Apologies were received from Mrs L Stephenson, Mr K A Bool and Mr M E Baines. Mr G Conde and Mr W Cross attended as substitutes.

To confirm the record of the meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel held on 22 February 2018 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel held on 22 February 2018, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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.

No declarations of interest were received.

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 were 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 with notice 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 were 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.

No matter was referred to the Panel in relation to the call-in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

To consider Scrutiny issues to review and discuss substantive items for inclusion in the Children’s and Young People Scrutiny Panel work programme for the municipal year 2018-19.

Copies of the Forward Plan will be available at the meeting.

The panel reviewed the Forward Plan and discussed substantive items for inclusion in the Children’s and Young People Scrutiny Panel work programme for the municipal year 2018-19.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         Prior to the meeting, the Chair of the Panel had sent an email to members asking for ideas on topics within the Panel’s remit they would like to focus on during the next municipal year. The Chair had put forward her own ideas for discussion which included the following;

-       Child Exploitation

-       Learning and Skills

-       Post 16 Education

-       Children’s Health

-       Children’s Mental Health

-       SEND

-       Early Years Sufficiency

-       Youth Service – Prevention and Early Intervention

·         Some Members had not had the opportunity to review this list in advance of the meeting.  The list was not published with the agenda as the topics were presented for the panel to discuss, suggest other/alternative topics and agree which items to bring forward.

·         Officers offered to provide Members with a brief overview of each of the Chair’s suggested topics, together with the budget constraints each area faced and their priorities.

·         Members wanted to see national trends and potential problems highlighted in the briefing notes so that items could be prioritized for scrutiny within the meetings cycle.

·         From a review of the Forward Plan, Members could see that the Safeguarding Children Board’s (SCB) business plan was listed as an agenda item for the Cabinet meeting in July and queried why it had not been scheduled to come to Scrutiny before this date. Officers advised that this Business Plan had been informed by discussions that had taken place in 2017 and a report on the next year’s plans could be scheduled later this year in order that Members could provide feedback before publication of the Board’s next report in 2019

·         The Forward Plan also listed the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment as an item to come before Cabinet in October and Panel Members requested that this be tabled as a smaller second agenda item for the September meeting.

·         After discussion of which item to schedule for the next meeting it was agreed that Post 16 Education would be the substantive item.

AGREED: 

1.    The Panel AGREED that officers, before the next meeting, would provide the Panel with a brief overview of the Chair’s suggested Scrutiny items and that this overview would include the pressing issues in those areas, budgetary constraints and suggested priority for inclusion in the Scrutiny Panel’s meeting agendas.

2.    The Panel AGREED that Post 16 Education would be the substantive item for the agenda of the 20 September meeting and that the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment report would also be included as a second item.

3.    The Panel AGREED that a report on the Safeguarding Children’s Board Business Plans would be scheduled as an agenda item for a meeting later this year.

To receive Report No.109/2018 from the Director for People and to receive a presentation from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager: Early Help and Inclusion, Louise Crookenden Johnson, SEND Capital Programme Manager and Lesley Hawkes, Aiming High Lead Officer.

Report No. 109/2018 was received from the Director for People

The purpose of the report was to update the Scrutiny Panel on the developments and performance of the SEND and inclusion service and to note the drivers which required a whole system change.

A presentation on the report was received from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager: Early Help and Inclusion, Louise Crookenden Johnson, SEND Capital Programme Manager and Lesley Hawkes, Aiming High Lead Officer. The presentation has been attached to these minutes.

During the presentation the following points were noted:

·         SEND provision cost the Council in the region of £4 million

·         The Council wanted to grow a more organic Rutland approach with an in county service that offered better detection and early prevention, better trained staff and customized facilities.

·         It was important that a better awareness of the resources and the help available (the Local Offer) was promoted.

·         Learning from others and adopting best practice would help the Council improve.

·         Generally there was a feeling that the service was moving in the right direction although it still faced challenges.

·         It was paramount to ensure that the voice of the child and the parent were influencing the plan.

·         If parents had complaints about the plan they were offered mediation. The mediation was conducted by an external provider, Global Services.

·         If mediation was unsuccessful parents could move to the first tier tribunal process, although every attempt was made to avoid this process and engage with parents.

·         A new service of educational psychology, provided by partners in psychology, had been commissioned and had received excellent feedback from schools. There had been positive parental engagement in the process with a parental panel as part of the interview process who had designed their own questions.

·         The term ‘Local Offer’ referred to all of the provision of services by all partners, including schools, RCC,  and health services, that was available to children with or without an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)

·         The Council had a statutory duty to publish this information and had developed a Local Offer website that was bolted on to the Rutland Information Service (RIS) website

·         The original format of the site had not been particularly user friendly or accessible and as a result was not well publicized.

·         There had been a considerable amount of consultation in order to get the new format to work and the icons, colours and wording had been developed with parents and carers.

·         Unfortunately due to a technical hitch, a video showcasing young people with SEND talking about their aspirations was unable to be shown. The video had originally been made for a parents’ event to highlight these aspirations as parents often had lower expectations for their children than the children themselves.

During the members’ discussion the following points were noted:

·         There had been a significant increase in the number of children receiving assessments. This was a result of;

a)    Improved medical practices which meant children lived longer and so they were more children going through the system.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 653.

To receive Report No. 63/2018 from the Director for People.

Report No. 63/2018 was received from the Director for People.

Mr D Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, Early Years, Special Educational Needs & Disabilities and Inclusion introduced the report, before handing over to Miss G Waller, Chair of SACRE.  The purpose of the report was to highlight the activity of the Rutland Standing Advisory Committee for Religious Education (SACRE) for the years 2017-18. The Rutland SACRE Annual report for 2017-18 was a statutory requirement and outlined how SACRE had continued to meet its statutory duties.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         Councillor Waller thanked the Chair for changing the order of the agenda and allowing the SACRE item to be heard first.

·         SACRE had reported that it was disappointed that only 13 students from Casterton Community College had been given the opportunity to take a public examination in Religious education. CCC had had drafts of the report in advance and had chosen not to make any comment on this statement.

·         Councillor Waller had hoped to have children from Uppingham Community College presenting the report to the Panel but because of their exam timetable, they had been unable to attend and so sent their apologies.

·         The report included children’s comments at the beginning of each paragraph of the report exactly as they were written by them.

·         Much of the focus of the report had been on the new agreed syllabus which had been a result of collaboration with Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.

·         The new syllabus meant that there was much more work for non-specialists in primary schools.

·         SACRE wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate all students who took GCSE and A levels last year and hoped that their success would be replicated this year.

·         It was suggested that if the exam timetable prevented children attending in person perhaps a video presentation of the report could be organized.

·         Members felt that it was important that the SACRE work was continued in Rutland schools and expressed their thanks for the work that Councillor Waller did.

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 102/2018 from the Director for People.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel noted the report.

To receive Report No. 83/2018 from the Director for Resources.

(Report circulated under separate cover)

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 81/2018 from the Director for People.

The above report was presented to Cabinet on 22 May 2018 and the recommendations within the report were approved.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 80/2018 from the Director for People. 

The above report was presented to Cabinet on 22 May 2018 and the recommendations within the report were approved.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

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

No items of urgent business had been previously notified to the person presiding.

Thursday 20 September 2018 at 7pm.

Thursday 20 September 2018 at 7pm.

Items to include: 

Post 16 Education

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment.

The Director for Places informed the Panel that Ms Rebecca Wiltshire, Head of Children’s Services was leaving the Council and taking up a position at Coventry Council. The Director for Places thanked Ms Wilshire for all her dedication and hard work and this was echoed by Mr R Foster, the Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding Children & Young Peoplewho commended Ms Wilshire for the excellent foundations that she had set for Children’s Services.

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The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.25pm.

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