Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 16/04/2013, 14.00
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Public Document Pack Corporate Scrutiny Committee Agenda Date: Tuesday, 16th April, 2013 Time: 2.00 pm Venue: Committee Suite 1,2 & 3, Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach CW11 1HZ The agenda is divided into 2 parts. Part 1 is taken in the presence of the public and press. Part 2 items will be considered in the absence of the public and press for the reasons indicated on the agenda and at the foot of each report. PART 1 – MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH THE PUBLIC AND PRESS PRESENT 1. Apologies for Absence 2. Minutes of Previous meeting (Pages 1 - 4) To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2013. 3. Declarations of Interest To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda. 4. Declaration of Party Whip To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda. For any apologies or requests for further information, or to give notice of a question to be asked by a member of the public Contact : Mark Nedderman Tel: 01270 686459 E-Mail: [email protected] 5. Public Speaking Time/Open Session A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers. Note: In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered. 6. Children and Adults Safeguarding Issues (Pages 5 - 12) To receive presentations from Kate Rose Principal Children's Safeguarding Manager on: • The implications off new statutory guidance for safeguarding children and young people • The work of the safeguarding unit. 7. Section 106 Progress report (Pages 13 - 38) To receive a report of the Section 106 Monitoring Officer. 8. School Examination Data (Pages 39 - 104) To consider the 2012 Annual Education Report. 9. Work Programme Progress Report (Pages 105 - 112) To consider a report of the Borough Solicitor. 10. Budget Savings To consider identifying potential items from within the 2013/14 budget which are considered to be sensitive, critical and difficult to achieve with a view to scrutinising those issues in more detail throughout the new civic year. Page 1 Agenda Item 2 CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL Minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on Tuesday, 12th March, 2013 at Committee Suite 1,2 & 3, Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach CW11 1HZ PRESENT Councillor S Wilkinson (Chairman) Councillor P Edwards (Vice-Chairman) Councillors S Corcoran, H Davenport, R West, S Hogben and McCann Apologies Councillor D Newton and Jill Kelly 17 ALSO PRESENT Councillor Peter Raynes – Finance Portfolio Holder Councillor Rhoda Bailey – Cabinet Support Member Councillor Phil Hoyland – Chairman Children and Families PDG Councillor David Neilson – Chairman Care Leavers Task and Finish Group 18 OFFICERS PRESENT Julie Lewis – Principle Manager Cared for Children Dominic Oakeshott – Head of Business Management and Challenge Mark Nedderman – Senior Scrutiny Officer 19 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2013 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 20 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 21 DECLARATION OF PARTY WHIP There were no declarations of the existence of a party whip. 22 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIME/OPEN SESSION There were no members of the public present who wished to make a statement. 23 CARE LEAVERS TASK AND FINISH REPORT Page 2 The Committee considered a report of the Borough Solicitor relating to a report of a task and finish group set up by the former Childrens and families Scrutiny Committee which explored whether the Council was doing all it could to help young people in care to make a successful transition into adulthood. Councillor David Neilson, Chairman of the Care Leavers Task and Finish Group attended the meeting and introduced the report. RESOLVED – (a) That the report of the Task/Finish group be welcomed and supported; (b) That the recommendations of the Group contained in the report be endorsed, and referred to Cabinet for consideration and necessary action, including referral of any matters considered appropriate to the Children’s and Families Policy Development group for further investigation. (c) That the appreciation of the Committee be placed on record for the endeavours of Mark Grimshaw Scrutiny officer in supporting the work of the Task and Finish group. 24 WORK PROGRAMME PROGRESS REPORT The Committee considered a report of the Borough Solicitor regarding the 2012/13 work programme. The Chairman informed the Committee that he had reviewed the current work programme and had noted that in the main, the work programme consisted of matters handed to the committee from committees that had existed under the Council’s previous scrutiny arrangements. He suggested that due to the spread in the role of the committee it would have to be extremely discerning in its choice of work programme items and would therefore have to focus its attention on a small number of high level, but important matters. He therefore proposed that the current list should be reduced to more manageable levels. He also had noted that in February 2013, the Committee had considered a report on the conclusions of a peer review of the Council’s arrangements for the safeguarding of children, which had taken place between 3 and 7 December 2012. The Committee was informed that this review had now been superseded by an Ofsted inspection which was currently underway in respect of the Council’s child protection arrangements. All of this led the Chairman to conclude that the committee should, as an important area of council services, include safeguarding of both children’s and adults services, and proposed that the Committee should consider adding a standard item on all future agendas, to consider updates on safeguarding issues. The Committee then reviewed the schedule attached to the report and recommended that the following changes be made: Page 3 • Libraries Strategy – Defer any scrutiny activity until such time as the new library arrangements have been in place for 6 months • Car park management task and finish review, update – delete and monitor performance through the quarterly performance reports; • Christmas Bins collection - delete and monitor performance through the quarterly performance reports; • Report on project slippages – capital programme - delete and monitor performance through the quarterly performance reports; • Children’s/Adults ICT update - Defer any scrutiny activity until such time as the new ICT arrangements have been in place for 12 months; • Regulation 33 Visits – to be reported upon quarterly; • New Item – Review of Ofsted report and improvement plan on child protection and safeguarding arrangements • New item – The effectiveness of the new Management Restructure; • New Item – BeWilderwood; • New Item – The impact on schools of the new Ofsted framework; • New Item – Impact of Academy provisions in respect of primary schools. RESOLVED – (a) That the report be received; (b) That the changes listed above be approved; (c) That the Chairman and Vice Chairman be requested to review the revised work programme prior to the next meeting and to allocate, wherever possible, indicative dates for completion; (d) That the review children’s and adults safeguarding issues be included as a standard item on all future agendas for this committee. 25 BUDGET SAVINGS The Committee considered selecting items which had been identified in the approved 2013/14 budget as being the most sensitive, critical and difficult to achieve. The Chairman asked members of the committee to think about potential items to be included under this heading in order that further consideration of specific suggestions could be considered at the next meeting of the committee. The Finance Portfolio Holder suggested the committee might wish to concentrate in the following areas: • Adult Social Care – where costs were increasing Page 4 • Leisure Services • Public Health • Value For Money RESOLVED- That this matter be considered further at the April meeting The meeting commenced at 2.00 pm and concluded at 3.40 pm Councillor S Wilkinson (Chairman) Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) Page 5 Nigel Moorhouse – Head of Early Intervention & Prevention Agenda Item6 Kate Rose – Manager Children and Adult Safeguarding Introduction l Core legal requirements on individuals and organisations to keep children safe l 1999 – 2013 l 390 pages to 97 Page 6 l Baby Peter Connelly l Prf. E Munro l Emphasis away from process to focus on needs of the child – child first l Be aware l Share information l Professional judgement Local Context l 2000 referrals for help and intervention per year l 375 cared for children l 175 child protection plans l 1500 children in need, Page 7 l 500 CAFs l 3000 Initial & Core statutory assessments l New single statutory assessment by 45 days, shift practice from process to quality of planning and review, greater flexibility. Key issues l Organisational responsibilities – S.11 (Children Act 2004) - across Local Authority services