Agenda item

(a)  That the Council join the Regional Adoption Agency arrangements hosted by the London Borough of Harrow in order to procure adoption services provided by the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children under those arrangements; and

(b)  That powers be delegated to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills Services, in consultation with the Lead Member for Children and Schools, to agree all terms with the London Borough of Harrow, the Secretary of State For Education, the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, the Slough Children’s Services Trust and other participant authorities and to arrange for the Council to enter into or execute all deeds and agreements necessary to put such arrangements into effect, and

(c)  That a delegation to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills  to make all further decisions regarding the final arrangements to enable the Council join the RAA including amendments to the arrangements with SCST as appropriate, and

(d)  That powers be delegated to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills,  in consultation with the Section 151 officer, to approve the financial model and funding contributions, and

(e)  That the requirement for the TUPE transfer of adoption staff from SCST to Thomas Coram Foundation for Children is noted.

The Director of Children, Learning & Skills Services introduced a report that sought approval for the Council to join the Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) arrangements hosted by the London Borough of Harrow in order to procure adoption services provided by the Thomas Coram Foundation.

The Education & Adoption Act 2016 would require all local authorities to join a RAA by 2020 and the aim was to improve the adoption service through larger recruitment teams and a wider pool of adopters.  It was noted that the transfer of services from Slough Children Services Trust to the RAA would require amendments to the Statutory Direction the Council was currently under and discussions were underway with the Department for Education.  The London Borough of Harrow was the host authority for the RAA that it was proposed the Council would join and the service would be carried out by the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children.  All adoption statutory functions were in scope of the arrangement including adopter recruitment and training, matching and adoption support.  Full due diligence had been completed through the DfE to establish that these were competent organisations to lead the RAA.

Lead Members discussed various aspects of the proposal including the transfer of staff and financial implications.  Six full time equivalent staff would transfer from the Trust to the RAA but they would remain located in Slough.  The financial implications were set out in section 4 of the report.

At the conclusion of the discussion the recommendations were agreed.

Resolved –

(a)  That the Council join the Regional Adoption Agency arrangements hosted by the London Borough of Harrow in order to procure adoption services provided by the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children under those arrangements; and

(b)  That powers be delegated to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills Services, in consultation with the Lead Member for Children and Schools, to agree all terms with the London Borough of Harrow, the Secretary of State For Education, the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, the Slough Children’s Services Trust and other participant authorities and to arrange for the Council to enter into or execute all deeds and agreements necessary to put such arrangements into effect, and

(c)  That a delegation to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills  to make all further decisions regarding the final arrangements to enable the Council join the RAA including amendments to the arrangements with SCST as appropriate, and

(d)  That powers be delegated to the Director of Children, Learning and Skills,  in consultation with the Section 151 officer, to approve the financial model and funding contributions, and

(e)  That the requirement for the TUPE transfer of adoption staff from SCST to Thomas Coram Foundation for Children is noted.