Agenda and minutes

The Members had before them:

A.        The Agenda papers (previously circulated);

B.        Addendum report;

C.        The Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 18 December 2014 (previously circulated).

(A copy of documents A and B will be attached to the signed Minutes).

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs E A Eyre and Mrs L C Hodgson. 

The Chairman wished Mrs Eyre a speedy recovery following her recent surgery, and stated that Mrs Hodgson was representing the Council at a conference in Exeter.

In addition, the apology of Mr R M Udall, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board was noted in relation to the Scrutiny report on the Budget.

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 4 February 2015). 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 held on 18 December 2014 have been previously circulated.

RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the Cabinet held on 18 December 2014 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet considered a report representing the penultimate stage in the formal process to determine the County Council's budget and precept level for 2015/16.  If agreed the report would form the basis for proposals to Full Council for approval on 12 February 2015.  The report set out the details considered by the Cabinet and the reasons for the decision including:

·         those decisions made by the Cabinet on the draft budget 2015/16 at its meeting on 18 December 2014

·         how the 2015/16 budget supported the County Council's refreshed Corporate Plan – FutureFit which looked forward to 2017.  The budget would provide for a number of initiatives that supported the delivery of the four Corporate Plan focus areas: Open for Business; Children and Families; Health & Well-being, and The Environment, within the context of a significant reduction in funding from central Government

·         the work needed to close the provisional financial gap.  In the medium term the Council would continue to target the achievement of around £25m per year whilst focusing on what was important to local people and delivering the Corporate Plan – FutureFit's four areas of focus.  The Council had managed its finances prudently in the past and plans had already been presented that potentially delivered £23.8m of savings and efficiencies in 2015/16

·         the work undertaken in January 2015 to close in full the initial funding gap of £2.4m identified in the December 2014 Cabinet report.  District Councils had confirmed increases in the tax base forecast for 2015/16 as well as the surplus from their Collection Fund in 2014/15.  Provisional forecasts for income from Business Rates and Business Rate Buoyancy had been refined as well as a review of initiatives funded through the New Homes Bonus.  For one year only it was proposed that £0.6m of the one-off Collection Fund surpluses was used to balance the Revenue Budget with the intention this was replaced by savings in 2016/17 that would be delivered year on year.  It was recommended to allocate the remaining £1.5m surplus from the Collection Funds into the Change and Transformation Fund (£1m) and Self Financing Capital Investment Fund (£0.5m)

·         It was proposed that the £2m set aside for Strategic Initiatives be allocated as follows; £0.5m to continued investment in improving highways, £0.4m to investment into improving footways, £0.2m on local highways improvements, £0.4m on Local Welfare Assistance, £0.1m to fund the development of Public Realm improvements in Redditch and £0.4m to fund key strategic capital scheme developments

·         the Council Tax referendum limit which had been set for Council Tax increases for 2015/16 of 2%.  The budget therefore confirmed the intention contained within the December 2014 Cabinet report to increase Council Tax by 1.94% to fund increased costs for Looked after Children

·         revenue budget monitoring.  The outturn forecast to 31 December 2014 indicated that the budget would break even by the end of the financial year representing a reduction from a forecast of a £0.5m deficit reported within the December 2014 Cabinet report.  There still however remained a significant adverse  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1647.

The Cabinet considered a report on the implementation of the Care Act 2014.  The report set out the details considered by the Cabinet and the reasons for the decision including:

·         the main new duties in respect of adult social care and support.  This included:

-       duties for local authorities to promote well-being and independence and to prevent or delay the development of need for care and support

-       a duty to take an active role in providing information and advice

-       new duties to local authorities to facilitate and shape the market for care and support for the benefit of local people and communities

-       duties for local authorities to undertake a Needs Assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support, regardless of whether or not they had eligible needs or their financial situation to pay for care and support.  There was also a duty to carry out a Carer's Assessment where an individual provided or intended to provide care for another adult and it appeared that the carer may have any level of need for support

-       a new national eligibility criteria and a minimum threshold to ensure that there was transparency and clarity about who was eligible for local authority funded care and support and that there was consistency in decision-making

-       introducing personal budgets into primary legislation – both for people in need of care and support and for carers

-       powers to local authorities to charge for services for care and support (replacing existing provisions)

-       a national Deferred Payment Agreement scheme across England with local authorities required to offer a deferred payment to people who meet specified criteria, and

-       new safeguarding duties in respect of certain adults

·         details of the reform of adult social care funding which was effective from April 2016.  Regulations and guidance were expected to be launched for consultation in Spring 2015.  The main changes were: raising the capital threshold for care and support; the new cap on care costs; independent Personal Budgets and Care Accounts and new rules on appealing decisions

·         an assurance on the Council's state of readiness for implementation of the Care Act.  The Directorate of Adult Services and Health had reviewed every clause in the Care Act and every requirement set out in the accompanying Regulations and Guidance to determine the actions required for its implementation.  All actions under way or planned, and any additional actions, would be completed by 1 April 2015

·         the specific requirements of the Act in relation to prevention policy, eligibility for support and care, charging for care and support, deferred payments and advocacy services and the Council's approach to addressing these requirements

·         the financial implications of the implementation of the Care Act.  The Council was expecting funding within the Better Care Fund plus a grant to a total of £4.7m in 2015/16 against an estimated cost pressure of £5.3m

·         the Human Resource implications of the Care Act and the Council's duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1648.

The Cabinet considered the Scrutiny Report on Digital Inclusion, its conclusions and the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Change and the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care to those conclusions.  The report set out the details considered by the Cabinet and reasons for the decision including:

·         the background to the scrutiny which examined how the Council could make sure that all Worcestershire residents benefited from the opportunities offered by its Digital Strategy and aimed to identify possible risks and how these could be mitigated

·         the findings and conclusions of the Scrutiny.  The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board agreed that members should monitor implementation of the Digital Strategy going forward, and as part of this, review the quality, availability and take up of adult education courses on IT literacy.  Additionally, the Adult Care and Well-being Overview and Scrutiny Panel should be given the opportunity to view and comment on the e-market place before it went live

·         the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Change and the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care to the scrutiny conclusions.

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

(a)    Mr R A Banks, Chairman of the Scrutiny Task Group presented the findings of the Scrutiny.  He stated that the Task Group was assured that whilst there was a drive to deliver the digital inclusion agenda, that face to face and telephone contact would remain for potentially vulnerable residents for as long as the service was needed to ensure that they were not excluded.  Additionally continued engagement was needed with the third sector during delivery of the digital strategy 

(b)    The Cabinet Member with Responsibly for Transformation and Change thanked the task group for its work.  Resources needed to be directed in an appropriate way, through the right channels and it was appropriate to focus on delivering the digital strategy whilst not excluding vulnerable residents.  The Council was showing strong leadership in this area and it was hoped that the Scrutiny Panel would wish to consider the progress made at a future date

(c)    Reference was made to 'Your Life, Your Choice' website which would include comprehensive information for people about how to stay healthy and independent and which would provide signposts to independent financial advice on matters relevant to meeting of needs for care and support.  The specific needs of individuals would be considered such as those with sight-loss receiving a personal assessment and other vulnerable groups being communicated with through a variety of communications methods

(d)    In response to a question seeking clarification about potential outsourcing of face to face services, the Cabinet member with Responsibility stated that there was the potential for staff currently employed by the Council to be employed by a third party, but their access to Council staff and information would remain

(e)    Responding to the question posed in the report as to whether the digital strategy sought to save money or to increase the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1649.

The Cabinet considered a report on the progress of the Broadband programme, in particular the Superfast Extension Programme, and arrangements to appoint a preferred supplier for a countywide Broadband infrastructure partner.  The report set out the details considered by the Cabinet and the reasons for the decision including:

·         the background to the delivery of Worcestershire's Local Broadband Plan "Connecting Worcestershire" which included the signing of the broadband infrastructure contract "Superfast Worcestershire" designed to improve fibre broadband speeds and coverage to meet growing demand

·         the economic and social benefits of faster broadband for Worcestershire's residents and businesses e.g. to access new technologies, for home working opportunities, environmental benefits, to access Council services and information, for those living in rural areas, for adult and vocational training and to support older people in accessing services including social care services

·         an update on success with Superfast Worcestershire and the Broadband Community Pathfinder project.  The current Superfast Worcestershire programme was expected to enable around 55,000 premises access to "Next Generation Access" infrastructure by June 2016.  The programme was 3 months ahead of schedule.  Without Superfast Worcestershire commercial broadband providers were only expected to reach 73% of Worcestershire with fibre.  Superfast Worcestershire was expected to increase this coverage above 90%.  The importance of a successful Demand Stimulation campaign could not be underestimated to recognise the benefits of the broadband programme.  In terms of the Broadband Community Pathfinder project, the successful delivery of Airband's faster broadband infrastructure was completed in Summer 2013 and was now available to residential and business premises in three project areas covering circa 2,200 premises

·         the problems associated with new build developments and the provision of fibre infrastructure to them

·         financial information for the Superfast Extension Programme.  The total amount of funding available for the programme was £4.78m, comprising £2.39m grant funding each from the Broadband Delivery UK fund and the Local Growth Fund

·         the development of the Superfast Extension Programme.  The ambition for the contract was that 95% of all premises had access to superfast broadband speeds (residential and business premises).  The Invitation to Tender for the Superfast Extension Programme was released in December 2014.  Following successful evaluation of the bids returned, the proposal was to appoint a preferred supplier and finalise contracts before April 2015

·         identification of the high level risks associated with the final stages of the procurement and deployment.  These covered areas such as delays to the procurement process, funding, dependency on the delivery of the "Superfast Worcestershire" contract etc

·         the next steps in the development of the Superfast Extension Programme.

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

(a)    This investment was needed by residents and businesses to thrive within the county

(b)    Superfast broadband was increasingly considered an essential utility and a sound robust infrastructure was needed to support its availability.  Whilst 100% coverage would not be possible, it was important to work with partners to deliver the best infrastructure roll-out possible

(c)    It was queried whether the current take-up rate of the Airband service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1650.

The Cabinet considered a report to increase the number of school places available within Malvern to cover the 2015 and 2016 Reception intakes.  The report set out the details considered by the Cabinet and the reasons for the decision including:

·         the latest data identifying a need to provide additional primary school places in Malvern to cover the 2015 and 2016 Reception intakes and details of those schools expressing an interest in expanding to meet this demand

·         details of the Malvern schools including the current level of parental demand for each of the schools

·         the projected number of places required in the period from 2015-2018 which showed a need for additional places by September 2016.  Growth in numbers was spread across the town but particularly in the north, including the Malvern Vale development, and in some of the villages to the north of Malvern

·         the longer term trends and housing growth.  Trends suggested that there would be a rise of pre-school age children in the Malvern town area, despite a reduction in the district overall.  The distinct urban/rural split this reflected, together with planned housing developments, supported the provision of additional primary school places in or near to the town

·         the key criteria for assessing the options which included the quality of current education provision at the school, how the proposed expansion might improve quality at the school, demand for places at the school/in the local area, the cost and feasibility of required building work and the response to the public consultation

·         the details of the public consultation process and an analysis of the responses to the consultation

·         the options presented in the consultation document and in light of the analysis the recommendations in relation to the following schools:

-       Callow End CE Primary School

-       Leigh and Bransford Primary School

-       Northleigh CE Primary School

-       Somers Park School

·         a number of alternative options put forward during the consultation

·         the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families to the proposals

·         the legal and financial implications of the proposals.  There were no HR implications and an Equality Impact screening exercise had determined that there were no equality implications relating to the proposals

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

(a)    A written statement from local member Prof. J W Raine referring to recommendations d and e was read out which outlined the following points: (i) in relation to recommendation (d) he was pleased that the option to expand Northleigh CE Primary School on its existing site was not being pursued; in relation to recommendation (e) he supported the case for further discussions with both Northleigh CE Primary and Somers Park schools, local county councillors and Malvern Hills District Council to identify whether the option on Malvern Vale is progressed and that the discussions commence soon in order that a decision could  be made on the way forward before the start of the Autumn term 2015.  Prof Raine stated he was keen to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1651.