Archived decisions

p F. Allgood

p C. Bailey

p D. Blampied

p Mrs. E. M. Byrom

p B. D. Dash

p P. Edgar

p K. Evans

p Mrs. J. K. Frankum

p K. Gill

a Mrs. K. Heron

a G. M. Hockley

p R. J. Kimber

p Mrs. P.G. Peskett

p S. H. Read

a J. K. West

a S. Wheale

45.

APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Councillors J. K. West and S. Wheale

and Co-opted Members; T. Blackshaw, U. Topp and D. Mayer.

ACTION

46.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

47.

MINUTES

The Minutes of the Committee held on 13 February 2007 and 6 March 2007 were signed as a correct record, subject to two amendments in minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2007 as follows:

Page 7 - deletion of bullet point one concerning mixed mode provision

Page 9 - substitution of the figure £395,000 with £95,000 in respect of

Minstead and Stubbington Study Centres

Matters arising thereon:

Minute No. 30: Corporate Parenting Workshop. It was reported that further work on Corporate Parenting would form part of the Committee's Work Programme for 2007/08.

Minute No. 32: Review of Education provision for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children. It was reported that following the Select Committee's Call-in of this decision, the matter was referred to Full Council on 24 May 2007. The Council had two choices; either 1) to debate without changing the Executive Member decision or 2) to request a review of the Executive Member decision. The majority of Council voted for the second option. It was reported that the Executive Member was minded to consider scrutiny review findings in the review of his decision so, for timeliness purposes, scrutiny would need to report by Autumn 2007. It was anticipated that the Executive Member would consider the request for a review at his decision day on 17 July 2007.

Minute No. 33: Rural Studies Centres. It was noted that the Culture and Communities Select Committee would be undertaking scrutiny work on this topic.

Minute No. 34: Admissions Policy Workshop feedback. The Committee were advised that the Chairman of the Admissions Forum had sent in a letter advising that the scrutiny recommendations had been considered in finalising the Admissions Code. It was noted a review of the success of the new code had been scheduled into the Committee's Work Programme for Summer 2009.

Minute No. 35: Exclusions review. It was reported that invitations to provide written evidence had been issued and that Select Committee sessions were scheduled to take place in September 2007. It was also noted that the visit to New Forest Behaviour Support Team had been very productive.

48.

CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman advised that the April meeting had been cancelled mainly due to Joint Area Review (JAR) commitments and extra meetings for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired Review. It was also reported that proposals for annual cycles of budget scrutiny would be presented to the Policy and Resources Select Committee on 10 July 2007. The Chairman was also pleased to report on the prize giving ceremony held for Children in Care.

49.

DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations made under this item.

50.

PROTOCOL FOR SHARED FUNDING FOR CHILDREN WITH COMPLEX NEEDS

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) detailing the arrangements developing between the County Council and the Hampshire Primary Care Trust to jointly commission services for children with complex needs.

The Chairman reported that this item arose from the Select Committee's consideration of the Treasurer's Consultancy Review of Non-County Placements in December. Members requested an update on new funding protocols with the new Primary Care Trust as it was noted that the Health Service contribution to the management of non-county placements was low.

The Committee welcomed the developments on this matter and considered that the pooling of resources would greatly benefit service users.

It was suggested that joint commissioning with health could become a theme for the Committee's 2007/08 work programme. The precise focus of reports to be decided in conjunction with Children's Services. Members were also asked to put forward any ideas.

All Members

51.

PROGRESS WITH THE WORK PROGRAMME: HEALTH SCRUTINY SUPPORT PROGRAMME

The Committee considered the draft scoping report of Dr. Sheila Marsh (Item 7 in the Minute Book) commissioned by the Centre for Public Scrutiny to undertake a study of respite for families of children with severe disabilities.

The Chairman outlined the next steps with this piece of work:

1) Children's Services to update report with details of local provision

2) Key milestones in work currently underway in Children's Services to be identified.

3) Select Committee to commission reports on progress with this work over the next 12-18 months.

The Committee were advised that Respite would therefore become a standing item on the Committee agenda for the 2008 Work Programme.

In considering the draft scoping paperwork it was suggested that it would be useful to Members to have anonymous case history details to give a flavour of issues faced by families.

Emma Gordon (Chief Executive's Dept.)

52.

NON-COUNTY PLACEMENTS AND INDEPENDENT FOSTERING PROVIDER PLACEMENTS: UPDATE ON QUESTIONS RAISED BY COMMITTEE IN DECEMBER 2006

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute book) updating Members on the position in Hampshire to end of March 2007.

53.

ACCESS TO THERAPY SERVICES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN 0-5 YEARS

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) detailing the review of access to Therapy Services for children in school and pre school 2004.

The Chairman reported that the report was requested in follow-up to the work undertaken by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2005. Findings of the Review Group included:

o availability of therapy services to children in school and pre-school was inconsistent across the County, lacked strategic leadership and carried unacceptable waiting times.

o No one organisation or partnership maintained an overview and many children received no service at all. The review group recommended that The Children's Board becomes the lead agency; a Therapy Services Partnership Board be established and there be Therapy focus for Local Implementation Team.

In considering the report concern was expressed at the waiting lists, which varied between 6 to 12 months. It was anticipated that the formation of one Primary Care Trust (PCT) may reduce the waiting lists for Therapy Services, although the Committee felt that this should be brought to the attention of the PCT. Also it was noted that common data/information sharing frameworks were still required.

In respect of the earlier suggestion, that Joint Commissioning with Health be included in 2007/08 work programme for the Committee, it was proposed that access to Therapy Services could be one particular focus and the Committee could invite views from the stakeholders at committee meetings as outlined in Section 1.1 of the report.

Emma Gordon (Chief Executive's Dept.)

54.

LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICE AGREEMENT 2

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) detailing progress to date on meeting the two Local Public Service Agreement 2 (LPSA2) targets and eight indicators managed by the Children's Services Department.

It was anticipated that this information would be useful as background to inform the selection of topics for the 2007/08 work programme, along with other performance information.

55.

SCHOOL PLACES PLAN 2007 - CONSULTATION DRAFT

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 11 in the Minute Book) detailing the consultation draft of the School Places Plan for 2007. Members were requested to forward individual comments to the Executive Member for Children's Services by 10 September 2007.

56.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL'S STRATEGIC APPROACH TO THE PROVISION OF SCHOOL PLACES

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 12 in the Minute Book) submitted to Cabinet on 25 June 2007 detailing the overall approach towards the management of school places. The Committee were advised that the planning of school places was informed largely by demographic trends and the report set out the implications of these trends. The Committee discussed issues connected with surplus places in schools and parental choices. There was also discussion about the flexibility of schools and community emphasis.

57.

RACE EQUALITY DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOLS: ANNUAL REPORT

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 13 in the Minute Book) providing an overview of the work of Children's Services in relation to its statutory duty to promote race equality, including the annual data on racial incidents in schools.

The Committee noted that the percentage return was up from 92% to 98% of schools, and this was warmly welcomed. The Committee did however ask that in future more information be provide concerning the gypsy and traveller population. There was also discussion about the Rights, Respects and Responsibilities (3 R's) initiatives run in many Hampshire schools.

Director of Children's Services

58.

CURRENT WORK PROGRAMME

The Committee noted the work programme for the Committee (Item 14 in the Minute Book). The Chairman reported that over the summer period, consideration would need to be made of the outcomes of the Joint Area Review (JAR), alongside the work undertaken by the Committee over the past year. This would help to build a focused set of priorities for the Select Committee in 2007/08. It was suggested that a workshop be set up to take forward any further issues. In considering the work programme, it was suggested that "Targeted Youth Support" be deleted.

Emma Gordon (Chief Executive's Dept.)

59.

EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

That, in relation to the following item the public were excluded from the meeting, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

60.

COMMISIONING STRATEGY FOR CHILDREN IN CARE AND

THOSE ON THE EDGE OF CARE

The Committee received and noted the report of the Chief Executive (Item 16 in the Minute Book) concerning an exempt urgent decision agreed by the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services on 17 May 2007 in relation to the Commissioning Strategy for Children in Care and for those on the Edge of Care.