Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillor Lesley Mansell, Councillor Onkar Saini, Councillor Liz Hardman and Kevin Burnett had sent their apologies to the Panel. Councillor Eleanor Jackson was present as a substitute for Councillor Mansell for the duration of the meeting.

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 4.4 Appendix 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 Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Councillor Ruth Malloy addressed the Panel, a summary of her statement is set out below.

‘Having only recently formally joined the B&NES Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), I’m not really in a position to comment about the work of SACRE during the period from September 2024 to August 2025, which this SACRE Annual Report covers. However, it's a very thorough and well-written report, compiled by our Adviser Rebekah Guy, and I commend it to you!

When invited to join the SACRE, I was initially unsure about it, as I'm not aligned to any particular religion. However, I then decided this could be something positive: to be curious and seek that which all faiths have in common. I’ve now also joined the Bath Inter-Faith Group, which I think complements the activities of the SACRE very well, by raising awareness locally about different faith communities.

I look forward to working with Cllr. Eleanor Jackson, Kevin Burnett and the other members of the SACRE in the coming year, especially on developing the Agreed Syllabus, which is currently undergoing a review. The Government's recent decision to include Religious Education in the National Curriculum will also be an interesting development to follow and contribute to.’

Becky Somerset, Director,3SG addressed the Panel, a summary of her statement is set out below.

‘I am speaking today on behalf of the Third Sector in B&NES, representing 3SG’s membership network of 260 charities.

I wanted to make members aware of the most recent Council Budget for 26/27, which has referred to £250,000 worth of savings to be made from Contract Management - Delivering Greater Value.

It is expected that a list of the Council’s largest contracts will be drawn up to see how these savings could be made. We hope this list would primarily focus on multi-million pound contracts via Waste and Highways, but I must flag that there are larger contracts that go to the Third Sector, the further down the list you go.

Whilst I have been separately assured by both the new Chief Executive of the Council and the Director of Resources that charity contracts will not be touched, I want to keep the risk associated with cuts of any kind at the forefront of members’ minds. Many of our contracts have historically been run with zero or very little uplift, with services running at a loss to the charities delivering them. This is completely unsustainable.

The NHS 10 year plan and the ICB’s focus on preventative care in communities mean that investment needs to be made in these services. Cost cutting exercises, no matter how small, could mean closure for some services that are really struggling to deliver with dwindling resources and eventual increased costs to the Council in order to meet statutory responsibilities.

For too long, the Third Sector has been expected to find a way. Our options are dwindling - there is less funding available and competition is greater than ever before. This downward spiral cannot and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

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

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

Councillor Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services addressed the Panel. He stated that he does recognise the values of the Connecting Families service and said that the proposed changes were currently in a consultation phase. He said that he was prepared to bring further information back to the Panel.

The Chair stated that she would welcome an update sooner rather than later.

Councillor May agreed and said that Members should be aware of any decision. He added that it was an officer process at present and that the timeline for the consultation has been extended.

He explained that Families First would change the role of the Local Authority and some of its aspects with regard to Social Care by seeking to provide an integrated front door. He added that there would be a focus on early intervention and prevention that would aim to provide support before problems escalate, reducing the need for statutory, long-term intervention.

The Director of Children’s Services and Education added that it is the intention to create multi-discipline teams that combine staff from Early Help, Child in Need, Child Protection and other services which will lead to families experiencing the least changes possible through their support provision.

She said that staff from Connecting Families would be brought into this work and that there was a need to develop a broader approach to family group decision making.

The Chair asked if the process has been explained to all staff concerned.

The Director of Children’s Services and Education replied that information regarding the proposals has been available for some time and that workshops and engagement sessions have been held prior to the formal consultation.

The Executive Director for People added that he was committed to meeting with staff to discuss their concerns.

Councillor Joanna Wright commented that she felt this decision would lead to the service becoming more challenged. She added that as a Corporate Parent it was important for every child to be looked after to the highest standard.

She stated that staff need to feel empowered and that she was disappointed by the process to date.

Councillor May reiterated that the consultation remains ongoing and that he would listen and work with the Director of Children’s Services to find a solution for the staff and the children. He said that he values the staff highly and would seek to do better.

The Chair said that she acknowledged that this was a difficult time for all concerned and encouraged work to be carried out to find a solution.

The Executive Director for People said he was aware of the Council’s Corporate Parent role and was not able to deliver any further information at this stage as the consultation was ongoing.

Councillor Wright informed the Panel that she had received a number of questions from the absent Councillor Liz Hardman which she would forward to Democratic Services so that they could be responded to by officers. She asked Councillor May if the Cabinet were 100% behind what the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

The Panel will receive an update from the B&NES, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) on current issues.

Lucy Baker, BANES Place Director, BSW ICB addressed the Panel. She announced that a 45 day consultation would commence on March 18^th 2026 regarding restructuring proposals within the ICB.

BSW Integrated Care Board Five Year Strategic Commissioning Plan

BSW ICB has developed a new five year -year plan setting out how we will further transform health services over the next five years, working as part of a new cluster with Dorset and Somerset Integrated Care Boards.

The plan takes forward the work previously set out in the BSW Integrated Care Partnership strategy, and articulated in our BSW Care Model, and now incorporates the ambitions articulated in the last year’s national NHS Ten Year Plan.

Kingfisher Unit update

This is a new ten bed specialist learning disability and autism inpatient and outreach service located at the Blackberry Hill Hospital site in Fishponds, Bristol. The service is a key part of regional plans to increase specialist inpatient capacity and improve admission pathways across the South West.

Recently, there was a flood at The Kingfisher which has caused significant damage to the building. This is going to delay the completion of the build, its handover and ultimately its opening to patients. This is really disappointing for everyone who has been involved in the project so far, and those who have been preparing to commence work within the new service.

The project team have been working with construction partners since the flood was discovered to get a clearer understanding of how much damage has been caused, and the remedial work required. It is essential that this assessment is detailed and thorough and when finalised, it should give us the clarity required to help us plan a revised completion, handover and opening timetable.

Oral health and dental update

BSW ICB remains committed to establishing a network of local mobile dental clinics that will make accessing dentistry easier and more convenient for people living in all parts of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.

Our Big Brush Club supervised toothbrushing scheme is commissioned by the ICB and supported by BSW’s three local authorities and delivered in schools by professionals. It aims to tackle deteriorating rates of oral health among disadvantaged young people. We are awaiting information on current activity and will offer an update at the next meeting.

We can confirm that there is no contractual requirement for promotion in dental practices as per a previous query but this will be reviewed with public health colleagues moving forward to explore any opportunities.

Termination of Pregnancy information

The update in the agenda pack summarised activity across BSW and included the British Pregnancy Advisory Services (BPAS) and Marie Stopes International. It focussed on the use of early medical abortion (EMA) through telemedicine/pills by post, a service allowing people to receive medication for an early medical abortion (up to 10 weeks gestation) via mail, after a phone or video consultation with a provider. It also included the number of patients requiring treatment beyond 10 weeks’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 95.

This paper sets out the context, options considered, preferred approach, and proposed engagement with local communities and scrutiny committees. It seeks the views of the committee on the scale of the proposed change and the approach to engagement.

Lucy Baker, BANES Place Director, BSW ICB addressed the Panel and highlighted the following areas from the report.

Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) is reviewing the future of its long Covid service in response to significantly declining demand and increasing financial pressures. This paper sets out the context, options considered, preferred approach, and proposed engagement with local communities and scrutiny committees. It seeks the views of the committee on the scale of the proposed change and the approach to engagement.

The committee is asked to consider and comment on:

1. Whether the proposed changes constitute a substantial variation to services.

2. Whether the proposed engagement approach is proportionate.

She also offered to bring a further report to a subsequent Panel.

Councillor David Harding said that he would query whether people who have Long Covid or feel that they might have it know how to access the current support service.

Lucy Baker replied that she would take that point back to the ICB. She added that a meaningful engagement will be carried out to assess the future of the service.

Councillor Bharat Pankhania said that he wished to emphasise that the country was still in unknown territory with regard to its knowledge of Long Covid and said that there some emerging trends relating to disabilities and other health consequences. He stated that a degree of watchfulness must be retained.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson suggested that GP’s could seek to assign a specialist on Long Covid within their practices.

Lucy Baker replied that she would take these comments back to the ICB.

The Chair stated that she did not feel that the Panel, at this time, could determine whether the proposed changes constitute a substantial variation to services and asked that they be updated as the engagement process continues.

This report provides the Panel with an overview of early years and school education performance in the academic year 2024-25, and the work underway to address inequalities in educational attainment.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding addressed the Panel and highlighted the following points to the Panel.

·  The report provides the Panel with an overview of early years and school education performance in the academic year 2024-25, and the work underway to address inequalities in educational attainment. He said that the Council were committed in their attempts to achieving improved performances.

·  A slight improvement in KS2 educational outcomes for Free School Meal (FSM) eligible children, however, the attainment gap between FSM pupils in B&NES and nationally is significant: 36% of B&NES FSM pupils achieve the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths, compared to 48% nationally.

·  Children with SEN Support and an EHCP perform better in all key stages than regional and national averages.

·  The Local Authority remains committed to delivering initiatives with education settings to enhance outcomes for Free School Meal (FSM) pupils. Our efforts focus on the early years, where the LA can have the most impact. This year's budget includes additional funding to expand the delivery of our Language for Life programme, now extended to more early years settings, and to provide targeted support for transitions from nursery to school.

·  Pupils in B&NES attained higher grades than regional and national figures at all stages of education, except at Key Stage 2 (KS2), where attainment remained in line with national averages.

·  In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the percentage of children reaching a good level of development increased to 73%, higher than regional and national averages.

·  Key stage 2 performance for all pupils in the combined reading, writing and maths (RWM) was higher this year, rising from 60% to 63%, higher than the southwest average of 60% and in line with the national average of 63%.

·  Key stage 4 attainment in grades 9 -5 English and Maths and in Attainment 8, though slightly down from 2023/2024, is once again higher than regional and national averages. This is to be commended.

·  Girls performed better in Key Stage 2 than boys and in the KS4 Attainment 8 measure, but for the first time since 18/19, boys did marginally better than girls in KS4 grades 9 -5 English and Maths.

·  Attainment in B&NES is lowest in the Black and Other ethnic groups at all stages of education and remains below national levels at KS2 and KS4. In KS2, 53 % of Black pupils achieved the expected standard in RWM, compared to 63% nationally. The gap reduces in KS4, with 39% of black pupils attaining grades 9-5 in english and maths, compared to 43% nationally.

·  When in secondary school, our FSM cohort does make much better progress. Whilst outcomes for this group of pupils in KS4 have previously been in line with national outcomes, this year they have fallen slightly below the national average. However, the progress this group makes in our secondary group is significant.

The Consultant in Public Health highlighted the following further areas from the report.

·  Addressing the attainment gap is a shared responsibility and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

At the request of members, this briefing sets out the issues relating to placement sufficiency for Children in our Care, and the plans to address these through the work of the Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Children’s Services Sufficiency Programme which launched in 2024.

The Assistant Director for Children and Young People Services introduced the report to the Panel and highlighted the following areas.

·  228 Children in Care

·  Three children are currently in residential care as a result of there being no suitable, available foster placements. The Alternative Care team continue to actively search for a suitable foster carer for these children and remains a key priority for the team.

·  The Sufficiency Programme Board was established in Quarter 3 of 2025/26 to provide governance in addressing four key areas of sufficiency in children’s services: fostering, residential children’s homes, provision for disabled children and accommodation for young people aged over years.

Fostering

·  The project aims to review the existing cohort of children and young people in foster care to understand their needs and their reasons for being in foster care. It will also review existing foster care provision, including geographical location, costs, accessibility, needs it can meet, capacity and availability of carers. Finally, it will look at the current offer to foster carers, how this offer compares across our neighbouring authorities and how this could be maximised to improve recruitment and retention.

·  The project will use this analysis to forecast needs for foster care in the future, and will support, if indicated, the delivery of a business case to further support the recruitment of in-house foster carers for looked after children in B&NES. It will also develop a policy, process and business case for housing alterations for foster carers, to increase the number of children and young people they can support.

Residential Children’s Home

·  This workstream aims to review the existing cohort of children and young people in residential care to understand their needs and their reasons for being in residential care. It will also review the existing residential care provision, including geographical location, costs, accessibility, needs it can meet, capacity and available free capacity.

·  The workstream will use this analysis to forecast projected needs for residential care, and will support, if indicated, the delivery of a business case to develop and deliver in-house residential capacity for children in care in B&NES.

Resources for disabled children

·  This workstream focuses on ensuring that disabled children and their families have access to appropriate, high?quality short breaks and direct payment support. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Children Act 1989 and the Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations (2011) to provide a sufficient short breaks offer for eligible families. A strategic needs assessment will be completed over the next six weeks to set out the current position in B&NES and identify future requirements.

16+ support and care leavers accommodation

·  This workstream aims to review the existing cohort of children and young people aged 16 years plus, to understand their needs and equalities profile. It will also review 16+ accommodation provision, including geographical location, costs, accessibility, needs it can meet, capacity and available spaces. The workstream will consider improvements in recruitment and retention of supported lodgings carers. Finally, it will look at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

This report provides the Panel with an overview of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in B&NES.

The Head of SEND introduced the report to the Panel, she was accompanied by Rachel Hale, Chair and a Director of B&NES Parent Carer Forum.

Councillor Joanna Wright asked what the Council is doing to ensure children and young people are assessed properly when they apply for an EHCP to reduce the number of appeals due to a refusal to assess.

The Head of SEND replied that this is an area that they have been focussing on and that by increasing the quality of needs assessments received, alongside the robust scheme of delegation, has seen a significant decrease in the number of appeals lodged due to refusal to assess across the year.

She added that the assessment process is a difficult thing to get right and that it was a balance of resources and ensuring that you are not disadvantaging young people who need an assessment.

She explained that work was ongoing to promote mediation between the Council and families prior to an appeal being made.

Councillor Wright noted that 11 complaints have already been received across Q1 & Q2 of 2025/26 relating to provision not being delivered. She asked what the reasons for this are and what is the Council doing to resolve this.

The Head of SEND replied that this often due to school avoidance / non-attendance by the young person, normally due to mental health reasons. She added that if this situation should occur it can then take time to transfer the provision from a school setting to home or another location.

Councillor Wright asked what the average delay was in delivering paperwork for an EHCP Annual Review.

The Head of SEND replied that this was slightly tricky to measure and that they have been looking at how data can be improved. She added that every child has a phased transfer review when moving between schools or at key stages, which is every three years, and that is always carried out in time.

Councillor Wright said that she was disappointed to see that work needs to be done to improve adherence to statutory timescales and said that this matter should be additionally highlighted as it is a real factor for the families concerned.

The Head of SEND replied that only 35 plans at present were over 20 weeks out of around 250 and that it was likely that these figures were comparable on a national level. She added that they always intend to finalise plans as quickly as possible.

She said she believed that communications between the Council and families on the timescales of finalising a plan are improving and stressed that it is also important to have a degree of quality to the plan.

Rachel Hale explained that it was the role of the Parent Carer Forum to act as a strategic voice to its 1,700 members and that a great deal of work is ongoing regarding communication from the Council to the public. She added the planned SEND reforms are interesting as they address hearing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

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 Panel reviewed the workplan, noting items to be brought forward, including:

·  Children’s Services Sufficiency Programme Update

·  Future of BSW Long COVID service

·  Connecting Families Update

·  DfE Regional Office attendance / MATs performance update

The Panel RESOLVED to note their current workplan and these proposals for future updates / reports.