Standing Committee of Tynwald on Public Accounts
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PP 2020/0134(1) STANDING COMMITTEE OF TYNWALD ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS EMERGENCY SCRUTINY FIFTH REPORT FOR THE SESSION 2019-20 EDUCATION DURING THE EMERGENCY Volume 1 of 2 STANDING COMMITTEE OF TYNWALD ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS EMERGENCY SCRUTINY FIFTH REPORT FOR THE SESSION 2019-20 EDUCATION DURING THE EMERGENCY 3.1 There shall be a Standing Committee of the Court on Public Accounts. 3.2 Subject to paragraph 3.6, the Committee shall have – (a) a Chairman elected by Tynwald, (b) a Vice-Chairman elected by Tynwald, (c) four other Members, who shall be Chairman of each of the Policy Review Committees (ex officio) and the Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Justice; and a quorum of three. 3.3 Members of Tynwald shall not be eligible for membership of the Committee, if, for the time being, they hold any of the following offices: President of Tynwald, member of the Council of Ministers, member of the Treasury Department referred to in section 1(2)(b) of the Government Departments Act 1987. 3.4 The Committee shall – (a) (i) consider any papers on public expenditure and estimates presented to Tynwald as may seem fit to the Committee; (ii) examine the form of any papers on public expenditure and estimates presented to Tynwald as may seem fit to the Committee; (iii) consider any financial matter relating to a Government Department or statutory body as may seem fit to the Committee; (iv) consider such matters as the Committee may think fit in order to scrutinise the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of Government policy; and (v) lay an Annual Report before Tynwald at each October sitting and any other reports as the Committee may think fit. (b) be authorised to require the attendance of Ministers for the purpose of assisting the Committee in the consideration of its terms of reference. (c) be empowered to issue directions under Standing Order 5.6(3), provided that any direction so issued shall be reported to Tynwald within a year. (d) be the Accounts Committee referred to in section 3 of the Tynwald Auditor General Act 2011, with the relevant powers and responsibilities in relation to the Tynwald Auditor General; and (e) be the Tynwald Public Accounts Committee referred to in section 3 of the Tynwald Commissioner for Administration Act 2011, with the relevant powers and responsibilities in relation to the Tynwald Commissioner for Administration. 3.5 The Chairman, Vice-Chairman and any member of the Committee shall not sit when the accounts of any body of which that person is a member are being considered. 3.6 Should the need arise in relation to a particular matter, such as a conflict of interest, Tynwald may elect an alternate member for the purpose and duration of the Committee’s consideration of that matter. Subject to paragraph 3.5, a conflicted member so replaced shall continue to serve as a member of the Committee for all other purposes. The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Committee Membership The Hon J P Watterson SHK (Rushen) (Chairman) Mr L L Hooper MHK (Ramsey) (Vice-Chairman) Ms J M Edge MHK (Onchan) Mrs J P Poole-Wilson MLC Mr C R Robertshaw MHK (Douglas East) Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, IM1 3PW (Tel: 01624 685520) or may be consulted at www.tynwald.org.im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW. Table of Contents I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................... 1 II. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP............................................................................ 3 III. EMERGENCY SCRUTINY.................................................................................. 3 IV. EDUCATION DURING THE EMERGENCY .......................................................... 3 SCOPE AND APPROACH 3 RESPONSE TO THE EMERGENCY 4 COMMUNICATION 9 SUPPORT FOR ESTABLISHING ONLINE LEARNING PROVISION 11 MOVING FORWARD – PLANS FOR RETURN TO SCHOOL 15 ANNEX 1: PAC EMERGENCY SCRUTINY – BRIEFING PAPER ....................................19 To: The Hon Stephen C Rodan OBE MLC, President of Tynwald, and the Hon Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled STANDING COMMITTEE OF TYNWALD ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS EMERGENCY SCRUTINY FIFTH REPORT FOR THE SESSION 2019-20 EDUCATION DURING THE EMERGENCY I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture and its new Minister were thrust into the emergency at a time of industrial dispute and uncertainty over the constitutional relationship between the Department and schools. This has exposed and magnified the underlying difficulties already being faced by the Department. It is not our intention to insert ourselves into this febrile situation, but to comment on the outcomes during the emergency as experienced by the Manx public. 2. During the evidence session, the CEO frequently referred to the industrial action as a practical obstacle. We have not had time to test this by taking evidence from the unions due to time constraints; as such we have had to give careful thought as to whether to publish the report. Notwithstanding this, our examination has been of the role of the Department as a whole. We have found significant room for improvement, irrespective of the industrial dispute. 3. We have heard of some excellent practice in schools as individual members of staff have made herculean efforts to support their pupils at this difficult time. 1 The speedy establishment of hub schools provided a good example of quick thinking to a significant problem. However, inconsistencies of communication and online provision have been unfortunate side effects of the current state of affairs. 4. Performance management, quality assurance and effective leadership has seemingly evaporated during the crisis. According to the Chief Executive this is a direct result of the industrial dispute, however for reasons already stated we are unable to opine on this. However, this has meant, inter alia, that exemplars of best practice (including those developed by teachers on island) have not been collated, disseminated and emulated as widely as would be hoped; that messaging between schools and the Department has not matched up, and performance of teachers has not been consistently monitored throughout the school closure period. The ultimate impact has been a wide disparity of provision which has been to the detriment of young people and their families. 5. The plan to return to normal education provision has lacked forward thinking, or ability to adapt quickly enough to changing circumstances. Elements of the plan seem based on undeliverable criteria (such as 2m distancing), and appear conceptually as well as literally disconnected from the Government’s Medium Term Plan. It should not take three weeks to return all children to school, and we did not hear satisfactory reasons for this length of delay, when Government’s messaging is now very much on domestic normality. 6. Much of the evidence we heard about the actions at the centre was about matters which we would consider administrative. We found it surprising that given the nature of this emergency the central support and co-ordination of education provision was not afforded a higher priority. 7. The constitutional issue about where the responsibility for education sits, and the respective roles of the Department and schools, has already been identified, but the strains of the current emergency have highlighted the cracks in the model. In contrast to other areas of Government who were able to centralise and reconfigure services, the Department did not seem able to mandate a new approach, fulfil its standard setting role, did not seem to take control of communication, and still seems to be waiting for UK guidance despite a Government message of “Manx solutions for Manx problems”. We hope this will be investigated by the Chief Minister’s independent inquiry to provide a long- term solution to the problems identified here. 2 II. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP 8. During the process of undertaking this inquiry, Mr Callister was appointed as a Member of the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture. As a result, this brought him into conflict with his role as Chairman of the Environment and Infrastructure Committee, and he stood down prior to publication of this report. We wish to thank him for his contribution to the Committee’s work. III. EMERGENCY SCRUTINY 9. Our approach to scrutiny during the current emergency was set out in detail in our first report.1 Our objectives are: to promote a timely conduit for effective scrutiny; act as a critical friend, adding value as opposed to detailed retrospective analysis; and assist the Government in getting its message across. IV. EDUCATION DURING THE EMERGENCY Scope and Approach 10. On 12th June we took evidence from Minister for Education Sport and Culture, Hon Alex Allinson MHK and Education Sport and Culture Chief Executive, Professor Ronald Barr in order to understand the Department’s response to the emergency, to understand what has been delivered and to ascertain preparedness for returning to full education of all of the Island’s young people.2 11. A briefing paper prepared by the Chamber and Information Service provided a timeline of key events and decisions alongside information about some of the challenges, work underway in a range of other jurisdictions, along with a selection of guidance published by worldwide organisations; this is available in Annex 1. 1 PP 2020/0094 paras 8-16 2 Oral Evidence http://www.tynwald.org.im/business/listen/AgainFiles/paces200612a.mp3 00:25 3 12. We invited the public to contact us with their thoughts on this topic.