Agenda item
Restructuring short break residential provision in Brent for children with disabilities
This report proposes a restructure of the residential short break services currently provided at Crawford Avenue and Clement Close units. The proposals are in line with the longer term strategy for reducing residential provision and increasing more flexible options for families for short breaks which are community based.
Decision:
(i) that short breaks for children with disabilities cease to be provided at 24 Crawford Avenue short break unit from 1 October 2011;
(ii) that staffing arrangements be restructured at Clement Close and Crawford Avenue in order to deliver an effective service at Clement Close to meet the full range of children’s needs.
Minutes:
The report from the Director of Children and Families proposed a restructure of the residential short break services currently provided at Crawford Avenue and Clement Close units based in Wembley and Willesden respectively. The proposals were in line with the longer term strategy for reducing residential provision and increasing more flexible options for families for short breaks which were community based. Earlier in the meeting, members heard from Mr Lee speaking against the proposals on behalf of parents and carers at the Crawford Avenue centre.
Councillor Arnold (Lead Member, Children and Families) introduced the report. Following a review it was being recommended to reconfigure the current arrangements and to provide services from one base in keeping with the council’s Aiming High Joint Commissioning Strategy and national initiatives to promote take up of direct payments and increase community based provision. Councillor Arnold advised that Crawford Avenue centre was leased from the charity Barnardos while Clement Close was council owned. Both units required maintenance work, in particular the lack of lift facilities at Crawford Avenue had been the subject of criticism in an Ofsted report. State-of- the-art respite facilities would be available at The Village School due to open in 2012. . Government spending review had reduced available levels of funding however the council was still trying to retain the option of offering residential breaks within the borough, which was not the case in all local authorities. The eligibility criteria remained unchanged. It is likely that all available places at Clement Close will be used and so any emergency provision would have to be out of borough. The Director of Children and Families advised that the estimated costs for works to Clement Close had reduced by almost half to £27,000.
Councillor Gladbaum (Chair, Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee), having visited both centres, raised a number of questions relating to how the decision was taken to close a centre and why was Clement Close the centre chosen for closure, what would happen to the adapted furniture at Crawford Avenue, the financial implications and location of alternative provision outside Brent and timescales for building works at The Village School. The Director of Children and Families responded stating that the council was trying to ensure that the facilities were suitable for all children and to withdraw from the council owned Clement Close premises would not yield the same level of financial savings. Moving to alternative forms of provision had not been straightforward however direct payments were being promoted and there had been some successes. The Director felt that it was likely provision for emergency placements would need to be sought outside the borough. This is common practice in many local authorities. On the building programme for The Village School, members were advised that the school was due to open in September 2013 however the respite centre was due to be available earlier, towards the end of 2012. She confirmed that it was hoped that some of the furniture could be transferred to Clement Close, put in storage for use at The Village School or used by Barnardos.
In response to a question on government grant funding from Councillor Jones (Lead Member, Customers and Citizens), Councillor Arnold advised that the government had provided early intervention grant but there had been a funding reduction of £4m leaving local authorities to prioritise needs. She assured that no child would be left without some form of respite.
At the end of the discussion, and with the consent of the Executive, Alun Davies (deputy manager, Crawford Avenue centre) advised that the funding to be spent at the Clement Close centre was primarily for health and safety works and that this centre provided for children with many types of disability. On the number of hours offered to families on an annual basis for overnight stays, Mr Davies stated that this was in excess of the 472 referred to in the report as this did not account for holidays. Additionally, emergency care was very costly, 1,200 hours having already been provided as at May 2011.
Councillor John thanked the parents, carers and staff for attending the meeting.
RESOLVED:
(i) that short breaks for children with disabilities cease to be provided at 24 Crawford Avenue short break unit from 1 October 2011;
(ii) that staffing arrangements be restructured at Clement Close and Crawford Avenue in order to deliver an effective service at Clement Close to meet the full range of children’s needs.
Supporting documents: