Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:

Apology From                                                            Temporary Appointments

Councillor Anda Fitzgerald-O’Connor                         Councillor Melinda Tilley

Councillor Pete Handley                                             -

Councillor Tony Harbour                                             Councillor Steve Hayward

Councillor Dave Sexon                                               Councillor Lawrie Stratford

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 14 July (CH3) and to note for information any matters arising on them.

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 14 July were approved and signed.

There were no Matters Arising.

Ofsted Report

To receive a presentation from Tan Lea, Head of Oxfordshire Youth Service, with regard to the outcomes of the recent inspection by Ofsted into the impact of Integrated Youth Support.

Ofsted had carried out a visit to Oxfordshire on 23 – 25 June 2009 to evaluate the impact of integrated youth support, as part of their 2009/10 inspection programme. The Committee had before them a copy of the letter sent by Ofsted to accompany the published report giving a summary of the report’s outcomes. It had scored the service as follows:

• The impact of integrated arrangements on the range and quality of young people’s learning and development through participation in youth work and positive activities in the community is good;
• The effectiveness of targeted support services, particularly in relation to young people involved in, or at risk of involvement in, crime and social behaviour is good;
• The progress made by the local authority and its partners in developing an integrated approach to youth support is satisfactory;
• Young people’s active involvement in shaping decisions at a local level is good;
• The contribution of integrated support arrangements to broader strategic priorities for improving outcomes for young people is satisfactory.

Areas for improvement included the need to:

• Develop a service-wide quality assurance framework which included feedback from young people;
• Ensure targeted youth support played a central role in strategies to reduce teenage conceptions and increased the number of young people in education, training or employment;
• Provide opportunities for staff to share good practice and contribute to service planning;
• Develop and implement a workforce strategy.

Tan Lea, Head of Oxfordshire Youth Service, the Director of Children, Young People & Families and Councillor Chapman were present at the meeting in order to respond to any questions from the Committee.  Tan Lea gave a presentation on the report and its outcomes commenting that it had been a very positive message to staff, partners and volunteers. She added, however, that the Directorate was not complacent and there was a clear strategy in place to address the development plan.

The Committee then asked a number of questions of Tan Lea and Councillor Chapman, some of which are included below:

Q         With regard to the recent Mentoring Service consultation document which was circulated recently, is it the aim to reduce this service?

R         (Tan Lea) We are looking at a service restructure to ensure that it is more integrated and could be accessed by most clients in need. The consultation document looks at how the services are managed, how the volunteers are used and how the number of volunteers can be expanded. It is proposed that there will be a single point of referral and a reduction in waiting lists, which will produce a more realistic period of receipt. An outcome of this will be that the savings will be re-invested in the Youth Services in line with the other targets identified – in particular with weekend opening. We have also looked at other models of good practice in terms of efficiency and delivery and have tried to apply them.

Q         Thank you for the inspirational report. How will the service manifest itself into a good service for young people?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To receive a progress report on the activity of the Working Group.

The Committee received an update on the activity of the Reducing Teenage Conceptions Working Group.

The Committee AGREED to note the report.

To receive for approval the scoping document (CH ) from the newly appointed Educational Attainment Task Group.

The Committee noted that the Educational Attainment Task Group were due to meet with Sally Taylor, Head of Raising Achievement, Northern Area, on 30 September.

The Committee had been advised that, under the Constitution, scrutiny task groups  should, wherever possible, reflect the political balance of the Council.

It was AGREED to note the report and to add Councillor Ann Bonner and Councillor David Nimmo-Smith to the membership of the Task Group.

Following discussion at the last meeting to consider the attached proposal forms (CH ).

The Committee considered a report (CH8) which briefly set out the Committee’s existing commitments and proposals for future work which had been identified at the last meeting during discussion.

Existing commitments comprised two working groups on the following:

• Reducing Teenage Conceptions in Oxfordshire (joint review with the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee);
• To review further work on Educational Attainment.

At the last meeting, the Committee had identified a significant number of proposals for future work. Since then, the officers had prepared proposal forms and these were attached to the Agenda for information. Of these, there were three suggestions that stood out for their relevance to current County Council priorities. In light of this, the Committee were RECOMMENDED to hold select committees on the following:

• ‘Young people’s transition into employment’ – with the possibility of combining this with ‘Dissolution of the Learning & Skills Council’;
• ‘Links between Oxfordshire Schools and the Science Community’; and
• ‘Anti-Bullying’.

The Committee were further RECOMMENDED to decide whether it wished to prioritise the remaining nine ideas, initially for a question and answer session.

Following a full discussion when each suggestion had been taken in turn, the Committee AGREED that the following topics be included within the Work Programme for 2009/10 and that they be prioritised at the next meeting:

• ‘Dissolution of the Learning & Skills Council, Transitioning Young People into Employment, Reducing NEETS;

• Linking the Science Community to Oxfordshire Schools;

• Anti-Bullying.

Thereafter a matrix be submitted to each meeting, summarising the progression of all projects.

In relation to those topics which were not identified for the Work Programme, it was AGREED that briefings be given on the following topics in the first instance to enable decision:

• Permanent Exclusions;

• The outcomes of the SACRE review on religious education in schools;

• The impact on school enrolment of the rising influx of children from the independent sector into state schools and what steps the Council were taking to address it;

• Progress of the Children’s Centres programme.

With regard to the Children’s Trust, the Committee decided to await its formation into strategic commissioning status in March 2010 and to undertake work at that time around this new focus and whether it is equipped to be effective in its new role.

In relation to the invitation to join Oxford City Council’s scrutiny review on the City’s youth services, it was AGREED to thank the City Council for their invitation, but to inform them that in light of the favourable outcomes of the Ofsted inspection, as highlighted in Agenda Item 5, not to give this a priority at the moment.

The Committee is asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it may wish to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision is taken, together with details of what it thinks could be achieved by looking at any items.

A current copy of the Forward Plan can be found on the Council’s website:

http://portal.oxfordshire.gov.uk/content/publicnet/council_services/about_your_council/decision_making/current_forwardplan140909.pdf

The Committee were asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it may have wished to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision was taken, together with details of which it thought could be achieved by looking at any items.

No items were identified.