Browse

Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Roger Bishton 

Items
No. Item

27.

Election of Chairman

To elect a Chairman for the ensuing year.

Minutes:

Nominations were sought for the position of Chairman for the municipal year 2018/19.

 

On there being no other nominations, it was

 

Resolved:

 

To elect Cllr Jon Hubbard as chairman of the Children’s Select Committee for the municipal year 2018/19

28.

Election of Vice-Chairman

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

Minutes:

Nominations were sought for the position of Vice-Chairman for the municipal year 2018/19.

 

On there being no other nominations, it was

 

Resolved:

 

To elect Cllr Mary Douglas as Vice-Chairman of the Children’s Select Committee for the municipal year 2018/19.

29.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr David Halik and Cllr Deborah Halik.

 

Cllr Stewart Dobson and Cllr James Sheppard substituting.

30.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17th April 2018.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 17 April 2018 as a correct record with the amendments as detailed above.

31.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

32.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The following announcements were made:

 

·       Maisy Humphries was welcomed as the new young persons representative.

 

·       Hello Yellow – Mental Health Awareness Campaign during October 2018.

 

·       That the Chairman and Cllr Lay had met with the Project Manager of Re:Fresh. The Re:Fresh project was an important school-based project which provides toiletry and sanitary items to children and youth in need.

 

    The potential for the future expansion of the project was discussed with   the creation of more collection points and schools involved across Wiltshire.

 

    More information on the project is available online at:

    communityactionwestwilts.org/refresh

 

33.

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 12th June 2018 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Thursday 14th June 2018. 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:

There was no public participation.

34.

Performance & Outcomes for Families & Children's Services (Social Care)

A report by the Director, Families & Children’s Services is attached. The report provides an overview of the performance and outcomes of children’s social care.

 

The Local Authority delivers children’s social care in Wiltshire. The performance of the Local authority is inspected by Ofsted. The last inspection was in 2016 and was a Joint Targeted Inspection to examine how local partners, including local authorities, police, probation, and health services, work together to protect children living with domestic abuse.

 

The committee is asked to provide comments on the report and attached dataset in appendix 1.

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A report that provided an overview of the performance and outcomes of children’s social care was presented to the committee.

 

Points made included:

 

That the Local Authority delivered children’s social care in Wiltshire. The performance of the Local authority was inspected by Ofsted. The last inspection was in 2016 and was a Joint Targeted Inspection to examine how local partners, including local authorities, police, probation, and health services, work together to protect children living with domestic abuse. The outcome was positive, recognising many good aspects but JTAI’s were not graded. In 2015 the Local Authority was inspected by Ofsted under the Single Inspection Framework which whilst finding a significant number of strengths declared the outcome to be “requiring improvement to be good”.

 

In October 2017, a new Safeguarding and Support Service was created which expanded the work of the previous social care safeguarding and assessment teams to include resources to support children and families just below the social care threshold - support cases.  The number of support cases had risen as the service continued to develop and embed reaching 422 at the end of March 2018. These cases were either new referrals (via the MASH) or from social care as step-downs.

 

That there had been a drop in the rate of referrals into social care which had continued from the end of last year and was being monitored as it was below our target range for this year and below comparators.  The overall rate (350/10,000) might be expected given the Wiltshire population profile of relatively low deprivation and there was some reassurance that it is appropriate given the re-referrals remains low. (SN 457, Eng 548)

 

Re-referral rates had remained stable and were currently just below 18%. This was low supporting our position that the quality of social work practice and step-down arrangements had improved.  (SN 22%, Eng 22%)

 

The numbers of open social care cases remained relatively stable.

 

 

Resolved

 

1)    That the Children’s Select Committee noted the report and data set.

2)    That the report would be viewed on an annual basis.

 

 

 

35.

Apprenticeship Update

The committee is provided with a report which provides an update on the progress on apprenticeships within the council’s workforce since the implementation of the apprenticeship levy in May 2017, and to outline future plans to ensure the levy is maximised to support the development of our workforce.

 

The Wiltshire Council Staffing Policy Committee was provided with this update on 10th May 2018.

 

Members are asked to considered the update and provide questions and comments.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A report was presented which outlined the progress on apprenticeships within the council’s workforce since the implementation of the apprenticeship levy in May 2017, and to outline future plans to ensure the levy was maximised to support the development of our workforce.

Points made included:

 

In October 2013, the government announced a number of reforms to the national apprenticeship programme as a way of introducing more rigorous standards, being more responsive to the needs of employers and to meet the commitment of having 3 million apprenticeships in place by 2020. At the heart of these reforms was the aim to increase both the quantity and quality of apprenticeships.

 

The two elements of the above reforms which would have the most impact for Wiltshire Council was the levy, and the proposed public sector target.

 

The apprenticeship levy was charged at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill and was collected monthly by the HMRC through PAYE deductions, and was therefore another tax on employment costs. For the council’s workforce the contribution was £470k in the first year and the total amount that the council, including maintained and VC schools, would pay into the levy during any one year roughly equated to £1m.

 

The public sector target was for public sector bodies with more than 250 employees in England to employ an average of at least 2.3% of their staff as apprentices from 2017-2021. This meant that the council needed to have approximately 106 apprentices in the workforce each year until 2021, and for schools this was approximately 150 apprentices.

 

That plans were being developed to further increase apprenticeships and sustain the progress.

 

That Initiatives were being progressed to help to raise the profile of the council with Care Leavers/LAC as an employer, as well as providing them with valuable employability skills and experience and pathways to apprenticeships with the aim of encouraging these young people to apply for and secure apprenticeships with the Council, and with other employers across Wiltshire.

 

Resolved

 

1)    That the Children’s Select Committee noted the report.

2)    To congratulate the work behind the progression towards the excellent number of apprentices working for Wiltshire Council

36.

Final Report of the Care Leavers Rapid Scrutiny

A report is provided for the Children’s Select Committee to report on the outcome of the rapid scrutiny exercise established on 13 June 2017 and held on 23 January 2018 and 27th April 2018 to consider Wiltshire’s Local Offer for Care Leavers under the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

 

The committee is asked to endorse the report and its recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A report was provided for the Children’s Select Committee which outlined the outcome of the rapid scrutiny exercise established on 13 June 2017 and held on 23 January 2018 and 27April 2018 to consider Wiltshire’s Local Offer for Care Leavers under the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

 

Resolved

 

To endorse the recommendations of the Care Leavers Rapid Scrutiny Exercise and to submit them to the Executive for response.

37.

Final Report of the SEND School Provision Task Group

The Committee will be provided with a report detailing the response of the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills to the Interim Report of the SEND School Provision Task Group.

 

On 15th May 2018 the Interim Report of the Task Group, along with its recommendations, was received at a meeting of Cabinet alongside the report of Special School Provision in Wiltshire.The recommendations of the task group were presented to the relevant Cabinet member for response and will be included in a report for the Committee to consider which will follow.

 

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills presented a report that outlined the response of the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills to the Interim Report of the SEND School Provision Task Group.

 

Points made included:

 

On 15May 2018 the Interim Report of the Task Group, along with its recommendations, were received at a meeting of Cabinet alongside the report of Special School Provision in Wiltshire. The recommendations of the task group were presented to the relevant Cabinet member for response and then in a report for the Committee to consider.

 

Resolved

 

That the Children’s Select Committee endorsed the executive responses to the interim report of the SEND School Provision Task Group.

38.

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:

Terence Herbert - Corporate Director, Wiltshire Council presented a report that updated developments relating to children’s services arising from the

Department for Education.

 

Points made included:

 

That the DfE had published its response to the Schools that work for everyone consultation which was seeking views on proposals to create more good school places. It details a package of measures will promote:

 

·       a new wave of free school applications

·       an expansion to the number of places at existing good or outstanding selective schools alongside measures to give more disadvantaged pupils the opportunity to attend these schools

·       new support for faith schools where there was demand for good school places

·       fresh agreement with the independent school sector to help improve outcomes for pupils of all backgrounds

 

These measures aimed to deliver a stronger partnership between different parts of the education system in local areas, to raise standards across the system and to create new good school places in areas where they were needed. The aspiration was to create more school places, give parents greater choice and raise education standards – including in disadvantaged areas.

 

Resolved

 

That the Children’s Select Committee noted the update provided.

39.

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:

Updates from:

 

·       CAMHS Task Group – Cllr Phil Alford – The report was noted.

 

·       Traded Services for Schools and Outdoor Education Task Group – Mr John Hawkins – The report was noted.

 

·       Education Transformation Board Update – Cllr Deborah Halik – That work was ongoing.

 

Resolved

 

To note the update on task group activity provided.

40.

Forward Work Programme

The Committee is asked to note the forward work programme. The latest forward plan for the committee is available through the following link:

https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=1061&RP=1309

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved

 

1)    That the Children’s Select Committee noted the forward work programme.

 

2)    That the Children, Education & Skills Strategy List would be received as a standing document under the Forward Work Programme item and to update when required.

 

41.

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next scheduled meeting is due to be held on Tuesday 4th September 2018 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am. A pre-meeting information briefing will take place at 9.30am.

Minutes:

Tuesday 4th September 2018 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

 

42.

Urgent Items

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

Minutes:

There were none.