Minutes:
24.1 The Committee examined the performance and resources report (PRR) prepared by the Director of Finance and Support Services, which set out the Council’s corporate performance, finance, savings delivery and business performance for the services within the remit of this comment from April to end of June 2021.
24.2 Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows:
· Free School Meals – All children up to the age of seven receive universal free school meals, however unless parents or carers, who are eligible for non-universal free school meals, register, the schools do not gain the associated Pupil Premium. The guidance for applying is being revised. Action: The Committee requested that further detail on trends for Free School and neighbouring comparative detail be included in future PRR reports.
· Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) – The Committee welcomed the improving picture for the number of young people classed as NEET. Action: The Director of Education and Skills agreed to provide more comparative figures for the quarter 2 report to set more context for future reports.
· Care Leavers in employment, education or training – Covid 19 had had significant an impact on the availability of opportunities for care leavers. A core activity for the County Council is the Civil Service internship for young people 18-30 years of age and apprenticeship opportunities both within the County Council and within district and borough councils. The Care Leavers Apprenticeship Engagement Forum has received funding from the Department for Education to run a training partnership with the University of Chichester. A module is being worked up for care leaving young people to enable them to take up higher level apprenticeships.
· The Committee noted that seven of the priorities in Keeping Vulnerable People Safe were rated red and hoped to see an improving picture in the next quarter report. The Committee agreed that Graph 1 (Performance by Priority) should be updated to identify which portfolio the performance measures fell into.
· The Committee were told that discussions were in progress on the unallocated Covid-19 funding and the Committee would be updated once allocations had been made so that it could be made aware of any funding that would be used in the Children, Young People and Learning Portfolio.
· The project to lease vacant properties to reduce intentionally homeless costs was a focus of activity for the property estate workstream.
· Catch Up Funding is supplied by the Government direct to schools who are responsible for using and monitoring the benefit. A reduction in Ofsted inspections over the pandemic had reduced the information available on performance by schools.
· The Committee suggested that the tone of the reporting could be adjusted to reflect that high increases in demand within the service were being met for minimal increases in cost. Action: The Children First Transformation Director agreed to speak to corporate colleagues to reflect this.
· The increase in the cost of home to school transport for children with EHCPs had risen greatly over the last few years due to the increase in the number of children with EHCPs, with a projected 8% increase per year. Some 17,000 miles of transport was provided each day at a cost of £56,000. The Highways Transport Commissioning Team worked hard at meeting the increasing demand by seeking competitive rates and working creatively to help reduce the need for solo taxi journeys where possible.
· The Director of Education and Skills agreed that increasing numbers of children with an EHCP were a challenge for the County Council. The service was working on plans to deal with the pressures in addition to the key strands of work being delivered through the SEND and Inclusion Strategy. Special schools were at capacity in the county and the service were therefore exploring how to generate circa 700 more places to reduce reliance on independent placements, which were also at capacity. This could involve repurposing existing assets, expansions, relocations, phase three of the Special Support Centres and exploring the Government’s free school programme for special schools.
· The Director of Education and Skills explained that the Pseudo Dynamic Purchasing System was a method for purchasing and supply organisations to register to help identify appropriate provision for pupils. Action: The Director of Education and Skills agreed to collate some information on the rationale and functionality of the system for the Committee members.
· The Committee recognised the importance of the Special Support Centres in providing further mainstream provision for children and asked the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to see if the work on Special Support Centres could be accelerated in the Capital Programme so that these centres could be delivered earlier.
24.3 Resolved – That the Committee welcomed the revised Performance and Resources Report, and that it provides a welcome overview of the performance and financial position within the Children, Young people and learning portfolio, taking into account the comments and further details requested above.