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ITEM LC4(b)

LEARNING & CULTURE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE –
7 OCTOBER 2003

Minutes of the Meeting commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 3.05 pm

Present:

The Scrutiny Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting, together with a schedule of addenda tabled at the meeting, and agreed as set out below. Copies of the agenda, reports and schedule are attached to the signed Minutes.

51/03. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS

Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:

Apology from	Temporary Appointments
Councillor Margaret Ferriman	-
Councillor Ray Jelf	-
Councillor Margaret MacKenzie	-
Councillor Kieron Mallon	-
Councillor Witcher	Councillor Brighouse
Mrs S. Matthew	-

52/03. MINUTES

The unconfirmed Minutes of the meeting held on 15 September were amended as follows:

Present: by the addition of ‘By Invitation: Ms C Thomson (Oxfordshire Governors Association)’.

Minute 40/03: Minute 27/03 by the addition of ‘The Executive Member’s written response was reported.’

Minute 42/03(c) by the deletion in the last sentence of the words ‘for schools’ and substitution of ‘between parents and their’.

Minute 49/03: Better Ways to School-attention was drawn to recent DfES Strategy and Best Practice Guides; officers were asked to inform the Chair, Deputy Chair & third political group Spokesperson.

Councillor Moley considered that the Scrutiny Committee had not appointed Dr Reiss to the membership of the Cultural Strategy for Oxfordshire Group. He moved and Councillor Hayward seconded that Minute 42/03(b) be corrected by the deletion of the name of Dr Reiss accordingly.

6 members voted for the motion and 7 against.

Councillor Moley then questioned whether it was valid for the co-opted members to have participated in the vote and suggested that their votes be removed from the record.

The Head of Democratic Services then provided the Chair and Committee with guidance from the Regulations on co-opted member voting.

The Minutes were not signed. The Scrutiny Committee would be invited to confirm the Minutes at the December 2003 meeting in the light of advice from the Solicitor to the Council on the exact extent of the voting rights of the co-opted members.

53/03. PETITIONS AND PUBLIC ADDRESS

The following request to address the meeting had been agreed:-

Request from	Agenda Item
Mr Peter Simmonds on behalf of Parents Action Group	9(a) SEN Scrutiny Review; and 9(b) Children with SEN – Inclusion Policies

54/03. SCRUTINY AND THE BUDGET

(Agenda Item 5)

The Scrutiny Committee AGREED the following order of business at the scheduled meeting on 2 December 2003:

morning: comment on the Executive’s ‘initial budget proposals’;

afternoon: other matters.

55/03. OXFORDSHIRE PLAN: A PRIORITY FRAMEWORK FOR 2004/05 ONWARDS

(Agenda Item 6)

At its meeting on 29 July 2003, the Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group considered and agreed a proposal concerning the way in which Scrutiny would be consulted regarding the formulation of the priority framework for 2004/05 onwards.

The Group had agreed that during the September round of meetings Scrutiny Committees would be asked to consider the initial evaluations for each priority area undertaken by Services. The relevant committee would examine priorities relevant to them, make recommendations, highlight concerns, raise any questions and make any requests for clarification. These would then be put to the Executive for consideration and response at the end of September. In September the Scrutiny Committee had agreed to defer consideration of this item to this meeting. The Group also agreed that each Scrutiny Committee would concentrate primarily on those priorities directly related to them, with the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee dealing both with corporate issues and having an overview of the plans for the development of the priorities as a whole.

The Scrutiny Committee considered the initial evaluations (LC6) and AGREED the following key comments to the Executive:

Educational Attainment

What is a meaningful measure when looking at the performance of small groups i.e. ethnic minorities? Whilst the small numbers make targeting easier they can also give rise to large fluctuations in performance from year to year.

Gypsy/traveller children are the largest minority group in West Oxfordshire; should they not be included in the priority?

Final results are not the best measure of a school’s performance; value added and other tracking methods should be used to track pupil performance from one stage to the next.

Early Years Provision

Scrutiny welcomed the focus on key areas of provision in this important area but were concerned that resources would not be matched to ambition.

Developing the Foundation Stage of Learning in Oxfordshire: the Executive was urged to provide funding for primary school building and facilities in the 2004-5 budget, provided that such expenditure would not lead to a reduction in facilities or services elsewhere in the service.

Youth Crime Reduction/Drugs & Alcohol

Target 4 as set out in the Youth Crime reduction Initial Evaluation was 90% which was considerably higher than performance in Oxfordshire. The 90% figure was set by the Youth Justice Board but a locally set, more realistic target could help staff morale. Further work was requested to generate good quality information which would enable the Service to set more locally relevant targets working towards the nationally set 90%.

Partnership working should assist in achieving targets.

Scrutiny welcomed the focus on the links between education, under achievement, truancy, drugs and crime.

56/03. SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME

(Agenda Item 7)

Following informal consultation since the last meeting with the Chair, Deputy Chair and third Political Group Spokesperson on the Work Programme, the Scrutiny Committee considered its Work Programme as set out in a grid (LC7) which had been revised to reflect the priorities decided at the last meeting and suggested an order for the Scrutiny Committee’s consideration. It took into account the priorities and any external timetable consideration. Items could be moved for action in the agreed Work Programme Forward Plan. A paper which sought to provide answers to queries raised at the last meeting had been circulated separately.

Government Green Paper-Every Child Matters

On 8 September the Department for Education & Skills had issued the Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’. It followed Lord Laming’s inquiry and report on the death of Victoria Climbié and sought provision of universal services for children. Councillor Janet Godden, Executive portfolio holder, gave a short presentation on the Green Paper, the summary of which had been circulated to members. She outlined the main points in the framework set out in the Green Paper including targeting services to protect vulnerable children, the consultation arrangements which were underway to meet the deadline of 1 December 2003, issues around timing, costings and funding, and links with a proposed Best Value review. Legislation was expected to follow during 2004.

Councillor Godden was thanked for her informative and helpful presentation.

The Children’s Panel would consider the Green Paper on 21 October and the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee on 29 October, a seminar for members had been arranged on 17 November and on 25 November the Executive would consider a response to the proposals in the consultation paper.

The Scrutiny Committee expressed an interest in participating in a review, possibly at a later date, and AGREED to consider at the December 2003 meeting whether to seek to commission (possibly jointly) a scrutiny review in the light of the Scrutiny Committee, seminar and Executive outcomes.

Working Group on EDP Progress

The Group had met on 3 October 2003. Councillor Karmali reported that the Group would focus on the first 4 EDP Priorities and had agreed a provisional timetable. As Councillor Jelf would no longer be a member of the Scrutiny Committee he had withdrawn from the Group’s membership.

Use of School Premises Review

Councillor Brown reported that the Review had commenced its work including consultation.

The Scrutiny Committee AGREED its Work Programme/Forward Plan for the coming period for publication in the Scrutiny Handbook.

Following the meeting the Chair, Deputy Chair and third Political Group Spokesperson would meet the Director for Learning & Culture and Scrutiny Officer/s to discuss informally the most pressing items to be taken forward in the Work Programme, including resource requirements.

57/03. TRACKING SCRUTINY OUTCOMES

(Agenda Item 8)

The Scrutiny Committee noted the outcome of its advice and recommendations to the Executive/Council and in relation to the Bus Services Review AGREED to continue to be represented by Councillor David Turner on the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee’s Bus Services Review Panel.

58/03. EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN

in the Chair

Date of signing 2003

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