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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Kennet Room - County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN. View directions

Contact: Roger Bishton 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from:-

 

Cllr Andrew Davis, who was substituted by Cllr James Sheppard

Miss Sarah Busby

Miss Tracy Cornelius

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 19th December 2017.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 19 December 2017.

 

 

3.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

4.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

(a)           Cabinet Items

 

On 30 January 2018 Cabinet considered the following items:-

 

·       School Admissions Policies 2019/20

Lead Officer:  Debbie Clare

 

·       School Capital Programme 2018-2021 Report

Lead Officer: Clare Medland – The Chairman informed the meeting that Ms Medland would shortly being leaving the employment of the Council to take up a position with Gloucestershire County Council.  The Chairman and Members requested that their best wishes be conveyed to Ms Medland, together with their thanks for the considerable contributions that she had made particularly regarding school places.  

 

·       Wiltshire Council Adoption Service: 2017 Q1-2 6 Month Report

Lead Officer: Matthew Turner

 

On 27 March 2018 Cabinet would be considering the following items:-

 

·       Outdoor Education (Part 11 Report)

Lead Officer: Alan Stubbersfield

 

·       Special School Provision in Wiltshire

Lead Officer: Susan Tanner

 

(b)           Budget Scrutiny Timetable

 

·       Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee – Monday 5 February

·       Cabinet budget meeting – Tuesday 6 February (am)

·       Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee to consider the opposition budget  Friday 9 February

·       Council to consider and decide the budget – Tuesday 20 February   

 

 

 

 

5.

Public Participation

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

 

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

 

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

 

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Tuesday 30th Januaryin order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm onThursday 1st February. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

 

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from councillors or members of the public.

6.

Pupil Performance in Public Tests and Examinations

The committee will receive a report on pupil performance in public tests and examinations. The report provides an overview of pupil performance at the end of each key stage using the latest available data. It compares attainment in Wiltshire with national, south west and statistical neighbour performance and where possible performance trends are identified.

 

Members are asked to consider and comment on any observations regarding the report and the data.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report on pupil performance in public tests and examinations. The report provided an overview of pupil performance at the end of each key stage using the latest available data. It compared attainment in Wiltshire with national, south west and statistical neighbour performance and where possible performance trends were identified.

 

It was noted that at the end of the academic year 2016/17 the majority of pupils in Wiltshire were educated in high quality provision with 88% of pupils in good or outstanding schools.

 

There had been improvements and continuity of high outcomes for pupils on a number of indicators.  Rapid and sustained improvement in phonics had now resulted in Wiltshire being in line with comparators.  Results in Key Stage 4 continued to be high as were those for A level results in Key Stage 5.

 

However, there were some specific areas where improvements were required and these had become strategic priorities.  Outcomes in primary schools at Key Stages 1 and 2 had not kept pace with improvements elsewhere and Wiltshire was now below the national average.  In particular, Maths at Key Stages 1 and 2 continued to be a priority.

 

The outcomes for vulnerable groups and especially for Disadvantaged Pupils (pupils eligible for additional funding though the pupil premium), continued to be a priority as outcomes in Wiltshire still needed to be improved to match national figures and those of other pupils in the County at all Key stages.

 

Cllr Laura Mayes drew attention to the action plan at the end of the report.  It was noticed that there were plans to raise the overall standards and ensuring that school standards did not decline any further.  This would be achieved by:-

 

·                Monitoring school outcomes through the LASER process and the new annual performance assessments to identify and intervene early with underperforming schools.

 

·                Liaising with the Regional Schools Commissioner to challenge underperforming schools.

 

·                Increase the number of outstanding schools with a focus on developing leadership and high-quality teaching to improve outcomes particularly in  Key Stages 1 and 2 through liaising with teaching Schools Outstanding Teaching programmes.

 

·                Implement processes designed by the Education Transformation Board to support self-improving, self-sustaining schools in Wiltshire.

 

There were also plans to raise the achievements for Disadvantaged Learners particularly in Primary Maths.

 

During discussion, Members expressed the view that further detailed work needed to be undertaken to identify reasons for the sub national standards in Maths in Key Stages 1 and 2, although it was appreciated that work was already being carried out regarding this. It was also noted that Wiltshire was the fourth lowest funded local authority for children’s services.

 

Cllr Mayes noted that it would be useful to arrange a meeting with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee to discuss the future monitoring of school performance in Wiltshire.

 

Resolved:

 

(1)        To note the contents of the report.

 

(2)          To congratulate all learners in Wiltshire on the progress being made, recognising the efforts put in by children, and to thank teachers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Home Schooled Children

The Children’s Select Committee has received this report in response to a query regarding Wiltshire’s home-schooled children. The report included in this agenda provides information regarding the arrangements for monitoring Elective Home Educated children.

 

Members are asked to comment on the report and the role of Wiltshire Council in monitoring Elective Home Education and to consider requesting an annual update.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report by the Director, Family and Children’s Services in response to a query regarding arrangements for monitoring Elected Home Educated Children. 

 

It was explained that Wiltshire Council had specific responsibilities under the Children Act 2004 and the Education Act 2002 to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children that were educated at home. This responsibility was exercised on behalf of the Council by the Support and Safeguarding Service.  It was pointed out that these powers did not bestow on local authorities the ability to see and question children subject to elected home education and establish whether they were receiving a suitable education. Powers were restricted to acting in the best interests of the child where there was a concern that the child was suffering from significant harm. This was noted as the test for all such interventions whether the child was electively home educated or otherwise. 

 

During discussion, Members questioned why parents elected to home educate their children; it was pointed out that there were a number of reasons why parents came to this decision in particular the inability to obtain a place at the school of their choice.  In a few cases the decision to home educate was to avoid prosecution for unauthorised absences.

 

It was generally agreed that the current system was not satisfactory, the local authority in many cases being totally unaware of the existence of home educated children.  In order that a local authority could monitor the education, physical and emotional wellbeing of children, ideally there should be a requirement for parents to register their children with the local authority so that annual interviews could take place and the children’s work monitored.

 

Members recognised that in the majority of cases parents chose home education for their children for the best of reasons and these children were generally performing well but the challenge lay in those few cases where this was not the case.

 

After further discussion,

 

Resolved:

 

(1)          To acknowledge the arrangements for monitoring elective home educated children in Wiltshire.

 

(2)          To request the Chairman to discuss with the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills exactly what concerns should be addressed with the possibility of establishing a Home Education Task Group and to bring back suggestions to the next meeting of this Committee in April for consideration.

 

         

8.

Population Growth

The committee will receive a report detailing population growth in Wiltshire.

 

Report to follow as supplement.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report by the Head of Children’s Commissioning and Joint Planning which provided an overview of the population growth data sets, which were and would continue to inform commissioning decisions in future years, with a particular example of how this was being used in the Special Schools Provision Project.

 

It was noted that there were three main contributing factors to the projected number of children who would be living in Wiltshire over the coming nine years, these being:-

 

·         The birth rate

·         The housing development plans for Wiltshire

·         The military redeployment into Wiltshire.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the report.

9.

Nursery Places – 30hours Free Entitlement for Working Parents

The committee will receive an update report as agreed in January 2017, reporting on the impact of the increased childcare entitlement from September 2017.

 

Report to follow as supplement.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

he Committee received an update report by the Head of Children’s Commissioning and Joint Planning on the impact of the increased childcare entitlement from September 2017, as requested in January 2017.

 

It was noted that the work being carried out was to meet the requirement to make available sufficient childcare in Wiltshire, so far as was reasonably practicable, for working parents, or parents who were studying or training for employment, for children aged 0-14 (or up to 18 for disabled children). 

 

The information and data collected formed an important role in the success of funding applications to the Department for Education to support sufficiency and the sector.  Members were pleased to note that in the last year Wiltshire was successful in securing additional Early Years capital funding of £1.4 million to support areas in Wiltshire in most need of additional Early Years provision. Further funding had been accessed to provide Early Years provision via the Section 106 agreement funding from housing developers.  The funding received had contributed to sufficient capacity for Early Years places for children to access both 15 and 30 hours Free Entitlement in most areas of the County.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the contents of the report and to thank the officers for the information provided.

10.

Final Report of the Children in Care Leavers Rapid Scrutiny Exercise

The committee will receive the final report of the rapid scrutiny exercise performed on 23rd January.

 

Report to follow as supplement.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

At the suggestion of the Chairman, and with the agreement of Cllr Christopher Devine as Chairman of the Rapid Scrutiny Exercise,

 

Resolved:

 

To defer consideration of the report from the Children in Care Leavers Rapid Scrutiny Exercise until the next meeting in order that some outstanding work could be completed.

11.

DfE Changes - Update from Department for Education -

A report by Terence Herbert, Corporate Director, is attached presenting an update on developments relating to children’s services arising from the Department for Education.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received an update from Terence Herbert, Corporate Director, on developments relating to children’s services arising from the Department for Education from December 2017 to January 2018 as follows:-

 

·                     Ministerial reshuffle

·                     Improving social mobility through education

·                     Schools causing concern

·                     Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges

·                     Searching, screening and confiscation: guidance for schools

·                     Careers guidance and access for education and training providers

·                     Keeping children safe in education: proposed revisions

·                     Academies update

·                     Government response to the National Assessment and Accreditation System consultation (NAAS)

·                     SEND single route to redress national trial – regulations

·                     Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper

·                     Evaluation of the Troubled Families programme: emerging findings

·                     Update to joint targeted area inspections and arrangements for 2018

 

Resolved:

 

To note the update provided.  

12.

Task Group Updates

A report by the Senior Scrutiny Officers providing an update on Task Group Activity since the last meeting is attached.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received updates on the activities of the following Task Groups/Boards:-

 

·                     SEND School Provision Task Group

·                     Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Task Group

·                     Education Transformation Board

 

Resolved:

 

(1)          To note the updates on task group activity provided.

 

(2)          To endorse that Cllr Clare Cape remains on the Children and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Task Group and that, during meetings where Oxford Health are in attendance as either a witness or to provide evidence, Cllr Cape acts as an ‘observer’ and does not participate in discussion towards any recommendations of this Task Group, due to a possible conflict of interest as she currently undertakes some work with Oxford Health as part of her employment. 

 

13.

Forward Work Programme

The Committee is asked to note the attached document showing the relevant items from the overview and scrutiny forward work programme plus relevant items on the current Cabinet work programme.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a document showing the relevant items from the Overview & Scrutiny Forward Work Programme.

 

Cllr Christopher Devine suggested that the officers prepare a short resume of the work currently being undertaken by this Committee.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the Forward Work Programme for this Committee.

14.

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next scheduled meeting is due to be held on Tuesday 17th April at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To note that the next scheduled meeting of this Committee was due to be held on Tuesday 17 April 2018 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

15.

Urgent Items

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items of business.