Agenda and minutes

The Members had before them:

A.    The Agenda papers (previously circulated); and

B.    The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2016 (previously circulated).

A copy of document A will be attached to the signed Minutes.

Mr M L Bayliss declared an interest as he had a family member employed by the County Council within Children, Families and Communities.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday 1 February 2017).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

The Minutes of the meeting of 15 December 2016 have been previously circulated.

RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet considered the 2017-18 draft Budget and Council Tax for recommendation to Full Council. The details were set out in the report and its Appendices.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

·         The Leader of the Council introduced the report and commented that:

Ø  the final budget settlement took account of the provisional local government settlement, consultation and information from District Councils in relation to Council Tax collection and Business Rates. There may be some last minute changes to the figures from Government

Ø  The budget included proposals to close the £2.9m financial gap for 2017/18

Ø  There were additional pressures for example home to school transport for special educational needs children and additional resources for safeguarding children

Ø  It recommended that Council Tax should be increased by 2.94% (2.0% for Adult Social Care precept and 0.94% to fund delivering outcomes). This represented only a small increase on a Band D property. The County Council remained one of the lowest Council Tax precepts in the country

Ø  It reaffirmed the commitment to investments - £1m for roads, £6m over two years for pavements, £5m to cut congestion and £2m to complete town centre improvements, £1.5m for work on the A38 and the Southern Link Road

Ø  Children's Safeguarding – An extra £800k to augment the previously proposed £700k as well as two x £1m investments and some capital investments

Ø  Adult Social Care - £9m new investments including the £2.4m grant from the Government. However this grant was not guaranteed for future years and the Council's concern about this would be made to the Government

Ø  The Budget addressed the issues highlighted by the public including congestion, road/pavement improvement, and vulnerable children and adults 

Ø  The building of new housing had led to a £4.5m increase in income and a one off payment of £2.5m through the Collection Fund

Ø  He thanked OSPB and the Budget Task Group for their suggestions to close the financial gap. These suggestions were not applicable for 2017/18 but were worthy of consideration for 2018/19

Ø  In summary the budget responded to the views of the public, and invested and grew the local economy. It was acknowledged that there was a medium term financial gap to address in the future 

·         This was a balanced budget that reflected the policies in the Corporate Plan. The consultation had been very useful. A further £0.6m earmarked reserve had been allocated to the Divisional Fund Scheme which guaranteed the scheme for the next 2 years. There remained the fairer funding anomaly and the Council was determined to ensure that the County received its fair allocation of funding from the Government. £0.3m had been added to the Transformation budget to ensure that the Council operated in a way that it could afford to in the future. The New Homes Bonus allocated different amounts of money between the district councils and County Council and the Government would be lobbied to ensure consistent and fair funding for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1773.

The Cabinet considered the report on the Outcome from the Ofsted Inspection of Services for Children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.  The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced the report, expressed his disappointment and apologised that the inspection results were not better. The report highlighted a number of weaknesses and made 14 recommendations for improvement. The outcome was anticipated and following a Peer Review in April 2015, a number of changes were introduced including the Family Front Door, a Financial Recovery Plan, a Back to Basics Programme, reforms to the Early Help Programme, a cross- Council Improvement Board, appointment of a new Chair of the Children's Safeguarding Board and a number of new appointments to the senior leadership team. Ofsted did acknowledge improvements particularly in respect of the recruitment of a new leadership team, the Strategy for Child Sexual Exploitation, and the Family Front Door. Eight key themes had been highlighted to address the fourteen recommendations and these were underpinned by specific work programmes for each theme. Council would be recommended to increase resources by £3.5m next year and £2.5m the year after with an ongoing uplift of £1.5m. He had made an offer for members from each political group to join the Children's Safeguarding board  

·         The Leader of the Council commented that there were significant shortcomings and improvement must be the top priority for the Council. All councillors as corporate parents needed to support the Improvement Plan. The Ofsted Report also focussed on the important role of partner organisations in supporting the work of the Council in safeguarding children. A detailed report on the Improvement Plan would be brought to Cabinet every 3 months. A visit to best performing Councils in safeguarding children would be arranged and key members would be invited to attend. He paid tribute to the work of staff in very challenging circumstances

·         A member from outside the Cabinet commented that this was an unpleasant wake-up call, and the Council should aim to be an excellent corporate parent. There was a failure of councillors to attend corporate parenting training and this needed to be addressed. Work needed to take place with social housing providers to prevent care leavers ending up in B&Bs at the age of 18. District council representatives on the Corporate Parenting Board needed to ensure that the message about the responsibilities for corporate parenting were fed back the relevant district council 

·         The Chairman of the OSPB commented that we all shared responsibility and scrutiny had a role to help and challenge the administration to ensure that children were safeguarded

·         The Leader of the Council welcomed the active challenge of performance at all levels of the Council. He would update members as appropriate on discussions with the Minister. Ofsted would continue to monitor the progress made by the Council in addressing their recommendations. There would be corporate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1774.

The Cabinet considered the Scrutiny Report on Commissioning: Staff Terms and Conditions. The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Lead Scrutiny Member introduced the Scrutiny Report and thanked the providers who had presented evidence and the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning for his response. OSPB had amended the task group's recommendation and included a recommendation about trade union recognition rights despite the Monitoring Officer indicating that this was not possible – and therefore it was no surprise that this recommendation was rejected by the Cabinet Member. He was disappointed that the recommendation for the introduction of a mechanism for whistle-blowing had not been accepted

·         The Chairman of the OSPB commented that the main aspect of the scrutiny report was to limit the reputational risk to the Council through the commissioning process. It also stressed the importance of the Social Value Policy and Framework in this respect

·         The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning welcomed the recommendations of the scrutiny report which he thought was excellent, but expressed frustration at the poor attendance at member briefings where a lot of information had been provided. Value for Money did not necessarily represent the lowest successful tender but incorporated social value as a criteria. Recommendation 5 had not been accepted based on professional advice. Recommendation 6 had not been accepted on the basis that it was not considered professional to engage staff at provider companies without proper management arrangements. He would give further thought to how quality assurance information was disseminated

·         A member from outside the Cabinet queried the way in which information was disseminated to councillors in Briefings and whether there was a better mechanism.

RESOLVED: that

(a)          the Scrutiny Report on Commissioning: Staff Terms and Conditions, be received, together with the response from the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning; and

(b)          the Scrutiny Report's findings and recommendation  be noted, and the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility be adopted as the way forward.

The Cabinet considered the Scrutiny Report on the Effectiveness of the Prevention and Recovery Drug and Alcohol Misuse Services. The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Lead Scrutiny Member introduced the Scrutiny Report and thanked the Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being for his contribution. The  integrated service provision had improved and this was welcomed. Pathways to the service had been created across the County. Due to Government restrictions there was no statistical information available but he confirmed that they were moving in the right direction. Swanswell had merged to become Cranstoun and although reassurances had been received that Cranstoun was a leader in this field, a review was recommended in 12months time. The Council was under the average spend in this area and it was important to maintain a certain level of spending so that performance was not affected

·         The Chairman of the OSPB thanked the Lead Scrutiny Member and the task group for their work. In particular he emphasised the need to look at providing further advice to people in hard to reach areas and the advantages of contracts for service provision to be placed for a minimum of 4 years, to enable service continuity and time for improvement

·         The Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being thanked the Task Group for their work. He acknowledged that this was a matter for the community not just the County Council. The Director of Public Health had met representatives of Cranstoun and was confident that it would continue the good work carried out by Swanswell. He generally welcomed the recommendations of the Task Group acknowledging that some aspects were already being done

·         The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning welcomed the Scrutiny Report but highlighted the difficulty of addressing alcohol issues when the media celebrated sporting success with reference to alcohol

·         A member from outside the Cabinet expressed concerns about the impact of budget reductions on the excellent service provision by Swanswell.

RESOLVED: that

(a)          the Scrutiny Report on the effectiveness of the Prevention and Recovery Drug and Alcohol Misuse Service, be received, together with the response from the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Health and Well-being, in liaison with the Cabinet member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning; and

(b)          the Scrutiny Report's findings and recommendation  be noted, and the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility be adopted as the way forward.

The Cabinet considered the update report of the Footways Overview and Scrutiny Task Group. The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Lead Scrutiny Member introduced the Scrutiny Report and welcomed the £6m additional funding for footways which represented a doubling of the funds made available. It was important to strike a balance between the technical advice of officers and the local knowledge of members particularly with regard to sharing information about costs

·         The Chairman of OSPB thanked the Lead Scrutiny Member for his work. It was acknowledged that more scrutiny work was required in this area and therefore it was recommended that the scrutiny be revisited in the future. Local members should be an integral part of the footways improvement process

·         The Cabinet Member for Highways thanked the Lead Scrutiny Member and commented that an additional £3m for footways had been incorporated in the budget for the next 2 years. The DfT Guidance for well-managed highways infrastructure had now been published and an update would be provided to scrutiny in due course. The programme of Footways would be shared with scrutiny in due course. There was a strong focus on quiet urban footways but this would also cover rural footways. The permitting team monitored the performance of utility companies and took appropriate action. He agreed that all local councillors should be kept informed/consulted on matters in their division and work with respect to this was already underway

·         A member from outside the Cabinet expressed concern about the reinstatement of footways by utility companies to its original state for example block paving and land drains. The Leader of the Council commented that the County Council had a duty to ensure that footways were managed as effectively as possible through the permitting process. The Director of Infrastructure and Environment added that there was good engagement with the utility companies however he would reinforce the message to his inspection team to seek appropriate address from the utility companies

·         The additional investment in footways was welcomed particularly in respect of improving pavements of estates, shops and schools and finding new ways to repair pavements to achieve value for money

·         In response to a query about the practice of utility companies in reinstating footways, the Director of Environment and Infrastructure commented that the Highways and Utilities Co-ordination Group worked to improve the performance of utility companies. The problem was how utility companies procure the work and the quality of their sub-contractors.

RESOLVED: that

(a)            the Scrutiny Report on the effectiveness of the Prevention be received; and

(b)           the Report's findings and recommendation be noted and be adopted as the way forward.

The Cabinet considered the report on the Pilot Intergenerational Project (Homeshare). The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being introduced the report and commented that £167k from the Public Ring-fenced Grant had put aside for a project with the University of Worcester and Vesta Housing association to address the issue of loneliness of vulnerable people through working with students. Payments would be made based on the performance of the project

·         The pilot project would benefit the student by acquiring life skills but also frail people wishing to live independent lives

·         The Leader of the Council highlighted this novel approach to addressing the impact on local communities of increased student accommodation whilst addressing loneliness in the community with the appropriate safeguards in place.

RESOLVED: that

(a)            the adoption of new policy decision to invest in the 'innovation concept' of the pilot Intergenerational Project Homeshare to reduce loneliness in older people be approved as set out in the report;

(b)           the Council investing in the partnership with the University of Worcester to enable the development of the above innovation concept be supported;

(c)            the maximum funding of £167,000 from Public Health Ring Fenced Grant for a period of 4 years in support of it be approved; and

(d)           the Director of Public Health be authorised to take all appropriate steps to put the above decisions into effect.

The Cabinet considered the report on the final phases of the A4440 Worcester Southern Link Road dualling. The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·         The Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure introduced the report and commented that the purpose was to enable the Council to be in a position to react rapidly to the anticipated support from the Government in the summer for Phase 4 of the dualling of the Southern Link Road. There was a need for a contribution from the revenue budget. It was anticipated that subject to the appropriate land acquisition, the construction would be completed in 4 years time

·         Completing Phase 4 was vital given the amount of housing proposed to be built as part of the South Worcestershire Development Plan. It was acknowledged that there would be disruption, delay and annoyance in the short term for long term gain

·         A member from outside the Cabinet expressed concern about the disruption to local residents in St Johns, Worcester over an eight year period for the work on the Southern Link Road and requested the completion of the orbital route

·         A local councillor requested that a visual display be made available to show the traffic flow at the bridge over Crookberrow Way would operate. The Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure acknowledged that there would be delay and disruption. The Council could also have better communicated how the traffic flow would work and what it would look like and visuals were prepared. It was a challenged project to create a second railway bridge alongside the existing bridge in seven days, the maximum time allowed by Network Rail

·         A member from outside the Cabinet queried the challenging way in which the project included the expansion of the existing causeway rather than creating an additional causeway

·         The Leader of the Council indicated that this was an ambitious project and a compelling case had been put to the Government for resources in advance of the closing date for submissions. The Minister had indicated that a response would be received ahead of the summer recess. There were many technical challenges but these were for our contractors. The Director of Environment and Infrastructure added that the final phases of the scheme would mostly be built off-line including the railway bridge. The Ketch Roundabout had been built in anticipation of the new bridge alinement. All these aspects would keep disruption to a minimum during the final phases of the project. Members would be briefed accordingly on the build up to the project going live.

RESOLVED: that

(a)          the physical progress made on the SLR Dualling to date, and the continuing exploratory and preparatory work which is necessary to bring Phase 3c (Whittington to Norton - new railway bridge and new footbridge) and Phase 4 (Ketch to Powick including new bridge parallel to Carrington Bridge) (the Final Phases) of  SLR Dualling to implementation, be noted;

(b)          the financial position  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1779.