Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the ensuing year.

Resolved:

To elect Cllr Jon Hubbard as Chairman for the ensuing year.

Cllr Jon Hubbard in the Chair

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

Resolved:

To elect Cllr Jacqui Lay as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

To report that at its Annual Meeting on 14 May 2013, the Council appointed the following councillors to serve on this Committee for the ensuing year

Conservative (7)       Lib. Dem. (4)             Labour (1)                  Independent            

Cllr M Champion      Cllr P Aves                Cllr R Rogers            Cllr H Osborn

Cllr M Douglas         Cllr J Hubbard

Cllr S Evans              Cllr C Hurst

Cllr S Jacobs                        Cllr H Mckeown

Cllr J Lay

Cllr B Moss

Cllr P Whalley

Substitutes

Cllr A Davis               Cllr D Allen               Cllr J Walsh              Cllr T Chivers

Cllr C Crisp               Cllr N Blakemore                                          Cllr D Drewitt

Cllr S Parker             Cllr D Jenkins                                               Cllr R Hawker

                                    Cllr L Packard                                               Cllr J Osborn

Council also appointed the following non-elected members to the Children’s Select Committee:-

Resolved:

To note that at its Annual Meeting on 14 May 2013, the Council appointed the following councillors to serve on this Committee for the ensuing year:-

Conservative (7)     Lib. Dem. (4)             Labour (1)                 Independent

Cllr M Champion     Cllr P Aves               Cllr R Rogers           Cllr H Osborn

Cllr M Douglas        Cllr J Hubbard

Cllr S Evans             Cllr C Hurst

Cllr S Jacobs           Cllr H Mckeown

Cllr J Lay

Cllr B Moss

Cllr P Whalley

Substitutes

Cllr A Davis              Cllr D Allen               Cllr J Walsh Cllr T Chivers

Cllr C Crisp              Cllr N Blakemore                                        Cllr D Drewitt

Cllr S Parker            Cllr D Jenkins                                              Cllr R Hawker

Cllr L Packard                                             Cllr J Osborn

Council also appointed the following non-elected members to the Children’s Select

Committee:-

Non-Elected Voting Members                Representing

Vacancy                                                        Church of England

Dr M Thompson                                         Clifton Diocese RC Church

Vacancy                                                        Parent Governor (Secondary)

Mrs A Kemp                                                 Parent Governor (Special Educational Needs)

Mr K Brough                                                Parent Governor (Primary)

Non-Elected Non-Voting Members

(Up to Five)                                                  School, Children and Young People representatives

Mrs D Dale                                                    Further Education Representative

Vacancy                                                        Secondary Schools Headteachers’

Representative

Vacancy                                                        Primary School Headteachers’

Representative

Mr J Hawkins                                               School Teacher Representative

Mr K House                                                  Children & Young People's

Representative

Apologies for absence were received from Dr Mike Thompson.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Children’s Select Committee meeting held on 28 March 2013. (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 March 2013 as a correct record.

Matters arising:

Min. No. 63: Chairman’s Announcements – Teacher Representatives on the Committee

The Vice-Chairman referred to discussions that had taken place at the previous meeting concerning the availability of representatives of Primary School and Secondary School Headteachers to attend meetings of this Select Committee and enquired as to how this matter was being progressed.

The Senior Scrutiny Officer explained that he had written  to the Chairmen of the primary and secondary headteachers’ associations but to date nothing had been agreed.

After some discussion, during which the input of both primary and secondary headteachers was considered to be very important,

Resolved:

1.         To ask the Chairman and Vice-Chairman to meet with the primary and secondary headteacher associations and discuss how schools can contribute to the Committee’s work when considering relevant issues.

2.         To note that the senior scrutiny officer will investigate filling the Church of England representative vacancy on the Committee.

3.         To note that in the coming months a process will be run to appoint a new secondary parent governor representative.

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

There were no declarations of disclosable interest or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

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 above 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 above no later than 5pm on Thursday 30 May 2013.  Please contact the officer named on the first page 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.

There were no members of the public present or councillors’ questions.

A report from the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services presenting the executive response to the Final Report of the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group. The Task Group’s report can be viewed here (link to Wiltshire Council website).

The Task Group was established following an Ofsted inspection of Safeguarding and LAC Services in Wiltshire, undertaken in March 2012. The Task Group’s report was endorsed by Children’s Select Committee on 28 March 2013 and the Committee agreed that the Task Group should continue, but with the following terms of reference:

1.     To monitor the implementation of any recommendations made by the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group that are endorsed by the Children’s Select Committee and accepted by the executive.

2.     To scrutinise Wiltshire Council’s delivery of improvements to safeguarding children and young people as set out in the Safeguarding and Adoptions Improvement Plan.

3.     To receive a twice-annual report from the Council’s Lead Member for Safeguarding Children and Young People providing details of their safeguarding activity.

4.     To continue/conduct ongoing scrutiny of services for Looked After Children (LAC).

5.     To work in collaboration with the Safeguarding Children and Young People Panel to clarify future joint-working arrangements [the establishment of which is proposed under Recommendation 35]

The Committee is asked to consider the executive response and comment or recommend further activity (by the Committee or by the Task Group) as appropriate.

The Select Committee received a report which set out the response of the Lead Member for Children’s Services to the Final Report of the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group which was endorsed by the Committee at its last meeting on 28 March 2013.

It was reported that the Task Group’s final report along with an update on the implementation of improvements had been added to the Cabinet Forward Work Programme which would be considered by Cabinet on 18 June 2013.

The report had been presented to the April meeting of the Safeguarding and Adoption Improvement Board, whose independent chairman and also the Department for Education representative had commented favourably on the Task Group’s work and recommendations.

Action on the 41 recommendations of the Task Group were set out in Appendix 1 to the report from which it was noted that five of the recommendations had been completed and a further 19 were being progressed with action taken.  It was noted that:-

(1)       Action on the following 3 recommendations would happen in the future as requested by the Task Group:

R6       Reports on the Safeguarding and Adoption Plan to highlight milestones which are slipping ie: red or amber

R7       “SMART” approach to all reports to the Improvement Board

R28     Safeguarding training for the Safeguarding Children and Young People Panel

(2)     The following 4 recommendations were being considered before a decision was made:

R8       Creating a new, permanent ‘Safeguarding Peer Liaison’ post

R9       Attendance at MAFs by Safeguarding Peer Liaison’ post or a social worker – links to R8

R20     Review and optimise the alignment of the various geographical clusters

R41     “Safeguarding considerations” section in all committee and Cabinet reports

(3)       The following 6 recommendations would be subject of future scrutiny:       R10     Quality assurance of MAFs

R12     Social care workforce strategy and key workforce performance indicators

R19     Referral and assessment.

R29     Mid-term progress and annual report from WSCB

R30     WSCB business plan implementation through analysis of minutes of meetings.

R34     Rapid Scrutiny exercises will take place

It is also noted that:

·         Scrutiny Members would visit teams and services (R31)

·      The Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group would be re-established (R32)

·      The Task Group would continue its work for at least 18 months after the Safeguarding Improvement Board had been disbanded and that the group would  receive an update on the work of the Safeguarding Improvement Board (SIB), or from the WSCB upon the SIB’s demise, at each meeting (R33)

After discussion,

Resolved:

1.         To note the executive response to the Final Report of the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group.

2.         To urge the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, and the Cabinet as a whole, to respond positively to Recommendation 41 in the Task Group’s Final Report: “All reports to Wiltshire Council committees, including Cabinet, should include a dedicated ‘Safeguarding considerations’ section”, with a trial of this system being considered as a possible option.

3.         To request that the executive response document be amended to include  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

A report presenting the conclusions and recommendations of the Special Schools and Post-16 SEN Task Group for endorsement will be circulated.

The Task Group brought an initial final report with recommendations to Committee in July 2012 and the executive response to this was received in September 2012 (this is appended to the attached report). The Committee then asked the Task Group to undertake further work and it has subsequently met on three occasions and undertaken a number of other evidence gathering activities.

The Chairman of the Task Group, Cllr Graham Payne, will attend to present the report.

The Committee is asked to endorse the Task Group’s report and refer the recommendations to the relevant executive bodies for response.

The Select Committee received the final report of the Special Schools & Post-16 SEN Task Group-part 2 for endorsement.  It was recalled that this Task Group had brought an initial final report with recommendations to the Select Committee in July 2012 but further work had been requested.

Cllr Graham Payne, Chairman of the Task Group, introduced the report and thanked all members of the Task Group for the work they had undertaken and also Henry Powell for his excellent work in supporting the Task Group. He explained that it had met further on three occasions and had undertaken a number of other evidence gathering activities, the outcomes of which were set out in the report.  However, the Task Group had not had the capacity to investigate the following new topics as requested by the Select Committee in addition to its existing work programme:-

·                Consideration of the identification of Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BSED) in primary school-aged children.

·                An investigation to identify out of county resources being used by Wiltshire.

·                An examination of mainstream schools to identify the level of SEN provision they make.

Cllr Payne reported that the Task Group had attended meetings of the Special Schools Head’s Forum, which was a sub-group of WASSH, and had visited Wiltshire College’s Trowbridge campus to experience the provision for post-16 learners with SEN and LDD (Learning Difficulties and Disabilities) as requested by the Select Committee.

Progress had been made with a number of the Task Group’s original recommendations and in particular those regarding Larkrise School, Trowbridge and St Nicholas School, Chippenham, details of which were included in the report.

Members also fully supported the Task Group’s recommendations regarding services for children with SEN or LDD and their families as a priority within the work programme.

Resolved:

1.         To endorse the Final Report part 2 of the Special Schools and Post-16 SEN Task Group and refer the recommendations to the appropriate executive bodies for response.

2.         To note that a process of developing the Committee’s forward work programme would be discussed under a later item, and that these discussions were likely to include a consideration of issues relating to children and young people with SEN/LDD and their families.

A report from the Joint Director for Commissioning and Performance is attached providing an update on the implementation and impact of the changes made to information services for families in Wiltshire from July 2012.

In March 2012 the Children’s Services Select Committee established a rapid scrutiny exercise following receipt of a report on the a review of the Family Information Service (FIS) and Parent Partnership Service (PPS). The review had concluded that there was significant duplication around provision of information for parents and carers, particularly parents and carers of children with disabilities/special educational needs. It had been decided that significant changes to the FIS and PPS services were therefore required and proposed a number of changes. The Committee resolved to undertake a rapid scrutiny exercise to explore further the nature of any duplication in the service and plans for how it would be provided in future.

The Rapid Scrutiny Exercise took place in May 2012 and its report can be viewed here (link to Wiltshire Council website). Its findings were endorsed by Committee, part of which was to receive the outcomes of a 6-month review of the new service model scheduled for Spring 2013.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and comment as appropriate.

Consideration was given to a report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director, which provided an update on the implementation and impact of the changes made to information services for families in Wiltshire from July 2012.

It was noted that the update was requested following a rapid scrutiny exercise in 2012 which had been established to consider the nature of any duplication in the Family Information Service.  Following on from this the following changes had taken effect from 1 July 2012:-

·                                 Family Information Service (FIS) focused on information and signposting for general services via a helpline and website. (Cost £120,000 per annum)

·                                 The Early Years Team within Wiltshire Council launched the Childcare Information Service (CIS) and became the single point of contact in relation to childcare. (Cost £40,000 per annum)

·                                 Wiltshire Parent Carer Council (WPCC) became the single hub of information on services relating to Disabled Children. The Special Educational Needs / Disability Information Service (SENDIS) costs £35,000 per annum.

·                                 The Revenue and Benefits Team within Wiltshire Council became the single point of call for queries relating to family finances. The additional work has been absorbed without additional cost.

It was noted that the current contract with Ask was due to terminate on 31 March 2014 and consequently commissioning intentions were currently being developed for service requirements from April 2014.

After some discussion

Resolved:

1.         To note the update report on the implementation to changes made to information services for families in Wiltshire from July 2012

2.         To note that the current contract with Ask for providing the Family Information Service (FIS) was due to end on 31 March 2014.

3.         To agree that future discussions regarding the Committee’s forward work programme should include consideration of establishing a task group to help shape commissioning intentions for the future provision of this service.

A report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director, on developments relating to children’s services arising from the Coalition Government is attached.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree further action as appropriate.  

The Select Committee received and noted a report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director, on developments relating to children’s services arising from the Coalition Government.

It was noted that the Government had announced a new package of support, totalling £750,000, to help local authorities attract and retain more foster carers from a wider range of backgrounds.  Carolyn Godfrey explained that Wiltshire would be competing for a proportion of this funding.

Resolved:

To note the update on the latest changes from the Coalition Government relevant to children’s services.

A report from the Senior Scrutiny Officer is attached reporting on:

·         relevant topics on the overview and scrutiny forward work programme as agreed by the O&S Management Committee at its meeting on 25 May 2013;

·         relevant topics suggested for future overview and scrutiny by attendees of the O&S Councillor Induction event held on 16 May 2013.

·         the task group activity of the previous Children’s Select Committee.

The report provides background information on the topics currently on the O&S forward work programme that relate to children and education and invites the Committee to make a number of decisions regarding future activity.

Consideration was given to a report by the Senior Scrutiny Officer which provided background information on the topics currently on the Overview & Scrutiny forward work programme relating to children and education and on which the Select Committee was being invited to make a number of decisions regarding future activity.

After discussion,

Resolved:

1.         To establish the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group with the terms of reference proposed and the membership listed as follows (subject to those members’ final agreement):

Cllr Jon Hubbard

Cllr Andrew Davis

Rev Alice Kemp

Cllr Bill Moss

Cllr Bridget Wayman

2.         To reconvene the Further Education in the Salisbury Area Task Group for one meeting only in order to review progress with its recommendations, and to ask the Task Group to report back at the Committee’s next meeting. The Task Group will have the following members subject to their final agreement:

Cllr Mary Douglas

Cllr Jon Hubbard

Cllr Jacqui Lay

Cllr Bill Moss

Dr Mike Thompson

3.         To note that the O&S Management Committee has asked scrutiny officers to contact all non-executive members regarding their areas of interest in participating in overview and scrutiny task groups.

4.         To authorise the Chairman and Vice-chairman to name members to fill any vacancies on the Committee’s task groups as necessary.

5.         To support early discussion between the Chairman and Vice-Chairman with Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors to gain a more informed understanding about Executive priorities with a report on findings coming to the Committee’s next meeting.

6.         That the rapid scrutiny exercise to look at the Wiltshire Adoptions service, which was recommended by the Safeguarding Children and Young People Task Group, is discussed with Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors prior to further consideration at the Committee’s next meeting.

7.         That the continuance of the Major Contracts Task Group is discussed with Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors prior to further consideration at the Committee’s next meeting.

8.         To approve the agenda items currently scheduled on the Committee’s forward work programme (listed in Table 2 of the report).

9.         (a)To note that Cabinet will receive a report on the Review of the Council’s Business Plan on 23 July 2013 with a view to recommending to Full Council.

(b)To recommend that the O&S Management Committee asks each of the select committees to establish a rapid scrutiny exercise to consider the relevant parts of the new Business Plan, prior to its consideration by Cabinet on 23 July 2013.

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

There were no urgent items.

To note that the next meeting of the Select Committee will be held on Thursday 1 August 2013 at the Council’s Offices at Monkton Park, Chippenham, starting at 10.30am.

Resolved:

To note that the next meeting of the Select Committee would be held on Thursday 1 August 2013 at the Council’s Offices at Monkton Park, Chippenham, starting at 10.30am.