Agenda item

23.1     The Committee discussed its future work programme.   The key discussion points are summarized below: 

• ‘Get a Grip’ campaign.   The Children’s Services Department recently ran an awareness raising campaign for parents relating to school attendance.   The campaign generated significant levels of public debate and media attention.   Given this Councillor Standley was asked to comment on the feedback he had received from schools and parents about the campaign.    In response, Councillor Standley informed the Committee that he had received only a small number of responses from parents and that he had had no comments from Head teachers.  Councillor Standley also highlighted the online petition opposing the campaign which would be dealt with at the next meeting of Full Council on 5 December 2017.   Councillor Standley also accepted that despite there being no intention to do so, some members of the public had been offended by the campaign.   Nicola Boulter, Parent Governor Representative, expressed the view that the campaign had not been appropriately focused on those parents who were not ensuring their child’s regular attendance at school.  As a result many parents felt unfairly targeted.   In response, the Director of Children’s Services highlighted the lack of success of previous campaigns and the fact that East Sussex appears to have a specific problem of ‘low-level, odd days’ of non-attendance.   The Director therefore took the decision to launch a campaign that deliberately set out to generate a debate.   At the same time, the Department were clear that whilst all parents would potentially receive the ‘get a grip’ literature, a conscious effort was made to clarify that the campaign was not aimed at, for example, parents with children who have serious medical conditions.  

• Inspections of local authority children’s services (ILACS).   A new method of inspecting local authority children’s services will begin in January 2018.   The new process will look at how well local authorities are supporting and protecting vulnerable children in their area.  More specifically, Ofsted intends the new method to be more proportionate, risk-based and flexible than before.   Given this new approach, the Committee wanted to have a clearer understanding of the implications of the new inspection process for East Sussex and the Department’s preparedness for its implementation.  Councillor Tidy responded by confirming that one benefit of the new process relates to East Sussex County Council’s ‘good’ Ofsted rating.  As a result, any future inspection would only last one week - whereas for an authority that is rated ‘inadequate’, the resultant inspection will last a month.   Councillor Tidy also confirmed that having checked with the appropriate senior manager, she had received an assurance that the Department have put in place the necessary arrangements to deal effectively with the new inspection process.

• Proposed changes to statutory guidance relating to safeguarding.   Following legislative changes introduced through the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the Government launched a consultation on its statutory ‘Working Together to Safeguard children’ guidance document.   Some of the key issues consulted on include; the possible replacement of Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) with local safeguarding partners and the establishment of a new national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.   With regard to these changes, the Committee wanted to understand whether there are any issues they might want to explore further and whether a response had been made to the consultation.    In response Councillor Tidy informed the Committee that a response had indeed been provided to the consultation and that given the current ‘good’ rating from Ofsted, the Department are satisfied with the current arrangements.   Councillor Tidy also informed the Committee that the proposal to replace LSCBs with local safeguarding partnerscould result in a body which is ‘too big’.  As a result, on occasion it may well become necessary to convene smaller bodies that enable the appropriate level of focus to be given to specific safeguarding issues.

• Proposed changes to statutory guidance relating to Virtual School Heads and Designated Teachers.  The Government has also launched a consultation on the following statutory guidance documents:

This consultation is also in response to changes introduced by the Children and Social Work Act 2017.   In response to a  question, Councillor Tidy informed the Committee that the Virtual School in East Sussex is recognised nationally for its excellence and that the service is well-placed to cope with the proposals set out in the consultation should they be implemented.  

Educational Attainment and Performance Scrutiny Reference Group

23.2     Given the recent decision to discontinue the Education Performance Panel and the ongoing fundamental changes occurring within the education system, the Committee agreed to appoint an ‘Educational Attainment and Performance Scrutiny Reference Group’.   The reference group is intended to provide committee members with a forum to discuss in more detail attainment and performance issues.  It was agreed that the first meeting would probably take place in February 2018 (after the validated exam results had been published).  It is anticipated that the group would meet on an ad hoc basis, with the outcomes and possible recommendations being reported back to the Committee at appropriate intervals.    Councillor Standley, as the relevant portfolio holder, also offered to attend meetings of the working group if required.     

Scrutiny Review Board: Coping with change – the way forward

23.3     The Committee agreed to appoint a Scrutiny Review Board to consider issues relating to how schools are coping with change (with a particular emphasis on a forward-looking approach).   Whilst the Committee is interested in developing a clearer understanding of the key changes and their potential impact on all types of school within East Sussex, the Committee have a particular interest in the following issues which might become a focus of the Review:

o    the sustainability of small schools;

o    school funding issues, including data on school funding bids to the Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) and the impact this is having on under-performing schools;

o   the impact of the ‘Federate First’ programme (Federation First is a national campaign developed in 2016 by the National Governors Association to raise awareness of the advantages of federations to school improvement);

o   how schools are now increasingly making decisions regarding which services they purchase and the impact this may have on performance and attainment.

It is anticipated that the first ‘scoping’ meeting of the Review Board will take place early in 2018.  At this first meeting the Review Board will focus on identifying the key issues it would like to investigate further.  If a suitable subject for review is identified, the Review Board will then agree its terms of reference and key objectives.  

23.4     RESOLVED – to update the scrutiny work programme so that:

1)         in relation to minute 23.2, wording is added to reflect the Committee’s decision to convene an ‘Educational Attainment and Performance Scrutiny Reference Group’.

2)         in relation to minute 23.3, wording is added to reflect the Committee’s decision to appoint a Scrutiny Review Board to consider issues relating to how schools are coping with change.