Agenda item

The Panel will consider a report providing an update on the ongoing changes to the Young Peoples Activity Team (YPAT) provision as part of the ongoing SEND Transformation Programme and the ongoing development of our Short Breaks Offer.

Contact:         Tom Brailsford (Service Director)

                        Sara Miles, Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

                        Gary Wainwright, Commissioning Manager

The Panel received an update on the ongoing changes to the Young Peoples Activity Team (YPAT) provision as part of the ongoing SEND Transformation Programme and the ongoing development of the Short Breaks Offer, which was presented by Tom Brailsford, Service Director (Resources Improvements and Partnerships), Gary Wainwright, Commissioning Manager and Sara Miles, Head of Homes for Children, Safeguarding and Quality Assurance.

Gary Wainwright and Sara Miles advised the Panel that Children’s service, Best Start capital funding had an allocation of £5 million for development of children with disability services; Young Peoples Activity Team (short breaks), Elm Grove (long term) and Orchard View (short breaks) provision in Kirklees.  By investing in the most vulnerable children and young people, Kirklees provided support to achieve the best possible outcomes.

The Panel was informed that the Young Peoples Activity Team short breaks service supported disabled children and young people aged 5 to 18 with profound and complex needs.  The service comprised of out of school clubs, weekend and holiday sessions, and community sessions, which ran from a large council owned building on Havelock Street, Ravensthorpe.  The building was shared with Adult Services, learning disability day service provision, and required significant investment.  A need for new premises was identified several years ago.

Gary Wainwright further explained that the former children’s Place nursery in Ravensthorpe had been selected as the best option due to its location.  It was very close to the current building which minimised disruption to the disabled children, and young people and parents who attended.  The building size was ideal, the accessibility offered by a single storey building located on a level site, with a secure enclosed outdoor play area made the former Children’s Place nursery the ideal preferred choice.

The new premises were to open in the summer 2023, and provide an opportunity for the facilities to be used more frequently for new additional and alternative uses as below:

• Parent and carer support sessions
• Training sessions
• Supporting older children who were NEET
• Assistive Technology and VR sessions
• Provide a building for health partners that could deliver specialist children’s clinic sessions.

Gary Wainwright advised the Panel that over time, the ambition was to identify and establish a second Young Peoples Activity Team building in South Kirklees.  The second building would be based on the learning from the new Ravensthorpe building, and the evolving role that in -house short breaks services would play in the overall short breaks market.

The Panel noted the ambition to open a site in South Kirklees and asked a question regarding a similar provision in terms of geography and what impact that had on the service. Gary Wainwright advised that through consultation a clear message from families was that they would travel to Ravensthorpe if they needed to, but having a facility within 30 minutes travel time would be beneficial.

The Panel acknowledged the involvement of young people and asked a question regarding the mechanisms around including them, how they felt, and how that would feed into another facility in South Kirklees. Gary Wainwright advised that the technical assessment skills had been completed along with consulting with parents.  The young people had been taken to different places to try out different equipment in the proposal which concluded what would work and what would not work.  The South Kirklees facility would be developed on the needs of the children and would be adapted around them.  Sara Miles advised the Panel that even at the point of opening the Ravensthorpe site, consultations would not stop. Any learnings made from the Ravensthorpe site would feed into the South Kirklees site.

The Panel thanked the officers for their hard work that had been carried out and recognised the positive impact the facility would have on young people and their families.  The Panel also raised an interest in visiting the site once it was open.

RESOLVED-

• That the Panel noted the update.
• That the Panel arrange a visit to the new premises at the Children’s Place Nursery, Netherfield Road, Ravensthorpe when fully operational.