Agenda

To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments.

See guidance note on the back page.

The Committee is recommended to APPROVE the minutes of the meetings held on 27 February, 2026, and on 12 May, 2026.

The Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer has provided an update on co-optee recruitment.  

The Committee is recommended to consider the report and to NOTE the update on activity undertaken to fill the Committee’s vacant co-optee post for a parent governor and AGREE to appoint Leah Q and Elza B as co-opted young people members subject to each completing and and submitting a Register of Interests form, for two years, from the next scheduled meeting of the Committee.

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 23 June, 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.

The Committee has requested a report arising from the Joint Targeted Area Inspection carried out by Ofsted, the Care Quaility Commission, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.  The inspection considered the multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment in Oxfordshire.

Cllr Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Carol Douch, Assistant Director Safeguarding QA Partner, and colleagues from across the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership have been invited to present the report.

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.

The Committee has requested a report on the Best Start in Life Plan, which was approved by Cabinet on 19 May, 2026, and has invited Cllr Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, and Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Delia Mann, Deputy Director Childrens Social Care, Annette Perrington, Deputy Director Education and Inclusion, and Sophie Black, Assistant Director Early Help Prevention to present the report.

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.

The Committee has requested a report on the development of Best Start Family Hubs in Oxfordshire.

Cllr Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, and Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Delia Mann, Deputy Director Children's Social Care, and Sophie Black, Assistant Director Early Help Prevention, have been invited to present the report.

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.

The Committee has requested a report on the SEND Improvement Notice letter.

Cllr Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, and Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services, Annette Perrington, Deputy Director Education and Inclusion, Laurie Baker, Deputy Director Education and Inclusion, and Deb Smit, Assistant Director SEND and Inclusion, have been invited to present the report.

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.

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.

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

Attached is the Cabinet responses to the Education and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee reports on:

-        The Local Area SEND Partnership

-        Attainment

-        EOTAS

-        Fostering

-        The Virtual School

The Committee is asked to NOTE the responses.