Looking towards 2022

As 2021 ends, Covid - in particular, through the Omicron variant - remains a major factor in our lives. Yet we are, through the vaccination and booster programmes, in much better circumstances than was the case a year ago. The coming weeks will, I suspect, show conflicting trends that are hard to interpret. Omicron’s high transmissibility appears to be offset by its lesser severity, whether as a a result of its inherent characteristics or the impact of high levels of vaccination. Yet hospital admissions are rising, and come at a time of year when health services are under pressure for other reasons, compounded by a backlog and staff sickness. So the next few weeks may be tough.

Yet it is important to look to 2022 beyond these immediate pressures, and that is what I have sought to do in a New Year message published this morning. The County Council will be bringing forward its longer term plans, delayed and issued in interim form during the pandemic, with publication of our Strategic Plan in the spring. 

We will build on some of the most positive outcomes from the county’s response to the pandemic, notably our close work with the voluntary sector and with the NHS. In the latter case, our new partnership - in the form of the Integrated Care System for Kent and Medway - is expected to take shape in the summer. I know from past experience, having chaired the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board for five and a half years, how hard it is to translate good partnership intentions into real change and results on the ground. But if we get right our focus on the health and wellbeing of the entire population, we can make a real difference.

At the time of the May elections, I spoke of the economic, social and environmental recovery of the county. That will be a central focus of our plans for 2022 - whether through our work on skills through the Employment Task Force; our drive not only to achieve net zero (by 2030 for our estate and operations, and for Kent and Medway as a whole by 2050) but also through a strong approach to adaptation; and our work to achieve efficient borders that enable trade and bring benefit to Kent even as we negotiate the implementation of import controls and other changes flowing from Britain’s departure from the EU. 

All of this will have to be done at a time of continuing budget pressure. The financial settlement from government for 2022-23 (and with indications for local government as a whole for the following two years) was at the better end of expectations, but service and demand pressures coming out of the pandemic, especially in adult social care, remain severe. We will be bring forward our draft budget in the early days of the New Year, focused on what is necessary to achieve a sustainable longer-term future for our services. 

With good wishes to everyone in Kent for a 2022 characterised by health and happiness - and by hope.

Letter to the Home Secretary

"None of this can wait" I concluded Monday's post on the arrival in Kent of increasing numbers of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC). The rest of the week has seen further arrivals (some 16 since Monday) and continuing media interest, including this Daily Mail report.

The pressures have now reached a critical point. My previous post set out the impact of Covid-19 and its requirements for social distancing on our reception centres. We have now reached a point at which we are having to reverse our previous stance and put young people back into double rooms, contrary to public health best practice. Further arrivals will only compromise further and unacceptably our ability to provide the safe and effective service that we are required to.

I was able to talk about these issues on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning (about 53 minutes in on this playback, which is available for 29 days) and again in a more extended interview on Radio Kent (1 hour and 47 minutes in, available here also for 29 days).

At the same time, I wrote to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, setting out Kent's situation and urging as the most immediate priority a reactivation of the National Transfer Scheme (NTS), created in the aftermath of the 2015 migration crisis to ensure a fair and workable distribution of young asylum seekers across local authorities. The scheme fell into desuetude from 2018 onwards, chiefly because of the negative cost implications to local authorities of taking UASC, and in particular Care Leavers from a UASC background. Prior to recent events, the Home Office had worked up both a revised NTS and proposals for funding reform for supporting Care Leavers. These must now be implemented as a matter of urgency.

You can find my letter to the Home Secretary in a KCC media release here.    

A new role

Last Thursday I took up post as the new Leader of Kent County Council. Paul Carter - who had led KCC for fourteen years, and in whose Cabinet I served for much of that time in various different roles - announced in early September that he was standing down.

On 4 October, KCC's Conservative Group elected me as Group Leader; the subsequent County Council meeting on the 17th received Paul Carter's resignation and then elected me as the new Leader of the Council.

County Councillors rightly paid tribute to Paul Carter's accomplishments: driving major projects such as Turner Contemporary; steering Kent through an era of austerity while protecting services more festively than in most local authorities; leading transformation of council services; successfully pressing Kent's concerns, and those of County Councils, with ministers of all parties, both as KCC Leader and as Chairman of the County Councils Network - and much more.

In my remarks after being elected Leader, I spoke about the County Council's need to be much more than simply a bundle of services, but to have a vision and give a voice to the County. My major priorities are: to ensure that, when housing growth takes place in the County, it is supported with adequate infrastructure; to give priority to the visible services that the County provides and which are seen in residents' day to day lives; to close gaps in skills, wages and opportunities across the County; and to take forward major initiatives in environmental issues (including those related to climate change) under a new, dedicated Cabinet portfolio holder.

You can find the webcast of the meeting at which Paul Carter resigned, and tributes were paid, here; and the subsequent meeting at which I was elected, including my remarks to the Council, here (agenda items 4 and 5).

Subsequent to the County Council meeting, I announced a new Cabinet team. In addition to my own role as Leader, and Peter Oakford as Deputy Leader (and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services), the Cabinet Members in alphabetical order are:

• Clair Bell – Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health
• Susan Carey – Cabinet Member for Environment
• Sue Chandler – Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services
• Mike Hill – Cabinet Member for Community & Regulatory Services
• Richard Long – Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
• Michael Payne – Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport
• Shellina Prendergast – Cabinet Member for Communications, Engagement and People
• Mike Whiting – Cabinet Member for Economic Development

The new Cabinet combines experience and new perspectives: three of the ten members are new, three were elected at the last County Council elections in 2017 and we are now close to gender parity with 40% of the Cabinet being women. It's vital that our Councillors and our leadership reflect the population whom we serve.

More appointments and announcements will follow soon.