Agenda and minutes

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.

14.1   Mr Cloake declared a personal interest in item 7 (Developing a Sustainable Workforce for West Sussex) as his wife is a social worker. He left the room for the Social Care element of the report. Mr High chaired the item.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2018 (cream paper).

15.1   Resolved – that the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 June 2018 be approved as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

The Committee is asked to note the responses to recommendations made at the 20 June 2018 meeting from The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills.

16.1   The Committee considered a response from the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills. This included a letter from the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to the Secretary of State for Education, expressing concerns about the inability of the Local Authority to act in contributing to improving the performance of failing academies.

16.2   The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills added that the Department for Education Minister for Schools was interested to receive the letter, and has invited the Leader and Cabinet Member to attend a meeting to discuss further.

16.3   Resolved – that the responses be noted.

Extract fromthe ForwardPlan dated 29^th August 2018 – attached.

Anextract fromanyForwardPlan publishedbetween the date of despatchof the agenda and the date of the meetingwill be tabled at the meeting.

The Committee is asked to consider whetheritwishes to enquireinto any of the forthcoming decisions withinits portfolio.

17.1   The Committee considered a tabled paper which was a new version of the Forward Plan dated 11 September 2018 (copy appended to the signed minutes). This version of the Forward Plan was not included in the Committee papers as it had been published following the statutory despatch of the agenda.

17.2   Resolved – that the Forward Plan be noted.

Report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education.

The Committee is asked to consider the recommendations in the report in order to ensure members are fully briefed on recent activities concerning children’s homes in West Sussex.

18.1   The Committee considered a report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education. The report was introduced by Annie MacIver, Director of Children and Family Services and Karen Wells, Head of Market Development. Before taking the Committee through a presentation (copy appended to the signed minutes), the Director of Children and Family Services advised the Committee that she took full responsibility for the recent Ofsted judgement and subsequent events. The Committee heard the following:

·         In June 2018, Seaside Children’s home was inspected by Ofsted and given an inadequate rating; a suspension of service notice was given. In August 2018, Ofsted visited the home again and judged that insufficient progress had been made. As the unit had not followed compliance as had been set out, a notice to suspend the registration of Seaside children’s home was issued.

·         The Children and Family Services Senior Management Team subsequently undertook quality assurance visits of the other children’s homes in West Sussex. Concerns were identified at two further homes; Cissbury Lodge and May House. The decision was made to gradually withdraw services from these homes following insufficient assurance of the stability of service.

·         On 29 August 2018 a briefing took place to inform members of the Children and Young People’s Services Select Committee, the Corporate Parenting Panel and the local member for Seaside, of the recent events, and to address any questions. It was agreed that an item on Children’s Residential Homes would go to the Select Committee as an open space to discuss recent events and future plans.

18.2   In discussion after the presentation, the following points were considered by members and answered by the Director of Children and Family Services, and the Head of Market Development.

·         The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People advised the Committee that the concerns about children’s homes had been under intense scrutiny by the Leader and Cabinet. He shared that the Children and Family Services Senior Management Team had been working tirelessly as a collective to create and deliver a Residential Improvement Programme. Members and officers agreed that whilst recent events were clearly unsatisfactory, this should be seen as an opportunity to refocus West Sussex County Council’s (WSCCs) offer of children’s homes to provide a stable and confident service. The Director of Children and Family Services added that regular conversations were being had with Ofsted, establishing a collaborative relationship with a mutual goal of culminating a highly functional residential estate. 

·         The Chairman stressed that the Select Committee’s purpose served to be a critical friend, and that children must remain the core priority to ensure services were as good as possible for our vulnerable young people. Members echoed they needed to know what was going on in children’s homes, and specifically where support was required.

·         Members asked for assurance of the safety and protection of the children who have had to be moved as a result of the temporary closure of Seaside. The Director of Children and Family Services provided reassurance that these children had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education, the Head of School Effectiveness, and the Director of Children and Family Services.

The report provides an overview to the challenges faced by West Sussex County Council in terms of recruitment and retention of experienced staff to teaching and social work roles.

The Committee is asked to note the nationally demanding environment within which West Sussex schools and the County Council recruits to education jobs, to consider how further West Sussex could be promoted as a good place to work in education and social care, and to consider how to maximise the opportunity the apprenticeship levy funding provides to develop professional skills, build capacity and secure workforce sustainability into schools and education roles in the local authority.

Mr High took the Chair

19.1   The Committee considered a report by the Executive Director of Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education, and the Head of School Effectiveness. The Chairman welcomed Cate Mullen, Principal Educational Psychologist, and Yasmin Maskatiya, Executive Principal of Chichester High School (CHS) to the meeting. The Head of School Effectiveness introduced the education element of the report; the Committee heard the following:

·         The recruitment and retention of people to education roles was a national challenge. The recruitment crisis was not restricted to teaching posts and also included head-teachers. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects were particularly difficult to recruit to. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) indicated that children across the Country were being taught these subjects by non-specialists in those areas.

·         Schools were responsible for their own recruitment. The role of the Local Authority was to support them by making West Sussex an attractive and good place to work. Localised issues, such as the cost of living and high house prices in certain parts of the County, presented a challenge when attempting to recruit to West Sussex.

·         There were a number of reasons attributable to the national challenge of recruiting to education roles. Some examples included the following:

Ø  Some roles could be very demanding, resulting in a short career span.

Ø  The burden of marking could often be astounding.

Ø  A heavy workload, high levels of stress and accountability.

Ø  A negative ethos in schools, demoralised workforces and unhappy staff doesn’t make for a positive impression on new or prospective teachers.

Ø  Challenging behaviours of some children.

Ø  Exceeding number of statutory demands which reduces the time and opportunities to undertake behavioural understanding training.

Ø  Some schools operate a traditional approach to working hours, with a limited openness to flexible working or part-time arrangements.

·         Recent recruitment fairs organised by the County Council have shown the wider variety of educational roles available. Events at Fontwell and Crawley had been well attended.

·         Members heard that school based training was now the most popular route into a career in education.

·         The Executive Principal of CHS shared that contact with young people was widely regarded as the most rewarding aspect of working in a school environment.

19.2   Members thanked Cate Mullen, Yasmin Maskatiya and the Head of School Effectiveness. The Committee raised the following questions which are included below with their responses:

·         Members asked about data from exit interviews, and whether this could be analysed to identify trends in why people were leaving the education profession. Members were advised that schools themselves undertook the exit interviews, and that this information was not currently shared with the County Council.

·         Members heard that Primary schools were easier to recruit to than Secondary, and were interested to further understand the use of agency and supply staff to fill these vacancies at Secondary level. The Executive Principal of CHS reported that appointing temporary agency staff was not a good use of a school’s budget, but that little mechanism existed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education.

In June the Committee previewed the Draft School Effectiveness Strategy and requested that the final strategy return to the Committee in September. The report updates the Committee on the progress made since June 2018, to develop and agree the new School Effectiveness Strategy 2018-2022. This includes the public consultation feedback and the refinements that have been made as a result. 

The Committee is asked to endorse the executive decision to approve the new School Effectiveness Strategy 2018-2022. The Committee is also asked to consider how it can actively support the Cabinet Member and officers in the Strategy’s implementation. For example a Task and Finish Group that meets each term and undertakes a strategic monitoring role of progress against strategy objectives, and that yearly updates are provided to the Committee.

Mr Cloake took the Chair

20.1   With the agreement of the Committee, the Chairman deferred this item to a later meeting of the Committee.

The report informs the Committee of the Business Planning Group meeting held on 6 June 2018, setting out the key issues discussed.

The Committee is asked to endorse the contents of this report, and particularly the Committee’s Work Programme revised to reflect the Business Planning Group’s discussions (attached at Appendix A).

21.1   Resolved - that the Committee endorses the contents of the Business Planning Group report.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 31 October 2018 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester. 

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 16 October 2018.

22.1   The Committee noted that the next scheduled meeting will be held on 31 October 2018 at 10.30am at County Hall, Chichester.