Issue - meetings

Supplementary agenda to follow.

Mr Collins (Director of Integrated Children's Services (West Kent and Early Help and Preventative Services Lead)), Ms Sharp (Head of Commissioning Portfolio Children and Public health) and Ms Rankin (Cabinet Member for Strategic Commissioning) were in attendance for this item.

1.          Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) and Mr Collins introduced the report which set out the comments and feedback that the Cabinet Committee had provided when the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) paper was submitted to Committee in November 2018, the subsequent Member briefing and consultation with NHS commissioners and NELFT.

Mr Collins and Ms Sharp responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Mr Collins confirmed that Kent County Council invested £2.65 million annually into the NHS contract for the delivery of specific services including Early Help and services for Looked After Children. He added that £400,000 had been utilised as a financial penalty by Kent County Council for the underperformance of the contract with NELFT, as part of a negotiation with the West Kent CCG.

b)    Ms Sharp provided further information on the investment into the CYPMHS contract between Kent County Council and the NHS, and the underperformance against the contract requirements.

c)    Ms Sharp said that Kent County Council were working closely with colleagues in the NHS to ensure that there was sufficient investment into the CYPMHS contract. She added that Kent’s Local Transformation Board were testing the resources that had been invested into the specialist areas of the CYPMHS contract to ensure that demand could be managed sufficiently.

2.          The Chairman suggested that a further update on the progress of the CYPMHS contract be submitted to the Committee in March 2019. Members of the Committee supported this.

3.          Ms Rankin, Chairman of the Contract Management Review group, invited Members to attend future meetings of the group to monitor the CYPMHS contract.

4.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, to

a)    end the existing Section 76 agreement and establish a new agreement which reflects KCC as the commissioning lead for the KCC elements of the service; and

b)    delegate authority to the Corporate Director for CYPE to take necessary actions, including but not limited to entering into legal agreements, required to implement the above,

be endorsed.