Agenda and minutes

Gill Stobart, Co-opted Panel Member had given her 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.

Councillor Gerry Curran declared an other interest with regard to agenda item 6 (Items from Public & Cllrs) as he is an employee of HCRG.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson addressed the Panel on the subject of SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education). A copy of the statement can be found as an online appendix to these minutes and a summary is set out below.

Under the terms of the 1988 Education Act, local authorities are required, as a statutory duty, to set up a committee representative of the local authority and local religious or faith communities and world views, devise an appropriate syllabus for their area, and monitor its delivery.

Since 1944 also, parents have had the right to withdraw their children from Religious Education and Collective Worship, though in fact very few do. It is also required by law that parents are advised clearly of their rights. More recently there is a move to establish the converse, children’s right to RE or its equivalent. This is vitally important because we live in a multi-faith, multi-cultural country, and children need to know how to relate to those of other traditions.

If this Council is serious in its professed diversity and equality policies, then it should be backing its SACRE to the hilt. I spend quite a bit of time in the SACRE monitoring of compliance.

I find it deeply shocking that the Council’s own website is not compliant, in that there is no explanation of our work, which is as much a part of the Council’s statutory work as the Planning Committee, and on the other, parents choosing a school cannot easily obtain the information they might value.

I am asking this Panel to investigate and find out why this is so. Is the Council ashamed of its exemplary work? Can you not get the correct links authorised?

Councillor Yukteshwar Kumar addressed the Panel on the subject of SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education), a summary is set out below.

SACRE is a statutory body which must have a presence on the Council’s website so that information on Religious Education can be sourced.

In our world that is currently being torn apart by the ravages of war it is even more important to have an understanding of people’s beliefs and an awareness of different cultures.

The Chairman thanked them both for their statements.

Councillor Liz Hardman proposed that a link to the SACRE website be made available from the Council’s own website.

Councillor Andrew Wait seconded the proposal.

The remaining members of the Panel agreed with the proposal.

The Head of Education Commissioning commented that she has been in contact with the B&NES IT Department to discuss how best this could be arranged. She said that discussions had been positive and that she was also liaising with Dave Francis, Associate Adviser and Clerk for B&NES SACRE.

She said that the current suggestion is that a link to the B&NES SACRE website could be placed on The Hub, along with other key resources for schools.

Councillor Paul May asked if a timescale could be given for the link to be put in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

Kevin Burnett referred to page 12, Paediatric Urgent Service Hubs (PUSH) and asked if these sessions had proved to be successful / had the desired impact.

Dr Bryn Bird replied that he felt that they had been successful and that afternoon sessions were still taking place three times a week, with around 160 patient contacts taking place over the past three weeks.

Kevin Burnett again referred to page 12, Temporary care facility opened at Bath hotel to help free up beds in local hospitals. He asked if care provision at the facility had been reviewed and any issues addressed.

Dr Bryn Bird replied that the facility had been put in place to manage discharge planning. He said that there was a capacity for 15 patients and that generally it had enabled a quick turnover of patients. He added that he was aware that 4 patients had been there for several weeks and that cases were assessed on a daily basis. He said that no complaints have been received regarding the Care Hotel.

Kevin Burnett referred to page 15, Budget. He said that no answer had been recorded to his question as to whether there are any Services that will provide less than they currently offer after possible savings have taken place.

The Director of Children’s Services replied on behalf of herself and the Director of Adult Social Care to say that there will be no reduction in services in BANES through the savings proposed.

Councillor Paul May commented that to have separately themed meetings (CYP / Adults) was a good compromise.

The Chairman referred to page 16, Libraries and asked if the £126,000 saving outlined would still be achieved through not filling two job vacancies within the service.

Councillor Dine Romero, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture replied that this saving had been reprofiled for the Council’s budget meeting and that only £50,000 was being asked for in 2022/23 which would be saved through the two vacancies not being filled. She added that the remainder would be saved within Customer Services and the changes proposed in provision by utilising the libraries within Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and additional use of the Bath One Stop Shop.

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chairman.

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

Councillor Dine Romero, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture addressed the Panel. A copy of the update can be found as an online appendix to these minutes.

She informed them that yesterday she had received a briefing from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and felt that the Panel would also benefit from receiving it in due course.

Councillor Liz Hardman had submitted the following question.

Once again a number of children (41) are reported not to have received any of their preferences when being allocated a secondary school place.  I’d like to understand why this is.  Is it because parents are still under the impression that if they express a preference for only one or two schools they are more likely to get a place in one of those schools or is it because parents are using all their preferences but there are insufficient places in those schools to accommodate them?

Councillor Romero replied that this was due to parents/carers only expressing a preference for one or two schools and/or a preference for schools not local to their address. She suggested whether additional communication / advice should be given in the coming years to parents/carers when taking part in this process.

Councillor Michelle O’Doherty said that she recalls a great deal of work taking place on this issue a few years ago and so it would be good to check that the message about utilising the number of preferences is still being given.

Councillor Liz Hardman commented that she felt there was a role for the Primary Headteachers to play in advising the parents of the process. She asked if it was known how far some of the children would have to travel as a result of not being allocated one of their preferences and what was the general level of sufficiency within Secondary schools.

The Director of Director of Children's Services & Education replied that general communications about the process and using as many preferences as possible will be reiterated to families and schools and they would consider what could be done further. She added that in terms of sufficiency she could supply a separate briefing to the Panel.

Kevin Burnett commented that Secondary Headteachers could also provide advice when prospective parents attend their open evenings.

Councillor Romero advised the Panel that if contacted by parents of children who have not been given their preferred place then they should be made aware of the School Appeals process that would have been outlined in the letters they had received.

Councillor O’Doherty asked if all councillors could be sent this guidance to then be in a position to advise families if contacted.

Councillor Romero replied that she would arrange for this to be circulated.

The Director of Director of Children's Services & Education commented that the Panel could receive a report on School Admissions at a future meeting.

Councillor Paul May said that he welcomed that the final reports relating to the Independent Review of Children’s Social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

The Panel will receive an update from the B&NES, Swindon & Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BSW CCG) on current issues.

Dr Bryn Bird, B&NES Locality Clinical Chair addressed the Panel. A copy of the update can be found as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary of the update is set out below.

Integrated Care Board

As we move towards the establishment of the Integrated Care System (ICS) on a statutory footing on 1 July 2022, we welcomed Sue Harriman in February as Chief Executive Designate of the BSW Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) and appointed four Non-Executive Directors (NEDs).

The four new NEDs are Dr Claire Feehily, Non-Executive Director for Audit, Julian Kirby, Non-Executive Director for Public and Community Engagement, Suzannah Power, Non-Executive Director for Remuneration and People and Professor Rory Shaw, Non-Executive Director for Quality & Performance.

Recruitment for the Integrated Care Board Director positions for Medical, Planning & Performance, Strategy & Transformation and Chief Nurse roles is also underway, as is recruitment for the Director of Place roles. 

Clinical Care Professional Leadership

This piece of work has been developed across the BSW area to highlight and record what has been learnt from the past ten years and to make sure that by maximising the research that appropriate training and resources are in place for the future. He added that further meetings would take place to develop this across B&NES and that it was hoped that it would compliment the work of the ICA (Integrated Care Alliance).

The Chairman asked if the Care Hotel was to remain a permanent facility.

Dr Bird replied that it was not. He said that meetings take place on a daily basis regarding the discharge process.

The Chairman asked about the status of the role of Tracey Cox, BSW CCG Chief Executive Officer in the context of the new BSW Integrated Care Board.

Dr Bird replied that there has been a national extension of CCGs for three months whilst the transition period is ongoing to be able to plan services appropriately whilst the ICS is operating in shadow form. He added that Tracey Cox remains in her post in this transition period.

Councillor Paul May commented that with the Council having had a good working relationship with the CCG he felt concerned that it might become vulnerable in some way with the introduction of the ICB and the new posts allocated to it.

He asked if the Panel could at some point receive a report on the role of the ICB in conjunction with the Council with regard to Child Health Care.

Richard Smale, BSW CCG Director of Strategy & Transformation commented that the strong relationship the Local Authority has with the CCG needs to continue. He said that a positive meeting took place last week between Sue Harriman and the three Local Authority Chief Executives. He added that the subject of Children & Young People was very much at the top of their agenda.

Councillor May suggested that relevant Cabinet Members be included in those types of meetings if possible to give a community view. He added that he would also like to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

The report attached is for the Panel to discuss prior to the Cabinet meeting on 17^th March 2022. The report seeks approval to extend the existing arrangements for a further five years until 28 February 2027.The original Commissioning Agreement (as defined) provides an option to extend its term for a period of up to 5 years commencing 01 March 2022, subject to the agreement of the participating local authorities.

The Director of Children’s Services introduced the Cabinet report to the Panel and highlighted the following areas.

The contractual commissioning agreement for the provision of an Integrated Adoption Support Service comes to an end on 28 February 2022. All 6 Local Authorities agreed to a temporary 3-month extension of the contract in December 2021 to ensure stability of Adoption West pending Executive support to the contract extension. B&NES approved the contract extension via delegated authority on January 21st, 2022, extending the contract from February 28th2022 to May 28th 2022.

The report seeks approval to extend the existing arrangements for a further five years until 28 February 2027.The original Commissioning Agreement (as defined) provides an option to extend its term for a period of up to 5 years commencing 01 March 2022, subject to the agreement of the participating local authorities.

The report also seeks approval to amend the current financial agreement (as defined) for a period of 5 years and expiring on 28th February 2027.

The report also seeks approval to replace the current service specification

(schedule 2) to the Commissioning Agreement (as defined) with the Service

Specification set out in schedule 1 to the attached draft variation agreement.

She informed the Panel that she sits on the Board and that Councillor Michelle O’Doherty sits on the Scrutiny Panel and said that the service delivers well for our area.

She said that Adoption West’s Annual Report 2021/2022 and Ofsted Inspection Report, that was carried out in February, would be shared with the Panel in due course.

Councillor O’Doherty said that she supported the proposal to extend the existing arrangements. She added that she would welcome the Panel being able to have a more timely receipt of reports of this nature in the future so that they can advise the Cabinet accordingly of their views.

The Director of Children’s Services replied that they would look to programme such reports into the agenda planning process.

Councillor Joanna Wright asked if the Wiltshire Adopters Networking, Development & Support (WANDS) can be used to support families in B&NES.

The Director of Children’s Services replied that is part of the Adoption West Development Plan to extend the provision of WANDS into B&NES. She added that she would raise the matter at a Board meeting later in the week.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked to what extent is this new contract making a difference and is it achieving its objectives - how do we know.

The Director of Children’s Services replied that the new contract is an extension of the current contract with current and emerging new objectives on an annual basis. She added that Adoption West provide an annual report that gives assurance on delivery against the contract and on the quality of service.

She said that she felt that the work of Adoption West does make a difference to both children and parents. She added that they were now fulfilling a previous challenge to attract adoptive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

This is the fifth report submitted to Panel as a commissioning update on HCRG Care Group (HCRG Care Services Limited)’s delivery as the prime provider for integrated Health Care and Adult Social Care Services for the B&NES locality.

At the request of Panel this update report will concentrate on the key theme of Children’s Health Services in B&NES.

The Director of Children’s Services introduced this report and highlighted the following areas within it to the Panel.

HCRG Care Group deliver a wide range of Children’s Community Health Services in B&NES which is jointly commissioned by the Council and Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group and is routinely performance managed by both public health and specialist commissioning.

Leaders of HCRG Care Group Children’s Services have a well-established culture of close collaboration, partnership and multi-agency working. Between

regular commissioner led service level performance meetings, both Public Health and Complex Care and Targeted Support commissioning functions regularly ‘deep dive’ to maintain a continuous cycle of service development. Representatives from the Group also regularly represent children and young people’s health at a wide range of local system forums including the B&NES Community Safety and Safeguarding Partnership (BCSSP), the Youth Offending Board and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Strategy Board, among many others.

Prior to the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, performance across both specialist and universal services was very good. NHSE have provided over the past two years centralised sets of guidance throughout the pandemic via a series of Community Service Prioritisation Frameworks. These frameworks have advised on which services to suspend, and which must continue to ensure that rigorous safeguarding principles are maintained, particularly for vulnerable groups in both identifying these groups and maintaining contact and support for those identified.

HCRG Care Group have consistently applied the prioritisation frameworks and in many cases staff, particularly in the Community Nursing and Psychology service which supports children and young people with complex health needs and their families and carers, have gone beyond the guidance issued by NSHE to support vulnerable families on their caseload, delivering food parcels and vital medicines and offering critical emotional support to families. The Children Looked After health offer has also been prioritised to ensure that all Initial Health Assessments have still been carried out face to face and in a timely way and that Review Health Assessments have been routinely completed.

As with many other health services across all age acute and community health sector, all B&NES Children’s Community Health Services have experienced some disruption to normal service delivery during the pandemic, particularly those that require express face to face consultation such as audiological services. There has also been a marked increase of referrals into several specialist services during the period of the pandemic with a corresponding increase in requests for Education, Health and Social Care Plans coming into the Education Service in the Council.

The School Nursing Service provides universal access to health advice and support for school pupils and college students. The school nurses also work closely with the mental health support in schools’ teams provided by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and support access to, or advice from, specialist CAMHS. The school nursing service facilitates the ‘FRIENDS’ programme in selected primary school classes that include pupils with high levels of anxiety.

The Senior  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

The BSW Partnership has been developing the BSW Health and Care Model as the strategic vision for the BSW Partnership. We have previously provided updates on our public engagement exercise which took place in November and December 2021. We can now present the full engagement report and the updated version of the model.

Geoff Underwood, Programme Director for Strategy and Transformation, NHS South, Central and West introduced this item to the Panel and said that an updated version of the model would be circulated after the meeting.

Councillor Liz Hardman said that she had noted some cynicism from respondents about the ability to deliver on the model and also that the model is being driven by the need to reduce pressure rather than transform residents’ experience of health care.

She added that in the context of the huge pressures on the NHS right now, was it right to put NHS staff under additional pressure at this time to deliver on the priorities set out in the model and were we raising expectations within our communities that the way in which care is delivered will change when the reality is that long waiting times are going to be with us for some considerable time and access to a GP will remain difficult.

Richard Smale, BSW CCG Director of Strategy & Transformation replied that short term pressures do exist but that the care model looks at prevention and improvements to personalised care and the need to provide these at scale. He said that this was a large piece of work to navigate and that it must be carefully managed across all our agencies.

Councillor Hardman asked if there was enough money available to deliver the proposals within the model.

Richard Smale replied that they will need to look at how the funds available are used and this may include collaboration and use of resources in a different way, including the use of collective assets.

Kevin Burnett asked if this work was sparked by proposals to develop the RUH site.

Simon Cook, Shaping a Healthier Future Programme Director replied that it had been triggered by the opportunity to bid for investment in the RUH site and that developing the model of care over the next ten years then became the focus to ensure that the proposals supported a future model of care, not simply how care is delivered today.

He said that this was an opportunity to change processes within many services.

Kevin Burnett asked if there was a deadline for the bids in relation to the development of the RUH site.

Simon Cook replied that details would be submitted to a meeting of the RUH Board next month and that there currently was no national programme deadline. He added that the Trust will look to benefit from any capital funding that becomes available.

He said that he could not guarantee when a decision on funding would be given, but felt there was an advantage to being ready sooner than some areas. He added that the proposals should be supportable from a Planning perspective, also because they were based upon a future model of care that had received good engagement, and that the Trust had a good track record in terms of delivery, such as with the Cancer Centre which is currently being built.

The Chairman  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

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.

The Chairman introduced this report to the Panel.

Councillor Michelle O’Doherty commented that during the course of the meeting members of the Panel had asked for further information / reports on the following items.

·  HCRG contract extension

·  Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

·  School Admissions

·  Children Missing Education (HCRG 6 month report)

Councillor Joanna Wright asked for the Panel to receive further information on plans for the Council to receive £100,000 towards Social Prescribing.

The Panel noted these proposals.