Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary or Affected Interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary 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 Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Councillors Bidwell and Neil declared affected interests in relation to item 11 being the Council’s representatives on the Board overseeing the joint venture and would leave the meeting for the item.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 18 July 2023.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive on 18 July 2023 together with the accompanying decision records be confirmed as a correct record.

There were no urgent items of business.

The Executive considered the following items. The decisions are recorded in the

decision sheets attached to these minutes and summarised below:

RESOLVED that the Executive:

i.       Agrees to authorise the appropriate amendment to the inter Authority Agreement to reflect the change to the membership of the Joint Public

Protection Committee.

ii.     Agrees to the proposed changes to the Joint Public Protection Committee’s

Terms of Reference as set out in paragraph 5.5 of the report.

iii.    Delegates authority to the Assistant Director: Contract Services in consultation with the Borough Solicitor to implement amendments to the Inter Authority Agreement dated 6th January 2017 as well as the Committee’s Terms of Reference in accordance with the recommendations above.

RESOLVED that the performance of the council over the period from April-June 2023

highlighted in the Overview Report in Annex A is noted, this includes any

recommendations made by Overview and Scrutiny in Annex B.

RESOLVED that

i.       the progress made on implementing the SEND Written Statement of Action to improve services to children and families and the feedback from the DfE and NHS England since the end of June 2023 is noted.

ii.     the invitation from the DfE to participate in the Safety Valve intervention programme 2024-25 for local authorities with high Designated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits is noted.

RESOLVED that

i.       the Executive agree Bucklers Park as the site for the new special school.

ii.     the Executive delegate authority to the Executive Director – People, and the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning, to agree any minor amendments that may be further required.

To seek approval of the Co-produced draft All-Age Integrated Carers Strategy 2023-2028 for Bracknell Forest as a basis for undertaking a public consultation over a 12 week period to inform the identified priorities, final strategy and local delivery plan.

RESOLVED that

i.       the draft All-Age Integrated Carers Strategy 2024-2029 is approved, as the basis for public consultation over a period of 12 weeks.

ii.     approval be delegated to the Executive Director: People in consultation with the Executive Member for Adult Services, Health and Housing and the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning to endorse and sign off the consultation process.

iii.    The Executive receives a revised draft of the strategy following consideration of consultation feedback.

RESOLVED that

i.       a two-year direct award be approved to an eligible provider to ensure continuity of Specialist, Integrated SRH service provision beyond the 30 June 2024 across Berkshire East ((RWBM), Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) and Slough Borough Council).

ii.     the contract award be delivered as the Lead Authority for the procurement. The decision will be taken at RBWM’s Cabinet on the 27th September and SBC’s Cabinet on the 18 September 2023. The final decision will therefore be confirmed by the 28^t September 2023 when all 3 meetings will have met to take their decisions.

iii.    Bracknell Forest Council work with the market and NHS commissioning bodies to develop a life course response to sexual and reproductive health needs that offers better services for local communities. This process will result in initiation of a procurement of the Specialist Integrated SRH service during the lifetime of the 2-year contract to ensure longer term provision.

RESOLVED that

i.       the outline Initial Site Development Plan for surplus land at the

Depot site be approved.

ii.     should recommendation 2.1 be approved, detailed proposals will be

developed including design, submission of a planning application and the commercial arrangements including development funding finalised in a further Settled Site Development Plan that the Council will need to approve in around 12 months’ time.

iii.    the JV will engage with registered social landlords to investigate the

viability of increasing the level of affordable housing in the development above the minimum policy compliant level (currently 25%) up to potentially 100%, prior to submission of Settled Site Development Plan.

iv.    the Borough Solicitor be authorised to appropriate the land at edged red on the plan attached as Annex 1 for planning purposes under Section 122(1) of the Local Government Act 1972, when a planning consent is in place.

To seek approval for the procurement of an Integrated Therapies Service, to include Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) and to extend the current contracts with Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust for SALT and OT services for children and young people in Bracknell Forest to allow for the procurement to be undertaken. Approval is sought to extend the contracts for one year initially with the option to extend for up to a further one year.

RESOLVED that

i.       the Executive approve the Strategic Procurement Plan for the provision of an Integrated Therapies Service as a jointly commissioned service with NHS Frimley Iintegrated Care Board, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and Slough Borough Council. NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board will be the lead commissioner.

ii.     the Executive agree the proposed contractual term of 7 years, starting with an initial period of three years and two further optional extension terms of 2 years (3+2+2 years).

iii.    the Executive delegate authority for the contract award decision to the Executive Director: People in consultation with Executive member for Children, Young People & Learning.

iv.    the Executive approve an extension via waiver of the current Children and Young People’s Occupational Therapy Service Level Agreement for one year to cover the dates 02/09/23-01/09/24 and, if required, to cover the dates 02/09/24-01/09/25.

v.     the Executive approve an extension via waiver of the current Children and Young People’s Speech and Language Therapy contract for one year to cover the dates 03/09/23-02/09/24 and, if required, to cover the dates 03/09/24-02/09/25.