To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies from members of the cabinet.

There were apologies from cabinet support members, councillors Hurcomb and Mason.  

There were further apologies from councillors, Crockett, James, Stark and Toynbee.

It was confirmed that councillor Proctor would substitute for councillor James as group leader for the Liberal Democrats. Councillor Simmons would substitute for councillor Toynbee as group leader for the Green Party. 

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Table A, Table B or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March.

The draft minutes are to follow. 

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2025 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 1 to the minutes.

To receive questions from councillors.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 2 to the minutes.

To receive reports from the Council’s scrutiny committees on any recommendations to the Cabinet arising from recent scrutiny committee meetings.

There are no reports from scrutiny committee. 

There were no reports from scrutiny committees for consideration at this meeting.

To approve the council’s Delivery Plan 2025-26.

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for finance and corporate services introduced the report.  It was highlighted that the Delivery Plan was directly linked to the Council Plan 2024-2028 which was approved at full council on the 24th of May 2024.

The Council Plan together with the Medium Term Financial Forecast (MTFS) were the overarching policy framework documents, where decisions will be taken and resource is allocated over the next three years.

It was highlighted that the administration had set themselves an ambitious target of 113 deliverables and 259 milestones.  

Under ‘People’ it was noted that the council will enable residents to realise their potential to be healthy, to be part of great communities supporting each other and for all children to have the best start in life.  There were 6 objectives with 32 two key deliverables and 88 key milestones.

Under ‘Place’ it was noted that the council will protect and enhance its environment and ensure that Herefordshire was a great place to live. The council will support the right housing in the right place and will do everything it can to improve the health of its rivers.  There were 9 objectives, 44 listed deliverables supported by 94 key milestones.

Under ‘Growth’ it was noted that the council will create the conditions to deliver sustainable growth across the county, attracting inward investment, building business confidence, creating jobs, enabling housing development along with providing the right infrastructure.  There were 6 objectives, 19 listed deliverables and 38 key milestones.

Under ‘Transformation’ it was noted that the council will be efficient, embrace best practise, deliver innovation through technology and demonstrate value for money.  There were 6 objectives, 18 deliverables and 39 key milestones. 

It was confirmed that the monitoring of the Delivery Plan would be completed quarterly at Cabinet and would also include an addendum to cover the Transformation Strategy milestones.  It was confirmed that routine financial monitoring against the approved revenue and capital programme would be included in the quarterly budget reporting to Cabinet.  It was further noted that monthly progress reports would be provided to the Corporate Leadership Team, annual service plans (outlining service area priorities and key areas of focus) would also be included.  Finally, annual individual performance and development plans would be written.

It was confirmed that development of any projects within the Delivery Plan for 25/26 would seek to minimise any adverse environmental impact and would identify opportunities to improve and enhance environmental performance.   

Comments from cabinet members.  The Delivery Plan was noted to be a positive and ambitious Plan.  The format of the Plan meant it was clear to see if items would be delivered or not, increasing transparency and openness. Within the Environment directorate the cabinet member was looking forward to the regenerative farm mentoring program, the Wye catchment, the nutrient management plan and the solar car port items being progressed.  It was highlighted that the Council Plan was the ‘golden thread’ that leads through all the plans, and it was positive to see the areas  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

To share the feedback letter from Ofsted following their sixth Monitoring Visit conducted in February 2025

Report and Ofsted letter to follow on 20 March 2025.

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for children’s and young people introduced the report.  Noted this was the sixth monitoring visit and took place on 18th and 19th of February 2025.  The focus of the inspection was around the quality and timeliness of the social work assessments following referrals into the multi-agency safeguarding hub and those that were deemed to meet particular levels of need, including those activities under section 17 of the Children Act and section 47 of the Children Act.   

It was highlighted that the headline findings reported by Ofsted referred to the timely completion of assessment and support conducted by social workers and family support workers and that they were having a positive impact.  The inspectorate also commented that the leadership was now making tangible progress to improve the quality and consistency of practise within those assessment teams.

The thresholds guidance document inspection found that those thresholds were being appropriately applied and that informed decisions were being made about the level of intervention. Regarding children being accommodated into care, the inspectorate found that these decisions were at the right threshold and that these decisions were appropriate. The inspectorate reported positively on the conduct of strategy meetings and the focus on dealing with risk within those discussions.

In respect of re-referral rates, it was confirmed that the service were aware, and this was the subject of further work and analysis, in particular the service are looking to understand what may be around barriers to accessing early help for families to sustain positive outcomes. It was noted that this was also an indicator of improved confidence from partner agencies to re-refer matters back to children services where they felt the need to do so.

Partnership working was something that had been mentioned by the inspectorate on previous visits, the inspectorate reported on the range of professionals and agencies that were involved in making an important contribution to those assessments as well as providing support to those families.

It was noted that Ofsted also reported positively about effective information sharing and that decisions were being made together with partners.   It was highlighted that in respect of working with children and families, Ofsted reported that many social workers developed meaningful relationships with parents and carers in a skilled way.   It was confirmed that during that period of assessment they were undertaking direct work with children and families to make sure that responses to risk were appropriate and timely.

There was a focus on young carers and there was positive reporting about the comprehensive of the assessments and the child focused reporting that staff advocated for and supported children. Ofsted recognised that was informing the service’s audit work, and that was giving meaningful insights on the impacts of the service’s practise.

Regarding quality of practise, Ofsted found good quality and timeliness in the assessments.  The cabinet member highlighted a number of elements which were in the report, noting that section 47 enquiries were thorough, the risks were fully understood and explored, and safety  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

To share the feedback report from Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) following the SEND inspection of Herefordshire Local Area Partnership conducted in December 2024

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for children’s and young people introduced the report.   It was noted that this was a joint inspection conducted by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, it was joint because it was Herefordshire Council and the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board. 

The cabinet member reflected on a few elements and acknowledged the strong leadership from the service director and the chair of the Integrated Care Board.  Also, the contributions from all partners including education settings, care and health providers and from parent carers voice. 

It was noted that the joint inspectorate reported positively on the strengths of the local area partnership both at a strategic and operational level.  There had been a huge amount of work delivered through the operational group and with a great degree of detail of measures, data and the impact of outcomes.  

The inspectorate recognised the investment in workforce development and increasing capacity as a strength, they reflected that the partnership was highly responsive to meet needs.  The staff across the whole partnership were recognised for building positive relations with children and young people, listening and responding to their views.  It was also recognised that professionals knew the children and young people well.

A feature of the report focused on how the local area partnership supported children, their progress towards next steps and their preparation for adulthood.   It was highlighted that the report referenced the youth employment hub noting that it ‘already making a significant difference for young people who access the service’.

The educational settings across Herefordshire were referred to positively throughout the report.   The inspectorate recognised that vulnerable groups were noted and supported by alternative providers including Herefordshire People Referral Service, which included those who may have faced exclusion, absence or had medical needs which meant they couldn’t access education in the same way.

It was recognised that there was work to do regarding the council’s alternative provision, as some of the buildings were in a poor state of repair.  It was confirmed that the service was in the process of producing a business case to improve the building conditions and to locate to one site, instead of two sites. 

The importance of referencing the range of additional activity beyond education was noted, for enrichment and engagement in community and allowing children with special educational needs and disabilities to fulfil their potential. 

The report noted the high-quality alternative provision in the council’s specialist settings and were recognised as being innovative in providing appropriate solutions for meeting the more complex health and learning needs.

Children and Young people reflected that they felt well supported by and listened to by the school and college staff.   

It was noted that the council’s performance in Education Health and Care Plans was, in most cases, within statutory timescales and Herefordshire performed well against national performance.  The special educational needs coordinator network were praised for its joint work across the partnership schools, school social care and health providers.  The inspectors found that children and young  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To endorse the Education Strategy 2024/29. 

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for children’s and young people introduced the report.   It was noted as important to recognise that the county hosts 100 schools across a range of maintained schools, standalone academy or multi academy trusts.  Most of the schools were typified as high performing schools and education settings, rated positively by the inspectorate, Ofsted.

It was noted that this strategy had five key priorities, and the strategy was supported by a service delivery plan, its success was measured by a range of performance indicators which also complemented the Council Plan.

It was confirmed that the education strategy had been informed by coproduction and developed by a wide range of stakeholder engagement, including insight from children, young people and importantly schools’ early years settings and post 16 providers.

It was noted that the Special Educational Needs, the alternative provision assurance board and the roundtable governance group would receive regular updates on progress. 

There were no comments from cabinet members. 

Group leaders gave the views of their groups.

The production of the strategy appeared sensible and was welcomed. The Delivery Plan of how the strategy would be achieved was awaited.  It was requested that a record of the measures as they currently were, should be published now at the beginning of the strategy to see the council’s current aspirations over the life of the plan.  It was raised that explanation of the Gatsby benchmarks would also be beneficial.

It was requested that where asterisks are used, the reference points should be on the same page.  It was noted that the school numbers as of summer 2024, were 110 not 99 as listed and it would be helpful to have that disparity explained. 

It was commented that more context would have been welcomed regarding education in terms of the attainment gap, the current value, the attendance and looked after children attainment, to provide a picture of the current state and where the strategy was proposing to take the council. 

Concern was raised over the level of influence over multi academy trusts and academies. Whilst it was about partnership working, it was not clear how much engagement there would be and whether the council was resourced sufficiently given that funding had been diverted to those schools. 

In response to queries it was confirmed that the asterisk point would be corrected if needed.  It was confirmed that the accounting for schools included the independent schools as well.  It was noted that the council will persist good partnership working. 

It was confirmed that the Gatsby principles reflected the contribution of education towards future careers and there was a commitment that the Education Strategy would work in tandem with the Skills Strategy as it's being developed.

Regarding multi academy trusts it’s important to point out that the director of education and their team have effective working relationships with all schools, not just maintained schools and there is a partnership approach to this work. 

It was noted that in the emerging Children and Well Being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.