Decisions

This policy articulates how temporary accommodation is supplied and allocated in order to meet our statutory duties to eligible homeless households.

The Cabinet Member agrees that the Temporary Accommodation (TA) Placement Policy is adopted.

Saw Close Public Realm.

The Cabinet Member agrees that the provisionally approved budget of £2.05m be given Full Approval to complete the design and deliver the Saw Close Public Realm project.

Nicolette Boater had submitted two questions. The questions and the answers approved by the Panel are given in Appendix 1. She also made a statement on Bath’s World Heritage status (Minute 22), a copy of which is attached in Appendix 2 to these minutes.

Rosemary Naish, Chair of Clutton Parish Council, was concerned that a recently couple of planned webcasts of committee meetings had not taken place because of insufficient equipment. She urged the Council to acquire sufficient equipment to enable all important meetings to be webcast. The Chair thanked her and said that he would pass her comments onto the Cabinet Member for Resources.

David Redgewell made a statement about bus subsidies and public transport. He said that local authorities were moving away from revenue support towards capital support for bus services. He felt strongly that this was not the way forward. He pointed out that many people no longer work regular 9 to 5 days and that public transport provision needed to recognise this. Public transport needed every pot of money that was available. He urged that public transport issues should be fully taken into account at the regional and local planning levels and in s106 agreements. The Chair said that he was sure that the officers present would note his comments. He suggested that the Cabinet Members present might discuss these issues with the Cabinet Member for Transport, and asked officers to draft a reply to Mr Redgewell.

The Board will receive a report.

Reg Pengelly, Independent Chair of the BANES Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) presented its Annual Report and Business Plan.  He explained that the LSCB was a statutory body which was not accountable to any particular group.  He explained that a 360 degree feedback system to feed back on the performance of the Independent Chair with an annual multi-agency “Challenge and Review” Panel was now in place.  It was noted that the LSCB was supported by a number of sub-groups who carried out a great deal of work and Mr Pengelly congratulated these groups and thanked them for their support.

The following issues from the report were highlighted:

·  A multi-agency safeguarding hub would be set up to provide more robust handling of issues and more effective risk assessment.

·  Mr Pengelly was also Chair of the Local Safeguarding Adults Board which strengthened the link between the two bodies.  A pilot training group had been established to provide training for both groups.

·  A schools audit had been carried out to find out how effective safeguarding processes were in local schools.  Every school in the BANES area had responded and advice from the LSCB had been provided where necessary.  LSCB members had also visited some schools.  The aim was to repeat this exercise and to build on it in future years.

·  There was a large amount of data in the report.  A sub-group of the LCSB audited routine cases and outcomes.  The Board aspired to strengthen this data in the future.

·  There had been an increase in children with child protection plans.  Figures tend to fluctuate year on year and the Board would continue to monitor these figures.  149 children were currently “looked after” in BANES and this was consistent with national figures.

·  No serious case reviews had taken place this year.  Some local reviews had taken place.

·  A fundamental review of the role and functions of LCSBs had been carried out by Alan Wood.  The Government has now published a brief response to this and it may result in changes to the way serious case reviews are carried out. There would be a meeting in October to discuss future changes to the LSCB structure.

·  Mr Pengelly paid tribute to those member agencies such as the Health and Wellbeing Board who had not withdrawn funds or staff in spite of their own funding pressures.

·  With the disbandment of the Children’s Trust Board it would be helpful to establish a system of mutual challenge with the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Board then asked questions as follows:

·  Are there any particular emerging themes that threaten children’s safety?  Mr Pengelly responded that one of the main issues was child sexual exploitation although the main risks to children were from within their own families.

·  In response to a question from John Holden it was confirmed that in future the executive summary of the report would be printed at the front of the document.

·  How is the LSCB addressing Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?  There was work taking place under the CAMHS transformation plan, some work with schools was being carried out and the CCG transformation fund was also involved with this issue. 

Dr Ian Orpen supported the idea of multi-agency safeguarding hubs and noted that any resulting training would require some time commitment.

Ashley Ayre explained that OFSTED dictated a good deal of the report content and noted that it covered a huge range of work.  He pointed out that often the longer a child had a child protection plan in place the less effective the outcomes were and noted that schools also tracked child protection plans.  He commended the work undertaken by Reg Pengelly and Lesley Hutchinson in order to produce this report.

Councillor Vic Pritchard summed up the debate by highlighting the good work carried out by the LSCB and commended its aspiration to obtain an excellent rating.

RESOLVED to note the report.

The Green Investment & Jobs Fund (£1m) was approved by Council in February 2014, as ‘Investment of a policy loan in local renewable energy projects to further a range of Council policy objectives, whilst generating a source of income for the Council and contributing to the creation of ‘green’ jobs.’

The Cabinet Members agree to the Council making a policy loan of £130,000 from the Green Investment & Jobs Fund to Bath & West Community Energy’s Bathampton Old Mill Hotel Hydro project.