To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies from members of the cabinet.

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 receive the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2019.

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Wednesday 19 June 2019.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

Please see https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/getinvolved for information on how to submit a question.

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

To receive questions from councillors.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Wednesday 19 June 2019.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

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

To recommend the Children and Young People’s Plan 2019-2024 for approval.

The cabinet member for children and families presented the report and highlighted the following:

·         The children and young people’s plan had been developed with children and young people and partners

·         The plan builds on the achievements and challenges of the previous plan

·         The latest data from the children’s integrated needs assessment, Ofsted and other sources had been used.

·         The matters of concern included children and young people’s mental health and the high numbers of looked after children (LAC). 

·         The positives were the increasing achievement in education in schools; the opportunities of the university and the cyber security centre.

·         The plan is an overarching framework within which the partners will work to address challenges and bring about changes.   There are delivery plans and action plans which underpin the framework so not all the detail or the issues being worked on is set out in this overarching plan. 

In discussion of the report, the cabinet members noted that:

·         Issues of peer on peer sexual abuse were being addressed by council staff, schools and others in a variety of ways.   It was stressed that it was being taken seriously and that the council was promoting  the use of national guidance.   There had been a range of briefings for safeguarding leads, head teachers, practitioners. 

·         the consultation with children and young people was positive and hopefully that could be a model which could be followed.

·         there was awareness of the issues with some schools have issues with parked cars and there would be work undertaken with officers to look at increasing the number of 20 mph limits around schools.   

·         Encouraging children to walk would be positive for their health and the environment.  

·         Herefordshire had on average comparatively low levels of deprivation  (14% against 20% nationally).   These issues will be addressed in every way the council could.  

·         They were keen to encourage the schools and the wider community with regard to the climate emergency. 

·         Children and young people had clearly demonstrated that they wanted to have an influence which should be encouraged. 

·         The loss of youth groups /  centres had caused issues.  The cabinet member would like to look at the possibility of reinstating them. 

·         There would be regular partnership meetings to review the plan and there would be regular updates considered by children and young people scrutiny committee and health and wellbeing board.   

·         It was an overarching plan which had broad statements which made it flexible enough to act on emerging issues through the life of the plan.

The chair of the children and young person scrutiny committee commented that the plan was a strategic document.   The committee had subsequently held spotlight review into obesity in children and dental decay.   As a result of this the chair, the NHS, public health and HealthWatch would be attending a meeting with MPs to look at dental decay issues faced by Herefordshire in terms of its rural nature.   The possibility of a mobile dental service for rural areas was also being considered as a possibility.     The children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

To review performance for 2018/19 and the budget outturn for the year.

The cabinet member for corporate services and finance presented the report and highlighted the following: 

·         It was a comprehensive report and appendices.

·         The old administration were thanked for overseeing the corporate plan. 

·         There had been an overall underspend of £600k and these monies had been placed in general reserves.

·         The savings had been delivered but not necessarily in the areas identified

·         Departmental savings needed to be realistic. 

·         Treasury management had underspent by £2m and this underspend had been revised in year.   This area was instrumental in balancing the directorates over and under spends.  

·         Adults and communities had made excellent progress.

·         It was gratifying to see the increase in use of Wellbeing Information and Signposting for Herefordshire (WISH) by 19%

·         Home First had been rated Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).   This was a key service in relation to hospital discharges and care in the home.  

·         The children and families pressures continued primarily to be in relation to LAC.

In discussion of the report, the cabinet members commented:

·         It was important to note the delivery of the savings in the adult and wellbeing directorate budget for the last finance year.   Some areas had not delivered their savings due to policy changes but that other areas had over delivered. 

·         The issue of the recruitment and potentially retention of social workers may now need to be revisited via a task and finish group. The director of children and families reported that retention of children’s social workers was not an issue due to work in the past year in developing career pathways and increasing  business support and management.   Market forces supplements had also been implemented.     The directorate were also starting to roll out software which enabled voice recording for visit notes which reduced the social workers typing time.   Recruitment of children’s social workers was the issue.  The directorate would expect some turnover but that work with regional colleagues and individual recruitment agencies was being undertaken to look at this issue.    The key issue was the geography and location of Herefordshire. 

·         Whether the report could be made more readable, especially by children and young people.

Group leaders were invited to express the views of their groups which were as follows:

·         The previous Cabinet had selected the red route for the bypass which was concerning for those residents whose properties were now blighted.    The cabinet member for infrastructure and transport indicated that until any alternative arrangements were considered, if there were residents who had concerns they should contact the council. 

·         There was little detail in appendix 5 of the report to show how the debt write offs had been chased.   It would be helpful for more clarification to be provided as to individual write offs and the processes used.  This area may be of interest to the relevant scrutiny committee.

·         With regard to appendix c (capital expenditure), it was surprising to see that the financial costs were higher by £1m.  The chief finance officer provided clarification that it was a matter of interpretation as this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.