Issue - meetings

WITNESSES:

(A) ADE ADETOSOYE, DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ECHS, LBB

(B) DAVID BRADSHAW, HEAD OF ECHS FINANCE, LBB

(C) GILLIAN PALMER, INTERIM DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, LBB

(D) ROB BOLLEN, HEAD OF STRAGEGIC PLACE PLANNING, LBB

The Committee had been provided with a comprehensive report in advance of the meeting.  Included within the report was the background to the budget, the current 2018/19 forecast, information about population growth, and information around the accuracy of school place planning forecasting. 

The Chairman welcomed Mr Ade Adetosoye, Ms Gillian Palmer, Mr David Bradshaw and Mr Rob Bollen to the meeting.  Members of the Committee explored a number of themes and issues with the witnesses.

The Head of ECHS Finance introduced the report highlighting that the overspends within the budget were mainly around Transport.  The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) remained an issue, especially in the High Needs Block, however in the main Bromley remained low cost.  Historically Bromley had been poorly funded and as a result of this it had been necessary to identify ways to efficiently deliver services.

In terms of pupil projections, the Head of Strategic Place Planning reported that whilst there had been a slight dip in primary numbers, a trend evidenced across London, the size of the pupil population would continue to grow.  The real challenge for the Local Authority would be around migration.  This was one of the unknowns, due to external factors such as Brexit, and would remain a risk for the Local Authority.

The Chairman noted with interest that the growth in the number of secondary pupils in Bromley was significantly lower than other London Boroughs.

The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director (ECHS) highlighted to the Committee that the budget was predicated on the need for the Local Authority to deliver its statutory duties.  These statutory duties were the minimum services that the Local Authority was required to deliver.

SEN Transport

The Director of Education explained that the request to extend the existing contract would enable a root and branch review of the current SEN Transport provision.  Over the past few years Members of the Committee had supported a continued drive to support greater independent travel and transport.  Supporting independent travel and transport would continue to be a theme as the new contract was being developed.  One key risk with the new contract that had already been identified was that of increasing fuel costs.  Over the past few years whilst fuel costs had increased Officers had worked hard to minimise the impact on the cost of the contract.  As the new contract was tendered there would need to be an awareness of the possible impact of increased fuel costs on the cost of the contract.

The Chairman emphasised the importance of ensuring that as costs increased each bus was utilised to the maximum and this would necessitate further consideration of how to combine Adult Passenger Transport and Children’s Passenger Transport.

In response to a question concerning the need to ensure that the staff on the buses were properly trained, the Director of Education confirmed that the need for adequate training was stipulated in the contract.  Expectations were clear and DBS checks for staff were mandatory. 

A Co-opted Member queried whether there had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31