Asylum: end of the consultation

I have posted many times on the issue of this year’s large scale arrivals of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and Kent County Council’s response. On 17 August, with more than 600 UASC in our care, social work caseloads at unacceptably high levels and our reception centres full, Kent County Council confirmed that we were no longer able to fulfil our duties and collect further new arrivals from the Port. This was my decision as Leader of the Council, on the advice of our Director of Children’s Services.

Since that time, numbers of UASC in our care have reduced (though still far above what government legislation and guidance would regard as acceptable) as the Home Office, working with other groups such as local government organisations  and the Regional Migration Partnerships, has placed many young people with other local authorities.

Over the summer, the Home Office has also consulted on a relaunch of a reformed National Transfer Scheme (NTS), the system introduced as part of the 2016 Immigration Act following the crisis of 2015, to achieve a more balanced and equitable distribution of UASC in local authorities across the country. The NTS worked relatively well initially, but ran out of steam by 2018 as local authorities, conscious of the costs and feeling under pressure in their children’s services, became increasingly unwilling to take UASC young people. The consultation proposes a regional rota system for taking UASC and - importantly - consults on the possibility of making the system mandatory. For KCC, this is of great importance; our biggest concern is that there should be no repeat of what happened (and did not happen) after 2015. This was the central argument of my letter to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in May, and the County Council has been arguing for a revived and strengthened NTS for a number of years. The consultation closes on Wednesday, and there is every indication that the outcome is genuinely open. I have been encouraged by something of a shift in opinion in the local government sector towards mandation.

I had the chance to discuss many of these issues when I gave evidence earlier in September to the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee (picture). In the course of this, MPs from different parties gave warm tributes to the work of our social work teams in responding to the UASC issue. You can find a recording of the evidence session here.  

Kent Test: plans and preparations

On Monday the KCC Cabinet received a report on the experience so far of the return to school; you can find the report here. The webcast of the meeting can be found here, with the item on return to school starting at around 46:30 minutes in to the meeting.

One of the many issues arising from this year’s unique circumstances has been how this year’s Kent Test will be conducted. As previously reported, the Council set out our plans for the Test in the summer, with a delayed date of 15 October. However, the continuing impact of COVID-19 on schools, with some students having to self-isolate, has raised further questions as to how the Test should be managed under these circumstances. 

This week KCC sent advice to schools regarding the overall approach:

• Any child exhibiting Covid symptoms, or partway through a period of self isolation, will not take the test on the prescribed day

• If an individual child (or a small number of children) is unable to attend due to Covid, The remainder of the registrants will take the test and the child(ren) will be given an opportunity to sit it on their return

• If a class within a year group cannot sit the test, the same approach applies

• If the full year group cannot sit the test, they will do so on their return

• Schools have been advised to allow children (where possible) to settle back in before taking the Test, but not to delay too long as another period of isolation could be required. In particular, schools have been advised to contact KCC to help them apply variations appropriate to their individual circumstances

The County Council will continue to apply this approach of setting a pragmatic general framework while working with schools to take account of individual and local circumstances as we approach the Test.

Changes and additions to Go Coach routes

Following the first few days of return to school, Go Coach (in discussion with KCC public transport team) is making a number of changes to its services: 

• Service T3 is split into two services.  The T3A, operated by Go Coach will operate Knockholt, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green, Riverhead Tesco, then express to Tonbridge Schools.  T3B, operated  by Access Travel will operate   Riverhead Tesco, Sevenoaks, River Hill, Hildenborough / Loop, Tonbridge, Tonbridge Schools.  Timings from each location will be as per the service T3
• Service S32 will operate  St Pauls Cray, Cray Avenue, Spur Road, Sevenoaks Road, Warren Road, The Highway, then express to Knole Academy (as per current timings)
• Service S33, a new service, will operate  Chelsfield Station, Windsor Drive, Green Street Green, Pratts Bottom, Badgers Mount, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green and Knole Academy.  Times will be the same as the S32
• Service S14, a new service, will operate Swanley, Farningham, Eynsford, Otford, Telston Lane, Trinity/ Weald of Kent and Knole Academy. The S14 will leave Swanley garage at 07:50 and then follow the S10, 12 and 13 down the valley, diverting off to Telston Lane to cover part of the S2 route before arriving at Trinity/ Weald of Kent at 08:30 and Knole Academy at 08:30
• The current TW10 will operate  Wrotham Heath, Platt, then express to  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• The current TW11 will operate  Wrotham, Borough Green, then express  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• New route, TW12 will operate Ightham, Plaxtol, Shipbourne, then express to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road).  Times will be the same as now

These changes are to improve capacity on a number of services, improve journey times and convert some duplicates to services, making it easier to understand. They respond to the strong demand seen on these routes and are a clear sign of the willingness of the operator, working with KCC, to make speedy changes. KCC Public Transport will continue to monitor similar pressures across the county in the coming week.

More on return to school

I have set out in previous posts the steps that KCC, and in particular our public transport team, have been taking to support the coming week's return to school. This is now incorporated in a 'back to school' page on the KCC website, which includes a video to advise school students what to expect when travelling on buses under current conditions. You can also find an updated statement from the Cabinet Members for Transport (Michael Payne) and Education (Richard Long) here.

As I've described before, the Public Transport team has worked closely with operators to plan for the return to school. The latest figures that I have seen suggest that applications for the Kent Travel Saver are running at about 55% of previous years' levels. Buses will, of course, be operating at less than full capacity, though where they are designated (as an increased number are) as 'school only' buses it will be possible to make use of all the forward facing seats and so run at about two-thirds capacity rather than half. Nonetheless, the reduced numbers using the services will to a significant degree offset this. In addition, over a hundred additional vehicles will be running this week. 

Clearly this will be a difficult and stressful time for parents and students, and the coming week is likely to see a fast-changing situation. Even in a 'normal' year, transport in the early weeks of the autumn term can be difficult (which is a natural concern of parents of Year 7 students, just starting their secondary education, in particular) and there can be no guarantees as to what the experience will be in each and every part of the county. But a great deal of preparation has been undertaken in a short time. As a parent as well as a politician, I am hoping for the very best possible experience for students returning to school.

 

 

Exams: KCC supporting Kent schools, students and families

In Kent and elsewhere, Thursday's announcement of A-Level and other post-16 results has been met with deep and growing concern from students, their families and their schools. Even where the aggregate outcomes have broadly matched schools' expectations (and that has not always been the case), there are reports of huge individual variation and unfairness. As Richard Long, KCC's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills has put it: "in many cases the grades appear to bear little resemblance to student ability or to the Centre Assessed Grades (CAG) awarded by schools."

As Leader of the Council (and having previously had responsibility for the County Council's role in Education), I have been contacted by head teachers and chairs of governors to express their alarm and incredulity at what has happened. They have also expressed their apprehension over what this means for this week's GCSEs.

KCC stands ready to support schools, students and families and, in an announcement on Friday, made clear our course of action. The County Council will collate information from Kent schools to be able to present a coherent picture to government of the issues and concerns in the County, and to urge the Education Secretary to investigate and redress the problem with rapid effect. The future prospects of many of our young people depend on it.

You can find the KCC statement here.

 

School transport for September

In my previous post, I tried to address the concerns of many parents over the decisions they face regarding their child's transport to school in September. The application 'window' for the Kent Travel Saver (KTS) expires tomorrow, though this is only to guarantee the pass being available before the start of term; KCC will seek to process applications received subsequent to that date as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, Kent County Council has issued a further statement to make the current position as clear as possible. This has been delayed somewhat by the wait for further government guidance, which has yet to be issued. In this, Michael Payne (Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation) and Richard Long (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) set out the current position on capacity and the extensive work that has taken place between KCC and bus operators to prepare for the return to school and to ensure the maximum safety of children while travelling.

You can find the KCC statement here.

Getting Building Fund: £37 million for Kent and Medway

In mid-June, I like other Council Leaders and Chairs of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)received a letter from the Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, inviting us to bring forward 'shovel-ready' projects that government could support through a new Fund to boost economic recovery. These were to be put forward to government through the LEPs, in our case the South East LEP (SELEP), of which I am a Director. The scheme would in time become known as the Getting Building Fund. 

Turnaround times were extraordinarily quick, with a meeting of Kent and Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP), the 'federated area' sub-division of the LEP (which embraces Essex and associated unitary councils, along with East Sussex, Kent and Medway)on 9 July and SELEP's Board a week later to confirm our submissions. 

 SELEP secured £85 million from the Fund, the largest sum awarded to any LEP in the country, with £37 million within that awarded to Kent and Medway. Yesterday government announced the detailed awards of the £900 million Getting Building Fund. There were eight successful projects in Kent and Medway, three of them (the first three listed below) led by KCC:

- Connecting Rural Kent and Medway - rollout of full fibre broadband in remote and rural parts of the county 

- Thanet Parkway Railway Station - a new railway station serving Thanet and North Dover, close to Discovery Park 

-  Javelin Way Development, Ashford - educational and industrial facilities 

-  First and Second Floors, Building 500, Discovery Park (Sandwich) - upgrade of laboratory space, supporting life sciences companies based in the Enterprise Zone 

- The Meeting Place, Swanley - new business space and homes in the High Street - a key project for Sevenoaks District Council 

- Britton Farm Redevelopment, Medway - a learning and skills hub for adult retraining 

- Performing and Production Digital Arts Facility, North Kent College - industry-leading training facilities linked to the Thames Estuary Production Corridor for creative industries 

-  Romney Marsh Employment Hub - employment and business space in an area affected by the rundown of Dungeness nuclear power station 

This is excellent news for the county, with schemes from areas ranging from Dartford and Swanley to Romney Marsh. Further progress on broadband is vital, while the Thanet Parkway scheme is a long-running project which the County Council has championed (and which I inherited as an important but challenging scheme when I became Leader) and which can now be brought forward with a range of funding sources.

You can find the government announcement (which makes a particular mention of Thanet Parkway) here.