Agenda and minutes

The Committee’s membership is set out below:

Cllr Baldwin

Cllr Burgess

Cllr Charles

Cllr Cherry

Cllr Duncton

Cllr Cornell

Cllr Hall

Cllr Linehan

Cllr McGregor

Cllr Mercer

Cllr Smith

Cllr Sparkes

The Committee is asked to elect a Chairman for 2022-23.  If the election is contested, a secret ballot will be held in accordance with Standing Order 2.17.

1.1        Cllr Linehan was proposed for the position of Chairman for one year by Cllr McGregor and seconded by Cllr Baldwin.

1.2        Cllr Smith was proposed for the position of Chairman for one year by Cllr Cornell and seconded by Cllr Cherry.

1.3        A secret ballot was held which was won by Cllr Linehan by seven votes to four.

1.4        Resolved – that Cllr Linehan is duly elected as Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee for a period of one year.

The Committee is asked to elect a Vice-Chairman for 2022-23.  If the election is contested, a secret ballot will be held in accordance with Standing Order 2.17.

2.1        Cllr Baldwin was proposed for the position of Vice-Chairman for one year by Cllr McGregor and seconded by Cllr Sparkes.

2.2        Cllr Mercer was proposed for the position of Vice-Chairman for one year by Cllr Cherry and seconded by Cllr Smith.

2.3        A secret ballot was won by Cllr Baldwin by seven votes to four.

2.4        Resolved – that Cllr Baldwin is duly elected as Vice-Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee for a period of one year.

Report by Director of Law and Assurance.

The Committee is asked to review the membership of the Business Planning Group in view of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman appointments. 

3.1        Resolved – that the Committee appoints the following members to its Business Planning Group: Cllr Linehan, Cllr Baldwin, Cllr Cornell, Cllr McGregor and Cllr Mercer.

Members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personalinterest in any business on the agenda. They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it.  If in doubt please contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

4.1        In accordance with the County Council’s code of conduct the following declarations were made:

4.2        Cllr Mercer declared a personal interest as the Chair of the Orchard Hill College Academy Trust.

4.3        Cllr Linehan declared a personal interest as the parent of a child with special educational needs.

4.4        Cllr Smith declared a personal interest as the parent of a child with special educational needs.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances, including cases where the Committee needs to be informed of budgetary or performance issues affecting matters within its terms of reference, which have emerged since the publication of the agenda.

5.1     No urgent matters were raised.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2022 (cream paper).

6.1        The Director of Children, Young People and Learning updated the Committee on a meeting she had attended with at the Department for Education (DfE) on the 21 March 2022, to discuss the County Council’s participation in the delivering better value in SEND support programme and the safety valve intervention programme.  The County Council would be part of the second phase which was expected to start in autumn 2022.

6.2        A Committee Member asked if there would be an opportunity for Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to report on the delays to the Capital Programme connected with water neutrality and it was agreed to ask Cllr Jupp to circulate a briefing outside of the meeting.

6.3        It was highlighted that under point 54.2 the reference to Task Force Group should be corrected to Task and Finish Group.

6.4        Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2022 be approved as a correct record, subject to the amendment as reflected in 6.3, and signed by the Chairman.

Report by Director of Children, Young People and Learning.

This report provides an update to the Committee on the latest position on external scrutiny of the service, the outcomes, and next steps.  It also includes information on the current workforce and recruitment and retention initiatives.

7.1        The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Russell, introduced the item which she felt was a positive report but acknowledged that there were challenges, particularly in terms of recruitment, which was a national issue.  The service was at a crucial juncture with one final monitoring visit before the full inspection (expected early 2023) and staff were focussing hard on practice inconsistencies, the recruitment position and transition to the family safeguarding model.

7.2        The Assistant Director (Children First Transformation), Mr Clark, introduced the report, which set out some key issues from external regulators, from Ofsted and the DfE, along with information on staffing levels. 

7.3        Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

7.4        With the removal of the requirement to create a Children’s Trust, the role of the Commissioner had been stepped down, however John Coughlan had agreed to be the independent chairman of the Improvement Board.  The Director of Children, Young People and Learning agreed to share details with the Scrutiny Committee of the make-up of the Improvement Board and confirmed that recommendations from the Scrutiny Committee were fed into the Improvement Board.  It was agreed to invite John Coughlin to a Scrutiny Committee meeting to gain his independent perspective on the progress made on the improvement journey.

7.5        The staff survey was voluntary and had been shared with the whole directorate, including Education and Skills.  There had been disappointment at the dip in response levels and outcomes, but they were important to the management team and would be worked on.  It was accepted that there had been a lot of pressures and changes which could have led to more negative outcomes.  It was agreed to share with the Scrutiny Committee the full questions and outcomes document.  There would be a focus on improving engagement in the autumn survey including creating time for staff to do the survey.  It was confirmed there were other forms of engagement including leadership team drop-in sessions, office visits, stress awareness training and a staff conference in October which would focus on staff resilience through times of change.

7.6        The recruitment of social workers continued to be a national challenge.  The service had a 62 (12%) unfilled permanent social care jobs, with 46 staff full-time absent (eg due to maternity leave, long-term sickness, secondments and career breaks), and was using 78 (15%) agency staff leaving a net ‘uncovered vacancy gap’ of around 30 (6%).   During the pandemic, when work went virtual, there was an increase the proportion of agency workers supporting the service from out of county.  With the return to face-to-face work much of that support had been lost.  Recruitment was an absolute priority with the service working with Human Resources to fill vacant posts with the aspiration to have a fully permanent workforce.  The service was also closely monitoring work being done by Adult Services to recruit social workers and were noting any lessons learned.

7.7        All Social Workers recruited from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report by Director of Children, Young People and Learning.

Focus for scrutiny

The Committee is asked to consider the overall service governance and forward planning arrangements and their ability to achieve better outcomes for children and families. 

Areas for scrutiny include (key lines of enquiry):

·       The three key priorities of the Practice Improvement Plan and whether these reflect the areas of focus highlighted in the Commissioner and Ofsted reports as outlined in Item 7. 

·       Assurance that the governance structures are robust and appropriate for continuous service improvement and to highlight any areas for consideration or action by the Cabinet Member.

8.1        The report was introduced by Senior Improvement Lead, Ms Warren, who said much work had been done on the practice improvement plan since it was developed in 2019.  The plan had been refreshed and identified three key priorities which were embedded across the service.  

8.2        Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows:

8.3        The Education and Skills work is integrated across the other workstreams within the governance structure and there were governance arrangements including the SEND and Inclusion Strategy Board and clear governance arrangements for the Adult Education.  It was recognised that this could be more explicitly set out in the governance structure to clearly map out the governance structures within Education and Skills.

8.4        The SEND and Inclusion Strategy Board reported to the Children First Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board since the Integrated Care System (ICS) had a responsibility for SEND, and the Children First Board was due to receive an update on performance later in the week.  The Director of Children, Young People and Learning, Ms Butler, told the Scrutiny Committee they could receive information on the issues raised by the SEND and Inclusion Strategy Board to seek assurance on whether the SEND and Inclusion Strategy was meeting its targets.

8.5        The explanation of work of the sub-groups in development in Appendix 1 of the agenda papers could be expanded to include Terms of reference and work undertaken for a future meeting.

8.6        Resolved – That the Committee: 

1.   Highlights the importance of Education and Skills given the key areas of work and asks that the governance structures are reviewed to ensure the Education and Skills workstreams are adequately reflected. 

2.   Requests further details on the Operational Boards outlined in Appendix 1 as they develop (to include Terms of Reference and work undertaken).

3.   Requests that information on the progress of the SEND and Inclusion Strategy as reported to the Children First Board is shared with the Committee so that it can identify if there are any items it may wish to bring to a future Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee is asked to agree its draft work programme (Appendix A), which reflects the outcome of the discussions at the Committee’s Business Planning Group meeting held on 9 May 2022, in accordance with the scrutiny checklist attached (Appendix B).

The Committee is asked to review the Forward Plan entries relevant to its remit (Appendix C) and consider whether it wishes to enquire about any of the forthcoming decisions within its portfolio.

9.1        The Committee discussed the work programme, and the following suggestions were made.

9.2        Ask the Business Planning Group (BPG) to consider how the overheating of the labour market and hyper-inflation might affect the areas reviewed by the Scrutiny Committee, particularly against budget restraints.

9.3        Agrees that school readiness is a priority and will consider when to bring to a future meeting.

9.4        Ask the BPG to review the inspection report on Youth Justice once it is available to see if there are any areas for scrutiny.

9.5        Ask the BPG to consider scrutiny into short breaks for disabled children and changes in provision within the next year.

9.6        Ask the BPG to consider whether the Schools White Paper has implications for the Elective Home Education item on the work programme.

9.7        Consider how to re-engage with consultees and service users of the Early Help service to see how the new service is doing.

9.8        Following the imminent all-member written briefing on mental health services for young people, the BPG to consider aspects what might need scrutinising.

9.9        BPG to be kept up to date on the impact of reduced birth rates on demand for school places.

There have been no requests for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.  The Director of Law and Assurance will report any requests since the publication of the agenda papers.

10.1     There had been no request for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 12 July 2022 at 1.30pm.  Items on the agenda include:

·       Draft Education and Skills Strategy

·       Performance and Resources Report – Quarter 4

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 28 June 2022.

11.1     The next meeting would be a virtual meeting held on 12 July 2022 at 1.30pm.