Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the CABINET of the HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday, 28 September 2009.

PRESENT:

Chairman:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

Also present with the agreement of the Chairman:

Councillors: K Chapman, P.R. Edgar; and Mrs P. West

26 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Councillors D. A. Kirk and Mrs M. D. Snaith-Tempia were engaged on other County Council business.

27 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 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 save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code. The declaration to be made at the time of the relevant debate.

28 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 July were confirmed as a correct record.

29 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman confirmed that his standing invitation to opposition Members had been withdrawn. Non-Executive Members wishing to address Cabinet must in future adhere to Standing Orders.

30 PERMISSION TO CONSULT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A POLICY TO PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE AND CHOICE

Councillor J. K. Glen declared a personal interest in this item, and did not take part in the discussion.

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Adult Services (Item 5 in the Minute Book) seeking approval to undertake a public consultation on the introduction of a policy to support Personalisation and the introduction of Self Directed Support.

Cabinet welcomed the proposed Policy, which would strengthen Adult Services assessments and decision making to enable choices for people eligible for support rather than protecting from harm only. The Director explained that the consultation would be carried out via the County Council's website and local events. It was noted that by consulting Hampshire residents, public awareness would also be raised.


The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 1.

31 OVERVIEW OF THE RESPONSE AND MEASURES TAKEN BY HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL TO RESPOND TO SWINE FLU' ISSUES TO DATE

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Chief Executive (County Emergency Planning Officer) and Director of Adult Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) concerning the measures taken by the County Council to respond to swine flu issues.

The County Emergency Planning Officer advised that following a reduction in the numbers of suspected cases of swine flu over the summer months, the Department of Health suggested that a second wave was beginning. The NHS had begun to carry out random sampling to gain a better understanding of the true numbers of affected people. He went on to explain that following registration of the vaccine, the Department of Health had procured stocks to vaccinate the total population, and work was now underway within the County Council to deliver a programme of vaccinations for its critical staff. It was noted that the guidance for schools remained business as usual.

The Director of Adult Services explained that should swine flu cases increase sharply, hospitals may have to discharge non-critical patients quickly. Many of those non-critical patients could become the responsibility of Adult Services and planning was underway to deal with this.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 2. Cabinet also requested an update at the next meeting.

32 HAMPSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK CORE STRATEGY REVISION

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) seeking approval to consult on proposed future changes to the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework Core Strategy.

Cabinet noted that an Examination In Public was taking place during October 2009, where the County Council would argue for a low apportionment, not exceeding 1.62 million tonnes per annum for the County Council and 9.01 million tonnes per annum for the South East region. The Director of Environment would bring a further report to Cabinet following the announcement from the Secretary of State on the apportionment and the results of the consultation. Cabinet also noted that a further period of consultation, on the policy wording, would be required towards the end of the summer 2010 before the final Core Strategy would be submitted to Council for final approval.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed it was also resolved that the Executive Member for Environment would make appropriate provision for involving and updating Members on key developments in relation to the Core Strategy. The decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 3.

33 CONSULTATION ON THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE FUTURE SOUTH DOWNS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

Both Councillors R. J. Ellis and Felicity Hindson declared a personal interest in this item as members of the South Downs Joint Committee.


Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs and the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the proposed response to the consultation from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the membership of the future South Downs National Park Authority. Cabinet supported the proposal of a National Park Authority comprising 39 members.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed, subject to the fall-back position (of 37 members) only being communicated to DEFRA in the event that the option of 39 members was not acceptable. The decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 4.

34 CAPITAL STRATEGY 2009

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the County Treasurer and Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) seeking approval of an updated Capital Strategy. An error in the report at paragraph 3.3 was noted and it was clarified that the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel was an advisory panel only.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 5.

35 2009/10 BUDGET MONITORING UPDATE

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) reviewing the initial budget monitoring reports considered by Executive Members, with regard to progress in achieving budget savings and accommodation of budget pressures.

Cabinet welcomed the proposal to fund the Coroners service corporately, as it was a national service run locally, and expressed concern in respect of the ongoing overspending on this budget. It was noted that the Leader had written to the Minister for Justice concerning the budget provision in the past and that whilst the Minister had accepted the difficulties, no changes to budget provision were expected.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 6.

36 HARD TO REACH REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS

Cabinet considered the report of the Culture and Communities Select Committee (Item 11 in the Minute Book) seeking endorsement of the recommendations of the Review of Hard to Reach People. Cabinet thanked the Select Committee and the supporting officers for a thorough and thought-provoking report. Generally, Cabinet welcomed the recommendations of the Hard to Reach Scrutiny Review endorsing six of the nine recommendations. However, it requested some further work on recommendations two, six and eight in respect of how the desired outcomes could be achieved.


The decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 7.

37 DRIVING SUCCESS: CHIEF OFFICER SELF-ASSESSMENTS - 2008/09 YEAR END

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Chief Executive (Item 12 in the Minute Book) concerning the Chief Officer Self-Assessments, which formed part of the corporate performance management framework and contained Chief Officer judgements on the key issues in relation to performance and improvement for each department.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 8.