Agenda item

To consider any reports from Select Committees, Task Groups and any other Committees of the Council.

Cabinet to consider the following reports:

A.    DB&I Task Group Report

B.    Adults & Health Select Committee and Children, Families, Lifelong Learning And Culture Select Committee Report- Mindworks and the Neurodevelopmental Pathway.

The DB&I task group report was introduced by the Vice Chairman of the Resources and Performance Select Committee, Steven McCormick who explained that the task group had been set up to consider the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) replacement project, why the programme had overrun, what had gone wrong, and what lessons could be learned from the project. The Vice-Chairman thanked officers, witnesses and members for their support with the work of the task group. The task group was not looking for someone to blame but looking at lessons that could be learnt and taken on board going forward. The complexity of the programme was understood and the work of the teams supporting the delivery of the programme was recognised. The Leader thanked the task group for the comprehensive report. The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources thanked the task group for the report stating that the report was very balanced and recognised the challenges associated with delivering a programme of this scale. The Cabinet accepted the recommendations of the task group and had responded to each of these in detail. The Chairman of the Resources and Performance Select Committee thanked the Vice Chairman of the Select Committee for leading the task group and welcomed Cabinet’s endorsement of the recommendations. He explained that the report focused on what could be learnt from the past when major projects were agreed and thanked officers for their support and advice.

The report regarding Mindworks and the Neurodevelopmental Pathway was introduced by the Chairman of the Adults and Health Select Committee, Trefor Hogg who explained that neurodivergent traits were much more frequent than generally appreciated, and that children, young people, families and adults can all be affected, often without it being identified. This had resulted in higher volumes than anticipated for Mindworks which was now also a national issue. The recommendations relate to transformation of the service to a more community based model where parents can be supported locally and where help, support and treatment can happen in advance of a formal diagnosis. The Chairman asked the Cabinet to use every opportunity it had to lobby government for resources in this area. The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning stated that at the meeting where this item was being discussed there seemed to be a great deal of frustration from families and schools regarding the neurodevelopment pathway and although the service wasn’t delivered by the council there was a recognition of the impacts delays had on families and children. The Chairman of the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee also spoke on the item. The Chairman explained that parents and schools felt abandoned by Mindworks who seemed to have given up on providing frontline neurodevelopmental screening and assessment and had effectively handed over this responsibility to schools. There was a recognition that Mindworks had been overwhelmed by requests for assessments, diagnosis and treatment but that their response to this had been unacceptable. Mindworks were promising a transformation strategy and plan in the autumn. The Chairman requested that the Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning ensured that the two Integrated Care Boards and Mindworks are reminded of their responsibilities as laid out by NHS England as they were appearing to ignore them. Despite a requirement that ICBs do not restrict or withhold access to an autism diagnosis, today in Surrey, access is being rationed. The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning explained that Mindworks was producing a transformation plan on how they will improve their performance and the council would be ensuring this plan was published. The Cabinet Member and Leader had been in constant dialogue with Mindworks Leadership about this issue. The Leader stated that as Chairman of the Surrey Heartlands ICP he would be raising this issue with the Health and Wellbeing board in September and that a number of conversations had already taken place with Mindworks and Surrey and Borders partnership.

The remaining two Select Committee reports would be considered when the relevant item was introduced on the agenda. 

RESOLVED:

That the Select Committee reports be noted and the recommendations considered.