Cabinet Member decisions

Proposed decision:  

i.             Agree to increase the funding allocated to expand Queen Elizabeth Grammar School from £5million to £5.4m through providing £0.4million additional funding from the Basic Need capital budget.

ii.            Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts / agreements on behalf of the County Council.

iii.          Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated     Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

Reason for the decision:

Additional funding of £0.4m is required for the expansion of Queen Elizabeth Grammar school by 1FE from September 2023. Additional costs due to inflation have been identified since the decision to allocate £5M to this project.

The revised project cost is now £5.4milllion. As the revised project cost is more than the ROD of £5m a new ROD is required to authorise the additional funding for this project.

Background:  

The Kent Commissioning Plan has identified the need for additional selective places across the plan period due to population growth and new housing developments in the Faversham and surrounding area. The Kent Commissioning Plan (KCP) (2021-2025) showed a deficit of -30 places for September 2022 and -34 places for September 2023 for the Canterbury and Faversham Selective Planning Group. The revised KCP (2022-2026) indicates additional pressures of -44 places for 2023 with a continues pressure to 2026 with -24 places.

It was agreed to expand Queen Elizabeth Grammar School by 1FE and allocate funding of £5m at the Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 10 January 2022. (Decision number 21/00115)

Options (other options considered but discarded):

Queen Elizabeth Grammar school is part of the Canterbury and Faversham Selective planning group. There are 4 Grammar schools within this planning group, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Simon Langton Girls Grammar school, Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys and Barton Court Grammar School. Simon Langton Boys Grammar School has a current expansion build programme and Simon Langton Girls Grammar has just has a PSP rebuild. Barton Court Grammar School is unable to expand on it’s site. For September 2023 it is therefore proposed to permanently expand Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School by 30 places (1FE) to meet the need for additional places in Faversham and the planning area.

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’

This proposal will help to secure our ambition “to ensure that Kent’s young people have access to the education, work and skills opportunities necessary to support Kent business to grow and be increasingly competitive in the national and international economy” as set out in ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2017 - 2022)’.

The Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2021-25 identified the need to commission additional capacity in Faversham and Canterbury Selective planning group.

i.           agree to increase the funding allocated to expand Queen Elizabeth Grammar School from £5m to £5.4m through providing £0.4 million additional funding from the Basic Need capital budget.

ii.          Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts / agreements on behalf of the County Council.

iii.        Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record of Decision.

Proposed decision: 

Issue a public notice to:

(i)            Establish a satellite provision for 16 primary aged pupils at Sunny Bank Primary School.

(ii)          Increase the designated number from 348 to 366

And, subject to no objections being received to the public notice:

(i)            Establish a satellite provision for 16 primary aged pupils at Sunny Bank Primary School.

(ii)          Increase the designated number from 348 to 366

Reason for the decision

Meadowfield Special School is unable to expand any further on its main school site and demand for PSCN Special school places in Swale district is increasing. The establishment of satellite provisions on mainstream education sites provides additional capacity whilst also enabling the school’s expertise to be shared with the host school and provide Meadowfield students the opportunity to integrate, (where appropriate) with their mainstream peers.

Background

Meadowfield (Foundation) Special School is a day provision for boys and girls aged 3 to 19 with Profound, Severe and Complex Needs (PSCN) including Autism. In addition to the main building at Swanstree Avenue Sittingbourne, the school also operates a 6th form provision at Ufton Lane Sittingbourne. The new satellite at Sunny Bank Primary School will provide additional opportunities and choice for integration for Meadowfield pupils.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

Meadowfield is unable to expand further on its current main site. Sunny Bank Primary School was identified as a possible site for a satellite due to its proximity to Meadowfield, the support of the academy trust for the proposal and having accommodation which could easily be reconfigured in order to open a satellite within the timescales.

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’

This proposal will help to secure our ambition “to ensure that Kent’s young people have access to the education, work and skills opportunities necessary to support Kent business to grow and be increasingly competitive in the national and international economy”

The proposal also supports KCC’s SEND Strategy 2021-2024. The aim of the SEND strategy is to improve the educational, health and emotional wellbeing outcomes for all of Kent's children and young people with special educational needs and those who are disabled.

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree to:

Issue a public notice to:

(i)       Establish a satellite provision for 16 primary aged pupils at Sunny Bank Primary School.

(iii)      Increase the designated number from 348 to 366

And, subject to no objections being received to the public notice:

(i)       Establish a satellite provision for 16 primary aged pupils at Sunny Bank Primary School.

(iii)      Increase the designated number from 348 to 366

Proposed decision:

Issue a public notice to:

(i)            Establish a satellite provision for 24 primary aged pupils at Parkside Primary School

(ii)          Increase the designated number from 285 to 310

And, subject to no objections being received to the public notice:

(i)            Establish a satellite provision for 24 primary aged pupils at Parkside Primary School

(ii)          Increase the designated number from 285 to 310

Reason for the decision:

St Nicholas (Community) Special School is unable to expand on its main school site and demand for PSCN Special school places in Canterbury district is increasing. The establishment of satellite provisions on mainstream education sites provides additional capacity whilst also enabling the school’s expertise to be shared with the host school and provides St Nicholas students the opportunity to integrate, (where appropriate) with their mainstream peers.

Background:

St Nicolas (Community) Special School is a day provision for boys and girls aged 4 to 19 with Profound, Severe and Complex Needs (PSCN). In addition to the main building at Holme Oak Close, the school also operates primary satellite provision at Chartham Primary School, Canterbury Primary School and St John’s C.E. Primary School. St Nicholas School also has secondary satellite provisions at Spires Academy, Canterbury Academy, as well as with Canterbury College for post 16 students. These satellites provide students with opportunities for integration at a mainstream school or College. The new satellite will provide additional opportunities and choice for integration for St Nicholas pupils.

Options (other options considered but discarded):

 St Nicholas Special school cannot be expanded on their main school site. A feasibility was commissioned to look at expanding the current satellite provision at St Johns CE Primary School, however the identified area was not appropriate or cost affective when compared to the feasibility for the provision on the Parkside Primary site. Parkside Primary School currently hosts the St Nicholas Nursery on site. The old swimming pool building area was identified as a location that can be redeveloped to create the new satellite provision. A new modular building will be provided on the site with facilities to include two classrooms, therapy room and additional small rooms required for the provision.

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’:

This proposal will help to secure our ambition “to ensure that Kent’s young people have access to the education, work and skills opportunities necessary to support Kent business to grow and be increasingly competitive in the national and international economy”

The proposal also supports KCC’s SEND Strategy 2021-2024. The aim of the SEND strategy is to improve the educational, health and emotional wellbeing outcomes for all of Kent's children and young people with special educational needs and those who are disabled.

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree to:

Issue a public notice to:

(i)       Establish a satellite provision for 24 primary age pupils at Parkside Primary School.

(iii)      Increase the designated number from 285 to 310

And, subject to no objections being received to the public notice:

(i)       Establish a satellite provision for 24 primary age pupils at Parkside Primary School.

(iii)      Increase the designated number from 285 to 310

Proposed decision: 

Deputy Leader to approve a new trading construct for education supplies with all revenue, stock and contracts vesting with Kent Holdco (CES Holdings Ltd).

Reason for the decision:

Material change to the trading construct for education supplies managed by Kent County Trading (KCT) on behalf of Kent County Council (KCC). 

Background:

KCT struggles to compete with private sector operators that are not bound by the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCRs).

A simple trading construct can be implemented that allows a company owned by Kent Holdco to procure separately from KCC. This construct has been developed based on legal advice from relevant experts, with assurances of legal compliance.

This procurement flexibility will allow KCT to work directly with overseas manufacturers, cut out European distributors, and improve profit margins.

Options (other options considered but discarded):

Continue as currently.

How the proposed decision supports the Interim Strategic Plan:

The interim strategic plan includes the reset of Kent County Council’s Trading Companies. This is an important part of that reset.

As Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, I agree to:

approve a new trading construct for education supplies with all revenue, stock, and contracts vesting with Kent Holdco (CES Holdings Limited) rather than KCC;

require this to be implemented via the relevant HoldCo corporate governance arrangements for commercial and operational decision-making, including normal compliance with standard regulatory and legislative requirements for contracting and associated due diligence; and

Delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to take relevant actions, including but not limited to, entering in contracts and other legal agreements as necessary to implement this decision.

Proposed decision:

Procurement of External Community Opportunities for People with Learning and Physical Disabilities and delegation of authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health and the Corporate Director Children, Young People and Education to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of entering into required contracts of other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision:

The current Community Day Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities framework contract is due to expire end September 2022, new arrangements need to be in place by 1 October 2022.

The new service specification will be outcome focused, based on the Making a Difference Everyday (MADE) and Provider Services design principles (which have been part of a separate engagement process) and align with a Self-Directed Support approach of Adult Social Care. It is recognised that a traditional approach to ‘day opportunities’ is reducing in demand, however it is still an important provision for some individuals and their families. The support through the new Community Opportunities Offer will be a flexible, adaptable and evolving model to include traditional day opportunities and wider community support outside of traditional times and settings. The future support offer will also align with other Adult Social Care Projects such as the Micro-Enterprises development.

Financial Implications:

All current external Learning Disability and Physical Disability Day Opportunities are funded through the operational teams.

The total forecast spend (across Adults and Children’s) for 2021-22 is £10,065,200 for service provisions (see table below for split).

There are associated transport costs which are also funded through the operational teams, the table below outlines the forecast for 2021-22. Again, this is likely to be lower this year due to the pandemic.

Due to the COVID pandemic, the forecast spend during 2021/22 is lower than the allocated budget. This has been a result of some services being closed for periods of time. Client charging has also been suspended which impacts on this commitment.

Through benchmarking other neighbouring Local Authorities, KCC pay lower day and half day rates. A risk of the new procurement will be providers submitting higher fees for support.  It is proposed to mitigate some of this risk through the procurement, by requesting flexible fees depending on the activity/support delivered and to work with providers and people we support through utilising various methods of payment through a self-directed support approach, such as direct payments and individual service funds.

The Council budget was approved at County Council on 10 February 2022.  It is acknowledged that there are significant pressures on the Adult Social Care and Children and Young People’s budgets.  As such there are identified savings for these budgets. The table below sets out the identified savings.

The savings will be realised through the offer of support and choice available and will be tracked through a benefits realisation group, as there is a risk the spend on this type of support could move across various budget lines.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I agree to:

a) APPROVE the procurement of external community opportunities for people with Learning and Physical Disabilities; and

b) DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health and Corporate Director Children Young People and Education to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of entering into required contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Proposed decision:

TheDeputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services to agree to recommendations to:

1.  note the £28.8 million estimated impact on capital budget spend in the Medium-Term Financial Plan of £339.3 million across the capital programme for 2022-23, were already approved via key decision or covered by appropriate delegated authority to be funded from the options identified;

2.  consider the use of Fluctuation clauses when deemed necessary to control costs to KCC and alleviate adverse effects to the main contractor supplier of the rise in material costs; and

3.  delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure or the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport (for Highway Schemes), in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, to take the necessary actions, including but not limited to entering into contracts and other necessary documentation to enable the delivery of the capital programme taking into account construction and inflation where existing Record of Decisions levels are needed to be adjusted.

Further Information:

The national fiscal and economic context is an important consideration for the Council in setting and managing its revenue and capital budgets.  The budget report to County Council on 10 February 2022 referred to the extraordinary and unexpected challenge to the UK economy and economies across the world arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Kent County Council (KCC) has a significant Capital Construction Programme, that has been adversely impacted by the inflationary pressures facing the UK construction industry.

KCC needs to ensure that is has sufficient capital allocated and effective contractual management arrangements in place to deliver the programmes and projects A decision is required to implement these in the time available to avoid disruption to front line services to secure the contractual arrangements for the provision of key infrastructure projects including the provision of school places to meet KCC’s statutory duties. 

As Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, I agree to:

1. note the £28.8 million estimated impact on capital budget spend in the Medium-Term Financial Plan of £339.3 million across the capital programme for 2022-23, were already approved via key decision or covered by appropriate delegated authority to be funded from the options identified;

2. consider the use of Fluctuation clauses when deemed necessary to control costs to KCC and alleviate adverse effects to the main contractor supplier of the rise in material costs; and

3. delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure or the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport (for Highway Schemes), in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, to take the necessary actions, including but not limited to entering into contracts and other necessary documentation to enable the delivery of the capital programme taking into account construction and inflation where existing Record of Decisions levels are needed to be adjusted.

Proposed decision:

Cabinet to:

1.            Agree the procurement of an e-voucher distribution service provider via the Crown Commercial Framework RM6255 (Voucher Schemes)  to meet the needs of the County Council

2.            Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Finance to take necessary actions, including but not limited to, entering into relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as required to implement this decision.

Background and Proposal:

The County Council provides a range of support to the residents of Kent who are on low             incomes or in financial crisis.  This includes financial support to help individuals and             families buy essentials, such as white goods, groceries, energy, clothes or basic furniture.  On other occasions it is to support a Government initiative, for example distributing supermarket vouchers during school holidays to families whose children ordinarily receive a benefits related free school meal.  Through the pandemic period the need for such support has been significantly higher that pre-pandemic, and demand for support continues to be high.

To date, the separate services in the County Council have made their own arrangements           for procuring and distributing vouchers to individuals and families, despite the basic requirements being very similar. 

It is proposed that the County Council procures a single service provider of e-vouchers, using the Crown Commercial Framework RM6255 (Voucher Schemes) as the procurement route.  This framework lists 11 suppliers of e-vouchers.  The agreed specification has been compared to the company prospectuses on the framework portal to establish which companies potentially offer a suitable solution and a procurement exercise will be completed in line with the requirements of the framework.

This decision is solely to procure a service provider to enable the County Council to issue e-vouchers to individuals and families.  It does not relate to, nor seek funding for, the costs of the vouchers issued by the individual services or any policy decisions in respect of whether these services should provide such support and the criteria for that. Such decisions either have been made by the relevant decision maker utilising the relevant budget or will be presented to the relevant decision maker for deliberation as the need arises.

The timetable for procurement is being driven to ensure that should a decision be made to issue FSM during summer 2022 the Council has a provider in place to implement this.  This currently assumes the procurement process is completed with contracts signed by 22 June 2022.  Until the procurement process is complete it is not known what mechanism the provider would use to deliver this requirement or the role of schools in this.  As summer term ends 27 July 2022 time is needed to communicate any changes, enable the provider to “onboard” schools, and allow schools to take any action necessary.

The collective view of the services that provide vouchers to families is that an e-voucher solution would improve and streamline their processes.  They have agreed a single Council-wide specification, which it is expected could be delivered by a provider.  The procurement of a service provider places no obligation on the Council to buy a specific volume of vouchers but provides a solution to do so should the Council decide it needs to do so.  The costs of procuring and implementing the solution is within existing budgets.

Financial Implications:

In procurement terms, the expected value of the contract includes both any fees/costs made to the provider for delivering the service, together with the face value of the vouchers provided.   The contract values may vary significantly, for example depending on whether FSM vouchers are or are not provided in holiday periods.  Critically, there will be no obligation or requirement to put expenditure through the contract, but it provides the mechanism to do so should the Council need to.

The estimated contract value needs to represent the estimated maximum value that might reasonably be foreseen.  This appears significant because the face value of vouchers is included when calculating the estimate vale and accordingly requires a key decision. That said, it is anticipated the cost of providing the service (i.e. the payment retained by the service provider) will, at most, be a very small percentage of this sum.  To illustrate this the current arrangements are below:

The cost to deliver/administer vouchers to residents currently is contained within the budgets of the services that do so.  In many cases much of this is staff time.  An e-voucher system will reduce the time some staff spend purchasing and distributing vouchers to residents and will reduce transaction costs.  Having a single system with staff in different services able to use it also supports business continuity across the Council. 

The procurement of a single service provider is not expected to create a budget pressure for the County Council.  It is anticipated any costs associated will be met within existing service budgets.  Until the procurement process has been completed and the charging framework of the preferred provider is known it is not possible to set out precisely how this will operate between services.  However, it is most likely to be that each service has a budget code with the provider to which the costs of their vouchers is charged, which will cover face value and any unit charge for issuing these.  The most significant unknown cost is mobilisation and onboarding.

It is expected that the service provider will be able to agree different payment terms for different aspects of the service provided.  For example, if FSM vouchers are provided to families in summer 2022 the cost would be circa £4.8m and any provider is likely to need funds up front or in rapid payment terms, whereas the more general distribution of vouchers is likely to be payment in arrears.  The final payment arrangements will be negotiated during the procurement process, and any changes for individual services worked through with them and Corporate Finance.

Cabinet agree to:

1)     the procurement of an e-voucher distribution service provider via the Crown Commercial Framework RM6255 (Voucher Schemes)  to meet the needs of the County Council, with an expected 3 year contract term and the potential for two 1 year extensions. 

3)     delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Finance to take necessary actions, including but not limited to, entering into relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as required to implement this decision.

Proposed decision:

The Leader is asked to consider taking the decision to:

a)    accept £3,112,501 domestic abuse funding (2022/23) for delivery of domestic abuse support in safe accommodation duties as defined by the Domestic Abuse Act,

b)    delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Strategic and Corporate Services, in consultation with the Leader, the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care & Health and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to accept future years’ allocations of safe accommodation funding, provided funding is given on similar terms,

c)    continue to delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Strategic and Corporate Services to take other necessary actions, including but not limited to entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as required to implement this decision.

Reason for the decision:

£125 million is being allocated to local authorities for the delivery of their domestic abuse duties (safe accommodation) in 2022 to 2023 with £3,112,501 allocated to Kent. A decision is needed to accept the funding.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 placed new duties on local authorities across England to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the right support in safe accommodation when they need it.

Within the Domestic Abuse Act definitions of safe accommodation includes refuge, dispersed accommodation (non-communal supported accommodation), sanctuary schemes (security provision within a survivor’s home) and move-on accommodation where some levels of support are still required. Funding associated with the Act is to provide support services for those in these forms of accommodation.

Options:

The safe accommodation funding is to support compliance with the new statutory duties under the Domestic Abuse Act.  The option of turning down the grant was discarded as there are many people in Kent who will benefit from this resource.

The Leader of the Council is asked to consider taking the decision to:-

a) accept £3,112,501 domestic abuse funding (2022/23) for delivery of domestic abuse support in safe accommodation duties as defined by the Domestic Abuse Act;

b) delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Strategic and Corporate Services, in consultation with the Leader, the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care & Health and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education, to accept future years’ allocations of safe accommodation funding, provided funding is given on similar terms; and

c)  continue to delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Strategic and Corporate Services to take other necessary actions, including but not limited to entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as required, to implement this decision.

Proposed decision:

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to determine the School Year dates for community and voluntary controlled schools, by the local authority (LA)

Background:

Schools are required by statute to provide schooling for 190 days. Teaching

staff are required by their terms and conditions to complete 195 days

including 5 development days.

Term dates and holidays, in England, are set:

•              for community and voluntary controlled schools, by the local authority (LA)

•              for foundation, voluntary aided schools, academies and free schools by the             governing body.

The government’s policies to promote academies and free schools will mean that increasingly school governing bodies will be determining the school term dates for their schools.

The proposed calendar will be considered by Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee and following this the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills will take the final decision. Following the consultation and approval, the agreed school term dates calendar for 2023-24 will be published.

Setting school term dates has a relationship to one of the priorities in Delivering Vision and Priorities for Improvement 2018 – 2021.  The priority states KCC will ‘ensure that the maximum number of children and young people of statutory school age are enabled to attend education provision on a full-time basis.’

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree the School Term dates for 2023-24.