Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 12^th March 2019

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 12^th March 2019 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet agrees to exclude the press and public under Sections 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to the following private reports on the grounds that the reports involve the likely disclosure of information defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as they contain information relating to the financial affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) and in all circumstances of the cases, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information:

Minute No.  Report title

139  Supported Accommodation and Floating Support Services for Young People

  140  Network Lease Agreement Extension – Digital Strategy

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) that sought approval for a procurement process to secure delivery of an open framework for Supported Living and Day Opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and/or mental ill health.

The Council’s approach to the delivery of Adult Social Care was to provide support, in the least intrusive manner possible, based on the assets, resources and abilities that are available to people. This entailed the development of support options that enabled people to be supported in environments akin to the type of independent accommodation that most other adults in the City had the choice of living in, with residential care only being used where other options were either not available or not suitable to meet eligible needs under the Care Act 2014.

This approach to the delivery of Adult Social Care had been in development for many years and complemented the local offer in Children’s Service’s through supporting the four pillars of preparing for adulthood leading to improved outcomes in respect of independent living, community inclusion, employment and health.

Supported living services provided a cost effective way of meeting needs whilst enabling people to be as independent as possible. Ensuring people were engaged to live as normal a life as possible outside of their home was also a key factor related to living independently and hence the provision of day opportunities was also integrated in this work.

A number of developments would be incorporated into supported living including greater use of assistive technology, accommodation designed to meet individual’s needs through all stages of their lives, and improved access to community assets to enable people to participate in activities open to all members of the community. The Council sought to achieve these aspirations through the proposals contained in the report through aligning a number of contractual arrangements under one open framework approach which would cover the following client groups and service types:

•  Supported Living for adults and older people with learning disabilities, autism or physical/sensory impairment or mental ill health some of whom will have multiple disabilities.

•  Day opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Improving the supported living offer within Coventry would also help the Council to ensure that the housing stock within the City was able to meet the needs of this specialist group of people.

Although a new contractual arrangement would be established, people within existing services would not be required to move en bloc to new providers. Some moves may, however, be necessary dependant on individual circumstances. If this was the case, the individuals affected and their families would be fully engaged in this process in order to ensure their outcomes continued to be met.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approve the commencement of a procurement process (in line with Public Contract Regulations) to secure delivery of an open framework for Supported Living and Day Opportunities.

2)  Delegate authority to the Director of Adult Services, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 133.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) that sought approval to commission a block of 92 supported accommodation beds and 30 floating support services units for young people.

A corresponding private report was also submitted to the meeting setting out the commercially confidential matters of the proposals. (Minute 139 below refers.)

Supported accommodation provided accommodation and support to young people aged 16-24 who had a range of needs and were the responsibility of Children’s Services. This cohort included young people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, children in need (CIN), looked after children (LAC), and young parents who were pregnant or had children who were on child in need or child protection plans and care leavers where care leavers were now defined as: (a) Eligible child under s19B Sch 2 Children Act 1989 (b) Relevant child under s23A(2) CA 1989 or (c) Former Relevant Child under s23C(1) CA 1989.

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 introduced 3 new provisions extending the statutory duties of a Local Authority under the Children Act 1989: The act placed a duty on the Local Authority to financially support and meet the housing needs/costs of care leavers until their eighteenth birthday, and to maintain contact with them until they reached their twenty fifth birthday. This responsibility included the provision of suitable accommodation. The City Council managed this responsibility primarily through the Through Care Service, and where accommodation was required for care leavers, this was provided through the supported accommodation contracts. In summary:

•  Where children leave care aged 16 or 17: the Local Authority is responsible for their accommodation as a ‘corporate parent’.

•  Where children left care at 18: there was no responsibility for Children’s Services to provide accommodation unless it was assessed that their welfare required it.  If their welfare did not require it then the responsibility for housing care leavers aged 18 plus fell to the Housing Authority.

A very small number of young adults would move on to supported living, which was for adults with learning disabilities and/or mental ill health. The re-commissioning of this service was the subject of a separate report to Cabinet on 9^th April 2019 (minute 133 above referred).

Supported accommodation was currently delivered by a number of externally commissioned providers, who were commissioned via block contracts, the West Midlands Supported Accommodation Framework or spot arrangements.  The current block contracts were due to end in December 2019, and the Council was recommissioning the service with a planned start date of November 2019.

The purpose of the service would be to accommodate young people and prepare them for independent living by building their skills and resilience in areas such as payment of bills, cooking, accessing services, attending appointments emotional resilience, education and employment or training.  Providers would deliver a range of accommodation options to enable young people to move between different types of accommodation as their needs increased or decreased, before moving on to independence with floating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 134.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director (People) that sought approval of the extension of the Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre.

A corresponding private report was also submitted to the meeting setting out the commercially confidential matters of the proposals. (Minute 140 below refers.)

Prior to 2014 the Council had developed and installed a 140km Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) of fibre across the city. This was to connect council sites and schools to the council’s core network and provide services such as internet connectivity. In 2014 the MAN was sold to City Fibre following approval at Council on 10th April 2014 (minute 162/13 refers). The Council received a capital receipt for the sale as well as retaining a right of use (“the Network Lease Agreement”) over the network for the term of agreement ending in June 2029.

In 2018 City Fibre announced an investment of £60m into the City to provide Fibre to the Home in a partnership with Vodafone – providing internet connectivity for residents.

Due to the economy of scale derived from the Fibre to the Home partnership with Vodafone, City Fibre had also submitted a proposal to the Council for an expansion and extension of the council’s existing lease agreement for the network.

A fibre network was important to the Council, as an organisation it was a fundamental part of the computer network, connecting all Council buildings to the relevant systems, files and the internet. Having a high speed, resilient fibre network for the organisation was a building block for the digital transformation of the council which directly supported the aims and objectives of the One Coventry programme.

As stated in the council’s Digital Coventry strategy having access to high speed internet was now often described as the fourth utility and was an important consideration for residents and businesses when considering living, working or investing in a city. In supporting the City Fibre Fibre to the Home programme residents would have the potential to access very high quality and speed internet connections. This had onwards benefit to us as an organisation as it opened up more possibilities for greater digital engagement with citizens.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves that the terms of the current Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre are amended as detailed in the private report.

2)  Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive (People), following consultation with the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, to undertake the necessary due diligence and to enter into the necessary legal agreement to secure the amendments to the Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre.

To authorise the attendance of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) at the Middle East Real Estate Forum: Where East Meets West from 27^th April to 2^nd May 2019 in United Arab Emirates.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet approves the attendance of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), Martin Yardley, at the Middle East Real Estate Forum: Where East Meets West, in the United Arab Emirates from 27th April to 2nd May 2019.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) that contained details of an outstanding issue item that would be submitted to a future meeting of the Cabinet and summarised the current position in respect of that item.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet approves the date for future consideration of the matter relating to the outstanding issue item listed in the report.

There were no other items of public business.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

(Listing Officer: Sally Giles, Tel: 024 7683 3669)

Further to Minute 134 above, the Cabinet considered a private report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People), setting out the commercially confidential matters relating to the commissioning of a block of 92 supported accommodation beds and 30 floating support services units for young people.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves the proposal to commission a block of 92 supported accommodation beds and 30 floating support units.

2)  Grants permission to issue a tender to procure in line with the proposed model and timescale.

3)  Delegates authority to the Director of Children’s Services, following the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, to award and implement the contracts for supported accommodation services.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

(Listing Officer: Paul Ward, Tel: 024 7697 1381)

Further to Minute 135 above, the Cabinet considered a private report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People), setting out the commercially confidential matters relating to the extension of the Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves that the terms of the current Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre are amended as set out in the report submitted.

2)  Delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive (People), following consultation with the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, to undertake the necessary due diligence and to enter into the necessary legal agreement to secure the amendments to the Network Lease Agreement with City Fibre.

There were no other items of private business.