Meeting documents

To be presented by David Johnston, Managing Director Children’s Social Care and Learning & Zahir Mohammed, Cabinet Member for Education.

Zahir Mohammed presented the report on the Bucks Learning Trust (BLT) improvement plan and summarised the following key points:

·         The improvement plan had been formulated following issues having been identified with the operation and governance of BLT. The decision had been made to review the funding agreement and a paper went to the One Council Board on 4 November.

·         Much progress was said to have been made in terms of the actions which had been RAG rated and could be seen on pages 22-25 of the agenda pack. In respect of pages 26-39 in the agenda pack those actions highlighted green had been dealt with and those highlighted amber had dates to be implemented.

·         The BLT governance proposal document had been implemented and new trustees were being advertised for. One application had been received so far and advertising would be advanced further to encourage more applications. There had originally been 20 trustees on the BLT board and it was advised that the plan was to now reduce this number to 6 quality trustees.

·         The Exit Plan had been received and had been reviewed.

·         The Business Continuity Plan action had now been implemented and the BLT risk register had been updated and reviewed. The Risk Manager had not yet reviewed the BCC risk register but was aware of her team having seen the register and would shortly review it herself.

·         Annual spot check of complaints - section 11 audit had been completed and KPI monitoring was ongoing as part of the revised governance proposal.

·         The Early Payment of April 2015 Grant on page 36 of the agenda pack had now been implemented and the appropriate process to get this authorised would now be taken.

·         Debts that are more than 90 days old would be investigated with the relevant budget holders and this would be implemented by 30 November 2015. It was confirmed that officers are in the process of chasing these debts.

·         The financial reporting requirements on page 38 of the agenda pack were now green and the BLT had been reminded that agenda items and report items at annual reviews should be applied in line with the funding agreement. Termly monitoring reports would be introduced by 31 December 2015.

·         BLT’s performance in respect of delivering services was described as good and the engagement with BCC was described as positive. The operation itself was said to be working well with schools. OFSTED had reported a good rating of the work being done.

·         BLT had appointed a full time CEO internally. Amanda Taylor-Hopkins had been confirmed as the CEO and it was said that she had been at the Trust for a considerable amount of time and the BLT would be held accountable through the newly formed BLT Commissioning Group.

Member Questions

Questions 1 & 2

·         A Member questioned whether there were any trustees in place presently or all had been removed in which case where was the governance and could those who had been in place re-apply?

·         It was also asked how many trustees BCC would appoint to the new reduced board of trustees and what was the target date for the appointment of the new trustees by both BCC and BLT respectively.

·         Zahir Mohammed advised that he would get clarity on each of the above questions and clarification would be provided to the Chairman within the next week. Ian Dyson provided an update and advised that it had been confirmed as accurate by the Contract Manager that there were still currently 8 trustees acting. Sue Imbriano was said to be the only BCC Trustee. Zahir Mohammed added that he would also provide clarity on whether Sue Imbriano would need to reapply as a Trustee.

Action: Zahir Mohammed

Question 3

·         A Member asked what the monetary figure of the total debts exceeding 90 days was.

·         Zahir Mohammed advised clarity would be provided to the Chairman on exact figures within the next week.

Action: Zahir Mohammed

The Chairman thanked Zahir Mohammed for the update provided.