Cabinet Member: Councillor Ian Bowyer

The City Council will be asked to approve recommendations in the report.

Council Bowyer (Leader) proposed as amended and Councillors Evans seconded a report and recommendations on establishing a strategic partnership with Torbay Council to deliver Children’s Services.

Following a debate council agreed to –

1.     Endorse Cabinet’s ‘in principle’ decision to progress the development of a delivery contract with Torbay Council to run its Children’s Services, subject to the following:

               (i)  Should Torbay Council decide at its meeting on 27 September 2017 that it wishes to progress a strategic partnership with another council for its other services (either upper tier or upper and lower tier), then Plymouth City Council would withdraw its ‘in principle’ decision for Children’s Services as this would add too much complexity.

               (ii) If Torbay Council decides at that meeting not to pursue a strategic partnership for its other services, that it formally sets out its future strategic direction, operating model and service delivery arrangements for the next 5 years so that Plymouth may consider this in the light of the Children’s Services provision.

2.     Endorse Cabinet’s ‘in principle’ decision to work with Torbay Council and the Commissioner for Children’s Services, and under the auspices of the Department for Education to develop a detailed contractual agreement.

3.     Endorse Cabinet’s ‘in principle’ decision to delegate to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and the Leader of the Opposition, development of the detailed contractual agreement, and adds the Torbay Children’s Services Cross-Party Working Group to those with whom the Chief Executive will consult.

4.     Endorses the points arising from the Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20 September 2017, and notes their inclusion in the schedule referred to in 7 below.

5.     Requests that the Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee further examines the arrangements as they develop, and makes recommendations to Cabinet before any final decision is made.

6.     Agrees to receive a further report, following the ‘due diligence’ exercise and seeks further endorsement from Council before any binding decision is made.

7.     Agrees that the ‘due diligence’ exercise must cover the issues listed in the schedule below and must provide sufficient assurance to Council that all aspects have been explored, and that appropriate monitoring and controls are in place.

DUE DILIGENCE SCHEDULE

a)   Leadership, Capacity and Maintaining Focus

• Ensures that Plymouth’s senior management have sufficient capacity to deliver, given the breadth of their current remit
• Provides clarity on staffing structures, including describing the controls that will be put in place to ensure that any staffing shortfalls will be addressed within the respective councils
• Provides reassurance that there will be no impact on service delivery for, or detriment to children and young people in Plymouth, nor any detriment to frontline social care staff
• Describes how Plymouth’s capacity and reputation will be managed in the event of a major investigation or high profile case in either authority, setting out the details of how the Council would respond to potential scenarios
• Demonstrates how the Council will continue to maintain its own improvement journey and performance levels
• Describes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27

The Leader introduced the report and then handed over to Alison Botham, Assistant Director for Children, Young People and Families who highlighted that Plymouth City Council were invited to submit an expression of interest to create a partnership arrangement with Torbay Council to jointly deliver its Children’s Services.  This was following Torbay being judged inadequate for several years by Ofsted.  This report seeks an ‘in principle’ decision and we have been clear throughout that to proceed with a full partnership due diligence would be undertaken to ensure that this partnership does not compromise our services to children and young people.

Since this report was produced Torbay Council will now consider their options at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on 27 September 2017.

Cabinet –

1.         Agrees ‘in principle’ to progress the development of a partnership with Torbay Council to run its Children’s Services, working with Torbay Council and the Commissioner for Children’s Services, and under the auspices of the Department for Education to develop a detailed partnership agreement.

2.         Delegates to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and the Leader of the Opposition the development of the detailed partnership agreement.

3.         Requests the Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee to examine and debate the proposal in September 2017 and provide any feedback to the Council meeting on 25 September 2017.

4.         Recommends that the Council endorses the Cabinet’s ‘in principle’ decision at its meeting on 25 September 2017, subject to continuing support for a strategic partnership with Plymouth City Council to deliver Torbay Council’s Children’s Services, following the latter’s Council meeting on 13 September 2017.

5.         Receives a further report later in 2017 following the ‘due diligence’ exercise and seeks further endorsement from the Council before any binding decision is made.