The record of the People (Children) Scrutiny Panel held on 23 April 2015, copies of which had been previously circulated, was confirmed and signed by the Chairman. 

There were no declarations of interest

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

No Questions with Notice were received from Members.

No Notices of Motion were received from Members

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

(Previously circulated under separate cover)

Report No 98/2015 from the Director of People was received.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)              The data will be set out more clearly in future regarding multiple and unborn children’s numbers in particular.

ii)             Recruitment of foster carers had been challenging especially in respect of fostering teenagers.

iii)            RCC currently working closely with Leicestershire County Council on the first review of adoption of children.

iv)        The panel suggested using traffic lights to gauge performance against national averages or other authorities. This would enable the new panel to be able to compare Rutland to other authorities.

iv)           RCC is actively reviewing the current framework and welcomed the Panel’s view.

v)            The scrutiny panel wanted to be more supportive to its members and to give better information to new members so that it is clear as to how the Scrutiny panel works and all of its processes.

            During the discussion the following points were raised:

i)              The Panel was concerned that there was no data on page 32 for the telephone  Govmetric Summary.

ii)             The panel requested further information regarding staff  sickness figures;

iii)            There was great pressure on front line services and RCC will look into the  sickness statistics

The Director for People gave a brief summary of the People’s Directorate Scrutiny for Children’s Services and a hand out was distributed showing important points of which he felt the panel should consider to cover on the agenda for future meetings.

Working on the basis that there are five scrutiny meetings a year, the following points were suggested as areas to focus on for future scrutiny meetings: 

•           School Inspection outcomes as a standing item, where relevant.

•           Review of RCC Learning and Skills strategy.

•           School performance Local Authority school improvement.

•           Provision of school places.

•           Review of youth services.

•           Early help strategy for children, young people and families including Children’s Centres.

•           Review of child protection, children in need and Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) arrangements.

The Corporate Parenting Board and Annual LAC (looked After Children) Report could possibly go on to the agenda as a standing item. The Chairman of the LSCB would be invited to this meeting in the future.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)              To look at the management of timings of other meetings that are held, e.g. Corporate Parenting Board, with a view to the impact it would make on this panel.

ii)             The panel should always include the independent schools when discussing schools in general.

iii)            A Head Teacher’s day had been held recently at RCC and all 21 principals attended and gave favourable feedback in working together to help one another.

iv)           The list of suggested topics for the meetings should be circulated to all members. Suggestions or comments should be returned to the clerk and will be sent on to the Chair in order to inform future agenda’s.

During the discussion the following points were raised:

i)              CSE (Child Sexual exploitation) should be a future agenda item.

ii)             The panel felt the need to improve relationships with academies.

iii)            The panel requested a breakdown of Academy, state and independent schools and the LA responsibilities to them.

iv)           It was crucial to have good relationships with all of the academies.

v)            There was concern over how much influence this panel brings forward in respect of how it has any say in regards to housing. This area gets a lot of attention and is extremely complex.

vi)           There was concern regarding the underperformance of primary schools in Rutland.  New members may need to see more information so they can gauge where to focus next.

vii)          It was important for the panel to see how the council has dealt with issues in the past and get their views for which direction to take in the future.

viii)         The panel requested to see Key Performance Indicators together.

Members noted the forward plan

There was no other urgent business.

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

There was no other urgent business.

Thursday 17 September 2015

Thursday 17 September at 7pm.