Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Gurung and Councillor Mahil.

Those who had recently received GCSE, A-Level, T Level and other exam results were congratulated on their achievements and thanks were given to the parents, families and professionals who had supported the young people.

A significant programme of events had taken place across Medway during the previous month. This had included Medway Pride, the Sticks ‘n’ Stones Festival, the Medway Culture Club Carnival and the Love Twydall and Love Strood community fun days. A Love Chatham event would take place soon.

The Medway Go programme had enabled hundreds of children to enjoy activities such as climbing, visiting the Strand, meals out and other activities they would not otherwise have had the chance to participate in. An enhanced SEND programme had provided opportunities for those with special educational needs.

Medway resident, Moses Itauma, was wished good look for his forthcoming world heavyweight title boxing contest and another Medway resident, Zoe Weston was wished good luck for her forthcoming participation in the Special Olympics GB National Summer Games.

The record of the meeting held on 4 August 2026 was agreed by the Cabinet and signed by the Leader as a correct record.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

A period of 20 minutes is set aside for questions received.  

1 Member question and 1 public question had been received. The questions were taken in the order set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

Background:

The report set out the annual review of progress against the School Place Planning Strategy. It showed areas of emerging demand and made recommendations to ensure that sufficient school places would be available.

The Council had a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. The Strategy described the principles, methods, and challenges of this duty.

The proposals in the annual review followed the School Place Planning Strategy Principles. They also supported the Council Plan sub-priority to “Ensure all children and young people access a high-quality, inclusive education.”

It was noted that ensuring the right school for the right child was a challenge that required the correct resources in place. The Plan showed that while there was more to do, good progress was being made.

Background:

This report presented the Annual Fostering Report for 2025–2026 and provided the Cabinet with an overview of the performance, activity, achievements and challenges of the Medway Fostering Service during the reporting period. The report outlined progress made in strengthening fostering sufficiency, improving permanence planning, supporting foster carers, and responding to increasing demand for kinship care services.

The report highlighted positive developments, including increased foster carer approvals, improvements in permanence planning, expansion of Mockingbird Constellations, strengthened governance arrangements, and Medway's successful inclusion as one of seven national Department for Education Kinship Allowance Pilot authorities. It also identified the ongoing challenges relating to placement sufficiency, recruitment and retention of foster carers, and increasing complexity of children's needs.

The recently published national level report into the increased risk of death amongst care leavers and the risk of them feeling abandoned when they turned 18 was highlighted, along with the need for ongoing support.

The report also presented the Annual Private Fostering Report for 2025–2026, that outlined the safeguarding role of the fostering service fulfilling its statutory responsibilities in relation to Private Fostering arrangements.

The report had previously been considered by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 12 August 2026, and the Cabinet thanked the Committee for its comments which were set out in an addendum report within Cabinet Supplementary Agenda No.1.

Reasons:

The National Minimum Standards for Fostering (2011) require that Fostering Agencies report the activity of the fostering service to its governing bodies.

Background:

The Adoption Partnership South East is a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) providing adoption services for Medway, Kent, and the London Borough of Bexley. This was the fifth RAA Annual Report, which provided information and an overview of adoption service activity and practice development for the period April 2025 – March 2026.

The report highlighted continued recruitment of adopters, the expansion of adoption support through therapeutic services, peer support and the Adoption Support Pilot, and a strong commitment to involving adopters, adopted people and birth families in shaping services. The report also recognised the successful matching and placement of Medway children with approved adopters and the strength of partnership working across Medway, Kent and Bexley.

The Statutory Regulations required that elected Members be informed of the Adoption Agency’s activity on a regular basis. The annual report provided information that would assist Members in respect of their responsibilities as Corporate Parents for Looked After Children.

The report had previously been considered by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 12 August 2026, and the Cabinet thanked the Committee for its comments which were set out in an addendum report within Supplementary Agenda No.1.

Reasons:

Statutory guidance requires adoption agencies to report on adoption agency activity in the previous year.

Background:

This report provided an overview of treasury management activity for 2026/27 quarter 1.

In April 2002, Medway Council had adopted the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice (the CIPFA Code) which required the Council to approve, as a minimum, treasury management semi-annual and annual outturn reports.

This quarterly report provided an additional update and included the requirement in the 2021 Code of quarterly reporting of the treasury management prudential indicators. The non-treasury prudential indicators were incorporated in the Council’s normal quarterly [revenue and capital monitoring] report.

The report had previously been considered by the Audit Committee on 30 July 2026, and the Cabinet thanked the Committee for its comments which were set out at section 7 of the report. Referencing the minutes of this discussion, it was noted that Lender Option, Borrower Option (LOBO) was not a financial product that had been taken out by the Council’s current administration but that it was dealing with the issue.

Reasons:

In accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Code of Practice for Treasury Management, there should be a report on treasury every quarter.

Background:

The One Medway Council Plan (OMCP) 2024/28 set out the Council’s priorities and the performance indicators used to monitor performance. This report and appendices summarised how the Council had performed in Quarter 1 2026/27 on the delivery of these priorities. This report also presented the Quarter 1 2026/27 review of strategic risks.

A new performance system, Nexa, had been introduced for Quarter 1 2026/27 reporting. This had been developed in house, using an Agile approach and would change over time to improve collection approaches and support officers to understand performance through insight generated from the information provided.

The relevant sections of the report would also be presented to the Council’s four Overview and Scrutiny Committees during August 2026.

Reasons:

Regular monitoring of performance and risks by management and Members is best practice and ensures achievement of corporate objectives.

Background:

This report sought permission to commence the procurement for the Statutory Housing Service of a Responsive Repairs and Maintenance contract. This contract was intended to include void property repairs and running maintenance of Temporary Accommodation (TA) owned and managed through the general fund and One Medway Lettings in Housing Needs, extending to include One Medway - Inspiring Change LA Hostels, work for the HRA as required, the property portfolio of Medway Development Company (MDC) and the Sanctuary Scheme (Domestic Abuse provision) for installation of enhanced security measures in the homes of domestic abuse survivors.

The contract was intended to improve the Council’s management and control of repairs and maintenance works required for the maintenance and safety of property that was the responsibility of the Council to manage.

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken in relation to the procurement and was attached at Appendix 3 to the report.

Reasons:

The recommendation for procuring this service has been made as it is the most effective way to procure a suitably qualified provider to deliver repairs and maintenance. Currently, there is a reliance on maintenance and repair work to be completed by the contract holders for the HRA Responsive Repairs and Capital Works contract. This is outside of current contract scope and risks impacting performance of the contractual obligations and thus performance of the HRA, leading to significant risk of the current contractor withdrawing from additional services further burdening the Temporary Accommodation budget.  By enabling any successful contractor on this contract to perform required HRA work, will in turn reduce pressure on the HRA repairs and maintenance contract.

Background:

This report sought permission to award the procurement of the Pre-Construction and Design Development (PCSA) for the Danecourt Secondary New Build Contract.

The Basic Need and SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) grant funding was ringfenced to Education for the purpose of providing additional school places, in addition, a commitment to borrow £16.21m for the Danecourt Special School project had been approved by Cabinet on 26 August 2025 (decision no. 117/2025 refers).

The addition of a Danecourt secondary school was a high priority project for Medway. It would create an additional 250 SEND places which would significantly reduce the need to place children in expensive independent and out of area provisions in future years.

The project was based on a two-stage procurement process. This initial stage would determine the pre-construction sections of the process including design development. The second stage would be for the construction contract, which would follow in due course.

An Exempt Appendix to the report set out the financial analysis in relation to the procurement.

Reasons:

The construction company has identified significant savings that can be achieved in financial and lead times. This is evidenced in their proposals and is achieved via the following: Supply chain efficiencies, economies of scale, site risks and constraints, design and pre-construction fees, speed of delivery and preliminary costs, as well as shared access and amenities/services with another new build school being built on the adjacent site by the same provider.

Background:

This report sought permission to award the procurement of the Medway All Age Service (substance misuse) Contract.

It was a statutory responsibility of local authorities to provide substance misuse services for children and adults. Funding for the provision of adult and children and young people substance misuse services formed a component of the Public Health Grant that was given to local authorities by central Government.

An Exempt Appendix to the report set out financial analysis in relation to the procurement.

Reasons:

This will enable the continued provision of integrated substance misuse services for children and adults through and All-Age Service, building on current achievements and further strengthening delivery outcomes.