To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Davies.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January and 28 January 2021.

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2021 and 28 January 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 1 to the minutes.

To receive questions from councillors.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 2 to the minutes.

That cabinet approves the Market Position Statement 2020-2025 which informs the care and support market on where the future demands on services will be so they can adapt their business models to respond and reflect the needs of the county’s population.

The cabinet member adults and communities introduced the item and highlighted some of the key points. She thanked the adults and wellbeing scrutiny committee for reviewing the document and their recommendations were set out in an appendix to the report.

In discussion of the report cabinet members noted that:

•               The document covered services the council commissioned, the wider market and how to respond to the needs of communities in the future;

•               The design of the document was well received;

•               Unpaid carers made a huge contribution and a review of the carers strategy was currently underway to make sure they had access to the right services and support;

•               Officers had explored the reasons for placing individuals out of county, while some of these placements might be down to being unable to meet specific needs within the county, other individuals chose to be placed further away to be near family members;

•               It was important to have the right choices and options available to support individuals to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible;

•               The document would help care providers to make good investment decisions to develop their businesses and work effectively with the council;

•               Plans were being developed to provide some council-owned care facilities as it was important to have a balance of provision;

•               The document highlighted the role that family members and communities could play in providing support structures;

•               improvements to help those with care needs and their families understand the system and the options available were welcomed;

•               it was recognised that while care at home would often be the best outcome this might not always be the case.

The chairperson of the adult and wellbeing scrutiny committee reflected on some of the comments from the committee. She noted that the majority of the recommendations made by the committee had been accepted and that many had already been actioned. The committee had acknowledged that it was not a statutory requirement to produce this document but recognised the value of it and praised officers for their work on it. Overall the committee was impressed with the level of engagement with providers and the proactive way the council was working with the market to ensure resilience and adequacy to meet the needs of residents now and in the future.

Group leaders were invited to present the views and queries of their group. The document was widely supported and praised for its design. It was noted that:

•               care should be taken in the language used so that it was not too business focussed and it was suggested that references to ‘beds’ should be replaced with ‘placements’;

•               home care providers should be well monitored to ensure the quality of the care provided;

•               it was not known how many individuals were placed in Herefordshire from outside the county but it was not believed to be a high proportion;

•               support for carers was important as they were valuable assets;

•  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

To review performance for quarter 3 2020/21 and the budget forecast and;

To provide assurance that progress has been made towards achievement of the agreed revenue budget and service delivery targets, and that the reasons for major variances or potential under-performance are understood and are being addressed to the cabinet’s satisfaction.

The cabinet member finance and corporate services introduced the item. It was noted that this was a backward looking report on quarter 3. Budget pressures were generally due to the impact of covid and had been encountered across the council in one way or another. The cabinet member noted the support in the form of grants that had been received from the government which was currently expecting to cover about 70% of the budget pressures. The council continued to discuss some of the detail of government support packages with the relevant departments and had conducted quite an intense in year savings programme. The coronavirus had also impacted on progress on the capital programme as summarised in the report.

The cabinet member explained that performance was being measured against the three main sections in the county plan and against the delivery plan.

Cabinet members highlighted progress and challenges within their respective portfolios and thanked officers and partners for their work during the pandemic.

Group leaders were invited to present the views and queries of their groups. It was noted that:

·        work on promoting Herefordshire as a staycation destination had been a success, some of the media work had been paused due to the additional lockdown but was ready to resume this year;

·        the cyber centre building on the Hereford Enterprise Zone had been completed and the next stage was to recruit occupants for the building, working with the University of Wolverhampton, as soon as covid restrictions allowed;

·        it was suggested that while the completion of the cyber centre and shell store developments were welcome, they would have benefitted from delivery of the southern link road for improved access;

·        the reduction in the number of looked after children was welcomed and the cabinet member children and families confirmed that numbers were continuing to go down;

·        it was suggested that an item on the planning system be include in future reports to highlight the number of applications currently on hold due to the moratorium on housing resulting from phosphate levels;

·        a query was raised regarding a news article on the Herefordshire dedicated schools grant, the S151 officer advised that the article was believed to be factually incorrect and that the grant was one of the few in the country to be balanced. A written response would be provided with further details.

It was resolved that:

Cabinet reviewed performance and financial outturn for quarter 3 2020/21, as set out in appendices A - I, and has not identified any additional actions to be considered to achieve future improvement.