Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 4^th January 2010 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

 

            RESOLVED: That the Minutes be noted.

 

            It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

 

(NB: Councillor Parker declared a personal interest in the following item of business due to being a Governor of Warrington Road Nursery).

            The Board received a report which contained the minutes relating to the Children and Young People Portfolio which had been considered by the Executive Board and the Executive Board Sub-Committees since the last meeting.

 

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

            The Board received the minutes of the Halton Children’s Trust Specialist Strategic Partnership held on the 8^th December 2009.

 

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Young People which outlined the agreed scrutiny topics for 2010/11.

 

            The Board was advised that a range of discussions had taken place culminating in the item of scrutiny topics being on the agenda at the previous Policy and Performance Board on 4^th January 2010. Members were asked to suggest areas in which further scrutiny was required and it was noted that no further areas had been identified at this stage.

 

            It was noted that the following were areas suggested for endorsement from the Policy and Performance Board at its last meeting:

 

·              Young Carers

·              Enhancing Services for Disabled Young People.

 

            The Board was advised that due to the impending local elections and possible change of membership of the Board and the structural changes within the Directorate it was suggested that, at this time, one topic be agreed.

 

            RESOLVED: That the Young Carers Scrutiny Topic be agreed.

            The Board received a report from the Strategic Director – Children and Young People which provided a summary of progress to date in Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and Primary Capital Programme (PCP) in Halton.

 

            The Board was reminded that Halton’s Outline Business Case had been approved in August 2009 and the Competitive Dialogue process with bidders had then commenced. Following the evaluation of the pre-qualification questionnaires, two bidders were approved to progress to the next stage of the procurement process, Invitation to Proceed with Dialogue (IPD1). The two bidders; the Local Transformation Partnership (a consortia of Hotchief, Galliford Try and Vinci) and the Halton and Warrington Learning Partnership (led by Lang O’Rourke), both had substantial experience of delivering previous BSF Programmes.

 

            It was noted that the Invitation to Proceed with Dialogue was issued on 23 October 2009 and since then a number of meetings had been held with each bidder, as set out in the report.

 

            It was further noted that the two bidders then submitted their bids by the deadline of Monday 18 January 2010. Both bidders delivered a formal presentation of their bids on the 8 February 2010 and the evaluation of the bids would be completed and moderated by the 12 January 2010. Once the evaluation has been completed, the bidders would then progress to the next stage of Competitive Dialogue (Invitation to Proceed to Dialogue 2) from the 22 February 2010.

 

            The Board was informed that Halton and Warrington Borough Councils had agreed to procure a joint Local Education Partnership (LEP) to deliver both Halton and Warrington’s BSF Programme, this would ensure that both Programmes were more marketable and there were improved economies of scale reducing infrastructure costs for both Councils. In November 2009 Warrington’s Readiness to Deliver submission was approved and the formal remit meetings for Warrington would be held in February 2010. At this point, Warrington would formally enter the BSF Programme.

 

            The Board was also advised that three key projects which had been approved through the PCP. It had been agreed that the PCP would be combined with BSF funding to complete the all-through school at The Grange. In addition, it was also agreed that All Saints Upton in Widnes be rebuilt. Contractors were due to commence on site on the 1^st February 2010 and it was estimated that the new building would be completed and open in November 2011. A virtual walk through of the plans for the school was shown to Members along with floor plans of the design.

 

            Members were further advised that the final project funded through PCP was the remodelling of Our Lady Mother of the Saviour. This was a joint project with the Diocese of Shrewsbury aimed at remodelling the school to ensure that the buildings and learning could be transformed. It was estimated that this project would be complete by April/May 2011.

 

            Arising from Members’ comments and questions the following was noted:

 

·        that when designing the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Young People which outlined the new operational structure of the Children and Young People’s (CYP) Directorate with effect from 1^st April 2010.

 

            The Board was advised that the Children and Young People’s Directorate of the Council currently had four Departments, as set out in the report, which would reduce to three under the new arrangements.

 

            It was noted that the Efficiency Programme of the Council, undertaken with KPMG, would deliver the following:

 

·        reduced Managements Costs;

·        bring together all Transactional and Non-Transactional, Administration and Policy/ Performance, Council Services into “Centres of Excellence”;

·        broader spans of management control; ;

·        review all Council’s services in terms of their efficiency and effectiveness.

 

            The Board was further advised that in light of the Efficiency Programme, the CYP Directorate had reduced from four Departments to three and these would be:

 

·        Children and Family Services;

·        Learning and Achievement Services; and

·        Children’s Organisation and Provision.

 

            The spheres of responsibility within the new structure were set out on a structure chart appended to the report, which also set out the principle differences and outcomes this new structure was intended to achieve. These were:

 

·        a focus on early intervention and prevention for Children and Young People through the delivery of the services at a locality level. There would be two localities – Runcorn and Widnes.

 

·        a more integrated approach to children with complex needs;

 

·        the delivery of Post 16 Learning and the transferred commissioning function from the Learning and Skills Council;

 

·        a dedicated Commissioning Function for Children’s Services separated from the delivery of services. This function was intended to commission both for the Children and Young People’s Plan for Halton and the Directorate’s Specialist Commissioning areas. The Commissioning function would link closely with Adult and PCT Commissioning;

 

·        drawing together a range of capital and projects such as BSF and the Primary Capital Programme etc.; and

 

·        the Children’s Safeguarding Unit reporting directly to the Strategic Director in order to separate the delivery of Safeguarding Services from a review and auditing function.

 

Arising from Members’ comments and questions the following was noted:

 

·        that careers advisors were a combination of personal advisors within schools and from Connexions;

 

·        that Locality service working would focus on the a “Think Family” model and as such would support the whole family;

 

·        that the Safeguarding Unit would directly to the Strategic Director of Children’s Services. A report was requested on the findings of the Safeguarding Unit in their auditing role for future meetings of the Board.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the new CYP Directorate Structure be noted; and

 

(2)       a report was requested on the findings of the Safeguarding Unit in their auditing role for future meetings of the Board.

 

(NB: Councillor Lowe declared a personal interest in the following item of business due to being a Governor of Westfield Primary).

            The Board considered a report of the Chief Executive on progress against Service Plan objectives and performance targets, performance trends/comparisons and factors affecting the services for:

 

·        Specialist Services;

·        Universal and Learning Services;

·        Preventative Services; and

·        Business Planning and Resources.

 

 

Arising from Members comments and questions the following was noted:

 

Universal and Learning Services:

 

·        that Halton had recently been notified that it would be  known as a Priority Learning Authority for Learning Partners and a centre of excellence in 2011, one of any 30 nationally;

·        that the changes to the provision of special educational needs (SEN) Units had been to better match children’s needs with provision, to enable the reallocation of funding to where it was needed most and that there had been no reduction in the amount of funding for SEN;

·        a brief summary report on the white paper for education would be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.

 

Preventative Services:

 

·        that there had been a 4 per cent reduction in NEET figures, which was particularly good in light of the current economic climate and the reasons for the reduction;

 

·        that confirmation of teenage conception figures was expected in the near future and it was anticipated that this would be a noteworthy reduction, although there would still be more work needed to reach the overall target;

 

Specialist Services

 

·        that since the changes to the Foster Carers service there had been 18 new enquiries to foster;

 

·        that the increases in referral rates in Children’s Social Care were a national trend and were due to high profile cases increasing public awareness. The new structures being put in place for Locality working were expected to help resolve the referral numbers and timescales and it was agreed that a report on Locality working be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.

 

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the 3^rd quarter performance management reports be received;

 

(2)       a report on Locality working be submitted to the next meeting of the Board; and

 

(3)       a brief summary report on the white paper for education would be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.