Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Hamilton, Lammas and Pearce.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 5 October 2023.

The record of the meeting held on 5 October 2023 was agreed and signed by the Chairperson as correct. 

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

Councillor Gulvin declared an interest in agenda item 5 (Draft budget 2024-25), the report referenced potential changes to Council Tax which may affect private landlords which would include Councillor Gulvin. However, as the report noted this was a recommendation previously agreed by Cabinet, he undertook not to speak on the issue of Council Tax and remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion.

Councillor Mrs Turpin declared an interest in agenda item 5 (Draft budget 2024-25), the report referenced potential changes to Council Tax which may affect private landlords which would include Councillor Mrs Turpin. However, as the report noted this was a recommendation previously agreed by Cabinet, she undertook not to speak on the issue of Council Tax and remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

At the 2 March 2023 meeting it was proposed and agreed that as a result of work undertaken in partnership with the Local Government Association the Committee adopt a hybrid model moving forward.

This would be based on the assumption that meetings will last no more than three hours, with two hours focused on the theme and the remaining time on general matters that need to be reviewed by the Committee as existing ongoing business. 

Following consultation with the Director of People, Children and Adults’ Services it was agreed that this meeting would be Finance Themed with reports covering the Draft Budget, Capital and Revenue Budget Monitoring Round 2.

Discussion:

The Committee received a presentation from the Finance Team, the presentation highlighted the budget for different services within the Department, the capital and revenue budget position for the current financial year and the proposed draft budget 2024/2025.

The Chief Finance Officer informed the Committee that the draft budget reflected a new approach where each directorate would operate within an agreed budget and savings would need to be found from within that budget allocation. The overall budget gap for 2024/25 was £35m with £22.6m of savings to be found within the Children and Adult Directorate.

The Head of Corporate Accounts highlighted that the Capital Programme would invest more than £43m to provide more school places in both mainstream and SEND provision and enhance the learning environment. There was a forecast an underspend of £5,000 in relation to Children and Adults programme.

The Head of Revenue Accounts highlighted the current budget position, which represented a forecast overspend of £12m in round 2 for the Council overall. Within the remit of this Committee there was a forecast overspend of £1.9m. This was an improvement of £1.5m from round 1. The majority of the additional spending was in place to support existing packages and placements for young people. The other major pressure related to unaccompanied asylum seeking children. There was an underspend in staffing due to vacancies.

The Education budget currently projected a £1.7m overspend, due primarily to the increased cost of SEND Transport.

The Council was part of the Safety Valve Intervention Programme to support the Council to reduce the deficit reserve in Education which arose following the SEND reforms. The Council’s current deficit reserve was £21.4m and the deficit recovery plan aims to reduce that to £19.3m by the end of the current financial year and to remove the deficit entirely by 2025/2026. The Council has been required to earmark £3m in reserves to insure against any under-delivery of the deficit recovery plan.

Members then raised a number of comments and questions, which included:

Savings - in response to a query how £22.6m in savings could be made without impacting services, the officer informed the Committee that the £22.6m gap was based on a number of projections of future costs, those costs were currently being reviewed. Additionally, that the Council may be a more attractive place for social workers following the good Ofsted rating, which may assist in reducing reliance on agency staff and create savings, however, addressing the gap remained a challenge.

The Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive added that Children Services had faced significant challenges in its improvement journey, and it had been difficult to recruit staff to an authority which had been judged inadequate. There would be savings available, though this may be limited due to the market. The Committee was informed that there had been positive interest a recent recruitment campaign and the impact of the Ofsted judgement of good was now being positive.

Provider Uplift – in response to a question how the proposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 416.

This report sets out the Draft Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2024/25. In accordance with the Constitution, Cabinet is required to develop ‘initial budget proposals’ approximately three months before finalising the budget and setting Council Tax levels at the end of February 2024. The Draft Budget is based on the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Outlook 2023-2028 (MTFO) considered by the Cabinet on 26 September 2023.

Discussion:

Discussion of this Item can be found at minute number 416.

Decision:

1.    The Committee noted that Cabinet has instructed officers to continue to work with Portfolio Holders in formulating robust proposals to balance the budget for 2024/25. 

2.    The Committee noted the proposals outlined in the Draft Capital and Revenue Budgets in so far as they relate to the services within the remit of this Committee, and feed this back to the Business Support and Digital Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January.  

3.    The Committee noted that the Cabinet agreed to recommend to Full Council that in February 2024 when setting the Council Tax, the following changes are applied to Council Tax premia in line with the Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Act 2018, as set out in paragraph 9.18 of this report:

•       the 100% premium for long-term empty properties may be brought forward so that it can commence after being empty for one year rather than two with effect from 1 April 2024; and 

•       a 100% premium may be charged for properties that are unoccupied but furnished (known as second homes) with effect from 1 April 2025.  

4.    The Committee noted that the Cabinet agreed to recommend to Full Council that in February 2024 when setting the Council Tax, the following changes are applied to the Council Tax discretionary discounts, as set out in 17 Agenda Item 5aparagraph 9.18 of this report: 

•       reduce the discount in respect of class C to 0% from the day on which a property becomes vacant, and

•       reduce the discount in respect of class D to 0%. 

This report presents the results of the second round of the Council’s capital budget monitoring process for 2023/24.

Discussion:

Discussion of this Item can be found at minute number 416.

Decision:

1. The Committee noted the results of the second round of capital budget monitoring for 2023/24 and the management actions to resolve the projected overspend in Children’s and Adults.

2. The noted the changes made to the capital programme as set out in 8.1 to 8.2 to this report.

This report presents the results of the second round of the Council’s revenue budget monitoring process for 2023/24. The Council’s summary position is presented in section 5, with sections 6-7 providing the detail for each service area.

Discussion:

Discussion of this Item can be found at minute number 416.

Decision:

1. The Committee noted the results of the second round of revenue budget monitoring for 2023/24.

2. The Committee noted that the Cabinet instructed the Corporate Management Team to implement urgent actions to bring expenditure back within the budget agreed by Full Council. 

3. The Committee requested the Assistant Director, Education and SEND to review whether investing in the provision of after school clubs could assist to reduce the SEND Transport budget pressure.

The annual report provides information on children’s services complaints handled during 2022–2023, and includes the numbers received and the types of issues raised. The report also highlights some examples of the many positive things people have said about the provision of children’s services in Medway over the same period, and the service improvements Medway Council has made as a result.

Discussion:

The Manager for Social Care Complaints introduced the report which provided information of Children Services complaints 2022-23.

Members then raised a number of comments and questions, which included:

Service Provided – it was noted that the complaints had been resolved quickly and satisfactorily in most cases and this was a positive report. In response to a question about why the level of service provided was the highest cause of complaint the Manager for Social Care Complaints explained that this would be for a variety of reasons. Social Workers made difficult decisions and communication was important. Some families may feel a social worker was too direct or there may be cultural differences.

Response to Complaints – in response to a question whether feedback from the complaints process was provided to social workers, it was explained that there were compulsory workshops and training for managers and staff, the biggest theme for those workshops was effective communication.

The Head of First Response and Family Solutions added that Managers spend time with their team reviewing feedback form complaints and it was an important part of service improvement.

Trigger for Complaints – a request was made for further information in relation to whether only formal complaints were considered and how negative feedback was dealt with. The Committee was informed that where negative feedback was received it would be labelled as a concern and the Council would attempt to resolve the issue at the earliest stage possible prior to it becoming a complaint. Concerns were logged and were dealt with in the same way as complaints.

The Committee was further informed that it was important that service users had the opportunity to raise concerns and if it looked like a complaint, it would be treated as one, this may cause higher levels of reporting however this would show that the Council was transparent, responds to complaints quickly and sought to learn from them.

Training - in response to a question whether the training identified in the report relating to the needs of a child with autism and ADHD had taken place, the Committee was advised that the issue related to a specific case, however, work was being undertaken with the disabilities team and partners to build staff knowledge and ensure the family’s needs continued to be met.

A Member commented that it was frustrating for young people to have to retell their story to different members of staff, the Head of First Contact and Family Solutions agreed and said that this was being addressed through recruitment of permanent staff.

Adolescent Team – in response to a question why complaints were higher in the adolescent team the Head of First Contact and Family Solutions explained that this reflected difficulties within the team at that time and work had been undertaken to remedy that including permanent recruitment.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report.

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2022-23 to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report provides an overview of the work carried out by the MSCP in the last year. It sets out the key achievements of the partnership against its key priorities and gives an overview of the learning and improvement role of the MSCP including case reviews that have been undertaken. It also includes a section from the Independent Scrutineer, Rory Patterson.

The report was presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board on 23 November 2023 and will be presented to the Community Safety Partnership in line with the Joint Working Protocol between the boards in Medway.

Discussion:

The MSCP Business Manager introduced the report which set out the work of the partnership in the last year including key achievements and case review work.

Members then raised a number of comments and questions, which included:

Links with Community Safety Partnership (CSP) – in response to a question whether the partnership could consider improved links with the CSP on issues such as trafficking and county lines, the MSCP Manager informed the Committee that some work on a joint protocol was planned for 2024.

HMP YOI Cookham Wood – in response to a question whether the previously close links between Cookham Wood and Medway Council should be revisited the Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive stated that although young people were detained at Cookham Wood they remained the responsibility of their respective local authority. Additionally, it was vital to retain effective boundaries of responsibility between Cookham Wood and Medway Council.

Views of children and families – it was commented that it was disappointing the partnership had not been able to ascertain the views of children and families, the officer explained the partnership’s ambition was to develop a communications strategy to better understand the views of children and families and would be promoting Child Friendly Medway.

Identifying outcome and impact – it was noted that the partnership had undertaken work to identify its impact and outcomes and a request was made that this be included in future reports. The officer explained that the partnership had a business plan which outlined activities and outcomes and was reviewed by the Executive Board on a regular basis. This would be included in a future report but acknowledged that it was a challenge for Safeguarding Children Partnership’s nationally.

Child Exploitation Review – a request was made that the Committee be given the opportunity to consider the report which reviewed the current multi-agency response to Child Exploitation. The officer undertook to include a summary in the next update report to the Committee.

Family Assessment – further information was sought on the changes made following the multi-agency audit in September 2022 which showed some cases had been stepped down without a full child and family assessment. It was explained that assessments may be stepped down where full information had not been available, and caseloads were now lower, and assessments improved.

Headteacher representatives – it was commented that the partnership does not have a head teacher representation from a SEND provider, the Assistant Director Education and SEND undertook to consider adding representation from that sector.

Risk to LGBT young people – a Member noted the positive work undertaken on the risk of suicide and children with additional needs and asked if the partnership could also consider the LGBT young people who may be at risk of hate crime. The officer explained that learning arose from a specific review and no specific work had been undertaken relating to the risk of LGBT young people being subject to hate crime, he undertook to consider this potential line of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 418.

Medway’s Council Plan 2023/24 sets out the Council’s three priorities and the measures used to monitor performance. This report and appendices summarise performance in Q2 2023/24 on the delivery of these priorities and the actions we are taking to improve performance.

This report also presents the Q2 2023/24 review of strategic risks which fall under the remit of this committee (Appendix 2).

Discussion:

The Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive introduced the report, she explained that there were an increased number of red indictors, however, the reporting period was during an ILAC inspection during which she had issued a directive to staff to ensure the high quality of reports. It was expected that there would be a rise in improvements in those indicators during the rest of the year.

Members then raised a number of comments and questions, which included:

NEET Care Leavers – in response to a question on why there was a discrepancy in the percentage of care leavers who were NEET between reports provided to the Children Partnership Board and this Committee, it was explained that the figure would fall during the academic year. The relatively low number of care leavers meant that percentages varied significantly due to a small change in the overall number of young people who were NEET.

Education attainment Key Stage 2 – concern was expressed at the performance of children in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 2 with nearly half of the children not meeting the required standard. It was explained that the figures were provisional, however, it was acknowledged that there had been a decline in performance since the pandemic. A literacy strategy was in development and would be considered by the Committee at a future meeting.

A Member commented that many schools were not under the auspicious of the local authority and the Committee should be able to question the regional director’s office. The Chairperson stated an invitation was sent to the schools’ regional director’s office which unfortunately no response of acceptance was received. A letter would be sent to the Minister for Education.

ILAC percentage of audits graded good or outstanding -   it was commented that the performance of Children Social Care audits considered as outstanding had remained low for some time and further information was requested as to the cause. The Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive commented that the measure had been part of the improvement journey, however, it lacked nuance and could be better worded to reflect priorities when performance monitoring priorities were reviewed.

PH14 Excess Weight - in response to a question whether the figures showed a link between excess weight and deprivation, the officer confirmed the data could be broken down into output area level and nationally there did appear to be a link between deprivation and childhood obesity.

Decision:

1.    The Committee noted the Q2 2023/24 performance against the measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities (Appendix 1).

2.    The Committee noted the Q2 2023/24 Strategic Risk Summary (Appendix 2).

3.    The Committee to write to the Minister of Education on a cross group basis to seek the attendance of the Schools Regional Commissioner at a future meeting of the Committee.

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and highlighted the scheduled next data workshop which would be held on 9 January 2024 via MS Teams on the subject of schools’ performance data.

Decision:

1. The Committee noted the report and agreed the work programme as set out at Appendix 1 to the report, subject to accepting the proposed changes, outlined in italic text on Appendix 1.

2. The Committee agreed to consider ways in which it may actively engage the views of young people.