Children’s Services
Select Committee reviews and scrutinises any matter relating to the planning,
provision and operation of children’s services in
Wiltshire.
Terms of Reference
(1)
To review and scrutinise any matter relating to the
planning, provision and operation of children’s services in
Wiltshire
(2)
To consider any matter relating to children’s
services affecting the area or its inhabitants, including matters
referred by area boards and Councillor Call for Action, and
exercise the right to call in, for reconsideration, decisions made
but not yet implemented by the cabinet
(3)
To make arrangements to secure continuous
improvement in the way in which the function of education and
children’s social care services are exercised, having regard
to a combination of economy, efficiency and
effectiveness
(4)
To commission groups of members to carry out
scrutiny activities and reviews relevant to the annual work
programme’s priorities
(5)
To carry out strategic oversight of the scrutiny
activities the committee commissions, including task groups and
rapid response exercises
(6)
To establish and publish an annual work programme
that ensures a thorough but focussed overview of the plans,
strategies, policies and decisions of children’s services in
Wiltshire, including those provided and commissioned by the
council, and those delivered by partners – using the
Wiltshire children’s trust board as a key focus
(7)
To foster and encourage an inclusive, structured,
non-partisan and non-adversarial approach to overview and scrutiny,
which is reliant on evidence rather than anecdote
(8)
To meet at least four times a year to consider
reports from task groups and other commissioned individuals/groups,
and to receive reports on the assessment/inspection of services
within the department for children & education
(9)
To contribute to policy development within
children’s services
(10)
To use the cabinet forward work plan to identify and
provide appropriate contributions to key and other decisions
relating to children’s services
(11)
To hold the relevant cabinet member/s and officers
with delegated responsibility for children’s services to
account
(12)
To require cabinet members and officers to answer
questions raised by the committee, its task groups and other groups
or individuals commissioned to carry out its work
(13)
To hold children’s services’ partners to
account, particularly those listed within the local area agreement
and local agreement for Wiltshire
(14)
To work with partners and other public and private
sector agencies to identify issues of concern and work together to
improve services for children
(15)
To invite and receive evidence from external
witnesses, including service users and providers
(16)
To make reports and recommendations to the council,
cabinet, department for children & education, or partners on
any matter reviewed or scrutinised
(17)
To manage and coordinate the training and
development of elected members and other representatives involved
in the overview and scrutiny of children’s
services
(18)
To develop appropriate overview and scrutiny
operational protocols, including:
(a)
involving and engaging with children, young people
and their families
(b)
joint working with the health overview and scrutiny
committee on public health matters as they impact on children and
young people
(c)
maintaining effective communication with the
Corporate Parenting Group to facilitate joint working where
appropriate
(d)
maintaining and further developing constructive
relations with the executive, especially between the relevant
cabinet member/s and the chairman and vice chairman of the
committee
(e)
working and involving partners in scrutiny
activities
(f)
developing a productive interface with the area
boards, including support for local task groups and links through
which Councillor Calls for Action and petition appeal requests can
be channelled
Recent Work
Recently the Committee
has looked at:
- school food and the council’s catering
contract
- child and adolescent mental health
services
- teenage pregnancy
- children’s foster care
placements
- child protection arrangements
- new schools i.e. academies, building schools
for the future
- primary schools strategy
- 13-19 curriculum
- educational attainment, especially the
attainment gap
- the extended schools programme and
children’s centres
- special educational needs (SEN)
- transitions from children’s services
to adult social care
Current Scrutiny
Reviews
The Children’s
Services Select Committee is currently conducting reviews into the
following issues:
Placements for Looked After Children (LAC) Task
Group
Archive Scrutiny Reviews
Click links to view the
scrutiny reviews' final reports:
School Food (concluded March 2009)
The Wellington Academy, Salisbury (concluded November 2007)
School Catering Task Group (concluded June 2006)