Decisions

The County Council have a range of statutory duties related to early years and childcare services including providing enough childcare places to meet the needs of families in West Sussex. This includes expanding early years entitlement by increasing access to free childcare which will commence in a phased approach from April 2024 to meet Department for Education Guidance.

The Council along with partner stakeholders has developed ‘Right from the Start’ the Early Years and Childcare Strategy to support changes locally.  It seeks to improve collaborative working and ensure a strategic framework to maintain efficient and high-quality provision that creates the best outcomes for children. The Strategy sets out the vision to support early education entitlements for children and their families from pre-birth to aged five, and wraparound childcare provision from birth to 14 or up to 18 for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

(1)The Cabinet Member for Children Young People, Learning and Skills has approved the adoption of the Early Years and Childcare Strategy 2024-27 as set out in Appendix A.

Millais is a Local Authority maintained single sex girls’ secondary school in Horsham for pupils aged 11-16.  Demand for places at the school has been declining in recent years, evidenced by a reduction in the overall number of families applying for a place at the school as first preference.  Reduced pupil numbers impact upon the finances available to schools and thereby on how the school can deliver opportunities for both staff and pupils. 

In addition, there has been a shortage of secondary pupil places for boys in the Horsham area and consequently some boys have had to be allocated places in schools outside the District.  It is the responsibility of the Local Authority to provide sufficient places for all children in the area.

To address these issues it is proposed that an initial consultation takes place to seek views on changing the status of Millais School from a single sex girls’ school to a co-educational school with the first co-educational cohort admitted from September 2026.  Approval is now sought to proceed with launching the initial consultation process. 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills has:-

(1)Approved the launch of a public consultation, in accordance with the Department for Education’s Making significant changes ('prescribed alterations') to maintained schools, to seek views on the proposals to: change the status of Millais School from a single sex girls’ school to a co-educational boys’ and girls’ school from September 2026.

The County Council provide a range of Housing Related Support services in accommodation-based settings to young people aged 16-24-years old that are either care experienced or at risk of homelessness.

These services were procured in 2019 and the contracts subsequently extended in 2022 (decision OKD22 (22/23) refers).

The contracts for young people aged 16–24-years old are due to come to the end of the maximum permissible term on 30th September 2024 with no further options for extension. Options are currently being explored for redesigning the future delivery of services to support young people that are either care experienced or at risk of homelessness.

Whilst further work is undertaken to develop the redesigned service it is proposed that arrangements with existing providers continue through direct contract awards for the provision of Housing Related Support in accommodation-based settings for up to a further 12 months (until 30th September 2025). This will allow a compliant procurement exercise for the re-modelled service to then follow.

The Director of Children, Young People and Learning has approved the direct award of contracts to existing providers, detailed in paragraph 2.2 of the report, for a period up to twelve months commencing on 1st October 2024.

As part of  the government’s announcement to create a ‘smokefree generation’ additional funding has been confirmed for local authority led stop smoking services and support. The funding will be delivered through a new section 31 grant, with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) receiving approximately £1.075 million for the financial year 2024 to 2025. Additional funding has been confirmed for the subsequent 4 years: 2025 to 2026, through to the financial year 2028 to 2029. The exact amount will be confirmed each year. This funding will be ringfenced for WSCC led stop smoking services and support.   The government has communicated detailed funding criteria to WSCC through a formal grant agreement process.

To receive the funding, the council must maintain its existing spend on stop smoking services, based on the stop smoking service data spend for the year 2022 to 2023 and ensure this level of funding is maintained throughout the whole grant period. The council will also need to comply with the reporting requirements for expenditure related to the stop smoking service by submitting quarterly reports to NHS England.

Following this decision taken by the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, the grant agreement is signed by the Director of Public Health and returned to the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) by the deadline of 24th April 2024 in order for the 2024/25 grant to be awarded.

The Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing has approved;

(1) receipt of Local Stop Smoking Services and Support grant funding, its terms and conditions, as set out in section 1 of the report and the authorisation of the Director of Public Health to sign the letter of agreement required by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID);

(2) the delegation of authority to the Director of Public Health to allocate funds in line with government guidance and within the agreed grant criteria; and

(3) that further grant receipts and these allocations will be reported through the County Council’s Quarterly Performance and Resources Report.