Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the CABINET of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 25 February 2008.

Chairman:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

Councillors:

Also present with the agreement of the Chairman: Councillors M.F. Cartwright; A.P. Collett and Mrs C.A. Leversha.

381. APOLOGIES

There were no apologies for absence.

382. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter considered at the meeting declared that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, considered whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the code.

383. MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2008 were confirmed as a correct record.

384. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

(a) The Chairman welcomed:

- Mr Stephen Taylor, Kelvin Pattison and Alastair Rankine of the
Audit Commission to present the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter
2007 and to receive the County Council's response.

- Mr Tony Holland to share with the Cabinet his experiences of being
a service user and the benefits of the self directed support scheme.

(b) The Chairman called forward Item 7 on the agenda (Direct Payments
Review report) to be taken as the first item of business.

385. DIRECT PAYMENTS REVIEW REPORT

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Adult Services (Item 7 in the Minute book) setting out the background to the review of the Direct Payments Scheme, detailing the outcome of consultation and making recommendations for the future. The Director of Adult Services expanded on the report and highlighted the main outcomes of the review namely, to make the direct payments scheme simpler; give more control to service users; give more empowerment to service users by introducing a self assessment element to the scheme; and to put in place a risk assessment to ensure the scheme achieves what it is designed to do. The Cabinet also received a presentation from Mr Tony Holland who shared his experiences of being a service user and the benefits of the self directed support scheme.

The Cabinet thanked Mr Holland for his informative presentation and welcomed the report. They were of the view that the changes proposed will make the direct payments scheme easier to use and provide a better framework for managing risk whilst supporting the achievement of key performance indicators and will set important foundations for the wider development of personalised social care. The Cabinet also emphasised the importance of not losing sight of the further educational requirements of young people who are service users.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. A copy of the decision sheet is attached to these minutes as Appendix 1.

386. ANNUAL AUDIT AND INSPECTION LETTER 2007 AND THE
COUNTY COUNCIL'S RESPONSE

Due to the link between Items 5 and 6 on the agenda, the Cabinet considered these items in tandem in order to receive the Audit Commission's draft Annual Audit and Inspection Letter, which provides an overall summary of the County Council's performance during 2006/07 (Item 5 in the Minute book) and deliver the County Council's formal response to that letter (Item 6 in the Minute book), which also identifies action the County Council is already taking and plans that are in place.

District Auditor Stephen Taylor and his Audit Commission colleagues highlighted the main points detailed in the letter, which confirmed overall a very good assessment and rated the County Council as a top performing four star authority, "improving well".

During the course of the ensuing discussion, the Cabinet recognised that this is a very positive letter and took the opportunity to congratulate all staff for the contribution they have made to the County Council's performance. Nevertheless, the Cabinet expressed their disappointment that the County Council has not been recognised as "improving strongly" despite the numerous service successes and improved outcomes referred to in the letter, such as the Commission for Social Care Inspection's (CSCI) top rating of 3 stars for adult social care services in delivering good outcomes with "excellent capacity for improvement", the Supporting People programme which was judged to be "excellent three star" with "excellent prospects for improvement", the transformation of library services and the excellent regeneration work being undertaken in Gosport. These many achievements are coupled with the fact that 65% of performance indicators showed improvement from last year.

The Cabinet were of the view that the current Comprehensive Performance Assessment framework struggles to recognise the inherent characteristics of Hampshire and is indeed no longer fit for purpose. When an authority such as Hampshire is a top performing council, it is very difficult to maintain or improve this performance level and doing so actually represents continual improvement. From a high starting base, additional improvement requires significantly more effort than a poorer performing council to achieve a similar percentage increase and this is not adequately taken into account. It does not recognise the many challenges that the County Council has tackled, such as the successful turnaround of Adult Services and the delivery of a two-year financial recovery plan whilst modernising and improving services at the same time. The assessment does not appear to be sophisticated enough to attach appropriate weighting to local priority improvements compared to the national priorities.

In regard to the specific points/action identified in the letter, the Cabinet expressed their views as follows. In respect of achieving level 3 of the Standard for Local Government in equality and diversity, the Cabinet confirmed that the County Council's current position at level 2 is being consolidated and is now moving firmly towards achieving level 3. In terms of capacity to deal with crime and disorder on a county wide basis, the Cabinet highlighted that the County Council is working with partners and this requires a lot of effort by all concerned to ensure agreement as to the way forward. Much good work is being done and the County Council is determined to build on this despite the Government's decision to cut much needed funding to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships which has hampered the achievement of targets. The County Council has also funded and appointed Accredited Community Safety Officers (ACSOs) who maintain a highly visible presence and have had a great deal of success in tackling anti-social behaviour. It should be recognised that the County Council has to achieve improvements from a high starting base, such as with the amount of waste that is diverted from landfill for which the County Council is a top performer by a very considerable margin. Considerable investment has been made in waste infrastructure which has been necessary to achieve continuous improvement and to maintain that top performance position. In regard to foster care placements, there was no mention in the letter of Kinship Care which is disappointing given that it is one of the leading schemes in the country whereby children are cared for by members of their own family rather than needing to be placed with foster carers. The Cabinet also refuted the recent claim by the Minister for Local Government that Hampshire could make a £36 reduction to council tax bills. It should be borne in mind that the County Council has achieved £48m of efficiency savings over the last three years which has avoided the need for a 10% increase in council tax.

In conclusion, the Cabinet expressed their firmly held view that the County Council is a strongly improving authority and that this has not been recognised by the Audit Commission. Given the difficult financial position for the next three years resulting from the low grant settlement announced by the Government, the County Council will not be able to invest solely to improve performance significantly in performance indicators across the entire range. Therefore, in future it will be necessary to prioritise the achievement of performance indicators in terms of whether or not they meet the County Council's objectives and the needs of the people of Hampshire, as well as taking available resources into account particularly in the absence of significant additional funding. The CPA framework is being replaced with the new Comprehensive Area Assessment, which the Cabinet are approaching with anticipation but understandably some reservations.

The Cabinet requested the Chief Executive to take up their reservations with the District Auditor and to report back to Cabinet on the outcome of those discussions.

The Cabinet adopted revised recommendations in respect of the County Council's formal response to the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter to reflect their views detailed above. A copy of the substantive decision sheet is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 2.

387. 2007/08 BUDGET MONITORING UDPATE

The Cabinet considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 8 in the Minute book) reviewing the budget monitoring position for 2007/08 on the basis of the first three quarter's budget monitoring and from reviewing the service budget monitoring reports submitted to Executive Members.

The County Treasurer expanded on the main points of the report, particularly in respect of income collection indicators which focus on the profile of outstanding debt. Although the total amount of debt outstanding for more than 12 months has increased only marginally, it includes the value of debt relating to contributions towards care costs which are secured on a client's property which the County Council is not currently seeking to collect. Therefore, the Cabinet agreed that for future monitoring purposes secured debt will be identified separately and excluded from the calculation of the income collection indicators.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendation set out in the report. A copy of the decision sheet is attached to these minutes as Appendix 3.

388. NATIONAL YEAR OF READING

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 9 in the Minute book) detailing the background to the National Year of Reading, the aim of which is to create a national focus of opportunities and activities that can be locally delivered. The report was supported by a brief presentation by Mary Franklin.

In expanding on the report, the Director of Recreation and Heritage clarified that the `book crossing' initiative referred to in paragraph 4.3.4 would only comprise free books donated by publishers and not books from the County Council's book fund.

The Cabinet were of the view that the National Year of Reading is a good way to get people involved in improving literacy skills and were strongly supportive of the initiative. The Cabinet adopted the recommendation set out in the report. A copy of the decision sheet is attached to these minutes as Appendix 4.

Contact: Rea Mattocks Tel:01962 847200 email:[email protected]

1. Summary:

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That cabinet approve the proposed changes to the Direct Payments scheme, including to introduce a self-assessment questionnaire, a support assessment tool, a risk assessment tool and the move towards outcome based care planning.

2. Reason

2.1 Following initial consideration on 23 July 2007, the Cabinet requested a further report setting out the implementation proposals.

3. Other Options considered and rejected:

3.1 Options were considered as part of the public consultation and the findings are outlined in this paper.

4. Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive member consulted - none

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - none

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable

Approved by:

Councillor T.K. Thornber, C.B.E - Chairman Date:

Contact: Gary Smith, ext 7691 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 Each year the District Auditor compiles an Annual Audit and Inspection Letter to Members which summarises the conclusions and significant issues arising from the Audit Commission's audit and inspection of the Council. The letter is extremely positive and reaffirms Hampshire County Council's Four Star (highest possible) rating. Higher scores were also achieved in both Environment and Culture.

1.2 The letter predominantly covers the 2006/07 financial year but significant evidence and changes since that time have, in places, been incorporated. In relation to the use of resources section the letter only refers to the 2006/07 financial year. This letter used to be presented to Cabinet in January following a CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) score announcement in December. Since then the timetable has been put back with the CPA star rating now announced in February.

1.3 It is considered useful to have the Council's response at the same time. This paper highlights the main points from the 2007 letter and identifies areas for action. It is important to ensure audit recommendations are followed up as this forms an essential part of CPA and good management, in terms of responding to external feedback and evaluation.

1.4 The following decisions were made:

1. The County Council noted this report and will review the action plan in light of the priorities and the needs of the people of Hampshire.


2. The County Council noted the District Auditor's letter.


3. The County Council repeats its strong protest that after significant improvements in all front line services, it has been given the "improving well" category rather than "improving strongly" when Government agencies such as Ofsted, Joint Area Review (JAR) and the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) have made a point of praising our improvements to services and indeed, have given them top assessments.


4. The County Council will now review its policy which previously have always concentrated on delivering the District Auditor's recommendations.

The County Council re-states the primacy of the mandate it received from the people of Hampshire and it is their needs which will continue to be met in the future, particularly since they, the council tax payer of Hampshire, provides 80% of our budget.

Issues of process will not be regarded as priority merely to tick boxes and capacity improvements will be judged in the light of funding available to the County Council.


5. That the recommendations be forwarded to the Chairman of the Audit Commission and all Hampshire MPs.


6. That the County Council's reservations be taken up with the District Auditor and the outcome of those discussions to be reported back to Cabinet by the Chief Executive.

2. Reason

2.1 The Annual Audit and Inspection Letter contains the findings of the District auditor, including judgements on the Council's overall performance, direction of travel and use of resources. This report provides a response to those findings which will enable the continued improvement of the Council and delivery against the Corporate Strategy.

3. Other options considered and rejected

3.1 No other options considered as the County Council is required to consider the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter prepared by the Audit Commission.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive Member consulted - none.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor Ken Thornber, CBE - Chairman

Contact: Nick Gibbins, (01962) 847544; [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report reviews the budget monitoring position for 2007/08, on the basis of the first three quarter's budget monitoring and from reviewing the service budget monitoring reports submitted to Executive members.

1.2 The following decision is sought:

That the progress made in implementing management action to contain spending within cash limits and to enable planned underspendings to be identified to be carried forward to 2008/09, be welcomed.

2. Reason

2.1 Budget monitoring reports are submitted regularly to the Cabinet to review whether any action is required to deal with variations between planned and actual spending.

3. Other options considered and rejected

3.1 This report forms part of the regular budget monitoring framework agreed by the Cabinet therefore no other options were considered.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive member consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - None.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - None.

Approved by: Date:
Councillor T K Thornber CBE, Chairman

Hampshire County Council

  Appendix 4

Cabinet (Item 9)

25 February 2008

National Year of Reading

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Mary Franklin, (01962) 826682 e-mail:  [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

Hampshire County Council endorses the aims of the National Year of Reading and supports it with a wide range of activities, with particular emphasis on encouraging reading amongst boys, family groups and the disadvantaged.

2. Reason

2.1 The aim of the National Year of Reading is to create a national focus of opportunities and activities that can be locally delivered. This is so that children, families and adult learners understand the benefits that reading for pleasure and for purpose can bring to change their lives for the better, now and in the future.

2.1 This national campaign helps to deliver Hampshire County Council's corporate objective of Maximising Wellbeing as people, by becoming more literate, have a better sense of well being.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected.

3.1 Not to take part in the National Year of Reading.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive
Member consulted - None.

5. Dispensation by the Standards Committee - not applicable.

6. Reasons for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor T. K. Thornber, C.B.E. - Chairman