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.

There had been a meeting of the members of the Youth Cabinet, with Elected Members, about the PHSE curriculum, on 29^th September, 2009 and a further meeting was now being planned.

PRESENTATION

Scrutiny Panel Members would be invited to attend a visit to STEPS (Support Therapy Education Prevention Service) during November, 2009.

FOR DISCUSSION

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Programme Director, Building Schools for the Future, outlining the main areas of pressure on the Children and Young People’s Services’ Revenue Budget 2009/2010 and indicating where investment should be considered for this and for future years.

The report and subsequent discussion included the following main issues:-

-     the net outturn for Children and Young People’s Services for the 2008/09 financial year was the same amount as the approved budget for the 2009/10 financial year; therefore, any budget reductions or savings would have a detrimental impact upon service provision;

-     the 2008/09 main variations from budget were highlighted;

-     the forecast outturn for the Children and Young People’s Services 2009/10 budget predicted a significant overspend, directly attributable to an increase in demand for social care services for children, young people and their families;

-     the number of looked after children and children in need, in Rotherham, had also increased, requiring significant increased expenditure;

-     details of Rotherham’s comparative spending on services, against statistical neighbours and other Metropolitan Authorities were highlighted (and had been referenced in the Children’s First Review);

-     mitigating actions to reduce the budget overspend were also listed;

-     recruitment and retention of social workers and the associated costs;

-     the impact upon service delivery of any budget cuts;

-     the focus upon early intervention and prevention, which may help to alleviate the demand upon pressurised budgets;

-     the considerable risks of certain mandatory services being insufficiently funded;

-     seeking support from schools budgets for the school effectiveness service;

-     the wider implications of the national pressures upon public sector funding;

-     the Borough Council’s value for money budget review, which would include Children and Young People’s Services.

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

(2) That the significant pressures upon the Children and Young People’s Services revenue budget and consequently upon service delivery be acknowledged and considered in detail as part of the preparation of the Borough Council’s overall budget for the 2010/2011 financial year.

(3) That the considerable risks of certain mandatory services being insufficiently funded be also highlighted during the forthcoming budget deliberations.

(4) That the outcome of the Council’s value for money budget review of Children and Young People’s Services be reported to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel.

Further to Minute No. 54 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 31^st October, 2008, consideration was given to a report presented by the Assistant Head of School Effectiveness Service concerning the14-19 Strategy and the requirements of the Government White Paper ‘Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver’. This White Paper details the transfer of responsibility for 16-19 education from the Learning and Skills Council to local authorities, by the end of the decade.

The report stated that the Leitch Review of Skills identified an urgent need for higher-level skills in order for the United Kingdom to remain competitive; the Every Child Matters agenda demands that every young person gets a good start in life and is equipped with the skills that they need in order to thrive in the global economy; the Government demands that all those working with children and young people should work together in partnership to improve the lives of those children and young people.

Over the next five years local authorities are charged with meeting new and significant responsibilities and challenges in relation to the 14-19 agenda.  These challenges include the re-commissioning of Connexions, the re-commissioning of Business Education links, commissioning 16-19 education provision, ensuring the 14-19 Curriculum Entitlement (including Diplomas and Apprenticeships) and managing the demands which will inevitably stem from the raising of the participation age.

In order to respond to these changes, Rotherham has established a Rotherham 14-19 Learning Plan 2008 to 2013 which sets out the proposals for transforming education for 14-19 year olds within the Borough and takes full account of the current and proposed legislation.

The Scrutiny Panel’s discussion of this item highlighted the following salient issues:-

-     the emphasis upon engaging with young people, ensuring their participation in learning and raising skill levels; it was not simply a matter of requiring young people to stay on at school for further study;

-     some of the funding would be transferred from the Learning and Skills Council;

-     flexibility of learning provision was very important;

-     the role of the Sub-Regional Group of the four local authorities in South Yorkshire in commissioning the 16-19 age group learning provision;

-     the use of different learning environments, eg: specialist colleges, ICT and on-line virtual learning environments;

-     learning provision to be situated in locations accessible to young people, to try and prevent unnecessarily lengthy journeys to places of learning;

-     the provision of the traditional adult community learning (typically, evening classes) would be delivered by a separate agency, currently overseen by the Learning and Skills Council.

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

(2) That a progress report about the 14 to 19 Learning Strategy be submitted to a meeting of this Scrutiny Panel in twelve months’ time.

Further to Minute No. 70 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 28^th November, 2008, consideration was given to a report presented jointly by the Programme Director, Building Schools for the Future and the Manager of Special Educational Needs and Assessment Services, concerning the mainstream funding for Special Educational Needs (SEN). The report stated that funding for high incidence SEN continues to be driven through formula factors for each school, in addition to the mainstream school budget. Schools which have pupils with low incidence exceptional needs continue to receive a top-up allocation based upon Descriptors discussed and recommended via the Special Educational Needs Panel.

Some funding is retained centrally for:-

:     support services;

:     children with exceptional needs, who, with additional central funding may continue to have their needs met within Rotherham schools under ‘The Closer the Better’ agenda;

:     extra district SEN placements through single, joint or tripartite funding arrangements.

Special Schools continue to achieve their specialisms, thus supporting all of the Borough’s children and young people more effectively.

The report also included details of:-

:     the developing role of special schools;

:     mainstream SEN funding and the total SEN budget;

:     the impact of funding changes;

:     training linked to SEN delegation;

:     notional SEN funding delegated to mainstream schools (Section 52 Schools Statements and including unit allocations).

The Scrutiny Panel’s debate of this issue included the following salient points:-

-     Rotherham’s performance in approving statements of special educational needs for assessed pupils, compared to other similar local authorities;

-     providing parents with reasons for refusing statements to assessed pupils;

-     parental awareness of the right to request an assessment of special educational needs for their children;

-     publication of information about SEN provision on the Borough Council’s Internet web site;

-     assessments of pupils collecting appropriate information about pupils from a range of professional staff;

-     schools’ SEN provision is assessed during Ofsted inspections, during which there is consultation with parents;

-     the funding of provision for low incidence SEN is being reviewed currently.

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

(2) That a further report be submitted to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel describing the Voice and Influence survey of parents of Rotherham school pupils.

FOR MONITORING

Further to Minute No. C52 of the meeting of Cabinet held on 15^th July, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Programme Director, Building Schools for the Future summarising the progress being made with the Transforming Rotherham Learning Strategy through Building Schools for the Future (BSF).

The report stated that there had positive initial feedback from Partnerships for Schools after the submission of Rotherham’s Strategy for Change Part 1 on 25^th August, 2009. Work had now begun on the Outline Business Case, which is due to be submitted on 26^th January, 2010 with the intention of going out to the market to procure a Local Education Partnership in April, 2010.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that the first phase of BSF would produce £80 millions of investment and a further £8 millions of investment for ICT. There would be significant new build at Maltby, Swinton, Saint Pius, Oakwood and Aston Secondary Schools.  Additionally, Hilltop Special and a new Maltby Hall/ Lilly Hall primary school (funded through the Primary Capital Programme) would be co-located with the secondary school (to be the Maltby Academy from January, 2010). There would also be considerable ICT investment for all of the latter schools and the Abbey and Milton Schools, together with additional investment for the Council’s central services, where all schools in their Learning Communities should benefit.

The Scrutiny Panel discussed the following salient issues:-

-     the implications of Trust status for the governance of schools;

-     learning communities of schools;

-     provision for physical education and sports;

-     raising levels of pupil achievement;

-     scrutiny review of community use of school facilities;

-     admission criteria for pupils’ entry into schools.

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

(2) That a further progress report about Transforming Rotherham Learning Strategy through Building Schools for the Future be submitted to a meeting of this Scrutiny Panel in six months’ time.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Performance Manager which detailed the Children and Young People’s Services performance at the end of the first quarter 2009/10 (June 2009). The report provided analysis against targets, direction of travel against previous performance and where possible comparisons with this Council’s statistical neighbours and national data.

Members noted that the format of the report had changed to provide more analysis and assessment of comparison and direction of travel, which will be valuable to managers, Directors and Elected Members under the Comprehensive Area Assessment regime.

Members noted the arrangements concerning performance clinics and also that invitations would be made to the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel to attend those clinics.

Discussion took place on:-

-     the progress of the work to prevent childhood obesity (Minute No. 107 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 6th March, 2009, refers);

-     the stability of placements for looked after children.

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

MINUTES

Further to Minute No. 71 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 28^th November, 2008, consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Children and Young People’s Services Community Services containing the responses by Children and Young People’s Services to the recommendations of the Youth Service Scrutiny Review (Minute No. B116 of the Cabinet meeting held on 12^th November, 2008 refers). The report made reference to the terms of reference for this review (legal responsibility; effectiveness of Young People’s Service; Involving Young People; Financial issues) and also included the Cabinet’s response to the recommendations.

The Scrutiny Panel discussed the progress being made against the recommendations of this Scrutiny Review (entitled ‘Future Challenges for the Youth Service’) during the past twelve months.

Reference was made in the report to the intention to engage consultants (at no cost to the Borough Council) who would facilitate the development of a strategy relating to the spaces and facilities offered for use by young people throughout the Borough area. Members also noted:-

-     the current and likely future impact upon the Youth Service of the Borough Council’s deliberations;

-     the funding obtained for the provision of a youth facility in the Rotherham town centre under the Government’s ‘My Place’ initiative; and

-     the development of the Internet web site facility ‘the Directory of Services and Activities for Children, Young People and their Families in Rotherham’.

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

(2) That a report about the consultants’ study of spaces and facilities for young people be submitted to a meeting of this Scrutiny Panel early in 2010.

(3) That a progress report be submitted to the next meeting of this Scrutiny Panel about the Internet web site facility ‘the Directory of Services and Activities for Children, Young People and their Families in Rotherham’ (Minute No. 90 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 7th March, 2008, refers).

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 4th September, 2009 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services, held on 9th September, 2009, be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s Board held on 16^th September, 2009 be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 11th September, 2009, be noted.