Decisions

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has a contract with Essex Cares Limited (ECL) for the provision of Community Reablement Services. Reablement is the term to describe services, to support residents following a change in ability, most likely due to a medical condition or episode. A Community Reablement Service (CRS) is essential to prevent people requiring longer term support, enabling people to retain/regain independence and remain at home.

The  Service was re-procured in 2017 for an initial term of 3 years with an option to extend for up to 2 years. The contract was competitively procured with a total estimated value of £13,240,000. As the initial term of the contract will expire on 30^th November 2020 authorisation is sought from the Interim Executive Director of Adults and Health to extend the contract for a period of 2 years from 1 December 2020 to 30 November 2022, as per the provision in the previous Cabinet Member decision report ASCH07 (16/17).

The Interim Executive Director Adults and Health has approved the extension of the existing contract for a period of 2 years from the 1^st December 2020 to 30^th November 2022 at a value of £5,324,000.

The children’s in-house residential service is made up of six homes, of which three, including Cissbury Lodge, are currently closed and awaiting refurbishment whilst feasibility studies and design work are undertaken.

A strategy for the residential service was approved by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People in October 2019 (decision reference CYP03(19/20)). It seeks to ensure that outcomes for vulnerable children are maximised and that long-term care costs are minimised. It is essential that the assets that enable support to children are redeveloped in order to support the delivery of this strategy as a part of the wider ‘children first’ improvement plan being driven forward by the Council.

Cissbury Lodge’s contribution to the delivery of this strategy will come through the remodelling of the home to ensure the most efficient use of the existing footprint of the homes whilst maximising the potential service offering of the site.

As part of a separate decision process, in March 2020, approval was obtained from the Executive Director Children, Young People and Learning for the commencement of a procurement to undertake these remodelling works (decision reference OKD42 (19/20).  The procurement process has now been completed, and the Executive Director is asked to agree the award of contract to the preferred contractor for the delivery of works at Cissbury Lodge.

The Executive Director Children, Young People and Learning has approved the award of contract to remodel Cissbury Lodge children’s home to Westridge Construction, for the sum of £1,727,644.50, which is affordable within the total capital programme allocation for this project of £3,153,000.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of North Chichester County Local Committee and the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to approve the following CIF Application:

537/NC – Purchase of hedge trimming equipment (Midhurst Green Volunteers), £581.00 – for purchasing a hedge trimmer, battery, charger and carry case.

539/NC – Village Hall projection screen (The Harting Society), £749.52 – for purchasing a drop-down projector screen to be installed at Harting Village Hall.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health is asked to agree to the commencement of a procurement process starting in July 2020 to secure a contract relating to the provision for the redevelopment of Glebelands, Laurels and Rowans Adult day centres in West Sussex for delivery of work in February 2021.

The existing centres are under capacity and not suitable, with maintenance and compliance issues. Therefore, the centres can’t be used to their full capacity. This redevelopment would allow for an increase in numbers from people currently using the Pines and Coastal Enterprise day centres, and these sites returned to the West Sussex County Council’s Estates team. 

This is the second part of the in-house day service rationalisation programme (part B) reducing from 14 to 7 sites by February 2021 whilst maintaining same levels of Adult social care provision. The first part of this programme, part A (the refurbishment of Chestnuts in Bognor, and Judith Adams in Chichester), is now complete.

The change programme is designed to develop sustainable and effective in-house day opportunity provision that support the statutory duties of Adults’ Operations, Life-long Services and ensure appropriate supply as part of the Adults and Health strategic commissioning priorities.

The new delivery model is designed so that day services can cater to the local population based on need and not customer categories (i.e. services will be for older people, adults with learning disabilities, adults with an acquired brain injury and adults with physical and sensory impairments.). These sites will offer a range of accessible resources to cater to different needs, a focus on promoting independence and supporting people to access opportunities within their community, space for OT assessment suites and Talk Local sessions, hot desk facilities for WSCC staff, Learning and Development training space and opportunities for leasing space to the wider community.

The procurement will be conducted using an open book tender and a decision will be based on quality and cost. A pre-tender exercise will be undertaken to determine quality of contractors prior to inviting to tender.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health will be asked to agree the allocation of funds from ‘Choices for the future’ capital programme for the total value of the overall project which is estimated at £4.5 Million. The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health will also be asked to agree the commencement of procurement and delegate authority for the award of comtract to the Interim Executive Director of Adults and Health. 

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health has agreed to;

1)   approve the commencement of procurement at the estimated value of £4.382m and delegation to the Executive Director of Adults and Health in consultation with the Director of Property and Assets to award contracts;

2)   approve that the Pines and Coastal Enterprise day centres are declared as surplus to service requirements; and

3)   note that the Wrenford day centre in Chichester has been declared surplus to requirements to complete Part A of the rationalisation programme. 

13.1     The Committee was reminded that a motion on the abuse of members and staff to the County Council in December 2019 had been referred to the Cabinet Member for Economy and Corporate Resources for consideration. The Cabinet Member was broadly supportive of the motion and, as a result, some changes were being proposed to the policy on dealing with malicious communications.  As this fell within the responsibility of the Committee members were asked to consider a report by the Director of Law and Assurance and the Interim Director of Human Resources and Organisational Change on the proposed revisions (copy appended to the signed minutes).

13.2     Cllr Edwards, who had proposed the motion at the Council meeting, had been invited to attend the Committee. He expressed his thanks to the Cabinet Member for his work on the aspects of the proposals put forward in the motion, including the policy before the Committee for consideration, and set out the background to the motion.  He referred to his personal experience of abuse and threats connected to his role as a county councillor.  In the light of this he believed the definition of hate crime should be broadened to include an individual’s political beliefs or affiliation so that malicious communications aimed at councillors received the same level of response as other hate crimes. Otherwise such actions could stifle political opinion or debate or discourage people from standing for election.

13.3     In his view it was important that members should receive guidance on how to deal with malicious communications and he welcomed the inclusion of members in the policy before the Committee.

13.4     The Committee welcomed the proposals although a comment was made that it was not a widespread problem in the county. The Cabinet Member for Economy and Corporate Resources confirmed that members as well as staff could access the Employee Assistance Programme referred to in Appendix A to the report.

13.5     Resolved –

(1)        That the revised Policy on Dealing with unreasonable complaints and unacceptable behaviour (attached at Appendix A to the report) be approved; and

(2)        That the action taken to date to address issues raised in the notice of motion be noted.

11.1     Further to the discussion at the meeting of the Committee on 20 January 2020, the Committee considered a report by the Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Change and the Director of Law and Assurance on the arrangements for decisions on severance payments for senior officers (copy appended to the signed minutes).

11.2     Cllr Walsh commented that the Council should follow the guidance in the Localism Act 2011 and refer such settlements to full Council for approval, rather than involving just the Cabinet Member for Finance.  He therefore put forward the following proposal which was seconded by Cllr Jones:

‘That the Governance Committee recommends to the County Council that the Council follows government guidance from the Localism Act 2011 that officer severance payments over £100,000 should be determined by the full Council.’

11.3     Cllr Jones commented in relation to the options put forward in paragraphs 2.2 and 2.3 of the report that neither option, as currently drafted, gave full Council or minority party involvement.

11.4     The Leader agreed that any significant settlement should have member involvement. However, in his view with full Council meetings being two months’ apart and as any debate on a settlement would need to be held in Part II, such an option would be impractical.  Either of the options put forward in the report would be acceptable to him and his understanding was that option A would include a minority party member.

11.5     Cllr Lanzer commented that he felt that the requirements in the 2011 Localism Act were ill conceived and was guidance only.  He understood that none of the neighbouring upper tier councils took such decisions to their full council meeting. He therefore proposed that the Committee should adopt option A but that the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee should be included within the panel of members. The proposal was seconded by Cllr Bradbury.  Cllr Lanzer accepted a suggestion by Cllr Walsh that the proposal should also include one minority party member to give a proposal as follows:

‘Option A: In cases where the officer subject to a proposal for severance is a member of the Corporate Leadership Team and where the value of any severance is expected to exceed £100,000 it is suggested that the matter is considered (excluding any officer subject of the severance) by the Chief Executive, the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Finance Officer and that the proposal is then presented to a panel of three to five members of the Governance Committee, to include the Chairman, the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee and at least one minority party member.’

11.6     On the broader issue of contractual terms, the Director of Law and Assurance said that contracts for senior officers were approved by the Appointing Committee.  If the Appointing Committee felt the terms and conditions of contract were a matter of concern it could refer it to the Governance Committee whose role it was to oversee staff terms and conditions.

11.7     The proposal by Cllr Walsh seconded by Cllr Jones, as set out at minute 11.2, was put to the vote and lost.

11.8     The proposal by Cllr Lanzer seconded by Cllr Bradbury, as set out at minute 11.5, was put to the vote and carried.

11.9     Resolved – That Option A, as amended and set out at minute 11.5 above, be approved as a change to the current policy on officer severance payments for inclusion in the terms of reference of the Member Panel in the Scheme of Delegation.

14.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance on the recommendations of the Member Development Working Group which has completed phase 2 of its work in preparation for the County Council elections in 2021 (copy appended to the signed minutes).

14.2     Resolved –

(1)        That the draft job description in Appendix A to the report and amendments to specific job descriptions in paragraph 2.2 be approved; and

(2)        That the ‘Fulfilling the Member Role’ document in Appendix C of the report and supporting documents in Appendices D to F to the report be approved.

10.1     The Committee considered proposals for the July County Council meeting as well as for meetings to the end of this calendar year as set out in a report by the Director of Law and Assurance (copy appended to the signed minutes).

10.2     Support was expressed for the new ways of working via virtual meetings and it was suggested the Committee should give consideration in future to how the benefits could provide more efficient ways of working once the current emergency was over, particularly for those members who lived some distance away from County Hall.

10.3     A question was asked about the plans for formal member meetings to the end of December. The Director of Law and Assurance said Appendix B was the current plan but it remained entirely flexible and would be updated based on government guidance.

10.4     Members were in general support of the plans for the meeting of the Council on 17 July.  Some concern was expressed about the reduction in the length of the meeting, the time limits for individual items and the removal of the facility for notices of motion.

10.5     The Director of Law and Assurance commented that the proposed length of the meeting was a result of member feedback on the virtual meetings held so far.  All members had been consulted on the proposals before the Committee and only four had favoured a longer meeting. Overall the meeting was only one and half hours shorter in length than the usual arrangements.

10.6     A query was also raised about the proposed rules for the meeting, as set out at Appendix A.  The Director of Law and Assurance commented that it was to compensate for the constraints of virtual meetings. Also, Cabinet Members would not be able to seek advice from officers during the meeting.  The proposal for officers to speak was purely to give Cabinet Members the option of asking officers to deal with technical questions.

10.7     On the plans for written questions the Director of Law and Assurance said that the removal of the usual limit would allow all members to submit a question should they so wish, leading potentially to 70 questions on each of the first two items.  The  suggested restriction to the length was to enable them to be responded to in the time available.

10.8     General support was expressed for hybrid meetings with some members in the Council Chamber and some joining the meeting virtually.  The Leader commented that the Council was working towards making that possible when regulations allowed.

10.9     It was agreed by members that an additional meeting of the full Council should be held between the July meeting and the one scheduled for October, as mentioned in paragraph 2.5 of the report. The Leader asked that potential dates be brought to the next meeting of the Committee on 6 July for consideration.  There was support for the meeting to follow the usual rules of debate and to be a whole day meeting with a lunch break.

10.10  In response to a question about Task and Finish Groups (TFGs), the Director of Law and Assurance reminded members that it is the normal arrangement for scrutiny committees as far as possible to keep to one TFG at any one time.

10.11  Resolved -

(1)        That the plans for the County Council meeting on 17 July 2020 (as set out at paragraph 2 of the report) be approved;

(2)        That the amendments to Standing Orders for Virtual Meetings (as set out in Appendix A to the report) be endorsed;

(3)        That an additional meeting of the County Council be held between the July and October meeting and that potential dates be brought to the next meeting of the Committee;

(4)        That the list of member meetings to the end of December 2020 (as set out at Appendix B to the report) and the principles for holding these meetings, to be updated in relation to government guidance, be approved;

(5)        That any consultation required on proposals for future member meetings (as set out at paragraph 4 of the report), be considered by the Committee at its next meeting; and

(6)        That plans for member meetings should be reviewed at each meeting of this Committee until further notice.

15.1     The Committee considered a report on the draft Member Development Strategy as part of the work towards applying for the South East Employers’ ‘Charter for Elected Member Development’ (copy appended to the signed minutes.

15.2     Resolved – That the Member Development Strategy, as set out at Appendix A to the report, be approved.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of Worthing County Local Committee and the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to decide the following CIF Application:

1) That the following Community Initiative Fund awards be made:

Micro Fund

•523/W – The Daisy Chain Project, ‘COVID-19 resilience’, £750.00 –towards covering the cost of three civil court application fees.

• 554/W – Superstar Arts CIO, ‘Superstar Shop project’, £746.01 - towards purchasing craft materials for adults with learning disabilities to design and create handmade items.

2) That the following Community Initiative Fund applications be declined.

Micro Fund

• 557/W – Worthing United Football Club, ‘New kit for u12s youth team’. Declined as Members are aware that there are many youth football teams across Worthing and CIF cannot support them all.  Also the club does have funds that could support this cost.

West Sussex Crowd

• 528/W – East Worthing Food Bank, - towards purchasing a chest fridge and freezer plus leaflet publicity costs. Declined as although Members are very supportive of foodbanks, this application is outside what is now the national model and they would prefer support to be directed to supporting the official Worthing Foodbank. 

• 558/W – Rude Fruit Ltd, ‘Beach, please!’, - towards installing 5-6 recycling bins along Worthing's Marine Parade promenade. Declined as recycling bins are the responsibility of Worthing Borough Council.  The Committee fully support the initiative and have agreed to write to Worthing Borough Council asking for Recycling Bins to be provided along the whole of Worthing seafront.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of the Central and South Mid Sussex County Local Committee (CLC) and the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to decide the following CIF Applications:

1.   The following awards are made from the Central and South Mid Sussex CLC Community Initiative Fund:

West Sussex Crowd

·       562/CSMS – Haywards Heath Food Bank, ‘Haywards Heath COVID-19 mutual aid’, £750 towards the re-opened food bank's running costs.

Micro Fund

·       520/CSMS – Neighbourly Care in Hassocks, Burgess Hill and District, ‘New website’, £750.00 towards the cost of web development and replacing its previous decade-old website.

2.   That the following Community Initiative Fund application to the West Sussex Crowd be declined.

·       561/CSMS - Mid Sussex Islamic Centre & Masjid, ‘Emergency Burial Fund’, funding towards supporting burial/funeral arrangements to families of COVID-19 victims in the Muslim community.  A decline as the funding criteria states that religious organisations will only be granted funding where it can be demonstrated that the funding benefits the wider community.

There is a need to make further changes to the Constitution to cover proposals for the first virtual meeting of the full Council to be held on 17 July 2020.

It is proposed that Section 11 of Standing Orders, which covers the conduct of meetings under the Coronavirus Virtual Meetings Regulations, is amended by the addition of bespoke arrangements for the full Council meeting on 17 July. These will both set out the nature of the business to be considered and also aim to better manage the reduced time, ensuring that as many members as possible who wish to speak may do so.

The proposal was endorsed by the Governance Committee on 22 June 2020. The Chairman of the Council was consulted on this urgent decision and the decision was authorised by the Director of Law and Assurance in accordance with Standing Order 3.45.

That the draft changes to Section 11 Standing Orders to cover for arrangements for the virtual meeting of the full Council on 17 July 2020 be approved.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of South Chichester County Local Committee and the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to decide the following CIF Applications:

1.   The following awards are made from the South Chichester CLC Community Initiative Fund:

West Sussex Crowd

·       514/SC – The Academy of Gym, ‘Please help mat our gymnastics club!’, up to £950 towards purchasing and fitting extra safety matting to help widen the club’s member participation.

·       545/SC – Parents and carers Support organisation, ‘Fun for children with disabilities’, up to £750 towards playteam staff salary and resources to deliver a four-week virtual playscheme.

·       571/SC – My Sisters’ House Women’s Centre, ‘Drop-in for help, support & safety’, up to £950 towards the cost of employing an extra complex needs worker for a 9-month period.

Microfund

·       517/SC – Selsey Community Forum, ‘Stroke Club’, £600 for venue hire to hold 12 annual sessions for pilot ‘Stroke Club’.

·       542/SC – Bognor and Chichester Voice Self-Advocacy Group, ‘Enabling virtual meetings’, £300.00 for purchasing 10 tablets for members use enabling virtual group meetings. This award is subject to JWAAC also granting £300 to ensure the overall project cost of £600 is awarded.

2.   The following applications are declined,and no award is made from the South Chichester CLC Community Initiative Fund:

·       559/SC – BrightRide, ‘Cycling without age Chichester’, towards purchasing a trishaw bicycle to transport two elderly/isolated passengers at a time.  Declined because there is limited information on the applicant and how operation of the scheme would be sustained.

·       566/SC – Ceol Song Music CIC, ‘Music for Wellbeing in Chichester Schools’, for venue hire and delivering music-making workshops at two local schools. Declined because previously South Chichester CLC have declined allocating funds to school related activities as they can be supported by schools if they so choose.

·       569/SC – Pawa Resident Community Forum (PAREC-FORUM), ‘Multi-language hotline and remote support’, for training and meals delivery to vulnerable people. Declined as this could be better supported by other established groups.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of Adur County Local Committee and the Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to approve the following CIF Application:

·       535/A – Sussex MS Centre, ‘Volunteer training weekend’, £743.50 - towards training new volunteers to operate the baro-chamber in providing high-dosage oxygen treatment.