HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
COUNTY COUNCIL
TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2010 AT 10.30 A.M.
Agenda Item No.
6(a)
EXECUTIVE REPORTS TO COUNTY COUNCIL
LEADER OF THE COUNCIL
This report is made by the Leader of the Council and, together with separate
reports from each member of Cabinet, comprises the report under Standing
Order 6(2)(h).
1.
Hertfordshire Commitments
1.1
Hertfordshire County Council leadership forum
On 27 November, the Leader of the Council spoke at the HCC
Leadership Forum, a gathering of Hertfordshire County Council’s top
one hundred and fifty managers. His speech focussed mainly on the
entirely changed financial times ahead and outlined the need for the
programme of ‘business transformation’ which he had announced at
the last meeting of the County Council.
1.2
Hertfordshire Local Authority Leaders
On 30 November the Leader attended a meeting of the Hertfordshire
Leaders which received an update on Pathfinder issues. Leaders also
endorsed the suggestion that the entire county should seek Fairtrade
status and the Leader agreed to promote the appropriate resolutions by
the County Council. These will be considered by Cabinet on 15
February and the recommendations will be reported to this meeting of
Council.
The Leader attended a subsequent meeting on 3 February, which
included discussion of unadopted roads, winter maintenance and the
county LSP’s draft Community Cohesion Strategy. There were also the
usual updates about the Hertfordshire Pathfinder and of developments
regarding East of England LGA.
1.3
Herts Works
On 2 December the Leader chaired the Hertfordshire Works Board –
the county’s economic partnership. Members received a presentation
on Low Carbon Economy, including the final report from Oxford
Economics on a Low Carbon Economy for Hertfordshire. Members
also received updates about:
 Inward Investment and Business Retention
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Vibrant Towns
Economic Participation
NEETs and Apprenticeships
The Board agreed the draft Hertfordshire Economic Strategy for
consultation.
1.4
Hertfordshire County Council and the University of Hertfordshire
On 21 December, Cabinet authorised the Leader to sign an agreement
with the University of Hertfordshire, formalising the tradition of cooperation between the county council and the university and their
shared ambitions for Hertfordshire. The partnership document outlines
a number of areas of co-operation together with specific action points
and priorities. The signing ceremony took place on 14 January at the
University.
1.5
Hertfordshire Lieutenancy
On 20 January, the Leader gave a presentation to the county’s
Lieutenancy in the Council Chamber at County Hall. The presentation
focussed on four key themes:
 The Hertfordshire economy
 The county council’s financial position
 The county council’s relationship with the Voluntary and Third
Sector
 Regional spatial planning
1.6
Primary Care Trusts
On the 10 February the Leader and the Chief Executive of the county
council met with the Chairmen and Chief Executive of the Primary Care
Trusts to discuss matters of mutual interest and potential closer
working.
2.
Regional Commitments
2.1
East of England Strategic Authority Leaders (EESAL)
On 3 December the Leader chaired the meeting of EESAL in
Cambridge. The meeting received a presentation from WM Enterprise
on a report commissioned from it on skills outcomes in the East of
England and relative investment. This report showed that while skills
attainment in the region had improved since 2001, it was still
performing below the national average across a number of key skills
outcome measures. Over that period, the East of England received the
lowest amount of funding of any region in the country for both
education generally and post-secondary education. The report
modelled what the effect on these outcomes would have been if
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funding levels in the region had matched the national average. In many
cases, outcomes in the region would have been significantly higher.
The meeting also considered items on the future of sector-led
improvement and efficiency in the region and progress on the
development of a new East of England Local Government Association
and a Regional Strategy Board.
2.2
Regional Strategy Board (Shadow)
On 4 December the Leader led the local government delegation at the
first meeting of the Regional Strategy Board (RSB). As previously
agreed, the Board appointed an EEDA member (Richard Ellis) as
Chairman. Substantive items for discussion included the Single
Regional Strategy (SRS) and the structure of the Development and
Implementation Boards (DIBs) to support the RSB in its work. The
RSB takes on its new statutory functions on 1 April.
2.3
Regional Economic Forum
On 14 December the Leader attended the Regional Economic Forum in
Bury St Edmonds. Substantive items included:
 Regional economic overview
 Impact of announcements in the Pre-Budget Report
 Economy for the future
The latter debate focussed on the impact of the recession on young
people where the success of our Youth Connexions service in driving
down NEETs was recognised.
The Leader attended the subsequent meeting of the Regional
Economic Forum on 5 February in Southend-on-Sea. Amongst other
items, the forum received a paper on Adult Skills, outlining the new
opportunities for regions to influence state spending on adult skills
development, arising out of the new national skills strategy ‘Skills for
Growth’.
2.4
East of England Regional Assembly (EERA)
On 29 January the Leader attended the final meeting of the EERA
Executive. The EERA annual report was considered, together with
reports from the many panels. Due to the imminent dissolution of the
regional assembly and the move to transfer key liabilities and ongoing
regional governmental function to the EELGA (East of England Local
Government Association), there was little forward business except for
the roll-forward of the Regional Spatial Strategy to 2031 which will be
considered by the final meeting of the Assembly on 12 March.
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2.5
East of England Local Government Association (EELGA)
In the afternoon on the 29 January, the Leader chaired the meeting of
the EELGA Assembly. Matters arising focussed on the transfer of
functions, assets and liabilities from EERA to EELGA and interim
arrangements for the continuation of EERA Panels until after the
general election when the context for EELGA’s future work will be
clearer.
3.
National Commitments
3.1
LGA Improvement and Innovation Conference
On 25 and 26 November, the Leader attended the annual LGA
Improvement and Innovation conference. The theme this year
focussed on delivering better for less – sustaining improvement and
innovation in difficult times. The conference aimed to give leading
councillors, senior managers and performance and procurement
officers an opportunity to understand how to find radical new ways of
working. Key conference themes included:
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3.2
the Comprehensive Area Assessment
delivering efficiencies through better procurement
innovation to improvement
total place – analysing local area public spending to improve
outcomes, reduce waste and increase efficiencies.
Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA)
On 15 December the Leader (in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the
I&DeA Board) was a member of the Panel interviewing candidates for
appointment as the Agency’s new Managing Director. Rob Wiseman,
currently Chief Executive of Barking & Dagenham LBC was appointed.
On the 26 January the Leader attended a meeting of the I&DeA Board.
The major consideration is the anticipated substantial reduction in topslice funding and trading income for the Agency and the inevitable
reduction on staff and refocusing of activity. Other business included a
review of the National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP).
3.3
County Councils Network (CCN)
On 15 January the Leader attended the Management Committee of the
CCN but was unable to attend the subsequent Executive Committee as
it clashed with the I&DeA interviewing panel (above). The agenda
included items on the Comprehensive Area Assessment, the Personal
Care at Home Bill and on Concessionary Travel.
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On 21 January, the Leader led a joint CCN/District Councils Network
delegation to meet the Transport Minister, Sadiq Khan MP. The
delegation shared with the Minister the following concerns:
 District councils fear losing more grant than they had been given to
run the schemes as some are part-funding the scheme through their
own resources.
 Counties fear that, when the funding is removed for districts and
transferred to counties, it will be insufficient to finance the full cost
 Counties would prefer the funding to be in the form of a specific (but
not a ring-fenced) grant so that there would be transparency about
the resources provided. The Leader also stressed that, if funding
was through the formula, floor authorities (such as Hertfordshire)
could receive no cash at all.
 The delegation was also sceptical about the government’s
anticipated ‘efficiency savings’ of £180m, especially in areas such
as Hertfordshire where the county was already handling the
relationship with the operators.
4.
Forward Plan – February 2010
The Leader will invite the County Council to receive the updated
Forward Plan dated 15 February 2010 (circulated separately).
Robert Gordon, DL
Leader of the Council
February 2010
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