Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of this agenda.

The following declarations of interest were made in accordance with the code of conduct –

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting held on 1 February 2016.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 1 February 2016 are confirmed as a correct record subject to the following amendment:

-      that Councillor Downie’s apologies and Councillor Fletcher’s attendance as a substitute are noted.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent Business.

The Panel to note the report from the Child Sexual Exploitation Review.

The Chair thanked the Panel members that took part in the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Review and Ross Jago, Lead Officer and Lynn Young, Democratic Support Officer for their support. 

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following -

(a)                      what support was being given to those children that did not meet the thresholds;

(b)        internet grooming;

Ross Jago, Lead Officer reminded the Panel that there were a number of forums in which CSE was being discussed.  The Plymouth Safeguarding Children Board was best placed to have the overview with regard to the training they provide.  As part of the review they only met with Barnardo’s but they were not the only organisation within the city providing support to vulnerable children.

Agreed –

1.         the recommendations as laid out within the Child Sexual Exploitation Report.

2.         the Child Sexual Exploitation Report is forwarded to the Co-operative Scrutiny Board.

The Panel to receive a report on GCSE and SATs results.

Councillor McDonald, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, David Bowles, Senior Adviser Standards and Jayne Gorton, Head of Access and Planning were present for this item.

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following –

(a)        how to close the gap the gender gap which starts from such an early age;

(b)        who carries out the assessments of 5 year olds and were they undertaken at nursery or at school;

(c)        recent changes in Government funding and the introduction of additional free child places for 3 and 4 year olds;

(d)        free school meals and the comparison with other authorities;

(e)        the number coasting schools in Plymouth;

(f)         the difficulty in recruiting head teachers.

Panel members were not happy with the time allocated to this item because it was felt that it was important to have the sufficient time to scrutinise effectively, therefore if Panel members have any unanswered questions to forward them to Ross Jago, Lead Officer or Amelia Boulter, Democratic Support Officer.

Agreed that -

1.         the Schools National Funding Formula consultation response to be shared with the Ambitious Plymouth Chair and Vice Chair for sign off.

2.         the Ambitious Plymouth Panel are provided with the numbers of children rather than percentages and the comparison family group.

3.         a report on coasting schools to come back to the Ambitious Panel in the Autumn.

The Panel to receive a report on changes from the Adoption Bill.

Alison Barker, Service Manager and Rachel Carter, Commissioning Officer were present for this item.  It was reported that they had been working with partner agencies to improve adoption across the south west. 

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following -

(a)           how the work across agencies was being co-ordinated;

(b)        will the changes speed up the adoption process;

(c)           whether the changes would affect the role of corporate parents;

(d)          what was the understanding of all the agencies coming together and what this would look like including models of delivery;

(e)          Cornwall currently not part of Adopt SW and how do they fit into this.

The Panel to receive a report on the Home to School Transport Service.

Councillor Jon Taylor, Cabinet Member for Transformation and Customer Services, Councillor McDonald, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Les Allen, Head of Transformation Programme and Jayne Gorton, Head of Access and Planning were present for this item.  It was reported that –

(a)           in the GAME programme scope had widened to include passenger transport as the contract was up for renewal;

(b)          EDGE consultants had looked at the two main taxi suppliers and found that rates for service in Plymouth were high and the Council was not realising value for money;

(c)           an alternative procurement process was used to encourage smaller local providers to bid for work,  there was a risk of smaller suppliers not submitted bids for the work;

(d)          the largest provider in the City chose not to bid and the remainder of the market did not have the capacity to respond to the demand.  This pushed up the price of provision and reduced savings;

(e)          £350K in savings total would not be delivered;

(f)            staff ensured that children were getting to school safely, at the time of the meeting there were transport issues to resolve for 5 children to the satisfaction of parents and staff were resolving those issues.

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following –

(g)           did all drivers undertake the safeguarding training and was it compulsory;

(h)          could parents with cars take their own children to school;

(i)            were negotiations taking place with the smaller providers encouraging them to bid, what were the options longer term and the reasons why the main taxi provider did not retender;

(j)         whether 1 passenger assistant for 8 children was sufficient and safe;

(k)           the overall cost of the project and how much was achieved in savings;

(l)            the financial predictions made by the EDGE consultants if not achieved would we receive a rebate;

(m)       have other options been explored such as linking with the hospital transport scheme.

Agreed that a report on the cost of the EDGE consultants on the work undertaken across the entire transport project and the savings made to be provided to the Ambitious Plymouth Panel.

The Panel to reflect on their achievements for 2015-16 and to submit items for the Annual Scrutiny Report.

The Ambitious Plymouth Panel highlighted the achievements made over the last year:

·         Child Sexual Exploitation Review;

·         the work of the Sports Development Unit;

·         continually monitoring many children services and getting answers to really interesting questions.

The Ambitious Plymouth Panel also wanted to thank Edith Bayley and Dr Clare Hamon for their contribution to the Panel.

The panel to review and monitor the progress of tracking resolutions and receive any relevant feedback from the Cooperative Scrutiny Board.

The Panel noted the progress made with regard to the tracking resolutions.

To review the Ambitious Plymouth work programme 2015 – 2016.

The Panel noted the work programme.