Agenda item

This report presents the Council’s Operational Plan to the Panel for consideration and feedback as part of the Council’s operational planning and budget development process.

Councillor Liz Hardman commented that while understanding the pressure on budgets, there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of additional funding to deliver particular services.  For example, in respect of the Virtual School it says it will have increased responsibilities due to the Children and Social Care Act. Similarly, there is a proposal to set up a B&NES School Standards Board yet the Operational Plan does not indicate that additional resources will be available to support these areas. She asked how growth pressures in the Children and Young People budget are to be met.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that two specific budget areas were due to receive an increase, namely the Looked After Children placement budget and SEND. He added that these were welcome and very positive moves to put the needs of vulnerable children first.

Councillor Paul May commented that although there will be political decisions ahead to be made he felt that the reductions planned would not cause the service significant harm.

The Head of Education Transformation said that the Virtual Head role had increased from its original role of three to four days a week and that there was scope assigned for an additional day due to increased responsibilities of the Children and Social Care Act. She added that some Local Authorities have used Pupil Premium Plus to support this function, B&NES has not as it believes these funds should be used entirely to improve provision and outcomes for looked after children.

Kevin Burnett asked if the Government were aware of the resources required of the Act and had the Council given them a response.

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance & Efficiency replied that they are aware and that the Council has written to the Government. He added that a reply from Government had not been received.

Kevin Burnett asked what the additional SEND budget would be used for.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that the numbers of pupils with SEND were increasing and this money would improve resources within schools and look to lessen the number of young people that receive provision outside of B&NES. He added that the decision will support an increase of 107 new school and college places for pupils with SEND.

Councillor Paul May added that the decision will also hopefully reduce the impact on young people and their families as well as the costs involved for provision outside of B&NES. He acknowledged that the Council has three good local providers and that at some point a business plan would be brought forward to increase this further.

Kevin Burnett stated that he felt that supportive services are not in place to prevent escalations and that cuts to Educational Psychologists and school support staff will result in a lack of cohesion.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien commented that she was aware of the excellent work of Three Ways Academy. She asked if the three current SEND Academies within B&NES were eligible to receive extra resources.

Councillor Charles Gerrish replied that they were and said that provision of a new classroom for Three Ways would be established following an agreement to use land adjacent to their current site which is owned by the Wellsway Academy Trust.

Councillor Michelle O’Doherty asked if the Review/Restructure of the Disabled Care Team (Adults and Children) would result in a better service or was it being driven by cuts in funding.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that he believed that it would be a better service as it would see a joining of Adult and Children services to provide a through service which would aid the ‘transition’ stage.

Kevin Burnett asked if it were wise to cut support for the Director of Public Health Award in schools.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that there is no intention to reduce the work that sits behind the award, it is just that the direct involvement is costly.

The Head of Education Transformation added that all schools will have access to resources and guidance previously part of the DPH Award to help them with providing good advice to children on health and wellbeing.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked would the statutory work of the Educational Psychology Service be affected by the current proposals.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that statutory work would not be jeopardised and the proposal is to attempt to increase income from traded work.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien commented that as the Short Breaks for Disabled Children provide a lifeline for so many she would not want to see any reductions to this service.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care acknowledged the important role of this service and said that the savings were to be addressed through its recommissioning.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked how deliverable are the savings relating to Youth Connect Services and do cuts of this scale run the risk of generating further problems later on.

Councillor Paul May replied that this element was approved last year. He added that he and officers were working with staff to set up a new venture to provide services to the community.

Councillor Liz Hardman said that the Council did not have a good track record of embarking on Social Enterprises and that a drive was required for this to happen.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care said that he believed that a drive does exist in this case and there would be a positive benefit if successful for the service to trade and grow.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien commented that there is a need for valuable outreach work to continue.

The Chair asked how far along are the plans for Children’s Services Collaboration with another Local Authority and which local authorities are we proposing to collaborate with.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that it was about determining which aspects of service delivery can be aligned, for example Youth Offending which is a small service. He added that in terms of collaboration they would look to match with councils of a similar demographic and geography.

Councillor Michelle O’Doherty asked would the Council still have sufficient capacity to support the maintained schools that have not joined a MAT. 

The Head of Education Transformation replied that it does, especially in terms of our School Improvement duty to monitor standards and intervene in schools causing concern. She added that they also signpost schools to high quality provision that they can purchase from Teaching Schools, other Traded Services and promote the benefits of school to school support.

Kevin Burnett asked does an increase to charges to parents risk reducing access to the Music Service to children from lower income families whose parents may not be eligible for support from elsewhere.

The Head of Education Transformation replied that the service to children from lower income families is a key criteria of the Arts Council grant. She added that B&NES and South Gloucestershire are collaborating on how they can work more closely to reduce costs where possible. She stated that she agreed that the ability to access music is an important part of a rounded school life.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked how cutting Education Welfare to the minimum, prosecutions only, be reconciled with the reports elsewhere on this agenda.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that an above statutory service is provided currently and that the change would see a statutory one remain. He added that there was a role for Ofsted and the Regional Schools Commissioner to play regarding this issue.

Councillor Paul May said that he would like to thank Councillor Gerrish for his role throughout the Operational Plan / Budget process.

The Panel RESOLVED that at this stage, aside from comments made during debate, there were no specific areas of feedback that they would like to refer to the relevant Cabinet Member for further consideration as part of the operational planning and budget development process.