Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that the first meeting of the Youth Cabinet, in this new school year, was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 23^rd September, 2008, at the Town Hall, Rotherham.

FOR DISCUSSION

The Scrutiny Panel welcomed co-opted members Mrs. D. Booth, Mrs. C. Purvis and Mrs. P. Wade to their first meeting.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Early Years and Childcare Strategy Manager, concerning the Sure Start Children’s Centres which are central to the Government’s commitment to improve outcomes for young children and to reduce inequalities. The report stated that the Children’s Centres are a key vehicle for providing services that families need and for tackling child poverty.  As part of a phased programme (2004 – 2011) Rotherham will have twenty Sure Start Children’s Centres across the Borough area. At this stage, there is confidence that the impact of the Centres’ work on the communities they serve has generally been positive. It has to be emphasised that building the confidence of communities is a slow process and may take time to demonstrate the major changes required. 

The report provided an overview of the current progress made in Rotherham and, although still in the early stages of development, some examples of the impact of Children’s Centres services.

The Scrutiny Panel discussed the following salient issues:-

- the different phases of the Children’s Centres project would eventually make such facilities available across the Borough area – it was considered that families were more likely to access these facilities in their local area, rather than having to travel long distances;

- the Centres enables parents and carers to access training and employment opportunities;

- there was a multi-agency approach to increase the take-up of childcare by BME families and by hard to reach families;

- Children’s Centres would develop a Business and Marketing plan to ensure they met the Children’s Centre Core Offer; the Centres were also subject to OFSTED inspection.

The Scrutiny Panel viewed copies of the booklet entitled “Success Stories from the Rotherham Community Childcare and Inclusion project 2006-2008” which had been produced with a funding contribution from the European Regional Development Fund.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel welcomes the positive foundations being laid and the real lessons to be learned from Rotherham Children’s Centres.

(3) That a further progress report be submitted to a future meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel.

FOR MONITORING

Consideration was given to a report about the draft Rotherham Parenting Strategy, presented by the Strategic Leader, Attendance and Parenting. Details were provided about:-

(i) the Government’s vision of parenting;

(ii) legislation affecting parenting;

(iii) the definition of parenting as the process by which a parent/carer fulfils their role in caring for a child or young person;

(iv) the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda;

(v) the principles of the Parenting Strategy;

(vi) the 4 Tier Intervention Model;

(vii) consultation, about the Strategy, with parents, carers and young people;

(viii) the role of the Parenting Strategy Steering Group;

(ix) submission of the first draft Parenting Strategy to the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber (March 2008);

(x) the Rotherham Primary Care Trust was preparing a document about health issues, to be included in the Parenting Strategy.

The Scrutiny Panel discussed the following salient issues:-

- consultation about the Strategy with parents and stakeholders;

- the implications of the Strategy for improved pupil behaviour, school attendance and attainment at school;

- the development and implementation of the Parenting Strategy Action Plan;

- the involvement of the various agencies and voluntary sector organisations in supporting families.

Resolved:- (1) That the draft Parenting Strategy be received and its contents noted.

(2) That this Scrutiny Panel recommends that:-

(a) parents, carers, school governing bodies and young people must have the opportunity of commenting on the draft Parenting Strategy; and

(b) the intensive and time-limited work with families, featured at levels 3 and 4 of the Intervention Model, should include means of measuring the effectiveness of the intervention processes.

(3) That the Parenting Strategy be the subject of review by this Scrutiny Panel, at regular intervals.

(4) That copies of the final version of the Parenting Strategy be made available for the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel members.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Performance Manager which outlined the performance against targets of Children and Young People’s Services, at the end of 2007/08, with comparisons against previous performance and All England top quartile authorities. The appendix B to the report contained the recovery plans for measures where performance had failed to meet its target and also showed a decline on the previous quarter with additional information within.

It was also proposed that future performance reports would focus on the new National Indicator Set, with alignment to national and local priorities.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that:-

- 59% of measures saw improvements in performance compared to 2006/07 and 52% met or exceeded their targets;

- the continuing programme of support for schools has led to the percentage with Healthy School Status increasing from 48% in 2006/07 to 78.6%;

- indicators within the current Local Area Agreement linked to Making a Positive Contribution (MPC) all met their targets this year including enterprise projects and activities, business start-ups and positive activities for young people;

- the Service continues to achieve 100% performance for annual reviews of child protection plans (No. 11 - BVPI 162);

- permanent exclusions of pupils have decreased, resulting in more provision for alternative education which has improved the average number of hours of tuition for these pupils to 24 hours per week in quarter 3 and 25 hours per week at outturn, remaining above target;

- recovery action plans and performance clinics continue to be introduced to address areas of under-performance;

- Members noted that there would be a review of truancy patrols, to assess their impact in addressing pupils’ absence from school.

Resolved:- (1) That the 2007/08 Performance Indicators report, as now submitted, be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the Recovery Action Plans, as now submitted, be approved.

(3) That the recommendations, contained in the report, about performance clinics be approved.

(4) That the proposals for reporting against the new National Indicator Set, as detailed in the report submitted, be approved.

MINUTES

Further to Minute No. 8 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 6^th June,2008, the Senior Scrutiny Adviser presented a report outlining the Work Programme for 2008/09 of issues for future consideration by the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel during the forthcoming Municipal Year.

The Scrutiny Panel discussed areas for future consideration and inclusion in the draft work programme and agreed that there should be consideration of a report about the young people’s lifestyle survey.

Resolved:- That the contents of the draft Work Programme for 2008/09, for the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel, be noted and the report about the young people’s lifestyle survey be awaited.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Panel held on 4^th July, 2008 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s Board held on 16^th July, 2008 be noted.

- 27th June 2008 (copy attached)

- 11th July 2008 (copy attached)

- 25th July 2008 (copy attached)

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 27^th June, 2008, 11^th July, 2008 and 25^th July, 2008, be noted.