Public Document Pack
Committee Agenda
City of Westminster
Title: Economic Development, Education & Place Shaping Policy and Scrutiny
Meeting Date: Monday 16th September, 2019
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: Rooms 18.01 & 18.03, 18th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP
Members: Councillors: Elected Voting Representatives Karen Scarborough Ryan Nichol, Parent Governor (Chairman) Vacant Geoff Barraclough Danny Chalkley Co-opted Voting Representatives Lorraine Dean Simon Atkinson, Church of England Eoghain Murphy Vacant, Roman Catholic Papya Qureshi Selina Short Non-Voting Co-opted Tim Roca Representatives Sam Green, Headteacher, Pimlico Academy Miles Ridley, Headteacher, St Peter’s Eaton Square
Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting and listen to the discussion Part 1 of the Agenda
Admission to the public gallery is by ticket, issued from the ground floor reception. If you have a disability and require any special assistance please contact the Committee Officer (details listed below) in advance of the meeting.
An Induction loop operates to enhance sound for anyone wearing a hearing aid or using a transmitter. If you require T any further information, please contact the Committee Officer, Sarah Craddock; 020 7641 2770.
Corporate Website: www.westminster.gov.uk
Note for Members: Members are reminded that Officer contacts are shown at the end of each report and Members are welcome to raise questions in advance of the meeting. With regard to item 2, guidance on declarations of interests is included in the Code of Governance; if Members and Officers have any particular questions they should contact the Head of Committee and Governance Services in advance of the meeting please.
AGENDA PART 1 (IN PUBLIC)
1. MEMBERSHIP To note any changes to the Membership.
2. MINUTES (Pages 5 - 10) To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 3 April 2019.
3. CABINET MEMBER FOR PLACE SHAPING AND PLANNING (Pages 11 - 16) Councillor Richard Beddoe (Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning) to update the Committee on current and forthcoming issues in his Portfolio.
4. CABINET MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, (Pages 17 - 26) EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Councillor Tim Barnes (Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills) to update the Committee on current and forthcoming issues in his Portfolios.
5. SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS (Pages 27 - 34) To review School Exclusions in Westminster schools.
6. SCHOOL ORGANISATION AND INVESTMENT STRATEGY (Pages 35 - 46) 2019-20 UPDATE To review primary and secondary mainstream school provision across the borough.
7. WORK PROGRAMME AND TRACKER REPORT (Pages 47 - 54) a) To note the progress in implementing the Committee’s Recommendations and Action Tracker.
b) To provide comment and input into the Work Programme for 2018/19.
8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS To consider any other business which the Chairman considers urgent.
Stuart Love Chief Executive 6 September 2019
Agenda Item 2
MINUTES
CITY OF WESTMINSTER
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION AND PLACE SHAPING POLICY & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE 3 April 2019 MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
Minutes of a meeting of the Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping Policy & Scrutiny Committee held on Wednesday 3 April 2019 at 6.30pm at Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP.
Members Present: Councillors Karen Scarborough (Chairman), Geoff Barraclough, Danny Chalkley, Lorraine Dean, Elizabeth Hitchcock, Patricia McAllister, Eoghain Murphy and Tim Roca.
Co-opted Members: Sian Maddrell, Ryan Nichol and Miles Ridley.
Also present: Councillor Jacqui Wilkinson (Deputy Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills).
Apologies: Simon Atkinson.
1. MEMBERSHIP
1.1 The Chairman advised that Councillor Lorraine Dean was substituting for Councillor Christabel Flight and Councillor Patricia McAllister was substituting for Councillor Papya Qureshi.
1.2 The Chairman welcomed Councillor Jacqui Wilkinson (Deputy Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills) to the meeting.
1.3 The Chairman advised that Councillors David Harvey and Richard Beddoe would not be attending the meeting. Any questions that Members have regarding the Place Shaping and Planning portfolio would be placed on the Committee’s Action Tracker.
1.4 The Chairman welcomed Roy O’Shaughnessy (Capital College Group), Stavros Chirdaris and Denise Largin (The Camden Society) and Naki Hondus (Westminster resident) who took part in the discussion on the Westminster Employment Service.
Page 5
2. DECLARATION OF INTEREST
2.1 No further declarations of interests in respect of items to be discussed were made, other than those noted in the circulated schedule as set out below in paragraph 2.2.
2.2 Table of Member’s interests tabled at the Committee Meeting was as follows:
Councillor/Member of Organisation Nature of Interest the Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping P&S Committee Geoff Barraclough Dorothy Gardner Partner is a Governor at Centre the school
Danny Chalkley Burdett Coutts School Trustee Foundation
Lorraine Dean City of Westminster College Employee
Westminster Adult Education Governor Service
LA Governor Nomination Member Panel.
Elizabeth Hitchcock St Andrew’s Club Trustee
Sian Maddrell The Grey Coat Hospital School Headteacher
Miles Ridley St Peter’s Eaton Square School Headteacher
Ryan Nichol St Gabriel’s Primary School Parent Governor
Tim Roca Paddington Academy Governor
Karen Scarborough St Vincent’s School Governor
St Mary of Angels Governor
Young Westminster Foundation Trustee
St Marylebone Almshouse Trustee
Page 6 3. MINUTES
3.1 RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2019 be approved for signature by the Chairman as a true and correct record of the proceedings.
4. QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION: CABINET MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION AND SKILLS
4.1 The Committee received a written update from the Deputy Cabinet Member who responded to questions on the following topics:
the development of a new Street Markets Strategy which would include improved sustainability, opportunities for young people, improved online and social promotion and the provision of seating. the success of STEAM Week (Science, Technology, Electronics, Arts and Media) and how the programme engaged over 2141 young people and ran multiple competitions via social media for only £2 per young person. the implementation and launch of the Supported Internship Programme in the Council for young people with special, educational needs and disabilities. the difficulties that nurseries and primary schools were facing with the new National Funding Formula, the future pupil role projections, including SEND pupil projections and capacity within Westminster schools. the increase in fixed term and permanent exclusions in schools and the possible link with the growth in gang and knife crime.
4.2 ACTIONS
1. The Committee requested a briefing note on the funding of the Speech and Language Service.
2. The Committee requested a briefing note outlining the funding issues facing Westminster schools.
3. The Committee requested that during the development of the new Street Markets Strategy consideration be given to how people with dementia and autism could be supported when using and working in the markets.
4. The Committee requested to be sent the website link to the Market Strategy.
5. The Committee requested a briefing note on the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions in schools and the ways schools were tackling the growth in knife crime amongst young people.
6. The Committee agreed that the new Economic Development and Regeneration Strategy be reviewed by the Committee before it was published.
Page 7
5. QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION: CABINET MEMBER FOR PLACE SHAPING AND PLANNING
5.1 The Committee received a written update from the Cabinet Member which covered current and forthcoming issues in his Portfolio. Members briefly discussed the new draft City Plan and the further engagement with stakeholders taking place, which included amendments to the heritage and design policies and a different approach to private residential car parking to bring Westminster in line with the rest of London.
6. WESTMINSTER EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
6.1 The Committee received a report summarising the progress which had been made by and the impact of the Westminster Employment Service. The Committee noted that the Service had been launched in 2017 to support the City for All ambition – Opportunities and Fairness – and with the objective of transforming the lives of vulnerable residents, including long-term unemployment through an effective back-to-work service.
6.2 The Committee discussed how the network of employment coaches had delivered an effective employment service by supporting 1600 residents into employment and that for every £1 invested in the Service via the General Fund, the Service leveraged a further £89. The Committee noted that a cost benefit analysis showed that the Housing and Employment Learning Project (HELP) had provided public bodies with a net saving of around £450,000, through reduced spending on welfare benefits and temporary accommodation.
6.3 The Committee welcomed the following witnesses who outlined their particular interest in the Westminster Employment Service.
6.4 Roy O’Shaughnessy (Chief Executive, Capital City College Group) commented on how his organisation provided specialist services to help young people and adults gain an education, enter work and develop their career to improve their wellbeing and/or rebuild their lives. He advised that specialist college courses should be developed specifically in mind for employment and targeted jobs. He further advised that if colleges tracked their students they would be able to intervene earlier to help them gain meaningful employment.
6.5 Denise Largin and Stavros Chirdaris, (The Camden Society) commented on how the Camden Society generated opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve greater equality and outlined the different approaches they used to employ young people and give them confidence to gain employment. They emphasised the huge difference it would make if all companies committed to employing one person with learning disabilities, as it would improve the person’s
Page 8 life opportunities and well-being and the organisation would gain a loyal employee with a sustainable career. They further commented on how more apprenticeship schemes needed to be created in organisations.
6.6 Naki Hondus (Westminster resident) talked about how she had become homeless and ended up in temporary accommodation. She explained how she had approached the HELP Project after thirteen moves into temporary accommodation, including outside of London. She advised that with the support from her caseworker she had graduated with a degree in Education and now lived in Westminster with her family and worked as an Area Manager for a childcare company. She emphasised that without the support of the HELP project, which had given her both support and confidence, she could still be living in temporary accommodation without employment.
6.7 The key themes that emerged from the Committee discussion were:
the impact that the Westminster Employment Service was having on residents, including those with the most significant barriers to employment. the importance of maintaining strong partnership working with Westminster Adult Education Service and the NHS and building new partnerships. the importance of maintaining the quality of personalisation offered so this continued to be a key strength of the Service. the need for the Westminster Employment Service to continue to meet local need and transform the lives of residents, including vulnerable residents. the importance of incorporating Social Value Key Performance Indicators into the Council’s contracts and offering the London Living Wage. the possibility of the Service getting involved with young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) during critical transition stages. the creation of apprenticeships/jobs and the need to develop strategies to encourage Westminster residents to take up employment within Westminster. the importance of communicating to residents the work opportunities within the Council and the work carried out by the Westminster Employment Service. the possibility of monitoring and tracking the progress of people that the Service had helped and the future funding of the Service.
6.8 The Committee congratulated the Westminster Employment Service on winning the Westminster Staff Team Award of the Year.
6.9 The Chairman thanked everyone who had given up their time to attend the meeting and contribute to the discussion.
Page 9
6.10 RESOLVED: The Committee concluded with the following comments, which would be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills:
1. That the Westminster Employment Service continue to reach out to all businesses in Westminster to encourage them to commit to employing a young person with SEN to improve equality within the City in line with City for All priorities.
2. That the quality of personalisation should continue as this enhanced the success of securing and matching the correct employment to the person.
3. That the Council communicate to its residents, especially young people, the work opportunities within the Council of Apprenticeships, the Graduate Intern Programme and the work carried out by the Westminster Employment Service.
4. That the Westminster Employment Service set aside 5-10% of its budget to evaluate the Service and that the full Service evaluation be reviewed by the Committee in 2020.
7. ACTION AND RECOMMENDATION TRACKERS AND COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME
7.1 ACTION AND RECOMMENDATION TRACKERS
7.1.1 RESOLVED: That the Action and Recommendation Trackers be noted.
7.2 COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME
7.2.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee review Libraries at its next meeting.
8. TERMINATION OF MEETING
8 .1 The meeting ended at 8.34pm.
CHAIRMAN ______DATE ______
Page 10 Agenda Item 3
Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping Policy Scrutiny Committee
Date: Monday 16 September 2019
Portfolio: Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning
Author: Councillor Richard Beddoe Contact: Charlie Hawken [email protected]
1. The City Plan
1.1 Our draft City Plan contains numerous new proposed planning policies which I outlined at the previous Committee. Formal consultation (known as Regulation 19) on the City Plan took place 17th June – 31st July 2019, following an informal consultation at the end of last year. The new draft Plan is the result of a complete review of the adopted City Plan (2016) and saved Unitary Development Plan policies (2007). It will create a single, up to date local plan to manage development in Westminster. It also revisits the strategic direction of Westminster’s planning policies and ensures the City Plan is aligned with City for All objectives and is fit for purpose into the next decades.
1.2 The consultation attracted 160 responses, with over 2,000 individual comments. The scale and ambition of the plan received positive comments from a range of stakeholders.
1.3 Officers are currently reviewing all of the comments and determining what action is necessary as a result of the feedback we have received. Any necessary modifications will then be made to the plan before it is submitted to the Secretary of State for examination. An independent Planning Inspector will then publicly examine the plan and its supporting evidence to determine if it is sound. Assuming the plan is found to be sound, we will adopt the new City Plan in 2020.
2. Oxford Street District
2.1 Significant progress has been made towards delivery of the Oxford Street District Place Strategy and Delivery Plan since the last update in June.
2.2 Phase One works to address immediate maintenance needs and improve safety have progressed well and are on track for completion ahead of schedule in early 2020. Design work has progressed on priority work 1 Page 11 packages which will be delivered Spring 2020 once the new design and build contractor is in place.
2.3 Procurement of professional resources and a design and build contractor is on track with contract awards expected in September. Professional resources being sourced include a Project Director to oversee the planning and delivery of the complex programme.
2.4 Work to plan and model how traffic will operate across the district is well underway with modelling results and decisions on concept designs due later in September. Work is also underway to model the air quality impacts of the proposed traffic changes and to develop district-specific action plans for air quality and freight and servicing.
2.5 The second round of Zonal Working Groups, involving representatives of resident and business stakeholders, were held in July. Topics covered future management and enforcement and street design principles. These meetings were well received by stakeholders and provided useful feedback to the project team. Results of traffic modelling will be presented to stakeholders at the next Zonal Working Group meetings in October.
2.6 Work has begun to upgrade the programme website and improve communications to ensure residents and businesses are well informed as the programme moves to delivery.
3. Planning Review
3.1 Since the last update the project team have developed an implementation programme for the review of the planning service in light of the PAS report findings that were reported to Cabinet in October 2018. The review of the service has been split into two main themes, ‘Process Review’ and ‘Service Transformation’. The Process Review theme focuses on amendments and enhancements that can be made to fees and charges for pre-application advice and the form of the pre-application services that can be provided, as well as looking at how delegated authority could be delegated down to more junior officers to enable them to take more ownership of their decisions and deliver efficiencies to the operation of the service itself. The Service Transformation theme focuses on enhancements that can be made to develop the delivery service and enhance its transparency. This includes developing a shared vision and core values for Place Shaping and Town Planning, introducing public speaking and live streaming at planning committee meetings and development of working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.
3.2 The review of the pre-application service and pre-application service charges is at an advanced stage in terms of developing a preferred option for a new pre-application service which includes the introduction of a Design Review Panel and a Development Management Panel (which will facilitate discussion of pre-application schemes between developers, Ward Councillors and residents) for major developments to enhance the advice provided to developers proposing major scale development at the earliest stage of 2 Page 12 engagement. The potential to introduce a choice of service levels for Householder, Minor and Medium scale development is also being explored.
3.3 Work on a review of how delegated powers are used by officers has been scoped by the project team and work is now underway to develop options that can be considered for how this change to the current departmental processes can be implemented to streamline the decision making process and empower officers to take ownership of their own work, whilst maintaining appropriate checks and balances to retain the current quality and consistency of decision making.
3.4 The project team expect to be in a position to develop their preferred options for changes to the pre-application process and how delegated authority is exercised by October 2019, with the implementation of the preferred options by early to mid 2020. In the short term recommendations are expected from the Commercial Opportunities Board (COB) chaired by Cllr Robathan in September in terms of whether current pre-application charges are sufficient to cover the cost of providing the pre-application service. If COB recommends increases in pre-application fees, these can be introduced in the final quarter of 2019 prior to more comprehensive changes to the design of the pre- application advice service in 2020.
3.5 Under the ‘Service Transformation’ theme, public speaking was successfully introduced in February 2019 and a review of the performance of this process will be reported to the Planning and City Development Committee in October 2019. The additional provision of live streaming of planning committee meetings will be introduced from the Planning (Major) Applications Sub- Committee meeting on 24th September onwards. This will allow planning committee meetings to be viewed live online at the time of the committee meeting or for the meeting to be viewed subsequently via the Council’s website, significantly enhancing the accessibility and transparency of decision making on strategic scale and contentious planning applications.
3.6 A joint vision and core values has been developed by officers for the new Place Shaping and Town Planning department. This brings together its shared aims and objectives and establishes shared values for all officers, enhancing working relationships within the new department. The vision is also consistent with the wider vision for Growth, Planning and Housing and with City for All.
3.7 Work has begun to develop a strategy to ensure Place Shaping and Town Planning operates collaboratively with wider key internal and external stakeholders, to address the perception identified in the PAS findings that planning decisions were sometimes made without sufficient regard to the Council’s wider corporate objectives. Work on this strategy is at an early stage and further progress will be reported in subsequent briefings on the Planning Review Programme.
3.8 The WCC Guidance for Members Making Planning Decisions (2018 version) has been updated following the recommendation of the Standards Committee in mid-July and the document now provides Members with a robust and clear guide to procedures to be followed to ensure planning decisions are made in a 3 Page 13 way which is fair and transparent. The updated guidance will be circulated to Members serving on Planning Applications Sub-Committees shortly.
4. Community Infrastructure Levy
4.1 As of 31st July 2019, the Council has collected £56.629m of CIL since the Charging Schedule came into effect in May 2016. This represents a further £8.868m collected since my last report.
4.2 Cabinet CIL Committee met on 1st July 2019 and agreed to allocate £5.697m to a range of infrastructure projects under the council’s ‘strategic’ portion of CIL, put forward by the various service areas of the council. These included further investment in electric charging infrastructure, the refurbishment of the historic Porchester Spa, public realm improvements to Manchester Square, finalising the improvements to the St. Mary Magdalene community centre, and further improvements to pedestrian safety around the city. To date, the council has allocated £22.879m of this portion of its CIL funds to infrastructure projects.
4.3 The next Cabinet CIL Committee will meet on 9th October 2019 and will also consider applications for the ‘neighbourhood portion’ of CIL alongside the ‘strategic’ portion. Officers have been working with the various neighbourhood forums and other community groups to help crystallise their ideas for infrastructure improvements in their area. They are helping them through the application process so that these projects stand the best chance of success in complying with legislation and the council’s policies. Applications are open to these groups until 11th September. Officers will then present the applications to the committee with a recommended course of action.
5. Mayfair Neighbourhood Plan
5.1 On 11th June 2019 the Council received the examiner’s report on the Mayfair Neighbourhood Plan. This recommended that with some modifications, the plan proceed to referendum stage. Key modifications included that:
the plan needed to acknowledge that ambitions to improve the public realm and pedestrian crossings at Park Lane require further feasibility work, financial costings, and an assessment of impacts on the local environment and wider transport network;
the expectation that s106 obligations will be used to fund major interventions to Park lane be downgraded (given this in itself is unlikely to secure sufficient funds);
existing green spaces in the neighbourhood area do not merit designation as ‘Local Green Spaces’, and policies for such areas should focus on mitigating the negative impacts of hosting events in these areas, rather than seeking to dictate who such events are aimed at.
4 Page 14 5.2 On 11th July 2019 the Council issued its decision statement, accepting all of the examiner’s proposed modifications. This can be viewed at https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/mayfair_neighbourh ood_plan_decision_statement.pdf
5.3 Preparations are now being made to hold two referendums on 31st October 2019 – one for residents, and one for businesses. If successful at referendum, the plan can be formally ‘made’. Once ‘made’ it will be used alongside the council’s own planning policies and the London Plan in determining planning applications in the Mayfair Neighbourhood Area.
5 Page 15 This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 4
Economic Development, Education, Skills and Place Shaping Committee
Committee date: 16 September 2019
Author: Councillor Tim Barnes
Portfolio: Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills
Please contact: Charlie Hawken [email protected]
1. Business & Enterprise Business Westminster Website
1.1 In July, the website received 25,578 page views, a 5% increase on June. There were 21,382 unique visitors.
1.2 Broadband and Connectivity is still the most-viewed material, accounting for 16% across the entire site. This page holds the Connect Westminster broadband voucher scheme and eligibility information.
Connect Westminster
1.3 The Connect Westminster voucher scheme continues to support small businesses upgrade to superfast broadband by providing grants of £2,000. Scheme performance is as follows:
Approved applications 825
Vouchers issued 705
Funding allocated £1,641,332,99
Average voucher value £1,986.66
Registered suppliers of broadband 149
Upload speed uplift (Avg.) 9,731.62%
Download speed uplift (Avg.) 2,195.66%
1 Page 17 National Voucher Scheme
1.5 The National Voucher Scheme complements our own connectivity programme. It is run by Broadband Delivery UK. Reflecting a high need, Westminster has received the highest number of vouchers of all London boroughs. This national initiative is run along the same model as Connect Westminster. Vouchers though are worth an additional £500 at £2,500. Performance in the Borough to date is as follows:
Connected 250 (£671,562)
In the pipeline 228 (£487,129)
Business connections 415 (£1,127,191)
Residential connections 63 (£31,500)
Westminster Enterprise Space Network (WEPN)
1.6 Twenty four workspace organisations have joined this new Council inspired membership network. These organisations collectively own a total of 52 different work spaces across Westminster. The launch of the WEPN will take place on Wednesday 16th October at City Hall.
1.7 The procurement of an evaluator is underway to conduct a baseline study of this burgeoning business network. The intention of such a commission is to understand current demands and challenges for these workspace providers and their clients. As part of the brief, the evaluator will conduct an annual impact analysis which will be disseminated among the members and their tenant businesses. The annual study will also inform the design of other Council business support.
Pop-up Business School
1.8 The largest ever Pop-Up Business School took place in Soho from 8th -19th July. A total of 187 people attended over two weeks. On the final day, graduating participants were treated to a lunch from the Berwick Street Market before networking with the Business and Enterprise team. Preparations are now underway for the next Pop-Up which will take place in Ebury from 16th - 27th September.
Paddington Works
1.9 New enterprise space at Paddington Works has been busy over the summer. The state-of-the-art facility has hosted a wide variety of events and welcomed many more new innovators to the creative workspace. Highlights include:
2 Page 18 Rip It Up, Start Again - a platform that showcases disruptors and shares inspiring experiences and advice from successful businesses.
A “TedX Talk” with author of “Homo Distractus”, Dr Anastasia Dedyukhin. Dr Dedyukin’s book considers the distraction caused by the internet and how to stay focused and productive.
Youth Engagement
1.10 Creative Industries Week took place from the 8th -12th July. 624 young people across twelve Westminster schools participated and feedback received from young residents has been very positive. The total number excludes students who submitted the art work which is currently displayed at the Pop-Up Gallery on the 19th floor of City Hall. Twenty-five businesses offered opportunities during the week, many of collaborating with the Council’s youth engagement programme for the first time.
1.11 Planning has commenced for future youth engagement as follows:
18th -22th November 2019 - Westminster Enterprise Week 3rd -07th February 2020 - National Apprenticeship Week 9th -13th March 2020 – STEAM Week coinciding with British Science Week
Apprenticeships
1.12 The Business Unit is to partner with Victoria BID and the Camden Society to deliver an information session to BID members on employing people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The breakfast will be delivered as an information and networking session on 4th September at City Hall.
1.13 Also in development is a further apprenticeship event with Victoria BID in late September. Focusing on wellbeing in the workplace for the BID’s SME membership, the Business Unit will attend to promote its support services.
Street Markets
1.14 On 30 July we launched our new sustainable lunch boxes at Tachbrook Market. This is in partnership with CauliBox, a social enterprise. Encouragingly, all hot food traders on the street are taking part in this scheme.
1.15 Customers pay a £5 deposit and receive a reusable food container. These boxes are then returned for cleaning. All the boxes are be tracked through a QR code reader which will provide important data on patterns of usage. We aim to have 400 boxes in circulation in the first month. If the trial is successful (and it is a pilot which we hope will throw up a lot of learning) we will roll the programme out across our other markets. Promisingly, in the first three days 122 people signed up.
3 Page 19 1.16 The regional final of the Young Traders Market was held in August at the Victoria Cathedral Piazza. The forty budding entrepreneurs are competing for a place in the national final. Products on sale included:
Street food, coffee and confectionary Up-cycled bags and accessories Clothing Beauty products
1.17 Three of the traders were also participants in the “Love Your Local Markets” Pop-Up event in Berwick Street Market in May. Perhaps in a sign of the early success of the business ecosystem we are seeking to build, all three are based at Council supported enterprise spaces.
1.18 Westminster was also successful in an application for funding from the GLA. A grant of £25,000 will allow further work on sustainability and improving market related infrastructure.
1.19 Meanwhile, the Markets Team are updating the Council’s website to ensure accurate information about each market. We are also re-designing site maps to encourage new traders in search of vacant pitches.
2. Westminster Employment Service & Responsible Business
Coaching
2.1 Our In-Work Support & Progression programme goes live in the summer. To inform this new initiative, the team recently conducted a focus group with former clients who are now in work. This group’s input will shape the project plan. The plan will be funded using a Section 106 contribution which the team secured in July.
2.2 Westminster Employment Service is to provide strategic oversight of the Council’s commitment to vulnerable young people. These are young people who are not in Education, Training or Employment. Central aims include improving referrals and linking young people to our employment coaches. As part of our commitment, the team has also secured funding for a dedicated role intended to provide 1-2-1 employment coaching for ex-offenders or those at risk of offending.
2.3 Two new apprentices (residents and former clients of our service) have completed their inductions. It is encouraging to note that 25% of the staff in the Economy Team are now Westminster residents. We want to go further. We are therefore developing initiatives to help the Council employ more of the people is serves. This is with the support of Michaella Jackson who is a new joint postholder with HR and who is specifically focused on this task.
4 Page 20 2.4 The Head of Coaching, Beth Coyne, has meanwhile convened the second meeting of the new Financial Inclusion Group. This forum aligns the various initiatives across the Council that help vulnerable residents manage their finances and therefore to prevent one of the leading causes of homelessness.
2.5 The Senior Housing & Employment Coach is supporting our young people in care to register with the Housing Service. The aim is to ensure access to suitable accommodation as soon as these care leavers are eligible. This helps deliver our corporate parenting commitment to vulnerable young people.
2.6 Coaches are now providing one-hour coaching sessions for colleagues employed by the Council. Primarily aimed at those who are at risk of redundancy, this support includes preparation for internal interviews. Twenty five people have signed up to the service already.
2.7 The team is working with Westminster Kingsway College, the Pop-up Business School and colleagues from the Leaving Care team to design a bespoke employment programme for 10-15 participants. Aimed at building confidence and a sense of belonging, this programme is focused on vulnerable young people. The concept is to design and run a course for making and selling chocolates.
2.8 With help from WES, the Victoria Cafe, run by social enterprise, Unity Kitchen, has launched a new trolley service. Our team is also jointly exploring an opportunity for the setting up of a coffee cart either in the City Hall foyer or just outside. It is anticipated that this will generate additional income and work opportunities for our residents. Virtual Reality
2.9 The Economy Team met with Mbryonic, a virtual reality software firm based in Farringdon. Mbryonic increase sales for manufacturers by building virtual showrooms and tours and creating lasting memories with audiences through their unique branded experiences. The team is assessing whether the company’s virtual reality technology could help our clients engage more effectively with local employers.
Responsible Business 2.10 The Westminster Employment Service, in partnership with Planning colleagues, has been central to the development of new guidance on the Responsible Economy Policy of the City Plan. This has generated new opportunity to engage with the development community and, over the summer, the team has responded to 17 planning consultations. As a result, £250,000 has been generated to support employment initiatives.
2.11 Additionally, highlights from social value commitments negotiated with suppliers and delivered by our own staff volunteers include:
RMG, Places for People: our Housing Options Service is offering two paid work placements for long term unemployed residents; and has also agreed to sponsor a market stall for three months for a new resident trader.
5 Page 21 Veolia is also offering six further jobs including five earmarked for those who are homeless. Referrals come through our local charity partners, Connections at St Martins in the Field and Street Kind respectively.
In a further development intended to combat homelessness, Continental Landscapes joins Veolia in making one job available to this cohort.
Lowe Build, an infill supplier, has agreed to sponsor an exhibition for service users at Community Access Westminster and to fund a fixed term work vacancy within a charity for residents with a disability.
Zipcar and Drivenow will host an environmental hackathon at the UTC in the new school term. This has been co-ordinated by Lauren Bailey, our lead on Social Value.
Finally, we held our first volunteer led afternoon tea in the 19th floor café. Residents from the Penfold Community Hub, a local centre for elderly residents, travelled with Council volunteers by minibus to City Hall. There they were greeted by other staff and offered a selection of cakes and drinks.
Sector based social recruitment – HIRE Westminster
2.12 Two Business Engagement Managers started this summer. The managers will work on our new pilot aimed at providing support to Westminster’s hospitality and retail sectors. The initiative will enable these sectors to more effectively recruit and retain staff whilst delivering opportunities for disadvantaged residents. Waitrose & Partners, John Lewis, Ralph Lauren and Marriott Hotels have all signed up, committing to a decent wage as well as preparing residents for work through training and mentoring.
Apprenticeships
2.13 In partnership with the Organisational Development team, we are in the latter stages of planning the recruitment of the City Council’s 2019 apprenticeship intake. This year, there are 15 exciting opportunities available. A new rotation system is to be introduced which will give apprentices the opportunity to complete four, six-month work placements within different departments across the two-year programme. This broad range of work experience is modelled on the successful graduate intern programme. The target is for at least 50% of the opportunities to be taken up by Westminster’s residents. Vacancies are expected to go live over the next few weeks.
Partnerships
2.14 NHS Employment Project: This service is delivered by Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Providing employment support for residents with mental health conditions, initial appointments to meet referrals from local medical practices took place at the end of July.
6 Page 22 2.15 The Greener Jobs Project: Groundwork has been appointed to deliver a new project aimed at helping the unemployed into horticulture and gardening. In a double dividend, the project will also improve amenity and green spaces.
3. Education and Schools
Opening of the Tresham Centre for disabled children
3.1 Following the Perfect Pathways consultation with parents in 2018; the Short Breaks service for disabled children has been working with families to improve the Short Breaks offer.
3.2 Over the last year the Short Breaks service has undergone significant changes with the introduction of a new and more transparent panel process which ensures families are treated fairly and have the opportunity to speak at panel meetings.
3.3 The offer to families has also expanded with the opening of a pilot service in Pimlico last summer during the holidays and with the opening of the Tresham Centre for disabled children in July; both these are dedicated to disabled children.
3.4 The contract with the Westminster Society came to an end in the spring and a new in-house service was introduced which delivers and expanded care offer in response to feedback from our SEND parent carer forum ‘Make It Happen’.
3.5 The Tresham centre was refurbished before the summer holidays and in the short time since then is quickly becoming established as a much-valued service for families, with 25 young people attending every day.
3.6 After the summer holidays plans are in place to develop services for after school and at weekends. This will be a ‘One Stop’ service for families with a disabled child, providing a holistic support for disabled children and young people aged 0-18yrs.
Summer results
3.7 Results this summer show Westminster primary and secondary schools continuing to achieve very highly compared to national averages and London.
3.8 The Key Stage 2 tests in the last year of primary school showed 71% of children in our schools achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics above the published national average of 65%.
3.9 Provisional borough GCSE results available to us at the moment are not complete but show that students in Westminster schools are achieving well above the national average for attainment in English and mathematics, and a high percentage are attaining a pass grade (4) or strong pass grade (5) in both subjects. There were also improvements in the results in the attainment 8 scores; a performance measure that shows performance across a range of
7 Page 23 subjects. When the final figures are collated, the borough averages should again be well above national average figures for the main performance measures. Marylebone Boys and the Simon Milton UTC had their first GCSE results this year.
3.10 The picture we have of performance at A level, based on the figures we have so far, is that A level students in Westminster schools continue to achieve very well at the top grades: A*A, A*-B and A*-C. When the final figures are collated, the borough averages should again be above national averages. Some of the results did drop slightly but this seems to reflect the national picture of a fall in the number of awards for higher grades.
3.11 When we have the full validated and comparative data for this year’s summer results, a full report on the performance of our schools will be presented to the committee.
Trailblazer programme – introduction of mental health support teams in schools
3.12 The government published a Green Paper in December 2017 to develop plans for improving emotional wellbeing and mental health support for children and young people. Following two highly competitive national bidding rounds we have been successful in attracting funding for Trailblazer Mental Health Schools Support Teams (MHSTs) in both CCG areas that cover Westminster.
3.13 In each CCG area there will be two new teams of eight staff (a total of 16 staff per area) made up of Educational Mental Health Practitioners, Wellbeing Facilitators, Family Support Workers and Psychologists. Young people with low to moderate anxiety and depression, the two most prevalent conditions, will be able to access therapeutic support.
3.14 In the West London CCG area the service is being delivered by Hammersmith and Fulham Mind. The programme will cover the Queens Park and Paddington Wards in Westminster and is fully funded for the first two and a quarter years of operation. Schools and colleges which are part of the programme have agreed to host practitioners from the MHSTs and have appointed a mental health lead within their organisation. The teams are expected to be fully operational by December 2019.
3.15 In the Central London CCG area, the service will be delivered by Brent, Wandsworth and Westminster Mind. The Programme will cover all of Westminster (except for the Queens Park and Paddington Wards) and is fully funded for the first two years and one month of operation. Schools and colleges which are part of the Programme will agree to host practitioners from the MHSTs and will appoint a mental health lead within their organisation. Practitioners from the MHSTs will begin to operate in schools and colleges from February 2020. The teams are expected to be fully operational by June 2020.
8 Page 24 Passenger Transport Minibus service commencement
3.16 Between January and April 2019, a procurement exercise was undertaken for Passenger Transport Minibus Services. The procurement sought to identify suitable providers to deliver minibus transport for pupils eligible for home to school travel assistance and vulnerable adults travelling to day activities in Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
3.17 There have been significant service improvements to Passenger Transport services since it was procured in 2014, and this re-procurement represents the opportunity to formalise current quality standards, incorporate feedback from consultation and engagement with stakeholders and apply lessons learned from previous procurements.
3.18 The new contracts have now been awarded to CT Plus and Olympic South (HATS) for the two school transport contracts and to CT Plus for the vulnerable adults’ contract. Following a mobilisation period where the council worked closely with Day Centres and providers, the new service commenced for vulnerable adults on 1st August 2019. Day centre staff and service users were happy with the smooth handover and good service. The children’s contracts will go live at the start of the new term this month. The Council will continue to work closely with providers to ensure the service transitions as smoothly as possible with robust communication in place to parents and carers.
9 Page 25 This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 5
Schools Exclusions - Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping Committee Briefing
Committee date: 16th September 2019
Author (s): Richard Stanley, Deputy Director of Education Jayne Vertkin, Head of Early Help, Family Services
Portfolio: Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Community
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 This paper provides a briefing for scrutiny members on the current data on school exclusions in Westminster schools with comparisons against the most recent national and London benchmarks. The paper also provides an outline of the work that schools and services are undertaking to prevent exclusions, the provision that is being made for young people who are excluded from schools, the additional actions that are being taken by the Council and the national developments in this area.
2. Fixed and Permanent Exclusions
There are two types of school exclusion: fixed term and permanent.
2.1 Fixed-period exclusion: when a young person is temporarily excluded from coming to school for a defined number of days. This will usually only be for a few days before returning to school. For the first five days of this exclusion, the responsibility for the education of the young person is with the parent/carer. From the sixth day on-wards, the school is responsible for making temporary alternative education provision.
2.2 Permanent exclusion: when a young person is not allowed to return to the school. In these cases, the council where the young person is resident is responsible for finding permanent alternative education provision from the sixth day of the exclusion. Where the residency is in Westminster, a referral is made to our commissioned alternative education provider, TBAP, and provision is made available usually at their Westminster site, the Beachcroft Academy.
3. The Data on Exclusions - Headlines and Benchmarks
3.1 Nationally and in London, both fixed and permanent exclusions have seen a steady year on year increase since 2013/14 after a period of decline after 2006/7. The data below draws upon the full national comparative data that we have available for the three years up to the academic year 2017/18. The full year data is not yet available for 2018/19. A full set of the data is set out in the table in annex A.
3.2 In 2017/18 in Westminster, there were 30 school permanent exclusions up from 13 in 2016/17 and 18 in 2015/16. Of the 30 exclusions, 14 were residents, and 29 of the 30 exclusions were from secondary schools.
Page 27
3.3 The number of fixed term exclusions in primary schools has decreased in the last three years. Measured as a percentage of the school roll, the number of incidents shows Westminster primary school fixed term exclusion rate to be below the national average: 0.5% compared with the national figure for primary schools of 1.4% and the Inner London figure of 0.9%.
3.4 The number of fixed term exclusions in secondary schools has increased in the last three years. The fixed term exclusion rate based on the number of incidents as a percentage of the school roll has increased from 7.6% in 2015/16 to 9.5% in 2016/17 and 11% in 2017/18. The latest figures are above the national average (10.1%) and the Inner London (9.3%) average.
3.5 In looking at the exclusion rates for young people with special educational needs (SEN), the permanent exclusion rate in 2017/18 for young people with SEN Support in primary and secondary schools was lower than the national rate for this group. The rate of fixed period exclusions was also lower for this group for primary schools. However, in line with the general figures in secondary schools, the fixed term exclusion rate was greater than the national average.
3.6 No Westminster SEN children with Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs) in either primary or secondary schools received a permanent exclusion in 2017/18. The fixed term exclusion rates for children with EHCPs were also below the national averages for both primary and secondary schools.
4. Behaviour Management and Exclusions
4.1 By law, only a headteacher (or acting headteacher) of a school can exclude a pupil, and this must be for behavioural reasons. This can cover persistent disruptive behaviour through to incidences of physical assault and the carrying of a knife. Persistent disruptive behaviour remains the most common reason for exclusions in both WCC and nationally.
4.2 In deciding whether to issue an exclusion, a headteacher/principal will do so based on what is laid out in the behaviour policy of their school. Exclusions would only be employed as a last resort in a school behaviour policy either because of exhausting the internal sanctions in the behaviour policy or in response to a serious incident.
4.2 There is Department for Education national guidance to all schools on establishing effective behaviour policy and practice: Behaviour and Discipline in Schools (updated Jan 2016). This guidance sets out the powers that school staff have to discipline pupils and stresses the importance of a policy that promotes good behaviour and conduct, safeguarding and, where appropriate, uses rewards and sanctions to support this, including, in extreme circumstances, exclusion.
4.3 A range of sanctions are employed by schools to address poor behaviour before an exclusion is considered. In line with the Department for Education guidance, this will include additional written tasks, regular supervision reporting from teachers, detentions, loss of privileges, and the use of ‘interval exclusion’ or isolation space.
4.4 Along with the use of sanctions, best practice in behaviour management will include an early identification of any young person at risk of exclusion and undertaking assessments of the underlying causes of why a young person is continually disruptive or misbehaves, working with the family and involving external partners as needed. This would lead to establishing individual programmes to help the young
Page 28 person. Where a young person has additional or special educational needs, or is a looked after child, schools can seek further support and advice on these interventions from council services. The Early Help service can help broker work between the school and the family, and our Virtual School for Looked After Children can help provide additional support with a looked after child’s personal education plan. In the case of young people with an EHCP, the SEN service can work with the school to assess the suitability of provision for a pupil’s SEN. Where a young person is displaying behavioural concerns, it is best practice for schools in these instances to request an early annual review or interim/emergency review. Schools can also draw on additional outreach help and advice from Westminster’s commissioned outreach providers such as TBAP (including the Westminster Education Centre) and the Westminster Special School training support provision.
4.5 In some instances, a school may consider that moving schools would help avoid a young person being excluded. This arrangement is known as a ‘managed move’. Concerns have been raised nationally about the use of this strategy as a way of unofficially excluding young people. The local evidence suggests that this action is taken to help keep young people in full time education and is managed in partnership between schools and with the support of the parent/carer. Managed moves take place between schools and TBAP for resident young people, although this option is not available to schools for non-residents due to local funding arrangements.
4.6 Any young person taken off roll would need to be reported to the Children’s Services Admissions team. In accordance with amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (“the Regulations”), the Council has in place a Starters and Leavers Protocol. All schools, including independent schools, are required to notify the home local authority of all pupils removed from the school roll within 5 school days. Leaver data is submitted weekly (when there are leavers) to key named officers within the Admissions and Access to Education team who monitor all returns for compliancy. Except for independent schools that can off-roll due to non-payment of fees, there are regulated reasons and action that must be taken before a pupil can be off-rolled. The Council works with all schools in instances where a destination of a pupil may not be known.
5 Decisions to Exclude
5.1 Decisions about fixed term and permanent exclusions must follow the Department for Education guidance: The statutory guidance on the exclusion of pupils from local authority-maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units (updated July 2017).
5.2 In the statutory guidance, the importance of good discipline in schools is stressed along with the headteachers’ right to permanently exclude where this is warranted. It is also made clear that a permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to either a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy; and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.
5.3 In line with the statutory guidance, the decision to exclude a pupil must be lawful, reasonable and fair. Schools have a statutory duty not to discriminate against pupils based on protected characteristics, such as disability or race. Where a school has concerns about a pupil’s behaviour, it should try to identify whether there are any causal factors and intervene early to reduce the need for any subsequent exclusions. Ongoing disruptive behaviour could be an indication of unmet needs. When establishing the facts in relation to considering an exclusion, a headteacher must apply the civil standard of proof, i.e. ‘on the balance of probabilities’ it is more likely
Page 29 than not that a fact is true, rather than the criminal standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
5.4 Where practical, headteachers should give the pupil an opportunity to present their case before taking the decision to exclude. Whilst an exclusion may still be an appropriate sanction, a headteacher should take account of any contributing factors that are identified after an incident of poor behaviour has occurred, e.g., where it comes to light that the pupil has suffered bereavement, has mental health issues or has been subject to bullying. The headteacher should, as far as possible, avoid permanently excluding any pupil with an EHCP or a looked after child.
5.5 Parents/carers have the right to appeal to the school governing body against any decision to permanently exclude and to test that due procedures and considerations were followed by the headteacher in taking this action.
6 Monitoring Alternative Education Provision
6.1 When a resident young person is excluded, a referral is immediately made to commissioned Tri-borough alternative education provision, including Beachcroft, to ensure there is a minimum delay in education provision.
6.2 On-going monitoring of the quality of resident provision is a key responsibility for the Council and, in commissioning the alternative education places, Bi-borough Children’s Services has a Service Level Agreement with TBAP. This is reviewed on an annual basis at the start of the academic year and monitored through termly meetings held between TBAP management, LA commissioners, School Standards and Finance.
6.2 The Education Safeguarding Lead and a link adviser from the School Standards team meet regularly with the TBAP leaders to review progress and quality of provision. Any concerns about the attendance of a young person are picked up through the Bi-borough Children’s Services Vulnerable Children’s Collaborative Group which monitors the progress of those children and young people who are persistently absent from school and education.
6.3 Education provision at TBAP has been judged to be good by Ofsted. Inspectors have also judged safeguarding to be effective. Beachcroft was subject to a short inspection in December 2016.
7 The Early Help Social Inclusion Pilot
7.1 In response to the increase in school exclusions, several actions are being taken to address this issue in partnership with school leaders. Officers from the Education Service and Early Help have had discussions with school leaders about the data, behaviour policies and the additional support and advice that can be provided. This has helped to clarify the support and training that is available to schools and to ensure that tackling this issue is a priority for all. In planning for the forthcoming SEN inspection, reducing exclusions particularly for the SEN Support cohort has also been highlighted as a priority in the action plans.
7.2 One of the significant initiatives locally has been the Early Help Social Inclusion Pilot project funded by money from the Ministry for Housing, Local Government and Communities (funded until March 2020).
Page 30 7.3 The Early Help Social Inclusion project is targeted at children in the later years of primary school and early secondary school (years 4-7) whose behaviour is challenging, who have already had fixed term exclusions and are at risk of permanent exclusion. There are five schools taking part in the pilot: Gateway Primary Academy, Churchill Gardens Primary School, Hallfield Primary, Beachcroft – Primary Unit (TBAP) and Westminster Education Centre (TBAP).
7.4 This project has three elements: training for staff, additional support from a dedicated team of early help family practitioners and one to one mentoring for the young people at risk where appropriate.
7.5 The trauma-informed training element is for all the staff working with the young people (school teachers, Westminster City Council staff and those from other organisations). The focus of this training is on understanding a child’s behaviour and responding in a consistent way, avoiding professionals approaching behaviours in different ways and causing conflict. The training is based around the ARC framework (Attachment, Regulation and Competency).
7.6 The new, dedicated team of early help family practitioners to support individual children is led by a family therapist. They have capacity to work with 23 children at any time. This team provides intensive support to the children and their families seeing them several times a week. In close consultation with the school, practitioners build up a picture of the child's perspective and experience of school (and home) life. Working systemically, within the trauma-informed framework, practitioners enable increased understanding of the triggers and challenges inhibiting an individual child's capacity to engage and learn. The work takes place in both school and home. Through building this proactive partnership between family, school and service, children learn to feel safer in school and, therefore, become more able to learn. Children are supported through any transition whether back to mainstream school or from year 6 to year 7.
7.7 An extensive baseline evaluation of the programme’s impact on the cohort is taking place and an interim progress report will follow this Autumn. While waiting on this formal evaluation, schools are informally reporting progress for the children in all domains.
7.8 The next steps with the project are the extension of the offer of trauma-informed training to all secondary schools and an application has been submitted to the Youth Endowment Fund to extend the pilot to 5 secondary schools.
8 National Developments: The Timpson Review and New Ofsted Inspection Framework
8.1 In May this year, the Government published Edward Timpson’s Review of School Exclusions. While recognising that permanent exclusion is a rare event and supporting the principle of maintaining good school discipline, the report also highlights the significance of a permanent exclusion in terms of the negative impact that it can have on a young person’s life chances and makes recommendations to helping to prevent exclusions and improve provision for those excluded.
8.2. In response to the Timpson review, the government supported a range of measures, including establishing a practice programme that embeds effective partnership working
Page 31 between local authorities, schools, alternative provision and other local partners such as the police and health bodies, to better equip schools in making early interventions and support for additional behaviour management training for teachers in the first two years of their careers. Along with this, the government is consulting on making schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded children.
8.3 The new Ofsted school inspection framework that is being introduced this term has a stronger focus on evaluating school inclusion. In reaching judgements about the overall quality of education, inspectors will examine behaviour policy and exclusion numbers, and investigate any evidence of ‘off-rolling’. They will also look at how far the curriculum is meeting the needs and supporting the progress of all young people.
Page 32
Annex A – Exclusions data
2015/16 Fixed 2016/17 Fixed 2017/18 Fixed Permanent
No of No No Incide Pupils No of No No Incide Pupils No of No No Incide Pupils 2015/ 2016/ 2017/ 2018/ Incide Pupils Roll nts as as % Incide Pupils Roll nts as as % Incide Pupils Roll nts as as % 16 17 18 19 nts % of of Roll nts % of of Roll nts % of of Roll Roll Roll Roll 2 Primary 116 67 11202 1.0% 0.6% 57 35 10958 0.5% 0.3% 51 32 10603 0.5% 0.3% 4 2 1 24 Secondary 846 549 11184 7.6% 4.9% 1083 616 11374 9.5% 5.4% 1267 792 11559 11.0% 6.9% 14 11 29 0 Special 9 8 199 5% 4% 18 7 215 8% 3% 17 11 226 8% 5% 0 0 0 0 PRU 75 30 60 125% 50% 148 37 64 231% 58% 90 34 74 122% 46% 0 0 0 Borough Total 26 971 624 22585 4.3% 2.8% 1158 658 22547 5.1% 2.9% 1335 835 22388 6.0% 3.7% 18 13 30
National – primary 1.2% 0.6% 1.4% 0.6% 1.4% 0.6%
Page 33 Page National - 8.5% 4.3% 9.4% 4.6% 10.1% 4.7% secondary National - all 4.3% 2.1% 4.8% 2.3% 5.1% 2.3% schools Inner London - 0.9% 0.5% 0.9% 0.5% 0.9% 0.5% primary Inner London 7.8% 5.0% 8.3% 5.3% 9.3% 5.6% secondary Inner London - all 3.7% 2.3% 4.0% 2.4% 4.3% 2.6% schools
Page 34 Agenda Item 6
Economic Development, Education, Place Shaping P&S Committee
Date: 16th September 2019
Classification: General Release
Title: School Organisation and Investment Strategy 2019-20 Update
Report of: Wendy Anthony Head of Admissions and Access to Education
Wards Involved: All
Report Author and Contact Wendy Anthony Details: Head of Admissions and Access to Education [email protected] Tel: 7745 6432
1. Executive Summary
1.1 This short paper provides an update to the full School Organisation and Investment Strategy (SOIS) published in February 2019. The key focus, as set out in the full report, is the sufficiency, or otherwise, of primary and secondary mainstream school provision across the borough. The key issues for Westminster are to address the surplus in primary provision and the increasing demand in secondary provision.
2. Background
2.1 The Greater London Authority’s (GLA) School Roll Projections (SRP) help ensure that the number of places available are planned in a timely and measured way so that the Council can meet its statutory duty to ensure sufficiency of places. The GLA projections do not take account of proposed regeneration or major development schemes which do not have planning permission, or the movement of children from the independent sector into state-funded schools.
2.2 Westminster continues to be a net importer of pupils from other boroughs. This is a key factor when considering our legal obligation to ensure there is sufficiency of school places that are accessible to resident families. Assessing the sufficiency, whether this be surplus or demand, must take account of the availability of school places, or lack of them, in neighbouring boroughs.
Page 35
2.3 The number of places available in local schools exceeds the number of resident applicants across both primary and secondary state school provision, indicating at first sight that Westminster can satisfy its statutory duty to provide a place for every child who needs one in its area. However, the GLA projections indicate that demand for secondary places will create a deficit by 2023/24. Whilst this deficit is projected to decline slightly, it does not take account of major regeneration, such as that proposed for the Church Street area.
2.4 The DfE recommends that local authorities maintain between 5 to 10% spare capacity to allow for the flexibility to accommodate new arrivals to the area that require a school place. In Westminster the primary sector reports an overall surplus of 14.5% across the borough (with temporary caps on admissions in some schools, by agreement with the headteacher). In secondary, there is currently no surplus with a 2% deficit forecast by 2023/24. This paper addresses both primary and secondary provision in turn.
3. Migration and Impact on Pupil Population
3.1 Migration of population is a key factor for the drop in demand seen at primary level across Westminster, and London in general, and the increase in demand for secondary school places, particulary for in-year.
3.2 The following quote is provided by the GLA - ‘The general London picture is of a moderate drop in births since the peak in 2012; a continued increase in domestic migration of families out of London that is now back to levels similar to or above what we saw before the financial crisis; and a fall in international inflows of children’. All are contributing to the recent drop in demand for primary places across the city. For Westminster there is the added factor of housing costs, benefit changes and changing cross-border flows from out-borough.
3.3 The following key facts are all relevant to the impact on school pupil population, current and projected, and are based on Migration Mod Year data 2017-18.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) data suggests that the overall impact of migration of 0-18’s, Westminster gained over 2,000 children (or 4.7%) of the population base.
Westminster and Inner London all lose children to the rest of the UK, and all gain children from international migration.
Migration overall - in Inner London – there is a loss of under 5’s and a small gain in all ages up to the end of primary school, and then larger gains of children up to age 18.
Migration overall in Westminster – there is a gain in all age groups, especially high in under 6’s and over 13’s. By 18 year olds, one single year of net migration has added around 13% to the base population.
Page 36
4. Primary School Provision
4.1 Each primary school will have a Published Admission Number (PAN) that derives from each school’s capacity. Even though a fixed figure is published, local factors can allow schools to increase or reduce their PAN. The former requires local agreement with the maintaining local authority (or consultation with the local authority if the school is an academy). The latter requires either a temporary measure to be put in place such as capping – or a formal public consultation if a permanent reduction is to be made. Capping a PAN for year groups is an approach agreed for schools with significant falling rolls.
4.2 There are currently formal agreements in place with schools to cap admission numbers either across the whole school, or for particular year groups that are experiencing a falling roll. Discussions are ongoing between the Council, Schools, governing bodies and the respective diocese to look at creative but realistic options to address falling rolls.
5. Falling Rolls and permanent reductions in primary published admission numbers
5.1 In May 2019, 9,662 pupils were enrolled in Westminster primary schools; this is a decrease of 4% compared with the rolls returned in May 2018.
May-19 May-18 Primary Difference Total Total Total 9, 662 10,073 -411
Page 37 5.2 Since the publication of the 2018 SOIS, proposed and agreed permanent PAN reductions have been subject to official Variations via the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. 5.3 Permanent reductions of primary school capacity since 2018 are represented as follows:
School Name Previous PAN New PAN Previous School New School Capacity Capacity
Ark Paddington 60 30 420 210 Green
Burdett Coutts 54 30 378 210
Hallfield 90 60 630 420
Minerva 56 0 392 0
Wilberforce 60 30 420 210
5.4 In total almost 6 forms of entry have been removed from primary provision since September 2018 to address the increasing surplus. This equated to 1,190 places.
5.5 Ark Paddington Green will formally close on 31st August 2019. Pupils from Nursery to Year 4 will be enrolled to King Solomon Academy and remain on the same Crompton Street site now referred to as the Younger Years site. The Older Years site at Penfold Street houses pupils from Year 5 to 13.
5.6 Burdett Coutts CE Primary School will formally reduce from a PAN of 54 to 30 with effect from September 2019. This PAN will apply across all year groups. The school has been operating at 50% below its official PAN for two years with no prospect of increasing in numbers based on School Roll Projections (SRP). The Council has offered assistance to the school to let the space not required for teaching purposes.
5.7 Hallfield Primary School formally reduced the PAN across all year groups with effect from September 2018.
5.8 Minerva Academy was part of the REAch2 multi-academy trust. The DfE approved the school closure from July 2018. The school was located on a temporary site since its opening in 2012 and was significantly below capacity.
5.9 Wilberforce Academy has formally reduced their PAN from 60 to 30 with effect from September 2019 across all year groups. As above, the school has been operating at 50% below PAN for some time. The Council has agreed with the School that it will consolidate its operations into one building and relinquish half
Page 38 of the site, enabling the Council and DfE to construct a new special free school (St Marylebone Bridge).
6. Capping of Year Groups
6.1 Capping the admission number of specific year groups has become the strategic approach used by many councils to address a growing surplus of places in primary schools. This temporary measure is put in place to allow a school to review the delivery of required resources, remain financially viable, and to continue to deliver high quality education to pupils. Capping of year groups is an agreement between the Council and the School. The capping approach was in place for Burdett Coutts and Wilberforce prior to the decision to permanently reduce the PAN. Capping may not always result in a permanent reduction and is dependent on several factors.
6.2 In areas where there are known regeneration plans for new housing, but these have not yet been formally approved, a permanent reduction to a PAN is unlikely. Other creative measures are often put in place to utilise space within the school whilst caps are in place, particularly if they are to be long term.
6.3 A rebuild and expansion of Christ Church Bentinck CE School from a 1FE to 2FE, which was agreed in 2012 when there was a need for more primary places, is an example of a school that is currently experiencing a falling roll, but is located in an area of future regeneration. The Church Street masterplan covers the largest regeneration area in Westminster. Whilst the additional places are not currently required, to reduce the PAN of this school permanently is not a realistic option. The school is currently operating as a 1FE. The school is using the surplus space as an additional resource, which will be relinquished when the demand for new pupil places materialises.
6.4 Further caps from a two to one form entry are in place at St Edward’s CE School in current Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, and Pimlico Primary Academy in Year 5. There are no plans to permanently reduce the PAN for either school at the time of preparing this paper.
6.5 The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) guidance advises that falling rolls funding should only be granted where schools will revert back to original numbers for the schools within 3 years. Westminster’s current process agreed by the Schools’ Forum is that funding should relate to fall in roll numbers of more than 5% year on year. The Schools’ Forum, at the meeting on 21st January 2019, agreed to create a Fund for schools with falling rolls of £0.347m from the 2019/20 schools block of the DSG. The agreed criteria for the falling rolls fund agreed by the Schools Forum on 26th March 2019 is shown below:
Schools must meet the OFSTED criteria of good or outstanding to qualify (mandatory criteria). Schools with less than 5% reduction do not qualify. The first 5% of the roll reduction will not be funded.
Page 39 Funding will be pegged at 80% of the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) rate for each sector. Schools with former bulge classes where rolls are reducing as expected do not qualify. Schools with balances above the following levels do not qualify – primary 8% and secondary 5% (based on balances at 31.03.19) Allocations are limited to a maximum of one year only.
6.6 All schools that were eligible for funding on the basis of the above criteria were required to submit a case supporting the use of the funding in 2019/20. This included examination of balances, whether schools need the additional funding and what actions they are taking to restructure and deal with the reducing numbers of pupils.
7. Primary Reception Application Trends
7.1 The number of applications that are submitted each year for a Reception school place is a key indicator to a change in trends. The following tables show the application and trends for the previous three years. For 2019 a slight increase in resident numbers is shown compared to the previous year.
Reception Resident Total Vacancies Year of Total Places Application Preferences Remaining Entry Available* Cohort Submitted** After Offers
2019 1589 1158 3400 313
2018 1710 1136 3579 356
2017 1752 1236 4200 367
*Total Places Available takes account of capping. **Applicants can name up to six schools. This figure represents the total preferences for schools located in each borough.
7.2 Vacancies Remaining After Offers is the figure before the allocation of ‘alternative offers’ is made. The LA has a duty to provide an offer to all its resident applicants if they are not successful in gaining a school of preference1. After the allocation of places, the surplus reduces to 17% with the majority in the north of the borough.
1. If the local authority is unable to offer a place at one of the parents’ preferred schools it must, if there are places available, offer a place at another school.
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8. Primary Projections
8.1 Westminster Pupil Place projections are divided into two planning areas for primary school place planning purposes – North (N) and South (S). The PANs represent the number of places that will be available in each year and is indicated in the below table as the capacity. There are minimal changes to the projections as reported in the SOIS 2018 report.
Westminster Primary Projections
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000 Capacity North Projections North Capacity South Projections South 1000
0
9. Secondary School Provision
9.1 As outlined in the full SOIS 2018 report, the majority of Westminster schools are high performing and popular, with the geographical location of many making the school a popular and local choice for residents in neighbouring boroughs. This historical trend results in over-subscribed schools and ‘first choice’ outcomes being reduced. Admissions law prevents the Council being able to restrict applications from residents outside the borough from applying
Page 41 to its schools2. In addition, many schools are academies or free schools and have greater autonomy over admissions policy. Consequently, the Council has limited influence or control over their admissions policies.
9.2 Westminster is a net ‘importer’ with 46% imports compared to 22% exported to other boroughs. Between 75% and 80% of Westminster residents choose to send their child to a Westminster secondary school at the first point of entry (Year 7). This trend has been consistent for many years. The Council must take account of the import trends when looking at place planning and ensure it is still able to meet its legal obligation to its residents.
10. Increasing Capacity at Secondary Level
10.1 Expansion is often the more cost-effective option to provide additional school places as opposed to the high cost of building new schools, particularly when dealing with changing levels of demand and scarcity of land. The Council has completed Phase 1 of the expansion programme with additional places offered at Westminster City Boys and St George’s RC School for the September 2018 entry. With effect from September 2019, Ark King Solomon Academy, which is in Phase 2, offered an additional 30 places for the Year 7 entry, which will deliver a further 150 places by 2023. A further 30 places were offered at the new Marylebone Boys school in September 2019 with the proposal to increase the capacity of the school permanently to accommodate an extra form of entry (from 4FE to 5FE). This is an inexpensive option that will see the vacated primary Minerva Academy free school site at Paddington Basin to accommodate the Marylebone sixth form.
10.2 The potential expansion of Pimlico Academy is still being considered. Discussion with Future Academies, the sponsor of Pimlico Academy, are at an early stage.
10.3 In May 2019, 8,679 pupils were enrolled in Westminster secondary schools; this is an increase of 3.6% compared with the rolls returned in May 2018.
May-19 May-18 Secondary Difference Total Total Total 8,679 8,361 +318
2 R v Greenwich London Borough Council, ex parte John Ball Primary School (1989) 88 LGR 589 [1991] Fam Law
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11. Secondary Admission Trends
11.1 The number of applications that are submitted each year for a secondary school place is a key indicator to a change in trends. The following tables show the application and trends for the previous three years.
Total Places Resident Total Vacancies Available Year of Entry Application Preferences Remaining Based on PAN Cohort Submitted* After Offers
2019 1707 1140 6910** 0
2018 1163 7434 0 1707
1657 1150 7319 0 2017
*Applicants can name up to six schools. This figure represents the total preferences for schools located in each borough. ** King Solomon Academy was not included in Pan London Coordination for 2019 as no external places are available for parents to apply. The school had been included in previous years and received in excess of 400 preferences. The decision was made to remove following advice from the DfE.
11.2 Irrespective of the high imports to Westminster schools, which is common for many inner London boroughs at the secondary phase, the Council has a legal responsibility to ensure its residents have access to a school place within a reasonable traveling distance. Even though some Westminster residents choose not to apply to schools where they could be offered a place, the duty remains to offer residents a school place on 1 March, National Offer Day (NOD) if it is able to do so. It is at this point in the process that the Council has had insufficient capacity and is the underlying reason why the expansion of schools is necessary. Each year, Westminster schools will often offer above their PAN on National Offer Day to accommodate as many unplaced residents as they are able to.
11.3 All Westminster secondary schools are their own admissions authority (Voluntary Aided and Academies). As such the decision to offer above PAN rests with the School/Governing Body. The Council however will seek support from schools that can offers places to residents unsuccessful in their choice of school(s). Marylebone Boys and Westminster Academy absorbed 40+ unplaced residents soon after NOD for the 2019 admission entry.
Page 43 11.4 Schools with agreed growth in pupil numbers of at least half a form of entry, usually due to planned expansion and building works, will be allocated funding via the school funding formula. Other increases will be funded from January after the October pupil count. The Schools’ Forum is considering allocating some of the DSG reserves for schools which have taken additional Westminster pupils to meet basic need requirements.
For the 2019 entry offers made on NOD are follows:
School Published Offers made Admissions Number on NOD PAN Ark King Solomon Academy 0* 0* Grey Coat Hospital 151 151 Harris Academy St John's Wood 210 210 Marylebone Boys' School 120 150 Paddington Academy 180 180 Pimlico Academy 210 210 St. Augustine's CofE High School 168 168 St. George's Catholic School 180 210 St. Marylebone CofE School 168 168 Westminster Academy 180 240 Westminster City School 150 150 1717 1837
*King Solomon Academy is an all-through school so Year 6 pupils transfer through to Year 7. This school is therefore not part of the Pan London Coordinated Admissions process.
11.5 The majority of resident applicants that were not successful with their choice of school, were allocated a school on NOD or soon after. Whilst not all applicants will accept the offer made to them, the statutory duty of the Council could be met in providing a school place.
11.6 Since NOD there has been movement which is always expected between March and the start of the Autumn term, as pupils that have been offered opt to accept places in the independent sector instead, or move out of the local area. Mobility will release places to accommodate new arrivals to the area. Between August and throughout September approximately 40-60 new Year 7 applications will be submitted.
12. Secondary Projections
12.1 Westminster’s secondary projections are provided as one planning area for secondary school place planning purposes. The PANs represent the number of places that will be available in each year and is indicated in the below table as the capacity. There are minimal changes to the projections as reported in the SOIS 2018 report.
Page 44
Westminster Secondary Projections 10000
9500
9000
8500
8000
Capacity Projections 7500
13. Conclusion
13.1 Due to the current surplus of primary school places, the Council will continue to work with the diocesan authorities and academy sponsors as well as community schools to identify opportunities to make more effective use of the school portfolio and to use resources, including staffing, in the most efficient way.
13.2 The Council is obliged to make additional provision for secondary places in order to fulfil its statutory duty. The completed expansion programme to date, the proposed expansion of Marylebone Boys School, and the Ark King Solomon Academy expansion all help to meet this requirement.
Page 45 This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 7
Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping Policy & Scrutiny Committee
Date: 16 September 2019
Classification: General Release
Title: 2019/2020 Work Programme and Action Tracker
Report of: Director of Policy, Performance & Communications
Cabinet Member Portfolio Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning
Wards Involved: All
Policy Context: All
Report Author and Artemis Kassi x 3451 Contact Details: [email protected]
1. Executive Summary
1. This report presents the current version of the work programme for 2019/2020 and also provides an update on the action tracker.
2. Key Matters for the Committee’s Consideration
2.1 The Committee is asked to:
Review and approve the draft list of suggested work programme items (Appendix 1) and prioritise where required; Note the action tracker (Appendix 2); and Finalise items for the meeting on 11th November 2019.
3. Changes to the work programme following the last meeting
3.1 The Committee is advised that the June meeting was cancelled due to cabinet portfolio changes and changes to the remit of the Committee. As a result, the item concerning the Libraries Advisory Board report came within the remit of the Communities and Customer Services Policy and Scrutiny Committee.
Page 47 3.2 The Committee is asked to note the Work Programme (Appendix 1) and Action Tracker (Appendix 2). The Committee is also asked to note that the Work Programme for 2019 and 2020 will extend to November 2020 to re-align with budget setting. Officers conducted a topic selection campaign for the Work Programme and discussions with directorates on the basis of this extended cycle. These are reflected in the Work Programme in Appendix 1.
3.3 The Committee is asked to review the Work Programme with a view to making suggestions and finalising the topics for the November 2019 meeting and the coming municipal year. The suggested item for the November meeting is a review of the Westminster Adult Education Service.
3.4 The Committee may wish to deal with some topics as substantive agenda items at a subsequent meeting in the next work programme or to receive a briefing.
If you have any queries about this Report or wish to inspect any of the Background Papers, please contact Artemis Kassi [email protected]
APPENDICES:
Appendix 1- Suggested Work Programme Appendix 2- Action Tracker
Page 48 WORK PROGRAMME Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping Policy and Scrutiny Committee 2019/2020 ROUND TWO 16 SEPTEMBER 2019
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Timothy Barnes “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Richard Beddoe “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning School Exclusions To investigate why exclusions are Ian Heggs rising in Westminster, how that can be addressed and what provisions are in place for excluded pupils School Organisation Strategy To update on status of the Ian Heggs/Wendy Anthony strategy
ROUND THREE 11 NOVEMBER 2019
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Richard Beddoe “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning Westminster Adult Education To review the WAES against City Arinola Edeh Service for All and earlier scrutiny recommendations City Skills Strategy
Page 49 ROUND FOUR 3 FEBRUARY 2020
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Timothy Barnes “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills Planning review To review implementation of recommendations of planning review School Performance Report Annual Review Ian Heggs
ROUND FIVE 23 MARCH 2020
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Richard Beddoe “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning BIDs To review the work of BIDs and Greg Ward their impact on Westminster
ROUND SIX 29 APRIL 2020
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Timothy Barnes “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills
Page 50 ROUND SEVEN JUNE 2020
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To update the committee on key Councillor Richard Beddoe areas of work within its remit and Cabinet Member for Place the Cabinet Member’s priorities Shaping and Planning
ROUND EIGHT SEPTEMBER 2020
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Cabinet Member Q&A To receive an update and provide Councillor Timothy Harvey “critical friend” challenge Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education and Skills School Organisation Strategy Annual report Ian Heggs
Place Shaping (Oxford Street) To review Phase I of implementation and planning for Phase II
UNALLOCATED ITEMS
Agenda Item Reasons & objective for item Represented by
Strand Aldwych To review consultation
Regeneration and Economic To review and contribute to the Greg Ward, Director Development Strategy draft strategy. Regeneration and Economic Development
TASK GROUPS AND STUDIES
Subject Subject Subject
Under review
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ACTION TRACKER Economic Development, Education and Place Shaping
ROUND 5 3 April 2019
Agenda Item Action Status/Follow Up Item 4 The Committee requested a briefing note on Completed Cabinet Member the funding of the Speech and Language Updates Service Policy and Scrutiny The Committee requested a briefing note Completed Portfolio: outlining the funding issues facing Westminster Cabinet Member for schools Economic The Committee requested that, during the In progress Development, development of the new Street Markets Education and Skills Strategy, consideration be given to how people
with dementia and autism could be supported when using and working in the markets The Committee requested to be sent the Completed website link to the Market Strategy. The Committee requested a briefing note on the Completed number of fixed term and permanent exclusions in schools and the ways schools were tackling the growth in knife crime amongst young people The Committee agreed that the new Economic In progress Development and Regeneration Strategy be reviewed by the Committee before it was published
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