Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr N Brown, Mr B Roberts and Ms J Ward.

To declare any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

Mr N Hussain declared that he was a contractor for bus and taxi services for BCC and worked with a number of Home to School transport companies in Buckinghamshire therefore he would not participate in any discussions about  Home to School transport.

Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 27^th November 2019 to be agreed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 27^th November 2019 were agreed as a correct record.

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

The following questions have been submitted by Mr V Nicholas.

(1) What timetable does the County consider to be most feasible for the re-opening of the secondary school in Burnham as a through school?

(2) In the short term - by the end of the Summer Term 2020 - what assets at the school can be made available for community use and by other key stakeholders? 

Furthermore - what usage can be anticipated during the 2020/21 academic year?

We are all mindful that the School’s Sports Hall was significantly funded by the local community Burnham Health Promotion Trust and the outdoor all-weather pitches are also a valuable community asset.

(3) What strategy and plans are being developed to develop post-16 and adult education in order to retrain and up-skill potential employees in such locations as Slough Estate and Heathrow Airport?   Such provision was delivered on the existing site 30 to 40 years ago and it may now be timely to consider again such an initiative.    We should also be mindful as to the benefit of collaboration with the Aspire initiative which is supported by SEGRO.

(4) Access and Egress to and from the existing site has always been problematic and the School’s boundary in Stomp Road remains most unsatisfactory.   What steps can be taken to ensure that this issue can be addressed in a constructive manner?

The following questions have been submitted by Mrs S Hodges.

(1)  What training is provided and recorded for Educational Health and Care Coordinators to ensure they are fully up to date with current legislation and statutory requirements for the EHC plan Assessment and subsequent implementation if necessary and how is this reviewed?

(2)   What training is provided to transport officers to ensure they are upto date with current statutory requirements and legislation?  Too frequently incorrect information is cited.

Mr V Nicholas submitted the following public questions.

Q1. What timetable does the County consider to be most feasible for the re-opening of the secondary school in Burnham as a through school?

Q2. In the short-term – by the end of the Summer term 2020 – what assets at the school can be made available for community use and by other key stakeholders?  Furthermore – what usage can be anticipated during the 2020/21 academic year.

We are all mindful that the School’s Sports Hall was significantly funded by the local community, Burnham Health Promotion Trust and the outdoor all-weather pitches are also a valuable community asset.

Q3. What strategy and plans are being developed to develop post-16 and adult education in order to retrain and up-skill potential employees in such locations as Slough Estate and Heathrow Airport?  Such provision was delivered on the existing site 30 to 40 years ago and it may now be timely to consider again such an initiative.  We should also be mindful as to the benefit with the Aspire initiative which is supported by SEGRO.

Q4. Access and Egress to and from the existing site has always been problematic and the school’s boundary in Stomp Road remains most unsatisfactory.  What steps can be taken to ensure that this issue can be addressed in a constructive manner?

Mrs S Hodges submitted the following questions.

Q1. What training is provided and recorded for Educational Health and Care co-ordinators to ensure they are fully up-to-date with current legislation and statutory requirements for the EHC plan, assessment and subsequent implementation and how is this reviewed?

Q2. What training is provided to transport officers to ensure they are up-to-date with current statutory requirements and legislation?

Written responses have been prepared and sent to the members of the public and attached.

In addition to the public questions submitted in advance, County Councillor Alex Collingwood read out a question he had received from a resident in relation to SEN home to school transport.  He agreed to send the email to Mr Vouyioukas after the meeting for a response.

Action: Mr Vouyioukas

County Councillor Niknam Hussain referred to a number of new staff in the home-to-school team and expressed concern about the lack of local knowledge.  He agreed to send to Mr Vouyioukas details of a case he was involved with.

Action: Mr Hussain and Mr Vouyioukas

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

The Chairman thanked all Committee Members, Democratic Services, Cabinet Members and Lead Officers within the service. 

He went on to say that the Committee had undertaken a number of inquiries over the last few years, including the Voice of the Child and the outcomes from these inquiries had helped to make improvements for all Buckinghamshire Children.  Over the years, the Committee had reviewed and scrutinised Early Help (now the Family Support Service), elective home education, fostering and adoption services, educational psychologists, children’s mental health services and home to school transport services. 

A number of meetings had taken place with social workers and managers to understand the pressures and challenges facing them on the improvement journey and to identify any further areas of improvements.  Dates for the visit to the Wycombe team would be identified and take place by the end of March.

Action: Committee & Governance Adviser/Richard Nash

The Chairman concluded that the Committee had helped to make a difference to every child’s life in Buckinghamshire.

An opportunity for members of the Committee to consider the work the Committee has undertaken over the last year and to discuss how this has contributed to driving improvements. The Committee will also be able to highlight specific issues that the new Unitary Council might want to monitor going forwards.

Contributors:

All Committee Members

The Committee discussed the retrospective report and the following comments were made.

·         A Member made particular reference to the permanent exclusions inquiry and the positive outcomes from the recommendations made in the report.

·         A Member suggested that an in-depth look at the differences in educational attainment across the County could be undertaken in the new Council.

·         A Member paid tribute to all the officers within the service and thanked them for all their hard work and support during difficult and challenging times.

For the Committee to receive, for information, the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board Annual report for 2018-19.

Members noted the 2018/19 annual report and suggested that this report should be considered in conjunction with the 2019/20 annual report by Buckinghamshire Council.

For the Committee to receive an update on the Family Support Service which was launched in September 2019.

Contributors:

Mr G Morgan, Head of Early Help

The Chairman welcomed Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Mr G Morgan, Head of Early Help.

During the presentation and discussion, the following main points were made and questions asked.

·         The Family Support Service (FSS) had been operational since September 2019.

·         FSS was now fully staffed and the integrated service offer was strengthened by having a wide range of skills and experience covering all aspects of the new early help offer, which extends to families with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND).

·         FSS provides support for children and young people through community-based support at 16 retained Family Centres, where bespoke timetables of activities were being developed.

·         Eleven partners and/or other BCC teams were regularly using the centres, including the children’s mental health services.

·         The Cabinet Member explained that the number of level 3 cases (early intervention of family support) in 2019 was 573 and there were now 1,134 cases.  This highlighted the success of a targeted approach and working closely with families in a timely and supported way.

·         178 sessions per week were being delivered through the Family Centres – both universal services as well as very specific courses were being run in some areas (40% of these sessions were for the under 5s, 30% were for families and 30% for school age children).

·         A Member asked for clarification on the 100% increase in support for the families with greatest need. The Cabinet Member explained that this did not mean that there was a 100% increase across the county but the figure represented an increase in identifying issues earlier and being able to put support in place for families and children.

·         The aim was to grow the service offer and ensure that all partners and staff were able to signpost families and children to the right service for the right support.

·         A Member asked what processes were in place to measure the improved outcomes for families.  Mr Morgan responded by saying that all families had a support plan to track their journey of change. Families were assessed at the beginning, middle and end so that improvements could be tracked – using a tool known as the Family Outcome Star.  It was agreed that the impact of this work would be reported to the new Committee as well as reviewing the opportunities presented by the creation of more locality working through the Community Boards.  In September 2020, it was suggested that there should be an annual review of the FSS, in conjunction with other partners.

Action: Mr Morgan/Committee & Governance Adviser

·         A Member made reference to adult social care and how the service had a list of people who were on the cusp of needing care and asked whether this was the same for the FSS.  The Cabinet Member explained that the locality teams were already working with families and children in the early stages before the need for statutory services.  Mr Morgan went on to say that there were link family workers within schools who helped to identify  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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

      I.        Mrs A Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

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

The following questions were asked during this item.

A Member referred to a question he had asked at the previous meeting in relation to details of current programmes aimed to raise the standards and performance of children attending non-selective schools across the county.  As agreed at the last meeting, this would be discussed when an educational standards item was on the agenda.  This would be scheduled into the work programme for Buckinghamshire Council.

Action: Committee & Governance Adviser

A Member commented that the key stage 1 results were not included in the latest Cabinet update.  Mr Vouyioukas said he would look into this and circulate the results after the meeting.

Action: Mr Vouyioukas

A Member expressed concern around the delays in allocating places for SEN students transitioning to secondary school.  Mr Vouyioukas explained that there were significant pressures on SEN but the Head of Service was working very hard and there was new capacity within the team so the service was expected to improve.  He explained that the caseloads had been very high for Educational Plans in Buckinghamshire with over 4,500 Educational Care and Health Plans being prepared.

A Member referred to a recent Ombudsman decision which states that foster families should be reimbursed for home to school transport costs.  Mr Nash and Ms Cassey agreed to look into this.

Action: Mr Nash/Ms Cassey

For the Committee to review and discuss the results of the Ofsted Monitoring visit which took place on 16^th and 17^th October 2019.

Contributors:

Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director, Children’s Services

Mr R Nash, Service Director, Children’s Social Care

The Chairman welcomed Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director for Children’s Services and Mr R Nash, Service Director for Children’s Social Care.

The following main points were made during the discussion of the latest Ofsted Monitoring visit.

·         The Cabinet Member explained that the Ofsted letter had been delayed due to the General Election. 

·         Ofsted had recognised that improvements had been made. The leadership team were keeping the pressure on but pace had been hindered by not being able to recruit sufficient numbers of social workers.  Recruitment remained the biggest challenge.

·         A new academy for social workers had been set-up and 10 recruits were currently going through the programme, with another cohort due to start during 2020/21.  The aim would be to over-recruit to reduce the reliance on agency staff and to build resilience within the teams.

·         An international recruitment campaign had resulted in nine posts being filled by international social workers.

·         Some agency staff had converted to being permanent staff which was helping to maintain continuity for children and their families. 

·         In response to a question about the turnover rate of 34.6% which was stated in the recent Cabinet report, Mr Vouyioukas explained that the job was very challenging but positive steps were being taken to recruit more permanent staff and reduce the reliance on agency staff.

·         Across the 17 teams, there was one team which was 100% staffed by permanent social workers and their performance was strong and consistent.

·         In response to a question about whether social workers were leaving having only spent a short amount of time in the job, Mr Nash explained that the length of service of each staff member was monitored regularly.

·         A Member asked whether the systems and processes were now in place to ensure the service did not receive a similar letter from Ofsted.  The Cabinet Member explained that a number of changes had been made to improve the service and, by way of example, mentioned that the way the service carries out court work had been altered and the launch of the new Family Support Service. 

·         The Ofsted letter focused on improvements in delivering front-line staff and acknowledged the work of the Leadership team.  Mr Nash explained that each monitoring visit looked at different parts of the system.  The speed of delivering the improvement relied on the ability to recruit good quality staff.  He went on to say that the service was 90% through the work required to put things right.

·         The Cabinet Member and Officers acknowledged that the service did not want to be in the same position in two years’ time.

·         In response to a question about the order of the priorities, Mr Nash explained that identifying a child’s needs was something which the service was doing well whereas management oversight was an area which required improvement which explained why this was given a higher priority.  He went on to say that there were four themes which presented themselves all too often and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

For the Committee to review and discuss the improvement plan.

Contributors:

Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Mr T Vouyioukas, Executive Director, Children’s Services

Mr R Nash, Service Director, Children’s Social Care

The Cabinet Member introduced this item and explained that the improvement plan was reviewed and rigorously challenged by the Improvement Partner, who had been appointed by the Department for Education.

Mr Nash explained that the management team reviewed the RAG status on a regular basis and information from the independent reporters, the council’s quality assurances, auditing and sampling were used.  He went on to say that Heads of Service were quite hard on themselves so the RAG status was not over-inflated but was a reflection of the focus of work for the service and how the improvements would be achieved.  The RAG ratings were due to be updated and some of the areas would see an improvement.

A Member commented on the Care Leavers team and asked what measures were in place to specifically help the managers and assistant managers.  Mr Nash explained that conversations with the teams were taking place on a regular basis and there was some historical unpicking to be done but the team was working together to do this and it was a shared responsibility, in terms of what needed to be done.

The Chairman wished the team all the very best with their recruitment plans and their continued delivery of the improvement plan.

This is the final meeting of the Children’s Select Committee.

The Committee agreed to hold a meeting before the end of March to review the Ofsted Improvement Plan.  Date of meeting to be confirmed.

Action: Committee & Governance Adviser