In accordance with
Standing Order D13, Councillor George Darling outlined his reasons
for submitting a Councillor Call for Action in respect of the St
Margarets and Spires Hearing Unit Closures, which included concerns
over the consultation and engagement process, evidence and data
used to inform the decision and impact on sustainable staffing
etc. Councillor Darling had also
circulated to Members of the Sub-Board two letters from St
Margarets and a letter from Spires, which were not part of the
discussions for the meeting but would need to be considered
alongside any officer report.
The Sub-Board had to
determine whether or not to request officers to prepare a full
report on the matter. Members were
advised that the decision was an officer decision and not a Cabinet
decision and that the decision could not be changed as a result of
a report being presented to the Sub-Board and would still be
implemented from September 2025.
Resolved
(unanimously):
That the Director of
Children’s Services be requested to prepare a full report on
the service changes at the St Margarets and Spires Hearing Units
and submit it to a future meeting of the Children and Young
People’s Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board, with key lines of
enquiry to include:
1. please
provide details of the consultation that took place in the
formative stage prior to the decision being made by the
Council;
2. what
were the results of this consultation for Torbay children with an
Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) carried out by the Council
and did it change the proposed decision taken forward?;
3. please
provide details of any consultation which took place following this
decision being made public and any action taken as a result;
4. what
alternative options were proposed to Torbay parents for their
child’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision if they did not
agree with the Council’s proposed EHCP delivery from
September? Where would the nearest
Hearing Impairment Units be if they wished their child to attend a
dedicated Hearing Impairment Unit?;
5. did the
local authority consider the impact of this decision beyond
children under their statutory care with an EHCP?;
6. how many
children from Torbay are currently receiving some form of support
from the hearing unit both with and without an EHCP, and how are
these predicted to change over the coming 5 years?;
7. what
assurance can be provided that future needs of all children in
Torbay who need support with their hearing, including those with an
EHCP and those without and an EHCP, will continue to be reviewed
and met?;
8. was any
external advice or support sought on the proposal, if so who from
and how did this inform the process?;
9. why was
the option to reduce the size of the units further or to close one
and move the support to a single unit not considered as alternative
options?;
10. what lessons have
been learned from this process?; and
11.
contextual information about the framework for SEND how it is
…
view the full minutes text for item 33.
