Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel
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Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel Date: Thursday 13 January 2011 Time: 2:00pm Venue: Edwards Room, County Hall, Norwich Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile phones. Membership Mr G Cook (Chairman) Mr R Bearman Ms D Irving Dr A Boswell Mr M Kiddle-Morris Mr B Bremner Mr W Nunn Mr M Brindle Mr M Scutter Miss C Casimir (Vice-Chairman) Mr B Spratt Mrs J Chamberlin Mr P Wells Mrs S Gurney Mr A Wright Mrs S Hutson Parent Governor Representatives Mr P East Dr L Poliakoff Church Representatives Mrs J O’Connor Mr A Mash Non-Voting School’s Forum Representative Dr B Carrington Non-Voting Cabinet Member Mrs A Thomas Non-Voting Deputy Cabinet Member Mr T Garrod Vulnerable Children Mrs J Murphy Education To view reports click on links shown in blue Non-Voting Co-opted Advisors Mrs S Cooke Primary Education Mr P Large Secondary Education Mr L Poulson Post-16 Education Mrs H Rowlinson Special Schools Mr M Sale Norfolk Governors Network For further details and general enquiries about this Agenda please contact the Committee Officer: Kristen Jones on 01603 223053 or email [email protected] A g e n d a 1. To receive apologies and details of any substitute members attending 2. Minutes (Page 1) To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 7 October 2010. 3. Members to Declare any Interests Please indicate whether the interest is a personal one only or one which is prejudicial. A declaration of a personal interest should indicate the nature of the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. In the case of a personal interest, the member may speak and vote on the matter. Please note that if you are exempt from declaring a personal interest because it arises solely from your position on a body to which you were nominated by the County Council or a body exercising functions of a public nature (e.g. another local authority), you need only declare your interest if and when you intend to speak on a matter. If a prejudicial interest is declared, the member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed unless members of the public are allowed to make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter, in which case you may attend the meeting for that purpose. You must immediately leave the room when you have finished or the meeting decides you have finished, if earlier. These declarations apply to all those members present, whether the member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area. 4. To receive any items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency 5. Public Question Time Fifteen minutes for questions from members of the public of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Officer by 5pm on Monday 10 January 2011. Please submit your question(s) to the person named on the front of this agenda. For guidance on submitting public questions, please view the Council Constitution, Appendix 10. 6. Local Member Issues/Member Questions Fifteen minutes for local members to raise issues of concern of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Officer by 5pm on Monday 10 January 2011. Please submit your question(s) to the person named on the front of this agenda. 7. Cabinet Member Feedback Overview Items 8. Service and Financial Planning 2011-2014 (Page A1) To set out the financial and service planning position for Children’s Services for 2011-14, including a summary of the results of the Big Conversation consultation. 9. Fair Funding: Consultation Outcome (Page 11) Report by the Director of Children’s Services. 10. Schools Budget 2011/12 (Page 103) Report by the Director of Children’s Services. 11. Children’s Services Integrated Performance and Finance (Page 133) Monitoring Report 2010-11 Report by the Director of Children’s Services. Scrutiny Items 12. Forward Work Programme: Scrutiny (Page 143) Report by the Director of Children’s Services. Group Meetings Conservative 1:00 pm Colman Room Liberal Democrats 1:00 pm Room 504 Chris Walton Head of Democratic Services County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DH Date Agenda Published: 5 January 2011 If you need this document in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Kristen Jones on 0344 800 8020 or 0344 800 8011 (textphone) and we will do our best to help. Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel Minutes of the Meeting Held on Thursday 7 October 2010 Present: Miss C Casimir (Vice-Chairman in the Chair) Mr R Bearman Mr M Kiddle-Morris Dr A Boswell Mr W Nunn Mr B Bremner Mr M Scutter Baron M Chenery of Horsbrugh Mr B Spratt Mr T Garrod Dr M Strong Mrs S Gurney Mr P Wells Mrs S Hutson Mr M Wilby Ms D Irving Mr A Wright Non-Voting School’s Forum Representative: Dr B Carrington Non-Voting Cabinet Member: Mrs A Thomas Non-Voting Deputy Cabinet Members: Mr J Carswell Vulnerable Children Mrs J Murphy Education Non-Voting Co-Opted Advisors: Mrs S Cooke Primary Education Mr M Sale Norfolk Governors’ Network Chairman’s Announcements The Chairman announced that due to a forthcoming operation Mr Cook was unable to attend and chair the meeting. On behalf of the Panel the Chairman wished Mr Cook a speedy recovery. 1. Apologies and substitutions 1.1 Apologies were received from Mr Cook (Mr Wilby substituting), Mrs Chamberlin (Baron Chenery of Horsbrugh substituting), Mr Brindle (Dr Strong substituting) and Mr Poulson. 2. Minutes 2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2010 were agreed by the Panel and signed as an accurate record of the meeting. 3. Declarations of Interests 3.1 The following personal interests were declared: 3.2 Mr Kiddle-Morris - item 12 as a Governor of the Litcham Federation of Schools with cooking kitchens. 3.3 Dr Strong – item 9 as local member for Wells, which included the Field Study Centre. 3.4 Mrs Thomas, Dr Strong, Dr Boswell, Mr Bremner, Mr Wilby and Mrs Gurney – item 10 as having a SureStart nursery in their division. 4. Items of Urgent Business 4.1 There were no items of urgent business. 5. Public Question Time 5.1 Appendix A to these minutes sets out the questions and replies to public questions. 6. Local Member Issues/Member Questions 6.1 Local Member comments or questions were taken at the beginning of each relevant item. 7. Cabinet Member Feedback 7.1 The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services noted that in the recent OFSTED inspection the Adoption Unit had achieved ‘Outstanding’ in all categories. The Panel congratulated them on this achievement. Scrutiny Items 8. Forward Work Programme: Scrutiny 8.1 The annexed report (8) by the Director of Children’s Services was received. The report asked Members to review and develop the programme for scrutiny. 8.2 During the discussion the following points were made: 2 The anti-bullying statistics were noted to be better than comparable Local Authorities. The table on page 22 showed the results of a survey and it was acknowledged that children may not have been aware that action was taken. An element of incorrect completion of the survey was also likely. It was important to understand what the results meant and their correlation with sources such as OFSTED findings and school council reports. Tackling of cyber-bullying was noted as an area with excellent work with training taking place in schools. This was a new form of bullying and strategies would be developed as more was learned about it. Policies around possession of mobile phones in classes were a matter for individual schools to decide. It was acknowledged that in some areas this had been a problem, and that some teachers had experienced harassment via this medium. Concerns were raised that the highest rate of non-activity in relation to reported bullying was experienced when the child contacted the police or a helpline. Work was underway with Norfolk Police and organisations such as Childline to address this. It was noted that item 4 of the Forward Work Programme – Promotion of Green Issues – needed more focus. It was clarified that this included better use of energy and environmental sustainability. The title would be reworded to provide more clarity. 8.3 The Panel AGREED: to approve the scrutiny topics listed and their reporting dates. to approve the Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review of the levels of attendance in schools. that an additional scrutiny review of anti-bullying did not need to be added to the list. No further topics were added to the Forward Work Programme. Overview Items 9. Future Provision for Environmental and Outdoor Learning; Outcomes from the Holt Hall and Wells Field Study Centre Consultations 9.1 The annexed report (9) by the Director of Children’s Services was received. The report provided a summary of the outcomes of the consultation on the future use of Holt Hall and Wells Field Study Centre. It explored the options for future use and made recommendations for the way forward. 3 9.2 The Local Member for Holt gave his view that Holt Hall was a valuable asset that should be kept by the County Council, as children had gained so much from it, and that the Communications Team needed to better market the facility.