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:-

(1) a number of members of the Rotherham Youth Cabinet were today attending a meeting of the UK Youth Parliament, which was taking place at the House of Commons, Westminster, London; and

(2) the launch of the Youth Cabinet manifesto will take place on Wednesday, 3^rd November, 2009, at the Town Hall, Rotherham.

PRESENTATION

(1) Scrutiny Panel Members would be invited to attend a visit to STEPS (Support Therapy Education Prevention Service) at Chatham House, Rotherham during the morning of Wednesday, 25th November, 2009.

(2) The Scrutiny Panel placed on record its appreciation of the work of Mrs. Pam Allen (Director of Safeguarding and Corporate Parenting) who was leaving this Authority for a new post with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The Scrutiny Panel wished Mrs. Allen every success in her new post.

FOR DISCUSSION

Further to Minute No. 51 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 1^st October, 2008, consideration was given to a report presented by the Policy Officer (Chief Executive’s Office) stating that, in 1999, the Government made a commitment to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020 – at this time child poverty had doubled in the previous twenty years and the United Kingdom had the worst level of child poverty in Europe.

The report stated that, although significant progress has been made, with some 600,000 children having been lifted out of poverty since 1999, there are still four million children living in a state of poverty within the UK.     

In June 2009, the Child Poverty Bill was introduced to Parliament, making the case to entrench in law the commitment to end child poverty by 2020.  The Bill places a duty on local authorities and their partners to conduct a local needs assessment and develop a joint local strategy.   

The Scrutiny Panel noted that a local needs assessment had been carried out during 2008 and the resulting report, which outlines the national picture of child poverty and how Rotherham compares with its statistical neighbours, was submitted to this meeting.

Members’ discussion of this issue included the following salient points:-

-     definitions of poverty and the way in which childhood experiences of poverty often influence a person’s later life in a negative way;

-     the Government’s PSA Target 9, to reduce child poverty;

-     the Child Poverty Bill (published in the Summer 2009) will place a duty on local authorities to produce a local joint strategy and a performance indicator has been developed as part of the National Indicator set: NI 116 ‘Proportion of Children in Poverty’;

-     statistics and details of child poverty nationally, compared to the position in Rotherham;

-     the child well-being index;

-     the impact of poverty upon children’s educational attainment;

-     the need to develop a joint local strategy to try and reduce child poverty in Rotherham;

-     the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children’s and Young People’s Services (C4EO) is a new organisation developed to coordinate local, regional and national evidence for ‘what works’ in children’s services;

-     comparative levels of poverty in the South Yorkshire region; and the changed patterns of employment with the demise of the area’s traditional heavy industries;

-     preparing and training local people for the new employment prospects in the South Yorkshire region; some employment being as a consequence of the introduction of the Digital Region;

-     provision support for children’s learning in schools, especially reading (eg: Rotherham Titans rugby players involvement in schools);

-     the link between poverty and health;

-     the problem of ‘stuck’ families, whose successive generations suffer poverty;

-     arrangements for a Partnership-wide consultation event, to take place in Rotherham early in 2010, to bring together all key stakeholders for consideration of the data and information resulting from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

Further to Minute No. 60(3) of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 2^nd October, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services stating that the Families Information Service ensures that the Information Duty of the Childcare Act 2006 is met by providing information on childcare and services to parents and carers in Rotherham.  To meet this duty, a web site Directory was developed to expand on the current information held on childcare to include information on services and activities for children, young people and families. This Directory has been developed in conjunction with the Youth Service to meet that Service’s requirement to provide information about the Youth Offer, which is achieved via the ‘Young People’s Zone’ of the Directory. The report included details of the financing of the Directory and the involvement of parents and young people in its design and use.

The report stated that the Families Information Service is based within the Early Years and Childcare Service and holds up to date information on all childcare in Rotherham. The website Directory provides this information and is also used for additional information in relation to other services and activities for children 0 – 19.  www.rotherham.gov.uk/thedirectory

Members’ discussion of this issue included the following salient points:-

- the way in which the Directory is publicised, particularly in schools;

- whether young people had evaluated the Directory and if it was still ‘fit for purpose’;

- how would the Directory be funded post-2011?

- the links between the Directory and sports development.

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

Further to Minute No. 64 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Servicers held on 21^st October, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Lead Adviser, School Effectiveness Service, describing the ‘Raising the Bar’ research project, which began in the Autumn Term, 2008, as a result of concerns arising from the following issues:-

:     the gap in Rotherham between the lowest 20% and the mean, at the end of Foundation Stage in 2008, was one of the highest nationally;

:     there was an increasing proportion of children attaining below Level 2 in all core subjects at the end of Key Stage 1, exceeding national and regional trends; there was also an increasing percentage of children attaining below the level of the tests at the end of Key Stage 2, compared to a decline regionally and nationally; these children will experience difficulty in accessing the curriculum at secondary school and are statistically more likely to be excluded or to truant.

The report stated that the overall aims of the project are to:-

(i) increase the collective knowledge and understanding of the specific characteristics of those children who are at greatest risk of underachievement in order to target action and resources to overcome these barriers to learning; and

(ii) make recommendations to key stakeholders across the Council, regarding the deployment of services, resources and enhanced provision.

Discussion took place on:-

-     the involvement of the Education Action Zones;

-     the recommendations arising from work undertaken to date;

-     Foundation and Key Stage 1 outcomes for 2009;

-     three specific projects: (i) the Clifton Project, (ii) the Extra Mile Project on the attainment of children from low income families, compared to their more affluent peers (funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)) and (iii) the National College for School Leadership Narrowing the Gap Project;

-     the need to record details of pupils’ pre-school education (eg: attendance at nursery);

-     links to the ‘Inspire Rotherham’ project;

-     the intention to improve the quality of pupil progress meetings in schools;

-     involvement of parents.

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

(2) That the drive to encourage all schools to narrow the gap by addressing the needs of vulnerable pupils and their families be supported.

(3) That the aim of increasing the number of children accessing quality pre-school provision, in order to improve future outcomes in the academic attainment of boys and other vulnerable and underachieving groups, be supported.

(4) That a progress report about the Narrowing the Gap and ‘Raising the Bar’ research project be submitted to a meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel in twelve months’ time.

(5) That the progress report, referred to at (4) above, shall include further details of the DCSF-funded Extra Mile research project.

MINUTES

Further to Minute No. 49 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 9th September, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services on the implications of the findings of the Lord Laming report about the protection of children from harm. The multi-agency action plan, which was appended to the submitted report, had been given a ‘RAG Status’ (Red, Amber, Green) based on a further assessment of Rotherham’s continuing position.

The Scrutiny Panel’s discussion of this item included the following salient points:-

-     meetings of key personnel (Elected Members and officers) are taking place regularly each month, to ensure compliance with statutory requirements affecting the safeguarding and welfare of children and young people;

-     the Council is to publish an annual statement of the effectiveness of the procedures for the safeguarding and welfare of children and young people;

-     the development of the common assessment framework;

-     recruitment and retention of social workers; provision of additional administrative support for the updating of records;

-     finance and budget implications of the pressures on service provision;

-     future OFSTED inspections of Children’s Social Care Services in Rotherham;

-     the need for a glossary of acronyms being used, for Members’ information.

Resolved:- (1) That the report and action plan be received and their contents noted.

(2) That this Scrutiny Panel shall continue to receive progress updates, on a regular basis, of this Authority’s response to the recommendations of the Lord Laming report, with such updates being on an exception reporting basis (ie: concentrating on those issues which are status red according to the RAG status rating).

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 2nd October, 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 23rd September, 2009 be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services, held on 6th and 7th October, 2009, be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 25th September, 2009 and on 9th October, 2009, be noted.

The following item is likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended (information relating to financial or business affairs)

Resolved:- That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended (information relating to financial or business affairs).

The Scrutiny Panel noted the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Services Value for Money Budget Review Group held on 5^th October, 2009.