Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.           Surrey County Council contracts with Surrey and Borders Partnership (SABP) for overnight short breaks at Beeches for up to 12 months commencing on 1 December 2015 as an interim arrangement.

2.           The interim arrangement is reviewed by Cabinet as part of a revised special educational needs and disability (SEND) strategy be brought back to Cabinet that includes recommendations from the SEND Governance Board regarding future provision for short breaks.

3.           A report is presented to Cabinet within the 12 month interim period based on an assessment of the needs for children with disabilities in the east of the county, and an assessment of capacity available in order to meet demand, in relation to short break provision.

Reasons for Decisions:

Surrey County Council would benefit from a more comprehensive assessment of future demand to determine whether or not additional short breaks provision for children is required. Any recommendations in relation to short breaks provision should be considered in the round, alongside all arrangements for disabled children. This approach will enable Surrey County Council to be confident in its commissioning decision. In order to allow time for this review it is recommended that a block contract is agreed with SABP for overnight short breaks at Beeches for up to 12 months.

The SEND Governance Board have developed a programme of work to review the provision of all SEND services for children and young people that supports Surrey County Council’s emerging SEND strategy.

[The decision on this item may be called in by the Social Care Services Board]

The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement introduced the item by reminding Members of a Cabinet report they received in September 2014 when it was recommended that the County Council and Guildford & Waverley CCG work with Surrey and Borders Partnership (SABP) to transfer commissioning at the Beeches in Reigate for children and young people with complex special needs and disabilities to individual spot purchase arrangements. 

She informed Members that this recommendation had been accepted but it had not been possible to move to a spot purchasing arrangement and in May this year SABP informed the Council, the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Family Voice Surrey on behalf of affected families that it proposed to discontinue short breaks at the Beeches from November. In light of this, Cabinet agreed in July that the County Council would negotiate an acceptable block contract with SABP for overnight short breaks at the Beeches or fund alternative services if the Beeches were to be closed.

She told Members that the County Council had a statutory duty to provide short break services which were a lifeline for individuals and families who care for disabled children, providing them with breaks from caring and overnight respite. She also said that is was an opportunity for children and young people to spend time away from their parents, relax and have fun with their peers, which they were often unable to do whilst at home.

Mrs Kemeny referred to the formal online public consultation that the County Council had run from 4 August to 2October 2015 and sign posted Members to a full consultation report that included all feedback contained within the part 2 section of the report. She informed the Cabinet that she had visited both Beeches and Applewood with the Cabinet Associates to see the provision being offered. 

She reflected that whilst it might be that some of the feedback was duplicated, there was no doubt that concern had been expressed that the east of the county was lacking in overnight respite provision and since there had been a question mark over the Beeches for some time, it might not had been offered to all families who could have been using the facility. 

She explained that responses to the Consultation had been grouped into 8 themes which were set out with a response to each.  She said that it was clear that families who used the Beeches and their children were very attached to it. It was also relevant that the County Council spent a significant amount more than comparable authorities on short breaks.

Mrs Kemeny said that Family Voice had provided a summary of the 13 impact statements and that a comment that appeared many times was that ‘There was no comparable alternative provision in Surrey providing a homely environment.’  She stated that Beeches did have a small and cosy feel, but that it only had 1 bathroom between the 5 bedrooms which was not well equipped and this was a problem if more than 1 or 2 children or young people were in residence.

She said that Applewood was larger but much better equipped for young people with physical disabilities, with an en suite bathroom for every 2 of the 6 bedrooms.  She said that whilst a smaller facility might be preferred by some families and might be better suited to children and young people with different needs, the staff at both were facilities were kind and caring and definitely equally as well trained to cope with the demands which they face with the children in their care.

She sign posted Members to the completed Equality Impact Assessment which set out journey times if the young people using the Beeches were required to transfer to Applewood for short breaks, which differentiated between an additional 15 minutes and a reduction of 11 minutes. She also said that Applewood was also only 2.5 miles further from Clifton Hill School in Caterham, which was attended by a number of children using the Beeches.

She referred Members to the recommendations and said that it was clear that a full and comprehensive assessment of future demand for short breaks provision in East Surrey was needed and would be undertaken.  She stated that the recommendation from officers was that a block contract was agreed with SABP for overnight short breaks at the Beeches for up to 12 months from 1 December 2015 which would form part of the programme of work which the SEND Governance Board was developing to support the County Council’s emerging SEND strategy. 

She summarised by stating that the Cabinet was being asked to consider whether or not Surrey County Council should commission short breaks for disabled children from Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP) at Beeches Bungalow and that there were two key issues that Cabinet were asked to weigh up and balance in making the decision which were as follows:

1)     the impact of closing Beeches on those families currently using the service and on those in the community that may otherwise have been able to access the service. 

2)     the value for money provided by Beeches to residents. In considering this second issue volumes of current and future demand would be important.

The Cabinet Associate for Children and Families Wellbeing referred to the visits that she had been on to both sites and commented on how much the families value the service. She said that this was not a service available to all families and required a very detailed assessment to be undertaken and that short breaks were only offered if the threshold had been met.

Mrs Lewis stated that she supported the recommendations and that a thorough analysis of needs provided an opportunity to support parents. She said that the recommendations were good on an interim basis but that this must be revisited in order to find the right answer for the east of the county in the next 12 months.

RESOLVED:

1.           Surrey County Council contracts with Surrey and Borders Partnership (SABP) for overnight short breaks at Beeches for up to 12 months commencing on 1 December 2015 as an interim arrangement.

2.           The interim arrangement is reviewed by Cabinet as part of a revised special educational needs and disability (SEND) strategy be brought back to Cabinet that includes recommendations from the SEND Governance Board regarding future provision for short breaks.

3.           A report is presented to Cabinet within the 12 month interim period based on an assessment of the needs of children with disabilities in the east of the county, and an assessment of capacity available in order to meet demand in relation to short break provision.

Reasons for Decisions:

Surrey County Council would benefit from a more comprehensive assessment of future demand to determine whether or not additional short breaks provision for children is required. Any recommendations in relation to short breaks provision should be considered in the round, alongside all arrangements for disabled children. This approach will enable Surrey County Council to be confident in its commissioning decision. In order to allow time for this review it is recommended that a block contract is agreed with SABP for overnight short breaks at Beeches for up to 12 months.

The SEND Governance Board have developed a programme of work to review the provision of all SEND services for children and young people that supports Surrey County Council’s emerging SEND strategy.