Meeting documents

Venue: Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury. View directions

Contact: Sarah Hawkswood 

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Items
Note No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr David Babb and Mr Brian Roberts.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To declare any Personal or Dislosable Pecuniary Interests.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 374 KB

Minutes of the meeting held on 27th March 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 27th March 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4.

Public Questions

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

5.

Chairman's Report

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

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Minutes:

The Chairman informed the Committee that evidence gathering was continuing on the Permanent Exclusions Inquiry.

6.

Committee Member Updates

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr G Williams and a few of the members met with the Head of Educational Psychology Service and discussed some of the preliminary findings from the exclusion inquiry. Mr Williams congratulated the Educational Psychology Service team on how they dealt with the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) plans.

 

10.45am

7.

Cabinet Member Question Time pdf icon PDF 400 KB

For the Committee to ask Cabinet Members questions on current issues for their portfolios.

I.              Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

II.            Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director for Children’s Services, Miss S Callaghan, Service Director, Education, and Ms G Hancock, Interim Service Director Children’s Social Care, to the meeting.

 

Mr W Whyte informed the committee that the current week was the start of the Foster Care Fortnight and that he was grateful to the Council and the committee for their help with publicity.

 

The Cabinet Member also highlighted that one of the Council’s Children’s Homes had recently been rated ‘good’ by OFSTED.

 

Members sought clarification and assurance on the following:

·     The timing of the new consultation process for the Early Help Service in light of the decision to not go ahead with the previous decision following a legal challenge.

·     The length of time it would take before a decision was taken on future Children’s Homes.

 

In response, it was explained that:

·     A new consultation on an Early Help Service would be take place in the Autumn, after a pre-consultation engagement phase. The new service is aimed to go live in September 2019.

·     There would be a pre consultation on the Children’s Homes at the start of summer. The new service would go live in September 2019.

 

Ofsted Update

Members raised questions in regard to the following:

·     The deliverability of the current action plan given that a new senior management team had only recently been put in place.

·     The timing of when a further OFSTED inspection would be expected.

·     The staff morale within the service in light of the Ofsted rating and actions to address this.

·     Actions to measure and monitor improvements in preparation for the next OFSTED inspection.

·     An update was requested in regard to the Safeguarding Services Realignment work which was set out in the update report.

 

In response, Mr Whyte and Mr Vouyioukas explained the following:

·     The team working on the OFSTED report were all competent and experienced. The high level plan was presented to Cabinet.

·     The Council has no timeline for a future Ofsted Inspection.

·     Frontline staff were engaged in further developing actions to improving services.

·     The pace of improvement works is picking up and 75% of the findings are currently being actioned.

·     The Council is reporting on progress to the Improvement Board chaired by the commissioner, this is referred to on page 115 of the report.

·     The Safeguarding Services Realignment work has been implemented successfully. Everything has happened that was planned, with the staff reporting that the new alignment is helping them practise better. The changes introduced were co-produced with the first line staff and managers.

 

11.15am

8.

Education Standards pdf icon PDF 431 KB

For the Committee to consider an overview of education standards across the County for 2017 and information about the National Funding Formula.

 

Contributors:

 

  • Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
  • Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director of Children’s Services
  • Miss S Callaghan, Service Director, Education

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, and Ms S Callaghan, Service Director, Education, to the meeting.

 

Ms Callaghan discussed the presentation and report on Education Standards Report.

 

The Committee raised the following issues and questions::

 

  • The extents to which the Council can provide the same level of resources and provision for school improvement that BLT have bene providing.
  • The details of what other authorities have used Side-by-Side project methodology.
  • The resources that were needed to achieve the goals highlighted in the presentation.
  • The reasons for why the number of permanent exclusions had increased. 

 

In response it was explained that:

  • The resources for school improvement sit within the schools themselves. Understanding where the expertise is in the system and sharing them with the schools will support the delivery of the Side-By-Side project.
  • Other Authorities follow the Wigon Consortium which is a very similar approach.
  • Having the support of the new leadership team will a great resource as well as the new Head of Service Mr Gareth Morgan. 
  • The number of permanent exclusions had reduced. This is due to the proactive support by schools to help the children stay in school and by being more alert to the profile of children who are likely to be excluded.

11.45am

9.

Elective Home Education pdf icon PDF 696 KB

For the Committee to review an update on elective home education in Buckinghamshire.

 

Contributors:

 

  • Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
  • Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director of Children’s Services
  • Miss S Callaghan, Service Director, Education
  • Mrs V Trundell, Education Entitlement Manager

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to the meeting.

 

Mr Appleyard briefed the Committee on the issues of the outsourced public service delivery for transport between Marlow and Wycombe. The service provider informed parents they had considered terminating their service without informing the Council beforehand which caused unnecessary concern. Mr Appleyard advised that the Council would communicate the business requirements of the Council with the service provider.

 

Mr W Whyte informed the Committee that the current week was the start of Private Fostering Week. Following his appointment in March 2018, our commissioner, John Coughlan has completed his 3 month review of Children’s Services. The commissioner has submitted his recommendations to the Department for Education and the outcome will be shared once received. In addition, OFSTED had visited the Council to complete the first monitoring visit following the November 2017 inspection and will publish their findings in early August. .

 

The following questions were asked and responses provided.

 

  • A Member asked whether the Council paid the bus contractors and then collected the fares from the parents.  The Cabinet Member responded by confirming that parents paid the transport supplier directly.
  • In response to a question about how the side-by-side project would engage with the existing teaching school structure, the Executive Director explained that schools were collaborating and would share expertise.  A report went to Cabinet recently and the Executive Director agreed to provide further information for the Committee at a future meeting.

ACTION: Mr Vouyioukas

 

  • A Member asked about the current staffing position within the Service to which the Executive Director confirmed that most of the senior appointments had been filled and were permanent positions.
  • In response to a question about the issues raised from the previous Children’s home visits, the Executive Director confirmed that the moral and ambience at the home had improved.  Additional support staff had been provided where necessary, 
  • In response to a question about whether the Council was responsible for paying travel costs for agency staff, the Executive Director explained that the Council was not responsible and that a fixed cost was paid for agency staff.

 

12.15pm

10.

Looked After Children: Child Sexual Exploitation and Safety pdf icon PDF 511 KB

For Members to consider an update summary of safeguarding actions, arrangements and protocols for looked after children and young people in Bucks.

 

Contributors:

 

·       Mr Warren Whyte. Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

·       Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director of Children’s Services

·       Ms G Hancock, Children’s Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed back Mr Whyte to discuss an update summary of safeguarding actions, arrangements and protocols for looked after children and young people in Bucks.

 

From the report the following issues were raised:

  • What is our percentage of the missing children and the repeat missing children cases?
  • Can you comment on the partnership processes and any areas on where this can be improved?
  • Does the Council have data on the length of time on how long these young people are missing for?
  • What is the difference between Cuckooing and County Lines?

 

The following responses were provided:

  • Reporting has now improved which means that the figures reflect higher number of missing children than previously.
  • Preventing exploitation depends on multiagentcy safeguarding practise and the ability to share information at all levels from leaders to frontline staff on a day-to-day basis..
  • The Thames Valley Police are using the new missing persons systems for adults’ social care which will be coming to children’s services soon. This is a real time system.
  • These are phrases when children and young adults are exploited through criminality. County Lines is a term used to describe the situation where children are exploited in drug running across county lines, from example from London and Birmingham into Buckinghamshire. Cuckooing is at term used when the residents of a vulnerable person within a particular area that is taken over by those who are intent to supply and deal with drugs.

 

12.40pm

11.

Ofsted Update - Action Plan Progress pdf icon PDF 242 KB

For the Committee to receive an update on progress against the Ofsted Action Plan approved by Cabinet on 19th February 2018.

 

Contributors:

 

  • Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services
  • Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director of Children’s Services
  • Ms G Hancock, Children’s Services

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This agenda item was brought forward and discussed under Agenda item 7 as detailed above.

 

1pm

12.

Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 99 KB

For the Committee to note forthcoming agenda items.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman informed Members that the Permanent Exclusion Inquiry was due to report to the Committee in July with its draft report The HASC Committee would report on the transition from childhood to adulthood.

 

The Meeting on the 5th June had been cancelled.

 

13.

Date of Next Meeting

To note the next meeting of the Children’s Social Care and Learning Select Committee on 5th June 2018 at 3pm.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The next meeting would be held on the 10th July in Mezz 1