(a)

there was a great deal of pressure on Childrens’ Services, with an increase in both the number of referrals to the service, and the number of Children in Care;

(b)

it was necessary to raise the profile of Childrens’ Services;

(c)

an OFSTED inspection was imminent, and Childrens’ Services were well prepared for this;

(d)

it was vital to prevent children entering care, and the key focus for the forthcoming year was on early intervention and prevention;

(e)

all children had the ability to reach their potential through education.

(f)

there had been an increase in the number of EAL (English as an Additional Language) pupils, and with the assistance of Jonathan Marshall (Director for the Plymouth Centre of Faiths and Cultural Diversity), schools received training, advice and support to overcome any potential problems;

(g)

Childrens’ Services worked with the Plymouth Teaching School Alliance (PTSA) to deal with any issues that arose relating to EAL pupils.  The PTSA was able to put schools in contact with each other to assist where necessary;

(h)

any extra costs that were incurred in relation to EAL pupils was borne by the pupil’s school;

(i)

EAL students excelled at GCSE level;

(j)

there were fewer incidences of racial bullying in schools than incidences of homophobic bullying;

(k)

100 per cent of primary schools participated in a School Sports Partnership, although not all schools prioritised PE;

(l)

Childrens’ Services had strong links with the housing sector.

(a)

the People and Organisational Development (POD) Outline Business Case focused upon workforce delivery and accommodation and infrastructure; the intention was to have the right people in the right place at the right time with the right skills;

(b)

problems that the POD programme was expected to address included workforce planning to achieve the Council’s vision, a move towards a systems led culture of collaboration and the size and state of the Council’s current office space;

(c)

the aims of the programme included –

·         options to address the capability gap currently identified to ensure that staff had the required skill sets, training, knowledge and behaviour to provide increased capability;

·         to review current policies and procedures to assist the Council to work more efficiently;

·         addressing shared priorities for system improvement with partners through collaboration;

·         to release significant excess office space to reduce costs and enable flexible modern working spaces;

·         to encourage highly flexible working practices;

(d)

specific projects included –

·         the decant of the Civic Centre (due to commence in July and finish in September) to the newly refurbished Ballard House;

·         the renovation of a former commercial property in New George Street to accommodate frontline staff;

·         a focus upon workforce capability requirements;

(e)

issues excluded from the scope of the programme included the development of a high level organisational structure and detailed design as well as the commercial estate;

(f)

specific financial benefits had not yet been identified as the programme was an enabling programme which supported the other four transformation programmes;

(g)

benefits of the programme included a reduction in accommodation space across the city, a reduction in associated lease and operational costs of property occupation and maintenance;

(h)

it was expected that, by moving staff to alternative accommodation, there would be a reduction in sickness absence and an improvement in employee satisfaction;

(i)

costs associated with the POD programme were linked to staff training and the use of resources to ensure the correct people were employed, however Council staff would be used on projects where appropriate;

(j)

the main equalities and diversity issues for the POD programme included the provision of facilities which were DDA compliant and ensuring staff were equipped with skills to provide excellent services and the ability to deal with them, ie dementia, disabilities etc;

(k)

key partners had been engaged in the development of the programme through a variety of communication channels including a full stakeholder analysis, consultation with elected members and the development of a plan of key events;

(l)

the main risks to the programme included the availability of both capital and revenue funding to support the delivery of the assets required for the programmes, ICT requirements and the scale and number of changes across the Council; it was considered that these would be addressed through prior planning and co-ordination;

(m)

key events  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

(a)

the creation of a Local Authority Trading Co-operative Company would enable the production of healthy meals using locally produced ingredients in the light of school funding reforms;

(b)

the educational establishments within the proposed structure included maintained infant, junior, primary and special schools and academies;  

(c)

the co-operative trading company through its partners as shareholders would work together to deliver efficient, economic, viable and sustainable services committing budgets to provide fair access to services for all and for the benefit of all; 

(d)

it was proposed that the trading company would be 51 per cent Council owned and 49 per cent owned by schools and would be a company limited by share.

(e)

advice was sought from the parents and doctor of children with any special dietary requirements ;

(f)

it was acknowledged that the city’s demographic and the population was more diverse.  Advice on best practise has been sought from other Local Authorities and at present where there had been any requests for particular cultural reasons then families often opted for the vegetarian option.