Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) and Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Educations, Skills and Apprenticeships) introduced the item and highlighted the following key points:  

a)    Plymouth processed 2,848 referrals in the 12 months to March 2025, down from 3,879 the previous year. Re-referral rates increased to 26.9%, indicating families needed more sustained support;

b)    361 children were subject to child protection plans, equating to 69.5 per 10,000which was significantly higher than national and statistical neighbor averages;

c)    530 children were in care at the end of March 2025, up from 513 in 2024. 44.2% were placed outside Plymouth, with 13% living outside Devon and Cornwall.Efforts were underway to develop local fostering capacity and residential provision to reduce out-of-area placements;

d)    7% of care experienced young people were in unsuitable accommodation, lower than national and regional averages but still required improvement; 

e)    90.8% of Plymouth schools were rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, with primary schools at 94.2% and secondary schools above the national average; 

f)     School absence rates remained above national levels at 7.9%, with persistent absence affecting 18.8% of pupils. Children with special educational needs faced 38.2% persistent absence.A place-based plan was being developed to address transitions and early identification of at-risk pupils to reduce absence;

g)    46.3% of children achieved strong passes in English and Maths at GCSE, slightly above the national average. The average attainment eight score of 46.2% exceeded national and regional statistical neighbours averages showing strong academic progress; 

h)    92.3% of 16–17 year olds were in education, employment or training, with strong performance for young people with special educational needs at 91%;

i)     Supported internships and bespoke offers were provided to ensure vulnerable groups transitioned successfully to adulthood. 

In response to questions raised it was reported that:  

a)    Absences due to part-time timetables were still recorded as absences, in line with the Department for Education’s guidance. The ambition remained to reduce the number of part-time timetables across the city. Children that were on part-time timetables were actively tracked, with a particular focus on those open to social care. A fortnightly review process was launched to monitor children on part-time timetables for more than six weeks;

b)    The Council’s offer to young people seeking education employment or training was bespoke and aspirational, tailored to each young person’s needs, with successful examples such as Discovery College supporting transitions into employment; 

c)    Rob Williams (Tedd Wragg Trust) would be invited to a future scrutiny meeting to present the predictive risk model for attendance. Attendance was identified as a major concern requiring focused attention and grip.

Actions: 

1.    Data to be provided over a longer period of time on key highlights such as the numbers of children in care to factor in pre and post-COVID;

2.     A briefing for members of the Panel would be arranged on attendance which would include a Q&A session and more in-depth data around attendance. The briefing would also look to provide members of the Board with and understanding of the roles of local authority schools and multi-academy trusts in tackling attendance.