Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care and Disabilities presented a report on the proposed establishment of a local authority-owned, not-for-profit company to oversee the development and running of new secure children’s home (SCH) provision in London.

The Cabinet Member commented on the significant national shortage of SCH provision and advised that no such provision was currently available in London.  As a consequence, children with complex needs who required a placement were being placed, on average, over 190 miles away from their family home, which was a major barrier to maintaining positive family and community relationships for the individual.  The lack of SCH places was also a key driver to the substantial cost of placements which, for the most challenging cases, were known to exceed £20,000 per week due to demand far outweighing capacity.

The Cabinet Member explained that the company, known as a Pan-London Vehicle (PLV), would initially oversee the development of the operating model for the new SCH provision before progressing to the build and commissioning arrangements to run the service.  The PLV would enable the sharing of risks and benefits associated with developing and running the SCH, with a key benefit being that places at the new provision would be prioritised for those London local authorities that joined the PLV. 

It was noted that development funding for the project had been secured from the Department for Education, which meant that participating local authorities would not be required to make a financial contribution to the running of the PLV until the SCH provision was launched.  The new provision would also be co-located with facilities to support children post-placement, enabling a smoother transition and a return to the family or to the most appropriate long-term placement that met the child's needs.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree in principle that the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham becomes a member of a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee, provisionally to be known as the Pan London Vehicle, to:

(a)  develop and then oversee the running of London’s secure children’s home provision for a five-year period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2028, with a break-point after three years once the refreshed business case has been developed as well as the service pricing structure, commissioning approach, operating model, practice model and the SCH’s location is confirmed. Once the provision has launched, membership shall be at a fixed annual cost of £20,000 (subject to inflation adjustment) unless an alternative model for funding the PLV, not requiring annual subscription, is agreed by members during the development phase, and

(b)  collaborate with other PLV members on future joint commissioning programmes.

(ii)  Commit in principle to joint oversight and risk/benefit sharing of the secure children’s home provision, through the PLV, for a five-year period to 31 March 2028 (with a three-year break clause), that includes the build, service development and service commissioning phases, subject to ratification from Legal and Corporate Procurement after the revision of the SCH business case, and renewable on a 10-year cycle  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94