To receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

Apologies for absence were received from Hayley Costar and Mike Cook (Non-voting Co-opted Members).

To review the service changes at the St Margarets and Spires Hearing Impairment units following the Councillor call for action and to consider the petition on the closure of the unit at St Margarets referred by the Council.

Supporting Documents:

·         Statement from Torbay Council – response to Key Lines of Enquiry

·         Statement from NHS Devon on hearing statistics

·         Statement from The Spires

·         Statement from St Margarets

·         Petition wording

The following people have been invited to attend:

·         Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Bye

·         Director of Children’s Services, Nancy Meehan

·         Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Improvement

·         NHS Devon

·         Alex Newton, Spires College

·         Katherine Hunt, SENCO, Spires College

·         Nicki O’Dwyer, Head of St Margarets

·         Martin Thacker, National Deaf Children’s Society

·         Felicity Morris, Petitioner

Following a Councillor call for action in respect of the decision taken by the Director of Children’s Services on changes to the funding arrangements for the Hearing Impairment Service (referred to as HIU) at St Margaret's Academy and The Spires College and the Torbay children at these two schools, whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) stated that they required an enhanced offer at a mainstream school (3 children at St Margaret's and 2 at The Spires), for whom the units were resourced and a petition requesting the decision to close the St Margaret’s Hearing Impairment Unit to be overturned, which was referred to the Sub-Board by the Council on 6 February 2025.  Members considered the following evidence and oral representations:

Written statements:

·                     Petition;

·                     Statement from One Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB);

·                     Statement from National Deaf Society;

·                     Statement from St Margarets Academy;

·                     Statement from The Spires College (Note: the Headteacher of The Spires College gave her apologies for the meeting); and

·                     Statement from Director of Children’s Services responding to the key lines of enquiry.

The following people made oral representations and responded to Members’ questions:

·                     Felicity Morris - Petitioner;

·                     Su Smart - One Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB);

·                     Martin Thacker - National Deaf Society;

·                     Nicki O’Dwyer, Headteacher - St Margaret’s Academy; and

·                     Nancy Meehan - Director of Children’s Services.

Members heard about the excellent work done by the two schools to support children with a hearing impairment at the Hearing Impairment Units (known as enhanced resource provision) and how valued the service was by staff, parents, carers and children.

Members discussion focussed on the following:

·                     how the units were funded and the number of children with an EHCP;

·                     the process for engagement with the schools and families;

·                     future anticipated numbers of children with a hearing impairment who may require enhanced resource provision (ERP); and

·                     what the changes for the existing children would be and how children with a hearing impairment would be supported moving forward.

Members noted the decision taken by the Director of Children’s Services was a change to a funding model not a removal of support.  The previous method of funding – via an enhanced resource provision – means that more complex needs cannot be resourced well.  The new proposal increases the funding which both schools would receive for the children and young people who previously had places in the ERP going forward.

It was noted that the empty spaces (only 50% of capacity across both schools was being used) meant that there had been £47,245.00 of unutilised funds due to the unfilled places at St Margaret’s Academy and £64,082.00 at The Spires College in 2023/4 (these funds remain with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and are not given to either the Local Authority or school settings).  These spaces were specifically nominated spaces which the Local Authority had designated to receive support and submit numbers to the ESFA (rather than those the school may be supporting more ‘informally’, as described by the schools in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Prior to consideration of the item in Minute 11 the press and public were formally excluded from the meeting on the grounds that the item involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

To review the draft Children's Services Self-Assessment which provides an annual position on performance of Children's Services.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Bye, and the Director of Children’s Services, Nancy Meehan outlined the exempt draft 2024-25 Torbay Children’s Services Self Evaluation of Practice, which set out the Council’s self-evaluation against the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services Framework and articulates what the Council knows about the quality and impact of practice in Torbay and plans to maintain and improve practice over the next year and responded to questions.

The Sub-Board asked questions in relation to: 

·                     recruitment and retention of staff within the Disabilities Team had been a challenge, it was projected to be staffed to capacity by May 2025, had this been achieved;

·                     was the Agency Manager impacting on budgets;

·                     what level do people have to be in order to be a lead practitioner;

·                     were parents, children and families concerned about the new Children’s Reforms;

·                     the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and agreement had ceased, what does the new commission look like;

·                     who were hidden men;

·                     29% of those Children in Need open within Operational Services have been open for over twelve months….. to ensure they are not subject to intervention for longer than they should be, was this covered by the Family First Programme;

·                     were special guardianship orders and children staying put affecting the Council’s sufficiency numbers or could they take another child; and

·                     what was being done about children’s access to dentistry.

The following responses were provided:

·                     the staff within the Disabilities Team were up to capacity but an Agency Manager was currently in post due to current restructuring and working towards the new Children’s Reforms which would change the way the Council works;

·                     there were budget pressures in 2024/2025 due to use of agency workers but it was expected that this would decrease when the new ways of working and restructuring was completed;

·                     under the Reforms the worker holding Early Help will be the lead worker as the child will no longer need to have a social worker unless they progress to child protection.  There were proposals to develop staff across the whole of the workforce including the Homelessness and Housing Teams to ensure that they were able to appropriately support families and children and know when to escalate which were due to go live from 1 September, the Council was currently reviewing each child to make sure that they were allocated to the right worker ready for this change;

·                     it was not yet known if parents, families and children were aware of the new Reforms, pathfinders have not realised that moving from early help to child in need would be the same worker, with them only moving to a social worker if they progress to child protection;

·                     the Council was currently reviewing the provision for the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and agreement and would be going out to procurement later in the year to ensure that children have their therapeutic needs met;

·                     hidden men were males involved in the child’s lives, to help understand their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.