To receive a report from the leader on the activities of cabinet since the meeting of Council in July.

The Leader introduced his report on the activities of cabinet since the meeting of Council on 15 July 2016. In particular, the Leader drew attention to the decision made by Cabinet on 28 July 2016 in respect of the council applying to become a non-constituent member of the West Midlands Combined Authority and repeated assurances to Council that he would keep members informed about progress on the issue.

Councillors asked questions about the report and associated matters, the following principal points were made:

i.           Referring to appendix 3, report on the activity of the Herefordshire community safety partnership (HCSP), a councillor expressed concern about future funding arrangements for new public open space, particularly in view of comments made at a recent members’ briefing about further cuts to maintenance budgets. He also asked the cabinet member health and wellbeing to input into the HCSP on this issue on the basis that it supported healthy and safe communities. The cabinet member health and wellbeing said that, notwithstanding whether this was an issue for the HCSP or if there was a genuine safety concern, the matter would be referred to the relevant cabinet member. Later in the meeting, the cabinet member transport and roads commented that maintaining public open space was a non-statutory part of the public realm contract and, given the budget pressures, the council had to choose whether it did things differently, paid for them differently, or stop doing them altogether.

ii.          Referring to paragraph 4 of the Leader’s report about the sustainability and transformation plans being developed by the NHS, the chairman of the health and social care overview and scrutiny committee expressed disappointment at the reluctance of NHS England to accept that both the scrutiny committee and the health and wellbeing board had a right to see the proposals which impact on service provision in Herefordshire before they were finalised.

The cabinet member health and wellbeing acknowledged the comments, thanked the director of adults and wellbeing for his efforts to bring the plans before members, and confirmed that the health and wellbeing board and the scrutiny committee would be holding meetings on this topic, in public on 19 October 2016.

iii.         A councillor drew attention to paragraph 6 of the Leader’s report about the consultation undertaken in relation to short breaks to provide respite and opportunity for children with disabilities and welcomed the progress made, with officers and the cabinet member young people and children’s wellbeing thanked for their work.

In response to a question, the Leader provided assurance that the council would maintain efforts and provide appropriate attention to these arrangements.

iv.        Referring to appendix 3, a councillor asked questions about the work being undertaken to understand and address the figures, specifically in relation to the increase in the number of hate offences (up 69% to 44 incidents) and the increase in the number of referrals to West Mercia Women’s Aid (up 24%) and calls to the helpline line (up 55%).

In response, the cabinet member health and wellbeing said there was a problem with domestic violence and abuse in Herefordshire and there was considerable work going on to understand and address the issues, both to help the victims and to support the perpetrators to stop doing it; the cabinet member said that further information could be shared with the councillor about this activity. The cabinet member noted that the number of hate offences was relatively low but emphasised that all hate crime was unacceptable. In response to a further question, the cabinet member said that it was not considered that Herefordshire had an additional problem to that indicative across the country.

v.         Referring to appendix 1 and recent cabinet decisions, a councillor asked questions about the New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) university project.

The chief executive was invited to update Council, he made the following points: the Treasury green book business case had been submitted on schedule the previous week and, whilst it was for the relevant government departments to consider, he felt that a strong and powerful business case had been put forward; and, although contingent on a government decision to support the university, the council continued to discuss a range of options for learning locations and student accommodation and further updates would be provided to Council in due course. In response to a further question, the chief executive said that it was government’s prerogative as to when it confirmed its position but this was unlikely to happen before the Autumn Statement, possibly not until the Budget.

vi.        It was commented that the draft economic masterplan had been discussed at general overview and scrutiny committee on 27 September 2016 and a plea was repeated for the document to reflect the importance of the market towns to the county as a whole.

The cabinet member economy and corporate services noted that the report to scrutiny was the ‘start of the conversation’ and he welcomed this point being brought to his attention. He provided assurance that work was ongoing to identify projects in the market towns.

Another councillor said that the document should also take into account the immediate hinterland surrounding them. It was also suggested that agricultural industries should be referenced, particularly the success of the livestock market.

vii.       Returning to the issue of short breaks, a councillor welcomed the improvement in communications with families and said that this needed to be maintained. However, there was some concern about the tactics of the tendering and contracting process and the cabinet member young people and children’s wellbeing, and officers were asked to give this serious consideration.

The Leader provided assurance that the council would do all it could to make the best of the arrangements, under the guidance of the officers involved and the cabinet member young people and children’s wellbeing.

viii.      A councillor expressed disappointment was that the ‘Let’s Listen Herefordshire’ mental health day proposed by Councillor D Summers was not being taken forward, despite the motion being carried unanimously at the last meeting of Council (minute 20 refers).

The cabinet member health and wellbeing said that: Council had asked the executive ‘to consider the establishment of an annual designated mental health day’; the director of adults and wellbeing and the director of public health had met with Councillor Summers to explore the idea and the cabinet member had offered to meet with him also; consideration of the proposal had been undertaken in a genuine fashion; and it had been concluded that there were better ways to achieve the desired objectives that were explicit in the motion.

ix.        Referring to page 49 of the agenda, a member drew attention to the decision regarding termination of contract with the Shaw Trust for mental health employment service and commented that mental health was a real issue for the county.

x.         A councillor said that, whilst the reasons were understood, it was regrettable that road safety would no longer be a main priority in the community safety strategy, particularly as this was a sensitive issue in rural communities. Furthermore, it was commented that more needed to be done, particularly in a time of public constraint, to secure financial contributions from developers to address rural accident blackspots; the councillor said that there were existing mechanisms but there appeared to be a reluctance to use them.

The Leader acknowledged the comments and said he would take the issue up with officers.

Another councillor subsequently commented that the level of casualties were relatively high given the rural nature and quality of the roads, and noted that rural road safety was one of the main priorities of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.

xi.        Referring to page 50 of the agenda, in relation to restated 2015/16 capital outturn per scheme, it was questioned whether Councillor RI Matthews had been thanked for the identification of errors within the report to cabinet on 16 June 2016.

The Leader said that Councillor Matthews had been provided with a detailed written response to his questions on the matter and the Leader emphasised that it involved a reporting and not financial errors, as confirmed by both internal and external audit.

The chairman of the audit and governance committee confirmed that he had thanked Councillor Matthews for his efforts in scrutinising the accounts.

xii.       A councillor suggested that, in view of the state of the roads in the county, the authority should consider using reserves or obtaining a loan from the Public Works Loan Board to carry out vital repairs to the local road network. A concern was expressed about the potential reduction in the drainage budget.

The cabinet member transport and roads reminded Council of the finite budget available, that difficult decisions had to be made about where money was spent, and, whilst £20m had been invested in roads over two years, it would cost nearly £80m to bring all the roads in the county up to an optimal state.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.