Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Nicholas Bennett JP, Chairman, Education PDS Committee.   

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, please ensure that any questions to the Portfolio Holder are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 16^th April 2014.

No questions had been received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st August 2013 be agreed.

To Follow

The Portfolio Holder considered a report outlining the outcome of the consultation recently undertaken on the proposed assimilation of Respite and the Behaviour Service into Kingswood and Grovelands Pupil Referral Unit. 

In September 2013, an Interim Executive Board was established to replace the management committee of the Bromley Pupil Referral Unit after a number of concerns were identified following a review of the provision.  In December 2013, the Secretary of State for Education granted an academy order for the Bromley Pupil Referral Unit to become an alternative provision academy under the sponsorship of Bromley College of Further and Higher Education.  Due diligence processes were now underway, and it was expected that the Bromley Alternative Provision Academy would open in September 2014. 

The Behaviour Service was formed of a range of services which comprised the Home and Hospital Tuition Service (this service was included within the bundle of services to be market tested), the Respite Service, the Primary Behaviour Service and a management and administrative function.  The Respite Service offered a preventative function that worked with young people identified as having difficulty in managing their behaviour within mainstream school, and was judged by schools that commissioned places as being an effective service.  The Primary Behaviour Service offered in-school support to Local Authority Maintained primary schools on behavioural issues.

It was proposed to assimilate the Respite Service into the Bromley Pupil Referral Unit to allow the Bromley Alternative Provision Academy, upon conversion, to become a hub for behaviour support services in Bromley and better support the full continuum of behaviour needs at an earlier stage, supporting more young people to remain in a mainstream setting.  It was also proposed to relocate the Primary Behaviour Service, currently based at Bromley Civic Centre, to Grovelands (one of the two Bromley Pupil Referral Unit sites).  This would encourage greater integration between the two services with the intention that the Local Authority would commission, upon conversion, the Bromley Alternative Provision Academy to deliver this service.  It was expected that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) would apply for any affected staff under such an arrangement.

A consultation had been undertaken on these proposals which included group and individual meetings with affected staff, a consultation paper distributed to stakeholders across the Borough, and consideration of the proposals by Members of the Education PDS Committee at its meeting on 18^th March 2014.  The consultation closed on 11^th April 2014 and, following consideration of the responses, a number of amendments had been made to the proposal (subject to approval) which included moving the implementation date back to July 2014. 

Cost implications for recharges of approximately £133k to the Local Authority had been identified, should the functions of Respite and Primary Behaviour Support services be integrated with the proposed Bromley Alternative Provision Academy, as Dedicated School Grant would no longer be used to contribute to the overheads and support costs of delivering these services in-house.  The Education Budget Sub-Committee had considered the cost implications  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.