Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interests made.

There were no members of the public present.

The minutes of the Children and Young People Select Committee dated 22^nd June 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Context:

 

To scrutinise the 2016/17 performance information under the remit of the Children and Young People Select Committee, this includes:

 

·                Reporting back on how well the Authority performed against the objectives which the previous Council set for 2016/17.

 

·                Information on how the Authority performed against a range of nationally set measures for Children’s Social Services used by all councils in Wales.

 

Key Issues:

 

The Council currently has an established performance framework, this is the way in which the Authority translates its vision - building sustainable and resilient communities - into action and ensures that everyone is pulling in the same direction to deliver real and tangible outcomes. 

 

Over the coming years the shape of public services in Wales is likely to change significantly influenced by two very significant pieces of Welsh legislation, The Well-being of Future Generations Act and The Social Services and Well-being Act, as well as financial pressures, demographic changes, changes in customer needs and expectations and regulatory and policy changes. Services need to continue to think more about the long-term, work better with people and communities, look to prevent problems before they arise and take a more joined-up approach.

 

The Council has recently completed two substantial assessments of need as a result of this legislation. This information has provided a much deeper evidence base of well-being in the County and, as required by the Future Generations Act, this has been used to produce the Council’s well-being objectives and statement 2017.

 

The shift in focus in the well-being objectives means that activities will need to be focused on longer term challenges at a community level rather than some of the internal process issues and outputs that could sometimes be found in its predecessor, The Improvement Plan. When dealing with more complex societal challenges it will take longer for measurable change to come about and longer still to be able to evidence those changes in a meaningful way. In the short-term there will continue to be milestones that can be used to track the Authority’s improvement journey. This will be supported by a range of performance reports select committee can request as part of its work programme and the structure of performance reports received by committee will be revised to reflect this emphasis.

 

Appendix 2 of the report sets out performance achieved in 2016/17 against the actions and performance measures approved by Council in May 2016 as part of its Improvement Plan. As well as being presented to select committees the objectives will be included alongside a further evaluation of performance in 2016/17 that will be reported to Council and published by October 2017. The Welsh Government has recently consulted on plans to repeal the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 which means this is likely to be the final plan and report in this format. 

 

Appendix 3 of the report provides a report card on Children’s Social Services performance in 2016/17. This presents data from the new measurement framework introduced in 2016/17 as part of the Social Services and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

We resolved to appoint County Councillor M. Groucutt to represent the Children and Young People Select Committee on the Schools Budget Forum.

Context:

 

A ‘planned approach’ to Scrutiny Forward Work Programming is required in order to maximise the effectiveness and added value of scrutiny activity, ensuring focus upon topics of the highest priority for the Council and those which reflect the public interest.

 

Key Issues:

 

Work programme discussion meetings have taken place between the Chair of the Select Committee and the relevant chief officers for education and social services and the following topics had been highlighted which might require scrutiny:

 

·         Children’s Services Improvement Programme ~ workforce strand, Young People’s Accommodation, Needs of Looked After Care Children and Care Leavers, National Fostering Framework.

 

·         Regional Integrated Autism Service.

 

·         Corporate Parenting Strategy.

 

·         Budget Pressures within services.

 

·         Mental Health and Learning Disabilities.

 

·         Delivery of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014 requirements.

 

·         Discussion with ‘Engage 2 Change’ Youth Forum on their priorities.

 

·         Additional Learning Needs Reforms.

 

·         School Attainment.

 

Member Scrutiny:

 

The following topics were identified by Select Committee Members for scrutiny:

 

·         Update on the Successful Futures report.

 

·         Update on schools’ progress.

 

·         Children’s mental Health / counselling service, obesity in Children and anorexia – These are some of the topics that will be presented to the Select Committee via the Children’s Wellbeing report.

 

·         Young Carers and the Youth Council.

 

·         Multi agency care and planning regarding the support provided to Syrian refugees, in particular the children that have moved into Monmouthshire. There is the potential to undertake some joint work with the Strong Communities Select Committee regarding this matter.

 

The following topics were identified by the Chief Officer for Children and Young People:

 

General Reporting:

 

·         Additional Learning Needs (ALN) – Review and provision / ALN Bill / Readiness and training.

 

·         Schools – quality indicators from new inspection framework / EIB and Intervention Monitoring.

 

·         Performance – outcomes at end of key stages / groups / attendance / exclusion.

 

·         Pressures.

 

·         Self Evaluation Reports (SER) updates at agreed points.

 

·         Inclusion updates – wellbeing / attitudes to learning / pupil voice.

 

·         Non-maintained / Early Years – provision / outcomes / childcare offer.

 

·         National Categorisation / Estyn outcomes / Progress towards addressing recommendations.

 

·         Post 16 education provision / Engagement and progression.

 

Annual update:

 

·         Welsh Education Achievement Plan (WESP).

 

·         Childcare sufficiency Audit.

 

·         Play Sufficiency Audit.

 

Member Seminar:

 

·         New Estyn framework.

 

Additional:

 

·         External Reference Group.

 

The following topics were identified by the Head of Children’s Services:

·         Update on the Improvement Plan for Children’s Services.

 

 

Committee’s Conclusion   The Chair thanked Select Committee Members and officers for submitting the topics for consideration by the Select Committee.   We resolved to adopt the process outlined in the report to develop the Select Committee work programme, taking into account:   ·         The responsibility to scrutinise performance and key risks in order to provide effective challenge to the Council’s Executive;   ·         The duty to scrutinise wider public services provided to Monmouthshire residents as a result of powers afforded to them through the Local Government Measure;   ·         Capacity / resources when prioritising topics for scrutiny and agreeing their inclusion into the work programme.

 

 

 

We received and noted the list of actions that had been completed arising from the Children and Young People Select Committee meeting held on 22^nd June 2017.

We received and noted the Select Committee’s forward work plan.

We received the Council and Cabinet Business Forward Work Plan and noted its content.

Thursday 14^th September 2017 at 10.00am.

The next meeting of the Children and Young People Select Committee will be held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Usk, on Thursday 14^th September 2017 at 10.00am.