Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors P. Clarke, M. Hickman, D.W.H. Jones, Co-opted Member Mr. C. Robertshaw and Chief Officer for Children and Young People S. McGuiness.

There were no declarations of interest.

•           Present final results:

-           Welsh Government National Tests

-           Foundation Phase

-           KS2

-           KS3

-           Provisional KS4 and KS5

-           Specific groups – FSM/non FSM and ALN pupil results

•           Present Quarter 2 education framework measures

Context:

We received the report from the Data Analyst, Policy and Performance in order to provide Members with the latest data showing educational attainment information they need to hold services to account.

Key Issues:

Some data, such as key stage 4 and 5 results were still provisional and were included at this early stage to ensure that Members had access to timely information at the earliest possible opportunity but the information may be subject to change.

The dashboard shown at appendix one brought together key indicators for attendance, exclusion, attainment and use of resources.  This would enable Members to see, at a glance, the progress being made towards improving educational attainment, one of the Council’s four stated priorities. Dashboards for all directorates available to elected members throughout the year via The Hub.

The reports contained a wealth of information enabling Members to drill down from authority level data to figures for specific learner groups such as those with additional learning needs and those eligible for free school meals.

The summary report made comparisons back to 2011/12 which was the academic year just prior to the last full Estyn inspection. Data for the intervening years is included within the appendices. Over the last four years, there had been a notable improvement in headline indicators. For example more than 90% of pupils now gain the expected level or better across the core areas of learning in Foundation Phase and English/Welsh, mathematics and science in Key Stages 2 and 3.

The value of this report is that it enables members to look beyond those high level measures to some of the detail that sits underneath. The key messages from those reports were summarised to Members.

Member Scrutiny:

Members were keen to note the considerable achievement demonstrated by the figures, showing the fruits of the hard work of pupils, teachers and all associated with our schools.

There were concerns that performance at Key Stage 5 was disappointing and questions were raised if there were problems identified at this stage.  In response the Challenge Advisor, EAS agreed with the point and explained that appendix b highlighted helpful points.  It was thought that the reduction of pass rate was in relation to a reduction in the size of cohort and entry policies rather than a significant decline.  The pass rate had actually increased from 1.99% A Levels achieved last year to 2.29% this year.

We heard from the Cabinet Member that a meeting was due to be held that week with Head Teachers and Chairs of Governors to discuss outcomes with schools and feedback would be provided to the Committee.

A Member suggested that a separate chart for vocational courses could avoid reducing figures.  We were informed that the level 3 threshold currently included both and the measure was under review with Welsh Government, with a broader basket of measures coming in.  EAS were investigating the setting up of a system for schools to set targets for their pupils, to ensure pupils were in the right  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

·         Scrutiny of the Integrated Youth Offer Annual Report

Context:

We received a report presented by the Strategic Partnership Manager and Youth and Community Manager in order to advise Members on progress and achievements made by Monmouthshire’s Integrated Youth Offer group.

Key Issues:

The Local Service Board has formally delegated its statutory responsibilities for delivering Youth Support Services to the Integrated Youth Offer.

The Integrated Youth Offer has formed part of a full review of partnerships undertaken in 2014/15.  The review has found the Integrated Youth Offer has governance arrangements that are clear and purposeful.  The Integrated Youth Offer is fit for purpose and its actions and outcomes are aligned to the Single Integrated Plan.  The action plan is robust and demonstrates impact.

The continued work of the Integrated Youth Offer group has led to reduced duplication and improved focused delivery of services to young people.

Key findings from the mapping exercise carried out in the summer of 2014 have been analysed and used to inform priorities and develop future work programmes.

Collectively all youth support services as part of the IYO have worked with 14,500* young people between the ages of 11-25 in 14/15.

The IYO has clear Safeguarding protocols and hold a database of all members of IYO group for DBS clearance that is current and valid.

The IYO has gathered intelligence from partners to feed into the Single Integrated Plan to provide clear evidence on outcomes achieved.

Both Chief Officer and Cabinet Member for Children and Young People attend and receive information quarterly on the work of the Integrated Youth Offer.

Member Scrutiny:

Members commended Officers for the report and welcomed the case studies included. 

We heard that the key contacts in the report outlined the Chairs of the seven sub groups included in the Integrated Youth Offer.  Officers were mindful of the workload pressures on all agencies but were continually encouraging all members to take an active part.  It was noted that the Health Board had been absent from more than one meeting and continual negotiations aimed to encourage attendance from the health Board. There were health representatives but not always direct representatives of ABUHB.  Members felt that Council should be able to assist with encouraging ABUHB.

The Strategic Partnership Manager agreed that representation of partners could fluctuate, which had been recognised through a review process.  Part of a Performance Management Group tackled issues and challenges faced by partnerships.  Such issues were logged on a register as part of an escalation process, and then taken to the LSB Programme Board where membership issues could be addressed formally.

Members were reassured that in all Youth Support Services, every member of staff were DBS checked and held a minimum requirement of level 1 safeguarding. Copies of partners safeguarding policies were available upon request.

Members commended the linkage between employment and education but there were concerns that the facilities seemed disproportionate to some areas of Monmouthshire, for instance Magor and Undy.  There were concerns that the local public transport did not provide adequate services.  Officers were mindful  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Context:

We received a report to provide members with information and analysis regarding the safeguarding of children and young people. Comprehensive strategic and operational information was provided via a suite of three cross referenced report.

Key Issues:

Safeguarding children and young people is a key responsibility for the Council.  These duties apply to all officers and Members of Council and include the specific child protection duties carried out via Children’s Services.

In November 2012 Estyn carried out an inspection of the Local Authority and found that the arrangements for safeguarding were unsatisfactory.  A monitoring visit in February 2014 found that whilst the Local Authority had made some good initial progress the shortcomings identified in the strategic management of safeguarding had not been addressed well enough. This judgement was echoed by a Welsh Audit Office inspection in March 2014. It was partly as a result of this that the current suite of reports were commissioned to ensure that Members had access to comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the state of safeguarding in Monmouthshire.

CSSIW carried out inspections of Monmouthshire Children’s Services in April and November 2014. Whilst confirming that children involved in the child protection process were safeguarded, CSSIW did identify some key deficits and areas for improvement including the consistency and quality of management oversight within Children’s Services and the effective embedding of performance management and quality assurance arrangements.

Estyn Inspectors will be carrying out a further inspection of the authority in November 2015. The focus will be on how the authority has responded to the recommendations following the November 2012.

Member Scrutiny:

Members questioned if we were satisfied that other agencies were as committed to safeguarding as MCC.  In response we heard that it was difficult to provide a generalised answer due to the number of agencies involved. Assurance was provided that the Regional Safeguarding Children’s Board was a statutory body which sought to hold statutory partners to account.

Detail on the strengthening between the Regional Safeguarding Board and the Council would be brought to a future meeting if requested.

Members questioned why it was not the case that everyone had access to safe recruitment training.  We were informed that the target areas were recruiting managers who were recruiting into regulated posts.  All recruiting managers were encouraged to attend training as good practice.

Safeguarding Officers were aiming to create a central register of people who had undertaken the training, where each directorate would be held responsible for their own area. Safe Recruitment Safe Workforce Champions had been appointed in each directorate in order to take this forward.

It was questioned if we were strict enough with our ruling, and should we increase benchmarking.  In terms of schools, we noted there were many people involved with schools and were we satisfied that people were fully DBS checked.  In response we heard that there was a set criteria for regulated activity. An MCC employee appointed to a regulated activity post would not be able to start until the DBS certificate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

We confirmed the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday 12^th November 2015 at 2.00 pm.

We noted that there would be joint meeting of Children and Young People Select and Adult Select Committees to discuss partnership work with families on Tuesday 15^th December 2015 at 2.00 pm.