Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel Date: Thursday 8 November 2012 Time: 2pm Venue: Edwards Room, County Hall, Norwich Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile phones. Membership Mrs J Chamberlin (Chairman) Mr R Bearman Mrs J Leggett Dr A Boswell Mr J Mooney Mr J Carswell Mr P Morse Mr B Collins Mr W Nunn Mr S Dorrington Mr M Scutter Mr R Hanton Miss J Virgo Mrs S Hutson Mr P Wells Mr M Kiddle-Morris Ms S Whitaker Parent Governor Representatives Mr P East Dr L Poliakoff Church Representatives Mrs J O’Connor Mr A Mash Non-Voting Schools Forum Representative Dr B Carrington Non-Voting Cabinet Member Mrs A Thomas Non-Voting Deputy Cabinet Member Mr T Garrod Vulnerable Children Mr P Hardy Education Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel 8 November 2012 Non-Voting Co-opted Advisors Mr S Adamson Norfolk Governors Network Ms T Humber Special Needs Education Mrs S Cooke Primary Education Vacancy Post-16 Education Ms C Smith Secondary Education For further details and general enquiries about this Agenda please contact the Committee Officer: Catherine Wilkinson on 01603 223230 or email [email protected] A g e n d a 1. To receive apologies and details of any substitute members attending 2. Minutes (Page 1) To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 20 September 2012. 3. Members to Declare any Interests If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting and that interest is on your Register of Interests you must not speak or vote on the matter. It is recommended that you declare that interest but it is not a legal requirement. If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting and that interest is not on your Register of Interests you must declare that interest at the meeting and not speak or vote on the matter. In either case you may remain in the room where the meeting is taking place. If you consider that it would be inappropriate in the circumstances to remain in the room, you may leave the room while the matter is dealt with. If you do not have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest you may nevertheless have an Other Interest in a matter to be discussed if it affects • your well being or financial position • that of your family or close friends • that of a club or society in which you have a management role • that of another public body of which you are a member to a greater extent than others in your ward. If that is the case then you must declare an interest but can speak and vote on the matter. 4. To receive any items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency 5. Public Question Time Fifteen minutes for questions from members of the public of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Team ([email protected] or 01603 223230) by 5pm on Monday 5 November 2012. For guidance on submitting public questions, please view the Council Constitution, Appendix 10. 6. Local Member Issues/Member Questions Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel 8 November 2012 Fifteen minutes for local members to raise issues of concern of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Team ([email protected] or 01603 223230) by 5pm on Monday 5 November 2012. 7. Cabinet Member Feedback 8. Forward Work Programme: Scrutiny (Page 13) Report by the Director of Children’s Services 9. Children’s Services Integrated Performance and Finance Monitoring (Page 19) Report for 2012-2013 Report by the Director of Children’s Services 10. Service and Budget Planning 2013/15 for Children’s Services Report (Page 39) by the Director of Children’s Services 11. Free School Meals Update (Page 51) Report by the Director of Children’s Services 12. Developing Free Early Education Places for Two Year Olds (Page 55) Report by the Director of Children’s Services 13. Special Educational Needs (SEN) Strategy Update: An update on (Page 63) SEN provision development within Norfolk and direction of travel within the governments new SEN legislative framework Report by the Director of Children’s Services 14. Looked After Children Capital Project – Update on progress Report (Page 91) by the Director of Children’s Services Group Meetings Conservative 1:00 pm Colman Room Liberal Democrats 1:00 pm Room 504 Chris Walton Head of Democratic Services County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DH Date Agenda Published: 31 October 2012 If you need this document in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Catherine Wilkinson on 0344 800 8020 or 0344 800 8011 (textphone) and we will do our best to help. Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel Minutes of the Meeting Held on Thursday 20 September 2012 Present: Mrs J Chamberlin (Chairman) Mr R Bearman Mr P Morse Dr A Boswell Mr W Nunn Mr J Carswell Mr M Scutter M Chenery of Horsbrugh Mr B Spratt Mr S Dorrington Miss J Virgo Mr S Hutson Mr P Wells Mr M Kiddle-Morris Ms S Whitaker Mrs J Leggett Parent Governor Representative: Mr P East Dr L Poliakoff Non-voting Schools Forum Representative: Dr B Carrington Non-Voting Cabinet Member: Mrs A Thomas Children’s Services Non-Voting Deputy Cabinet Members: Mr P Hardy Education Non-Voting Co-Opted Advisors: Mrs S Cooke Primary Education Ms C Smith Secondary Education Other Members in attendance: Dr M Strong Local Member for Wells 1. Apologies and substitutions 1.1 Apologies were received from Mr B Collins (M Chenery of Horsbrugh attending), Mr R Hanton, Mr J Mooney (Mr B Spratt substituting), Mr A Mash and Mr T Garrod. 2. Minutes 2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2012 were considered. It was noted that a question had been asked around exclusion rates to which a written response had not been given. It was agreed that this response would be added to the minutes as an additional question. With this amendment the minutes were agreed by the Panel and signed as an accurate record of the meeting. Later in the meeting it was confirmed that this information would be included in the November Performance and Finance Monitoring Report, when updated datasets would be available. 3. Declarations of Interests 3.1 There were no declarations of interest. 4. Items of Urgent Business 4.1 There were no items of urgent business. 5. Public Question Time 5.1 There were no public questions. 6. Local Member Issues/Member Questions 6.1 The Local Member for Wells commented on item 14 of the agenda, saying that the funding formula was an urban formula which was being applied to a rural county. This was especially having an impact on rural high schools. It was important to manage public perception of these changes. 7. Exclusion of the Public 7.1 The Panel was advised that, with regard to item 8: ‘Young People in Norfolk – views of Norfolk today’, the Panel would need to consider whether to exclude the public for the duration of the DVD. 7.2 The Director of Children’s Services presented the public interest test, as required by the 2006 Access to Information Regulations for the consideration of the Panel as follows: 7.3 “Video evidence of fifty young people from across Norfolk who identify as black, Asian or minority ethnic, disabled, Muslim or who are questioning their sexual or gender identity, talking about what life is like in Norfolk today for young people from these groups. This information is considered to be exempt under Paragraphs 1 and 2 of part 1 of Schedule 12 A to Local Government Act 1972 (‘Information relating to any individual’ and ‘Information that is likely to reveal the identity of an individual’). It is considered that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the public interest in non-disclosure, including recognition of the need for privacy for the individuals who are shown in the film, and who agreed to talk about their identity for the purposes of staff training.” 7.4 RESOLVED that the public be excluded whilst the DVD was shown. 8. Young People in Norfolk – views of Norfolk today 8.1 The Panel viewed a DVD which highlighted the perception of Norfolk by young people in minority groups. 9. Cabinet Member Feedback 9.1 The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services reported that a new apprenticeship programme had been launched in September, with many training providers and businesses present. The number of young people who attended had been encouraging and it was hope that this would be the start of a successful project. 9.2 GCSE and A level results had improved again. The Cabinet Member noted that work had taken place to identify pupils that had been disadvantaged by the situation, and confirmed that 475 had been identified in Norfolk. A letter had been written to the government minister and copied to Norfolk MP’s highlighting the issues. Colleges had taken predicted grades into consideration and were encouraging students to resit the exam. It was confirmed that all members would be supportive of this lobbying, and that as Corporate Parents they should be informed if any Looked After Children had been disadvantaged. The Cabinet Member agreed to confirm the situation with LAC.