The Chair welcomed all to Lipson Community College and thanked the College Principal and staff.

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

In accordance with the Code of Conduct, the following declarations of interest were made, as follows –

The panel will be asked to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2010.

Regarding minute –

(a)               8 (ii) delete the sentence ‘she was looking at changing and improving services further’,

(b)               8 (vi) sentence to include underspend.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2010 be confirmed as a correct record, subject to the amendments above.

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

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

The Panel will monitor progress on previous resolutions and receive any relevant feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

The Chair updated the panel on their tracking resolutions and feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

With regard to tracking resolutions, the panel was informed that -

(a)         minute 5 (1) a report on young people representation to the panel.  A report would be submitted to the next panel meeting for consideration.  This item is now complete;

(b)         minute 5 (2) the Chair will be meeting with Kate Taylor and Jake Paget on 27 July 2010 to receive feedback from their experiences on the scrutiny panel;

(c)         minute 6 (1) and (2) the Democratic Support Officer and Lead Officer to look at the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel terms of reference.  A copy of the terms of reference to be emailed to each panel member for feedback, prior to submission to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board;

(d)         minute 12 (1) the panel delegated authority to the Lead Officer in consultation with the chair and vice chair to review the work programme in further detail.  This item is now complete;

(e)         minute 12 (2) the deadline for this resolution has now passed.  A letter from the Chair will be sent to the responsible officer to follow up this outstanding resolution;

(f)           minute 12 (3) the Chair asked the panel for feedback on the induction packs;

(g)         minute 12 (4) the Chair met with the Director of Services for Children and Young People with regard to a Children Services workshop for panel members.  The panel agreed to look at the induction packs and feedback the topics they would like covered at the workshop.

With regard to feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 30 June 2010, the panel were informed that a briefing note would be circulated to panel members to facilitate good management of the meeting.

Agreed that the briefing note on feedback from Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to be circulated to panel members outside the meeting.

The Panel to receive a report on young persons engagement with scrutiny.

Sarah Heffernan, Senior Youth Support Project Worker and Karl Sweeney, Adviser for Citizenship, PSHEE & Healthy Schools submitted a report on Young Person’s Engagement with Scrutiny.  It was reported that –

(a)         over the past two years, two young people were co-opted to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel.  The panel were now looking at extending this engagement to a wider pool of young people;

(b)         it is a good idea to broaden the base of representation of engagement of young people with the panel.  The City Youth Council is a very new group and has now met four times with a constitutional link with the UK Youth Parliament and Plymouth Youth Cabinet;

In response to questions, it was reported that –

(c)         approximately 25 schools across the city attend the City Youth Council;

(d)         14 young people voluntarily put themselves forward for the Youth Cabinet and meet on a weekly basis.  Two members of the Youth Cabinet and UK Youth Parliament attend the City Youth Council.  As it is held during school times, we have to be mindful that students schooling will always be the first priority;

(e)         the City Youth Council meetings are minutued and circulated via email to all schools that attend the City Youth Council meeting;

(f)           the UK Youth Parliament workers have explored different ways of engaging young people in voting, budgets for this is a problem.

Agreed that –

(1)               information be provided to the panel on the breakdown of schools that attend the City Youth Council and geographical spread;

(2)               the budget is revisited to enable more young people to participate in the Youth Parliament elections in their schools to enable a proper democratic process to take place for young people;

(3)               Active Citizenship is a curriculum entitlement for all and is promoted throughout Plymouth’s schools.  This has at its core understanding the democratic process, acquiring political literacy and taking informed and responsible action;

(4)               the Children and Young People Representatives on the Scrutiny panel comprise one member of the UK Youth Parliament and one member to be elected from either the Plymouth Youth Cabinet or the City Youth Council, these being the forums with the broadest electoral base and/or levels of relevant experience;

(5)               the above representatives hold their posts for one year and help to mentor their successors;

(6)               the panel recommends that Routeways are commissioned to undertake a review of Children and Young People engagement over the autumn, bringing their findings back to the scrutiny panel in January 2011.

The Panel will be provided with an update on allocation of school places.

The School Organisation and Pupil Access Manager submitted a briefing note on allocation of school places this was noted by the panel.

To receive a presentation on legislative changes.

Colin Moore, Assistant Director for Services for Children and Young People (Lifelong Learning) gave a presentation to the panel on legislative changes.  Legislative changes will be a standing agenda item.

In response to questions, it was reported that -

(a)                 a dialogue with schools is required on what governors feel is of value from the local authority on how resources are allocated;

(b)                 research has shown that extended services can impact on a child.  Extended schools as a strategy is about enabling groups to make better use of the community resource and hopefully this will continue;

(c)                 there is a reform of the current inspection framework and for many schools will mean less inspections.

Agreed that in future words should be in full and that reports and presentations should only contain abbreviations where the meaning was clear, for example, Building Schools for the Future (BSF).

The Panel will receive an update on the building schools for the future programme.

Gareth Simmons, Programme Director for Learning Environments submitted a briefing paper on Building Schools for the Future (BSF).  It was reported that –

(a)               on the 5 July 2010 all BSF projects were that had not reached financial closure were immediately halted;

(b)               in Plymouth the two academies Marine Academy Plymouth and All Saints Academy have been told that their building projects are for discussion between the sponsors and the Department of Education.  The rebuilding of Stoke Damerel was not now taking place and the new science laboratories for Lipson and provision of ICT facilities at Woodview had been cancelled;

(c)               Plymouth City Council has replaced 12% of school buildings in the last decade.  However there were a lot of schools with children learning in a poor environment;

(d)               all capital investment is being reviewed;

(e)               the local authority do not have any school buildings that are unsafe.  Condition statements on schools are undertaken on a 5 year cycle and identify any urgent work to be carried out.  All priority one work is dealt with by schools with their devolved capital;

(f)                 primary schools are facing capacity issues due to an increase in the birth rate combined with city growth;

(g)               prioritisation across the city remains in raising attainment in our poorest communities;

(h)               whilst there is not a linear relationship between good school learning environments and good results, high quality learning environments attract good teachers

Agreed that the panel receive a further BSF update in November when the national picture is more clearly established.

If relevant, to receive an update from Corporate Parenting Group, Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, Children’s Trust and LSP Theme Groups.

There were no items from partner organisations to update to the panel.

The Panel will consider its work programme for 2010/11.

The panel considered its work programme for 2010/11.

Agreed that –

            (1)       the key recommendations from the Budget and Corporate Plan Scrutiny 2010 for Children Services to be incorporated into tracking resolutions;

            (2)       the panel take part in a two-day Task and Finish Group in September focusing on the provision and support for Young Carers in the city;

(3)       the provisional October meeting to be changed to a business meeting. This meeting will focus on the budget for children services in line with the comprehensive spending review.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) … of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.

The panel were then escorted on a tour of Lipson Community College and had the opportunity to meet with staff and students.