To confirm the record of the meeting of the People (Children) Scrutiny Panel held on 28 April 2016 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting of the People (Children) Scrutiny Panel held on 28 April 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Mrs Burkitt reported she had not received the information from Dr O’Neill as agreed at the last meeting regarding Rutland children who were over the age of 10 and in care.

AGREED:

1.    That Dr O’Neill would send Mrs Burkitt information regarding Rutland children who were over the age of 10 and in care.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

(i)            Mrs Stephenson declared a personal interest in respect of Agenda Item 7 by virtue of the fact that she was a teacher in a Rutland school.

(ii)          Mr Conde declared a personal interest in respect of Agenda Item 11 by virtue of the fact his daughter was a mental health nurse.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes.  Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received.  Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes.  Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice.  Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions, deputations or questions had been received from members of the public.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules No 219 and No. 219A.

No questions were received from members.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No 220.

No Notices of Motion had been received from Members.

To consider any matter referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 206, no matter was referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to the call-in of a decision.

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At the request of the Chair, it was agreed to take Agenda Item 10 first.

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To receive Report No. 128/2016 from the Director for People

Report No. 128/2016 was received from the Director for People and presented by Mr R Shore, Adult Learning Manager. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    The Rutland Adult Learning and Skills Service (RALSS) had a strong relationship and worked very closely with the mental health teams in order to provide help and support to service users at the centre at Enterprise Park.

b)    The same employer was listed twice on the List of Employers – 2015-16 (Appendix 1).  This was an error, which would be corrected and was not because that employer had two apprentices.

c)    RALSS had received a ‘Good’ result following its Ofsted inspection in July 2015.  The next Ofsted inspection would be within four years and the service was expecting an ‘Outstanding’ result as the current results had improved greatly since 2015.

d)    Some apprentices stayed with their apprenticeship employers but some moved on.

e)    There were some issues with getting enough suitable apprentices to fill all the apprenticeships on offer but RALSS was working with Peterborough Regional College to fill these gaps.

f)     The current contract with Peterborough Regional College was for 2 years plus 1 year plus another 1 if suitable.  The contract would be reviewed after 3 years to see if it needed extending and/or amending.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the arrangements for post 16 provision by Rutland Adult Learning and Skills Service and the explanation of how this would be continued contractually post 2016 in partnership with Peterborough Regional College.

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Mr R Shore left the meeting at 7.10 p.m.

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To receive Report No. 132/2016 from the Chief Executive

Report No. 132/2016 was received from the Chief Executive and was presented by Dr O’Neill, Director for People and Deputy Chief Executive. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    The Corporate Plan built on the previous plan and framework.

b)    Rutland Local Authority had a very good relationship with Academy Schools and Academy Trusts.  Meetings were well attended and engagement amongst all parties was good.  This aided in the task of improving the performance of all Rutland schools.

c)    Rutland was ranked 149^th out of 152 in the indices of deprivation (page 11) but this was in the upper tier of local authorities which included areas such as Kensington and Chelsea.

d)    67.2% of pupils achieved 5 A*-C at GCSE in Rutland but this figure did not include the public schools.

e)    It was acknowledged that Rutland residents accessed health services in Peterborough, Stamford and Lincolnshire but that the main focus of the corporate plan would be on ensuring a viable future for Rutland Memorial Hospital.

f)     The People Directorate had a Workforce Development Plan in place to aid in the training and career development of staff.  A Regional Competency Framework Plan had also been introduced to identify areas of development not just for individual staff but for teams as a whole.  The Council also had a Corporate Workforce Development Strategy to aid in the training and career development of all staff throughout the organisation although there was no specific budget allocated for this.

g)    The Local Authority aimed to get the best outcomes for all children but would focus on low attaining groups such as white working class boys.

h)   The admissions target for children seeking primary and secondary school places (page 25) – Consideration was given to amendment of these figures as the Local Authority has no control of admissions to Academy schools.

i)     The Council was unaware of any impact that Brexit may have on the county but that Councillors would be notified as soon as any effect was known.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the Draft Corporate Plan.

2.    That Dr O’Neill would discuss with officers what effect (if any) the Academy schools admissions policies would have on the Corporate Plan targets for school admission numbers.

To receive Report No. 104/2016 from the Chief Executive

(previously circulated under separate cover)

Report No. 104/2016 was received from the Chief Executive and was presented by Dr O’Neill, Director for People and Deputy Chief Executive. 

During discussion, the following points were noted:

a)    The source of referral for alerts for adults was detailed in the report but not for children.  Mr Tanner informed attendees of the following details:

b)    The RAG rating for complaints detailed on page 20 of the report referred to paragraph 3.4 in the report for further information.  This was an error and should read paragraph 3.6

c)    Paragraph 3.10 of the report noted a ‘backdrop of vacancies and sickness in duty team’.  Mr Tanner confirmed that greater flexibility was being built into the duty team (which consisted of 4 staff members) as well as cross-over working with the long-term team.  Performance was improving but a long term solution was required.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the overall position in relation to performance during 2015/16 and the actions being taken to address areas of underperformance

2.    That Dr O’Neill would request that the Source of Referral for all Alerts for Children be included in future quarterly performance reports.

To receive Report No.109/2016 from the Director of Resources

(previously circulated under separate cover)

Report No. 109/2016 was received from the Director of Resources.  Dr O’Neill introduced the report and Ms Greaves, Finance Manager – Accounting briefed attendees on its contents.

During discussion, the following points were noted:

a)    The report only gave a summary of financial performance for each Directorate.  A full analysis of Directorate performance could be found on the Council website at:

http://www.rutland.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/council_budgets_and_spending.aspx

b)    Consideration was given to the way in which Quarterly Reports are presented to Scrutiny Panels and whether it was necessary for the quarterly finance report to be presented to every scrutiny panel or to Resources Scrutiny Panel only.  Mr Dale informed members that a review of the role and purpose of Scrutiny Panels was being undertaken to discuss such matters.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the report.

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Mr S Tanner and Ms D Greaves left the meeting at 7.50 p.m.

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To receive Report No. 129-2016 from the Director for People

Report No. 129/2016 was received from the Director for People and was presented by Ms Egan Moriss, CAMHs Manager / Future in Mind Transformation Programme Manager from Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group.

During discussion, the following points were noted:

a)    This was a review of the whole CAMHS service and included a look at how all the individual schemes and partnerships linked and worked together.

b)    There had been issues with referral times but there had been a great improvement in recent months.  April 2016 = 40%, May 2016=89%, June 2016 = 90+% (estimated)

c)    A new pathway model had been introduced which ensured the assessment of every child referred to CAMHS. 

d)    Care Navigators had been introduced and they sorted appropriate treatment for each child, even if the child did not meet CAMHS criteria for treatment by them.

e)    Rutland’s Resilience Team was working with Rutland schools regarding mental health issues and the Team would be putting in a bid to provide additional support to staff and teachers in the primary, secondary and public schools and academies.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the content of the report.

There have been no Ofsted school inspections since the last meeting

Mr Dale confirmed that there had been no new Ofsted school inspection reports for the Panel to review. 

Copies of the Forward Plan were distributed to attendees.

Members queried why the Forward Plan was listed as an agenda item at Scrutiny Panel meetings.  Mr Dale confirmed that the Scrutiny Commission was looking at streamlining the meetings so enabling the Panels to review the key documents they should be feeding back to Council on.  The Chief Executive would be consulting with Scrutiny Panel Chairs about the framework in August 2016.

To receive any other items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding

There was no urgent business.

Thursday, 1^st September 2016 at 7 pm

Proposed Agenda Items:

1.    BUDGET: Q1 Performance and Monitoring Reports

Reports from the Chief Executive and the Director for Resources

2.    Childcare Sufficiency 

Yearly report on provision of childcare places and analysis of sufficiency

Report from the Head of Learning and Skills

3.    Fostering: Annual Report

Report from the Head of Safeguarding and Service Improvement

4.    Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO): Annual Report

Report from the Head of Safeguarding and Service Improvement

5.    Local Safeguarding Children's Board and Safeguarding Adults Board: ANNUAL REPORTS 

Presentation of the finalised annual report for information and discussion

Report from the Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards

The next meeting would be held on Thursday, 1^st September 2016 at 7.00 p.m.

Apologies were noted from Mr Baines

AGREED:

Agenda Items

1.    BUDGET: Q1 Performance and Monitoring Reports

Reports from the Chief Executive and the Director for Resources

2.    Childcare Sufficiency 

Yearly report on provision of childcare places and analysis of sufficiency

Report from the Head of Learning and Skills

3.    Fostering: Annual Report

Report from the Head of Safeguarding and Service Improvement

4.    Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO): Annual Report

Report from the Head of Safeguarding and Service Improvement

5.    Local Safeguarding Children's Board and Safeguarding Adults Board: ANNUAL REPORTS 

Presentation of the finalised annual report for information and discussion

Report from the Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards