Meeting documents

Venue: Mezzanine Rooms 1 & 2, County Hall, Aylesbury

Contact: Rachel Bennett 

Note: Please note that this meeting will be webcast - please use the "Webcasts" menu link 

Media

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Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr N Brown Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health.  Deputy Cabinet Member Jean Teesdale was also on leave and unable to attend on his behalf.

 

Mr C Harriss, Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment was also in attendance.

 

2.

Declarations of Interest

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Minutes:

There were none.

 

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 261 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 21 May 2018

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Minutes:

RESOLVED: Minutes from the meeting held on 21 May 2018 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

 

4.

Hot Topics

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Minutes:

Cabinet’s attention was brought to the following:

 

  • Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation congratulated the TfB contractors Ringway Jacobs on their award received from the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) for their asset management approach. 

 

  • The Leader highlighted that the plane and patch programme had begun on Buckinghamshire roads and was making good progress.

 

  • The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services highlighted a number of voluntary events that had taken place around the county including the Higher Education Festival and the Buckingham Literacy Festival.

 

  • The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing highlighted the Prime Minsters Prime Minister’s announcement of £20b funding for the NHS.  The announcement was welcomed however there had been no mention of funding increases in Adult Social Care which should go hand in hand.

 

  • The Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment highlighted National Clean Air Day on Thursday 21 June, which encouraged people to walk where possible for example park-and-stride.  There was a toolkit available to download at cleanairday.org.uk.

5.

Question Time

This provides an opportunity for Members to ask questions to Cabinet Members

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Minutes:

Mr D Watson, County Councillor attended to ask the following question regarding Unitary transition costs:

 

‘Can the Leader confirm that the reported 2017/18 net revenue cost expenditure of £330m includes provision for the County Council’s transition to Unitary totalling £5.5m?’

 

Mr M Tett, Leader, responded by stating that the Council had established reserves to implement the business case for a government decision to create one unitary authority.  This had been through the Council’s Regulatory and Audit Committee and agreed by full Council.

6.

Forward Plan for Cabinet and Cabinet Members pdf icon PDF 217 KB

For Cabinet to consider the Forward Plan

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Minutes:

RESOLVED:  Cabinet NOTED the report.

 

7.

Cabinet Member Decisions pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To note progress with Cabinet Member Decisions

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Minutes:

RESOLVED:  Cabinet NOTED the report.

 

8.

Select Committee Work Programme & Inquiry Work Programme pdf icon PDF 305 KB

For Cabinet to consider the Select Committee Work Programme

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Minutes:

RESOLVED:  Cabinet NOTED the report.

 

9.

Adult Services Update pdf icon PDF 766 KB

Cabinet is asked:

 

to NOTE the national, regional and local developments in relation to Adult Social Care and support the programme of work taking place to further improve Adult Social Care services in Buckinghamshire.

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Minutes:

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing presented a six month update to Cabinet highlighting the issues facing Adult Social Care (ASC).

 

Ms G Quinton, Executive Director for Communities, Health and Adult Social Care attended the meeting and highlighted the following points:

  • The Social Care Green Paper will be published in September 2018 that will address some of the issues of sustainability of the social care system.  This will be a critical issue for ASC as with a £171m gross budget (net of £143m) we need to ensure that the budget is sustainable given the anticipated growth in client numbers.
  • Delayed Transfer of Care (DToC) had received national publicity and the focus was on how the council ensures people are not stranded in hospitals for long periods of time.  Ms Quinton stated that the ASC DToC figures were currently the best in their comparator group.
  • A more collaborative approach to service delivery through the integrated care system was being rolled our across the County, in particular, the system is currently working on projects to integrate reablement for example
  • Care Market Management and Sustainability was an issue of concern both nationally and locally

·         BCC Reablement Services were recently rated as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

  • Seeleys Short Breaks service underwent a comprehensive Care Quality Commission inspection with the overall rating achieved for the service as ‘Requires Improvement’.

 

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

  • A recent CQC inspection had rated Freemantle Court, Stoke Mandeville as ‘Requires Improvement’ and if any Buckinghamshire residents were affected. Ms Quinton confirmed that the Council did have residents there and that they were working closely with the provider and would continue to do so until the establishment moved into a better category.
  • Recent criticism of the Council for not providing enough funding for care providers.  Ms Quinton confirmed that 40% of providers had received an increase this year and that the council had fully funded national requirements i.e. minimum wage. 
  • Good examples of strategic initiatives put into practice were detailed in the report
  • Concerns were raised regarding closures of residential care homes and the impact on available places.  Ms Quinton confirmed that Buckinghamshire had an adequate supply of general placement but short supply of nursing care placements and on occasion need to source outside of the county. 
  • Following a Member question Ms Quinton confirmed that there were campaigns underway to attract new candidates into the service. 
  • Members discussed assisted technology and the need to get the balance right between using technology and human interaction.  Ms Quinton stated that the technology was used to help people live independently for longer and to build social networks around them, this would in no way replace human interaction.

 

Members thanked colleagues for the thorough report and encouraged residents to read it. 

10.

Children's Services Update pdf icon PDF 404 KB

Cabinet is asked:

 

to NOTE:

 

(a) the key improvement activity in response to the November 2017 Ofsted inspection, and

 

(b) the national and local developments in Children’s Services

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Minutes:

Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills introduced the update report from Children’s Services and made reference to the following:

 

  • The Children and Social Work Act 2017 being implemented including the establishment of Social Work England; local authorities were awaiting detailed outcomes on those changes.
  • Work within the Foster Care service and support given recently to Foster Care fortnight
  • Following feedback from Ofsted significant changes had been made to the senior management team within the service.
  • Mr John Coughlan, CEO of Hampshire County Council had been appointed as Commissioner to monitor progress against the Ofsted Improvement plan.  Initial feedback was expected imminently.  It was highlighted that Mr Coughlan was appointed to review the service not run it.
  • The number of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) was highlighted with a number of those being in mainstream schools.  It was noted that the Council worked hard to engage with those children within mainstream schools.

 

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director for Children’s Services also attended the meeting to answer any questions from Cabinet. 

 

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

 

  • Focus needed on recruitment and retention of key staff.  Mr Vouyioukas stated that current turnover was 15%, with agency numbers being between 18-20% which was on the lower side compared to other local authorities with inadequate judgement
  • The importance of developing team managers and embedding those as a critical role.  Mr Vouyioukas stated that development centres had been started and there were longer term plans in plans in place
  • Proposals on supporting Children and Young People’s mental health were welcomed including the pilot of 4 week waiting times in some areas, although this did not include Buckinghamshire.  Mr Vouyioukas stated that there was a national absence of units for mental health needs particular adolescent needs and work would continue to address this.
  • The DfE announcement in March 2018 setting out a range of measures to provide support for children with special educational needs and disabilities and how this impacted locally.  Mr Vouyioukas highlighted this was a good development and impacted on the transition from PRUs to mainstream. One of the Council’s PRUs, ASPIRE, had put in a bid for funding and were awaiting a response.
  • Following a Member question regarding improving placement sufficiency, Mr Vouyioukas stated that following a Member decision to create four residential homes in Buckinghamshire, one was opening shortly, a second at the end of the calendar year and suitable sites for the third and fourth are being identified.  They were also aiming to make a 20% increase to in-house foster placements year on year to 2021.
  • The loss of the Educational Services Grant was raised and how this has changed how the Council operate with schools.  Mr Vouyioukas was asked if he thought the new delivery model, which enabled schools to take responsibility for their own improvement, was proving successful.  Mr Vouyioukas responded by saying that although it was too early to tell there was a good  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Q4 Council Performance Report pdf icon PDF 273 KB

Cabinet is asked to:

 

1. Come to a view on how the organisation is performing

2. Take action to improve performance where necessary

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Minutes:

Cabinet received a summary report, scorecard and detailed measures for each of their portfolio areas and were asked to update on those areas that were being flagged as red.

 

Mr Tett confirmed that he would have a separate 121 with Mr Brown to run through any within his portfolio stating that there were a number of reds relating to Public Health and would ensure these were addressed by the Cabinet Member. 

 

Health and Wellbeing

  • Timely CYP transitions target 50%, achieving 35.1%.  Lin Hazell stated that transitions were one of the hardest targets to meet however there had been some improvement with the establishment of a programme team.  Adults and Children’s were working together as those transitioning needed to be identified at an early age. Lin Hazell gave assurances to Cabinet that it was an area of focus
  • Placement clients receiving an annual review - implemented actions to sustain recent improvement and are currently developing a delivery plan for reviews to increase performance in 2018/19.

 

Children’s Services

  • Repeat referrals – This had been previously reported and working collaboratively with partners to resolve.  Work was ongoing with colleagues particularly with the Police and health services.  Work was ongoing and performance has started to increase.
  • Children in Need (CIN) reviewed in time – remedial action had not yet been put in place.
  • Children Looked After living within 20 miles of home – It was confirmed that this was due to some existing cases however the challenge going forward was to ensure that children are placed in the best location for their needs and this sometimes meant placing them out of county.
  • Children waiting months between entering care and moving in with their adoptive family – this refers to a small number of children and it was hoped this would soon move to amber.

 

Education and Skills

  • New Education, Health and Care plans issued within 20 weeks – up until March 2018 around 300 statements were being converted to EHCPs which was effecting response time.  It was expected that the performance rate would start to improve rapidly due to the back log being completed.
  • Key stage 4 average Attainment 8 score for pupils with a statement of SEN or EHCP – current position of 16.5% was performing higher than other local authorities in England and the South East.
  • Key Stage 4 - Attainment 8 gap between disadvantaged pupils and others – this was below England figures and was an area of concern.  Mr Appleyard confirmed that they were utilising the expertise of teachers from outstanding schools.

 

Planning and Environment

  • Some of the Rights of Way team have recently been brought in house and discussions are underway to bring to consider the operational aspect of the team in-house too. .  There was some public dissatisfaction and further work was needed to understand this.
  • Two areas marked as green were also highlighted; good performance on waste and fly tipping

 

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the update, scrutinised the areas where targets had not been achieved and recognised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Short Breaks for Disabled Children Strategy Consultation / Adult Short Breaks Strategy Consultation pdf icon PDF 183 KB

Cabinet is asked:

 

·         to AGREE to go out to consultation on the draft Short Breaks Strategies for Disabled Children and Adults as set out in Appendices 1 and 2

 

·         to NOTE the next steps set out in this report including further key decisions required

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Ms J Bowie, Director of Joint Commissioning and Mrs M Moss, Head of Strategic Commissioning Children attended the meeting to present the Short Breaks for Disabled Children Strategy Consultation / Adult Short Breaks Strategy Consultation report which asked Cabinet to agree to go out to consultation and to note the next steps.  Mr Tett reiterated that the purpose of the item was to discuss going out to consultation on the strategies and not to discuss the strategies themselves.

 

Lin Hazell updated that current short break offers were limited and there was a need to provide more choice for clients. The purpose of the consultation was to ensure that users and carers help redesign the service. 

 

Mr Whyte highlighted the importance of ensuring there was not a gap in transition from children’s into adults and stated that this was a consultation on the strategies and then there would be a second consultation on how these are implemented.

 

Ms J Bowie stated that the strategies are supported through Clinical Commissioning Group governance processes as well ensuring a partnership approach.

 

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

  • The similarities between the two strategies were discussed and the shared principles and approach to how they are developed. 
  • Work had been carried out with different stakeholder groups from across children’s and adults to inform the development of the draft strategies. The 6 week consultation needed to be accessible and recognisable to both stakeholder groups.
  • It was stated that even though the consultation was being held over the summer months it still allowed times before the summer break to complete and would run for a period of six weeks.
  • Ms Bowie confirmed that after the consultation responses would be fed back to Cabinet then a further consultation on the service offer would run for 12 weeks.

 

RESOLVED: Cabinet AGREED to the consultation on the draft Short Breaks Strategies for Disabled Children and Adults and NOTED the next steps including further key decisions required.

 

13.

Date of the Next Meeting

9 July 2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

9 July 2018.