Decisions made

To consider  a report from the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services  regarding procurement, amendments and extensions to contracts over £1million in value.

Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive regarding an update to the Constitution. Noting that this would extend the ability to appoint substitute members to Council committees, the recommendations in the report were agreed. The decision record is attached.

Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive regarding support for Children’s Services in Buckinghamshire.

The background of Buckinghamshire’s need for external support following a failed Ofsted inspection was outlined to Cabinet. As a result Hampshire County Council’s Chief Executive had been identified as the DfE Commissioner for Buckinghamshire, with the County Council an improvement partner. In the vein of the context provided by the Chief Executive under the previous item on the agenda, it was explained that this arrangement fitted with the current drive for sector led improvement on a regional basis. The department’s commitments in Torbay were coming to an end following the establishment of a long-term support solution and therefore it was felt that capacity existed to enter into such an arrangement.

With the agreement of the Chairman Councillor Porter addressed Cabinet. She felt there was a need for caution on the same basis as she had identified under the previous item on the agenda. She noted that it was 80 miles to Buckinghamshire and had similar concerns around the pressure on staff especially in combination with the need to achieve T19 savings. Councillor Porter welcomed confirmation that Hampshire children would remain the priority, but found it difficult to see how an impact would not be felt.

The Chief Executive confirmed that in the children’s services environment post Haringey, a number of local authorities are likely to need long term support. This was the position that the Isle of Wight had found themselves in and in providing such support, Hampshire had developed the capacity and experience to be able to support other authorities, such as Torbay and Buckinghamshire to assist them in the short term and enable them to find their own long term solution.

Cabinet welcomed the assurance that any risk associated with partnership work such as this could be managed and were agreed that Hampshire should provide support to others where it was able to do so. It was furthermore noted that other large County Councils, such as Essex were in a similar position and Members agreed that support within the sector was preferable to outsourcing to private companies.

The recommendations in the report were proposed and agreed. The decision record is attached.

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Adults Health and Care regarding the department’s vision and strategy.

In introducing the report, it was confirmed that the vision and strategy had been prepared in consultation with partners, that it sought to identify activity to manage demand, to support independent living and to promote the use of technology enabled care. It was furthermore noted that the development of the extra-care programme was underpinned by substantial capital investment.

Welcoming the report, Cabinet agreed that it showed the Council to be fit for the future whilst addressing the financial position. The ability of Hampshire County Council to continue to run its own in house care provision was recognised as being a result of a strong financial position and ongoing development was a good use of the capital programme. A number of examples of technology enabled care were discussed and the potential to take this forward in conjunction with partners in the NHS, in particular in the area of tele-medicine was identified.

The recommendations in the report were proposed and agreed. The decision record is attached.

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Public Health regarding the development of a strategic partnership between the County Council and the Isle of Wight Council.

With reference to the report, it was explained that initially an interim arrangement would exist between the two Councils in order that the options for a longer term partnership could be explored. The different phases of this were outlined and it was confirmed that there would be no detriment to the provision of public health in Hampshire. Furthermore, the Isle of Wight Council would retain full political control for provision on the Island. The partnership would be on a cost recovery basis.

With the agreement of the Chairman, Councillor Jackie Porter addressed Cabinet. She expressed some concern that based on her experience of the Children’s Services department, such partnership activity, including the travel requirements had the potential to stretch officers beyond their capacity and therefore did pose a risk to service delivery. Highlighting areas such as breastfeeding, vaccination rates and children’s mental health where improvements were needed in Hampshire, Councillor Porter suggested that consideration should be given as to whether a long term partnership was right to enter into.

The Executive Member for Public Health confirmed that she was confident partnership working with the Isle of Wight Council would not be to the detriment of Hampshire. She explained that the initial position was for a six month period and a further report would come to Cabinet in the autumn. She offered to meet with Councillor Porter and the Director to discuss her concerns.

Cabinet clarified that the cost recovery mechanism did not leave Hampshire vulnerable and recognised that partnership work in the Children’s Services department had provided opportunities for officers to develop. It was also agreed that using the Council’s scale and capacity to support a neighbouring authority was the right thing to do.

With regard to the specific areas identified by Councillor Porter, the Director provided clarification around the work being undertaken to support emotional wellbeing in young people, working with schools. She explained that vaccinations were delivered by Public Health England and there was close and pro-active work from the Hampshire team to provide reassurance support to this. It was acknowledged that in Hampshire, as in many areas, breastfeeding was challenging to support and for this reason was a high priority. It was confirmed that the partnership with the Isle of Wight would not reduce any work in Hampshire.

The Chief Executive provided further context, explaining that there was a shift in the delivery and commissioning of services across the country and it was in the County Council’s interests to use its scale and capacity to become an authority that others could call upon for support. Underpinning this strategy was the priority of protecting the delivery of service provision in Hampshire.

The recommendations in the report were proposed and agreed. The decision record is attached.

Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive providing an update on the Transformation to 2019 programme.

The report was introduced and it was highlighted that following previous resolutions of Cabinet, a number of savings targets had been removed from the programme and measures had been implemented to achieve the overall savings requirement. High confidence was reported in the deliverability of 45 percent of the programme. Ongoing work to further improve productivity, including through automation was drawn to Cabinet’s attention. Pressures in the provision of care for the elderly and in care for vulnerable children were also identified.

Cabinet welcomed the report and noted that the cumulative savings of £480 million were not the whole story as further, consequential savings and income, such as resulting from energy savings were not included. Members acknowledged that meeting the inflationary pressures in key areas of service provision as well as achieving savings had resulted in a number of difficult decisions. The income strategy, in particular of becoming a provider of services to other authorities was praised as being both a reliable source of income and in the wider public benefit.

The recommendations in the report were proposed and agreed. The decision record is attached.