Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded that at the start of the meeting they should declare any known interests in any matter to be considered, and also during the meeting if it becomes apparent that they have an interest in the matters being discussed.

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting. Councillor Barbara Parry made a personal, non-prejudicial declaration of interest in respect of agenda item 6 (Cabinet Member Question and Answer Session – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services) as she is employed at The Ridgeway School (part of the White Horse Federation).

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th September 2020.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th September 2020 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

See explanatory note below. Please contact the Committee Officer whose details appear at the top of this agenda if you need further guidance.

During Covid-19, questions must be submitted by 3.00pm two days before the meeting.

Mr Barrie Jennings asked a number of questions relating to the support and funding provided to community leisure centres in Swindon, in particular:

·         The process the Council went through in determining to allocate £30K to help support the continued opening of Highworth Leisure Centre.

·         The support offered to other community leisure centres across Swindon that also require extra funding to remain open due to Covid restrictions.

Councillor Dale Heenan (Cabinet Member for Town Centre, Culture and Heritage), responded to the questions at the meeting.

The Committee considered a report introducing decisions arising from the Cabinet meeting held on 21^st October 2020.

Minute 25. Budget Management Update (October)

Councillor Russell Holland (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Commercialisation, Education and Skills) advised the Committee that the Council has received an additional £3.6m from central government under the lost income scheme since the meeting of Cabinet, which is on top of the grants already received.

Councillor Holland and Councillor Brian Ford (Cabinet Member for Adults and Health) responded to questions put by CouncillorsEmma Bushell, Paul Dixon and the Chair on the following matters:

• The amount of consideration given so far as to what would happen should Swindon be moved to a higher Covid tier, such as calculating the required extra funding and support that would be needed.

• The budget implications for Swindon as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review being for one year.
• The opportunities to extend the provision of free school meals over the forthcoming half term and Christmas breaks using the funding received over the summer from Government, and other plans for supporting vulnerable children during those times.
• The communication planned to advise eligible families of the help and support available to them.
• The funding of the provision of food to those ‘shielding’ and to those unable to afford to pay for food, the details of which are contained within a Cabinet Member Briefing Note which will be circulated to members subsequent to the meeting.

Resolved – (1) That Minute 25 of the Cabinet be noted.

(2) That information requested by members during the course of the Committee’s consideration of this item be forwarded to them via the Committee Clerk.

Minute 26. Housing Revenue Account Medium Term Financial Plan

Councillor Cathy Martyn (Cabinet Member for Housing and Public Safety) responded to questions put by Councillors Emma Bushell and Paul Dixon on the following matters:

• The re-categorisation of the sheltered housing stock where finances allow and any subsequent impact this may have on vulnerable members of the community. 
• The guarantees in place to ensure that any contracts being entered in to by the capital repairs team with external companies are obtaining best value when compared to what might be directly delivered by the Council.
• The balance between the use of in-house teams (used to fill gaps where there is not much demand in the market) and the use of external companies (awarded contracts via the usual procurement processes) which gives an element of flexibility in responding to issues.
• The adherence to the Decent Homes Standard as a minimum, with additional repair work undertaken on a yearly basis prioritised by need, and how this helps address the cost implications from consequential repairs given the current £81m budget shortfall.

Resolved – That Minute 26 of the Cabinet be noted.

Minute 27. Annual Review of Local Ombudsman Complaints

Councillor David Renard (Leader of the Council) referred to the continued improvement year on year in the Council’s performance as identified in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Councillor Mary Martin (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services) was in attendance and presented to the Committee a report summarising progress and performance in respect of the key objectives of her role, which are to:

• Provide strategic leadership and be the statutory lead Member for Children’s Services.
• Provide the political leadership for the improvement plan.
• Through the senior officers, ensure Children are Safeguarded.
• Provide political leadership for contract/compliance/procurement.
• Provide the political leadership for the strategic provision of:

a) Corporate Parenting

b) Early Help

c) Youth Justice

• Promote Children’s Health and Wellbeing.
• To work with other Cabinet Members to Manage Demand within the portfolio.
• Ensure that the Council's agreed priorities within the portfolio are delivered.

The Cabinet Member is responsible for securing the following Vision Pledges:

• Pledge 20: Increase the number of foster carers in Swindon so that every ‘child looked after’ who should be, is placed in their home borough.
• Pledge 21: Ensure that there is a partnership approach to early prevention and intervention across Swindon so that more children and families are supported early, including through the Troubled Families Programme, to prevent escalation to statutory social care.
• Pledge 22: Ensure that Swindon’s vulnerable children and young people are safeguarded and protected.

• Pledge 25: Work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure the level of children in Swindon with excess weight is no higher than the England average.

The Cabinet Member also has delegated responsibility for:

• Children and Family Services including Early Help, Youth Offending Team, Young Person Substance Misuse team, Targeted Mental Health, Education Welfare, Educational Psychology, Youth Engagement, Services for Disabled Children.
• Children’s Social Work services.
• Community Health Services including Health Visitors, School Nurses and Family Nurse Partnership, Paediatric Therapy Services, Speech and Language and Portage.
• Swindon Safeguarding Children Partnership.
• Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).
• Children Voluntary Sector Contracts.
• Fostering and adoption services.
• Troubled Families.
• SEN.
• Music Services.
• PlasPencelli Outdoor Education Centre.

Councillor Martin introduced her report and highlighted the following cross cutting themes:

• Multi-agency working (with health services, the Clinical Commissioning Group, the Police and with schools) to apply consistent processes to keep children safe.
• The concept of whole family working, which particularly applies where supporting mental health issues.
• Youth offending and corporate parenting, which can involve children with a complex set of needs.

Councillor Martin responded to questions put by CouncillorsPaul Dixon, Jane Milner-Barry and the Chair on the following matters:

• The significant reduction in the number of agency social workers over the last 18 months (from around two thirds to a third) and the subsequent impact this has had on the stability of social worker placements with children. 
• The expectation that parish councils will utilise existing resources in becoming involved with the new multi-agency place based working model.
• The long waiting times for the diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder, ADHD and mental health services in Swindon, and the steps being taken to help with this such as the additional support professional appointed to assist families. The presentation on how this service will work will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Legal Officer setting out the topics for inclusion in the 2020/2021 Scrutiny Work Programme, as agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 7^th July 2020, and updated during the course of the Municipal Year.

With the agreement of the Committee, the Chair added an item to the Work Programme for the meeting on 7^th December regarding air quality in Swindon. The item will include the existing Kings Hill air quality management plan, an indication of how air quality is looking across the whole town, and the specific issues currently being experienced in Rodbourne.

The Committee received an updated report advising on the status of outstanding issues and member requests for information.

Resolved – That the report on the status of outstanding issues and member requests for information be noted.