To inform cabinet of the revenue and capital outturn for 2016/17, including the treasury management outturn report and debts written off, and invite cabinet members to consider performance for the year.

The cabinet member economy and corporate services introduced the report. The focus of the report was on the final budget position for 2016/17 and the successes and challenges for each directorate of the council. The cabinet member stated that careful management of the budget had protected services and that there had been an overall underspend of £600k.

A number of successes were highlighted, linked to the council’s corporate priorities:

Enable residents to live safe, healthy and independent lives

·         177 disabled facilities grants had been funded, a small increase on the previous year, allowing more residents to stay in their own home for longer;

·         more residents over the age of 65 were being supported to live at home;

·         Herefordshire was now ranked 18^th best out of all English authorities.

Keep children and young people safe and give them a great start in life

·         early years outcomes had improved, Herefordshire was now ranked in the top 25% of councils for a key measure;

·         recruitment of foster carers had improved, against a regional trend of falling numbers of foster carers.

Support the growth of our economy

·         good progress had been made on the south wye transport package;

·         the new city link road was expected to open before Christmas 2017;

·         the new economic vision for the county was about to be launched;

·         EnviRecover Energy-from-Waste plant had been completed and was reducing the council’s reliance on landfill for disposing of waste while generating power.

Secure better services, quality of life and value for money

·         the use of agency staff had reduced;

·         the council’s new website had been launched successfully and had been submitted for a national award.

Group leaders were asked to make comments on behalf of their group.

The leader of the Herefordshire independents group raised the following points:

That inspections of adults’ services often criticised a lack of front line support and management and that the director for adults and wellbeing should visit frontline staff more often. In response it was noted that Herefordshire was rated the 5^th highest authority for quality of life provided and that the management team was clearly delivering good results.

That the telecare service was a credit to everyone involved.

The group leader queried why the council had seen an increase in foster carers. The cabinet member for children and young people responded that a targeted approach had been used to recruit more carers and that there was good support and training in place which was valued by carers.

The group leader commented on the inclusion of the Hereford Bypass in the Midlands Connects regional transport strategy and asked what benefits this would bring. The cabinet member for infrastructure explained that the bypass scheme was in the early priority stages of the strategy programme and that the system was complex. More information would be provided as the strategy was firmed up. Funding may be available if the scheme meets the relevant criteria for each stage.

The group leader asked how often neighbourhood plans would be reviewed.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6