Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Gavin James, Russell Oppenheimer and Robert Taylor.  Councillor Pal Hayre was in attendance as the Conservative Substitute Member.  Apologies were also received from Ian Brewerton, the Co-opted Secondary School Parent Governor Representative.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.  It was noted that there was an error in recording Councillor Kirsty Locke’s attendance, who appeared twice in the attendance list.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

The Committee did not receive any deputations.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman did not make any announcements to the meeting.

To receive a report regarding the consideration of a request to exercise call-in powers in relation to a decision of the Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report (Item 6 in the Minute Book) from the Head of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer following a request by a quorum of Members of the Children and Young People Select Committee to exercise call-in powers in respect of a decision by the Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services to close two overnight residential respite homes for children with disabilities as the County Council moves towards a wider range of overnight respite services.

The Head of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer introduced the report and confirmed the purpose of the meeting.  The decision taken by the Executive Lead Member at his Decision Day on the 15 January was set out at Annex A which had been subject to pre-scrutiny and supported by the Children and Young People Select Committee.  Attention was also drawn to the additional decision taken by the Executive Lead Member to receive regular update reports, also set out in Annex A.  The process of call-in as set out in the Constitution at Annex F was explained, as well as the role of the Select Committee as explained in Section 5 of the report.  Members were referred to the reasons for the call-in as provided in Annex E.

Paragraph 3.1 of the report was explained to Members, which highlighted the Transformation to 2017 programme which included savings of £3.2m for Children with Disabilities remodelling.  These savings had been pre-scrutinised by the Select Committee, before Executive Lead Member approval for submission to Cabinet.  These were then recommended to County Council on the 22 October 2015 where the overall Transformation to 2017 savings had been approved.

The Monitoring Officer’s view was that the decision of the Executive Lead Member was in line with the budget decision of the County Council on 22 October 2015 and concerned implementation of that budget decision. Therefore, the option open to the Select Committee was to consider whether or not to ask the Executive Lead Member to reconsider his decision.  The Monitoring Officer also emphasised to Members that the decision taken by the Executive Lead Member to close Merrydale and Sunbeams, was not conditional on the Executive Lead Member receiving regular update reports as set out in the additional decision 1b) at Annex A. 

The Chairman invited the Director of Children’s Services to speak and it was heard that alternative care plans were now in place for 20 families, with all other families considering options available to them, with the exception of one family who had not engaged with the County Council thus far.  It was confirmed that the Executive Lead Member would receive an update in the next few weeks in accordance with his additional decision.

The Executive Lead Member confirmed he had added the additional decision to receive regular update reports following the concerns he had heard at the pre-scrutiny Select Committee meeting held on 15 January.

Members named on the call-in request set out their position and their concerns that children and families would be disadvantaged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.