To receive apologies for absence

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Chappell to the committee and thanked Councillor Lloyd-Hayes for the work she had undertaken since the formation of the committee in May 2017.

The Chairman also noted that this was Adam Scott’s last meeting and thanks were extended to Mr Scott for his work with the committee.

The Chairman welcomed the co-optees to the meeting and explained that an informal meeting would be arranged shortly with them to discuss work with the scrutiny committee.

Apologies for the meeting were received from Mr Sell.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in respect of items on the agenda.

Councillor A Seldon declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item no. 7, School Examination Performance, as a governor at St Peter’s School in Bromyard.

Councillor MT McEvilly declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item no.7, School Examination Performance, as a part time teacher.

Councillor FM Norman declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item no. 7, School Examination Performance and agenda item no. 8, Children and Young People’s Plan as a member of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting on 4 December 2017.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting on 4 December 2017 are agreed as a correct record. 

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Wednesday 31 January 2018.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

Please submit questions to: councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk. 

A copy of the public question and written answer together with supplementary question and answer is attached to the minutes as appendix 1.

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Wednesday 31 January 2018.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

Please submit questions to: councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk. 

None.

To consider school performance of summer 2017 and make recommendations to cabinet on how the effectiveness of the school improvement framework and strategy could be enhanced.

The committee received a report by the Director for Children’s Wellbeing concerning school examination performance from summer 2017. Lisa Fraser, Head of Learning and Achievement (HLA) introduced the report and provided a presentation on statistics around attainment. During the presentation she advised the committee that the school improvement service at the council relied on limited resource and was concerned with statutory functions primarily. Significant advancement in attainment had occurred in phonics for which commendation from the minister had been received. Challenges remained in key stage 2 mathematics with performance below the national average. Areas of development included work around vulnerable groups; performance of free school meals pupils, in particular, was mixed with outcomes varying from top to bottom quartile depending on the assessment indicator.

The committee made the comments below in the discussion that followed:

·         The distinction between Ofsted ratings and the position of a school in the attainment league tables was queried. The HLA explained that Ofsted took a holistic approach to assessing schools; the approach of the school improvement service was based on driving improvement through assessment of attainment.

·         It was noted that there was a significant gender gap in attainment in early years education and it was queried how it was proposed that this gap would be reduced? There was a gender attainment gap which reflected national data.  However, both boys and girls performed at a higher level than their peers.  Girls’ achievement was in the top 5 local authorities nationally; boys’ achievement ranked in the second quartile.

·         What targets were in place to diminish the gap to the performance of disadvantaged pupils? Herefordshire Council’s Learning and Achievement Team intend to issue schools with targets focussing on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

·         The sum of £561,000 from the DfE was welcomed but it was queried whether the Council could have secured more funding. The amount secured was a significant sum of money for Herefordshire but the Council would not be deterred from applying for additional pots of money to support teaching.

·         In light of the attainment of pupils at key stage 2 mathematics the small schools maths project was raised. It was noted that the project currently involved a small number of schools and it was queried what opportunities there were to roll-out the project to other schools. If the programme was successful the approach would be disseminated across the county, it was noted that in order to move up a quartile in attainment only a small number of children were required to make improvements to their attainment.

·         The effect of small cohorts on attainment and position in quartiles was raised. It was queried what analysis was undertaken to explain poor performance resulting from small cohorts. It was acknowledged that some cohorts were very small and annual risk assessments were conducted on schools felt to be at risk. The issues surrounding attainment at schools identified at risk of poor performance were often deeper than small cohorts alone.

·         The receipt of set exam papers and course materials,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

To receive a report concerning the approach to updating the Children and Young People’s Plan.

The committee received a report from the Director Children’s Wellbeing concerning the production of the children and young people’s plan. There was a presentation by Richard Watson, Children’s Joint Commissioning Manager and Amanda Price, Children’s Commissioning and Contracts Lead. The committee was asked to consider the approach to the production of the new version of the plan and propose priorities for inclusion. The plan would include a review of the previous three years of the existing plan and would provide a strategic link to other existing documents such as the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. It was anticipated that a draft plan would be developed by April and consultation would be undertaken with schools and youth groups. An early version of the plan would be shared with the committee for consideration.

The committee made the comments below in the discussion that followed:

·         The early engagement activity and feedback appeared to be from children in urban areas of Herefordshire. It was questioned how engagement would take account of children from rural area to ensure a fully representative plan of the county was produced. It was confirmed that the early engagement was conducted in the market towns but schools throughout the county would be visited in February including those in rural areas.

·         It was hoped that the plan would complement other initiatives in Herefordshire including the Youth Project developed by Leominster Town Council.

·         The committee queried what examples there were of projects involving the positive involvement of children and families and what the impact had been.  The children’s commissioning and contracts lead explained that parents had been involved in: the recommissioning of disability services; the development of the mental health plan; and that it was intended that they would be closely involved in the development of the children’s and young people plan.

·         How the plan would engage partners and ensure that they were committed to the priorities was raised. Youth safety and the role of West Mercia police force was raised in particular. Part of the role of the Plan was to engage partners and seek to influence the role they can play in fulfilling its objective/priorities. The cabinet member young people and children’s wellbeing explained that it was intended that partners would adopt the plan and feel an ownership for it. In respect of West Mercia police and youth safety it was felt that this was of greater concern to community safety.

·         Detail was requested regarding the legal status of the plan. The Director Children’s Wellbeing explained that it was not a statutory requirement but the plan formed part of the policy framework at the council and through engagement with key partners it would be adopted by local organisations such as the CCG.

·         The provision of transport and youth facilities were key issues which should be included in the plan. It was confirmed that an element of the plan would focus on the aspirations of young people for Herefordshire.  

·         The committee queried those areas of the existing plan to which it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To review the attached work programme for 2017/18 with reference to the appendix a containing an excerpt of the forward plan relating to forthcoming decisions of relevance to the Children’s Wellbeing directorate. To further note the recommendation tracker attached as appendix b.

The committee received and noted the work programme for the remainder of 2017/18. The chairman explained that there would be six meetings of the committee in 2018/19 in order to allow for more draft executive decisions to be considered at committee before going to Cabinet.

The Assistant Director Safeguarding and Family Support updated the committee on the regional adoption agency; Adoption Central England (ACE). Herefordshire Council had applied to become part of the agency in 2017 but consideration of this application had been delayed due to the general election and change in the responsible government minister. Adoption Central England would become a legal entity in February 2018 consisting of those authorities and partners who had been formally admitted. Herefordshire Council along with Birmingham Social care were awaiting a decision to formally join the agency which was likely to occur in May 2018. Until that time a request had been sent to the board of ACE to request that the council is granted observer status at board meetings to ensure that arrangements can be undertaken to prepare the council and its services for the potential of admission to ACE later in the year. 

The Chairman raised the establishment of a scrutiny panel to receive updates and scrutinise progress against the objective of reducing the number of looked after children and realising those savings recently agreed as part of the revenue budget 2018/19. Councillor CA Gandy and Councillor A Seldon were appointed to the Panel.

Resolved – that the committee appoints Councillor CA Gandy and Councillor A Seldon to form the scrutiny panel to examine performance against the objective to reduce the number of looked after children. 

The date of the next meeting was 16 April at 10.15 a.m.