To receive questions from members of the public who may wish to ask a general question of the Mayor, Advisory Cabinet Member or the Chairman of a Committee.
Minutes:
(1) Mr. D. Smith asked whether it was true that RMBC were sending out letters in an attempt to fill empty properties, and who the letters were directed at?
Councillor Wallis, Advisory Cabinet Member for Housing, thanked Mr. Smith for his question and confirmed the Council had written to some people to advise them of the option that they have to place their names on the housing register and apply for Council housing.
The Council had changed its allocations policy on two occasions recently. On the first occasion in 2014 the eligibility criteria for inclusion on the housing register was tightened to ensure that only those in the greatest need of Council housing were eligible to apply. This policy change saw the numbers on the housing register fall to approximately 5000 applicants.
However, this meant that a small number of properties were not attracting interest. Consequently the policy was changed again to allow those in lesser housing need to apply for these properties.
In November the Housing Options Service wrote to those who had previously been on the register, to advise them they could once again apply but that they would be placed in Band 4, and only be able to apply for particular houses when there was a lack of interest from those in higher bands.
In a supplementary question Mr. Smith asked about the type of properties being discussed?
Councillor Wallis, Advisory Cabinet Member for Housing, explained this was housing that was in low demand, but confirmed a more detailed response would be provided in writing.
(2) Mr. M. Eyre asked whether, after the events this week at Clifton school and the fear of many parents to ever send their children there again, would the Leader agree with him that the evidence suggested this school is failing?
Councillor Watson, Deputy Leader thanked Mr. M. Eyre for his question and pointed out this was a serious event, which, as a teacher for thirty-six years, he found fighting in schools untenable.
The fighting between pupils which was reported in the press was very worrying for parents pupils and staff. Council officers visited the school to support it the following day.
Clifton School went into Special Measures in September 2014 and since then the school had received four monitoring visits from OFSTED; the last was in December 2015. All the OFSTED monitoring visits have judged that the school was taking effective action towards the removal of special measures. The school had also been identified as a Local School of Concern and was monitored by the Local Authority’s School Improvement Service. This involved a number of quality assurance visits to the school and also formal meetings where evidence must be provided, by the school, to show that it was continuing to make progress towards the removal of special measures. In 2015 the % of young people achieving 5 or more GCSEs including English and Maths increased from 28% to 43% which was above the national floor target of 40%.
Any incidence of poor behaviour in a Rotherham school was a concern and the Council monitored issues of this nature very closely. The Council was working closely with the school to ensure that parents were kept informed regarding actions taken to keep the school community safe and restore ‘business as usual’. Following the incident to which you referred, Council officers carried out extended visits to the school and reported a calm atmosphere, both in lessons and during social time. In addition, any parents requesting a meeting with the school’s leaders to discuss any worries have been accommodated quickly. The Council was also supporting the school to look at strategies for improving support for its community.
In summary Councillor Watson confirmed technically Clifton School was classed as a failing school, but did not believe Clifton School was continuing to fail.
In a supplementary question Mr. Eyre confirmed he had spoken to various pupils around the school which appeared to have a climate of fear; one pupil confirmed she was terrified to return and another said he was not involved, may be a soft target and could possibly be attacked. With this in mind would the Council do everything possible to make sure this school was looked into and progressed? With regards to more pupils achieving more A-C grades if there was to be a climate of fear at the school pupils would be unable to concentrate and grades would slip.
Councillor Watson, Deputy Leader, agreed it was not tolerable to have a climate of fear in a school and confirmed this was not witnessed on visits into the school. This was not to say that the two individuals Mr. Eyre referred to were not fearful and suggested that if the pupils or their families would like to approach officers or via Mr. Eyre any alternative help could be considered. Assurance was given that the Authority was doing everything it could to see the school succeed and were not prepared to leave anyone behind in Rotherham.
(3) Mr. B. Cutts asked whether “educational religious establishment”, could be defined and it be confirmed whether they were governed by OFSTED, how many were there in R.M.B.C. and where was the Mosque in Wellgate?
Councillor Watson, Deputy Leader thanked Mr. Cutts for his question.
An educational religious establishment was referred to by the Government as a ‘religious supplementary school’ and defined in terms of the number of hours in a week that children could be taught there. Rotherham currently had eleven educational religious establishments within this definition. The Mosque on Wellgate was on Gerard Road.
Any religious establishment where children may be taught for 6-8 hours or more would need to be registered with the Department for Education and it was the Government’s intention that OFSTED would in the future be given the powers to inspect. The Government’s consultation on the plans to require these establishments to register and to give OFSTED the power to inspect concluded on January 11th 2016. The results of the consultation are not yet available.
Councillor Watson, Deputy Leader, kindly invited Mr. Cutts to contact him to discuss the nature of his question in order to clear up any confusion.