Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 30 April 2014 and 14 May 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 30 April 2014 and 14 May 2014 be approved and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an Affected Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

Presentation from the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF)

Mrs Maggie Blanks of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund gave a presentation on the work of the Mayor’s charity, including a short video.

Mrs Blanks reported that pancreatic cancer had historically been a ‘Cinderella’ cancer, receiving little attention, funding or research. PCRF aimed to significantly change this and improve the survival rates for patients, often where prospects had historically been bleak. PCRF’s objective was to raise new funds specifically and dedicated solely for pancreatic cancer research. Significant breakthroughs had already been achieved in the research work funded by PCRF and had improved the outlook for patients. The vital research work funded by PCRF was specialist and required qualified professionals to carry it out, this was an expensive undertaking. Mrs Blanks stated that she looked forward to working with the Mayor and Members in the future.  

Executive Member for Corporate Services

Councillor McCracken offered his congratulations to Jonathan Dance who had been appointed to be the Bracknell Rugby Football Union Senior Vice President in the coming year.

Councillor McCracken was pleased to report that the new Library Management System had now been delivered on time and to budget. The new system would provide a user friendly catalogue as well as a new mobile app.

Councillor McCracken was also pleased to report that 61 teams had participated in the cricket recently at Wellington College; this included all of the Borough’s 28 primary schools.

Councillor McCracken was pleased to announce that he had recently met with Helen Grant MP, Minister for Sport which had included a visit to the Bracknell Forest Leisure Centre and she had commented that the Leisure Centre was well run and a thriving area.

Executive Member for Children. Young People & Learning

Councillor Dr Barnard was pleased to announce that the ‘Lest We Forget’ banners that had been prepared by schools for the Bracknell Leisure Centre were currently being displayed in Princess Square. There would also be a ‘Lights Out’ event at South Hill Park which would include digitised images of the banners projected on the front of the building on 4 August 2014.

Executive Member for Transformation and Finance

Councillor Ward was pleased to announce that the Members’ Initiative Fund would be increasing from £10,000 to £15,000. The Members’ Initiative Fund would then be wound up on 31 March 2015 and Members were encouraged to use the funds by that date.  

Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health & Housing

Councillor Birch announced that Healthwatch had issued a heat wave warning between Friday 18 July 8.00am to Sunday 20 July 8.00am. This would mean that temperatures were likely to exceed 31 degrees. The advice from Public Health England was to inform all organisations locally and to be aware of the health of children and the elderly.  

Enlarged Poppies

Councillors Virgo and Mrs Hayes were pleased to report that six foot tall, locally designed, fibre glass poppies would be installed on each gateway roundabout in the Borough in the following week to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To receive the Leader’s report on the work of the Executive since the Council meeting held on 30 April 2014.

Council is asked to resolve recommendations in respect of:

• The Treasury Management Annual Report
• Virements over £0.100 million
• The Community Safety Plan 2014-2017
• The Children & Young People’s Plan 2014-2017

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Bettison, presented his report on the work of the Executive since that reported at the Council meeting on 30 April 2014. The Executive had met twice on 20 May 2014 and 24 June 2014.

The Leader highlighted the following matters that had been considered:

• The Children and Young People’s Plan 2014-17 had been agreed and set out the overall strategy and the six key evidence based priorities which were considered to be essential to ensuring improved outcomes for children, young people and families.
• The Education Transport Policy 2015/16 had been agreed and would be implemented from 1 September 2015.
• Education Capital Programme: The Pines Primary School expansion contract had been awarded to expand the school to become a two form entry school, this would include five additional classrooms.
• Community Infrastructure Levy: a revised charging schedule and a draft list of infrastructure projects had been agreed.
• The Community Safety Partnership Plan 2014-17 had now been endorsed, the Plan included key themes to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
• Commissioning of Sexual Health Services: Public Health would now be responsible for the commissioning of these services following the transfer of responsibilities. The existing contract with Berkshire Healthcare Trust had been extended and provided good value for money.

In terms of Council wide work, the Executive had approved a number of changes to the 2014/15 Capital programme. The Leader reported that in terms of the Revenue Expenditure Outturn 2013/14, the Council had for the 16^th successive year demonstrated strong fiscal management and delivered its budget within the levels agreed in February 2013.

Councillor Mrs Temperton asked whether more investment could be made to the services that had been cut given the outturn and the level of balances. In response Councillor Ward reported that there were a number of risks associated in the upcoming years. There was a significant capital programme to be delivered, which included a secondary school and 6-7 primary schools over the next eight years. The Council would also be borrowing a substantial amount of around £3-4m. If the Council was to spend further, this could lead to cuts in future services. There were also a number of other threats to consider such as business rate income reducing.

Councillor Ms Brown asked whether consideration could be given to using some of the underspend for children’s mental health. The Council had underspent over the last 16 years and she felt there was no recognition that investment in early diagnosis and prevention for children and young people with mental health issues and the work of Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) could reap significant benefits and savings. In response Councillor Dr Barnard reported that the Health & Wellbeing Board was currently considering the provision of the CAMHS service and the waiting times currently experienced by children and young people. The Council was delivering above and beyond what was required and considerable investment had gone into accessing services and early diagnosis. It was clear that waiting times for tier  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To approve the appointment of Conservative substitute Members on both the Overview & Scrutiny Commission and the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

The Council considered a report that sought approval to the appointment of Conservative substitute Members on both the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

On the proposition of Councillor McCracken, Executive Member for Culture, Corporate Services and Public Protection seconded by Councillor Leake, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission

it was RESOLVED that;

i)                    Councillor Mrs Angell be appointed as a substitute to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission

ii)                   Councillor Dudley be appointed as a substitute to the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel

iii)                 Council noted that the Leader had appointed Councillor Allen to replace Councillor Mrs Phillips on the Care Portfolio Review Group.   

To endorse recommendations made by the Governance and Audit Committee at its meeting on 1 April 2014.  The recommendations propose amendments to the Council’s Constitution and a revision of Financial Regulations.

The Council considered the report seeking endorsement to recommendations made by the Governance and Audit Committee at its meeting on 1 April 2014.

On the proposition of Councillor Heydon, Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee seconded by Councillor Allen

it was RESOLVED that;

i)                    the revised Financial Regulations set out in Appendix 1 in the report attached to the agenda papers, be approved

ii)                   the amendments to the Council’s Constitution set out in section 5 of the report attached to the agenda papers be approved.

To receive a report on the work of the Standards Committee during the last municipal year.

The Council considered a report that advised on the work of the Standards Committee during the last municipal year.

The Council noted the report.

(i)         By Councillor Mrs Temperton to Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People & Learning

A recent report by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) highlights the underachievement and affected long-term life chances of Young Carers. Their caring responsibilities often start early, as young as 5 or 6, and gradually increase as they get older. Research shows that Young Carers  are more likely to miss school than their peers and on average achieve nine lower GCSE grades than their peers.

What are the school attendance rates for the Bracknell Forest Young Carers compared to their peers and how do their achievements at GCSE compare?

Councillor Mrs Temperton asked Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People & Learning the following published question:

A recent report by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) highlighted the underachievement and affected long-term life chances of Young Carers. Their caring responsibilities often start early, as young as five or six and gradually increase as they get older. Research shows that Young Carers are more likely to miss school than their peers and on average achieve nine lower GCSE grades than their peers.

What are the school attendance rates for the Bracknell Forest Young Carers compared to their peers and how do their achievements at GCSE compare?

In response Councillor Dr Barnard stated that there were currently 147 Young Carers that were registered with Kids, the Bracknell Forest voluntary agency that provided support for young carers. 135 of these Young Carers attended Bracknell Forest schools. There could also be other Young Carers who chose not to identify themselves. The coordinator for Young Carers worked closely with local schools to raise awareness and to help identify and support Young Carers.

Young Carers attending Bracknell Forest schools benefitted from a range of support and development work going on in schools. In the case of identified Young Carers with poor attendance, schools were advised to provide additional pastoral and academic support. 

The work on raising standards generally, Pupil Premium funding and Closing the Gap in achievement for under performing groups of pupils would impact in the future positively on Young Carers, helping them to achieve their best in school. Post 16, any Young Carers Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) were identified through the highly successfully programmes which had halved NEET rates.

The Learning and Achievement Branch were further developing their data collection and analysis systems; Young Carers would be included as a vulnerable student category, enabling closer monitoring of achievement and more targeted support. 

The attendance rate for Young Carers at school was lower than the attendance level for all pupils. There was no national data available to make comparisons but the NIACE report indicated that this was a national issue.

The average attendance for primary school aged Young Carers was 91.5%, compared to 94.8% for all pupils.

The average attendance for secondary school aged Young Carers was 81%, compared to 94.9% for all pupils.

The Council did not hold individual data on GCSE results for Young Carers as this was data set was not collected separately. In response to Councillor Mrs Temperton’s request that the situation be monitored, Councillor Dr Barnard confirmed that this information would be collected in the future as Young Carers would now be categorised as a vulnerable group and monitored.