Councillor Halden was proud to be presenting his fourth Portfolio Holder for Education and Health and thanked all staff, teachers, governors, parents, general practitioners, nurses and everybody who had helped to make Thurrock such a success story and thanked Roger Harris, Ian Wake and Michelle Lucas. Councillor Halden briefly highlighted the following services included within that portfolio:

•           In Education nearly two thirds of children got their first choice of school place this year

•           £4 million had been spent on new school buildings and sport facilities

•           In Health, Thurrock was up to 25 “Good” General Practitioners

•           £80 million on new estate plan – now known as the “Thurrock Model”

•           £1 million put into adolescent mental health services

•           Engage in sports and other recreational activities that would support the ambitious agenda in reducing obesity levels across communities

•           Not as much as progress made on the Integrated Medical Centres due to a political referral to the Secretary of State

•           A new school building continued to be a challenge

•           Plans for a massively expanded Thurrock Hospital once the referral to the Secretary of State had been resolved

•           Concerns raised on the SEND service

•           Expand and relocate the Youth Offending services

•           To improve the mental wellbeing and resilience in our young people

•           Expanding the current skills and host a skills summit with partners later this year

•           Plan to build more homes and schools to include sports facilities

Councillor Holloway noted the passion of the Portfolio Holder’s report but stated that the report was not good and understood that not everything could be included but information should be available to Members such as information on the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and the acute reconfiguration of hospitals and its impact. There was nothing in the report on Primary Care Networks which was an important piece of work to happen in the borough. The report also contained little information on the Health and Wellbeing Board. Councillor Holloway was pleased to see the work being undertaken as part of the Mental Health Transformation and questioned the proposed reduction in the control total for the Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership to assist the Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership which would result in a reduction of £480K to the Thurrock’s Clinical Commissioning Group’s budget for 2019/20 and explained how this would impact on and delay projects, especially those around mental health services, that had already been agreed for the local authority. And asked what the Portfolio Holder was undertaking to stop Thurrock’s money from being taken and what work was being undertaken with Jackie Doyle-Price and Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Mental Health to stop Thurrock residents suffering at the benefit of Peterborough and Cambridge.

Councillor Halden stated that the referral to the Secretary of State by Councillor Holloway to transfer services out of Orsett Hospital had been made 6 months following the report being presented at the Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee which had wasted six months. That Primary Care had been mentioned extensively in the report and provided members with examples. Councillor Halden referred to the Peterborough and Cambridge Sustainability and Transformation Partnership by confirming that adolescent money for mental health had already been committed and had been ring-fenced. In regard to the adult reconfiguration the phasing would change slightly with the rollout slightly delayed by a few months and the community mental health work would continue regardless.

Councillor Okunade stated that the Council had a statutory duty to ensure that every child had a school place and asked for the number of children who were educated at home where no school could be found for them. Councillor Halden stated that every school child had been offered a school place in the borough. That the figures for those children home educated had increased due to parents elected to do this and figures may be reduced once the new Tree Tops School had been built.

Councillor Pothecary focused on KPI for good schools and requested assurances that KPIs for schools in Thurrock would be good or outstanding going forward. Councillor Halden stated that Ofsted judgement had become more vigorous and the challenges were to work harder and to look at the successes and to roll those out across the borough.

Councillor Spillman stated his disappointment on the decision to remove some of the mental health services and stated that early intervention for those suffering from mental health issues was vital and could be dealt with more easily. Councillor Halden clarified that services to mental health services in Thurrock were not being defunded. That the Clinical Commissioning Group in Thurrock was in the black with a resilient budget and that it should be the NHS being held to account.

At 8.45pm, the Mayor called time on this item. Councillors Worrall and Kerin said they would contact Councillor Halden outside of the meeting relating to the questions they wished to ask.