Agenda and minutes

No Declarations of Interest were made. 

There were no members of the public or the press in attendance. 

The Senior Scrutiny and Member Development Adviser (Scrutiny Services, Legal and Democratic Services, Resources and Transformation Directorate) reported that Ian Thomas, Interim Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services Directorate, would attend the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission to be held on 11^th March, 2015.  Ian had been due to attend the meeting that was cancelled because of inclement weather and he could not attend the re-scheduled date.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission held on 5^th November, 2014, were considered.

Resolved: -  That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an accurate record. 

·         Service Lead, School Planning, Admissions and Appeals Service, Schools and Learning, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate, to report.

The Service Lead for School Planning, Admissions and Appeals was welcomed to the meeting to provide an update to members of the Improving Lives Select Commission on matters relating to his Service in Rotherham.

Department for Education Admissions Consultation: -

The Improving Lives Select Commission had considered the Department for Education’s school admission consultation at their meeting held on 17^th September, 2014 (Minute No. 24 refers).  The Council was one of 444 stakeholders who responded to the consultation.  It asked questions on: -

·         Priority for children eligible for the Pupil or Service Premium: -

Rotherham’s agreed response was that it should be optional to decide whether to adopt it or not, although this was not an issue in Rotherham where over 90% of pupils regularly received their first preference. 

The outcome was that admission authorities had the option whether to implement this or not.  Rotherham was to maintain current arrangements whilst retaining a watching brief and review arrangements if it became necessary. 

·         Priority for nursery children eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium, Pupil Premium or the Service Premium: -

Rotherham’s response was the same as for the previous question.

The outcome was that there would be no Statutory requirement to adopt this and could maintain current admission arrangements.  Rotherham was to maintain current arrangements whilst retaining a watching brief and review arrangements if it became necessary. 

·         Changes to the admissions consultation timetable: -

Rotherham responded to say no significant barriers were envisaged from an amended timeline.  Date changes to internal procedures would ensure a smooth transition and compliance. 

The outcome of the consultation was that, for the 2015/2016 academic year, Rotherham would implement the necessary changes in preparation of the 2015/2016 admission round. 

·         Admission of summer-born children: -

Rotherham’s agreed response was that this clarified the position for all parties. 

The outcome in Rotherham would be that it would continue to be advised by medical and educational experts in relation to delayed entry to Foundation Stage Two. 

·         Other technical drafting changes.

Rotherham’s agreed response was that the changes should be ‘may’ rather than ‘must’ to allow for a discretionary approach to meet local need.

The outcome was that local discretion could be maintained if required. 

School place planning: -

The submitted report provided an overview of where additional school places had been created across the Borough, and how they had been funded.  Basic Need Funding was received from the Department for Education to address capacity shortfalls. Section 106 Funding was received from developers to secure infrastructure was in place following new housing being built.  Finance was provided at trigger points when housing had been sold. 

There had been an increase of 1,110 permanent places created across the Borough between January, 2011 and September, 2014. 

There were future permanent school places planned between 2015-2017 at the Eastwood Village Primary School, Cortonwood Infant School and Ellis Junior School. 

Temporary increases in school places: -

There had been an increase of 195 temporary places created in the Borough in response to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

·         Chair of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board and the Business Manager of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board, to report. 

The Independent Chair of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board (RLSCB) and the RLSCB Business Manager were welcomed to the meeting to present the annual report for the period 2013/2014. 

The Improving Lives Select Commission considered the annual report of the RLSCB each year.  The 2012/2013 annual report was considered at the meeting held on 18^th September, 2013 (Minute No. 22). 

Councillor J. Hamilton, Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission,  raised how, as the report referred to the period 1^st April, 2013- 31^st March, 2014, it did not cover any of the more recent issues that the Council had experienced: the publication of the Jay Report and the Ofsted Inspection.  In these circumstances and context, the report had a limited use.  The Chair spoke about how the annual report could not be circulated until verified data had been received, which was usually the August following the end of the business year and due to the publication of the Jay report in August and then the Ofsted Inspection there was an understandable and unavoidable delay in submitting the report to the Improving Lives Select Commission. 

As the report did not cover the post-Jay Report and Ofsted inspection, which had brought new consequences and processes for Children and Young People’s Services Directorate, the Chair included a statement in the report to the effect that the content had been superseded. 

The annual report included the following key priorities for the Rotherham LSCB within its Business Plan and in the 2013-2014 annual report: -

·         Child Sexual Exploitation: -

o   Devastating effect on victims;

o   Significant increase in professional and community awareness;

o   Robust commitment and response required from all organisations, which had not always been the case;

o   The RLSCB had provided excellent training and awareness sessions for professionals;

o   The RLSCB had identified improvements that were required;

o   The Health and Wellbeing Board was assessing support requirements for victims and survivors of CSE. 

·         Child Neglect: -

o   Corrosive effect on wellbeing if not tackled from an early stage;

o   Neglect was the biggest category of those who were suffering significant harm in Rotherham;

o   Required a Child Protection Plan;

o   Multi-faceted issue requiring a multi-agency response;

o   A 2013 RLSCB review of cases of neglect – key messages were early identification, early utilisation of assessment tools and assertive interventions addressing the factors underpinning neglectful parenting;

o   The RLSCB were ensuring the review’s lessons were implemented by sharing with all stakeholders at high-level strategic meetings.

·         Domestic Abuse: -

o   Impacted on all aspects of wellbeing;

o   Correlation between Children on a Child Protection Plan and domestic abuse within the family, mental health and substance misuse;

o   In 2013, the lmproving Lives Select Commission completed their scrutiny review of domestic abuse, with recommendations on developing more integrated services with clear protocols and pathways, and be more integrated at a strategic level;

o   Development of the Multi-Agency Support Hub (MASH);

o   Changed definition of domestic abuse to include young people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

·         Service Improvement Officer to report. 

The Service Improvement Officer (Children and Young People’s Services Directorate) was welcomed to the meeting to provide a presentation on the outcomes of the Education Lifestyle Survey, 2014.  The Improving Lives Select Commission considered the outcomes from the Education Lifestyle Survey (formerly the Lifestyle Survey) each year.  The Lifestyle Survey, 2013, was considered at the meeting held on 12^th March, 2014 (Minute No. 55). 

The Service Improvement Officer confirmed that the Survey results for 2014 covered the period prior to the publication of the Jay Report. 

The submitted report outlined that the Lifestyle Survey was a valuable piece of consultation to capture the views of young people in Years 7 and 10 and asking their opinions on: -

·         Food and drink;

·         Health, activities and fitness;

·         Being in school;

·         Out of school;

·         Young carers;

·         Bullying and safety;

·         Smoking, drinking and alcohol;

·         Sexual health;

·         Local neighbourhood. 

In 2014, all 16 secondary schools participated in the survey, although one did withdraw their involvement due to the content of some of the questions.  The issues were addressed but the School felt it was too late to reintroduce the survey. 

Overall, 4,123 pupils participated, representing a 63% participation rate.  This was the highest participation rate ever since the Survey’s start in 2006. Neighbouring local authorities had already approached Rotherham for support as the rate of participation was much more favourable here.

Additional questions had been incorporated in 2014 following requests from Public Health, the Police and the Healthy Schools’ Consultant.  The new questions concerned safety, sexual health education, internet safety, e-cigarettes and asking participants what they though around alcohol, drugs and smoking.  

All participating secondary schools received a copy of the overall Borough-wide report and their individual school report so they could see what their school results were and compare to the Borough-wide response.  The Healthy Schools’ Service received copies of individual school reports to identify which schools needed support in specific areas. 

Individual school results were not shared publically but schools may choose to publicise their outcomes.  The Survey was important for schools as a way of demonstrating to Ofsted how their pupils’ voices influenced school matters, including curriculum.

The results of each survey were shared with a wide range of stakeholders: -

• Public Health;
• Healthy Schools Consultant;
• Safer Neighbourhood Partnership;
• South Yorkshire Police;
• South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive;
• Neighbourhood Crime Manager;
• Young Carers Provider – Barnardos;
• Locality Team(s);
• School Nursing;
• Families for Change;
• Youth Cabinet;
• Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board;
• Communications Team – the Service Improvement Officer aimed to release a quarterly good news story related to the Survey demonstrating how it was having a positive impact. 

Overall, the 2014 positive outcomes were: -

·         More young people participated;

·         More young people said they had breakfast up to 80% in 2014 from 73% in 2013;

·         More young people taking up the option of school dinners - up to 44% in 2014 from 28% in 2013;

·         New question – 98% of young people had been taught either at school or at home about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

·         Wednesday 11^th March, 2015, to start at 2.00 p.m. in the Rotherham Town Hall. 

Resolved: -  That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Wednesday 11^th March, 2015, to start at 2.00 p.m. in the Rotherham Town Hall.