Purpose

The Cabinet will be asked to approve an invest-to-save programme of projects to build three
registered children’s homes with ‘psychologically
informed environments’ within the borough’s
geographical footprint, comprising up to seven properties subject
to a successful capital match-funding bid to the Department for
Education.

Content

Cabinet resolved to:
 
(i)  Approve the building
and commissioning of three specialist children’s homes across
seven properties as detailed in the report;
 
(ii)  Agree the capital
loan identified in the report through a self-financing (Invest to
Save) model to provide three Council-owned Children’s Homes,
as set out in Option 2 in the report;
 
(iii)  Note the impact on service
budgets over the next 10 years of the programme; and
 
(iv)  Delegate authority to the
Strategic Director, Children and Adults, in consultation with the
Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care and Disabilities,
the Strategic Director, Resources, and the Head of Legal, to
progress the purchase of the properties referred to in the report,
the tendering and award of contracts for the building work and the
tendering of the strategic relationship management and staffing
agency.