Agenda and minutes

County Councillor P. Jones declared a personal non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in relation to Item 6, as a governor of the school.

County Councillor L. Guppy declared a personal non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in relation to Item 6, as a governor of the school.

County Councillor P. Farley declared a personal non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in relation to Item 4, as a Chepstow Town Councillor.

Mr M. Fowlder declared a personal non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in relation to Item 6, as a parent governor at the school.

      i)        We confirmed and signed the minutes of the Special Children and Young People’s Select Committee meeting held on Thursday 2^nd November 2015.

     ii)        We confirmed and signed the minutes of the Children and Young People’s Select Committee meeting held on Thursday 12^th November 2015, subject to the following amendment:

Item 8 Performance Report on School Exclusions: duplication on Chairs summary:

Delete:

‘Members acknowledged the potential safeguarding issues in relation to unlawful school exclusions - given that young people would be outside of educational provision.

Members recognised that historic levels of primary fixed term exclusions in Monmouthshire were too high and that the Local Authority had allocated an additional resource in July 2012 to provide intervention to reduce levels of primary fixed term exclusions.

The Committee agreed that every effort was required to ensure interventions were working to ensure school exclusions were kept to a minimum and agreed to monitor this annually.’

The Committee welcomed Julian Davenne, Play Service Manager, Torfaen Council.

Context:

We were presented with the Play Opportunities Review report which provided members with further details on the proposed future delivery model for staffed play provision.

Key Issues:

The Children and Young People Select Committee considered the review of our current managed play provision (the summer play scheme) at its meeting on 12 November 2015 and it was agreed that the committee receive a further report setting out the proposed model (option 4 in the report by Torfaen Play Service) and specifically how safeguarding issues will be addressed.

The view is that the current provision is unsustainable on several grounds:

• The changes in the regulatory framework from Welsh Government and the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW), including more rigorous staff qualifications and training requirements and changes to the registration of childcare (especially for 8 - 12 year olds) from 1 April 2016

• The equality challenge of the differing treatment of children with disabilities in the current model

• The pressures in place as a result of reduced delivery capacity, including the financial pressures to meet income targets at leisure centres.

Delivery of the new model will depend on the result of current consultations with partners, most notably Town and Community Councils due to the reliance on their funding and the current review of Families First funding used to support the disability elements.

As a maximum, if funding is all secured, it will comprise:

·         full day inclusive sports camps run by Leisure Services at the four leisure centres for a minimum of 4 weeks of summer provision, utilising a well-established model, integrating activities for children with disabilities, where their individual assessment of need allows

·         8 inclusive play scheme sites in community venues across the County for the 4 weeks of summer provision run by Torfaen Play Service utilising the same model as current provision in Torfaen, integrating activities for children with disabilities, where their individual assessment of need allows

·         For the higher tier of children with disabilities with complex and challenging needs 4 weeks of summer provision provided by Torfaen Play Service at an inclusive venue, most likely Cwmbran Stadium

If funding is not secured from individual town and community councils the level of community play provision will vary; minimum provision being the inclusive sports camps at leisure centres supported by provision for the higher tier of children with disabilities. In addition there are already other opportunities available to Monmouthshire children including some schools in the county which also offer supervised play sessions in the summer holiday period. Depending on the funding made available the opportunity to work with existing venues to deliver the inclusive play schemes will also be explored.

Member Scrutiny:

·         The report identified that ‘as a mechanism of good practice Torfaen Play Service do not let any children under the age of 8 leave the site unless their parents/carer comes to collect them.  They adhere to the consent of parents/carers for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Context:

We received the proposed changes to the funding formula for schools which provided members with an update on the proposed changes to the school funding formula and provided members with details of any consultation responses received in relation to these proposals.

Paper 1: Threshold funding for Teaching staff, Top up funding for Primary schools and funding for Free School Meals.

Key Issues:

The School Budget Forum agreed to review the formula every year and to look at potential changes to ensure the formula remains up to date and to ensure that it continues to distribute funding in the fairest way.

Following the establishment of a working group, with requested representatives from all groups of schools, this consultation document sets out the areas that are to be considered for implementation for the financial year 2016-17.

The areas to be considered are:

·         Threshold Funding

·         Top Up Funding

·         Free Primary School Meals

Threshold funding is for schools with employees on the Upper Pay Scale (UPS). It is currently a large administrative burden to determine the required funding each year as schools are required to provide details of all staff on UPS and determine if they will be eligible to increase in September. Also due to the changes in teachers’ pay and conditions, if a teacher applies to increase more than one point and is successful the school currently would not have the funding for that financial year and vice versa, schools who have accelerated teachers and have been funded will reduce funding available to other schools.

Top up funding is for Primary Schools only, it is additional funding to support the funding for a teacher generated by pupil numbers. For example 91 pupils in Key Stage 2, would fund the school for four teachers. We see large differences with the level of funding year on year, for example if a school suddenly has 31 pupils, this would generate funding for 2 teachers, however it is likely that the school will arrange mixed classes and therefore an additional teacher would not be required.

Primary Schools currently receive funding for free school meals, this is an historical factor in the formula and the cost of free school meals is not passed to the school.

Member Scrutiny:

• A question was raised whether there was a possibility, with Welsh Government guidelines, to increase class size and for an additional staff member be appointed.  Officers confirmed that in terms of funding, a class of 40 would have 2 teachers provided, however, one or two additional pupils may be accommodated without an extra teacher.  There is a degree of reasonableness and regulations allow exceptions, the expectation is that the class size would be manageable.
• Members were reassured that the main focus is for the best education to be provided to pupils.
• The committee recognised that 9 responses were received to the questionnaire and whether this was an appropriate basis for proposals.  The committee were reminded that elected members were included and a review was undertaken every year.  Responses  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Context:

The committee were presented with the quarter 2 performance data for the Improvement Objective and Outcome Agreement themes which are under the remit of the Children and Young People Select Committee:

Improvement Objective 1: We will improve at all key stages of education

Outcome Agreement Theme 1: Improving school attainment

Outcome Agreement Theme 3: Poverty and material deprivation

Outcome Agreement Theme 5: Improving early years’ experiences

The report presented the half year performance against key national performance indicators that are under the committee’s remit (Appendix C).

Key Issues:

Improvement Objectives are set annually by the Council through the Improvement Plan to deliver on council wide priorities. Despite that the objectives focus on the long term, the specific activities are focused on the year ahead.

Activities on some objectives cut across Select Committee remits and so these will be reported to all relevant committees. Therefore members are asked to target their scrutiny on the activities relevant to this committee.

Improvement Objectives are also evaluated at the end of each year based on the council’s self-evaluation framework and are reported retrospectively through the Stage 2 Improvement Plan published in October each year. Performance for 2015/16 will be reported in October 2016.

Member scrutiny:

• The committee welcomed the clarity and detail within the report. 
• Clarification was requested regarding when final data would be available regarding school categorisation, we were informed that new moderation would take place in January and national categorisation had been completed.  Wales, region and Monmouthshire County Council data would be presented in the near future.
• Members agreed that an item should be added to the work programme, in relation to Flying Start, in order to gain an understanding of issues.
• Officers were invited to highlight any major concerns leading out of the report.  The issues identified particularly were levels of concern and a need to continue the focus on issues raised within the Estyn inspection now that the authority were hopeful of being removed from Special Measures. 
• The committee requested that when percentages were presented within a report, the numerical data was also provided.

Recommendations:

1.    Members scrutinised the performance achieved and impact made across these reporting elements.

2.    Members challenged any considered underperformance and concerns and sought assurance on future improvement from responsibility holders.

We received and noted the Children and Young People Select Committee work programme and Cabinet/Council forward plan.

We noted additional items:

• Play scheme provision model
• Flying start
• Mounton House school funding

Items for the next meeting (11^th February) identified as:

·         Estyn feedback

·         KS4 outcomes and quality assurance report, objectives of EAS

·         Public health wales – childhood obesity

·         Mounton house financial information

We were informed that items had been deferred, ALN and Adoption, these would be included on a future agenda, along with social care and well being for children.

The committee agreed that prior to being invited to the select committee, the Chair, Vice Chair and Scrutiny Manager would meet with Mounton House school and feedback to the committee. 

We noted the next Children and Young People’s Select Committee Meeting would be held on Thursday 11^th February 2016 at 10.00am.