Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillors Matt Cochrane and Peter Turner had sent their apologies to the Panel. Councillors Lizzie Gladwyn and Paul May were present as their respective substitutes for the duration of the meeting.

Andrew Tarrant had sent his apologies to the Panel.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked for an amendment to be made to the question that she asked Roz Lambert under the Children’s Centre Services item.

She explained that the question should read ‘Councillor Liz Hardman asked if she felt that there should be one provider for Bath and one for North East Somerset.’ In response ‘Roz Lambert replied that she would welcome that.’

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record following this amendment and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Cabinet Member will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Michael Evans addressed the Panel, a summary of his update is set out below.

Bath Community Academy

The Secretary of State’s decision on closure is expected very soon.

Children’s Services and Children’s Centres.

The work to provide options for the future of Children’s Services and the Centres is ongoing.  First Steps, the charity which currently runs two of the centres in west Bath, is naturally concerned and has its own proposals, so officers have been asked to engage with First Steps as part of the process.

Home To School Transport

B&NES has a statutory obligation to provide transport to certain ‘entitled’ categories of student, for example SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) children or children who live more than a certain distance from their nearest school. In the past, where there is a bus with spare spaces, ‘unentitled’ children have also been carried at a subsidised cost to parents. It has always been made clear to parents that this is not an entitlement, and that the responsibility to get the child to school rests with the parents.

A typical situation is where a child lives near a school like Chew Valley or Writhlington, but chooses St Gregory’s on religious affiliation grounds.

When a bus is due for replacement the Council selects a bus size that corresponds to the estimated number of entitled children. Recently this has resulted in some parents being told that there is no longer a place for their (‘unentitled’) child on the bus.

We acknowledge that this may cause hurt and distress, but the law does not require taxpayers to subsidise the transport costs or take on the transport responsibility for children whose parents have selected a more remote school. I would like to see schools taking on the responsibility of organising their own school transport; some primaries do.

Schools Capital Programme

As part of the £11.47m schools capital programme for 2017/18, Castle Primary School will expand from a one form entry to two form entry primary school. Currently proposed is phase 4 of a 4-phase project, financed from S106 contributions (reflecting the demand caused by new housing in Keynsham) and Basic Need Funding (central Government funding reflecting demand caused by population growth). 

St Saviours Junior School will receive an additional classroom to accommodate the bulge coming through from St Saviours Infant School, this will be financed by some S106 money but mostly Basic Needs funding.

Budget Forecast Position

The end of year overspend for Children’s Services is now forecast at £1.48m, a £355,000 increase on the previous forecast. This is a serious additional budget pressure for the Council.

Demand for Care

Relevant to the budget figures: the demand for Looked-After placements has risen significantly in the past few months. The current figures are the highest we have been for over three years. The rise does include 6 recent Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) (making a total of 11), but the underlying current trend is upwards. 

Councillor Liz Hardman  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

This report presents the People and Communities Directorate Plan to the Panel for consideration and feedback as part of the Council’s service planning and budget development process.

All Directorate Plans can be viewed at https://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/ecCatDisplay.aspx?sch=doc&cat=13506

The Strategic Director for People & Communities introduced this item to the Panel. He stated that the scale of the financial challenge facing the Council was clear.

The Chair asked if the budget for school’s maintenance was enough.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that there was never enough and there is a long list to work through. He added that maintenance is prioritised on health and safety grounds.

The Chair asked if project delivery in this area was good.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that he felt that there was a good track record of project delivery.

The Chair requested that a report on the process of basic need priority be brought to the Panel.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that they had given a previous report to the Panel around 12 months ago and could look to provide an update to a future meeting.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if any information could be given relating the new proposed pre-school in Midsomer Norton.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that this proposal was to support the development of a Free School in Mendip. He said that the DfE were now looking for an alternative site as the original one had been refused by their Development Management Committee. He added that discussions were ongoing, but it was not anticipated to be ready for the 2017/18 academic year.

Councillor Paul May commented that the majority of pupils that attend Whitchurch Primary School are from Bristol and asked if the planned expansion would be able to accommodate the new pupils expected through the new local housing developments.

Richard Morgan replied that the expansion has been planned with the new local housing development in mind and that Section 106 and Basic Need funding would be received for the project.

Councillor Paul May asked if the expansion would be complete before pupils arrived on site.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that this would be the intention.

Councillor Alison Millar asked why there was a difference in the costs for bulge class proposals in Midsomer Norton and St Saviour’s Junior School.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that this was due to site configuration and the solution decided upon.

The Head of Education Transformation added that a more permanent solution was being proposed at Longvernal School with the reconfiguration of two classrooms.

Councillor Liz Hardman who will be in charge of the Adoption Team through the regional approach and what input will B&NES have.

The Divisional Director for Targeted & Specialist Services replied that the service would be co-owned and managed by the six Local Authorities involved and that the six Directors of Children’s Services would be on the board of Adoption West and that there would be a Strategic Board beneath them. He added that he felt that this will provide an improved quality of service. He said that there would be one shared database which would allow decisions to made in a shorter timescale.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

This report sets out the opportunities, challenges and viability of this local authority establishing a Teckal company with schools, Multi Academy Trust (MATs) and stand-alone academies working in partnership to provide high quality services to schools in B&NES in the future.

Councillor Liz Hardman called for the Council to be bold and innovative regarding this matter and to protect the good services we have, such as School Improvement to name but one and to be able to work with and support our maintained schools.

She asked if the Council could drive this proposal forward with the maintained schools and also reach out to MATS to possibly include them, but not at the expense of maintained schools which still make up almost 50% of schools in B&NES.

She thanked Stone King for providing such a comprehensive report to the Panel.

Councillor Alison Millar asked how much the report had cost.

The Stone King representative replied that the report cost was £2,500 plus VAT.

The Chair said that she would like this matter to move much faster than the provided timeline has suggested.

Councillor Michael Evans said a Green Paper was due and that it would be foolish to do any work before seeing it.

Councillor Paul May said that as a Board Member of Sirona he would urge a note of caution, but said that he generally support the role of Community Interest Companies.

The Chair commented that all Primary schools would be stakeholders and that any surplus generated would be used for the benefit of the schools and the community.

The Head of Education Transformation said that Academies were looking to purchase School Improvement services. She added that officers would need to have discussions with schools; MATs and stand-alone academies to determine their commitment to a shared service arrangement and identify how this vehicle would be project managed. She added that it may be possible in the first instance to establish a virtual shared service vehicle facilitated by officers in the local authority.

Councillor Sally Davis said that she was aware that not all schools want to become Academies and urged the Council to act quickly or not at all.

The Stone King representative commented that there are a variety of planning models available for achieving effective shared services. She said that a formal company structure had the added benefit in offering greater stability and would establish a level of commitment and certainty which would be missing from an informal collaboration.

The Head of Education Transformation commented that she felt that Teckal option was worth pursuing and that swift action and an identification of funding was required. She added that the services would need to be affordable to purchase for the schools involved. She questioned if the Regional Schools Commissioner could be approached regarding funding.

The Stone King representative replied that seed funding had been given in this respect by other Regional Schools Commissioner’s.

Councillor Paul May said that an economy of scale was needed to take into account other services and capital assets.

The Head of Education Transformation replied that there was an initial focus on School Improvement as this had not been initially prioritised by Academies when they were being established. She added that the Council would need  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

The Panel will receive a verbal update on this item from the People and Communities Strategic Director.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities addressed the Panel, a copy of the briefing can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book and as an appendix to these minutes online, a summary is set out below.

Pressures on Children’s Social Care

The children’s social care service is experiencing an increased workload, and this is evidenced through a rise in Child Protection Plan numbers and numbers of Looked After Children. The number of Child Protection Plans has gone back up to 150 having fallen as low as 123 in June. The number of Looked After Children has risen to 170 from 149 a year ago. This is our highest number for 3 years and reflects a national trend.

Bath Community Academy (BCA)

Since the last meeting of the Panel, the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) for the Department for Education announced that ministers had ‘approved in principle’ the proposal from the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF) to close BCA.

New Schools

Abbot Alphege Church of England Primary School, the new school being built at Ensleigh in Bath, reached a milestone last week with a ‘topping out’ ceremony as the roof was added to the building. The school is on track to open in September 2017.

The building for the new primary school at Somerdale in Keynsham is not as far advanced, but nonetheless is on track to open in September 2017.

The process to appoint a sponsor for the new primary school at Mulberry Park in Bath is proceeding, with proposals having been submitted to the RSC to determine the sponsor. The school will open in September 2018.

The Chair thanked him for his briefing on behalf of the Panel.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

Chris Batten asked if the Panel could receive a presentation from service users at their May meeting similar to that received from the Senior In Care Council.

Councillor Lizzie Gladwyn suggested in light of the earlier debate that young people involved with the Keynsham Youth Service could be asked to address the Panel.

Councillor Alison Millar asked if the Panel should discuss further the issue of Home to School Transport.

Councillor Lisa Brett announced that she would be standing down from the role of Chair of the Panel from the middle of February.

Councillor Liz Hardman commended her outstanding work as Chair and thanked her for her input, care and thought that she had given to the role.