Agenda item

a)         Report of the Monitoring Officer (TO FOLLOW)

b)         Report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services (TO FOLLOW)

c)         Report of the Assistant Director Quality Assurance, Early Help and Prevention (TO FOLLOW)

d)         Appendix (For information only):

       d.1)   Copy of the ‘call in’

d.2)   Draft minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 February 2015

d.3)   Corporate Planning Documents considered by the Cabinet on 10 February 2015.

A decision on the above item was taken by the Cabinet on 10 February 2015.

The decision has been called in, in accordance with the provisions set out

in the Constitution, by Councillors Elliot, Beacham, Morris, Engert and Carter.

Clerks note:  The order in which the following points have been recorded may vary slightly to the order in which they were discussed.

a.         Call-in of CAB 809 – Corporate Planning

RECEIVED the call-in of Cabinet decision CAB809 – Corporate Planning, taken on 10 February 2015, and associated documents (pages 1 to 433 of the agenda pack).

The call-in was introduced by Councillor Elliot and Councillor Engert, and covered four areas:

1.    Children’s Centres – including: children’s centres had been successful in improving the lives of the families that they reached and the loss of this early intervention would result in more expensive support and would be damaging to the lives of the vulnerable children.  The proposals should not be put into effect until the planned early years review took place next year.  The Committee was urged to recommend that the proposals be rejected.

2.    Learning Disabilities – the Council should be recommended not to close day centres, particularly the Roundway Centre.

3.    Youth Services – including that the proposals to merge youth offending and youth services would leave the latter with few resources.

4.    Adult Care – including: early prevention could prevent further costs to the Council; the excellent services provided at the Roundway could not be replicated at Ermine Road; a lack of contingency planning and safeguarding for vulnerable adults, there was no evidence that Neighbourhood Connects would provide an acceptable service.  The Committee was urged to recommend that no day centres be closed.

b.         Report of the Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Services

NOTED the report of the Monitoring and Head of Legal Services (pages 1-4 of the supplementary agenda pack).

c.         Report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services

RECEIVED the report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Services, Beverley Tarka (pages 5-10 of the supplementary agenda pack).

NOTED that Ms Tarka and Councillor Morton, the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing responded to the deputations and further questioning from the Committee, including:

1.    Carers would continue to receive support from the Local Authority (LA). The proposals were focussed on reducing the need for care and offering different approaches for people to remain at home for longer.

2.    The proposals, if taken forward, would be within the law and included further assessment of individual needs and transition plans in consultation with service users and other services.

3.    There were no specific reserve funds earmarked for care packages.

4.    It was recognised that some service users required specialised services which would be provided from Ermine Road. The proposals included developing Ermine Road into a purpose built resource space to meet complex needs but also to enable normal activities for these service users.

5.    A feasibility study for the Roundway had been conducted the last year and had concluded that £300,000 was required to bring the building into good repair.  This did not include running costs.

6.    The Haven Day Centre provided services to around 50 people and this figure was determined by staffing levels.  These 50 people were also in receipt of other services in the borough. A total of 2000 people had received adult social care services this municipal year and the proposals went some way in preparing for increasing needs.

7.    The figures provided in the Adult Social Care proposals were net savings and costs such as increased personal budgets had been taken into consideration elsewhere in the budget.

8.    The proposals would include new ways of providing services (not just replacing services provided at the Haven Centre) including the social connections currently experienced at day centres and reducing isolation through the development of the Neighbourhood Connects model.

d.         Report of the Assistant Director of Quality Assurance, Early Help and Prevention

RECEIVED the report of the Assistant Director of Quality Assurance, Early Help and Prevention, Gill Gibson (pages 11-18 of the supplementary agenda pack).

NOTED that the Cabinet Member for Children and Families responded to some of the issues raised by the deputations, including:

Children’s Centres

1.    Acknowledgement of the good work of the children’s centres and the scale of the cuts and recognition that safeguarding and early intervention were still priorities.

2.    The safeguarding role of the health visitor would not change although an additional programme for follow-up visits to 1-2 year olds who had been identified as vulnerable in their first 6 weeks was being rolled-out across the country.

3.    Committee members raised concerns about the accessibility of children’s centre services. It was explained that every effort would be made to continue to deliver services, particularly for the most vulnerable families, in a more efficient and effective way by reducing the number of children’s centre sites and staffing levels.

4.    The intention was for children’s centre to still be accessible to families who lived further than walking distance from a centre.

5.    Impact assessments would be conducted once a future model for children’s centres had been established.

6.    There would be reduced funding for the provision of 2 year old childcare at children’s centres.  The current fee structure for childcare provision would be reviewed as part of the proposals.  Current figures for the  cost of 2 year old provision would be provided as well as the funding provision within a new model.

Action: Charlotte Pomery  

Youth Services

7.    Bruce Grove Youth Centre would not be closed but Youth Services across the Borough would be delivered differently and more efficiently, this included seeking providers who could utilise the Bruce Grove Youth Centre during the day to generate funding.

8.    In response to concerns about the lack of a strategy for youth services it was confirmed that a proposed youth strategy would be presented to the Cabinet in March 2015.

9.    Officers recognised that the Council’s reliance on consultants across Council services was not ideal and recruiting to the posts being covered by interims was a priority and would improve the service.

10. A contingency fund was in place for each year in the event that savings and a balanced budget were not achieved.  The Committee was reminded that the use of reserve funds simply deferred debt rather than resolved issues.

Clerk’s note: The Committee adjourned at approximately 16.40hrs for a five minute comfort break.

The Committee debated the areas of the Call-in and considered the options available, as detailed in the Monitoring Officer’s report and it was unanimously:

RESOLVED that

1.         The decision taken by the Cabinet on 10 February 2015 was inside the Council’s Policy and Budgetary Framework and that further action should be taken.

2.         The following amendments to the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Corporate Planning proposals be put to full Council on Monday 23 February 2015 for debate:

a.         The Council confirms its commitment for Bruce Grove Youth Centre to remain open and to retain the Youth Centre staff and qualified youth workers employed by the Council.

b.         The proposal to close the Roundway Centre be withdrawn and £300,000 capital investment be earmarked from the Council’s reserve funds to improve the building and keep it open.

c.         The proposal to merge the Youth Service and the Youth Offending Team be deferred until a Youth Strategy is in place.

d.         The proposal to close the Haven Day Centre be deferred for 12 months whilst a proper independent study is undertaken to ensure that Neighbourhood Connects is capable of delivering the service that it has been commissioned for and that people with high care needs who would have used the Haven are confident that the Neighbourhood Connects service delivers these outcomes instead. 

            A final Cabinet Decision on the future of the Haven Day Centre be subject to consideration of a specific report on the viability of the Neighbourhood Connects service.

e.         The proposed cuts to children’s centres be deferred until a review is undertaken into the current services provided, including confirmation of how many children’s centre’s will be closed and how services will be re-provided in order to prevent vulnerable children from not accessing services that they are entitled to.