Present:-

Councillors Randall Johnson (Chairman), Barisic, Biederman, Connett, Dewhirst, Eastman, Hannaford, Hannan, Hone, Hosking, Mathews, Sanders and Squires

Additional Members for Educational Issues:-

Ms Fontana (Primary Parent Governor Representative) and Mrs Mabin (Church of England)

[Mrs Mabin attended for items up to and including Minute *103]

Members attending in accordance with Standing Order 25:-

Councillors Barker, Davis, Hart, McInnes and Parsons

Apologies:-

Councillors Rowe and Sellis

*96 Minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2015 be signed as a correct record.

*97 Mr M Gurrey

The Chairman welcomed Mr Mark Gurrey, Specialist Adviser for People s Scrutiny, to the meeting.

*98 Children s and Adults Standing Overview Groups (Minute *95(b)/17 March 2015)

The Chairman reported on the meetings of the Children s Standing Overview Group which had so far taken place and further meetings arranged for July and September 2015 focusing on the May 2015 Ofsted Report and Action Plan on the inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.

The Chairman also indicated that the Adults Standing Overview Group had held its first meeting in May 2015 and that further bi-monthly sessions were scheduled throughout the year.

*99 Children in Care - Virtual School

Educational Outcomes Task Group Final Report - Update on Recommendations (Minute *79/20 November 2014)

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Head of Education Learning (EL/15/2 - text only | supplementary information EL/15/2) on progress with implementing recommendations made by the Educational Outcomes Task Group on the County Council s responsibilities, role and functions in terms of the educational outcomes of children and young people and particularly Children in Care and other vulnerable groups.

The Report outlined work undertaken, or in hand, involving the following:

completing and launching a new Virtual School structure, appointing Mrs D Stabb as Headteacher and establishing a Board of Governors;

a more demanding and targeted approach towards Babcock LDP s input into the Virtual School;

promoting effective use of Pupil Premium;

providing more information for County Councillors as Corporate Parents on Children in Care;

ensuring that vulnerable children were not disadvantaged through school absence, part-time schooling and being outside mainstream schooling;

promoting employability for post 16s through the Place Scrutiny Committee s Young People and Employment Task Group.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

the roles of learning advocates and mentors;

Virtual School conference;

ways of involving young people (Virtual School pupils);

how County Councillors as Corporate Parents could support Children in Care;

sanctions for non-compliance regarding school attendance etc.

The Committee welcomed the progress which had been made on implementing the Educational Outcomes Task Group s recommendations.

RESOLVED that a Task Group be established to explore the provision to be made for care leavers in response to the inadequate judgement in the May 2015 Ofsted Report.

*100 Devon Education Performance 2014 - Review of Education Performance at all Key Stages across the County

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Head of Education Learning (EL/15/11 - text only | pdf EL/15/11) summarising the performance of Devon schools in the national tests and assessments at each Key Stage during 2014 and providing comparisons with regional and national outcomes.

The Report had identified the following strengths:

Devon children had made a good start to their education with 68% having attained a good level of development at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage compared to 60% nationally;

at the end of Key Stage 1 Devon pupils had continued to attain above national headlines in all subjects;

at the end of the primary phase of education (Key Stage 2) Devon pupils had consistently outperformed the national cohort in reading, writing and mathematics in headline measures;

by August 2014 Ofsted data had indicated that 86% of primary pupils in Devon attended a good or outstanding school;

and the following areas for improvement:

the percentage of Key Stage 4 pupils attaining 5 or more A* to C grades including English and mathematics;

reducing the achievement gap between children who received free school meals and their peers;

improving outcomes for Children in Care at all Key Stages.

The Report also drew attention to Ofsted statistics for 2014 which showed that 89% of Devon primary schools and 77% of Devon secondary schools had been judged good or better compared with 82% and 71% respectively nationally, and that Devon s ranking for primary and secondary inspection outcomes had improved compared with that for 2013.

The Report had concluded that the outcomes for Devon learners generally continued to compare favourably with those for other areas nationally, although further improvements were needed for the County Council to fulfil its aspiration to become one of the highest performing counties in England.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

work to support vulnerable pupils, including those in academies;

parental support for learning;

the publication of Excellence for All, the new Devon strategy for school effectiveness, replacing the Targeted Support and Intervention Programme, which would help in achieving the County Council s ambition for every Devon school to be judged as good or outstanding ;

the difficultly of maintaining good performance during secondary education;

from a philosophical point of view, whether the system resulted in an over-emphasis on examination results at the expense of helping to produce well-rounded , employable young people;

Devon s positive performance despite remaining one of the lowest funded authorities for education.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills referred to the recent increase in the authority s funding for education and to the continuing efforts to secure further improvements, and advised that he would be writing to all Devon Members of Parliament asking them to lobby the Government in support of the County Council s case for fairer funding for education in Devon.

*101 School Exclusions - Update on Data for Academic Year 2014/15

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Head of Education Learning (EL/15/10 - text only | pdf EL/15/10) on school exclusions for the academic year 2014/15 which covered permanent and temporary exclusions and managed transfers.

The Report had identified the following key strengths:

there had been no permanent exclusions for Children in Care which reflected the impact of the Eliminating Exclusions Protocol;

the percentage of fixed term exclusions had dropped over time with exclusion rates below those reported nationally by the Department for Education.

and the following areas for improvement:

while rates of permanent exclusion in Devon had decreased over the last three years, they had remained slightly higher than the national rates;

managed transfers had only been successful in around a third of cases, although they were far more successful where additional funding had been provided for sustained pupil support programmes;

encouraging all academies to sign up to the Eliminating Exclusions Protocol under which funding allocated to a permanently excluded pupil was transferred to their new school.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

the relatively low total number of permanent exclusions (44);

work being undertaken to persuade the five academies which had not signed up to the Eliminating Exclusions Protocol to do so;

reasons for boys and vulnerable children, including those with special educational needs and in receipt of free school meals, being more likely to be excluded;

the relatively high number of fixed term exclusions in the Barnstaple area;

the way in which the statistics were presented;

possible reasons for permanent exclusions which were not made lightly and only after significant intervention and support and taking into account the impact on the excluded pupil s school, other pupils and staff.

RESOLVED that the Educational Outcomes Task Group be reconvened for a discrete, time-limited piece of work reviewing school exclusions with a particular focus on issues relating to those academies which have not signed up to the Eliminating Exclusions Protocol.

*102 Internal Audit Monitoring Report 2014/15 (Minute *94/17 March 2014)

The Committee considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/15/45 - text only | pdf | supplementary information CT/15/45) summarising performance against the internal audit plan for 2014/15 for People s Services, highlighting the key audit work undertaken and providing an opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control environment for People s services to help inform the governance framework.

RESOLVED that the Report be further considered at the next meeting, particularly in relation to risks and issues arising from and the management response to the PLUSS (social care equipment) and charging for non-residential services reviews, in the light of additional information.

*103 Performance Report on People s Services

(Councillor Barker (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Health Services), Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) and Councillor Parsons (Cabinet Member for Performance Engagement) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee)

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Strategic Director, People (SCC/15/36 - supplementary information SCC/15/36) summarising progress, on a risk assessed, exception basis, on work being delivered by People s Services against Strategic Plan priorities for adult and children s social care services and Education and Learning to the end of the fourth quarter of 2014/15 (31 March 2015).

The Report covered the following:

Adults Services: assessment and review; personalisation; delayed transfers from hospitals to home care etc.; clients supported in residential/nursing care; reablement/rehabilitation services; and quality assurance of commissioned services;

Children s Services: Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) enquiries/assessment; Children in Need; Child Protection Plans; Children in Care; workforce date; early help; consistency of practice; leadership and management; and quality assurance of commissioned services;

Education and Learning: good and outstanding schools; Excellence for All new Devon strategy for school effectiveness; Early Years; Children s Centres inspections; Devon s NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) rates;

Risk Management.

It was acknowledged that while, overall, performance for adult social care had declined marginally this was partly attributable to changes to national indicators and it was anticipated that Devon s performance trend would be reflected in national statistics. Children s social care continued to focus on issues raised by the recent Ofsted inspection while Education and Learning outcomes remained good.

Members had identified a number of specific instances in the Report where the presentation of data or terminology used had not perhaps been as clear as it could have been inasmuch that, while it may have related to national benchmarking data, the absence of any comment on, or analysis of, figures could potentially create confusion and hinder the ability of the Committee to comment accurately thereon or draw appropriate, valid conclusions; such instances being the variations in the number of Children in Need, MASH referrals and placements within the Peninsula. The Heads of Service for Education Learning and Children s Social Work Service Child Protection acknowledged those points and the need to provide that additional contextual information in future presentations.

Additionally, other general points discussed with the Cabinet Members and officers included:

progress on recruiting more adult social workers;

work on reducing delayed transfers from hospitals (most of which were attributable to further, non-acute NHS care), expanding reablement/rehabilitation provision and the focus on prevention;

uncertainties about funding and the implications of the Care Act, 2014;

developing with partners a more personalised, holistic care model;

clarifying the position on quality assurance of adult care homes (Paragraph 4.2 - Quality Assurance of Commissioned Services);

delays in signing off Child Protection Plans (CPP), and the low number of case audits undertaken in respect of children subject to a CPP;

the high level of caseload variation across Children and Families teams in Devon.

*104 Parent Governors

(a) Maintained Secondary and Special Schools

The Committee noted that, in accordance with The Parent Governor Representatives (England) Regulations, 2001, nominations had been sought to fill the vacancy for a Parent Governor representative to serve on the People s Scrutiny Committee.

The Head of Scrutiny reported that no nominations had been received and that, in accordance with the Regulations, the vacancy would remain unfilled until 9 November 2015 when further nominations would be sought.

(b) Parent Governor Representation

The Committee considered the Report of the Head of Scrutiny (CS/15/10 - text only | pdf | supplementary information CS/15/10) on the appointment of Parent Governor representatives to local authority scrutiny committees dealing with education, arrangements for Parent Governor representation in Devon, the role of Parent Governor representatives and ways in which they could work.

RESOLVED that the Report be noted and endorsed, and that in the event that a Secondary/Special School Parent Governor representative is not nominated on the next occasion, the Cabinet be asked to consider the relevance/desirability of seeking Parent Governor representation for different categories of schools.

*105 People s Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Council/Cabinet Forward Plan

The Committee endorsed the Work Programme, subject to the inclusion of the following:

Care Leavers Task Group;

Joint Place and People Scrutiny Task Group on Cranbrook;

Child Sexual Exploitation (September 2015);

Internal Audit Monitoring Report 2014/15 (September 2015);

Educational Outcomes Task Group reconvening to review school exclusions and issues relating to those academies which have not signed up to the Eliminating Exclusions Protocol (Members report - September/November 2015).

Committee Members were invited to submit expressions of interest in serving on the Joint Task Group on Cranbrook.

*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT

The meeting started at 2.00pm and finished at 5.00pm

The Minutes of this Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-