Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 18 March 2020.

The Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 18 March 2020 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Voting: Nem. Con

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is Wednesday 15 April 2020.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is 12.00 noon, Tuesday 21 April 2020.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 12.00 noon, Tuesday 21 April 2020.

The Deputy Leader advised that there had been no public questions, statements or petitions received on this occasion.

To consider recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Board on items not otherwise included on the Cabinet Agenda.

Cabinet were advised that there were no additional recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Board on items not otherwise included on the Cabinet Agenda on this occasion.

This report sets out a summary of the Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and identifies some of the many changes that have taken place to the way that we manage our services and the command structures. Details are given of some of these changes and the budgetary implications are identified along with a need to carry out a fundamental review of the Council’s budget for the current financial year.

The Chief Executive presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

In presenting the report Chief Executive stressed that situation is constantly moving.

Cabinet were requested to note the Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and in relation to this were informed of the many changes that had taken place including the way services were managed and the command structures within the Council. Further details were provided of some of the changes including the budgetary implications which were identified and in addition to this Cabinet were advised that a fundamental review was required of the Councils budget for the current financial year.

The Leader addressed Cabinet advising of the challenges presented in both dealing with the implications of Covid-19 whilst still bringing the work of three Councils together. The Leader made particular mention of the networks she had been involved with and the work which had taken place in setting up the community resilience hub, which had taken place over a couple of days and gave credit to the officers involved.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board addressed Cabinet advising that whilst there were no formal recommendations from the Boards recent meeting, that the Board had recognised that there was a lot of good work going on, whilst stressing the importance of having a full discussion with regards to the budget.

Cabinet Members each provided an update in relation to the impact the Covid-19 pandemic was having within their Portfolio, and the work of officers was praised.

RESOLVED that the Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic be noted.

The number of children and young people assessed as requiring a place at a specialist education provision in the BCP area has increased in recent years.  Local provision to meet these needs is of high quality, but capacity has not been expanded sufficiently to meet this additional demand. 

As a result, increased use has had to be made of local Independent and Non-Maintained special schools which are comparatively expensive and often located outside of the BCP area.  The result of this has been significant pressure on the school Transport budgets.

In partnership with the BCP community of schools, a range of proposals have been developed to increase capacity and create new provision to meet the needs of these pupils.  These will both deliver savings and ensure appropriate provision is available to meet needs closer to where children and young people live.

This paper requests that funds are released to meet these costs.  Resources are available to support this investment from existing DfE ringfenced grant allocations for this purpose.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Families presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)    the proposals set out at Appendix 2 in order to create additional capacity to meet the assessed educational needs of children and young people in BCP be approved;

(b)    the allocation of £0.65m of SEND capital grant and £1.47m of Basic needs capital grant to support the delivery of these proposals be approved;

(c)    the allocation of £0.25m of SEND capital grant to allow feasibility work to be undertaken in support of future proposals to increase capacity be approved; and

(d)  it be noted that a longer-term Children’s Capital Strategy will be brought forward for Member approval in due course.

Voting: Nem. Con.

Portfolio Holder: Children and Families

The number of children and young people assessed as requiring a place at a specialist education provision in the BCP area has increased in recent years.  Local provision to meet these needs is of high quality, but capacity has not been expanded sufficiently to meet this additional demand. 

As a result, increased use has had to be made of local Independent and Non-Maintained special schools which are comparatively expensive and often located outside of the BCP area.  The result of this has been significant pressure on the school Transport budgets.

In partnership with the BCP community of schools, a range of proposals have been developed to increase capacity and create new provision to meet the needs of these pupils.  These will both deliver savings and ensure appropriate provision is available to meet needs closer to where children and young people live.

This paper requests that funds are released to meet these costs.  Resources are available to support this investment from existing DfE ringfenced grant allocations for this purpose.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Families presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Cabinet were advised that the number of children and young people assessed as requiring a place at a specialist education provision in the BCP area had increased in recent years. In relation to this Cabinet were advised that local provision to meet these needs is of high quality but that capacity had not been expanded sufficiently to meet this additional demand.

Further to this Cabinet were advised that as a result, increased use has had to be made of local Independent and Non-Maintained special schools which are comparatively expensive and often located outside of the BCP area.  The result of this has been significant pressure on the school Transport budgets.

Cabinet were advised that in partnership with the BCP community of schools, a range of proposals have been developed to increase capacity and create new provision to meet the needs of these pupils, and that these will both deliver savings and ensure appropriate provision is available to meet needs closer to where children and young people live.

Cabinet were informed that the report requested that funds are released to meet these costs, and that resources are available to support this investment from existing DfE ringfenced grant allocations for this purpose.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board addressed Cabinet advising that whilst there were no formal comments from the recent meeting of the Board that Members had recognised the work which had been carried out with secondary schools.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)    the proposals set out at Appendix 2 in order to create additional capacity to meet the assessed educational needs of children and young people in BCP be approved;

(b)    the allocation of £0.65m of SEND capital grant and £1.47m of Basic needs capital grant to support the delivery of these proposals be approved;

(c)    the allocation of £0.25m of SEND capital grant to allow feasibility work to be undertaken in support of future proposals to increase capacity be approved; and

(d)  it be noted that a longer-term Children’s Capital Strategy will be brought forward for Member approval in due course.

Voting: Nem. Con.

Portfolio Holder: Children and Families

To consider the latest version of the Cabinet Forward Plan for approval.

The Leader advised that the latest Cabinet Forward Plan had been published on the Council’s website.