Council and councillors

No apologies were received from Members.

To confirm the record of the meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel held on 20 September 2018 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel held on 20 September 2018, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

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.

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

The Chair notified the Panel that comments and questions had been received from Miss Gale Waller, Ward Member for Normanton.

1.    I think it would have been helpful to have a copy of the questionnaire sent to schools to understand what is being asked of schools.

2.    Whilst the increase in responses on last year is to be welcomed, and officers congratulated, I would have liked more detail on the follow up RCC intends to make to schools/settings which did not respond.

3.    I would like to have had more detail about school governors, especially for the independent and academy schools.  Are they all receiving their biennial safeguarding training updates?  Indeed, have they all received safeguarding training?  Do they all have DBS clearance? Have all school governors approved their school’s safeguarding policies (if this is delegated to a committee or to one or two people it rather negates the “safeguarding is everybody’s business” philosophy RCC is trying to promote).

The Chair invited Ms Gill Curtis, Head of Learning and Skills, to answer the comments and questions.

1.    The questionnaire would be distributed to members as part of the presentation and would be appended to the minutes.

2.    More detail on these actions can be incorporated into future reports, follow-up actions were described within the presentation. In the case of childminders and the PVI settings, this was followed up through one to one discussions, and with schools, through reminder e-mails to head teachers.  We had 100% return from our maintained schools where we were able to directly intervene.  A key issue that arose from our follow-up investigation was that some education providers, and childminders in particular, felt that because some of the questions did not appear to be relevant to them, they did not engage with the audit.  This is being addressed for the 2019 audit by offering a more provider specific audit and also through engaging earlier with each sector to promote this audit within the schools and setting’s own review processes. We will be working with the LSCB for the 2019 audit to utilise their role in assurances over safeguarding processes in schools to promote a 100% approach from Rutland early education providers and schools.

3.    This feedback is very useful and will be considered in the report following the 2019 audit.  We will also strengthen the question in the audit for 2019 to include a specific question about DBS checks – this was inferred within Question 15 but agree this was not explicit.  Question 13 of the audit covers the timing of statutory safeguarding training for governors, including Safer Recruitment Training and Question 6 includes a question on who was involved in reviewing policies. Outcomes indicated that this did vary and this has been fed into our training and guidance.  We do promote, at our training, that review and monitoring of safeguarding policies should not be delegated to only representatives of the leadership team or governing body but that it should be shared with, and understood by, all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 454.

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.

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

To receive a presentation from Mrs C Smith, Head of Children’s Social Care.

A presentation was received from Mrs Smith, a copy of which is appended to the minutes.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Mrs Smith clarified that data was gathered from children between the ages of 9 and 19. 19 year olds were classed as a child if they had a significant disability.

    ii.        Mrs Smith confirmed that social media was indeed a contributor to child exploitation and modern slavery.

   iii.        Mr Oxley noted that there was a lot of information on the internet that children were looking at without their parent’s knowledge.

   iv.        Mrs Smith commented that some children lacking a social life would attempt to find something to belong to online.

    v.        Mr Baines noted it would have been helpful if there was a report to accompany the presentation.

   vi.        Mrs Smith confirmed work was being done with senior schools and communities regarding child sexual exploitation and county lines. Government had brought out posters on county lines to make people aware of the issue which the Council would put up to get the message out.

  vii.        Mr Oxley recommended that there needed to be somewhere for young people to go that was a safe and warm environment with access to Wi-Fi. Ms Caffrey noted that discussion would be had with Uppingham Sports Centre to provide activities such as fitness and weight training, something more appealing to youth. Uppingham Ward Members would be kept up to date. Mr Foster stated that work was being done between Voluntary Action Rutland Transport and Oliver Hemsley, Leader of RCC, to bring better access to martial arts training in both Oakham and Uppingham.

viii.        Mr Bool suggested the presentation could be delivered to school governors, child exploitation and modern slavery would only get worse if the message was not spread out. The governors could then pass on the information to others.

To receive Report No. 204/2018 from the Strategic Director for People and to receive a presentation from Mrs G Curtis, Head of Learning and Skills and Ms K Bland, Early Education and Safeguarding Through Education Advisor.

Report No. 204/2018 was received from the Strategic Director for People.

Mr Wilby introduced the report, the purpose of which was to provide the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel with assurance that there was a comprehensive approach by the Learning and Skills Service that contributed to the Council meeting the Section 11 requirements of the Children Act 2004. This act placed a duty on the Council to ensure that their functions and any services that they contracted out to others were discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

A presentation was received from Ms Curtis, Ms Bland, and Ms Ford.  A copy of the presentation would be appended to the minutes of the meeting.

After the presentation, Ms Curtis handed out a copy of the annual audit of safeguarding through education to members of the panel, a copy of which would be appended to the minutes of the meeting.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Schools, early education and childcare providers, out of school clubs and registered sports clubs were kept up to date with the latest safeguarding guidance within a regular education bulletin sent by the Council.  These augment the safeguarding briefings sent out by Children’s Social Care.

    ii.        Irrespective of whether a school was an academy or not, the Council had an overarching responsibility for safeguarding.

   iii.        Safeguarding training was given to schools on Monday 19 November 2018, schools from both the independent sector and academies attended, as well as maintained schools.

   iv.        Mr Oxley suggested that there should be more representatives from schools on the Scrutiny Panel.

    v.        Mr Oxley noted there was an ongoing problem with schools not reporting safeguarding issues. Ms Curtis noted that a clear message was regularly given to schools to report any safeguarding issue to the Council who would then decide if it was important or not, rather than the school making the decision.

   vi.        The safeguarding audit is sent out to academies as well as schools in the Council’s control and out of county providers where the LA is responsible for placing Rutland children, such as those in receipt of an Education Health and Care Plan or a Child Looked After by the Council.

  vii.        On 28 February 2019, three workshops would be held for Early Years providers and parents regarding Child Sexual Exploitation and wider exploitation of children and young people. A morning session would be held in Uppingham, afternoon session at Kendrew Barracks, and an evening session in Oakham.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 205/2018 from the Strategic Director for People.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 206/2018 from the Strategic Director for People.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No. 207/2018 from the Strategic Director for People.

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To receive Report No.193/2018 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

(Report circulated under separate cover)

The report was taken without debate.

AGREED:

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To consider the current Forward Plan and identify any relevant items for inclusion in the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel annual work plan, or to request further information.

Copies of the annual work plan and the latest Forward Plan will be available at the meeting. The Forward Plan can be found on the website using the following link:

Mr Bool suggested some of the items for information could be brought to a future Scrutiny Panel as further questions and comments may need to be raised. Dr O’Neill mentioned that members can send in any questions they have on reports to the relevant officers by e-mail.

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.

Scrutiny Panel Budget Meeting

23 January 2018 at 7pm

24 January 2018 at 7pm

Regular Scrutiny Panel Meeting

31 January 2018 at 7pm

Scrutiny Panel Budget Meeting:

23 January 2018 at 7pm

24 January 2018 at 7pm

Regular Scrutiny Panel Meeting:

31 January 2018 at 7pm

Proposed items include:

Children’s Mental Health

Learning and Skills Annual Report

Cottesmore Academy Ofsted Report