Agenda and minutes

21.1    RESOLVED - to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the last Committee meeting held on 21 September 2015.

22.1       Councillor Johanna Howell (District and Borough Council Representative).

Disclosures by all members present of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the member regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

23.1    Councillor Field declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in relation to agenda item 6 (see minute 26) as she is Chair of Battle Pre-School.

23.2    Nicola Boulter declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in relation to agenda item 7 (see minute 27) as she is an assessor for apprenticeships.

23.3    Councillor Shuttleworth declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in relation to agenda item 7 (minute 27) in that his son has an apprenticeship at a Further Education College who is involved in work relating to employers and education providers.  

Notification of items which the Chair considers to be urgent and proposes to take at the appropriate part of the agenda. Any members who wish to raise urgent items are asked, wherever possible, to notify the Chair before the start of the meeting. In so doing, they must state the special circumstances which they consider justify the matter being considered urgent.

24.1    No urgent items were notified.</AI3>

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Report by Director of Children’s Services

25.1    The report provided the Committee with an update on progress in relation to an Action Plan developed by the Department following an Ofsted inspection of Children in Need of Help and Protection, Children Looked After and Care Leavers  (the outcome of the inspection was published in March 2014).  Ofsted judged the services in this area as ‘Good’, with the Adoption Service being judged as ‘Outstanding’.   However, one sub-judgement of ‘Requires Improvement’ was issued in relation to the Care Leavers service.  As a result the Department developed an Action Plan to address Ofsted’s findings for this service. 

25.2    Following introductory remarks from Stuart Gallimore, Director of Children’s Services, Liz  Rugg, Assistant Director (Early Help and Social Care), provided a summary of progress on the Action Plan.  This included confirmation that the Care Leavers Service is now one team, based in a single office location and that the Department have strengthened the proportion of qualified social work staff to non-qualified social work staff.   This strengthening has helped with planning and risk assessment.   Feedback from care leavers has also been sought to assist with developing effective pathway plans which are audited to ensure they are in a suitable format for young people.   Progress has also been made with regard to the Virtual School and the assistance it has provided in helping improve outcomes for Care Leavers.

25.3    The area that continues to be a challenge for the Department relates to accommodation.     Whilst there continues to be some supported accommodation available, such as the YMCA, there is insufficient provision to meet demand – particularly in the east of the county.   Given the savings required in the next 3 years, it is the Department’s view that this situation is likely to deteriorate further.   This may mean further use of Bed and Breakfast accommodation where no other provision is possible and the alternative would be street homelessness.

Comments and Questions

25.4   The Committee thanked the Department for the update on the Action Plan and debated a number of issues which are summarized below.

• Apprenticeships.   The Committee felt the current performance regarding take-up of apprenticeships by care leavers was disappointing.  A query was also raised about whether more could be done to look at alternative sources of funding and support for this area (so as to help boost the levels of apprenticeships taken-up by care leavers).  In response, Anna Brookes (Head of Virtual School and Education, Employment and Training Coordinator) explained that whilst the apprenticeship figures are disappointing, the Department had tried hard to improve take-up levels.  For example, a number of young people had started apprenticeships, but not all were successfully completed.   The main impediment to successful completion appearing to be an affordability issue, as young people lose housing benefits if they accept the offer of an apprenticeship.   In response to a suggestion that representations should be made to the Government about the complexity of the benefits system in relation to young people, the Committee were informed that this area is being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Report by Director of Children’s Services

26.1    The Director of Children’s Services introduced the report by noting the much improved position that the Department is now reporting regarding Early Years Attainment.

26.2     The Committee thanked the officers in the Department for their hard work in securing the progress identified in the report and then debated a number of issues which are summarized below.

Comments and Questions

• Integrated Progress Review Pilot.     With regard to Recommendation 2 in Appendix 1 of the report (page 32), the Committee asked to be kept informed of progress on the roll out of the pilot and indicated that they wanted to be kept informed of any developments relating to the changing nature of Children’s Centres.   In response Ruth Szulecki (Early Years Development Manager) informed the Committee that the Pilot looked at 4 different areas with early years settings and health visitors.  The goal being to see if strategies could be developed for bringing together the assessment that takes place by Health for a child aged 2 and the progress check that takes place in an early education setting.  Parents often don’t understand why two separate assessments are undertaken and feedback from them on the proposed changes was very positive.  Parents were also involved in looking at communication and helped co-produce a leaflet which has been used during the pilot.   The Department are now at the point of going forward with the proposal for an integrated review that will take place with health and early education providers at aged 27 months.    The key tool to help with this process will be what is commonly known as the Red Book (more formally, the Personal Child Health Record).  The Red Book will act as the means via which communication will take place between parents and health and other agencies that are involved with the child.   This means there will be a shared, integrated progress review record which will help facilitate open conversations between a health visitor and a parent in an early years setting.  The Department feel this has been a very positive project and are very encouraged by how communication has improved between health and early years.  

• Good Level of Development.   The Committee noted the difference in levels of achievement between boys and girls (Recommendation 5 – Summary of Progress Update October 2015) and asked what steps were being taken to address this.    In response, Ruth Szulecki explained that over the last year in particular the learning environment for boys in the early foundation stage has been looked at more closely.   Often boy’s learning at this stage is more physical and some of the environments have not been especially supportive of this.   However, the pace of improvement for boys has kept up with the overall pace of improvement, which is significant.   More progress is still needed though.  So, for example, there has been a programme of training for teachers which focuses on challenges around boys learning.  This too is having an impact.  

• 2 Year Old Capacity.   In response to a question about whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Report by the Chair of the Raising the Participation Age Review Board.

27.1    Nicola Boulter, Chair of the Review Board, introduced the report by explaining that the aim of raising the age of participation is to ensure young people remain positively engaged with education, employment or training until at least the age of 18.   The Review Board was therefore established to investigate:

• whether East Sussex County Council (ESCC) is meeting its statutory duties in this area; and
• to identify whether any improvements can be made to increase participation in education, employment or training.

27.2     The Review Board comprised: Nicola Boulter (Parent Governor Representative and Chair of the Board), Councillors Kim Forward, Roy Galley, Francis Whetstone and in the early stages of the review, Catherine Platten (Parent Governor Representative).   Nicola thanked on behalf of the Review Board all those who had contributed to the review and the recommendations contained in the report.   Mrs Boulter also requested the following amendments be made to the report:

• Page 55 amendment to tables.   The published version of these tables only gives a percentage figure.   The Board asked that these tables be amended to show the numbers of pupils, as well as the percentage figure. 
• List of schools Appendix (page 72).   The Chair asked that this table be amended so that the Red, Amber and Green colour coding system be reinstated.  This will enable quick identification of the ‘Investors in Careers’ accreditation status.
• Recommendation 3 – All schools should appoint a Governor as a careers advice champion.     So as to help ensure it is taken forward by school governing bodies, it was requested that this recommendation be taken to area governor meetings.
• Recommendation 8 – Commend the idea of an employability passport and encourage its swift development.  Work should be undertaken where possible to make the Employability Passport regionally and nationally accepted and recognised.  A request was made for an update on the pilot scheme.

27.3       The Committee, including members of the Review Board, then discussed the report and recommendations. These comments are summarized below:

·       the Review has highlighted an overall positive position in East Sussex and that the Board’s twelve recommendations will help improve matters further without significant additional resources being needed to implement them.  Although the Children’s Services Department will need to help with facilitating implementation of some of the recommendations.  For example, the Board felt that the standard of careers training across schools varies and that whilst this is a matter for schools themselves, the Committee asked whether more could be done to help encourage governing bodies and school leaders to improve careers advice and guidance.   

·       That whilst it is clear those with the highest of level of need will receive support, the Board felt that those young people on the next level down (on the Continuum of Need) might not receive the support they need and this therefore would remain a challenge.  

·       There is a need to actively engage with local businesses and help improve the relationship between them and schools.       

·       That steps need to be taken to ensure proper training and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

28.1    The Committee discussed the work programme and the potential areas for future reports and scrutiny reviews.   It was confirmed that the following Review Board meetings had been scheduled:

• A scoping meeting for the Educational Attainment in Key Stage 1 Review Board – 2.00pm on Tuesday 8 December 2015; and
• Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR)  Review Board meeting   -1.45pm on Monday 14 December 2015

28.2    The Committee were also informed that Sussex Police have been invited to attend the March meeting to provide an update and to answer any questions the Committee may have in relation to the proposed changes to the policing model and its impact on young people.

28.3    RESOLVED:-  It was resolved that the work programme be amended in line with paragraphs: 25.6 (2) and 26.3 (2)

The Forward Plan for the period to 1 November 2015 to 29 February 2016. The Committee is asked to make comments or request further information.

29.1    The Committee noted the Forward Plan for the period 1 November 2015 to 29 February 2016.</AI9>

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