Agenda and minutes
Venue: Virtual Meeting - MS teams
Contact: Kelly Sutherland
Media
Webcast: View the webcast
Note | No. | Item |
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Election of Chairman To elect the Chairman of the Children’s and Education Select Committee for the ensuing year. Additional documents: Minutes: Kelly Sutherland, Committee and Governance Manager, welcomed everyone to the meeting and called for nominations for Chairman. Dev Dhillon was nominated and seconded and in the absence of any other nominations was declared Chairman of the Children’s Services and Education Select Committee.
RESOLVED: That Mr Dev Dhillon be elected as Chairman for the ensuing year. |
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Appointment of Vice-Chairman To appoint the Vice-Chairman of the Children’s and Education Select Committee for the ensuing year. Additional documents: Minutes: Mr Dhillon thanked all the staff in Children’s and Education Services who had faced an extremely challenging period due to the coronavirus pandemic. A large number of services were provided by frontline staff; the officers and senior management team had worked tirelessly to provide the best service possible.
Mr Dhillon proposed Mrs Julie Ward be appointed as Vice-Chairman; Mr Arif Hussain and Mr Niknam Hussain seconded the proposal.
RESOLVED: That Mrs Julie Ward be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year. |
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Apologies for Absence/Changes in membership Additional documents: Minutes: It was noted that Mr Robert Jones had sent his apologies for the first part of the meeting and joined the meeting at 3.00 pm.
The Chairman advised that the Select Committee was able to have parent governors as co-opted members; Mrs Sutherland explained that she would contact the Legal team to clarify the process and update the committee.
The committee members introduced themselves and stated the area they represented. |
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Declarations of Interest Additional documents: Minutes: The following declarations of interest were made:
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2.10 |
The Committee will receive an update on the Covid-19 response in connection with Children’s Services and Education.
Contributors: Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services Mrs Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education Mr Tony Green, Cabinet Member for Youth Provision Mr Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director, Children’s Services Mr Richard Nash, Service Director – Children’s Social Care Mr Simon James, Service Director - Education
Papers: Covid-19 Update report Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman explained that a Covid-19 update would be provided at this meeting; however, there would be further opportunities to scrutinise the Council’s response to the pandemic. On behalf of the whole committee, the Chairman extended his thanks to all staff in Children’s Services and Education who had been working extremely hard on the front line during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services stated it had been an extremely challenging time for the Service as the officers had to be set up to work from home, in a very short space of time, to enable continued contact with vulnerable children via Face time, texting and WhatsApp; these methods had proven to be an efficient, effective and accepted means of communication for the children. The Service had kept the Department for Education (DfE) and OFSTED informed throughout. The planned OFSTED monitoring visit in May 2020 would be rearranged for when it was safe to do so.
Mr Shaw commended the whole team, in both education and children’s social care; he particularly thanked the staff who had been working in the schools which had remained open during the pandemic and the officers who had undertaken home visits under extreme circumstances. Mr Shaw was confident that the senior management team knew what needed to be improved upon and that there was an improvement plan in place. Regular contact had been made with approximately 80% of the known vulnerable children but the team were aware that the real challenge would be the children who were not known to the service and it was anticipated that there could be a rise in the number of referrals when more children returned to school. In addition, recruitment of social work staff continued to be a priority.
Mr Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director, Children’s Services, referred to the detailed report provided in the agenda pack and emphasised that following the lockdown announcement; immediate action was taken to ensure all teams were able to work remotely. Mr Vouyioukas praised the schools which had accommodated the children of key workers and vulnerable children. The Service had achieved contact with over 96% of cases (paragraph 1.6) and Mr Vouyioukas stressed the importance of ensuring the momentum of improvement continued. A recent staff survey had shown that over 88% of staff in Children’s Services were happy and felt supported. The senior management team had been in touch with DfE at least three times a week to understand the guidance and expectations. Regular meetings with the chairs of school partnerships had also taken place. It was anticipated that 80% of primary schools would be open by week commencing 8 June 2020, in accordance with public health guidance.
The following key points were raised by the Select Committee members during discussion:
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3.10 |
Key priorities for 2020-21 PDF 419 KB The Committee will hear from the Cabinet Members for Children’s Services, Education and Youth Provision, who will outline their priorities for the next 12 months.
Contributors: Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services Mrs Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education Mr Tony Green, Cabinet Member for Youth Provision Mr Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director, Children’s Services Mr Richard Nash, Service Director – Children’s Social Care Mr Simon James, Service Director – Education
Papers: Children’s Services Priorities
Additional documents: Minutes: Cllr Shaw listed the key priorities as follows:
Cllr Tony Green, Cabinet Member for Youth Provision, listed the key priorities as follows:
· Recruitment of in-house foster carers · Improving the education and health of looked after children · The transition of children from childhood to adulthood.
Cllr Cranmer listed the following three key priorities:
The following key points were raised by the Select Committee members during discussion:
ACTION: Mr James |
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Work Programme Discussion The Committee will discuss possible items to include on the Committee’s work programme for the coming year.
Contributors: All Committee Members Additional documents: Minutes: The following suggestions were made for the work programme:
ACTION: Chairman/Mrs Sutherland
Some annual updates would be included on the work programme. |
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Date of next meeting Thursday 10th September 2020 at 2pm Additional documents: Minutes:
The date of next meeting was 10 September 2020. |