Virtual Cabinet meeting: the formal version

Last Monday, as I previewed the day before, KCC's Cabinet held its first remote (or virtual) public Member meeting (using Microsoft Teams). The meeting was something of a hybrid; a Cabinet briefing, incorporating reports from Cabinet Members and answering questions put by Members. You can see that meeting here.

I closed the meeting by looking forward to the following Monday (tomorrow, 27 April) where we would have a further public meeting, but this time a formal meeting of Cabinet. The meeting will be from 10 am, and the agenda will include: a report on the Public Health-led Suicide Prevention Programme, which can point to some progress in tackling this most painful of issues; a presentation on our Kent Together programme, launched at the start of this month to enhance and support the extraordinary community efforts to help vulnerable residents during the Covid-19 outbreak; and (necessarily, but perhaps a little self-referentially) a paper on the governance requirements for virtual meetings.

However, the most interesting item is saved for last, under the rubric of 'Covid-19 Corporate Planning'. The Council's Five Year Plan, put forward for endorsement at the March County Council meeting which never took place because of the crisis, was a good and strong vision for the county and for the council - but is now entirely overtaken by events. We must now plan for a new world, and tomorrow's presentation and debate is the start of that process. We aim to prepare a Strategic Transition Plan for the autumn, to cover a 12-18 month period as the new environment post-Covid takes shape. This alone should make for an important and engaging meeting tomorrow morning.