Agenda and draft minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Jogee

It being a special meeting under Part 4, Section B, paragraph 17 of the Council’s Constitution, no other business shall be considered at the meeting.

There was no urgent business. It being a special meeting under Part 4, Section B, paragraph 17 of the Council’s Constitution, no other business was considered at the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The Committee received representations from a number of parents and service users: 

·         Brian and Sue Leveson, parents and service users of SEND transport.

·         Marta Garcia de la Vega – SendPACT founder and parent/carer representative.

·         Paul Murphy – Head Teacher of Lancastrian School.

The following key points were noted in relation to the representations made by parents and carers:

a.    Mr Leveson welcomed the level of engagement to date from Cllr Brabazon.

b.    There were new officers in the Children and Young People’s Service as well as a new Cabinet Member for Children and Families. They had shown an increased interest in working jointly with parents and carers but there had not yet been any significant level of behaviour change within the service. In particular, concerns were raised that adherence to promises around co-production had been limited so far.

c.    Parents and carers had been involved in large-scale events, such as the one that had taken place as part of the Fairness Commission, and had mentioned their wish to be consulted on the development of SEND transport services. In addition, transport had been mentioned in passing as part of the engagement process for the recent Scrutiny Review that had focussed on children and young people with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) issues and autism. However, the references to transport in such discussions were incidental and did not represent co-production or collaboration, which was an integral part of the SEND Code of Practice.

d.    Parents and Carers set out that they each wanted to see a proper process of co-production and co-design and urged that the Council honour its pledges to work closely with parents and carers to ensure that co-production was central to the redesigned service. It was suggested that proper engagement with service users was crucial.

e.    Concerns were raised about taking money out of existing budgets within the service to pay for a private company to undertake the change management.

f.     Parents and carers who would be affected by changes to SEND transport needed to be fully involved. Ms de la Vega raised concerns that the views of some parents and carers had been taken out of context on this issue and urged that hearsay should not be presented as consultation.

g.    The Committee heard from Paul Murphy, the Head teacher of Lancasterian School. The school shared a site with the Vale Special School. There had been continual issues with transport which included arrival times and the difficulties experienced by some parents and carers in arriving at the school on time. This had been raised but little progress had been made.

The following points were raised during discussion of the representation from parents and service users:

a.    The Cabinet Member thanked the deputation party for their contribution as well as the candour of their representations.

b.    The Cabinet Member set out that she did not disagree with some of the sentiments that had been expressed but cautioned that the decision that had been called in was specifically related  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A.   Report of the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer on the Call in - To Follow

B.   Cabinet Report on Award of Contract for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services – To follow

C.   Cabinet Minutes Award of Contract for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services – To follow

D.   Copy of the Call in – To follow

E.   Report of the Director for Children’s’ Services responding to the Call in – To follow

The Chair read out a statement from Cllr Tucker, as the lead signatory to the Call in. The statement set out that Cllr Tucker objected to the timing of the Call in meeting being at 3pm in the afternoon. As a result he and the other signatories to the Call in were unable to make the meeting due to work commitments and there were concerns about the effectiveness of the scrutiny process in that context. Cllr Tucker also raised concerns about the fact that his alternative proposal to hold an evening meeting was not agreed by the Chair and he questioned the reasons for this. The Chair of the Housing and Regeneration Panel echoed concerns about the timing of the meeting and set out that some of the parents of SEND children were unable to make the meeting, as 3pm was an especially inconvenient time for parents.

In response, the Chair advised that she was aware that this was far from ideal but commented that she had done her best to work with people’s diaries and existing commitments. The Chair advised that she had spoken with officers before the time was agreed to ensure that the family representatives could attend today’s meeting. In response to a question, the Chair advised that the timing of the meeting was not related to whether she could make an evening meeting but rather was done in order to prioritise the availability of members of the Committee and the Cabinet Member, who was required to be present to respond to the Call in on behalf of the Cabinet. 

In response to a further question, the Head of Democratic Services advised that the Council was legally obliged to hold the Call in meeting within 10 working days of the Monitoring Officers deeming the request as valid and that the availability of Committee members as well as the Cabinet Member had to be prioritised. The Committee was also advised that the availability of the Chamber also had to be taken into account and that the scheduling of the meeting was made more difficult by the fact that the meeting was being held during the pre-election period.

The Committee considered the Cabinet’s decision for award of contract for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services from the Cabinet meeting on 12^th November 2019. The signatories to the Call In were Cllr Tucker, Cllr Stone, Cllr White, Cllr Tabois and Cllr Chiriyankandath. The signatories did not claim that the decision was outside of the policy or budget framework. The reasons for the Call in were set out in the second dispatch agenda pack at page 49. The concerns of the signatories were noted as follows:

a.    It was acknowledged that SEND Transport needed drastic improvement. The objection was to the bringing in of a private, profit making company to determine and manage the changes. These included reductions in the operational budget for the service and the vast majority of the savings that arose would be given to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Item 8 is likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); Paragraph 3.

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting as the items below contain exempt information, as defined under paragraph 3 and 5, Part 1, schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To consider exempt information pertaining to item 6 of the agenda.

RESOLVED

The Committee noted the information contained in the exempt part of the report.