Resolved unanimously: that the Part II item be considered as a Part I item with the exception of appendix 2 that remains confidential.

The Panel considered the Cabinet report regarding the details following the due diligence activities that had been undertaken since March 2016, leading to the further development of the outline business case to secure the Royal Borough as a shareholder in Achieving for Children for future delivery of children’s services.

The Panel received a presentation on the proposal that the Royal Borough was looking at changing the way it delivered children’s services to benefit families, residents and staff, while retaining its statutory responsibility.

(Cllr Quick joined the meeting and took the chair.)

The presentation set the background to the proposals and how it was linked to the Council always seeking to be more efficient whilst seeking to provide better services to our residents.  Cabinet had agreed to bring school nurses and health visitors into the local authority to deliver a more integrated service.  Research was undertaken in how best to deliver integrated services and after reviewing a variety of models it was concluded that a Community Interest Company would be the best option.

The Panel were informed that an outlined business case was developed around two options for a community interest company; either a new Royal Borough owned entity or joining an existing company and the Panel were shown the criteria used to asses these options.

Following the review the conclusion was that the council should consider forming a partnership with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to deliver children’s services through Achieving for Children (AfC), a community interest company. The company was set up by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to help drive up standards and quality, in April 2014.

The Panel noted that both of the London Council’s were rated Good by Ofsted, with Kingston’s rating having gone from inadequate to good once joining the CIC.

The presentation highlighted the benefits of joining the established company, they were:

·         Larger organisation.

·         Increased resilience with staff and services.

·         More integration of services.

·         Opportunities for efficiencies in service provision and support functions.

·         Less constrained procurement.

·         Access to alternative income streams.

·         Achieving for Children has a good track record of delivery.

It was felt that if agreed there would also be improved service provision, and a greater potential for innovation through sharing of best practice between organisations. There would also be opportunity for staff development, leading to a better trained and more stable workforce across all three councils and the ability to employ specialist staff that a smaller authority was not able to do.

(Cllr D Evans joined the meeting)

Due diligence was undertaken and if all partners agreed the Royal Boroughs existing children’s services workforce would be employed by AfC  from April 2017.

A key agreement to getting to this position was that the Royal Borough would be an equal shareholder in the company, whilst retaining responsibility for all children and young people in the borough under its statutory duties.

The Panel were informed that the total annual budget in scope was £92.734m gross that covered service for children and young people as well as young adults with a learning disability / difficulty up to the age of 25 years.  There would be around 277.9FTE transferred to AfC making a combined staffing level of around 1,000 FTE.  Work was also underway assessing the level of support functions, such as HR, that would also be required.

The Panel were informed that the Council would remain the responsible authority and thus any future Ofsted judgments would be made against each of the three authorities.  A governance structure would be in place that would maintain Members scrutiny function and there was the possibility of moving staff to Windsor as there was a direct train line to the other authorities.

The presentation showed the three key structures which were the Governance arrangements led by Members, the Commissioning structure led by officers and the delivery arrangements.

With regards to schools the Dedicated Schools Grant would be transferred to AfC as an income stream but school staff continue to be employed by the Royal Borough and governor appointments would still be Member decisions.

The school improvement team and Virtual School would benefit from a larger skill base and front line services would still deal with admissions and transport applications.

Members were informed that residents would continue to receive services they currently receive which will remain local and accessible.. 

The presentation went on to show the impact this would have on adult services; which was that services for young adults with a learning disability or difficulty up to the age of 25 would be in scope to transfer to AfC. 

The presentation went on to show the impact this would have on the wider council; such as a reduced workforce, the transfer of support services and Children’s services delivery would be contract managed. 

The Chairman thanked officers for all the work undertaken so far on this project.

Cllr Story asked how staff had reacted to the proposals and Cllr Airey informed that from her perspective after attending five briefings there was a positive reaction especially after staff were informed that they would be based in the borough with the same terms and conditions. Staff had already come forward with new ideas.

Cllr Story also asked if we knew what AfC level of turnover and sickness (including the Bradford factor) was and was informed that this was not known but officers would enquire.  Cllr Airey responded that being in a larger organisation they would expect less turnover of social workers as there would be more opportunities to develop.

Cllr Jones asked what the main risks were and was informed that some people embrace change whilst others were reticent and not knowing what the future would bring could result in them leaving the organisation. To mitigate this the transition period was being made as short as possible.

Cllr E Wilson reported that this was an exciting opportunity however he was concerned what the consequences may be if the administration of one of the authorities changed or more joined.  The Panel were informed that in any partnership there was the risk that there may be change in focus for one member however it helped having service provision being in statute.  AfC did have a growth strategy and their aim was to have 5 / 6 authorities by 2019.

Mr Nigel Cook asked where Ofsted accountability was help and if one authority had a poor rating would this effect future funding for RBWM.  The Panel were informed that each authority would be judged by Ofsted and not AfC.  With regards to funding AfC will be accountable for how it allocated its resources.

Cllr Jones asked if officers would still be accessible to Members locally and will there still be accountability by O&S.  The Panel were informed that the workforce would be based locally  and that the commissioning officer would be responsible for bringing reports and officers to scrutiny.

Cllr E Wilson asked the Managing Director what three things she would expect to be different one year on and was informed that there would be good services with the Council rated as Good, a stronger workforce with less turnover.  This would result in better services for residents.

Cllr E Wilson also asked if through AfC we would be able to hold discussions with the larger MATs and was informed that not only would that be possible but AfC would enable us to set up our own MATs.

In response to questions about communicating the proposal to residents the Panel were informed that every message will focus on that residents should not see anything different, there were press releases planned, email to registered residents and during the transition there would be more communication to residents.

Resolved unanimously: That the Children’s Services O&S Panel considered the Cabinet report and fully endorsed the recommendations.  The Panel felt that the communications plan could be better refined so it was more focused on getting the message to the local community about the benefits this would have for families rather then informing on the process.