Return to AgendaITEM CH5
CHILDREN’S SERVICES SCRUTINY committee
MINUTES of the meeting held on 26 February 2008 commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 13.12 pm
Present:
Voting Members: Councillor Sue Haffenden - in the chair
Councillor Marilyn Badcock Councillor Ann Bonner Councillor Mrs Anda Fitzgerald-O’Connor Councillor Jean Fooks Councillor Deborah Glass Woodin (part of meeting) Councillor Pete Handley Councillor Val Smith Councillor Lawrie Stratford Councillor David Turner Councillor Carol Viney Councillor David Wilmshurst (in place of Councillor David Nimmo-Smith)
Mr Chris Bevan Mr Ben Jackson Mrs Sue Matthew Ms Bernadine Spencer
Non-Voting Members: Mrs Carole Thomson (Oxfordshire Governors’ Association)
Other Members in Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families: Attendance: Councillor Louise Chapman
Officers:
Whole of meeting: K. Coldwell (Corporate Core)
Part of meeting:
The Scrutiny Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and agreed as set out below. Copies of the agenda and reports are attached to the signed Minutes.
65/08 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS
Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:
The Cabinet Member for Schools’ Improvement also sent his apologies.
66/08 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Sue Haffenden declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 12 (Childcare Market Assessment) by virtue of being Chairman of the Learning Disability Partnership Board.
67/08 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 December 2007 were approved and signed subject to amending the following question on page 11 as indicated in strikethrough and bold italics:
Was the swimming pool being used by
Matters Arising
57/07 Minutes – Minute 47/07 – Councillor Handley reported that some progress had been made regarding the lack of sixth form in Carterton.
57/07 Minutes – Minute 47/07 – Councillor Chapman reported that the lack of termination facilities in Oxfordshire had been discussed at the previous meeting of the Children & Young People’s Board. Health was undertaking a review into the issue and it was hoped that the outcomes would be reported to the next Board meeting.
Councillor Chapman undertook to report the outcomes to this Committee as soon as they became available.
Minute 59/07 – Service and Resource Planning 2008/09 – 2012/13 – Youth Service – Councillor Chapman reported that changes to youth support and the Youth Service would be part of the imminent restructure of Children, Young People & Families. Minute 60/07 – Oxford Academy – Draft Outline Business Case – Councillor Fooks reported that the City Council’s Executive had recommended that more provision be made for local youth.
Minute 63/07 – Follow up Report on the First Year of Delegating the Statementing Budget – Councillor Haffenden suggested that part (c) of the Cabinet Member for Schools’ Improvement’s decision (to ask officers to continue to monitor the level of SEN funding and the impact on pupil outcomes) might be a subject for Scrutiny in future.
68/08 ORDER OF BUSINESS
The Committee AGREED to change the order of business as indicated in these Minutes.
69/08 TRACKING SCRUTINY ITEMS (Agenda Item 5)
Report back on advice by this Committee to the Cabinet or Council.
The Committee noted the following information:
(a) Service and Resource Planning 2008/09 – 2012/13
On 11 December 2007 this Committee had agreed to forward the following advice to the Cabinet via the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee:
This Committee:
(a) wishes to congratulate the Directorate on:
(i) its whole service approach to setting the budget this year (as opposed to a service by service approach);
(ii) the savings achieved on Home to School Transport due to the re-tendering process; and hopes that the savings will continue in future years;
(b) recommends the Cabinet to consider the proposal for Raising Achievement (£350,000) as set out in Annex 4 subject to all members of this Committee soon receiving a copy of the Summary Review Report of the Educational Effectiveness Service;
(c) supports the proposal for Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation (£450,000) as set out in Annex 4; and
(d) should any funding be available this Committee wishes the Cabinet to look at youth centre provision in both rural and urban areas of the county in order to see where it needs to be improved (this review should include consideration of factors such as opening hours and staffing).
On 15 January the Cabinet had proposed in respect to this programme area:
To fund the investment proposals in order to:
o raise educational aspiration and achievement (new posts in 3 localities), £350k for each of the years 2008/09 to 2010/11; and
o develop prevention and early intervention work, £300k in 2008/09 rising to £450k in 2009/10 and beyond.
(b) Oxford Academy – DRAFT Outline Business Case
On 11 December 2007 this Committee had conducted a question and answer session and had agreed:
(a) to urge the Cabinet to ascertain the position of Oxford City Council regarding the Joint Agreement for the future provision of the swimming pool at Peers school;
(b) to request the Cabinet to open up discussion with the Academy about retaining the present pool at Peers school for use by both pupils and the community; and
(c) to inform the Cabinet that subject to Health and Safety constraints on the contractors, this Committee was of the view that public access to the pool and possibly the library could be maintained during the rebuilding period by opening up Champion Way.
On 15 January the Cabinet had agreed to:
(a) approve the Outline Project Appraisal & Outline Business Case subject to recommendation(g);
(b) declare permanently surplus the entire Peers School site at closure on 31 August 2008;
(c) approve the disposal on a 125 year lease at a peppercorn rent of those parts of the site required for the establishment of the Oxford Academy;
(d) approve the disposal ‘off market’ to the Oxford Academy Sponsors;
(e) authorise officers to undertake all necessary steps including affixing the common seal for the grant of a 125 year lease to the Oxford Academy Sponsors;
(f) agree to retain the Mabel Pritchard School within the Academy facility; and
(g) authorise the Head of Property and the Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer to finalise the funding details of the proposed Oxford Academy on the basis that the Authority’s capital contribution to the scheme is no more than £4.730m, and that the funding gap described in this Report is bridged by one of the three options described as A, B or C in the supplementary report.
A paper setting out the latest position with regard to the swimming pool and sports centre at the time of agenda despatch was before the Committee.
In response to a question from Councillor Haffenden, Councillor Fooks confirmed that all concerned had agreed to continue financing the swimming pool until the end of August.
Councillor Haffenden then read out the following statement which had been provided by Councillor K. R. Mitchell as follows:
The budget passed by the City Council included £100k to fund continuation of their share of the Joint Use Agreement for Peers Sports Facility until 31 August 2008………County Officers confirm that, subject only to Peers school’s concurrence, the facility will remain operational until 31 August 2008. Depending on the views of whichever Group or Groups form the administration after the May 2008 elections in the City, it may be possible to negotiate continued use until the Academy rebuild, if the City Council was willing to continue its share of the Joint Use funding. However, this would be a matter for negotiation with the new Academy which, all being well, comes into being in September 2008. Looking longer term and past the rebuild, it does look extremely unlikely that the facility would survive the rebuild. This is because of the Academy’s funding and curriculum offer. If a different City Council Administration wished to explore this option, it would have to move quickly and to offer an appropriate financial contribution both in capital terms and in ongoing revenue subsidy. It would be a matter for the Academy.
The Committee also noted that negotiations regarding the library facility were ongoing and that concerns had been raised that the amount of space set aside for this was insufficient.
70/08 SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME (Agenda Item 6)
· Brief oral report from Councillor Haffenden on Bournemouth Conference: Social Services for Adults and children.
Councillor Haffenden reported as follows:
· Sir Simon Milton (Chairman of the Local Government Association) had given a talk; · Councillors from a number of different political parties had attended; · demographic change had been identified as an issue for all local authorities. Eligibility criteria and future funding of care had been discussed, together with the prevention agenda and special housing needs; · there had been a fringe meeting on learning disabilities but it was unfortunate that no service users had been present; · Tanni Grey Thompson had given a very inspiring talk; · Ed Balls MP had emphasised the need for children to enjoy their education but had not announced any new initiatives; and · She had collected a considerable amount of information from the exhibition and could share this on request.
· To update this Committee’s work programme (CH6).
The Committee noted that the Scrutiny Review into Educational Attainment among the most “deprived” across all Key Stages would be the next piece of work to commence.
71/08 HEALTHY SCHOOLS CHAMPION – NOMINATION AND JOB DESCRIPTION (Agenda Item 7)
Members of this Committee had previously conducted a Scrutiny Review into Healthy Schools.
Recommendation 9 had asked that a Member Children’s Champion be nominated and that included within his or her remit, should be the promotion of and involvement in celebratory events around “Healthy Schools”.
The Cabinet’s response had stated that nominating a Member Healthy Schools Champion would be a welcome development [on the grounds that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families was already the Children’s Champion].
A proposed job description had now been drawn up for the Committee’s comment and approval as listed on the Agenda.
The Committee was invited to nominate one elected member to fulfil the role of Healthy Schools Champion. Councillor Jean Fooks had expressed an interest in undertaking this role.
As this appointment had not been identified as ‘Strategic’ by the Cabinet, it was for the Democracy & Organisation Committee (DOC) to make the appointment at its next meeting.
Councillor David Turner moved and Councillor Val Smith seconded that Councillor Jean Fooks’s name go forward to the Democracy and Organisation Committee as the Healthy Schools Champion.
Councillor Ann Bonner then moved and Councillor Marilyn Badcock seconded that Councillor Pete Handley’s name go forward to the Democracy and Organisation Committee as the Healthy Schools Champion.
The Committee AGREED (by 6 votes to 4) to recommend the Democracy and Organisation Committee to appoint Councillor Handley as the Healthy Schools Champion.
The Committee further AGREED to:
· amend the job description for the Healthy Schools Champion as listed below:
The Healthy Schools (HS) Champion shall encourage good practice and communicate this to all schools yet to achieve Healthy Schools Status. S/he should encourage celebratory events for schools to share their achievements. An annual update on the project should be brought to Scrutiny.
· request that the Healthy Schools Champion be appointed by DOC at the earliest opportunity (date of next meeting to be confirmed); and · request the Healthy Schools Champion to provide a report on progress to this Committee’s September meeting.
Once appointed the Healthy Schools Champion would need to publicise their appointment and role in the ‘Healthy Schools’ newsletter and ascertain who received the newsletter, for example, if it was also sent to chairs of school governing bodies.
72/08 EVALUATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN SCRUTINY REVIEW (Agenda Item 8)
[Lead Member Review Group comprises Councillors Deborah Glass-Woodin, Hilary Hibbert-Biles, Val Smith and Melinda Tilley].
The Cabinet had considered this Scrutiny Review Report in November 2006.
It was now time to review progress regarding implementation of the review recommendations.
Ms Voirrey Carr (Service Manager – Educational Inclusion) attended before the Committee in order to answer any questions which members of the Committee may have wished to ask.
A selection of the Committee’s questions and answers is listed below:
· Would the register be provided annually?
Yes. Secondary schools had to produce a list of the numbers of gifted and talented pupils in their schools. This was the first year that primary schools had to report.
Eventually, it was anticipated that schools would be asked to account for how they were meeting the needs of those children and young people on the gifted and talented register. Inclusion Consultants had just received a list of those schools that had yet to identify their gifted and talented pupils and the Team would be looking into this. There was an annual Inclusion Audit where progress of all groups was considered. When there was concern about the poor progress of more able pupils, consultants would ring schools and offer support, such as INSET in assessment for learning or peer observation.
· Had the Team looked into teacher exchanges between primary and secondary schools?
A considerable amount of joint training had taken place but no visits had been organised. This would be a good method of developing best practice within localities.
· Had the personalisation grant been used and if so had it been used to provide for the needs of the gifted and talented?
Letters had been sent to schools in January 2007 suggesting that this would be an appropriate use of the grant. Many schools had freed up teachers to attend leading teachers’ training for gifted and talented children.
Following discussion the Committee AGREED:
· that it was satisfied with progress made to date regarding implementation of those recommendations which had been agreed by the Cabinet; and · to consider the feedback from primary schools on the numbers of gifted and talented pupils in their schools once it had been received.
73/08 PRESENTATION ON PRIMARY CHILD & ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES (PCAMHS) (Agenda Item 11)
At its December meeting when receiving the Task Group update on its progress reviewing the implementation of the priorities identified from the review of year one of the Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP), the Task Group had reported that mental health was the most important aspect to focus on.
The Children's Services Scrutiny Committee had therefore agreed to invite Mr Paul Sheffield (PCAMHS Service Manager) to this Committee's February meeting to enable the Committee to learn more about the service.
Mr Sheffield gave a short presentation to the Committee, a copy of which is attached to the Signed Minutes. The main points are summarised below:
· PCAMHS had been the winner of the 2007 Health Service Journal Award for Mental Health innovation; · in 2004 the condition of children’s mental health services in Oxfordshire had reflected national trends. There had been chronic waiting lists, complex eligibility criteria and mental health services had only been accessible via the GP. The Service had not been geared towards prevention; · the service was now an integration of health, education and social care services by Oxfordshire County Council, the Primary Care Trust and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust. The model worked on three levels; supporting professional services, delivering an early intervention service, and fast track into specialist services; · the multi-professional team included social workers, counsellors, teachers, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, health visitors and nurses; · the service was fundamental to delivering the full range of children’s mental health services. There was one single screening and referral basis and all referrals were accepted. It was child and family focussed and community based, delivering value for money with no waiting lists, good retention of staff and one single database for vulnerable children. The results showed that early intervention works; · feedback from children and their parents was very positive and there were very few re-referrals.
The Committee AGREED to:
· congratulate all staff in Primary Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services for their receipt of the Health Service Journal for Mental Health Innovation award; and · thank Mr Sheffield for his informative presentation.
74/08 CHILDCARE MARKET ASSESSMENT (Agenda Item 12)
The Childcare Act 2006 expanded and clarified in legislation the vital role the local authority will play in facilitating the childcare market across the county. Working with providers from the private, voluntary, independent and maintained sectors, officers look to create a strong, sustainable and diverse childcare market that meets the needs of parents.
The aim of this is to offer choice and flexibility to parents, enabling them to have greater choice about balancing family and work life. In order to be able to do this childcare will need to be high quality, affordable, and flexible to meet their needs.
From April 2007 the local authority has had the duty, under section 11 of the Childcare Act, to undertake a Childcare Market Assessment (a detailed assessment of the supply of, and demand for, childcare in their area). The assessments will provide the local authority with the evidence it will need to develop strategies for meeting the new duty to secure sufficient childcare, which will commence in April 2008. This will enable the targeting of resources to those areas that need it most.
The statutory guidance lists a number of groups with whom the consultation must take place. This is children, parents, childcare providers, representatives of children, parents and childcare providers, local employers and representatives, neighbouring top tier local authorities, schools, further education colleges and higher education institutions; and other organisations with an interest in the provision of childcare.
Oxfordshire County Council had now received a draft Childcare Market Assessment from its consultants, Cordis Bright Consulting. The consultation was currently underway and therefore had been brought to this meeting to enable Committee members to respond.
The Local Authority is required to complete the consultation by 31 March 2008, the results of which will be published as part of the Children, Young People and Families Plan (CYPP).
Ms Annie Davy (Head of Early Years & Childcare), Mr Fergus Campbell (Childcare Development Manager), Mr Colin Horswell (Lead Consultant - Cordis Bright Consulting) and the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families attended before the Committee in order to answer any questions which members of the Committee may have wished to ask.
Ms Davy introduced the item, followed by a ten minute presentation from Mr Horswell. A copy of the presentation is attached to the signed Minutes and a summary of the main points is listed below:
· the gap analysis had covered the following categories: types of childcare available, age gaps, affordability, opening times, flexibility, geography, families with disabled children, families in work; and families seeking work; · parents/carers and children and childcare providers had all been consulted and there had been 1,341 questionnaire respondents (parents/carers); · 71.4% of respondents had said that childcare arrangements fully met their need; · fees appeared to be higher in Oxfordshire than in the SE region and in comparison to the average figure for England; · the focus groups (a total of 28 children had been consulted) had revealed that: - children liked activities involving friends and which were fun; - the main reason they attended was because their parents or carers worked; - most had positive experiences and views about the club but would prefer to be at home, a friend’s house or engaged in other formal activities eg sport; - in terms of improvements, they wanted new equipment and games and to be treated with greater respect, autonomy and fairness; · the gap analysis included a summary of all the issues at locality level (13 localities); · holiday provision was the main gap as it was less likely to meet the needs of parents and carers and there were a higher number of children per place during school holidays than during term time; · the overall stock of childcare appeared to be healthy; · more childcare was required. 13.6% of respondent parents/carers had wanted children to attend more formal childcare and demand was mainly for after school clubs and breakfast clubs; · provision for children aged 5+ should be a priority as it was less likely to be meeting needs and more likely to require improvements, especially in terms of quality, location, choice and provision during school holidays; · affordability was a key priority for improvement with: - 17.7% of respondents identifying it as a barrier to take-up; - an improvement suggestion for 26.7% of children; - providers agreed and supply data also confirmed affordability as an issue; · pressure on affordability was likely to continue as 15.1% of providers intended to significantly increase fees in the next 18 months; · opening times had not been identified as a barrier to take-up although childcare for 15.6% of children could be improved by being available at different times. 43% of requests had been for opening times to be 8 am to 6 pm; · flexibility had not been identified as a barrier to take-up although it had been the second highest improvement suggestion for those using childcare; · overall the location of childcare had been viewed positively within Oxfordshire although there were differences by locality; · childcare for 45.5% of children with disabilities did not fully meet need. Providers had also given a low rating for this indicator. Areas for improvement were choice, location, information and advice and affordability. Providers were concerned about the cost of training staff and many had stated that they had not had sufficient training to look after children with disabilities; · 69.4% of respondents used childcare in order to work. Only households where both parents/carers worked full time wanted to use more childcare and there were possible gaps for those that worked irregular hours; · childcare was not fully meeting the need of respondents where families were seeking work or where parents/carers were studying or training. School holidays were a particular issue; and · welfare reform might increase the focus on provision for lone parent families.
Ms Davies reported as follows:
· officers had conducted a literature search in terms of activities currently underway by national campaigning organisations regarding care for children with disabilities; · new funding was coming in for the private and voluntary sector. One of the funding streams would be for equipment for inclusion; · the Directorate would continue to provide training on looking after children with disabilities; · the Directorate had put in a Pathfinder bid but had been asked to supply further information. New funding had been promised; and · officers were focussing on childminders who were specifically trained to look after children with disabilities.
The Committee then conducted a question and answer session. A selection of questions, together with responses, are listed below:
· Why was the cost of childcare higher in Oxfordshire?
The costs for Oxfordshire were overarching averages based on maximum rates. Discounts or special rates had not been taken into account. Although the Oxfordshire figures were current, the regional figures were a few years old.
· Could private providers be used during school holidays to plug the gap in provision?
Yes. Registered holiday provision was counted. It was harder to collect data on unregistered holiday provision as some clubs ran for less than a week. It might be possible to see how many unregistered places were partly meeting need. It was also important to extend existing childcare provision, for example, through the extended schools programme.
Following discussion, the Committee AGREED to:
· thank Mr Horswell for his informative presentation; and · urge officers to continue their work with employers (including Oxfordshire County Council as a major employer) to ensure that more flexible working options were provided (for example, unpaid leave during school holidays where necessary).
75/08 UNACCOMPANIED MINORS (ASYLUM SEEKING CHILDREN (UASCs) (Agenda Item 13)
Members of this Committee had previously expressed a wish to learn more about Unaccompanied Minors (Asylum seeking children) and had received a short briefing note on this matter. The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, together with Mr Andy Couldrick (Head of Service, Early Years & Family Support), attended before the Committee in order to answer any questions which Members may have wished to ask.
Mr Couldrick reported as follows:
- currently there were 124 UASC over 18 who were in contact with the Directorate and 67 under 18s; - the ethnic makeup of the county’s UASCs was varied but they were from war torn areas of the world, many of whom had witnessed the death of family members and been sex trafficked then abandoned in the UK; - there had been recent developments regarding a number of authorities who were all experiencing significant financial pressures in terms of looking after high numbers of UASCs and were lobbying the government to reimburse the money spent.
Following a brief question and answer session, the Committee AGREED to:
· thank Mr Couldrick for his informative report; · congratulate officers on the academic achievement of the County’s Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASCs); and · note that a meeting would be held in Westminster on 23 April to which Oxfordshire MPs and MPs from the other 11 authorities who were experiencing considerable financial pressures due to the high numbers of UASCS in their areas would be invited, together with members of the House of Lords who lived in those areas.
Councillor Chapman undertook to update the Committee on the results of this meeting.
The Committee noted that copies of the papers commissioned by the 12 authorities, together with other papers had been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre.
76/08 YOUNG (CHILD) CARERS (AND SUPPORT FOR THEM): PROGRESS UPDATE (Agenda Item 9)
[Lead Member Review Group comprises Councillors David Turner, Mrs Anda Fitzgerald O’Connor, Carol Viney and Mr Ben Jackson].
This item had been included on the agenda to inform the Committee of current progress on the review and to enable members to ask questions on areas of interest.
The Lead Member Review Group reported as follows:
· they had met with a variety of organisations; · carers’ personal experiences were replicated across other counties revealing that there were common underlying issues to be addressed; · the Group had visited the Children’s Society in Winchester where an excellent model was used; and · the Group would be having a brief discussion after this meeting to collate information gathered to date.
Mr Hehir (Scrutiny Review Officer) stated that it appeared that Oxfordshire County Council was at the forefront in terms of practice for young carers.
The Committee AGREED that a DVD made by North and West Oxfordshire Young Carers Project “Good Days, Bad Days” would be shown at the end of this Committee’s May meeting.
The draft report would also be considered at this Committee’s May meeting.
77/08 PROGRESS UPDATE FROM TASK GROUP: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRIORITIES FROM THE REVIEW OF YEAR ONE OF THE CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN (Agenda Item 10)
[Task Group members comprise Councillors Fooks, Haffenden, Glass-Woodin and Handley, Mrs Sue Matthew and Ms Bernadine Spencer].
One of the items in this Committee’s Scrutiny Work Programme for 2007/08 is an ongoing review of the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) as it is implemented. On 17 July 2007 the Cabinet approved the review of the first year of the Children & Young People’s Plan, which had been produced in April 2006.
The Task Group would be reporting back to the Committee periodically and feeding into the review of Year 2 of the Plan.
The Lead Member Review Group reported as follows:
· some members had met with Ms Maria Godfrey (Service Manager – Locality Working and Integrated Support Services) to discuss locality working - the work of the Co-ordinators of the 13 CYPF multi-disciplinary “Teams around the child” across the county - and would need to speak to Mr Couldrick (Head of Service, Early Years & Family Support); · they wished to speak to some young people and queried whether a member could attend the next Sounding Board meeting; · they also wished to have the dates of the other Board meetings (Children & Young People’s Board and the CYP Partnership) to enable them to attend as observers.
Councillor Chapman undertook to provide the Lead Member Review Group with the date of the next Children’s Sounding Board meeting to enable a Review Group Member to attend.
The Committee AGREED to thank the Group for drawing the excellent multi-agency working in PCAMHs to their attention.
78/08 FORWARD PLAN (Agenda Item 14)
The Committee was asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it might have wished to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision was taken.
The Committee AGREED to:
· express its disappointment that the Sustainable Schools Travel Strategy had been deferred to the March* 2008 (*not April) Cabinet meeting, on the grounds that if Members had known this in good time then they could have commented on the Strategy at their February meeting; · request Ms Coldwell to obtain a copy of the Strategy and email it to all members of the Committee for comment to enable their advice to be put forward to the Cabinet (without the need to schedule an extraordinary meeting of this Committee); and · request Committee Services that future Scrutiny Committee dates be scheduled before meetings of the Cabinet.
................................................................................... in the Chair
Date of signing.................................................................. 2008
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