Meeting documents

There were none.

Mrs A Cranmer, Deputy Cabinet Member for Education and Skills was in attendance.

Other members in attendance were Mrs W Mallen, Mr M Hussain and Julia Wassell.

There were none.

To agree the minutes of the meetings held on 4 &11 February 2019.

RESOLVED: The minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2019 were AGREED as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED: The minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2019 were AGREED as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment highlighted the ongoing success of the SCRAP (Suspect, Check, Refuse, Ask, Paperwork) fly tipping campaign.  Since the launch of the campaign last summer there had been a decrease for the first time in six years. Mr Chapple stated that the previous five years’ average annual increase was 14% a year, but based on 10 months’ of data this year; they were expected to record a fall of at least 7.5%.  Mr Chapple said that although it was early days, it was encouraging to see that the campaign messages  are making an impact.  There would be a repeat of main messages over the coming weeks in press statements and on social media. Mr Chapple reaffirmed that the County Council had a zero tolerance policy on fly tipping with 1 in 38 prosecuted compared to the national of 1 in 638.

Cabinet Member for Transportation highlighted that the plane and patch scheme had commenced with an additional £4.6m this year in the budget on top of the annual road surfacing budget.  Mr Tett commented that potholes were the single biggest complaint for the council and the advantages of plane and patching was in being able to cover larger areas of road surface rather than filling individual holes.  Mr Tett also confirmed that the additional budget for weed spraying would be focussed on town centres and major village centres. 

Julia Wassell, County Councillor for Ryemead and Micklefield, thanked Mr M Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation, for his updates regarding the A40 project but asked that they were issued in a timelier manner.  There were however a number of concerns including the Micklefield turn and pavement where cars and vans were driving over the pavement and no action had been taken and would like an update.  Julia Wassell also highlighted that residents over the weekend had cleared all the buddleia plants from London Road as they felt they could not wait until year end. 

Mr Shaw confirmed that he would provide an update on the A40 project.  Mr Shaw also thanked residents for their work clearing buddleia plants.  Mr Shaw stated that there would be two teams out clearing such areas.

Julia Wassell highlighted to Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, the low morale and high pressures across staff in the service area and in particularly social workers.  Julia Wassell also highlighted the decision to be taken at the meeting regarding early help and the future of children’s centres and the hope that more key stakeholders would have been involved.  Julia Wassell was pleased that the east wycombe children’s centre, hampden way, was now included in the proposals, however other centres were still at risk and could Cabinet ensure that the morale issue was being addressed and provisions are being sought for those centres that are not becoming family centres.

Mr Whyte responded by highlighting the appendix in the report that related to all the proposed future uses of the 35 current sites and the preferred future usage of those centres to no longer to be used as children’s centres.  In reference to low morale, Mr Whyte stated that he appreciated the hard work that they did and the challenges they faced with case work workload.  Mr Whyte mentioned that the Ofsted monitoring letter in January touched on improvements in morale and if there were particular issues that needed highlighting he would speak directly with Julia Wassell to pick these up.

Julia Wassell asked Mr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources, if he was pursuing the transit site for travellers.  Mr Chilver stated that he was not aware of the site and would look into it and go back to Julia outside of the meeting.

Mr M Hussain, County Councillor for Booker, Cressex and Castlefield asked how many outreach staff would be affected by the new early help model.  Mr Whyte stated that he would provide a written answer to Mr Hussain.

Mr Hussain also asked what the implications were of the unitary decision and if this would have an impact on the early help decision made.  Mr Tett stated that this issue was a policy matter for the County Council which would exist until April 2020.  Mr Tett went on to say that there was a financial pressure now that needed to be addressed and the existing way that the council intervene early was not effective  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

For Cabinet to consider the Forward Plan

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

For Cabinet to consider the Select Committee Work Programme

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

Cabinet are asked to agree the five recommendations as set out in the report.

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director for Children’s Services, Ms S Callaghan, Service Director for Education, Ms S Turnbull, Early Help Programme Manager, and Mr G Morgan, Head of Early Help, attended the meeting to answer member questions.

Mr Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, took members through the report included in the agenda pack.  Mr Whyte made reference to the Cabinet Member report, the consultation findings, the Early Help Strategy (a partnership document setting out the policy and strategy for delivering Early Help co-signed by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and all stakeholders), the proposed new service ‘Family Support Service’, the family centre site location report and the completed quality impact assessment.

Mt Whyte highlighted the following points:

• Cabinet were being asked to agree the new Early Help service, to be called the Family Support Service.
• Children’s Services were on a road to improvement and the early help review was an important part of the process.
• There had been a lengthy consultation process which had included six public sessions resulting in improved offers from the draft proposal.
• The new Family Support Service would be an integrated service working in partnership with key stakeholders.
• There had been an increase from 14 proposed centres in the draft proposal to 16 ensuring there was still a physical presence in local communities.
• The centres would provide a wide range of professional advice and services able to respond to issues in the community.
• There would be a named link officer for each school.

• There would be improvements to the Buckinghamshire Family Information Services.

Mr T Vouyioukas also highlighted that:

• The model was based on helping families to identify their needs early.
• The existing offer was not reaching the right families at the right time and there had been an increase in the number of vulnerable families and children needing support.  Mr Vouyioukas stated that it was not just about the physical presence of a building but ensuring the right professional support was available at the right time.
• The consultation had been over a 10 week period.
• Mr Vouyioukas thanked colleagues across health, schools and the voluntary sector for their contribution to the strategy.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Following a question from Mr Tett, Mr Whyte confirmed that public health services currently provided at the centres would remain accessible.  Mr Brown, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health, added that contracts for those services were for three years and would continue and work in conjunction with the family centres.  Mr Vouyioukas confirmed that public health services to support families were commissioned by the council; with approximately £7.6 million per annum spend.  These services were not in-scope of the review.
• Mr Brown supported the review and highlighted the importance of intervening early in a child’s life and Mr Whyte confirmed that only 5% of those accessing the children’s centres had an identified need for support which meant that some children were being reached too late.
• Mr Chilver supported the proposal and the suggestion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Cabinet are asked to agree the three recommendation as set out in the report.

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director for Children’s Services, Ms S Callaghan, Service Director for Education, and Mr P Robson, Head of Integrated Transport attended the meeting to answer member questions.

Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills introduced the report and highlighted the following:

• The cost of Home to School Transport for Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) was £15m with an increase of £1-2m per year and was becoming unsustainable.
• There was an increase in numbers of  special needs children that needed support, providing a service was crucial, therefore all elements of cost needed to be reduced to impact the total bill.
• There were a number of areas that were statutory but post 16 transport was not a statutory service.
• The proposals would provide skills for independent travel arrangements helping those SEN children to become skilled in travelling independently as well as  asking parents of special educational needs (SEN) children to contribute towards the cost and remove free transport. 
• Public transport routes were similar to school routes and conversations were taking place to see if public buses and routes could be utilised but ensuring extra capacity was provided.
• There had been a wide consultation process and feedback and ideas had been taken into account including those related to switching to public transport.
• Mr Appleyard confirmed that before any changes were made, parents would be informed.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

·       The challenge that had been placed on BCC by central government with children remaining in education until they were 18 but with no additional funding for their travel.

·       Asking parents for contributions for specific travel would allow BCC to continue to provide the service.

·       Cabinet raised concerns about moving to commercial bus service and the practicalities and safety around that.  It would be essential to ensure drivers were aware of their responsibilities and for BCC to ensure a safe environment including walking to and from bus stops, lighting, shelters and real time information at bus stops.  Mr Robson confirmed that they were already in conversation with stakeholders/suppliers to gage interest and that it would be a partnership service and would include provision justification and monitoring.

·       Concerns were raised about large number of children waiting at bus stops and being unable to get on the bus due to overcrowding leaving them in a vulnerable position.  Mr Robson confirmed that it would be carefully managed and would look at capacity of each supplier to ensure that suitable capacity would be provided.  Provisions at each bus stop would also be reviewed. 

·       Cabinet raised that while it was keen to promote independence and preparing young people for adulthood, there needed to be assurances that it would be closely monitored by BCC to ensure practical and safe.  Mr Robson confirmed that it would be a phased approach and would start with the most suitable areas that had already been tested.  Mr Robson also stated that it was about a broader community offer which would offer further services to the community, not just  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

25 March 2019.

25 March 2019.