Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman of the Select Committee for 2010/2011.

Nominations will be sought orally from those present at the meeting.  Voting will be by way of a show of hands.

Cllr Carole Soden was elected as Chairman of the Committee for 2010/11.

To elect a Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee for 2010/2011.

Nominations will be sought orally from those present at the meeting.  Voting will be by way of a show of hands.

Cllr Jon Hubbard was elected as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for 2010/11.

To note the membership of the Select Committee for 2010/11 as agreed by Full Council on 18 May 2010.

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Peter Davis who was appointed to this Committee by Full Council on 18 May, replacing Cllr Peter Hutton.

To receive apologies for substitutions.

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs Di Dale, Cllr Mary Douglas, Cllr Jacqui Lay, Cllr Bill Moss and Cllr Pip Ridout.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Childrens’ Services Select Committee held on 18 March 2010.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 March 2010 were approved and signed as a correct record.

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

No declarations of interest were received.

1.        Special Educational Needs (SEN) seminar

Following a request from Cllr Osborn, a seminar would be provided by officers on Special Education Needs (SEN) provision prior to the Committee’s next meeting on 22 July 2010. This would provide some context to the SEN Review post-consultation report due for consideration at that meeting. The seminar would begin at 9.30am and it was requested that all councillors be notified of the seminar.

The Vice-Chairman requested that two Rapid Scrutiny Exercises be arranged: The first to look at the SEN Review consultation process. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman felt there has been weaknesses in the way the Review’s rationale had been communicated. The second was to consider the SEN Review consultation results in order to add value to the recommendations to be submitted to Cabinet. The findings of both exercises would be reported to the full Committee’s next meeting and considered alongside the post-consultation report.

Cllr Darby, Cllr Hubbard, Mrs Kemp, Cllr Osborn and Cllr Soden expressed interest in taking part in the exercise.

Resolved:

To undertake Rapid Scrutiny Exercises into the SEN Review consultation process and consultation results prior to the next Committee meeting on 22 July 2010.

2.        Letter regarding the proposed closure of the Special Learning Centre, Longleaze Primary School

A letter from Mrs Ceri Seal and sent to Jon Hubbard was circulated.  The letter outlined Mrs Seal’s protest over the proposed closure of the Specialist Learning Centre at Longleaze School in Wootton Bassett. An officer response was also included for noting.

3.        Laverstock schools visit

The visit to the St Edmunds, St Josephs and Wyvern College schools in Laverstock requested at the previous meeting would no longer take place on 29 June 2010. The Senior Scrutiny Officer would contact councillors to arrange an alternative date.

4.        New Corporate Plan

The new Corporate Plan was approved by Full Council on 18 May.  The Plan outlined the Council’s priorities and where resources would be allocated to ensure the Council’s goals and vision were realised.

The Plan’s focus, in relation to children’s services, was on improving Wiltshire’s primary schools, pupil performance at Key Stage 2, and the reduction of attainment gaps between all children with Special Educational Needs, Looked After Children, children receiving Free School Meals and their peers. 

A Delivery Plan would be produced by the Department of Children and Education (DCE) which would provide details on how these targets would be achieved, which was expected to be ready for consideration by the Committee in September. 

5.        Downlands School funding

At the Committee’s previous meeting, Neil Owen, Secondary Parent Governor representative, expressed concern over the Schools Forum decision in January regarding Downlands School. 

The decision related to the School being over-funded in previous years due to a mismatch between their census form and the formula used to calculate the appropriate funding. With this in mind, the Schools Forum agreed to implement a transition period whereby the school’s funding would be reduced to the correct level over a period of four  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

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.  The Chairman will, however, exercise her discretion in order to ensure that members of the public have the opportunity to contribute.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question should give written notice (including details of any question) to the officer named above by 12:00 noon on Friday 4 June 2010.

None.

A report from Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director of Children and Education, providing an update on the recent developments within primary school improvement, including the development of a World Class Primary Plan for Wiltshire.

Members are asked to:

(a)   note the content of the report and comment as appropriate on the work done to develop Primary School Improvement;

(b)   approve the working draft of Wiltshire’s World Class Primary Plan.

Members considered a report from the Corporate Director for Children and Education, providing an update on recent developments within primary school improvement, including the World Class Primary Plan for Wiltshire and the programmes of support currently provided by the local authority to primary schools. Julie Cathcart, Head of School Improvement, and David Ross, Head of School Support, presented.

Ensuing discussion included:

(a)              The Council had been asked by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to produce a World Class Primary Plan for Wiltshire by end of April 2010.  The future status of these plans was now unclear following election of the new coalition Government.  Much of the Plan was built on existing strategies and activities and provided details on how the authority supported schools that were currently below the performance target, methods of maximising progression, how to encourage consistent performance and how to transform schools from good to great.

(b)              The report highlighted key features of Plan, to include the role of the School Improvement Partner (SIP). In March 2010, Wiltshire Council was asked to take part in a project to develop the role of the SIP and look at how they could take an increased role in brokerage.

(c)               Under the coalition’s new Academies Bill, it was proposed that schools judged as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted could be fast-tracked to academy status by the autumn. 1,114 schools nationally had registered to become an academy, though it was still unclear how many schools in Wiltshire would do so.

(d)              The nature of academy status would change the way in which local authorities provided support to those schools, which could result in a change to the Plan. The local authority would have no responsibility for academies as they are independently run, but they were likely to retain some funding passing through the local authority such as for Special Educational Needs (SEN). Admission requirements were clearly set out prior to the announcement on academy status and it was hoped that academies would remain in the same situation as schools with Foundation Status. Funding arrangements were anticipated to be included within the documentation supplied for academy status.

(e)              Wiltshire Council had been contacted by the new Department of Children and Families to provide advice on the work of ‘schools supporting schools’ as the authority was considered to have expertise and experience in this area.

(f)                 Links between the local authority and diocese schools were strong and work was underway to ensure that in future, diocese and council were heard as once voice.

Resolved:

1.         To thank the department for the report and note its contents.

2.         To request that changes to the primary school policy framework and related resources implications were reported to the Committee when known. 

A report from Stephanie Denovan, Service Director for Schools and Learning, exploring the contributory reasons for Ofsted judging 42% of Wiltshire’s primary schools to be ‘satisfactory’ overall during their last round of school inspections (2006-2009). The report looks at the measures in place to raise Key Stage 2 standards and to reduce the most significant attainment gaps, which are key priorities within the Council’s Corporate Plan 2010-14.

Members are asked to note the report’s contents and to comment as appropriate.

Stephanie Denovan, Service Director for Schools and Learning, presented a report on why a high proportion of Wiltshire’s primary schools were judged by Ofsted to be no better than satisfactory, with a small number inadequate, in the 2009 assessment of children’s services in Wiltshire. The assessment also commented that the gap between the majority of children andyoung people and those in vulnerable circumstances was closing in some areas but that the picture was inconsistent for different groups. The report explained the factors influencing these results and the work being done to improve primary school performance and narrow the attainment gaps.

Ensuing discussion included:

(a)              Nationally, Wiltshire is in the top quartile at Foundation Stage profile and Key Stage 4 but over the last four years progress at Key Stage 2 has been broadly in line with the national average. This is disappointing given the county’s socio-economic position and the department will continue to strive to achieve the ambitious targets set out in the new Corporate Plan.

(b)              There are various factors correlating with poor primary school performance. Other local authorities producing similar results to those found in Wiltshire tend to have a similarly high proportion of small, rural schools. In Wiltshire, this has been addressed with closures, amalgamations, federations and collaborative re-starts involving Wiltshire’s National Award Schools and National Leaders of Education. Attainment levels for paired infant and junior schools were also generally lower than those of primary schools, and this has also been addressed through amalgamation where appropriate.

(c)               Schools with a high proportion of children from a services background tended to show average or below average pupil performance. Wiltshire also has one of the highest proportions of voluntary-aided or voluntary-controlled schools in the country. Further partnership working with the Dioceses about our combined support and challenge work is underway. 

(d)              It was unclear whether the Accredited Provider Programme would continue under the new government, but the principals would continue to be taken forward, with stronger supporting struggling schools to improve.

(e)              Some of the early intervention programmes that have shown significant success are under threat of removal of government funding.  For example, the newly formed Department of Education (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families) is to be cut by £670 million, including £311 million from council spending on schools. In addition to this there is an announced £47 million nationally less for one-to-one tuition and £40 million less for Every Child schemes such as Every Child a Reader.

(f)                 The three areas with the widest attainment gaps were Free School Meals (FSM), Children Looked After (CLA) and Special Educational Needs (SEN). The greatest attainment gap was in the SEN area, and the root and branch review of SEN services underway is intended to address this.

Resolved:

1.                  To thank the Department for the report and to note its contents.

2.                  To request a breakdown of Wiltshire's schools by governance arrangements against Ofsted grading.

3.                  To request that changes to the primary school policy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

A report from Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director of Children and Education, and Mark Boden, Corporate Director of Neighbourhood and Planning, on the provision of transport for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) – an area of historic overspend for the Council.

The request for this item followed a DCE Fact-finding meeting focussing on SEN transport, which highlighted the joint working between DCE and the Passenger Transport Unit (PTU) to improve management of the SEN transport budget.

Members are asked to note the report’s contents and to comment as appropriate.

Trevor Daniels, Head of Special Educational Needs (SEN), and Jason Salter, Pricipal Officer – PTU, presented a report on joint working between officers from DCE and the Passenger Transport Unit (PTU) to reduce the cost of providing transport for children and young people with SEN. The report was requested following a DCE Fact-finding meeting that highlighted various issues relating to this historic area of overspend for the authority.

Ensuing discussion included:

(a)               Responsibility for procuring and managing transport arrangements and for managing the Passenger Assistants sits with the PTU. Responsibility for determining entitlement to transport, ownership of the budget, and responsibility for budget management, lies with DCE.

(b)               In recent years the SEN Transport budget had overspent while the mainstream transport budget had experienced significant under-spends. DCE had previously expressed concern that the savings achieved on the SEN Transport budget by applying eligibility criteria and implementing other measures had not been reflected in a proportionate reduction in the overspend.

(c)               The PTU would now be making every effort to achieve good value for money with its SEN Transport contracts and would be providing timely and comprehensive management information to allow more accurate forecasting and budget setting by officers in DCE.

(d)               It was acknowledged by members that the SEN Transport budget was extremely difficult to manage due to the fluidity of the requirements of children with widely varying needs.

(e)               Passenger Assistant salary costs had increased by £350,000 per annum over the last three years. The Council employs Passenger Assistants directly rather than contracts them through an agency, which is unusual amongst local authorities and carries its own associated costs. A preliminary review has already been undertaken, and further work is being commissioned as a matter of urgency to progress this further.  A report outlining the recommendations from this work is expected in October 2010. It was requested that the Chairman and Vice-Chair be informed of the outcome of this review.

(f)                 There was member concern that the Constitution does not make provision for scrutiny of ‘internal contracts’, such as the arrangement between DCE and the Passenger Transport Unit. It was agreed that a request would be submitted to Cabinet and the Focus Group on the Constitution to add such a provision.

Resolved:

1.                  To thank the Department for the report and to note its contents.

2.                  To request that, once plans regarding the future provision of Passenger Assistants are known, the Chairman and Vice-Chair are kept informed so an update can be provided to the Committee.

3.                  To recommend to Cabinet and the Focus Group on the Constitution that a provision be included within the Constitution allowing members to scrutinise internal contracts.

A report providing responses to Recommendations 5 and 6 of the School Food Task Group’s Final report, plus updates on implementation of the Task Group’s other recommendations. The Task Group’s Final Report can be found on the Council website (link).

The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee commissioned this task group in September 2008 following consideration of a report updating members on the progress of the council’s School Food Strategy. Its findings and conclusions were endorsed by the Committee in March 2009, who received executive responses to the report’s recommendations in Jul 2009. The Chairman and Vice-Chair of the Select Committee then requested that the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services provide further responses to recommendations 5 & 6 of the Task Group’s final report plus an update on progress with implementation of the Task Group’s other recommendations.

Members are asked to note the executive responses and updates to the Task Group’s recommendations and to comment as appropriate.

The Final Report of the School Food Task Group, which made twelve wide-ranging recommendations on school food provision, was endorsed by Committee in March 2009. This update report included executive responses to Recommendations 5 & 6 of the report, plus updates on the implementation of the Task Group’s other recommendations.

Mrs Rebecca MacDonald, Chairman of the Task Group and a co-opted member of the previous Committee, attended the meeting.

Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director for Children and Education, provided the following further information:

(a)               The latest statistics on obesity levels in Wiltshire indicated that Wiltshire was bucking the trend against national and regional levels of obesity. Weighing and measuring programmes were now taking place in Reception year and Year 6.

(b)               The Sodexo corporate school catering contract was due to expire last April but was extended on a 3-month rolling basis.  An extensive consultation had taken place with schools, with Sodexo agreeing to provide a range of different options for schools to buy into. At the time of the original report, 120 schools were part of the corporate school catering contract but only around 30 schools now remain.

(c)               Concern was expressed that cuts in local authority funding could impact upon cooking and nutrition within schools.

Resolved:

1.                  To note the executive’s responses to recommendations 5 and 6 of the final report of the School Food Task Group.

2.                  To note the progress made with respect to implementation of the School Food Task Group’s recommendations.

A report presenting a summary of the reviews carried out by the Major Contracts Task Group over the last 12 months.

Members are asked to:

a)       Note the work of the Task Group in reviewing Major Contracts over the last year.

b)       Endorse the membership of the Task Group to continue over the coming year and report back in 12 months time.

The Task Group’s current membership is: Cllr Bill Moss (Chairman), Cllr Peter Colmer, Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cllr Jacqui Lay and Cllr Carole Soden.

A report was presented to the Committee providing a round-up of the reviews undertaken by the Major Contracts Task Group. Since July 2009, the Task Group had considered the Council’s contracts with:

-          the White Horse Education Partnership (who are responsible for the accommodation at 3 North Wiltshire Schools)

-          Sodexo, who supply school meals

-          Wiltshire’s children’s centres, and

-          Quarriers, who provide residential placements for young people with complex needs.

As well as noting the report, the Committee was asked to re-appoint the membership of the Task Group for 2010-11.

Resolved:

1.                  To note the work of the Task Group in reviewing Major Contracts over the previous year.

2.                  To endorse the membership of the Task Group to continue over the coming year and report back to the Committee in 12 months time.

a)         Major Contracts Task Group

Please see Item 14 – Annual Report of the Major Contracts Task Group for a summary of this Task Group’s April meeting.

b)         Placements for Looked After Children (LAC) Task Group

The Task Group’s current Membership is:  Cllr Jon Hubbard (Chairman), Cllr Peter Colmer, Cllr Andrew Davis, Mrs Alice Kemp, Cllr Bill Moss and Cllr Helen Osborn.

The Task Group met on 21 May to consider a summary of the Commissioning Strategy for Placements for Looked After Children 2010, plus the outline project plan, which is being developed to manage the implementation of the Strategy. The new Strategy identifies priorities for securing sustainable, high quality and cost effective local placements, to improve outcomes for looked after children. Its objectives include:

·        reducing reliance on expensive agency placements (foster and residential)

·        ensuring that, where possible, children are diverted from care and if this is not possible, permanent placements are found via adoption/fostering

·        securing appropriate 16+ accommodation for care leavers

·        ensuring in-house foster provision is able to meet demand via improved recruitment and retention

·        ensuring the in-house adoption service can progress enough assessments, approvals and retention of adopters to meet demand

·        embedding robust processes for allocating appropriate placements and monitoring them to prevent drift

·        introducing a brokerage function through which all placements (in-house and external) are sourced and contracted.

The Task Group’s first meeting served primarily as a fact-finding session into this huge area of work, with the Head of Children in Care, Interim Head of Joint Commissioning, Interim Head of Family Placements and Field Work Manager in attendance to answer members’ questions. Members expressed a number of concerns, primarily regarding the lack of specific targets and timescales to the Commissioning Strategy’s objectives.

The Task Group have therefore requested to receive a variety of additional information prior to its next meeting in early August in order to better understand the rationale behind the new Commissioning Strategy, its objectives and the plan for its implementation.

An update on the work of the Major Contracts Task Group was included in the previous item.

A written update on the Placements for Looked After Children Task Group’s first meeting was provided with the Agenda.  Further information had been requested for the next meeting, scheduled to take place in August.

Resolved:

To note the updates.

Cabinet  (22 June)

·        Youth Service Re-provision in Corsham and Salisbury

To confirm the reprovision of youth services in Salisbury and Corsham

·        Community Asset Transfer - Margaret Stancomb School

To consider a proposal submitted by Wiltshire Rural Music School for the transfer of part of Margaret Stancomb School located at British Row, Trowbridge under the Community Asset Transfer policy.

(27 July)

·        SEN Review

Post-consultation report - To consider the outcomes of the consultation and make decisions on the issues considered in the Review

Corporate Parenting (not public) (1 June)

·        Children in Care Performance Data - March 2010 

·        Discussion Item from the Children in Care Council

·        Annual Adoption and Fostering Service Update 2009/10 (Performance Review Update)

·        Transition of Looked After Children to Adult Services

·        Ofsted Inspection Report - Canons House, Devizes

·        Events on the LAC Social Calendar to enable visits to Children's Homes by Members

·        Improving Health Services for Looked After Children - 2008/2009

·        Statistical Data - Wiltshire Looked After Children Offenders and ROBLAC

·        Comparison of Corporate Parenting Groups across other Councils

·        Groups Operating in Wiltshire Council which Focus on Looked After Children

Schools Forum (24 June)

·        Final Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Settlement

·        Final Outturn 2009/10 and initial budget monitoring for 2010/11

Update on the final outturn for the Dedicated Schools Grant 2009/10.

·        Schools Forum Regulations 2010

Update on changes to Schools Forum regulations which now require local authorities to have representation from Academies. 

·        Schools Finance Regulations 2010

Update on Schools Finance regulations and any related changes to the Council’s funding scheme.

·        Special Schools Banding Moderation Process

To agree the process for the moderation of the banding for pupils in maintained special schools, which takes place each autumn and drives the funding model for Special Schools. 

·        Social Deprivation Funding

Outline of proposals for how the Council allocates funding to schools to target pupils from deprived backgrounds.

Items from the Cabinet, Corporate Parenting and Schools Forum work programmes relevant to children’s services were listed on the agenda for consideration by the Committee.

Ensuing discussion included how Youth Provision in Corsham had disappeared from the programme.  The Portfolio Holder for Youth Services confirmed that he would investigate this outside of the meeting.

Resolved:

To note the items in the Cabinet, Corporate Parenting Panel and Schools Forum forward work programmes listed in the Agenda.

A copy of the draft Forward Work Programme is attached for consideration.

Aftercare Provision for Young People leaving care

Following its meeting to consider the Quarriers contract (an external residential placement provider), the Major Contract Task Group recommended that the Select Committee receive a report on aftercare provision and the work towards independent living for those leaving care.

Officers have suggested the report is scheduled for September’s agenda.

Members are asked to consider whether they wish to request a report on this issue.

Aftercare Provision for Young People leaving care

A recommendation was received from the Major Contracts Task Group requesting that a report on aftercare provision and the work towards independent living for young people leaving care be added to the Select Committee’s work programme. This followed comments from Quarriers, one of the external residential foster placement providers, that this was lacking at present.

It was agreed that the remit of the Placements for Looked After Children (LAC) Task Group would include looking at aftercare, and so an item to Select Committee was unnecessary.

Basic Skills

Following the comment in the Common Area Assessment that Basic Skills was one of nine key areas requiring focus in Wiltshire, members requested that an initial report be brought to the Committee’s next meeting.

Role of Schools Forum

Due to the Chairman of Schools Forum being unable to attend the Committee’s July meeting, this item was slipped to September.

Resolved:

1.                  To request that a report on the issue of Basic Skills be brought to the Committee’s July meeting, including an outline of the partnership arrangements, what initiatives are in place and plans for the future.

2.                  To note the Forward Work Programme, with the amendments agreed.

10.30am, 22 July 2010.

10.30am, Thursday 22 July, at County Hall, Trowbridge.

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

None.