Agenda item

Report by Director of Finance and Support Services.

The Committee is asked to examine the Council’s corporate performance, finance, savings delivery and business performance for the services within the remit of this Committee for the period April to June 2022.

21.1     The Committee looked at the Performance and Resources Report – quarter 1 – which covered the period April-June 2022.

Learning and Skills

21.2     The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills, Cllr N Jupp, introduced the item highlighting the continued issues relating to SEND and school transport.  He reported a number of issues continued to be addressed, but that some were outside or the Council’s control. 

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

21.4     Officers agreed to provide details of the ratio of staff resources in comparison to the number of pupils with an EHCP and also across the SENAT caseloads to give a greater comparison to the 2015 figures and enable Committee members to seek assurance that this is sufficient.

21.5     Officers agreed to share the current rate of parental mileage rate for home to school transport and reported there had been a small increase in take up and work was ongoing to encourage parents.

21.6     Work had taken place to introduce an internal fleet to reduce the cost of external taxis (Significant Financial Issue 2) focusing on expensive accessible vehicle routes.  This was going well, and officers were looking to see if this could be extended. 

21.7     The underspend due to difficulties recruiting into the Educational Psychology Service and School Crossing Patrol Services teams would be used to support early years specialists.

21.8     Performance Measure 30 – Number of 16-17 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training – The Committee highlighted that the figures that the gap, although continuing to close, remained higher than the national average.  Mr Wagstaff confirmed there was more recent data than the quarter 1 information provided and agreed to share that with the Committee.  He highlighted that the data was only collected in February each year.  He also confirmed that the Council’s responsibility was to track children not in education, employment or training and guide them towards pathways.  It is a choice for young people who may be young parents, unwell children, or who drop out of education, etc, but the gap was narrowing.

21.9     The projected Dedicated Schools Grant deficit was a matter of concern.  Many other councils were also in difficult positions.  The lobbying of Government continued, and the County Council were not in the front line of worst performing authorities.  Work was underway with the Department for Education (DFE) and Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to provide data so the Council could bid for extra money.  Every effort is being made to reduce the number of costly out of county specialist placements as well as provide more school places within the county.

Children and Young People

21.10  The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Russell, introduced the report highlighting that the Ofsted inspection referred to had taken place in September 2022 and results would be published at the end of October 2022.  Cllr Russell reported that recruitment was still a challenge, despite initiatives such as county-wide events and financial incentives for staff to introduce friends and relatives.  A team had travelled to South Africa, following discussions with an experienced agency and other local authorities to gain advice, and had appointed 36 highly qualified social workers to join the service in January 2023 once the necessary agency and our safer recruitment checks had taken place.  A bespoke induction would be prepared to support the new social workers with good practice and mentoring.  Cllr Russell thanked the team for thinking so creatively to help fill the vacancy gap and looked forward to meeting the new social workers.

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

21.12  The number of workers quoted to make the Family Safeguarding Model (FSM) work were the highest level aspired to.  It was currently a challenge to deliver with a reduced number of adult-facing specialist workers in place but there was confidence that the number the service were looking to recruit would be sufficient.  The service continued to challenge the DFE on funding.  Some domestic abuse staff had been moved into the service since June 2022.  External partners from probation, mental health and substance misuse teams are positive about working with the FSM.

21.13  A tactical decision had been made to delay recruitment for the Fostering Redesign to prevent impact on other service areas. Things would be back on track within a few months.  Action: Assistant Director (Corporate Parenting) to provide a briefing for members.

21.14  Action plans were in place to bring down high-cost placements, with analysis into why placements had occurred.  Numbers were much higher than had been projected in the budget which could be a result of factors such as the impact of the covid pandemic on behavioural problems.  The Chairman suggested this would be a good area to cover at the proposed member session.

21.15  Cllr Russell thanked the Committee for their constructive questions. She acknowledged that the service was still on its journey of transition, but felt that everyone from leadership team down to staff were going the extra mile to cover as much as they could within the hours and breath they had in a day to make the model work and thanked them for all they had done.

21.16  Resolved – That the Committee:

1.   Raise concern on the Dedicated Schools Grant position, and asks the Cabinet Member to continue to lobby government on the need to increase West Sussex special school places.   

2.   Asks for detail on the staff resources levels in comparison to the number of EHCPs to seek assurance that this is sufficient. 

3.   Asks for up-to-date figures on the percentage of 16–17 olds that are Not in Education, Employment or Training (Performance Measure 30) following the work that has been undertaken over the summer. 

4.   Welcome the news of the overseas recruitment of 36 additional qualified social workers and the ongoing work by the service to tackle the current vacancy gap.

5.   Were assured on the work being carried out to continue the implementation of the Family Safeguarding Model and recruitment of adult workers in light of the reduced funding received.