No. |
Item |
35. |
Declarations of Interest
Councillors will be asked to make any
declarations of interest in respect to items on the agenda.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The following declarations of interest were
made by Members in accordance with the code of conduct:
Member
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Subject
|
Reason
|
Interest
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Councillor Buchan
|
Agenda item 10, Fit
and Fed
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She is a trustee of
Honicknowle Commnet who delivered one of the programmes.
|
Personal
|
Councillor Mrs Johnson
|
All
|
Governor at Compton
Primary School
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Personal
|
Councillor Mrs Aspinall
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All
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Member of the Learning
Academy Trust
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Personal
|
|
36. |
Minutes PDF 116 KB
To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting
held on 11 September 2019.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members agreed the minutes of the last meeting
held on 11 September 2019.
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37. |
Chair's Urgent Business
To receive reports on business which in the
opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent
consideration.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
There are no items of Chair’s Urgent
Business.
|
38. |
Appointment of Vice Chair
Additional documents:
Minutes:
In the absence of Councillor Murphy,
Councillor Mrs Aspinall was appointed as Vice Chair for this
meeting.
|
39. |
Mapping of Corporate Plan to Scrutiny Committees PDF 111 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members noted the Mapping of Corporate Plan to
Scrutiny Committees report.
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40. |
Policy Update PDF 132 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chair advised Members that this item was
added to the agenda at the request of the Scrutiny Management Board
in order to keep abreast of policy updates that linked to the
panel’s terms of reference.
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) directed Members attention to
the ‘open consultation’ section of the briefing and
highlighted there would be future opportunities for Member input
into national consultations.
Members noted the Policy Update.
|
41. |
Number of Children in Care - Verbal Update
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Jean Kelly (Service Director for Children,
Young People and Families) provided Members with a verbal update on
the number of children in care as follows:
(a)
|
the children in care population and those
under child protection plans totalled 1648. Of this figure 949 had
a child in need plan which meant that they met a statutory
threshold for involvement by the Council in supporting them under
section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to offer support to the family.
266 children had child protection plans and 426 children were
looked after by the Council;
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(b)
|
the current figures fell in-line with
statistical neighbours however child protection figures were
slightly lower than England averages;
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(c)
|
there were four core categories under which
children could be made subject to a child protection plan: neglect,
physical harm, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. The biggest group
of children on a child protection plan was 150 children of the 266
children on a plan – they were on a plan as a consequence of
neglect. 16 children were on a plan where physical harm was the
primary concern and 14 children were subject to a plan as a result
of sexual abuse and 86 under emotional abuse;
|
(d)
|
in terms of the length of time children had
been on child protection plans – this information was
required to be reported to Government at the end of year (where a
child was subject to a plan for more than two years). The majority
of children had been on plans for less than a year however 20
children had been on plans for more than two years – this
represented less than 10% of children on a child protection
plan;
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(e)
|
in terms of the 426 children in care, several
of those children were looked after under Section 20 of the
Children Act – this was where the council had a voluntary
agreement with their parents to look after their children however
the parents retain parental responsibility and the Council work in
partnership with them - this totalled 56 children all over the age
of five;
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(f)
|
children in care proceedings or who had a care
order (where the Local Authority were seeking or had obtained
parental responsibility to share decision making) consisted of a
group of over 330 children. There were 83 children actively in care
proceedings. 255 care orders had been obtained and officers were
working in a permanence framework with those children;
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(g)
|
there were 250 care leavers between the ages
of 18-21 – the local authority was required to retain a
statutory responsibility to provide a personal advisor service for
these young people and were supported by the permanency
service.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(h)
|
the figures provided may not have added up to
the total figure of children in care as, when calculating, the
child may not have had a children in need (CIN) code or they may
have had dual roles (i.e. children in need ...
view the full minutes text for item 41.
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|
42. |
Pledges Update PDF 126 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Laing (Cabinet Member for Children
and Young People), Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) and Judith Hardwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) presented the
Pledges Update.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
|
Pledge 41 – a lot of work had gone into
reshaping the Fostering Service; a Service Manager post had been
created and a marketing company had been appointed to market the
in-house fostering offer. It was hoped that positive results would
be evident from September 2020;
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(b)
|
Pledge 47 – this pledge was also
supported around the marketing company. The Council was aiming to
be accredited via the Fostering Network to be a foster friendly
employer (Fostering Friendly Plymouth Initiative);
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(c)
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Pledge 48 – this was progressing well
and focused upon offering work experience opportunities for looked
after children and care experienced young people. Members were
encouraged to email pledge48@barnados.org with
potential work experience ideas or opportunities;
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(d)
|
Pledge 40 – this was part of a four year
piece of work and was progressing well; good support had been received from the Teaching
Schools Council and the Plymouth Education Board was functioning
well. The Standards Partnership was now up and running.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(e)
|
the group of children referred to in Pledge 41
and the need of in-house foster care was different to those
children with complex needs; these children were currently placed
with independent agency foster carers and had needs that could be
met in a family environment. Those with complex needs were
supported with differently trained staff;
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(f)
|
Officers worked hard to keep children as close
to Plymouth as possible unless it was considered unsafe for them to
do so; the figure of those placed more than 20 miles of the city
would be provided to Members;
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(g)
|
Pledge 41 focused upon work experience
opportunities other than employment; the Virtual School and
different sections of the Children’s department already
provided a range of opportunities for young people however the
pledge was to develop this further to grow the current resource;
the figure for those young people in care who were currently
undertaking training and work experience would be provided to
Members;
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(h)
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Pledge 45 was completed however there was a
report on the agenda regarding young carers; it was recognised that
the pressure on services including the NHS and Local Authority was
a nationwide issue however the Council’s approach of linking
in with schools and working with them to help identify young carers
was considered to be effective.
|
Members noted the update.
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43. |
Corporate Plan Performance Report PDF 129 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Paul Stephens (Performance Advisor) and Kelly
Blockley (Performance Advisor) presented the Corporate Plan
Performance Report. Members were advised that the report included
indicators relevant to the panel’s terms of reference; it was
indicated what was being measured and why, the movement of the
indicator and what was being done to address decline.
In response to questions raised it was
reported that:
(a)
|
the trends of each indicator was written in
narrative form;
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(b)
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live data was used in the scorecard report;
information surrounding apprenticeships identified that the take-up
of apprenticeships had slowed down since the introduction of the
levy;
|
(c)
|
the council was expected to receive
approximately £715,000 additional funding from the Government
for early years; a formula for distribution had not yet been
devised;
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(d)
|
the percentage of pupils where a school was
rated as good or better by Ofsted was measured by pupils other than
schools; to rate by schools was considered to skew the results as
some schools could have 2000 pupils and yet another could have 300
pupils;
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(e)
|
there was a drop in
figures of key stage 4 pupils achieving the basics; it was
acknowledged that it would take time for the improvements put in
place to work through the system. It was highlighted that there was
one school in Plymouth where performance was significantly below
average however if this data was removed the evidence proved that
results were in line with last years’ figures;
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(f)
|
Officers would revisit the data in page 39 of
the agenda pack regarding the percentage of early years setting
judged as good or better and would feed
back results to Members.
|
Members noted the update
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44. |
Fit and Fed Programme PDF 128 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Louise Kelley (Sports Development Manager)
provided Members with a short video on the Fit and Fed
Programme.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
|
the Fit and Fed
Programme was a local initiative with funding from the Department
for Education; Local Authorities bid for £9m of funding
demonstrating how they might coordinate an approach to provide
holiday provision in summer holidays towards disadvantaged children
or those in receipt of free school meals. Plymouth was successful
in securing some funding for this project and was the only council
in the South West to have been selected, along with 10 other local
authorities;
|
(b)
|
the target for the programme was to engage
1000 children however the Fit and Fed Programme engaged with 1628
and the majority of those were in receipt of free school meals;
looked after children and children in need were a part of the
programme as it was considered that they would benefit from this
opportunity;
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(c)
|
all minimum
standards were met including providing nutritional food and
engaging in activities every day; the evaluation for the programme
was due at the end of the year and would be forwarded to Members
once available.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(d)
|
the Department for Education commissioned a
company to undertake an evaluation of the programme; results had
not yet been received however the council also collected data;
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(e)
|
the Department for Education had confirmed
that £9m would be available for this programme this year and
local authorities were encouraged to bid for money;
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(f)
|
several people had booked their child onto the
programme however didn’t turn up for a variety of
reasons;
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(g)
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data regarding the age and gender of the
children that attended the programme could be provided however
information such as those from military families or looked after
children were not actively collected;
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(h)
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the proportion of looked after children was
not known however efforts could be made to collect this information
by cross referencing names with the help of the Virtual School
Team;
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(i)
|
the funding from the Department for Education
for this programme was intended for children on free school meals;
it was considered that some children in need in the city were
missing out an initiative that would greatly benefit them therefore
referrals from internal agencies for looked after children were
identified and accepted;
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(j)
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£604,660 was secured from the Department
for Education for the programme; this was spent on items such as
food, activities, staffing, advertising, printing and the
promotional video;
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(k)
|
the CaterEd Summer Hunger Programme
complimented the Fit and Fed Programme;
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(l)
|
no home
educated children attended the Fit and Fed Programme.
|
The Chair thanked
Louise for her attendance and update.
Members agreed to note the update.
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45. |
New Ofsted Framework - Report only PDF 122 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) and Judith Harwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) presented the New
Ofsted Framework report.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
|
the new Ofsted inspection framework for
settings and schools came into force from September 2019;
|
(b)
|
based upon records of previous inspections it
was estimated that 24 schools and academies would be inspected
during the academic year 2019 – 2020.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(c)
|
in terms of
collective worship in schools, it was not known if the new
framework would have a greater emphasis on compliance; Ofsted were
due to visit Plymouth this term to do a workshop with schools on
the new framework. This was intended for school leaders however may
be beneficial for Councillors that were governors;
|
(d)
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Ofsted would continue to look at the data from
schools however would also work with the leadership and management
team of schools to understand how they tailored the curriculum to
have the greatest impact on the children;
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(e)
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between September
to December 2019 there had been 16 Ofsted inspections; outcomes of
those inspections were in line with the evaluation risk assessment.
Eight schools retained the same judgement of good or requires
improvement, five had improved and two had declined in their
ratings.
|
The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and
Service Director for their update.
Members agreed to note the update.
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46. |
School Attendance Consultation - Report only (To Follow) PDF 131 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) and Judith Harwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) presented the
School Attendance Consultation report.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
|
Penalty notices could be used by schools to
address unauthorised pupil absence. In order to issue a penalty
notice the Local Authority must have a Code of Conduct that has
been developed in consultation with Headteachers/Principals, Governing Bodies and the
Chief of Police. Plymouth City Council held a statutory
consultation in relation to changes to the Code of Conduct. The
proposal was to increase the threshold set within the Code of
Conduct, from 8 unauthorised sessions (4 days) to 11 unauthorised
sessions (5.5 days) and also use the school’s attendance
policy as a threshold, before a penalty notice could be issued;
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(b)
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schools had highlighted that the rise in
unauthorised absences was having a detrimental impact on
childrens’ education and
attainment; it was therefore important that the local authority was
able to introduce a fair system whereby schools, children and
parents could be supported;
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(c)
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the Cabinet Member
would be proposing that Option 2, detailed in the report, would be
recommended to Cabinet for approval.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(d)
|
a good level of responses to the consultation
was received; parents submitted the majority of consultation
responses however there was fair representation from schools and
governors;
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(e)
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schools were
required to keep attendance registers everyday therefore absences
could be easily monitored; regular communication was scheduled to
take place so parents were aware of the potential changes to
policy.
|
The Chair thanked
the Cabinet Member and officer for their update.
Members agreed the contents of the report and
endorsed the next steps of the report through to Cabinet.
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47. |
Elective Home Education PDF 125 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation), Jo Siney (Head of Special
Educational Needs and Disability) and Isabelle Morgan (Inclusion
and Attendance Manager) presented the Election Home Education
update.
Key points highlighted to Members
included:
(a)
|
the Department for
Education consulted on a number of proposals for legislation which
would affect local authorities, parents of children who are not
attending state-funded schools or registered independent schools,
and proprietors of some education settings. The consultation closed
on 24 June 2019 and Officers supported all of the proposals and
continued to await the government response to the consultation;
|
(b)
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the ultimate goal was to achieve the best
possible outcomes for children and young people who were at risk of
missing out on education; it was important to ensure that their
educational, health and social needs were being met;
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(c)
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the numbers of
those home educated were slowly increasing and officers were
working to reduce that trend over time; particular attention was
upon the potential abuse of the system.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(d)
|
the numbers of children and young people that
were returning to mainstream education after being home educated
were recorded however the figures were very few; it was highlighted
that there were a variety of reasons for home education;
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(e)
|
at the last home education engagement event a
representative from the Devon Schools Partnership attended to
advise parents of their offer; officers were working to engage home
educated children in activities across the city;
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(f)
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391 children in the city were currently on
record as being home educated; a breakdown of data including school
year/ key stage would be provided to Members;
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(g)
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if it was considered that a home educated
child was not receiving suitable home education then officers would
make every effort to provide advice and make improvements; the
local authority had powers of enforcement by issuing a school
attendance order however this was a lengthy process through the
courts;
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(h)
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every parent would have a visit from the local
authority to assess why their child had been withdrawn from
mainstream education and how they intended to educate their child;
some parents were dissatisfied with their child’s school or
considered that their needs were not being met;
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(i)
|
the traveller community were allowed 200
missed school sessions per academic year – these would be all
authorised absences;
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(j)
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the law said that a
child’s education had to be full time and suitable for their
age and needs; officers were establishing this baseline with
parents and were flexible in their approach to their learning
needs.
|
The Chair thanked officers and the Cabinet
Member for their attendance and update.
Members noted the report.
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48. |
STEM - Plan Refresh PDF 124 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Judith Harwood (Service Director for
Education, Participation and Skills), Ed Coley (Head of Skills and
Employability) and Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) presented the STEM –
Plan Refresh report.
Members were advised that Plymouth’s
position as a STEM city and the ongoing work to grow STEM jobs in
the city was to be celebrated. It was highlighted that we were in
the midst of a technological and digital revolution and the city
was pioneering with its citywide STEM strategy. The report detailed
the activities from the previous year with the highlight being the
first STEM conference on the Hoe and the successful event at the
Lido.
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(a)
|
STEM plans and activities for 2020 were still
being developed however ideas would be welcomed; officers
acknowledged STEM activities not yet included, namely British
Science Week and the Crest Awards;
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(b)
|
the Careers Hub had an Enterprise Advisor
whose role involved facilitating opportunities in the city; STEM
opportunities included AI (artificial intelligence), medical
sciences, digital technology etc;
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(c)
|
the importance of promoting the role of women
in STEM was recognised; there was a women in STEM group and the
city’s STEM Coordinator was a woman who was encouraging other
women to get involved;
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(d)
|
£41,000 had currently been spent on the
STEM programme; it was considered to be an extremely cost effective
programme.
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(e)
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the city’s
STEM programme was considered successful and far reaching due to
the variety of STEM work on offer other than the focus on one
specific area.
|
The Chair thanked
officers for the update.
Members agreed to note the update.
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49. |
Young Carers PDF 122 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Lisa Cornish (Leadership Associate SEND) and
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and
Transformation) presented the Young Carers update.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
|
Lisa’s role focused upon young carers in
schools and their education, this was considered a hidden area of
need in schools;
|
(b)
|
officers had been working closely with the
majority of schools across the city (97%) in order to provide
training to help them identify and support young carers; young
carer leads were appointed in these schools;
|
(c)
|
a Young Carers Conference showcasing best
practice and professional speakers had taken place;
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(d)
|
young carer leads
attended network meetings; the success of these were growing with
the first having 4 people in attendance and the most recent with 40
people signed up. This was an opportunity for leads to share
experiences and expertise;
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(e)
|
in 2018 data indicated that there were 700
young carers identified in the city; in 2019 there were 924 young
carers identified and this information was split into school year
group, gender and if a child had SEND (special educational needs or
disability);
|
(f)
|
there was a young carers awareness day in
January and a carers week scheduled for June;
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(g)
|
the Young Carers Education Support Team was
due to be launched; this was a collaboration between the local
authority and three schools in the city in order to produce a
unique model of support; this team would be able to undertake
research and apply for grants, bids and funding.
|
In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(h)
|
work was ongoing to identify young carers in
the city who were currently not known to the local authority in
order to provide them with support; it was highlighted that it was
ok to be a young carer and this wasn’t something for a child
or young person to be ashamed of;
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(i)
|
some children were unaware that they were
young carers as caring for a relative was just part of their normal
everyday life.
|
The Chair thanked Lisa for her update and
praised the collaborative piece of work currently being undertaken
with Barnardos to provide support to young people.
Members agreed to note the update.
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50. |
JTAI (Joint Targeted Area Inspection) - Verbal Update
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Jean Kelly (Service Director for Children,
Young People and Families) advised that the update on the Joint
Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) was initially added to the agenda
to outline the process for a future inspection however an
inspection had since been undertaken. This item was therefore
intended to inform Members of feedback from the JTAI which was both
positive and yet highlighted key areas for learning and
development.
Councillor Laing (Cabinet Member for Children
and Young People) took the opportunity to thank everyone involved
with the JTAI and the colossal amount of work undertaken – it
was considered to be a valuable experience and would form an
important part of the service improvement, would strengthen
relations with partners and would ultimately benefit young
people.
The Chair thanked Jean Kelly and Councillor
Laing for their brief update.
It was agreed, due to time restrictions, that
the JTAI (Joint Targeted Area Inspection) Feedback and progress on
the action plan would be added to the panel’s work programme
for the 4 March 2020 meeting.
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51. |
Work Programme PDF 155 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members discussed the work programme and made
the following additions/ changes:
·
JTAI (Joint Targeted Area Inspection) to be added to the 4 March
2020 agenda;
·
Financial Reporting to be added as a standing item to future
scrutiny agendas.
Councillor Mrs Aspinall highlighted to Members
her role as Chair of the Scrutiny Management Board and the
importance of the panel regularly monitoring financial information
in children’s social care.
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52. |
Tracking Decisions PDF 42 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members noted the tracking decisions item and
progress made.
|