There were no declarations of interest.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting of the Sevenoaks District Kent Locality Board held on 5 July 2012 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Sue Sparks, KCC Libraries, Registration and Archives

Cllr Robert Brookbank, Vice-Chairman of the Locality Board and Chairman of the Library Sub-Group

The Board welcomed both the Kent County Council (KCC) Strategic Manager and the Project Manger of Libraries, Registration and Archives to the meeting.

The Strategic Manager confirmed that meetings had now either taken place or were scheduled to discuss future library service provision for each of the libraries in the District. The discussions held so far had shown the public were willing to get engaged and discuss future library provision. Members welcomed the meetings and aim to find local solutions to meeting the library budget rather than to close libraries. However the Officer was asked that the Board be provided with information regarding those libraries which were outside the District but were close to its borders.

In response to a question, the Strategic Manager stated that the meetings would likely continue until the end of October and that the savings being discussed would not be brought in until the financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16. However, other savings would be brought in for the coming year. The Vice-Chairman proposed some capital investment, for example in IT, could be required to make savings over the longer term

The Strategic Manager confirmed she would advise Members of what would be done with the Edenbridge Library which would soon be replaced in the new Edenbridge Centre.

Verbal Updates by Angela Slaven – KCC and Lesley Bowles - SDC

The KCC Director of Service Improvement explained that there were 2,560 identified Troubled Families across the county and 1,082 would be targeted for assistance in the first year of the programme. 62 of the 1,082 families were identified within the Sevenoaks District. The Government had agreed to fund £4,000 for services to each of these families with 80% of the sum being paid in advance and the sum dependent upon performance. Kent County Council had already received £2.8million.

Local Project Managers would be appointed to act as lynchpin between KCC and districts. They would take on the responsibility and ease the burden of bureaucracy from others. Their role in delivery would be important given that payment from the Department for Communities and Local Government was part-dependent upon performance. The Project Mangers could be drawn from district councils by secondment if this were considered helpful and this could make the appointment process more speedy.

KCC advised of the potential opportunity for the appointment of 2 Family Intervention Practitioners (FIPs) for the Sevenoaks District. The FIP would aim to reduce the duplication of work sometimes found in the most complex cases. The FIP would focus on ensuring a few critical agencies were engaged to address the most pressing needs identified by the family. The FIP would hold a caseload of approximately five cases at one time.  It was hoped the FIPs could be appointed within a couple of months through the commissioning process.

The Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) Head of Community Development advised that the local Project Board had been set up and held three meetings. Other agencies had shown interest in joining the local Project Board, including Kent Fire and Rescue, the Probation Service and charitable groups. The processes needed to take the work forward included using the Common Assessment Framework for each family and holding a Team around the Family Action Plan. Training was wanted by those involved to ensure that there was sufficient capacity to undertake the assessments. A Project Manager would be welcomed as soon as possible. 3 FIPs were considered as appropriate for the Sevenoaks District as was an administrative function. The Officer from KCC advised a business case could be submitted outlining the case for the number of FIPs required. The allocation of the FIP was needed to address high end families while the other needs identified in the families could continue to be met by existing agencies working differently.

In response to a Member’s concern the KCC Director of Service Improvement clarified that families would be given contact details for the FIP and the work would be responsive to family need.  She also explained that FIPs would act with a clear action plan and would try to get the families engaged with other agencies over time. This would allow the FIP gradually to disengage from the family.

The Chairman emphasised that FIPs should not be recruited in the same way as social workers as different qualities would be needed so they could relate more to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Verbal Update on Commissioning Arrangements – Lesley Bowles - SDC

The SDC Head of Community Development confirmed 13 bids had been received for services in the Sevenoaks District. There would be a meeting of the Young People’s Panel on 29 September 2012 to make an appraisal before consideration by a sub-group of the present Board, due to meet on 18 October 2012. A further report would bring together the evaluations from across the county and would be presented to the Youth Transformation Project Board at the end of October. The final decision on tenders would be made by the KCC Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities.

Verbal Update

The SDC Head of Community Development confirmed that a decision had been made on 19 September 2012 that Health and Wellbeing Board Sub-Committees ought be based on Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) boundaries rather than district boundaries. This meant that the Sevenoaks District would be covered by separate Sub-Committees for Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley and West Kent and Weald. Within Kent only Sevenoaks and Swale Districts faced this situation.

Although the Sevenoaks District Health Action Team had renamed itself a Health and Wellbeing Board this would now need to be reconsidered.

The Chairman noted the possible difficulties faced by residents of the District who received different healthcare provisions depending on the CCG they were covered by. The situation was not ideal but the Council would need to ensure it provided a consistent message across the two Health and Wellbeing Sub-Committees. This could involve having a single District-wide body which provided a single view to each Sub-Committee. The Vice-Chairman noted the District had already experienced a similar divide in the provision of care for the elderly.

It was announced that the Chief Executive of Darent Valley Hospital would be giving a presentation on 24 October 2012 at 6pm for SDC Members on the possible merger between Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust with the Medway NHS Foundation Trust. A District Councillor who represented Swanley Christchuch and Swanley Village noted such a merger could affect the proposed Sub-Committee boundaries.

The Kent Community Health NHS Trust was running a consultation on becoming a foundation trust and the consultation was due to close on 22 October 2012.

There was no other business.