Decisions

The County Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children who need a place.

Increasing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) through the creation of additional places in Special Support Centres (SSCs) will assist with the aim of enabling children to attend school locally. As a consequence, this will reduce the number of children and young people with SEND moving from maintained schools and academies into costly education provision in the Independent and Non-Maintained Special School sector, often at schools not situated in West Sussex. 

It is proposed to create an SSC at St Margaret’s CE Primary School in Angmering. The school currently caters for 420 children aged between 4 and 11.

Approval is required for the allocation of funding from the Capital Programme to provide the necessary accommodation at St Margaret’s for the establishment of a Special Support Centre for 12 children aged 4 to 11 with Social Communication Needs. In addition the budget will fund all associated fees, ICT and furniture and equipment.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:

(1)The allocation of £1.064m to fund the necessary accommodation and external play area, as set out in paragraph 2.1, to enable the establishment of a 12 place Special Support Centre at St Margaret’s CE Primary School in Angmering from September 2023;

(2)The authorisation to commence a procurement process and delegation to the Director of Property and Assets to appoint contractors to complete the design and cost the new accommodation;

(3)The delegation of authority to the Director of Property and Assets to submit the necessary planning application and to obtain any statutory consents, and to enter into a construction contract with the successful tenderer.

The decision to rebuild Woodlands Meed College on its current site and with its existing capacity of 100 pupils, with a total budget of £20m was approved by Cabinet in May 2020 (Decision CAB03(20/21) refers). This approval acknowledged that there is a current under provision of area at the College (based on the Department for Education’s Building Bulletin 104) of circa 1,259 sqm. The site fails to provide the necessary levels of inclusion. As part of this decision the Cabinet also approved the delegation of authority to the Director of Property and Assets to award the contract for the works.

ISG Construction Ltd were procured under the Southern Construction Framework (SCF) on a two-stage design and build route for the new build project. Following the end of RIBA stage 4 design and the contractor’s financial offer, the total project cost has increased to £21.66m and is approximately £1.66m above the originally approved budget of £20m.  In October 2021 the Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills approved the allocation of the necessary additional funding to enable the project to rebuild Woodlands Meed College to proceed (Decision LS06(20/21) refers).  The intention is to proceed with awarding the contract for carrying out the rebuilding project to ISG Construction Ltd.

This proposed decision was published in the Forward Plan on 21 April 2021 therefore the required 28 days’ notice has been given.  However, this decision is now urgent as it is necessary to confirm award of the contract to enable the project to commence without additional delay or further cost increase. Due to the need for this decision to be determined as soon as possible, the Director of Property and Assets has consulted with the Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee regarding this urgent decision being taken and coming into effect immediately.

The Director of Property and Assets, in consultation with the Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee, has approved the award of the construction contract to rebuild Woodlands Meed College to ISG Construction Ltd for the sum of £17,787,522.46 which is affordable within the overall budget of £21.66m for this project.

The County Council is required to establish and maintain a Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) as part of its statutory education function and to make appointments to it in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Following the County Council election in May 2021 appointments to SACRE were made following procedures used in previous years. There are currently three matters requiring attention to complete and regularise appointments to SACRE – the filling of a vacancy for an elected member, the status of the Free Church representative and the determination of a request for membership by the Humanist Society.

The report explains the background to these matters and the reasons for proposals.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:-

(1)That Cllr Zack Ali be appointed to Committee D of SACRE from November 2021 until the end of the current Council term (May 2025)

(2)That Rev’d David Pitkeithly, the co-opted representative of the Free Churches be designated as a full and voting member of SACRE Committee A with effect from November 2021 and until the end of the current Council term (May 2025)

(3)That Mr Andrew Edmondson be appointed to Committee A of SACRE as a representative of the Humanist Society until the end of the current Council term (May 2025)

(4)   That the Free Churches and Humanist Society organisations are also given the facility to appoint representatives to the Agreed Syllabus Conference, which is a separate meeting to SACRE.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has launched a Review of the electoral boundaries for Mid Sussex District Council and is consulting on a proposed scheme for wards. The County Council is able to respond to the consultation, as may any other individuals, organisations and councils.

The County Council’s Electoral Review Panel met on 20 October 2021 to consider the Commission’s proposals and discussed a number of alternative options. A response to the consultation was agreed by majority and is attached at Appendix A. The Commission’s draft recommendations are largely supported. The Panel recommended a change to the name of two proposed wards to better reflect community identity and two changes to warding patterns, in both cases finding ways to split three-member wards into a two-member ward and a one-member ward.

Following consultation with the Chairman of Governance Committee, this decision has been taken by the Director of Law and Assurance in accordance with Standing Order 3.45(d).

That the proposed response to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s consultation as outlined in Appendix A be approved as the County Council’s response to the consultation.

The Council is developing plans to respond to seasonal pressures for the period between October 2021 and March 2022 in consultation and partnership with our NHS partners. The seasonal pressure plan will potentially include the commissioning of both Care and Support at Home and residential based service provision as well as other services that support hospital discharge or enable people to remain independent at home.

The health and social care system face increased pressures during this period, particularly in the winter months that place increased demands on services. This year this is likely to be exacerbated by continued pressures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Seasonal pressure plans are designed to ensure discharges from hospital, avoid admission to hospital or increase the flow across health and social care and access to services during pressured periods.

Following the decision made by the Cabinet Member for Adult Services on the agreement of the Health and Social Care Seasonal Pressures Plan 2021/22 and commencement of procurement, the Executive Director, Adults and Health will be asked to approve the award of contract(s).

The Executive Director for Adults and Health, in consultation with the Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee has approved;

(1)  the award of Contracts for Hospital Discharge Care Provision to Providers contracted through the Care and Support at Home Framework Agreement 2015, Framework Agreement for Domiciliary Care Spot Purchase Contract 2009 and Care and Support at Home Contingency Framework 2021;

(2)  the award of Contracts for Domiciliary Care Rounds to Providers contracted through the Care and Support at Home Framework Agreement 2015; and

(3)  the award of Contracts for Block Residential and Nursing Beds to Providers contracted through the West Sussex County Council Contract for Care Home Services 2007 Framework.

34.1     The Council considered a proposal for the use of hybrid technology for meetings in some circumstances, in the light of a report by the Governance Committee (pages 31 to 34).

34.2     Resolved –

That the proposed changes to Standing Orders, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.

36.1     The Council considered changes to the terms of reference of the Corporate Parenting Panel and the Member Development Group in the light of a report from the Governance Committee (pages 35 to 42).

36.2     In response to a suggestion from Cllr Pudaloff that it would be helpful to have someone with lived experience of disabilities on the group to feed into the process, the Chairman said that Cllr Wickremaratchi, Chairman of the Member Development Group, would contact her for a discussion.

36.3     Resolved –

(1)         That the revised terms of reference for the Corporate Parenting Panel, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved; and

(2)         That the proposed amendment to the terms of reference of the Member Development Group, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report, be approved.

33.1     The Council approved appointments as set out below which took effect from the end of the meeting.

In the past year the County Council has experienced high volumes of requests for nurse-led care for children and young people at short notice and often in emergency situations. No existing framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system (DPS) is available at present to enable the County Council to purchase the type of care that meets the needs of these vulnerable children due to the specialist services required and the short notice periods given (often same day). The Covid-19 pandemic has also increased the demand for emergency provision to support families as part of the Council’s response.

This proposal is to establish a framework for the provision of urgent and specialist support for 4 years, with the potential to extend for a further 4 years. There will be no guaranteed spend through the framework, but the estimated spend over the maximum life of the framework (4+4 years) is £8.5m.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People has approved:-

(1)The commencement of a procurement process to establish a framework for urgent and specialist support, the contract to start at the beginning of March 2022 with a duration of 4 years and the option to extend for a further 4 years.

(2)The delegation of authority to the Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning to award to the framework, and any subsequent award relating to these contracting arrangements, for the initial 4-year period, and to extend the framework if required.

In the past year the County Council has experienced high volumes of requests for nurse-led care for children and young people at short notice and often in emergency situations. No existing framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system (DPS) is available at present to enable the County Council to purchase the type of care that meets the needs of these vulnerable children due to the specialist services required and the notice periods given (often same day). The Covid-19 pandemic has also increased the demand for emergency provision to support families as part of the Council’s response.

The Council has contracted with a small number of providers to obtain these specialist services over the past year. The need to continue purchasing these services is projected to continue, so it has been necessary to extend existing arrangements with these providers whilst a more competitive framework agreement for purchasing this care is established, to be live from the beginning of March 2022.

(1)The Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning has approved, in retrospect, the extension of the contracts with Bluelight Healthcare and Thornbury Nursing Services for 8 months from 1st July 2021 to 28th February 2022, bringing the estimated total value of the contracts with these providers to £1.187m.

The County Council is committed to giving customers choice and control over their support services; one method of enabling this is through Direct Payments, where the customer receives a cash allocation to spend in a way which they consider will meet their assessed care needs. A Direct Payment Support service is required to ensure that people can receive the appropriate advice and support to make the best use of their money. It also supports the County Council to ensure that Direct Payments are used lawfully and effectively.

In November 2018 Key Decision AH6 17/18 approved the award of contract for a Direct Payment and Personal Budget Support Service. The service has been operating successfully for an initial term of 3 years and now approaches the first break point in February 2022.

The Executive Director Adults and Health has delegated powers to award the Contract and this report seeks approval for a contract extension, allowed for under contract terms, for 2 years to 31^st January 2024.

The Executive Director for Adults and Health has approved a 2-year contract extension for the Direct Payment and Personal Health Budget Support Service for a further 2 years from 01 February 2022 to 31 January 2024.

The decision to rebuild Woodlands Meed College on its current site and with its existing capacity of 100 pupils, with a total budget of £20m was approved by Cabinet in May 2020 (Decision CAB03(20/21) refers).

ISG Construction Ltd were procured under the Southern Construction Framework (SCF) on a two-stage design and build route for the new build project. Following the end of RIBA Stage 4 design and the contractor’s financial offer the total project cost has increased to £21.66m and is approximately £1.66m above the originally approved budget of £20m.  If the project is to proceed the budget will need to be increased and approval is sought to allocate additional funding for the rebuilding project.

This decision is urgent as it is necessary to confirm approval for additional funding to enable the project to commence without additional delay or further cost increase.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills, with agreement from the Director of Law & Assurance and the Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 5.23 to take this decision without prior notice, and which is not for Publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved the allocation of £1.66m additional funding, to be taken from the Education Basic Need capital budget, to cover the funding gap and enable the project to rebuild Woodlands Meed College to proceed. 

In Bus Back Better – National Bus Strategy for England the Government required Local Transport Authorities to commit to establishing Enhanced Partnerships across their entire areas under the Bus Services Act 2017 to deliver ‘Bus Service Improvement Plans’ (BSIP) from April 2022.

In June 2021, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport committed to establishing an Enhanced Partnership across West Sussex and invited all local bus operators to confirm their intention to participate.

The County Council has consulted local bus operators and, by the end of October 2021, the Government expects all Local Transport Authorities to publish a local BSIP, detailing proposals to improve bus services. The BSIP will be reflected in the West Sussex Transport Plan.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport has approved:

1.     The West Sussex Bus Service Improvement Plan (which will replace the West Sussex Bus Strategy 2018-2026) as set out in Appendix 1, including a bid to the DfT for additional funding of £138.29m over a four-year period, as set out in section 5 of the report; and

2.     That a public consultation exercise will be undertaken about the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Highwood Mill is an Extra Care Housing Scheme in Horsham which opened in 2016. This is currently the largest extra care scheme in West Sussex that Adult Social Care can nominate to. It has a mix tenure of 70 affordable rented properties as well as 35 privately owned apartments, of which Adult Social Care on behalf of Horsham District Council has nomination rights to 50 units. The care and support within the extra care scheme was originally procured by the landlord, Saxon Weald Housing Association, and the current contract is due to end January 2022.

Following the Procurement of the Care Contract within Highwood Mill Extra Care Scheme, within the council’s current Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) Framework, the Executive Director Adults and Health will be asked to award the contract to the successful bidder.

The Executive Director, Adults and Health has approved the award of the  Highwood Mill Extra Care Scheme Contract, commencing on 24 January 2022 for a period of 3 years and 8 months to Care Outlook.