Return to AgendaITEM CH3
children’s services SCRUTINY committee
MINUTES of the meeting held on 23 September 2008 commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 12.45 pm
Present:
Voting Members: Councillor Ann Bonner - in the chair
Councillor Marilyn Badcock Councillor Nick Carter Councillor Mrs Anda Fitzgerald-O’Connor Councillor Jean Fooks Councillor Sue Haffenden Councillor Pete Handley Councillor David Nimmo-Smith Councillor Larry Sanders (in place of Councillor Deborah Glass Woodin) Councillor Val Smith Councillor David Turner Councillor Carol Viney
Mr Ben Jackson Mrs Sue Matthew
Other Members in Cabinet Member for School’s Improvement Councillor, Attendance: Councillor Michael Waine (for Agenda Item 6) and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families Councillor Louise Chapman (for Agenda Item 6)
By Invitation: Mr Mark Forder (COTO)
Officers:
Whole of meeting: D. Miller (Corporate Core).
Part of meeting:
The Scrutiny Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting, together with the following additional documents and agreed as
· A briefing paper in relation to Agenda item CH5
set out below. Copies of the agenda and reports, and additional documents are attached to the signed Minutes.
101/08 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS
Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:
Bernadine Spencer
The Chairman thanked Ms Bernadine Spencer on behalf of the Committee for her service on the Committee as Parent Governor Representative for the past 3 years and wished her well for the future.
102/08 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Sue Haffenden declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 5 by virtue of her position as Chair of the Learning & Disability Adult Board.
Mr Ben Jackson declared a personal interest at Agenda item 5 by virtue of his membership of CHOICE.
103/08 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 September 2008 were approved and signed, subject to Councillor Keith Mallon being changed to Councillor Kieron Mallon under those present on page 1 of the Minutes.
104/08 JAR REPORT AND ACTION PLAN (Agenda Item 5)
The Committee had before them the most recent Annual Performance Assessment for Oxfordshire (CH5) which had judged the Council’s Children’s Services as good, and its capacity to improve as good.
The report assessed the contribution of local services in ensuring that children and young people at risk, or requiring safeguarding were effectively cared for; who were looked after achieved the best possible outcomes; and with learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieved the best possible outcomes.
The following investigations were also carried out:
· the impact of the partners’ 14–19 strategy on improving outcomes for young people · the contribution of local services to improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for children and young people.
The Committee was asked to comment on the JAR outcome report and action plans and indicate whether there were any actions that the Scrutiny Committee would wish to contribute to through their Work Programme.
Mr Mike Simm, Head of Commissioning, Strategy and Locality Development attended in order to introduce the report and to answer any questions that Members may have wished to ask.
Following a brief introduction to the report members of the Committee asked a number of questions, a selection of which are recorded below:
· Was the Safeguarding Board now up and running?
The Board was now fully constituted, with an Independent Chair and a more elaborate structure in place. Highly effective sub-groups had also been set up, including an evaluation group to oversee all actions of the Board. The new Board now met every 2 months with the Sub-groups meeting more often.
· What were the Board’s new responsibilities?
All incidents of unexpected Child Deaths – a separate Sub-group had been set up to deal with this. Also the new Independent Chair was an approved SI Officer. Good relationships had also been forged between the Safeguarding board and Children’s Board.
· How was sexual Health screening being promoted?
Mainly screening for clamidia was being carried out and awareness was being raised through publicity.
· We would like to see more funding for the Corporate Parenting Panel.
It was pleasing that the JAR outcome in relation to Corporate Parenting was good – still seeking to raise the attainment of children looked after. We have now appointed a Virtual School Headteacher to coordinate and take forward all areas of work.
· What was happening with attainment of most able at 16?
The Virtual Headteacher will tap into this unfulfilled area to move it forward.
· Exclusions – over national targets – what were we doing in Oxfordshire to address this?
The Virtual School Headteacher was working with all Headteachers in Oxfordshire to bring down exclusions of children looked after. The Local Authority needed to support Schools to enable them to keep children looked after in School.
· What has been done about adoptions being delayed?
The Court time for adoptions was dependant on whether the child was adopted ‘in year’- there had been discussions with the court with a view to improving timeframes – Oxfordshire were now above similar authorities.
· Were Residential Homes being inspected?
This had been addressed by the Corporate Parenting Panel who were now carrying out monthly inspections of Homes.
· What was happening to the remaining schools? 8 point curriculum – was it satisfactory?
We have been concerned about absence of choice of post 16 education for children with special educational needs – this has now been transferred from the Learning & skills Council to the Local Authority.
Councillor Waine added that the JAR Inspection had not taken account of 2 years worth of work in this area which was almost at point of entry when the inspection had been carried out – the curriculum work was in hand and a guide had been produced for parents.
· There appeared to be problems all through the JAR outcome report with access to services due to lack of transport in rural areas – was anything being done to address this problem?
The inflexibility of transport was a major issue – seeking to address it by providing funding for transport for later services – there was some funding currently available from the government initiative ‘aiming high’ to extend capacity of short breaks, respite and leisure facilities.
Councillor Waine added that the Cabinet had funded a huge overspend in Transport and that the situation had now been pulled back. The Budget had also propped up school transport.
· Partnership working with employers – what was being done – how could we develop further links with employees to offer training?
Many local employers were aware of the need to grow this area. Learning and Skills Partnerships had been developed and had now got employers such as the Oxford Radcliffe on board. Oxford Economic Partnership had got together with Bicester Village to provide in service training courses so that people could learn whilst they worked. There was a need to reach out to those without a skills base, focusing on most disadvantaged young people.
· What was happening about educational attainment?
It was priority to raise overall level of attainment – the restructuring and funding had been put in place to take forward this area of work - need to create a broad and rich curriculum where basic skills were central – there have been significant improvements in attainment with a strong upwards trend.
· Although G.C.S.E. results were improved other stages were not doing so well – what was happening with diplomas and careers advice?
Other key stages were more patchy especially Key Stage 3 – the minister had only marked 15 – 20% of papers at this stage though – The Cabinet Member believed the minister needed to re-look at this area.
Diplomas – had not picked up any problems earlier in the year and had received very positive responses – we were successful in getting access to diploma gateway in March.
Careers – had successfully re-tendered service to Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Connection Service – the service had a very good record and it was expected that a better service would now be provided.
· Learning & Skills Council to Local Authority funding – what were we doing?
Need to look at 11 – 16 schools and the wider agenda post 16. Waiting to see if money comes with pupils. There needed to be more collaborative working across the board – the LSC funding could be used more effectively.
Following discussion and debate, the Committee thanked Mr Simm for his presentation and AGREED to carry out investigations of the following areas at future meetings of the Committee:
· Safeguarding Board · Teenage Conception (NEET) · Learning & Skills Council · Rural Transport
105/08 PLANNING, PREPARATION AND ASSESSMENT TIME IN PRIMARY AND NURSERY SCHOOLS - EVALUATION (Agenda Item 6)
[Lead Member Review Group comprised Councillors Sue Haffenden, Mrs Sue Matthews, Mrs Brenda Williams].
The Cabinet had considered this Scrutiny Review Report on 17 July 2007. The Review set out to undertake a wide-ranging and systematic examination of the impact on headteachers, teachers, other relevant staff and pupils in Oxfordshire primary and nursery schools of the introduction of guaranteed professional time for Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA).
The Committee was asked to question the Cabinet Member for School’s Improvement in relation to progress regarding implementation of the Review recommendations.
Ms Ann carter, Senior Adviser – Professional Development and Mr Roger Fell, Assistant consultant attended the meeting to update the Committee on progress made thus far and to answer any questions that members may have wished to ask.
Mr Hehir, Scrutiny Review officer introduced the report highlighting the original objectives of the Review and the progress set out in the Scrutiny Tracking Control Sheet. The Committee then questioned the Cabinet Member and officers in relation to progress made on the Review recommendations. A selection of questions, together with responses are recorded below:
· Councillors expressed concern that often Headteachers had to pick up the slack for other teaching staff by PPA. PPA had given rise to increased pressure on Headteachers. The review had also identified that a lot of pressure was being passed on to Teaching Assistants.
· Funding for PPA was within central government’s powers to increase and/or distribute more transparently.
Councillor Waine responded that the review and the Local Authority had put forward some good practice in PPA that the Council would wish to extend in the County. The “Flying Colours” initiative and “skilling” up of Teaching Assistants were examples of good practice.
As regards the role of Governors in helping to implement PPA, the Authority said that articles/advice/recommendations were included in the Governors Newsletter. The Workload Agreement was one of the themes of a Governor and Headteachers conference in the Autumn.
· Members expressed concern that Governors pay lip service to central Local Authority initiatives, newsletter etc.
Mr Roger Fell responded that by the time that the scrutiny review was published, it was already out of date. PPA had to be seen in the broader context of workforce reform. It was important to look at the impact of PPA on standards, the children in schools and as regards the school governance arrangements, the impact on the Headteachers and in school improvement terms. He made reference to an Ofsted assessed “outstanding” primary school, where a direct link had been established between its new status and how it had reviewed and implemented PPA.
· Why was there a lower density of HLTAs in Oxfordshire compared to much of the South East.
Ann Carter reported that schools were creating fewer HLTA roles – this was due to peculiarities of culture/attitude etc and because a lot of training and development was provided for non-teaching staff compared to other authorities.
Councillor Waine commented on Headteachers increased workload, but in response to a question, he had no indications that the ability to recruit Headteachers had worsened.
Mark Forder, COTO stated said that he believed that although teachers in Oxfordshire were receiving their PPA entitlement, teaching working hours had nevertheless increased, that resources for PPA were difficult to come by and unsustainable.
Following discussion, the Committee AGREED to welcome the progress made against the recommendations thus far, whilst noting that work was being carried out in areas that had not progressed so well.
106/08 EXTENDED SERVICES (Agenda Item 7)
The Committee had agreed to receive a presentation on the DCSF’s new expectation to provide extended services to all schools in Oxfordshire by September 2010.
Accordingly, Ms Judy Dyson, Senior Advisor, Partnership Development & Extended Learning and Mr David Scott-Batey, Raising Achievement, had been invited to attend the meeting to give a short presentation to the Committee and to answer any questions the Committee may have wished to ask.
Ms Dyson reported that extended services in and around schools were at the heart of achieving the 5 ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes. The DCSF’s expectation was that all schools would enable access to the full core offer of extended services by Sept 2010 for their children; young people, and their families. In Oxfordshire this was being developed by schools working together in their partnerships, alongside statutory, private, voluntary and independent service providers and partners at county, district and local community level. The core offer could strengthen families’ capacity to support their children’s learning and achievement, and help schools grow as hubs of their community.
The full core offer covered:
· access to high quality childcare, 8am-6pm, 5 days pw, 48 weeks per year, in accordance with local community need; · access for children and young people to a varied menu of activities, including study support; · access to parenting support; · schools providing a route to swift and easy access to support services to help overcome problems; · where schools had facilities that could provide for community access, these were made available for wider community use
The emphasis was on localised decisions, on sustainability and on better integrated and responsive services. Funding for this work had been identified by the DCSF for the period 2008-2011, one strand of which was in the ABG, so not ring-fenced. A formula to distribute this to the 26 school partnerships included weighting for deprivation and for reality, drawing on the county’s Children’s Centres experience.
Mr Scott-Batey reported that Oxfordshire Secondary Schools now offered 60 after school clubs, together with the necessary transport.
The aim was to ensure that all young people had the same access to services across the County, which would hopefully improve pupil attendance and attainment. Officers were encouraging schools to share good practice, such as Oxford Community School who offered extended services from 6 am to 10.00 at night.
Following the presentation, the Committee asked a number of questions. The Committee’s questions, together with the officers’ responses, are listed below:
· Have you considered the impact on smaller Schools? - often the distances were too far to travel and the children were tired at the end of the school day – worried that parents may use scheme as childcare provision.
Officers responded that there were real issues about how the scheme was working on the ground, including the issue of transporting children from rural schools – the scheme would need very careful monitoring.
· Would this add extra pressure to already overloaded Headteachers?
There was a danger that it would impact on school staff if not implemented correctly – it was not intended that the scheme have a negative impact on school but should work alongside school.
· Members expressed concern about the length of day for children and staff.
Some schools were getting round these issues by offering lunchtime activities – the scheme was not meant to be an imposition or requirement but meant to be a response to need.
Following discussion the Committee thanked the officers for their presentation and AGREED to evaluate progress on the scheme at its March 2009 Meeting.
107/08 ESTABLISHMENT REVIEW (Agenda Item 8)
On 24 July 2008, the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee had agreed to invite scrutiny committees to consider the Establishment Review report to Cabinet on 15 July 2008 in the context of their programme areas and to comment to the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee in order to enable the Committee to discuss the overall position with the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development on 25 September 2008.
Accordingly, Mr Andrew Butler, Human Resources Business Adviser attended the meeting to introduce the report and to answer any questions that Members may have wished to ask.
The Scrutiny Committee’s discussion focused around the current restructuring of Children, Young People & Families and the associated number of vacancies.
The Committee:
· noted that there were a high number of vacancies within the directorate and sought reassurance that the number of vacancies were high due to restructuring; · asked for a report to come back to the Committee in 3 months time with further explanatory notes as requested at Cabinet; and
· asked that the school figures excluded from the Establishment Review Report be copied to all members of the Committee.
108/08 SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME (Agenda Item 9)
The current work programme was attached for information at CH9.
The Committee noted that the Educational Attainment Review had now drawn up a scoping document to submit to the Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group on 6 October 2008 (a copy of which is attached to these minutes) and that the Group proposed a three stage approach to the review, following four lines of enquiry as follows:-
1. Leadership: both by teachers and governors 2. Community: how the community can be engaged to raise attainment, the impact of children’s centres 3. Specific groups: BME, SEN, gifted children, free school meals, looked after children (etc.) 4. The pathway of children through education: both in terms of the development of their core skills and the structural path (catchment areas, transition to high school, sixth form).
The Committee further AGREED to undertake an internal investigation of the Youth Service at its meeting in October.
109/08 FORWARD PLAN (Agenda Item 10)
The Committee was asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it might have wished to have had an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision was taken.
No items had been identified for consideration.
................................................................................... in the Chair
Date of signing.................................................................. 2008 |