Decisions

1.Coppice School will become an academy with Nexus in November. This means that if the academy retain the drivers, escorts and buses, they will not automatically have the right to transfer their own students. As the Council has the statutory responsibility for providing travel assistance, the academy would have to bid for the work as would any other independent organisation/business.

2. The buses of which there are 15 in number must be parked up securely in the middle of the school day and over-night. The ideal parking arrangements from a practical and environmental
point of view would be to continue to park the buses at the School. The Trust require the use of the buses on certain occasions. One of the buses has a specialist rear lift ensuring that youngsters with the use of wheel chairs can take part in the activities requiring transport. The Trust has agreed to host the buses and the Council has agreed to allow occasional use as the quid pro quo for the parking facility. An agreement has been negotiated in principle setting forth
each party’s responsibilities and obligations.

3. The co-ordination and organisation required to transport the children at Coppice to school and home again is a significant task. There are benefits to such a task being undertaken by the
School. The school understand the needs of the children and can communicate to drivers directly any concerns or additional arrangements that might need to be made. The Council wish to make a grant available towards the additional costs for the school to undertake the tasks of coordination pick- ups and drop offs in the sum of £26.815.34

1.To transfer 10 members of staff from the line management of Coppice school to the Travel Assistance Service department of the Council to take effect prior to the transfer of the School to
academy status

2. To enter into an agreement for the provision by the Nexus Multi Academy Trust of a bus parking facility and the occasional use by the Trust of the buses parked there to take the children on field trips and other outings connected to their education.

3. To enter into a grant agreement to assist with the co-ordination and administration requirements connected to the provision by the Council of bus transport to and from Coppice School for the children and parents.

To comply with the Secretary of State’s Academy Order of 17 October 2019

Further to the academy order of the Regional Schools Commissioner issued on 17 October 2019 the Council is now required to execute all formal documentation necessary to complete the conversion to academy status.

This decision record approves the appropriate instruction to the Council’s Legal section to complete and seal the appropriate documentation in order for Hawthorn Primary to convert to academy status on 1 March 2020 as a converter academy. It is proposed that Hawthorn Primary will join a Multi Academy Trust – Empowering Minds Academy Trust.

Only one of the interested schools meets the national rate for the achievement of grade 5 or above in English; and only two of them meet the national rate for the achievement of grade 4 or above.

The range for grade 5 or above is from 2.7% to -32.3%; the range for grade 4 or above is from 6.6% to -34.4%. In the four interested schools, the difference between the progress of disadvantaged students and the national rate for non-disadvantaged students is in a range from -0.06 to -1.41.

The interested schools cover a range of contexts and the priority for project leaders will be their voluntary engagement.

Metacognition and working memory are key components of the new Ofsted framework which will come into being in 2020/21.

To grant New College Doncaster £45,000 to deliver a project which will bring together 6 volunteer secondary schools to test the effectiveness of a Metacognition intervention with year 9 students.

The focus of the project will be retrieval practice, a key skill which links to a wider range of qualities including resilience and self-regulation. New College Doncaster are uniquely placed to deliver this as they have the materials and
expertise available to carry out the trial, given they use metacognition strategies within their current environment.

This project will test assumptions locally, building on research undertaken by the Education Endowment Foundation. If proven to be an effective method for Doncaster, individual schools may choose to adopt the approaches.

There are four key objectives:
to trial, test and evaluate strategies for developing memory and retrieval skills with a group of year 9 students in order to prepare them for the demands of GCSE assessment;

to establish ways of learning which will not only improve long-term memory but develop students’ ability to tackle challenging problems and difficulties within and between
subjects;

to engage English teachers of year 9 students in the development of their skills in disciplined inquiry, subsequently extending this to teachers of other subjects and across
a wider range of schools;

to support schools in establishing and sustaining a culture of student independence and resilience, leading to sustainable change and improved outcomes.

See attached Officer Decision Record for full details.

To approve the refurbishment of Beechfield Family Centre at an estimated cost of £223k. The works are to be funded by using £120k of the Trusts 2018/19 year end under spend and £103k from the Trust’s 2019/20 in year under spend.

The building is leased by DCST (Doncaster Children’s Services Trust) from DMBC.

DMBC’s Construction Services will carry out the refurbishment works. As it DMBC’s asset the costs will be charged to DMBC rather than DCST who will transfer the funding to cover the costs incurred.

See attached ODR for full details

To create a vacancy for a part time (0.5) positon of Principal Educational Psychologist.

SACRE is the statutory body responsible for advising the local authority on Religious Education (RE) and collective worship and is composed of four groups which represent:

? Christian denominations and other religions (and their denominations)
? The Church of England
? Teacher Associations
? the Local Authority (Elected Members)

In order for a SACRE meeting to be quorate, there must be at least one Member from each of the above groups, and without this, no formal decisions can be taken.

The main function of SACRE is to agree and review the syllabus for teaching religious education in Doncaster schools. It must also produce an annual report of its work and consider any requests from a head teacher to be released from the requirement for collective worship to be broadly of a Christian character. Members of SACRE have responsibility for supporting and encouraging high standards in RE and collective worship across schools in the Borough.

There have been a number of occasions over the past two years where SACRE meetings have been inquorate due to inadequate representation from the four groups. Currently there are eight vacancies across these groups. Following a recent recruitment exercise with Teacher Associations, Church of England and other religions, a number of individuals have now been identified to fill these vacancies. The Education Act 1996 Section 392 (2) states that “before appointing a person to represent any religion, denomination or associations as a members of the council, the authority shall take all responsible steps to assure themselves that he is representative of the religion, denomination or associations put in question.” These assurances have been given for each of the individuals named below, e.g. from the Bishop of Doncaster, Sheffield Synagogue and Teachers Unions.

Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster – Church of England Representative)
Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian representative)
Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher representative)
Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher Representative)

If the appointments are approved prior to its next meeting on 21 November, 2019 it would mean that the Committee would be able to achieve a quorum and therefore ratify any decisions made and move forward with the implementation and monitoring of the revised RE syllabus.

This decision also seeks to reaffirm the current membership of SACRE until the Autumn Term meeting of 2020 as this has not been reviewed for a number of years. At this point consideration can be given to reviewing the full membership and term of office of the SACRE Members.

1) To appoint the following representatives onto Doncaster Council’s Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE):-

Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster – Church of England Representative)
Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian representative)
Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher representative)
Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher Representative); and

2) Reaffirm the current Membership of SACRE as detailed at Appendix 1.
BOX 3

The Amber service is an integral part of the Complex Lives outreach and case management team, supporting vulnerable women. This investment delivers impact in reducing demand pressures elsewhere in the system.

The current contract ends on 31 March 2020. In order to attract sufficient interest and competitive bids for the contract, the recommendation is that it is advertised for 2 years.

To agree to £150,000 for the funding of the Amber Project Sex Worker Support Service, for 2 years, from the Non-Recurrent Better Care Fund (BCF) Earmarked Reserve allocation to the Place Plan.

£75,000 to fund Year 1 (2020-2021), and £75,000 to underwrite funding for Year 2 (2021-2022); Year 2 funding is subject to the ongoing work to develop a jointly commissioned sustainable funding model for Complex Lives which should be ready for 2020.

Ward members have recently used Section 106 monies to enhance the facilities at Bentley Park with the installation of a level access, accessible roundabout. Plans are also in place to further enhance and extend the water play within the park.

With the further developments, Ward Members are also keen to ensure that this development and enhancement is protected by the upgrading and addition to the existing CCTV provision at the park.

1. To approve the allocation of £5,860 of Section 106 monies for further upgrades and additions to the existing CCTV network at Bentley Park, Askern Road, Bentley.

2. To approve the allocation of £1,400 to be transferred to Community Safety for 10 years maintenance budget for the new cameras.

3. To include the scheme in the Council's Capital Programme.

4. To approve scheme implementation.

SACRE is the statutory body responsible for advising the local authority on Religious Education (RE) and collective worship and is composed of four groups which represent:

- Christian denominations and other religions (and their denominations)
- The Church of England
- Teacher Associations
- the Local Authority (Elected Members)

In order for a SACRE meeting to be quorate, there must be at least one Member from each of the above groups, and without this, no formal decisions can be taken.

The main function of SACRE is to agree and review the syllabus for teaching religious education in Doncaster schools. It must also produce an annual report of its work and consider any requests from a head teacher to be released from the requirement for collective worship to be broadly of a Christian character. Members of SACRE have responsibility for supporting and encouraging high standards in RE and collective worship across schools in the Borough.

There have been a number of occasions over the past two years where SACRE meetings have been inquorate due to inadequate representation from the four groups. Currently there are eight vacancies across these groups. Following a recent recruitment exercise with Teacher Associations, Church of England and other religions, a number of individuals have now been identified to fill these vacancies. The Education Act 1996 Section 392 (2) states that “before appointing a person to represent any religion, denomination or associations as a members of the council, the authority shall take all responsible steps to assure themselves that he is representative of the religion, denomination or associations put in question.” These assurances have been given for each of the individuals named below, e.g. from the Bishop of Doncaster, Sheffield Synagogue and Teachers Unions.

- Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster – Church of England Representative)
- Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian representative)
- Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher representative)
- Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
- Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher Representative)

If the appointments are approved prior to its next meeting on 21 November, 2019 it would mean that the Committee would be able to achieve a quorum and therefore ratify any decisions made and move forward with the implementation and monitoring of the revised RE syllabus.

This decision also seeks to reaffirm the current membership of SACRE until the Autumn Term meeting of 2020 as this has not been reviewed for a number of years. At this point consideration can be given to reviewing the full membership and term of office of the SACRE Members.

1) To appoint the following representatives onto Doncaster Council’s Standing AdvisoryCouncil on Religious Education (SACRE):-

- Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster – Church of EnglandRepresentative)
- Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian representative)
- Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher representative)
- Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
- Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher Representative); and

2) Reaffirm the current Membership of SACRE as detailed at Appendix 1.

To re-tender the Communication Service for Deaf and Deafened People to commence from 1 April 2020. The current contract ends 31 March 2020.
• This is a statutory Service
• Doncaster Adults service along with DCCG and DBTH have contracted a BSL service for a number of years to meet the communication needs of Deaf, Deafened or Deafblind residents
• This service is to provide Communication Support services that effectively meet the needs of residents, regardless of ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation religion or belief.
• The new contract will be jointly commissioned (Doncaster Council, Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group and Doncaster, Bassetlaw Foundation Teaching Hospital) and provides the opportunity to refresh the current Service Specification and to ensure that it fits with the current Adults Transformation Strategy and makes use of new technology.
• The current contract is due to expire 31st March 2020 is held by BID services.
• Quarterly contract review meetings take place with BID and the service is working well and is demonstrating added value (providing an in house interpreter and offering quality
improvement meetings with the deaf community)
• However in 2018 BID were only achieving 75% against performance target of 98% to fulfil assignments, primarily because the contract paid below the market rate exacerbated by a shortage of fully qualified Communication Support Interpreters.
• It was agreed (ODR ref: AHWB 0.68.2018) to increase the rate paid to freelancers from 1 November 2018. The in house interpreter remained at the original rate. This has improved the fulfilment rate, which is currently 94%.

To undertake an EU compliant procurement exercise of the Communication Service for Deaf and Deafened People for a new contract to commence on 1 April 2020 for 36 months with the option to extend for 2 x 12 months. The current contract ends 31 March 2020.

Current Council spend is around £21k per annum. Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospital Trust (DBHT) are charged for any health assignments in addition to this.

The Council wishes to commission a service on an outcome focused approach that will provide Doncaster residents who are deaf, deafened or deafblind with a:
• comprehensive and independent communication service available at the times required by Service Users and other parties involved in the assignment,
• fully accessible service, easy for stakeholders to contact and compliant with all equal opportunities legislation,
• qualified and competent communication support,
• responsive to the communication needs of the Service User and other parties involved in
the assignment,
• person centred, flexible service that can meet complex needs of Service Users’ e.g. dual sensory loss, mental health needs.
Service Review 2019.

A full service review has been undertaken to inform future commissioning. It was identified that there had been some issues around cancellations/non-attendance of interpreters that had been booked for appointments. This appears to have improved since Doncaster Council and partners decided to increase the guaranteed freelance fee from two to three hours.

However, the fees are still below the NUBSLI (National Union of British Sign Language Interpreters) guidelines due to financial constraints of the contract that has now been in place for over 8 years.

BID continues to strive to meet the communication needs of the deaf community in Doncaster by providing a robust accessible booking process and providing high quality communication support and professionals. A team of dedicated co-ordinators manage the booking process and work closely with service users and professionals.
All BID’s interpreters are registered with NRCPD (National Registers of Communication Professionals Working with Deaf and Deafblind People (UK)) with a minimum Level 6 qualification.

In June 2019 BID introduced a new web-based portal booking system.

It is clear from the previous feedback from service users there have been some issues around cancellations/non-attendance of interpreters that had been booked for appointments.
The issues appear to be with the freelance interpreters rather that the contracted staff members, we have addressed this by increasing the appointment times from 2 to 3 hour minimum slots in-line with other organisations using the freelance interpreters.

In SLHD's and Recovery to the 2019 SLHD floods, approval is sought to temporarily suspend the Housing Waiting List to free up appropriately located properties to be considered for those that are currently displaced.

Approval to be given to temporarily suspend the Housing Waiting list, in order that the properties currently vacant can be considered as Temporary Accomodation for those affected by the 2019 floods. Time limited to Tuesday, 26 November, when it must be reviewed.
Properties not required will immediately be released for general letting.

The Rapid Response Pathway, Community Bed based Health & Social Intermediate Care is part of transformation of intermediate care and wider system redesign as part of Doncaster Place Plan. The Positive Step capacity to support DTOC is also part of the Intermediate care redesign. Both business cases requested an extension of 12 months in March 2019. These were approved but only for six months and both were aligned to be reviewed at the same time. It was anticipated that through the Intermediate Care review, the future model and hence funding for the Rapid Response Pathway and Positive Steps Unit – PSU - would have been secured. However, this has not happened in the timescales required. An extension of a further six months has therefore been agreed.

To agree to use the Non-recurrent Better Care Fund Earmarked Reserve allocated to the Place Plan.
Intermediate Care Rapid Response Pathway
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for six months (1 March 2019 – 30 September 2019) - £362,123 - to enable the continuation of the Rapid Response Service until the resources can be released from the bed based service.
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for a further six months (1 October 2019 – 31 March 2020) - £362,123.
Positive Step Unit Capacity to support DTOC
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for six months (1 March 2019 – 30 September 2019)
Extension of 6 additional Support Worker x 24 hour part time posts (0.65 FTE) - £41,820
3 part time x 21.5 hour part time posts - (0.58 FTE) - £25,500 Total £67,320
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for a further six months (1 October 2019 – 31 March 2020) - £67,320
Total investment required: £858,886

This ODR is in line with the following Adults Health and Wellbeing Commissioning 2018/19 Cabinet Report (27 March 2018) approved recommendations:

• To approve the Commissioning Procurement Plan for 2018/19 including the proposals and activity contained in this report.
• Delegation of authority to agree and sign off commissioning recommendations, to the Director of People, or nominated deputy, as the work plan is progressed.
• Delegation of award of contracts to the Director of People in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care.
Background

1. Doncaster Council (Adults Health and Wellbeing) and Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group jointly commissioned a Home from Hospital service. The contract was awarded to Age UK Doncaster for 2 years with the option to extend for 1 year. The contract commenced on 1st April 2019.

2. The primary aims of the service are to:

• support planned discharges from hospital
• reduce re-admissions into hospital
• prevent premature admission to residential care
• Deliver a flexible person-centred service and support carers.

3. Quarterly contract review meetings take place with Age UK and the service is working well and is demonstrating added value:

• It offers timely intervention including ‘Ready for Home Support’ to aid discharge, and has proven to reduce re-admissions. Positive relationships have developed with referrers (e.g. Hospital Ward) with regular discussion as to appropriate discharge options. On average the Service receives 360 referrals per year. The ward contacts Age UK Home from Hospital Service, who will contact the service user on the same day and support a safe discharge to ensure the length of hospital stay is no longer than it needs to be.

• Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) indicators have consistently exceeded national and contractual targets. Latest performance for ASCOF 2b (proportion of older people supported to remain at home 91 days after discharge from hospital) shows the service achieved 100%, above the 81% national target.
• Client feedback has highly rated the Service over the past 5 years. 95% of clients said the service was useful and 100% of clients said they would use the service again.
• A person centred approach is taken to support increased independence post-discharge. Qualitative feedback from service users showed 47% said the best of the service was ‘getting their independence back’.

4. The long-term strategy for Intermediate Care is still being determined and agreed, however the type of service offered by Age UK Doncaster provides invaluable support in aiding people to return to and remain at home. This service is likely to be a key component either in its current form or re-designed.

5. The Better Care Fund (BCF) Business Case to fund the service at £100K per annum (£71.5K Better Care Funding, £28.5K General Fund Revenue Funding) was approved by Joint Commissioning Operational Group (JCOG) at the meeting on 25.09.18.

To seek retrospective approval to award a contract following an EU compliant tender exercise for a period of 2 years with the option to extend for 12 months, for the provision of a Home from Hospital Service.

Askern Community Hub (ACH) is a registered charity based in what was Askern Community Library. ACH operates as a community resource including: library, conversation point and importantly offers the utilisation of upstairs rooms for a number of local community groups. The primary aim of the Hub is to offer a safe community space and an environment that is about enabling and empowering local people to access the local resource. The Hub through its community offer addresses social isolation and loneliness. As a conversation point, people can attend the library to receive advice and guidance around housing, benefits, local services, volunteering opportunities, employment advice and support and a multitude of other support services. The Hub has a friendly and relaxed environment for local people to meet and socialise, whether they are part of an established group or not.

The large upstairs room, which groups use for weekly activities and other events, has a ventilation system that the ACH have been informed is inadequate, therefore the group activities have had to cease until such time when a new ventilation system is installed. This funding will pay for a new ventilation system and fitting. Once fitted the community will be able to use the space again. Without this, the ACH cannot provide the space for the community groups. ACH is a popular space for residents to gather, for example in the first three months of 2019, ACH had 3,236 visitors. Additionally, the number of groups and the length of time many of these groups have been operation is testament to how necessary this Hub is to the local community. Currently individuals are unable to benefit from attending activities and this may, if it not addressed, impact negatively on their wellbeing. Attendees have stated that since the activities have ceased they have noticed negative effects on their mental and physical health. It is therefore imperative that the wok required upstairs in the Hub is undertaken at the earliest.

To support the purchase and installation of a ventilation system at Askern Community Hub. The system is required to enable the continued access of the upstairs rooms at the hub for local community groups. If the application for funding is not supported, then for health and safety reasons the upstairs room cannot be used.

The challenges facing health and social care are well documented with increasing demand due to an aging population, fragmented services and an increased cost of delivering health and social care.
At the heart of Doncaster’s way forward, the neighbourhood approach gives a focus on the individual, family, friends and communities and primary care with a shift to more prevention and early intervention rather than a reliance on statutory provision.

The Community Led Support programme has been an enabler for services to be locally focussed and delivered in a more integrated way; it has also helped to identify and provide appropriate support for people much earlier, to reduce the likelihood of them needing statutory services or presenting in a crisis. People are able to access advice, information and lower level support to stop issues escalating; professionals will have a different conversation with people that is more strength based and focussed on keeping people in their own homes and communities; and high quality responsive services will offer tailored support that is both proportionate and timely.

As this approach has developed, the provision of additional capacity to the wellbeing service to lead and drive it within communities has been critical, and has shown a real change. Imbedding of the Community Led Approach across Doncaster and our current independent evaluation from the NDTI, around our progress, has evidenced success and a significant impact of our CLS development. The evaluation was hugely positive and refers to Doncaster’s positive changes, “unrecognisable from 12 months ago” and deserving of “National” recognition for the work undertaken.

There are still huge opportunities around CLS imbedding across Communities, Health and care that are extremely pertinent and underway at present. The wellbeing officer roles are crucial, both in having those early conversations with individuals to connect them to activities and support within the local community, and also in contributing to the multi-disciplinary approach as hubs and local conversation points are developed across the Borough. To ensure adequate wellbeing resource to enable these wider system transformation streams and developments to continue, there is a requirement to extend the two existing wellbeing officers for a further 6 months up to end of March 2020.

Currently 9 wellbeing officers provide wellbeing support with 3 temporary posts funded to drive critical change in the integrated support function and provide a borough wide triage function. There is an evidenced increase in demand to the wellbeing service across various sectors, including direct wellbeing referral, Integrated Support and Assessment team (ISAT) referral to wellbeing and wellbeing triage. Ongoing promotion of early help, prevention and wellbeing support had already led to an increase in the number of cases referred to wellbeing officers, from 500 cases in 2017 to 800 in 2018, and a continuing forward trend into 2019. The new triage function alone has dealt with over an additional 140 cases away from service, so far this year. Without the extension of the 2 x wellbeing officers, this significantly affects several core, complex and critical pieces of work in the transformation of service delivery driving community resilience, increasing early identification, early help and low level prevention work, which wellbeing has been able to evidence has a significant financial and social value to the council and our communities. In 2017/19, this cost avoidance was in excess of £1.2 million on social care costs only. Without these posts we would not have the capacity to continue to meet our lower level demand on early help casework (preventing crisis and access to social care / health), continue to grow and sustain community resilience ( CLS) and underpin the ISAT transformation, which is critical to changing culture and demand to higher level services.

The posts are to be graded at local authority grade 7 and the estimated cost for 2 posts for 6 months, ranges between £22,523 to a maximum of £27,776, based on SCP points 22 – 26. Confirmation has been received from finance there is currently existing funding availability to cover these costs within the CLS budget.

There are no viable alternatives for resource to continue building this development and imbedded delivery of the CLS approach, and without this resource, our focused community and professional support to drive further enhancements would need to cease.

Following our current successes around the impact of this delivery, this would be a significant step backwards for Doncaster in the key changes we have made, both for communities and professional service provision.

To extend appointments of 2 x Wellbeing Officers, previously secured to develop and enhance the Community Led Support (CLS) community offer, from September 2019 through to 31st March 2020.

Cabinet approve to delegate detailed spending decisions for the implementation of the Doncaster Place Plan £3m, other Integrated Functions £0.7m and unallocated balance £0.7m from the Non-Recurrent Better Care Fund Earnarked Reserve to the Director of People, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer and relevant Portfolio Holder on 27 March 2018.

Given the role of the Director of People is no longer relevant, and the funding is predominantly for Adult Social Care, it is recommended to change the delegation to the Director of Adults, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer and relevant Portfolio Holder. The Director of Adults is to consult with the Director of Children's Services if relevant to their Portfolio.

Detailed spending decisions for the implementation of the Place Plan (from the Non-Recurrent Better Care Fund Earmarked Reserve) to the Director of Adults to approve, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer and relevant Portfolio Holder. The Director of Adults to consult with the Director of Children's Services if relevant to their Portfolio.