Meeting documents

It was proposed and duly seconded that Mrs V Letheren should be elected Chairman of the Committee.

RESOLVED

That Mrs V Letheren be elected Chairman of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee for the ensuing year.

It was proposed and duly seconded that Mr D Dhillon should be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

RESOLVED

That Mr D Dhillon be elected Vice-Chairman of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee for the ensuing year. 

Apologies were received from Rebecca Burchell.

The Chairman welcomed two new members to the Committee, Mr David Watson and Mr Phil Gomm.

To declare any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

Margaret Aston declared that she was a school governor at Aylesbury High School, Mark Shaw declared that he was a governor of a Skills College in Chesham and Katrina Wood declared that she was a governor at a school in Hazlemere.

Margaret Aston, Mark Shaw, Katrina Wood and Paul Irwin all declared an interest as members of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd April 2014 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd April 2014 were confirmed as a correct record subject to a minor amendment in Item 2 Declarations of Interest, as Katrina Wood had also declared an interest as a member of the Corporate Parenting Panel at the April meeting.

The Chairman also reported that she had sent a letter on behalf of the Committee to Graham Stuart MP who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Home Education, raising the concerns expressed by members at the April meeting.  She had now received a response and it was agreed that copies of both letters would be circulated to the Committee and if any members had any comments to make they would feed these back to the Policy Officer.

ACTION: Democratic Services Officer

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in the county to put a question to a Scrutiny Committee about any issue that has an impact on their local community or the county as a whole.

Members of the public, who have given prior notice, will be invited to put their question in person.

The Cabinet Member and responsible officers will then be invited to respond. 

Further information and details on how to register can be found through the following link and by then clicking on ‘Public Questions’.

http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=788

There were none.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman reported that she had recently visited Curzon Church of England School which had received a letter of commendation for their Key Stage 2 results for children in receipt of Free School Meals.  The Chairman had been impressed by the caring ethos of the school and told members about a blue chair that children could sit on if they were feeling sad or upset and an older child would come over and talk to them and attempt to cheer them up. 

For members of the Committee to update the Committee on any issue they are investigating on behalf of the Committee.

There were none.

A presentation by Professor Steve Strand – University of Oxford, on his report on the attainment gap between socially and economically deprived (FSM) pupils and their peers in Buckinghamshire, which was commissioned by the Council in 2013.  There will also be an opportunity for member’s questions.

Contributors

Mr Mike Appleyard – Cabinet Member for Education and Skills  

Professor Steve Strand – University of Oxford

Papers

A report by Professor Steve Strand on the attainment gap between socially and economically deprived (FSM) pupils and their peers in Buckinghamshire.  

The Chairman welcomed Professor Steve Strand, University of Oxford and Mr Chauhdry Shafique MBE and Mrs Rashida Kazi, representing the Muslim Parents Association in High Wycombe to the meeting.  The Chairman explained that Professor Strand would give a short presentation summarising the findings of his report ‘Mind the gap: An analysis of the Free School Meal gap in Buckinghamshire County Council’. There would then be an opportunity for members’ questions and Mr Shafique MBE and Mrs Kazi would also be asked for their views.

Professor Strand gave a PowerPoint presentation and the following main points were noted:

·         Professor Strand had a degree and PhD in Psychology and worked in various positions for local authorities and special schools during his career, for example, he had worked at Wandsworth for 10 years.  His particular interest was school effectiveness and how children progress through schools.

·         As a starting point Professor Strand aggregated the figures provided by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) over a three year period as this provided a more meaningful sample of pupils receiving free school meals (FSM) which enabled him to drill down to investigate other factors such as ethnicity, gender etc

·         10 other local authorities were used as statistical neighbours for comparison purposes as well as looking at the national trends.

·         The headline findings were that at primary level, 2013 marked a real change with Bucks FSM children achieving up to the national average.  This was a positive trend demonstrating progress for primary FSM pupils.

·         However at Key Stage 4 (KS4) Bucks has the largest achievement gap.  This is partly because the non-FSM pupils in Bucks perform well above the England average but also because in recent years the performance of FSM pupils at KS4 has declined.  Between 2007-2009 FSM pupils in Buckinghamshire were achieving the national average, but subsequently their performance has fallen below the average, with a significant drop in 2012.

·         In simple terms, primary pupils not receiving FSM are three times more likely to achieve level 4 at KS2 than FSM children and at secondary school, pupils not receiving FSM are five times more likely to achieve five GCSEs at grades A* -C than FSM pupils.

·         The gap at KS4 is larger in Bucks than any other comparator, be that national, London schools, across the South East region or against other local authorities with a selective school system.  Therefore improving achievements of FSM pupils at KS4 is a key area to focus on.

·         It was also noted that boys receiving FSM are at particular risk of low achievement at KS2 and ethnicity was also a factor with particularly low achievement by White British, Black Caribbean, Mixed White and Black Caribbean and Pakistani pupils entitled to FSM.

·         Interestingly EAL demonstrates ethnicity but is not a measure of fluency in English.  EAL children in receipt of FSM perform better than non-EAL FSM children therefore EAL can be seen as a resilience factor rather than a risk.  SEN was also a risk factor but not significantly.

·         It was also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Questions to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services on the work and progress of the Munro Programme. 

Contributors

Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Stephen Bagnall - Service Director - Children & Family Service

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Mr David Johnston, Interim Head of Service to the meeting.  Mrs Macpherson advised the Committee that Mr Johnston had been in post for 4 months and had been looking at ways to improve service, as well as leading the preparations for an Ofsted inspection which was due to take place shortly. 

The Cabinet Member reminded members that Munro was a long term work programme which was introduced about 18 months ago and encompassed six workstreams. Overall results would probably not be realised until three to five years’ time, but already the changes introduced by Munro were embedding into the workforce.  A rolling programme of training was ongoing to upskill social workers. 

The Cabinet Member commented that it was like trying to turn around a huge tanker in trying to shift the emphasis away from the demand for acute interventions, to more of a focus on early intervention and prevention. 

The Chairman asked how many other local authorities had really taken on the recommendations made by Munro and would children be safer as a result of the changes.  The Cabinet Member explained that it was hard to measure the effects of the changes so far as the introduction of the Munro programme in Bucks had also coincided with an increase in demand and therefore the number of children now in care.  The Family Resilience preventative approach had actually stimulated more referrals.

David Johnston reported that Cambridgeshire was an example of another local authority which had implemented the Munro recommendations on a large scale and like Bucks, had restructured as a result.  Hampshire was running a pilot project in a small area before deciding whether to commit to wholesale changes.  Other local authorities were taking forward the themes of Munro, but within their traditional structures.  In Bucks the model was not fully up and running, but it had reached the transition stage where social workers were practicing slightly differently and were believing in the benefits of a new system.

A member asked if the programme was sufficiently resourced and whether the appropriate social workers had been recruited into the new model.  The Cabinet Member acknowledged that resources in Children’s Services were strained.  Extra resources had been committed by bolting on an additional two social work teams, however it was proving difficult to recruit additional social workers.  This was a national trend.  David Johnston reported that the salary being offered by Buckinghamshire County Council was similar to neighbouring authorities but of course social workers could commute from Bucks into London to receive slightly more.  There simply was a shortage of qualified social workers and some local authorities were now offering incentives such as cars or relocation costs in an attempt to recruit them.

A member commented that the high profile cases of Victoria Climbie and Baby P would discourage young people from considering social work as a future career.  The press coverage only served to highlight how demanding a job  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Questions to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services on the Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services and consideration of the Ofsted Inspection regime.

Contributors

Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Stephen Bagnall - Service Director - Children & Family Service

The Chairman invited Mr David Johnston, Interim Head of Service to give members an insight into the new Ofsted inspection regime. Changes were introduced in September 2013 and since January 2014 there had been increased activity in terms of inspections on the ground.  A call will be received by the local authority by 9.30am on a Tuesday morning to advise that Inspectors will arrive the following day.  The inspectors undertake 10 days of preparatory work followed by two weeks intensive field work.  They will spend 5% of their time speaking to Senior Managers and 95% of their time interviewing frontline staff, parents, families and partner agencies.

To date the inspection judgements appeared to be quite harsh.  BCC officers were liaising with colleagues in other local authorities in preparation for the inspection.  The Chairman asked if the new Ofsted inspections would be more accurate.  In response David Johnston explained that judgements must be based on evidence not a sense or a feeling and Inspectors would have to justify their conclusions.  Previously Inspectors spent more time with Senior Managers and Cabinet Members than with frontline staff. 

Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services advised members that the preparation work that Mr Johnston had undertaken was needed and she hoped it would stand the authority in good stead when the inspection was undertaken. 

RESOLVED
That the evidence provided be noted.

To consider and agree the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee Annual Work Programme 2014 - 2015. 

Contributors

Councillor Mrs Val Letheren – Chairman of the Committee

Stephen Bagnall – Service Director, Children and Family Service

Chris Munday – Service Director, Learning, Skills and Prevention

Michael Carr– Scrutiny Policy Officer, Policy, Performance and Communications

Papers

The Education, Skills and Children’s Services Work Programme 2014-2015.

Members considered a revised list of priority topics for the Committee to investigate over the forthcoming year.  The Chairman reminded members that there would be an increased focus on Children’s Services.  The proposed work place included two in-depth Inquiries.

One of the proposed topics was Children’s Voices – how the Council and its partners listen to children and young people and take their views into consideration in how they deliver services. The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Mrs Angela Macpherson said that she would support the Committee in investigating how the local authority can best hear the voices of children in care and children in need.  An inquiry could consider the extent to which services meet the needs of these children and how effectively their views are gathered during the whole process of coming into care and then whilst they are in care?  The Cabinet Member suggested that it could also include looking at the Pledge which Buckinghamshire gives to all children in care as a guideline to what the local authority will provide.

A member suggested that it would be useful to scrutinise the placements for children in care – how does the Fostering and Adoption process work? The Committee should also consider residential homes and children being placed outside of the county. Another member reported that he and another member of the Committee had visited some care homes as members of the Corporate Parenting Panel and had found this experience very useful.

A member agreed that it was important to look at the quality of services being offered to children in care but cautioned that it was important to qualify the role of the Committee and how far it could effect change on their behalf.  It was also important not to be swayed by one person’s experience.  How could the Committee compare what happens in Bucks in comparison with other local authorities?  Michael Carr, Policy Officer suggested that the scope of the Inquiry could be how do the Council listen to children in the care process and how can they effect changes to the service.

Another suggested topic for investigation was Internet Safety and what policies and measures could be put in place to protect children from dangerous influences on the internet.  This could encompass cyber bullying, but also ‘sexting’, exposure to pornography and the use of the internet and social media in child sexual exploitation.  Yvette Thomas reported that she had recently hosted two anti-bullying conferences, one for primary teachers and the other for secondary school students which was attended by 130 young people.  She was now in the process of analysing 1500 response to an anti-bullying survey which was aimed at 10-13 year olds locally, which might inform the Internet Safety work.  Whilst there is a lot of national data this would also provide some local data on bullying.  David Johnston, Interim Head of Service commented that it was very important to help children understand the impacts of their behaviour on others.

Michael Carr, Policy Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To note the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 1^st July 2014 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

To note the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 1^st July 2014 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.