Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments.

Apologies were received from Cllr Overton, substituted by Cllr Epps, and from Peace Nnaji. Cllr Dr Creed tendered apologies and attended online as a guest of the Chair.

See guidance note on the back page.

There were none.

The Committee is recommended to APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2026 and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2026 were APPROVED as a true and accurate record on the meeting.

The Scrutiny Officer informed the Committee that the process to recruit to Young Person co-optees was under way, with interviews expected on 31 March 2026.

Members of the public who wish to speak on an item on the agenda at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection.

Requests to speak must be submitted no later than 9am three working days before the meeting, i.e., Tuesday, 24 February, 2026.

Requests should be submitted to the Scrutiny Officer at scrutiny@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am on the day of the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

Where there are a number of requests from persons wishing to present similar views on the same issue, the Chair may require that the views be put by a single spokesperson. It is expected that only in exceptional circumstances will a person (or organisation) be allowed to address more than one meeting on a particular issue in any period of six months.

The public is reminded that the Committee is not a decision-making body and that it cannot investigate individual complaints.  The Committee requests that no individual children are named when addressing the Committee

There were none.

Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Annette Perrington, Interim Deputy Director of Education and Inclusion, Jaswinder Didially, Assistant Director – School and Settings (Sufficiency), and Kim Wilson, Assistant Director – Schools and Settings (Standards, Effectiveness, and Performance) have been invited to present a report on Early Years provision.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and raise any questions, and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising therefrom.

to follow

Cllr Sean Gaul, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Annette Perrington, Interim Deputy Director of Education and Inclusion, Jaswinder Didially, Assistant Director – School and Settings (Sufficiency), Kim Wilson, Assistant Director – Schools and Settings (Standards, Effectiveness, and Performance), Jessica Dawson, Manager, Early Years Centre, Georgina Newbould, Manager of Early Years Sufficiency and Access, and Michelle Jenkins, Early Years Quality Improvement Manager, were invited to present a report on Early Years provision.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People apologised that the Early Years paper had been published later than it ought to have been owing to ongoing discussions on tackling inequalities in early childhood development. Three interconnected strands of work were outlined: the Best Start in Life plan, Early Years sufficiency, and improving the Good Level of Development (GLD) at age five. Although the Council performed above national averages overall, outcomes for children from deprived backgrounds remained significantly lower. The Cabinet Member emphasised that national targets were not sufficient to close this gap, and the Council had therefore adopted more ambitious local objectives.

The Interim Deputy Director of Education and Inclusion introduced the presentation by describing the governance supporting the Best Start in Life plan. The Children’s Trust Board oversaw both the Early Years Board and the Early Help Prevention Board, making it the most suitable body to lead the work. Early Years activity extended across safeguarding, early support for families, quality improvement, sufficiency planning and wider partnerships, including public health and the Oxford Education and Inclusion Partnership (OEIP) The final plan was required to be submitted to the Department for Education by 31 March 2026, and membership and supporting infrastructure continued to evolve.

The Assistant Director for Schools and Settings (Sufficiency) provided the framework for the sufficiency strand, noting that the detailed childcare sufficiency report was nearing completion. A balance was needed between expanding provision and supporting the sustainability of existing settings, particularly in the context of changing duties and financial pressures.

A detailed overview of childcare sufficiency was given by the Manager for Early Years Sufficiency and Access. Oxfordshire delivered Early Years entitlements through nearly 800 providers, the majority within the private, voluntary and independent sector. Whilst overall take?up exceeded national averages, participation among disadvantaged two?year?olds had fallen sharply. Targeted actions had already raised this from 59% in the summer of 2025 to 77% in the autumn. Geographic gaps in provision for younger children were highlighted, alongside ongoing capital projects, efforts to repurpose surplus spaces, models offering extended hours, and challenges around workforce recruitment and retention.

Technical and operational insight was added by the Early Years Centre Manager, who reinforced the importance of careful, forward?looking planning to meet the expanded entitlements.

The Chair then invited the Committee to explore the issues further.

Discussion opened with the potential to expand sensory provision beyond formal educational environments. Suggestions included developing sensory gardens and community spaces using Section 106 contributions. Officers welcomed the proposal as an example of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13/26

The Committee has requested that terms of reference be drawn up for a Scrutiny Review Panel regarding Woodeaton Manor School. 

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider the report and to:
i. AGREE membership allocations

ii. AGREE with the approach and schedule of meetings set out in the report;

iii. APPOINT the membership.

The Committee requested that terms of reference be drawn up for a Scrutiny Review Panel regarding Woodeaton Manor School.

The Committee AGREED with the approach and schedule of meetings set out in the report, subject to the amendments below.

Paragraph 3: It will be focussed on the potential for learning lesson and improving practice and will explore how the Council responded when during the period in which the school received a mandatory academisation order.

Paragraph 4: The Panel will seek to identify an lessons that could be learned and consider whether, upon receiving in the period surrounding the receipt of the notice, the Council acted as it reasonably ought to have done.

The Committee discussed the scrutiny review panel's membership allocations. The initial proposal suggested a five-member panel reflecting political proportionality: three Liberal Democrat Group, one Labour & Co-operative Party Group, and one Oxfordshire Alliance Group. Alternatively, it was suggested that the Committee could appoint members from each political group represented on the Committee.  That alternative composition would comprise: two Liberal Democrat Group members; one Labour and Co-operative Party Group member; one Oxfordshire Alliance Group member; one Green Party Group member.

After discussion, the Committee AGREED to a third version taking account of the spirit of political proportionality requirements in paragraph 10 of the Terms of Reference but expanding to six members for broader representation.  If three members of the Liberal Democrat Group agreed to sit, the Committee AGREED that there would be, three Liberal Democrat Group members; one Labour and Co-operative Party Group member; one Oxfordshire Alliance Group member; one Green Party Group member.  If there were not to be three Liberal Democrat Group members, it would have the alternative composition in the paragraph above.

The Committee AGREED to the provisional membership as follows:

• Cllr Bekah Fletcher (Liberal Democrat Group)
• Cllr Andy Graham (Liberal Democrat Group)
• Cllr Emma Markham (Green Party Group)
• Cllr James Plumb (Oxfordshire Alliance Group)

The Labour and Cooperative Party Group member would be confirmed at a later date. The sixth member, who would be from the Liberal Democrat Group, would also be confirmed at a later date.

No responses were due.

There were none due.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE its work programme for forthcoming meetings, having heard any changes from previous iterations, and taking account of the Cabinet Forward Plan and of the Budget Management Monitoring Report.

Cllr Gaul, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, and Annette Perrington, Interim Deputy Director of Education and Inclusion, attended to support the Committee.

The Interim Deputy Director briefed the Committee on the Government’s new White Paper covering schools and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) reforms, emphasising its significance and connection to national strategies like Best Start in Life and the Child Poverty Strategy. The reforms proposed a shift back to a graduated support model, similar to School Action and School Action Plus, reserving Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for only the most complex needs.

This approach had already sparked concerns among parents about access to individualised support and a potential rise in assessment requests. Councils were expected to prepare immediately, addressing infrastructure, governance, early intervention, sufficiency, and mainstream inclusion, with the possibility of running two systems in parallel until legislation was finalised.

The Director described the reforms as a seismic change, comparable to the post-Children Act 2004 restructuring, and highlighted the challenge of maintaining a strategic view to avoid unintended consequences.

The Committee questioned whether the Government’s offer to write off 90% of the Council’s Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) SEND deficit was guaranteed; officers clarified that this depended on the quality of the SEND Reform Plan, due by 17 May 2026, and its subsequent assessment by the Department for Education. The plan’s approval could result in a £146 million benefit, but the Council must provide robust evidence of its ability to reduce overspends and drive long-term change, with the approval bar set high.

The Committee discussed how best to ensure all councillors were properly informed about the scale and implications of the SEND White Paper. The Director advised that an all?member briefing would be helpful so that councillors could answer residents’ questions confidently and understand the wider reforms underway. She emphasised that regular updates and clear communications would be important as the reforms developed and the Council prepared its response.

The Committee discussed how best to schedule future meetings in light of the workload arising from the SEND White Paper and the requirement to produce a draft SEND Reform Plan. Members AGREED that the 27 March 2026 meeting should be cancelled, as, given the additional meeting in January, the Committee had already met more frequently than required under the provisions of the Council’s Constitution.

Instead, they proposed holding an informal meeting of members of the Committee, rather than a formal session, towards the end of April or early May, once officers had sufficiently progressed the draft plan. This informal session would allow members to consider early proposals before the plan went forward for wider sign?off. It was also NOTED that, because the meeting would be informal, attendance requirements would not apply and members could join online.

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the progress of previous recommendations and actions arising from previous meetings, having raised any questions on the contents.

The Committee NOTED the action and recommendation tracker.