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 were no issues to report.

PRESENTATION

Review of Youth Service

The key points reported in respect of the review of youth services so far were:-

• The creation and implementation of 7 locality based Early Intervention  Teams – 848 young people had been referred in
• Of those 848 young people, 280 had been referred by SNT’s and South Yorkshire Police in relation to anti social behaviour
• There had been a 37% drop in reprimands between 2007/08 and 2008/09
• The Voice and Influence activity was to be co-located
• Progress was being made in relation to the buildings for youth work in Maltby, Bramley and Maltings
• Work was being undertaken to extend provision at weekends and during schools holidays

A further report would be presented to the next scrutiny panel meeting.

Visit to Chatham House

It was reported that the recent visit to Chatham House had been successful, and as a result a further visit to STEPS (Support Therapy Education Prevention Service) had been arranged on 30^th September 2009 at 9.30 am.  There were 6 places available, and any member wishing to attend should contact Caroline Webb.

GCSE Results

Joyce Thacker, Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services circulated the GCSE results for the Borough for 2009.  There had been a marked improvement on A* - C results which had been as a result of targeted work throughout the year.  A press release had been issued and Members asked that congratulations be sent to all pupils and schools for their success.

presentation to be made at the meeting

FOR DISCUSSION

The Scrutiny Panel received a presentation from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services concerning the Comprehensive Area Assessment of the Council and its implications for Children and Young People’s Services. The presentation drew specific attention to:-

• The Area Assessment
• CAA Timescales
• Whose Perspective
• Organisational Assessment
• Inspections
• Safeguarding and Looked after Children
• Safeguarding inspections and judgements
• Looked After Children inspections and judgements
• Contact and Referral Unannounced Inspections
• Surveys
• Judgement Options
• Triggers
• Performance Profile
• Performance
• Schools
• Laming – Highlights Impact on CAA

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:-

• Concerns were raised about the cost involved to both the Authority and the people in the Borough.
• Members asked whether the inspection had shown up any “red flag” areas within Rotherham’s performance.  It was confirmed that there were no inadequacies currently.  However, some National Indicators were calculated separately and their outcomes may impact negatively on overall performance.

Sue Wilson then took members through the latest Ofsted data in respect of Every Child Matters indicators and Inspected Services.  Members queried how the Authority was meaningfully addressing with partners.  This was done via the Corporate Improvement Plan.  It was confirmed that a task and finish group had been set up to ensure that all actions within the plan were undertaken.  The group involved all partners and members of the panel were drawn from across the Council.  Members felt that the Safeguarding Children’s Board could do more as safeguarding was a major issue.

Resolved:- (1) That the information be received.

(2)  That the outcomes of the CAA be fed back to this Scrutiny Panel.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Workforce Strategy, Planning and Development Manager, stating that in line with Department for Children, Schools and Families requirements and guidance from the Children’s Workforce Development Council, the Workforce Development Strategy had been produced to represent the strategic aims of the One Children’s Workforce in Rotherham and with regard to workforce development over the next three years, 2009 to 2012. A copy of the Workforce Development Strategy, 2009 to 2012, was appended to the report submitted.

The report stated that the key local driver is the Children and Young People’s Plan, supported by individual Service plans. The overall direction is determined through Every Child Matters and the Change for Children agenda.  In order to deliver against the Council’s vision, high impact priorities and core values, the workforce needed to be transformed to ensure the needs of today are met and fitness for the future. The Children and Young People’s Plan brings together the Council’s shared vision, identity and purpose, through the use of common values and language.

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and discussed:-

• Members asked for feedback in relation to the recent recruitment event which had taken place.  It was confirmed that the event had been extremely successful with a lot of positive feedback.  Post qualifying training was the main area to be concentrated upon and with effect from September 18 qualified social workers would be enrolled on courses.
• Concerns were raised about the retention of social workers within the borough.  Members asked what was being done to stop them from being “head hunted”.  It was confirmed that social workers who were offered the opportunity to undertake the post qualifying training were being asked to commit to stay for at least 2 years following their training. 
• It was suggested that salary rates and size of caseload may be significant factors in social work recruitment and retention.

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

(2)  That a further update on recruitment and retention of staff be submitted to the Scrutiny Panel.

Further to Minute No. 23 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 1^st July, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by Ruth Bastin, Policy and Planning Team Manager, concerning the Lifestyle Survey, an annual survey, undertaken with both Primary and Secondary school pupils.

The survey questions cover a range of issues, such as health, how pupils feel about school, how safe they feel, how pupils feel about the area in which they live, bullying, and how often they may smoke, drink or take drugs. The submitted report concerned the Primary Survey 2008 and the attached summary (appendix to the report) provided a brief analysis of the results of this survey.

The Borough-wide report, which includes the findings from the 2008 Primary School Lifestyle Survey and the relevant data tables are available on the Council’s intranet. A summary version of the report is available on the Council’s web site.

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

(2)  That the results of the next survey be presented to the Panel.

FOR MONITORING

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Leader, Attendance and Parenting, describing the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) designation of ‘Persistent Absence’, first introduced in 2006/07.

The report stated that, in determining the criteria for designation as “Persistent Absence,” the DCSF used data from the previous (2005/06) Autumn and Spring Terms. A Persistent Absentee is any pupil with 20% or more absence and includes all absences whether authorised, unauthorised or medical.

During 2006/07:-

: any secondary school with 10% or more of the school population in the persistent absentee category was designated as a Persistent Absence School; and;

: any local authority with five or more schools in the Persistent Absence category was designated as a Persistent Absence local authority.

During 2007/08, the criteria for designating a Persistent Absence school reduced to 9% of Persistent Absence pupils and in 2008/09 the criteria reduced further to 7%. The Government has a target that all secondary schools shall reduce their persistent absentee pupils to 5% by the year 2010/11.

Persistent Absence was introduced to the primary sector in 2008/09. The criteria for primary schools was any school with above 2.4% (national average) of its cohort as persistent absentee pupils.

A school placed in Persistent Absentee category has to complete an Attendance Self Assessment Form and produce an action plan. Every student designated as a persistent absentee pupil must have an individual action plan. In Rotherham, Self Assessment and Attendance Action Planning support was offered to all schools. Similarly, the Borough Council has to complete an assessment and action plan to address Persistent Absence in its schools.

The report referred to the Children’s First review of Children and Young People’s Services, which had made two recommendations relating to attendance. These recommendations are:-

(i) the present dislocation between the strategic activities of the Central Attendance Team and the day to day work of locality team based Education Welfare Officers with pupils, schools and families must be resolved by December 2009; and

(ii) the new Attendance Strategy should be used to re-launch and reintroduce the concerted and seamless action on pupil absence so valued by schools in the past. A ‘lead professional ‘ approach could be adopted to ensure that the seven locality teams, and their designated Education Welfare Officers in particular, benefit from regular information exchange with the Central Team and participation in relevant development opportunities by December 2009.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that actions were already in place to address both of these recommendations (reference; Children’s First Review Action Plan).

Members queried whether newly arrived children affected figures for schools and it was confirmed that this was recognised as an issue across the borough. 

One of the main issues affecting the figures was parents taking children out of school in term time for holidays.  This was a particular problem during the Autumn term.

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

(2) That this Scrutiny Panel supports:-

(a) the focus on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Further to Minute No. 121 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 3^rd April, 2009 and to Minute No. C54 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 15^th July, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services setting out the findings and recommendations of the scrutiny review into support for newly arrived children in schools. A copy the full response document was included as an appendix.

The report stated that the level of activity to support newly arrived children was determined by the current amount of funding. Additional funding was identified by schools to finance the recruitment of three Slovakian speaking young people who supported the Welcome Offer and worked with families.

The Scrutiny Review contained some recommendations (numbered 4 and 5) relating to financial resources. Actions to address these recommendations were detailed in the submitted action plan.

Significant numbers of European migrant children were registering for education within Rotherham. The majority of these children and their families did not speak any English. The families exercised a preference for their children to attend one of five secondary schools and the primary schools within these clusters.

The numbers of non-English speaking children arriving in Rotherham were putting pressure on a small, but significant, number of schools. This pressure created risks for both the schools and the children in that:-

·              current resources were very stretched, both within central services and schools, to meet the needs of these newly arrived children without compromising the education of the current pupil cohort;

·              attendance of the newly arrived children was often poor, particularly in the secondary sector, placing the schools at risk of being designated a “Persistent Absence” school;

·              families often moved quite quickly without giving a forwarding address; the children remained on a school’s roll for a period of time and were then moved to the “Missing from Education” list until they have been located;  this circumstance created both a safeguarding risk for the child and again put schools at risk of being designated a Persistent Absence school;

·              the combination of limited English and spasmodic attendance could result in low levels of attainment for these children, which had the potential to impact significantly on the test and examination results of schools.  

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

(2)  That an update be provided to the Scrutiny Panel in six months time.

MINUTES

Further to Minute No. 7 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 5^th June, 2009 and to Minute No. C70 of the Cabinet meeting held on 29^th July, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services containing the response of the Cabinet to the findings and recommendations of the scrutiny review into concerns about road traffic safety outside schools in the Rotherham Borough area. A copy of the full response document was included as an appendix.

The report stated that this scrutiny review had made twelve recommendations, all of which have been supported by the Cabinet, although some are subject to the necessary resources being made available.

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

(2)  That an update be provided to the Scrutiny Panel in six months time.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 24th July, 2009 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Looked After Children Scrutiny Sub-Panel held on 8th July, 2009 be noted.

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 15th July, 2009, be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s Board held on 14^th July, 2009 be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee, held on 10th July and on 24th July, 2009, be noted.