Contact: Jon Pittam, ext 7400

1. Summary

1.1 The 2004/05 budget contained a number of contingencies for new growth, some of which were subject to Cabinet approval confirming how the money would be spend and the outcomes expected.

1.2 The following decision is sought:

· to confirm the release of the £0.3m contingency for short-term Cabinet priorities and the £0.4m contingency for targeted business improvement plans for Children's services.

2. Reason

2.1 The decision supports all the aims of the Corporate Strategy and in particular Aim 1 - maximising life opportunities and Aim 4 - building strong and safe communities. The decision also supports the short-term Cabinet priorities especially those for youth, crime and deprivation and for transportation.

3. Other options considered and rejected

3.1 Taking no action to allocate these contingency sums which would not support the policies approved in the budget.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted

4.1 Not applicable.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 Not applicable.

6. Reason (s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

6.1 Not applicable.

Approved by: ....................... Date: .............................

Councillor T K Thornber

Contact: Paul Carey-Kent, ext 7525

7. Introduction

7.1 Cabinet on 12 February 2004 agreed that growth items set aside in the budget would be allocated to contingency and released subject to further reports on the business case and performance improvements expected.

7.2 For the purposes of good practice and external scrutiny (Audit Commission and Comprehensive Performance Assessment) it is necessary to demonstrate clearly how extra resources are:

· linked to the corporate strategy and the four short-term Cabinet priorities and

· expected to result in measurable improvements in performance and outcomes.

7.3 Cabinet agreed that reports to release contingencies for the following items would come to the Cabinet itself:

· £1m agreed by Cabinet on 26 April 2004 for accredited community safety officers

· £0.3m for the short-term Cabinet priorities, with the following proposed allocation:

- Hampshire apprenticeships (£140,000, Appendix A)

- transport initiatives (£60,000, Appendix B)

- area committee developments (£100,000, Appendix C)

· affordable housing schemes (£0.9m, to come to a subsequent meeting as discussions with District Councils are still ongoing)

· improvement plans for children's services (£0.4m, Appendix D) and

· corporate start-up costs for Every Child Matters (£0.2m, to come to a subsequent meeting).

7.4 In accordance with this approach, the details are set out in the relevant appendices as noted above.

Appendix A

Contact: Paul Carey-Kent, ext 7525

1 Introduction

7.5 Funding of £140,000 was provisionally allocated to the Hampshire Apprenticeship Scheme as one of the means of advancing the Cabinet's priority of improving Education and Skills. Confirmation of funding is subject to consideration by Cabinet of the business case for this investment. The headline indicator which should most directly be affected is that of increasing the percentage of post-16s in employment, education and training. Hampshire Apprenticeships can do this in three ways:

· directly, through the County Council providing apprenticeships which can contribute towards enhancing the proportion of young people in education, employment or training and facilitating young people employed moving into related jobs in the future. This may help reduce the number of young people classified as either NEETS (not in Education, Employment or Training) or for whom there is no tracking information on what they are doing (generally thought likely to be NEETS). As this is continuing funding it should be possible to achieve a multiplier effect since a second and third generation of apprentices should be able in turn to move into permanent jobs;

· indirectly by encouraging or subsidising employers who work with the County Council to set up similar Modern Apprenticeship schemes. Initially this area will focus on building such approaches with major suppliers to the County Council; and

· by seeking to improve the climate for provision of such opportunities throughout the economy as a whole. This requires a combination of persuasion backed up by leading through example (which emphasises the need for the first two approaches, even if they may have a relatively small direct impact). Here the work of the Economic Development Office and the Hampshire Economic Partnership and their associated business links will be important.

7.6 Although this impact on NEETS is the primary focus of the scheme, it is also hoped that:

· looked after children and care leavers can be involved in the scheme, to the advantage of outcomes for them (and the associated performance indicators); and

· the training and subsequent availability of such apprentices will prove advantageous in the longer term in the provision of services and it could provide additional skills in areas in which the County Council finds it difficult to obtain the right staff, eg care for older people and youth work.

7.7 Clearly maximum impact will be gained if NEETS can be taken on as apprentices rather than young people already in employment, education or training (although that too could indirectly release other opportunities for NEETS). In practice, a balance may need to be struck between assisting as many NEETS as possible and ensuring that the right apprentices are taken on to deliver business needs. It is proposed to liaise with Connexions in order to assess how best to achieve this mix. Some geographical targeting (eg on Havant and Fareham which have the highest proportion of NEETS) might also be appropriate .

7.8 In seeking to achieve these benefits, the funding principle being followed is that 50% should be provided from the central budget and at least 50% from the relevant department or partner. Such an approach enables more to be achieved with the same central pot and also ensures `buy in' from the provider of employment. The ability to access Learning and Skills Council funding to help with the training involved improves the economic attractiveness of the scheme from the County Council's point of view.

7.9 Looking at such schemes there are three main potential areas of cost:

· cost of employing the apprentice (or of providing cover for the apprentice's training time if he/she is in a substantive post);

· training costs (typically supported by the Learning & Skills Council) together with travel and subsistence related to this

· cost of any management and supervision in so far as this cannot be absorbed within existing management arrangements. Here the suggestion is that each of the departments involved should nominate a lead officer who will manage the scheme within the department. The scale of the Social Services scheme requires some separate internal management, but in other areas it is envisaged that this would be absorbed within current management structures. In order to coordinate across these lead managers, give support on Personnel issues as necessary, (eg liaison with colleges used by all departments), check that the amounts allocated are used for employing apprentices, and to ensure corporate consistency it is proposed that the Personnel and Training Department have a small role for which a nominal contribution of £3,000 has been allocated.

7.10 Currently (as at February 2004) Hampshire has 36,153 young people in the 16-18 cohort. Of these, 2,871 (8% of the age group) are not known to be in Education, Employment or Training: 1,536 (4.3%) are known to be NEETs, and 1,335 (3.7%) are unknowns - likely to be largely NEETS. It would be sensible, therefore, to set targets for both reducing NEETS and reducing unknowns. If 46 Hampshire Apprentices each represented a reduction in that total figure, it would fall to 7.8%, but the indirect impact of leading by example and encouragement should be more significant, though it is hard to assess, and there are of course many other factors. Nonetheless, a reasonable target might be to reduce the combined NEETs/unknowns figure to 7% in the February 2005 count and 6% by February 2006.

7.11 On this basis, it is proposed to proceed with the following schemes and project elements which will total £140,000 per year of central investment.

7.12

Appendix B

Contact: Jon Pittam, ext 7400

Alison Quant, ext 5099

£60,000 could be spent on two projects as follows:

8. Extension of the Award Project to the Andover Area

8.1 A twelve month pilot project to extend the Award Project to cover the Andover area where offending by young people has been identified as an issue.

8.2 The project would mirror the existing project's practice with young offenders being referred by Wessex Youth Offending Team and engaging in outdoor activities and other opportunities that can be accredited via the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DOE).

8.3 A full time project worker would be appointed and work alongside existing project staff at the Wessex YOT offices at Selbourne Avenue in Southampton.

8.4 The worker would link with Wessex Youth Offending Team, Hampshire Youth Service and other Award Project staff to provide a quick, responsive channel to enable the assessment and engagement of young people in the project after they have come to the attention of the police for committing offences.

8.5 The opportunity to extend the Award Project's work is dependent on funding and being able to find and recruit a suitable worker.

Outcomes

8.6 Project staff will facilitate 12 outdoor education taster days, 3 substantial learning opportunities eg 3 month First Gear Driving Course. The project would aim to engage 100 young people in activities and enable the attainment of 30 DOE Award sectional certificates. (Each young person has to commit to three months of activity to gain a certificate).

8.7 The re-offending rate for young people who have registered with the DOE Award via the project after receiving a "final warning" from the police is currently 2% compared with a 25% re-offending rate for those who do not participate.

Estimated costs

	£
Provision of 1 full time youth worker (JNC Level 2 1-9)	27,680
Travel	5,000
Programme costs	5,000
	37,680

Other Costs - staff training and professional support and other programme expenditure would be met by the Award Project.

9. Provision of evening transport for young people

9.1 £22,360 could remain to spend on transport in 2004/05. The following could be advanced, the pace dependent on the extend to which partnership funding can be identified.

9.2 A twelve month pilot project to enable young people in the Andover town area to access leisure facilities in the centre of Basingstoke and the West Ham Leisure Park on Friday and Saturday evenings. Young people would also be able to use this project to access facilities in the centre of Andover.

9.3 There is currently a limited evening bus service (Service 76) which links Andover town centre with Basingstoke, via the West Ham Leisure Park. This only provides two inward journey opportunities each evening. One of the major problems with this service is that the last journey from Basingstoke is at 10.30 pm, prior to many of the facilities in Basingstoke and at the West Ham Leisure Park closing.

9.4 In addition to this the bus services which link the Andover town estates with the town centre only operate until early evening. Therefore even if young people use these services to connect with Service 76 to Basingstoke there are no journey opportunities from the centre of Andover if they return on the last Service 76 from Basingstoke.

9.5 The project will provide the Andover town estates with an hourly bus service late into the evening. As well as providing a link to facilities in the Andover town this will connect with the railway station and Service 76 for onward journeys into Basingstoke. Rail journeys are seen as the main option for people accessing facilities in the centre of Basingstoke, whilst Service 76 is seen as the focus for accessing facilities at West Ham Leisure Park. The frequency of Service 76 would also be increased.

9.6 A through ticket deal could be negotiated with the bus operator for those people using the bus service from the estates into Basingstoke. Negotiations would also take place to establish what leisure centre discounts could be offered to people travelling to the leisure centre by bus.

9.7 Some consideration would need to be given to the fares policy for these services. Using both bus services into Basingstoke currently would result in maximum return fares of £3.56 for children and £7.25 for adults although a through ticket deal could be expected to offer a slightly more competitive price. The maximum return fares using the bus/train option would be £4.20 for children and £8.35 for adults.

9.8 The project is primarily intended to target young people up to the age of 18 years. Over the age of 16 years people would normally pay the adult fare which might in itself be considered to be expensive. One option might be to offer some fares subsidy for those people in the 16-18 year bracket, possibly based on some criteria eg in full time education. A more generous option would be to offer a more comprehensive subsidy for all young people using the services. Neither of these options have been explored in depth and therefore no costs for these have been established. This could be investigated if this was an option which members wanted to explore further.

9.9 The project is dependent on funding and being able to negotiate satisfactory arrangements with a suitable operator.

9.10 Although being targeted at younger people, the registered bus services would also be available to the general public, thus increasing journey opportunities for the community at large.

Outcomes

9.11 The project would deliver the following outcomes:

· provide an hourly bus service on Friday and Saturday evenings for Andover town estates, until late into the evening. This will serve the majority of the residential areas in the wards of Harroway, Alamein and St Mary's. The service will connect with the railway station, with the last bus meeting the 11.30pm train from Basingstoke. Connections will also be made with Service 76 for outward journeys

· increase the frequency of Service 76 providing three journey opportunities into Basingstoke and introduce a new return trip from the leisure park at 11.30 pm. This last return journey on arrival at Andover would continue around the estates thus reducing the need for a bus connection late at night in Andover town centre

· a through fare deal for people using both bus services

· possible concessions for people using the leisure centre (to be negotiated)

· cheaper travel could be provided if some form of concession was offered.

Proposed spend

	£
Operate hourly service to the estates	10,000
Increased operation of service 76	10,000
Publicity	2,360
Total costs	22,360

This represents half of the expected costs : partnership options will be pursued in order to fully advance the project.

Appendix C

Contact : Nick Gibbins, Ext 7544

2 Introduction

9.12 The County Council on 20 May 2004 endorsed the proposals of the Cabinet to extend the role of the Policy and Resources Policy Review Committee (PRC) and to establish Area Committees in Havant and Test Valley for a trial period. This Appendix examines the resource requirements for the support of the pilot arrangements in a full year and proposes the allocation of £100,000 from the contingency within the budget for short-term cabinet priorities to meet anticipated costs in 2004/05.

10. Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select committee

10.1 As part of an evolutionary approach to the development of scrutiny within the County Council, it is proposed to develop the operation of the Policy and Resources PRC in order to move its activity and style of working to align more closely with the Parliamentary Select Committee model. This will involve establishing a programme of Policy reviews basing deliberations on oral and written evidence, questioning of witnesses and appropriate research.

10.2 The main resource requirement for the pilot is the funding of a dedicated support officer for the proposed Scrutiny and Select Committee, on the basis of a twelve month secondment (£57,000). An annual budget of £20,000 is proposed to fund witness expenses, research and conferences, together with provision for member training (£5,000). The overall budgetary impact in a full year is estimated at £82,000.

11. Area Committees

11.1 It is proposed to establish on a trial basis, area committees in Havant and Test Valley which would act as local advisory committees to the Cabinet and Executive members, with membership comprising all those County Councillors representing electoral divisions within the relevant district area.

11.2 It is also proposed to appoint on a 12 month secondment basis a dedicated Area Committee Support officer (£42,000). Budgets would also be required for the costs of meeting venues (£6,000) and local consultation (£5,000), so that the full year budgetary impact is estimated at £53,000.

12. Democratic Services

12.1 The establishment of area committees and the extended role of the existing Policy and Resources PRC would also have resource implications for Democratic Services staffing within the Chief Executive's department, associated with the organisation of meetings and the production of agendas. A further post (£37,000) is proposed to provide additional Democratic Services support both to the Area Committees and to the wider remit of the Policy and Resources PRC.

13. Summary

13.1 In total, the additional cost in a full year of supporting these pilot arrangements is assessed at £172,000 as set out below:

13.12

As the pilot arrangements will not commence until part-way through the financial year, there will be only a part-year budgetary impact in 2004/05. It is proposed to allocate £100,000 of the £300,000 set aside for short-term Cabinet priorities for the cost of supporting the pilot arrangements in 2004/05. The full year cost will need to be taken into account in the budget strategy for 2005/06 either from within existing resources or by allocating additional resources, subject to satisfactory progress in the interim.

Appendix D

Contact: Paul Carey-Kent, ext 7525

3 Introduction

13.13 As part of the 2004/05 budget, £400,000 is to be made available to Social Services on a one-off basis subject to agreement on how the funds will be used to assist with partnership working and foster care. In the case of partnerships, Social Services is to provide matched funding of £200,000 from its central contingency. The potential additional investment is therefore £600,000 in total.

13.14 This excludes any investment in Children's social worker recruitment and retention initiatives, which will be the subject of a further report related to progress on the pay and benefits project.

14. Partnerships

14.1 There was concern that without additional funding, partnership agendas could not be advanced as rapidly as desirable in both policy and partner expectation terms in the areas of teenage pregnancy and children and adolescents with mental health needs (CAMHS). Both spending areas are in receipt of specific government grant which is no longer ring-fenced. Given the other pressures on the Social Services budget, new developments in these areas are hard to prioritise, but partner expectations have been increased by the apparent availability of grant. The additional allocations of £93,000 for teenage pregnancy and £307,000 for CAMHS will bring total budgets for these areas in 2004/05 to £348,000 and £895,000 respectively. In the case of CAMHS in particular, the Council has set up a trust with government support which both aims to improve services jointly with Health and also provides a useful pilot for the type of approach which is likely to be required by the Children Act.

14.2 There should be long-term but relatively hard to quantify benefits from this investment through improved partnership working and enhancing the experience gained of new management approaches which are both likely to be helpful beyond the particular areas involved. In addition, the following targets have been set, demonstrating the direct service improvements which should result:

Teenage pregnancy

· reduce the under 16 conception rate from 6.9 pregnancies per 1,000 young women aged 13-15 (last data 2001) to below six pregnancies per 1,000 young women

· maintain and if possible reduce the under 18 conception rate from 29.6 per 1,000 young women aged 15-17 (2002) - this is in the context of a government target of 33.1 per 1,000 young women by 2004-05

· show progress towards the longer-term target of ensuring that 60% of young mothers aged 16-19 are in education, employment or training by 2010, compared with the current estimated figure of 30%.

CAMHS

· increase spending on CAMHS by 10% in 2004/05 compared with 2003/04 (this is a national target for increased investment, and will be achieved locally through the additional funding proposed)

· develop a range of performance indicators using 2004 as a base position, in order to measure future improvement in services (it is not possible to set targets at present as basic data, eg the number of children with mental health problems and how many of these receive services, is not known).

14.3 The corporate contribution to these areas (unlike other funding) is one-off, and will therefore have to be replaced for these partnerships from within the budget increase for Social Services in 2005/06. The £200,000 contribution will be paid at the year end once it can be shown that the full amounts proposed have been spent on teenage pregnancy and CAMHS.

15. Foster care

15.1 There are currently (as of 31 March 2004, subject to some finalisation of statistics for year-end returns) 432 children looked after through in-house foster care and a further 157 by family and friends arrangements. These are effective options, with a direct cost (ie excluding social worker support) of around £13,000 per child per year. The more such placements can be made, the better therefore as this enables more expensive independent foster care or residential placements to be avoided/ended - arrangements which can cost several times as much.

15.2 The corporate £200,000 would allow for an additional 15 new placements to be made for a full year. It is proposed to make the additional payments to Social Services on a call-off basis at £13,000 per place generated above the current 589 children currently in in-house foster care or family and friends care. This has the advantage of supporting spending which, in the long-term, will save money and reduce the pressures on the Social Services budget. Replacement of this one-off spending will not, therefore, be an issue.

3.4 Any payments due under this arrangements will be made at the half-year (based on the number of placements achieved by 30 September) with a further adjustment if due based on the year-end position.