/05 PROVISIONAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE SETTLEMENT AND BUDGET GUIDELINES

The Cabinet considered the report of the County Treasurer on the provisional local government finance settlement and its implications for the 2004/05 budget, together with proposed budget guidelines for consideration by Executive Members and Policy Review Committees during January 2004. The County Treasurer also circulated a supplementary paper following the recent announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that an extra £340m would be added to the provisional local government finance settlement, 2004/05. Copies of these reports are combined to form item 4 in the Minute Book.

The £340m addition to the provisional local government finance settlement would result in a £7.5m increase in grant to the County Council which would in turn reduce the projected council tax increase from 6.7% to 4.7%. Whilst the additional monies were regarded as a welcome respite, there were Cabinet concerns that this might only be a one-off addition, and not be repeated in subsequent years.

At the conclusion of a full discussion, the Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report of the County Treasurer with the exception of the original recommendations 11, 12 and 13; in these cases, the commissioning of a further MORI telephone survey, the reconvening of the community workshop and meeting again with groups previously consulted were regarded as unnecessary having regard to the extensive nature of the consultations already carried out and the respite now provided by additional grant. A copy of the substantive decision sheet is set out as Appendix 1 to these Minutes.

289 "BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE" - A PROPOSED COUNTY COUNCIL RESPONSE

The Cabinet considered the joint report of the County Education Officer, the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services and the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on a submission to the Department for Education and Skills under the Government's "Building Schools for the Future" Initiative.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendation contained in the report and a copy of the decision sheet is set out as Appendix 2 to these Minutes.

290 THE NEW FOREST AND SOUTH DOWNS NATIONAL PARKS : A ROLE FOR THE COUNTY COUNCIL

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Environment and Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on the implications for the County Council of the proposed designation of the New Forest and South Downs National Parks. The Cabinet adopted the recommendations contained in the report and a copy of the decision sheet is set out as Appendix 3 to these Minutes.

291 HAMPSHIRE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME AND BEST VALUE REVIEW PROGRAMME : ANNUAL REPORT

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 7 in the Minute Book) summarising progress with the Hampshire Improvement Programme, recommending certain changes to the Best Value Review Programme, and proposing that the Hampshire Improvement Programme and Best Value Review Programme be integrated into the annual review of the Corporate Strategy in 2003/04. The Cabinet adopted the recommendations contained in the report and a copy of the substantive decision sheet is set out as Appendix 4 to these Minutes.

292 BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS - FINAL AUDITED OUTTURN RESULTS FOR 2002/03 AND AUDIT CONCLUSIONS ON THE ACCURACY OF THE INDICATORS

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on performance in relation to the Best Value Indicators for 2002/03.

In response to Member questions, the Cabinet was assured that strenuous efforts were underway to reduce very considerably the number of reservations in order to produce better outturn results for 2003/04, although it was accepted that in several cases these reservations resulted from changes in requirements which had occurred during the course of the year. The Government had also recognised that the some of the performance indicators were unclear and had commissioned an extensive review of them to which the County Council would contribute fully. The Cabinet adopted the recommendation contained in the report and a copy of the decision sheet is set out as Appendix 5 to these Minutes.

293 POLITICAL ADVERTISING - ELECTORAL COMMISSION CONSULTATION

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 9 in the Minute Book) which recommended that the Electoral Commission should be advised that there should be a voluntary code to govern political advertising. The Cabinet adopted the recommendation contained in the report and a copy of the decision sheet is set out as Appendix 6 to these Minutes.

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