Agenda item
Leader's Update on the Council's Priorities
Councillor Lorber, Leader of the Council, will attend the Committee and has been asked to give a presentation on the following issues:
· The provision of school places in the borough
· The impact of the recession on local people and on the council.
· Efforts to recruit social care staff, especially in children’s services.
· Shared services opportunities. The original request was to focus on adult social care, but the committee would like a general update on the progress made in this area.
The Committee received a presentation from the Deputy Leader at their meeting in July where a number of these issues were addressed. At that meeting the Committee agreed to invite the Leader to attend in October 2009 to follow up on developments.
Minutes:
Councillor Lorber (Leader of the Council) presented his update to the Committee. He began by commenting on the provision of school places in Brent, which according to the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) projections for September 2009 suggested that there would be a surplus of 82 places based on 3,360 total reception places. However, the number of applications at reception level exceeded this projection. Newfield and Park Lane schools offered to open an additional class each to accommodate this, and combined with the planned expansion of 7 places for Anson school and an additional place at Avigdor Hirsh Torah Temimah meant that the number of reception places increased to 3,428 for September 2009. As of 9th October, 4,035 applications had been received, with 108 Brent residents currently without a reception place, however it would not be until the end of October until the true extent of the shortfall would emerge.
Members noted that the pressure on reception places had changed from being primarily in the north and centre of the borough to the south of the borough and the breakdown of shortfalls in other primary school years. It was hoped that investments to expand existing schools would meet the increasing demand for primary school places. Cllr Lorber told the Committee that 3,600 reception places would be needed each year from 2014 due to an increase in the birth rate in Brent. These additional places would have knock on effects as the children moved through the school years. Providing the extra places would cost between £40m and £50m.
Turning to in year secondary school admissions, Councillor Lorber confirmed that the number of children seeking admissions increased in 2009, with the number of new arrivals for the period July – September, the highest since monitoring of this had been recorded from 2006.
Councillor Lorber then provided an update concerning the impact of the recession on the borough. The recession had impacted most on those on lower incomes and there had been an increase in benefit applications and in benefits paid. A number of initiatives had been undertaken to help the community, including the launch of a take up campaign encouraging small businesses to apply for business rate relief, providing targeted employment training and support to job seekers, introducing more apprenticeships and benefit take up initiatives. The regeneration programmes continued to be pursued to ensure that they did not stall under the difficult economic circumstances, whilst there had been a fall in crime overall. Some indicators, such as unemployment data, lagged behind other economic indicators. Councillor Lorber felt that unemployment would continue to rise, even when the national economy moved back into positive growth.
Turning to children’s social workers, Members heard that there was a disproportionately large number of temporary agency staff working in the service, however the permanent staff proportion across the whole of Social Care had significantly increased from 56.46% in January 2009 to 71.36% in August 2009. There was a large number of newly qualified staff who required supervision, whilst the number of child referrals had risen. It was noted that the problems experienced in Brent were mirrored by other London boroughs.
Councillor Lorber stressed the importance of exploring opportunities for shared services with partners and other London boroughs and there were already a number of joint projects operating, such as those under the West London Alliance (WLA). The WLA Councils had agreed to collaborate with each other on the procurement and commissioning of Adult Social Care Services and tendering of contracts would commence in autumn 2009 with a contract value of £220 million a year, the largest value exercise of this type in the UK. The WLA had already signed up to a Joint Procurement of Services for Elders and it was estimated that through joint working, savings of between 1% to 3% could be made, whilst ensuring that the quality of service remained high.
During discussion, Councillor Mistry commented that there had been an increase in the number of overseas unaccompanied children in 2009 and enquired whether there was information breaking down these figures into country of origin and age group. She felt that the recession had impacted more greatly on younger people than those in affordable housing and suggested that the strategy to address the recession could tie in with the Children and Families strategy. Councillor Mistry emphasised the need to ensure that appropriate monitoring and safe guarding measures were in place with regard to newly recruited social workers and enquired whether an external reviewer could be appointed.
Councillor Castle commented that the impact of the recession may not be fully realised until after Christmas 2009, stating that those on lower incomes may experience problems keeping up with rent payments after this time. Councillor Motley, in noting the increase in referrals to social services, stated that this could be partly attributable to the outcome of the Baby P case and he asked whether the number of children in care was monitored on a ward basis. Councillor Clues remarked that Policy and Regeneration were undertaking a mapping of the hotspot areas of the borough that were hit particularly hard by the recession.
Councillor Thomas enquired how school governors were being advised as to their role in child protection. Councillor R Moher welcomed the increase in the number of social workers on a permanent basis, but commented that it took approximately 3 years for a social worker to be fully trained and enquired whether there were enough managers to meet the training need and what was being done to retain social workers. She also felt that locality working was a good idea, however it required skilled social workers with proper support to work effectively.
The Chair enquired whether the main reason for children obtaining places in schools outside the borough was because they were attending a particular faith school and whether the reported increase in the number of Eastern European families returning to their country of origin was reducing the pressure on school places in some instances. She asked whether the number of small businesses taking up rate relief was known and sought further views with regard to regeneration projects, particularly relating to private housing projects. The Chair spoke of the need for good managers to provide training for large number of inexperienced social workers and she hoped that any cuts in expenditure would not mean job losses in this area. Turning to the WLA, she enquired about the timetable for the procurement of Adult Social Care Services and would target setting by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) provide added value. The Chair also queried why the results of the Price Waterhouse Coopers survey contradicted the findings of the LSP performance results.
In reply, Councillor Lorber confirmed that most children in Brent who attended schools outside the borough did so because they were attending faith schools. He also added that although there may be an increase in Eastern European families returning to their country of origin, the projections for 2014 suggested that pressure on school places, particularly on primary schools, would continue to increase due to a rise in the birth rate.
On the country of origin of unaccompanied overseas children, Councillor Lorber reported that a breakdown in terms of country of origin and age for unaccompanied children was not available but overall numbers were increasing.
Following a question on private housing developments, Councillor Lorber said that he felt that the private housing scheme by Granville Homes was a successful example of providing affordable housing during a recession, whilst Quintain were also to provide more affordable housing although they were pressing for more mixed use developments in the future. Councillor Lorber emphasised the importance that any evidence with regard to the impact of the recession was fact-based. There had already been an increase in those applying for and receiving Jobseekers allowance, however he warned that there was always a lag between the beginning of a recession and resulting job losses and bankruptancies. It was noted that information on the number of small businesses taking up rate relief could be provided.
With regard to the number of referrals for children to go into care, Councillor Lorber confirmed that numbers had increased, although the actual number of children in care was yet to rise. He stated that the recruitment of social workers was competitive in the employment market, however additional funding of £1.1 million had been made available to help with recruitment, training, staff support and retention, although it was too early to confirm that this tactic had been successful. Members heard that the Council’s Improvement and Efficiency Strategy was not focused on budgets, but compared information with other local authorities. It had been acknowledged that there were not enough front line staff in a number of areas and Councillor Lorber stated that there were no current plans to cut manager posts in children’s social care. There were also plans to strengthen governance arrangements with regard to ensuring appropriate safeguards were in place and that newly qualified staff were sufficiently monitored. Furthermore, Child Protection required effective joint working, with every effort made to ensure that all relevant parties were involved. Headteachers would be expected to report back to their governing bodies on a regular basis and most schools in the borough had a designated school governor to liaise with school staff on child protection matters.
Councillor Lorber confirmed that the tendering process with regard to WLA shared services of Adult Social Care was likely to commence at the beginning of 2010 and it was hoped that it would be completed in time for inclusion for the Council’s budget for 2010-2011. The LSP was to be restructured to increase its’ effectiveness and would provide added value, whilst the targets set were challenging and the performance figures for the 1st quarter would reveal what areas needed particular attention.
Joanna McCormack (Partnerships Co-ordinator, Policy and Regeneration) advised that the Local Area Agreement (LAA) was based on negotiations with partners of the LSP and the Government. Some targets were especially challenging, whilst others were of particular significance and relevance to Brent. The Price Waterhouse Coopers assessment looked at a much wider area of work.
The Committee agreed to the Chair’s suggestion that the following information be provided:-
• Information on referrals to children's services for child neglect / safety issues, including whether referrals are increasing and was this attributed to Baby P or the recession.
• Information on the number of companies that have taken up the Council's reduction in business rates initiative that is being offered to small business during the recession.
• Information on the shared services agenda, specifically when the West London Alliance begins to commission services and details on how much this arrangement is saving the Council.