Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the CABINET of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 21 December 2009.

Chairman:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

Councillors:

Also present with the agreement of the Chairman: Councillors K.G. Chapman (part of meeting); P.R. Edgar; K. Evans and Mrs M.J. Tucker.

61. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Keith Mans.

62. 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.

63. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2009 were confirmed as a correct record.

Arising thereon:-

(a) Minute 53: Healthier Hampshire - Health and Wellbeing Partnership Strategy - in respect of the last paragraph it was noted that subsequent to the meeting on 23 November 2009 the Cabinet had been briefed on the final strategy document.


(b) Minute 55: South Coast Street Lighting Private Finance Agreement - as a point of clarification, the Executive Member for Environment confirmed that the replacement of street lighting columns in historic areas, as part of the PFI agreement, would be on a like-for-like basis

64. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman welcomed Linda Krywald and Kate Handy of the Audit Commission to the meeting who would be presenting items 6 and 7 o the agenda.

65. PROVISIONAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE SETTLEMENT AND BUDGET GUIDELINES 2010/11 TO 2012/13

The Cabinet considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) outlining the provisional local government finance settlement and budget guidelines for 2010/11 to 2012/13. The County Treasurer presented the key points of the Pre Budget Report which indicated that in real terms, cuts in local government services other than for schools and 'front line' police could be as much as 6% per annum from 2011/12. However at this stage there was no need to revise the medium term financial planning assumptions for 2011/12 and onwards. The County Treasurer drew attention to section 2 of the report which set out the key points of the settlement and particularly emphasised concern that the Government's estimate of free home care could be understated. This presents an uncertain and potentially large unfunded budget pressure which will need to be assessed when further information is available by February 2010 and it was therefore recommended that strong representations are made to Government to provide adequate funding.

The Cabinet were mindful of the additional pressures that the proposals for free home care would bring, not only in terms of budgets but also on staff. Concern was expressed that there would be an additional burden on Care Managers to assess whether or not people meet the `critical care' criteria. Concern was also expressed at the huge burden that will arise from the net cost of funding after specific grant support (which only covers approximately 63% of the Government's estimated costs) resulting in the further pressure of achieving additional savings of £10-20m in a full year. The County Council has a robust record of achieving annual £15m efficiency savings within service cash limits and has now targeted an extra £15m each year from 2011/12 to be met by corporate efficiency savings. However to achieve the indicated level of savings for free personal care at home on top of those efficiency savings which have already been budgeted will mean a significant impact on council tax or a cut to front line services which the County Council has worked extremely hard to avoid in the past. Clearly this position is not sustainable and appropriate representations will be made to the Government.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. The
decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 1.

66. UPDATE ON SWINE FLU

At the request of the Cabinet, the Chief Executive (County Emergency Planning Officer) updated Members on the latest position with swine flu. He confirmed that the national picture continues to improve and that the number of cases in Hampshire continues to decrease. All front line social care staff have been offered the vaccination resulting in a 34% take up, some 6,000 staff. Some concern was expressed that the vaccination system is not sympathetic to people who have busy working lives and it would appear that the process differs from GP to GP.

The County Emergency Planning Officer also took the opportunity to update the Cabinet on the work being done by the Environment Department, the Emergency Planning Team together with the County Council's Highways Term Maintenance Contractors Amey, who had been working round the clock since last week to keep Hampshire's roads open.

67. COMPREHENSIVE AREA ASSESSMENT (CAA): ORGANISATIONAL AND AREA ASSESSMENTS

The Cabinet considered the CAA Organisational Assessment (Item 6A in the Minute Book) and the CAA Area Assessment (Item 6B in the Minute Book). Linda Krywald of the Audit Commission presented the reports both of which presented a very positive picture. It was confirmed that overall, Hampshire County Council performs excellently and scored 4 out of 4 for managing performance. The assessments highlighted the County Council's innovative approach to securing value for money and its strong track record of delivering efficiency savings which have exceeded government targets whilst maintaining the second lowest council tax at a national level of 1.9 per cent over a two year period. It was also highlighted that the County Council addresses the issues that matter to people, has a good level of engagement with the district councils and other partners such as the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority. The performance of road safety; waste management; and reduction of incidents of arson were also noted as well as the strong partnership arrangements that supported these. Sustained progress on inequalities across the county will be an area of challenge for the County Council in the future, particularly around children and young people.

It was confirmed that the Audit Commission would continue a watching brief in such areas as:

· improvements in efficiency, quality of services through partnership working (also recognised as a challenge for districts authorities);

· health services and the need to ensure they are efficiently delivered and affordable as well as addressing the funding gaps (also recognised as a challenge for health partners);

· health inequalities including ambulance response times and how these are affected by the co-responders team (also recognised as a challenge for health partners);

· workforce - skills development, young people not in education, employment or training (NEETS), economic issues and cross-border issues;

· rural agenda - outcome of the County Council's Rural Strategy

In conclusion the Audit Commission reported that the Area Assessment for next year would not be starting from scratch but updating the report in terms of the issues and challenges identified. Time would be scheduled with the relevant officers to discuss and provide an opportunity to identify green flags. It was also reported that is was possible that the publication date of the Organisational Assessment for both Hampshire district councils and the County Council would be brought forward potentially to September 2010.

In response the Cabinet expressed concern that bringing forward the assessment publication date to September possibly would run the risk of not having the latest data available. For example, data for looked after children from the Department for Children, Schools and Families would not be available until October 2010 and hence after the publication date of the Organisational Assessment. In response to some of the other areas highlighted, it was recognised that further work was required to improve the situation with NEETS inherited from the Connexions Service; that it be recognised that pockets of deprivation exist in Hampshire that do not appear in any of the statistics produced; and emphasised the importance of the Audit Commission presenting relevant information to the Board of NHS Hampshire to highlight that health must work closely with their partners about proposed changes to services to ensure that partners are fully engaged from the outset and all views are taken into account. The Cabinet were also disappointed that the innovative Hampshire Model, which takes an holistic approach to delivering social care, had not been identified for a green flag and also that there was no mention in the assessment reports of the Health and Wellbeing Partnership which is working very hard to bring together the County Council, all 11 district councils, the NHS and Hampshire PCT.

Cabinet noted the outcomes of the Audit Commission's reports (Item 6A & 6B) and thanked Linda Krywald and her team for their hard work. Cabinet adopted the proposed response for the County Council as set out in report 6D together with additional resolutions firstly that the County Council be informed on the award of green flags to other County Councils and the reasons and secondly, that a Part II report be submitted to the next meeting of the County Council. A copy of the substantive decision record attached to these Minutes as Appendix 2.

68. ANNUAL AUDIT: ANNUAL AUDIT LETTER AND USE OF
RESOURCES

The Cabinet considered the draft Annual Audit Letter (AIL) for 2008/09 (Item 7A in the Minute Book) and the Use of Resources Assessment 2008/09 (Item 7B in the Minute Book). Kate Handy of the Audit Commission presented the reports. The AIL summarises the findings from the Audit Commission's 2008/09 audit, taking the approach of focusing on outcomes rather than processes. It includes messages arising from the audit of financial statements and the arrangements put in place to assess value for money. The overall score was confirmed as `3' compared to the previous year's `4' but the Audit Commission emphasised that was due to the change to the assessment methodology and did not imply that the Council's performance was not as good as last year. Indeed the County Council had continued to make improvements, notably to its approach to the planning of finances, its commissioning and procurement services arrangements and its strategic asset management. This was the first year of the new Use of Resources assessment which considers how well the organisation is managing and using its resources. Kate confirmed that workforce and workforce planning will be a new area for assessment next year to include such elements as training, succession planning and inequalities.

The Cabinet welcomed the outcome of the AIL and Use of Resources Assessment. In considering the new area for assessment next year in respect of the workforce, the Cabinet highlighted the work being done to address the key experience that would be lost due to officers retiring. The Cabinet also requested clarification as to whether or not the workforce element would include its schools staff population which accounts for over 50% of the workforce and that the way staff are being deployed arising from the Hampshire Workstyle initiative be taken in to account.

The Cabinet noted the outcomes of the Audit Commission's reports (Item 7A & 7B). The Chairman also took the opportunity to thank Members and staff for their continued hard work which had resulted in very positive assessments for the County Council. The Cabinet adopted the proposed response for the County Council as set out in report 7D together with additional resolutions as detailed in the substantive decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 3.

69. NATIONAL VETTING AND BARRING SCHEME

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Human Resources, Director of Children's Services and Director of Adult Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) concerning the implications for the County Council and its partners in respect of the National Vetting and Barring Scheme. The Director of Human Resources expanded on the key points contained in the report and confirmed that the new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) does not replace the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checking process. One of the main differences with the new scheme is that Local Authorities and other relevant organisations can raise concerns about an individual with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) direct, who have a broader perspective on an individual's suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults. It was also highlighted that the Voluntary and Community Sector is covered by the ISA, however it is not clear whether the Sector will be able to carry out checks themselves or whether they will need a host organisation to do this for them. If the latter is the case, there will be implications for the County Council in terms of handling an increased number of applications

The Director of Children's Services also emphasised that the CRB scheme should not be seen as a proxy for a robust safeguarding scheme and that it was important not to be complacent because existing processes are in place. The VBS provides additional information which will be invaluable to organisations such as the County Council and will make it harder for people to hide their backgrounds.

The Cabinet expressed some concern about the bureaucracy of the CRB process framework particularly about individual's having worked abroad for short periods of time and the difficulties this can cause in respect of the vetting system. However, keeping children and vulnerable adults safe was of utmost importance, therefore the Cabinet endorsed the VBS to assist with its implementation.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. The
decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 4.

70. DRAFT NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book) concerning the draft statutory New Forest National Park Management Plan and the forthcoming New Forest National Park Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. The
decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 5.

71. 2009/10 BUDGET MONITORING UPDATE

The Cabinet considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) reviewing the latest budget monitoring reports for the second quarter submitted to Executive Members. The County Treasurer expanded on the key points contained in the report, particularly highlighting the position with high risk/demand led budgets together with the challenges in 2010/11 financial year as outlined in the presentation of Item 5 on the agenda and drew Members attention to the specific request for the virement of funds to the Environment capital programme to contribute to the costs arising from the review of A and B roads in line with Members' priorities for speed management.

The Cabinet welcomed the quality of the information the regular budget monitoring reports provide to Executive Members individually and the Cabinet collectively and particularly the clear link they show to the performance of the organisation.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. The
decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 6.

72. DRIVING SUCCESS: CHIEF OFFICER SELF-ASSESSMENTS - 2009/10 QUARTER TWO

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive (Item 11 in the Minute Book) concerning the Chief Officer judgements of key issues in relation to performance and improvement for each County Council department.

The Cabinet adopted the recommendations set out in the report. The decision record is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 7.