Cabinet Member decisions

Decision:

To authorise to the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services to progress with the Oakwood House Development as set out in the exempt report which was endorsed by the Policy and Resources Cabinet Committee on 8^th November 2019.

Background:

KCC is to dispose of Sittingbourne Adult Education Centre and enter into an option agreement for the land to the rear. The vacant former AEC is a grade II listed former school building sitting on approximately 4.742 acres with approximately 2.7 acres of this as the former playing fields. The site was declared surplus to operational requirement and suitable for disposal.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services is asked to agree to the disposal of the former Sittingbourne AEC and land to the rear and to delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure to progress with and enter into the necessary documentation and legal agreements required to implement this decision.

Background Information:

St Nicholas (Community) Special School is a day provision providing for 268 boys and girls aged 4 to 19 with Profound, Severe and Complex Needs (PSCN). Currently St Nicholas has a designated number of 285. In addition to the main building at Holme Oak Close, the school currently operates primary satellite provisions at Chartham Primary School and Canterbury Primary School. St Nicholas School also has secondary satellite provision at Spires Academy and an informal arrangement at the Whitstable School, as well as with Canterbury College for post 16 students. The satellites provide St Nicholas students with opportunities for integration at a mainstream school. The new satellites will provide additional opportunities and choice for integration for both primary and secondary pupils.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills agrees toissue a public notice to:

a)    establish an 8-place primary satellite of St Nicholas (Community Special) School at St Johns Primary School, Canterbury; and

b)    establish a 32-place secondary satellite of St Nicholas (Community Special) at Canterbury Academy, Canterbury.

Background Information:

Kings Hill School currently provides early years education for children who turn five when in the Reception class. Analysis by KCC Early Years relating to the sufficiency of nursery places in the local area indicates that there is a deficit of 80 nursery spaces in Kings Hill.  Pressure for early year places has increased as additional houses have been built at Kings Hill and the demand is set to continue to increase as the 635 homes in ‘Phase 3’ are occupied. There is also a similar pressure for nursery places in the neighbouring area, with sufficiency data indicating a 106 space deficit in West Malling.  This total 186 space deficit commonly necessitates parents traveling further afield to access nursery provision.

In both September 2013 and 2014 the school offered 90 Reception places (three classes) rather than its usual 60; these ‘bulge years’ were to ensure a sufficient number of Reception places were available.  The school was provided with two additional classrooms to accommodate these larger year groups. The classes will be leaving over the next two years (currently in Years 5 and 6).  Therefore, two additional classrooms will become available; one in September 2020 and one in September 2021, resulting in an overall loss of 60 pupils.

The nursery will initially provide 30 spaces in September 2020 that will increase to a maximum of 45 in 2021. Therefore, even with the establishment of the nursery, the school’s roll will decrease over a two-year period from 480 to a maximum of 465; a decrease of 15 pupils.

There are various local private early years care providers who have long waiting lists and do not have the capacity to expand.  KCC is also working with another local primary school on a proposal to establish nursery provision.

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 (2015 2020)’.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills agrees to:

• alter the lower the age range from 4-11 years to 2-11 years;
• to enable the school to establish a nursery class from September 2020

This decision follows on from decision number 18/00071 to end the current Section 76 agreement and establish a new agreement which reflects KCC as the commissioning lead for the KCC elements of the CYPMHS service.

In 2017, KCC jointly commissioned the CYPMHS with the local NHS. KCC invested £2.65m into the NHS contract via a Section 76 agreement. The new service has resulted in a significantly different clinical model, a large restructure and upskilling of the workforce and the implementation of a new data management system. However, demand for the specialist and targeted interventions have been significantly higher than expected and this impacted on the initial stages of the service transformation. A greater capacity has been allocated to the management of this demand and associated high waiting lists, particularly those across the neurodevelopmental pathway. Significantly this has impacted upon the delivery of the Local Authority funded services particularly the early intervention elements of the contract.

Whilst CCGs are now seeing improvements in the performance of the overall service, it has been apparent that some of the KCC funded elements are not achieving the desired outcomes.   These challenges have included; significant underperformance in relation to numbers of young people receiving a service through the Early Help pathway and Kent Health Needs Education Service; lack of available performance data and dispute in relation to payment for the contract.

KCC remains committed to working in partnership with the NHS to manage the challenges and improve the contracting arrangements. Progress has been reported back to SCB and CYPE Cabinet Committee and a full options appraisal will be presented to CYPE Cabinet Committee on 15 November 2019.

The recommended option is to split the KCC investment in the contract as follows:

·   £1.217m retained in the current contract for the LAC Priority Assessments and Harmful Sexual Behaviour interventions. These elements of the service require clinical interventions and oversight. Changes to the Section 76 agreement will enhance the oversight that KCC has on the performance of these services.

·   £1.2m refocussed through a range of evidence-based and resilience-focuses interventions.

·   Reduce the funding for the Kent Health Needs Education Service from the current £240k arrangement to ensure a focused approach to meet the needs of the school.

Other options considered were:

• Business as Usual - Retain the current service model and continue to work with the NHS to improve the contracting arrangements

• Recommission a new service - Withdraw KCC’s investment in the contract and re-commission a new service

• Align KCC Early Help workforce to the current contract and invest the funding within KCC provision