Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Tanya Park and Patricia Stallard. Councillors Jackie Porter and Andrew Joy attended as the respective deputies.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 23 January 2025.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

Deputations were received from the following, who all spoke against the recommendations:

-       Heather Blades, Alfie Nelson and Jackie Davis

-       Clare Martin

-       Sara Willoughby and Kevin Harcombe

-       Jennifer McCavour and 2 students from local schools

-       Lin Gell

-       Pamela Charlwood

County Councillors Lesley Meenaghan, Mike Ford, Pal Hayre and Joanne Burton also attended to speak as local Members.

The Chairman thanked the deputations for attending to speak and sharing their experiences with the Committee.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman confirmed that Members had received correspondence from Eric Bidwell who did not support the proposed change of use of Stubbington Study Centre site.

The Chairman had also received correspondence from Derek Kelson who did not support the closure of the Stubbington Study Centre.

To consider a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Hampshire 2050 and Director of Children’s Services regarding proposals relating to the provision of a specialist secure welfare children’s home, due to be considered at the Cabinet meeting on 18 March 2025.

The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report going to Cabinet (item 6 in the minute book) on the provision of a specialist secure welfare children’s home in Stubbington, Fareham.

During questions of officers, the following points were clarified:

-       There were no current plans to invest further in Stubbington Study Centre

-       An Asset of Community Value was being determined by Fareham Borough Council but the decision by Cabinet was around repurposing the site as opposed to selling it.

-       Stubbington did not contribute to the Outstanding OFSTED of Children’s Services and was a separate non statutory service. Swanwick was inspected annually by OFSTED.

-       25-30% of children placed at Swanwick were Hampshire children, and it was important to note that other Hampshire children were placed in other local authority secure homes.

-       At any one time up to 40 local authorities are looking to place children in secure units with only one or two beds available.

-       There was no alternative site for Stubbington Study Centre should the proposals be refused.

-       The Government grant did not cover the purchase of land to facilitate a new site, but timescales and need was a driver for finding a facility.

-       Hampshire had not put in a bid for the grant but had been approached due to the current relationship and Outstanding rating of Swanwick Lodge.

-       The recommendation was based on the proposals around Swanwick Lodge and it was not possible to say whether the future of Stubbington Study Centre would have been up for discussion in any event.

-       Although Swanwick is the secure home for the south region, because of demand and need, children placed a Swanwick come from across England and Wales .

-       The financial figures in the exempt part of the pack could not be shared due to the commercial sensitivity – particularly around Stubbington Study Centre, which was in a competitive market. This was the view of legal officers, including the Monitoring Officer and disclosing it would be prejudicial.

-       Swanwick Lodge was built around 1995/1996 and was coming to the end of its life, but would remain operative until the new building was complete in 2030.

At this stage, an amendment was proposed by Councillor Graham Burgess and seconded by Councillor Rob Mocatta as follows:

·         Commend Officers for their hard work on identifying sites, emphasises the committee recognises the challenges of identifying any alternative sites within the time frame and the criteria prescribed by Government

·         Recognise the pressing need for a secure children’s home to support Hampshire’s most vulnerable children

·         Recommends Cabinet ask officers to review any additional sites which may become available as a consequence of recent or upcoming decisions

·         Recommends Cabinet ask officers to approach district and borough council to see if they have any land holding which may offer a suitable site

·         Recommends Cabinet request an extension of time from Department of Education to enable consideration of any alternative site

Councillor Malcolm Wallace then proposed an additional bullet point, seconded by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during the following

item of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the cases, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the exempt appendices.

The meeting did not go into exempt session and therefore there was no requirement to move the resolution to exclude the press and public.

To consider exempt appendices in relation to Item 6 on the agenda.

The exempt appendices were considered alongside the open report at the meeting.