Agenda Item No. 9

 

 

THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL

 

LEARNING AND CULTURE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE: 23 APRIL 2018

 

REFERENCE FROM CABINET: 19 MARCH 2018

 

C263              Future Use of Tŷ Deri (LC) (Scrutiny Committee - Learning and Culture) -

 

Cabinet was provided with an options appraisal to inform and enable a decision to be made on the future use of Tŷ Deri.

 

Tŷ Deri was a purpose built 19 bed residential respite facility for disabled children on the site of Ysgol Y Deri. Tŷ Deri was intended to provide short stay services for Vale of Glamorgan children, and to generate an income by offering placements to other local authorities, most significantly Cardiff Council.

 

A report titled ‘Review of Tŷ Deri’ was presented to the 12 December, 2016 Vale of Glamorgan Cabinet meeting and was attached at Appendix A to the report. It highlighted that the take up of tea stays, respite and residential provision at Tŷ Deri had significantly reduced over recent years. The report of 12 December, 2016 recommended that Cabinet approve the commissioning of external capacity to develop a fully costed business case for Tŷ Deri which explored a range of options, adopted a Council-wide approach and identified the future demand for services that could be operated from Tŷ Deri to meet current and future needs.

 

This was agreed by Cabinet and the report titled "A Review of the options for the future use of Tŷ Deri" was written by an officer working across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan sponsored by the Disabilities Futures Programme and was attached at Appendix B to the report.

 

The report evaluated 4 options: 

• Service option 1: Continue to provide existing respite services at Tŷ Deri and improve underutilisation
• Service option 2: Provide a residential service
• Service option 3: Provision of a residential nursing service
• Service option 4: Provision of additional classroom space

Based on a detailed analysis of each option, the report identified service option 4 as the preferred option. The recommendation being that: 

• Part of the Tŷ Deri building be adapted (subject to a full cost analysis) to create additional classroom space to increase the capacity of Ysgol y Deri; and that
• The current staffing structure and level of respite provision be maintained in order to continue to deliver the service in the short term. This would allow for the school and local authority officers to work with partners in Health and Children’s Services to consider alternative models which may ensure the long term viability of the residential facility. 

This was the preferred option because it was evident that Ysgol y Deri was operating at capacity. Trend analysis indicated that increased places would be required in future in order to meet demand.

 

It was evident from the evaluation of the options in the report that a 19 bed residential respite facility was too large and there was no evidence to indicate that demand for such a facility would increase in future to the extent that would be required to necessitate this number of beds. The report proposed that the number of beds available be reduced to 8.

 

Ysgol y Deri had been utilising the space available in Tŷ Deri to meet the needs of highly complex learners who without this facility would have required out of county provision in a more specialist setting. This had resulted in a significant cost saving and continuity of education for the learners involved. The additional space that the utilisation of Tŷ Deri would afford could be utilised not only to increase capacity but to meet the needs of more complex learners.

 

Ysgol y Deri only had a finite number of classrooms and as numbers of pupils had increased, class sizes were at maximum capacity and to increase any further would have significant educational and health and safety implications.

 

It was proposed that the adaptations required to Tŷ Deri be made in 2 phases. Phase one would involve alterations to the ground floor of Tŷ Deri which would create 4 additional classrooms. The proposed alterations were currently in the design phase and the estimated cost for the works required was £305k. In phase 2, adaptations would be made to the second floor of the Tŷ Deri building and would provide an additional 4 classrooms. The proposed alterations to the second floor were also in the design phase and the estimated cost for the works required was £250k.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision

 

Cabinet, having considered the report and all the issues and implications contained therein

 

RESOLVED –

 

(1)       T H A T the implementation of the preferred Option 4 as set out in the Review of the options for the future use of Ty Deri document as contained within Appendix B attached to the report, be approved.

 

(2)       T H A T the Capital Programme be amended for 2018/19 and 2019/20 to include a sum of £555,000 for Ty Deri, funded as detailed in the report.  

 

(3)       T H A T the report and appendices be referred to the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee for consideration.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1-2)    To enable Council officers to progress the work required to ensure the effective future use of the provision at Tŷ Deri.

 

(3)       To enable the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee to be engaged in the process of developing future provision at Tŷ Deri.

 

 

 

 

Attached as Appendix – Report to Cabinet – 19 MARCH 2018