Agenda item

To reconsider the decisions taken by  the Cabinet on  9 October 2014 regarding the above item, following a request to do so by the Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling In)  at their meeting on 31 October 2014.              

Members received a report which asked them to re-consider the decisions made by Cabinet, at their meeting held on 9 October 2014, in relation to the Children’s Services, Education and Skills Transformation Programme. The decision related to approval of the Business Cases for Early Years, Services to Young People and the School Improvement and Skills Service and in particular the proposals for the services run from Castlegate.

Details of the Cabinet’s decision were attached at Annex A to the report and the original report to the Cabinet meeting, attached at Annex B.

The decision had been referred back to Cabinet by the Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee. This followed the calling-in of Cabinet’s decision, firstly by Councillors Brooks, Douglas and Doughty on the following grounds:

·        The current location of Castlegate is far less imposing than for example West Offices and the move would therefore be worse for young and especially disengaged people

·        It is at odds with the Health & Wellbeing Strategy & Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and their emhphasis on the greater need for counselling as a preventative service.

·        It flies in the face of the government parity of esteem for mental health services.

·        There has been inadequate consultation with the most affected groups.

·        The budgetary savings may not materialise if, as a result of the change of location, the currant uptake of the service is not maintained and the number of Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETS) rises.

Secondly the decision had been called in by Councillors Aspden, D’Agorne and Runciman who were opposed to the decision to close Castlegate and re-locate the remaining services to West Offices for the following reasons:

·        When Castlegate opened 2007, it brought together a number of agencies and different funding streams to offer a comprehensive support service for young people in a user-friendly, accessible and flexible location.

·        Through offering effective support and advice the centre has an outstanding track-record of helping keep young people safe, healthy, off drugs, out of the criminal justice system, in suitable accommodation and in work.

·        This effective early-intervention is crucial in many areas, including mental health where half of all diagnosable conditions start by the age of 14 and 75% by the age of 21. 

·        The closure of Castlegate, cuts in services, and the re-location of remaining services to West Offices jeopardises all this work and abandons the commitment to effective early-intervention.

·        West Offices – a large, public and corporate building – is not a suitable location for the services which will remain.

·        This decision has been taken with little consultation or prior notice and without properly considering alternatives.

·        We would urge Cabinet to withdraw the proposal and, at the very least, delay the closure of Castlegate in order to ensure that other options, such as suitable co-location with another service, can be considered.

The Chair referred to additional information which had been circulated at the meeting in support of the specialist and complementary expertise of the Castlegate staff from:

·        Dorothy Frear, an educationalist and volunteer counsellor

·        Kate Gibbon, Crisis Practitioner, Crisis & Access Service on behalf of her colleagues at Bootham Park Hospital

Councillor Galvin addressed the meeting on behalf of the Corporate and Scrutiny Management (Calling-In) Committee. He confirmed, that following consideration of all the reasons put forward for call-in of the decision and whilst acknowledging the budget pressures, there had been a high level of support for Castlegate and the services provided from the venue. Concerns had been raised that future services should be provided from an appropriate venue.

It was noted that CSMC had unanimously supported referral back of the decision with a recommendation that Cabinet withdraw the proposals and delay the closure of Castlegate in order to allow time for Officer's to bring forward a report detailing all options, including a suitable location and alternative funding options and for these options to be properly considered and consulted upon.

Councillor Looker, as Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People, confirmed that the concerns of service users and professionals, raised at previous meetings, had been taken on board. She expressed her support for a thorough examination of the services provided and consultation on possible alternative delivery methods followed by a report back to Cabinet in February 2015.

The Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills spoke to clarify details of the proposals and to welcome the opportunity to examine the current proposals in more detail. He confirmed his understanding of the issues and reiterated that the current proposals had been split into 3 parts, no changes were proposed to the statutory Connexions service for 13 to19’s, there was no suggestion of reduced counselling services and the personal support workers would continued to be available albeit in a different format from West Office’s.

Councillor Williams, as Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance, confirmed that reconsideration would provide an opportunity to pause, reflect  and undertake wider consultation on the proposals. He asked Members to note the budgetary implications and the need to consider this in any future options.

All Members acknowledged the range of issues raised and thanked all the earlier speakers for their comments and input into the meeting.

Following further discussion it was

Resolved:           That Option a) be approved and that the Cabinet decision (Minute 48) in respect of the proposals contained in the Business Case for Children’s Services for Castlegate be deferred in order to allow Officers to undertake the following work, prior to reporting back on refined proposals to  Cabinet in February 2015:

·        Consultation with service users and partners

·        An outcome based statistics exercise at Castlegate

·        Consideration of refined proposals by a sub group or YorOk

·        Consideration of a refined proposal by a cross party group

·        Submission of refined proposals to the YorOk Board

Reason:              To enable the called-in matter to be dealt with efficiently and in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.