Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Education and Learning (CS/21/08) on proposed future arrangements for the provision of traded services and resourcing budget allocation, attached.

An Impact Assessment has also been prepared for the attention of Members at this meeting and it attached and available on the web at - https://www.devon.gov.uk/impact/published/

RESOLVED

(a) that approval be given to all traded services, either partly or wholly traded, to transfer into Devon County Council to be primarily delivered through the Education and Learning service;

(b) that the use of a brand name (potentially LDP) be used to market those traded services; and

(c) that an allocation of up to £500,000 be approved from the Transformation Reserve for the Education and Inclusion Direct Delivery Project, as detailed in Section 2 of the Report, to ensure the smooth transition of resources from Babcock Learning and Development Partnership LLP (Babcock LDP) to Devon County Council on 1 August 2022.

(Councillors Connett, Hannaford and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

(Councillor Saywell declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in this matter by virtue of being on the Board of Babcock and therefore being a conflict of interest withdrew from the meeting during its consideration).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Head of Education and Learning (CS/21/08) on proposed future arrangements for the provision of traded services and the required resourcing budget allocation. The Report had been circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

In March 2021, the Cabinet had approved recommendations which allowed all the Education and Inclusion Services currently delivered by Babcock LDP to move back into direct delivery by the Council. However, the future of the traded services was not determined at that time.

The Report now supported and sought approval for the in-sourcing of the partly and wholly traded services to the Council as a separate branded, zero budget line, traded offer delivered though the Education and Learning service. The Report also outlined additional project resourcing requirements needed to deliver a smooth transition of all staff, and the core services delivered, from Babcock LDP to the Council on 1 August 2022.

The wholly traded and partly traded services affected were outlined in full in paragraph 2 of the Report.

The Cabinet noted that a fast decision on the future delivery of the traded services was needed to help limit the risk of losing business during the interim period before the transition. It also allowed the finalisation of the structure for the in-housing of all staff and the continuation of uninterrupted statutory duties to schools and also reduce the impact on staff who were facing uncertainty. The transfer of all the traded services would enable it to provide a range of Education and Inclusion services, which provided consistency for both schools and children and young people.

An Impact Assessment has also been prepared for the attention of Members at this meeting and was also available on the web at - https://www.devon.gov.uk/impact/published/. This highlighted the goal of the proposal in ensuring the continuity and availability of service support and intervention which could best meet the future needs of children, young

people, families, professionals, practitioners and partners in Devon. It also highlighted the potential risks in terms of delay and / or disruption and / or access to services and then detailed how these might be mitigated to protect service users.

The matter having been debated and the options and/or alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability (including carbon impact), risk management, equality and legal considerations and Public Health impact) set out in the Head of Service’s Report and/or referred to above having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that approval be given to all traded services, either partly or wholly traded, to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21