Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from the following:

Cllr Dr Michael Hardacre

Cllr Lorna McGregor

Cllr Peter O’Neill

Cllr Mrs Wendy Thompson

Hadeel A Ahmad

Cllr Jasbinder Dehar and Cyril Randles declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 5 “End of stage outcomes – validated results from 2013/2014 academic year.”

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.]

The minute of meeting 14.1.15 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes.]

The Scrutiny Officer agreed to send out details of a draft schedule of work linked to the report Emotional and Psychological Well Being Services Strategy for Children and Young People 2013-2016.

[Alexandra Chilcot, Head of Standards and Vulnerable Pupils, will present key stage results from summer 2014 and outlines how Wolverhampton’s results compare with regional and national performance]

Alexandra Chilcott, Head of Standard and Vulnerable Pupils, gave a brief overview of the validated key stage results from 2013/14 academic year. Alexandra provided details of the how Wolverhampton’s education results compare with the regional and national comparators. Panel commented that that the overall education results were a good news story of Wolverhampton.

Cllr Hodgkiss suggested that the Panel look at each key stage outcome to give members the opportunity to make comments and or ask questions about the results.

Early Years Foundation Stage

No panel comments or questions.

Key Stage 1 validated results

The Panel commented on Wolverhampton’s performance and the progress from previous years.  The Head of Standard and Vulnerable explained the attainment results need to be considered with some caution as some comparator schools start their children much earlier than Wolverhampton. The Head of Standard and Vulnerable Pupils explained that the average statistical neighbour figure quoted should have been 55% and not 32.75% as quoted in the report.

The Panel commented on the impact of reduction in the early intervention grant and also the change from being a ring fenced budget on the results. Emma Bennett, Service Director, Children and Young People, explained that there was no reduction in Children Centre provision. The changes in the budget affected were background services rather than front line provision. Cllr Page commented that many of the services were also delivered in the community and not in Children Centres

Key Stage 2 validated results

The Panel commented positively on the results for key stage 2. Head of Standards and Vulnerable Pupils explained that there is an inspection that future results will show even better results, but there is currently a lag in OFSTED inspections. It is expected that following future inspections that Wolverhampton will move up the national local authority rankings tables.

Key Stage 4 validated results

The Panel queried the results for St Peter’s Collegiate  Church  of England school which showed that no children achieved 5 or more A* to C GCSE’s . The Head of Standards and Vulnerable Pupils explained that the reasons for the results and that secondary school advisor had been appointed to support schools with their curriculum development to avoid a repeat of the circumstances that led to this situation.

The Panel commented on the reasons for the number of schools with scores for english and mathematics below the England median figure. The Head of Standard and Vulnerable Pupils explained changes in assessment process which has affected school results following changes introduced by the Department for Education. For example, that BTEC results are no longer included in the count for five good GSCEs. The Panel comments on the merits of allowing children to sit exams early.

Cllr Page explained the local authority is only able to offer advice to schools on their curriculum and their work on going to maintain a positive working relationship with schools and academies. The local authority can if they have concerns about a school raise their concerns to the regional schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[Elaine O’Callaghan, FrF Programme Manager, will give a powerpoint presentation which gives an update on the FrF programme highlighting progress made and any barriers or challenges]

Emma Bennett, Service Director, Children and Young People, gave a brief overview of the families r first programme since the previous report in October 2014. Service Director described the key aims of the programme.  A key priority was to support families through early intervention work so that the right children were admitted into care. Service Director commented that there had been a slight decline in the numbers of looked after children.

Service Director explained that CP referred to are child protection cases and CIN are children in need cases.

Service Director explained the tiers of support available to families under the programme. The rate of children being admitted into care has slowed down. Based on previous trends before the programme it would have been expected that 80 more children would have been added to the list of looked after children, there has been a net gain of 10 children in the period since the introduction of the programme.

The Panel commented on the evidence that the improvements were as a result of the programme or other changes such as changes to personal. Service Director explained the gateway into the care system had been tightened and offers more challenge to social workers to look at alternative support arrangements rather than care.

Service Director explained the work being done with a data analyst which had provided detailed information about the profile and characteristics that will help to identify families at risk and provide appropriate support. The information will help the service to decide where to focus its resources by identifying risk factors. Service Director commented on the particular needs of young parents and the work done to offer them support and the discussions with different services to work together.

The Panel commented on the concerns about how the different agencies working with families manage the balance between meeting their own responsibilities to protect children and working together to provide support in a more co-ordinated way. Service Director explained the powers of the police to intervene and work being done to build confidence in their professionalism and trust about how best to manage risks.

Service Director commented on the benefits of multi-agency and the sharing of information to support targeted interventions before the situation escalates and this would require more intensive support.

Service Director outlined future plans for the programme.

The Panel congratulated on the LGiU Councillor Achievement Award to Cllr Gibson which was nominated for the success of the families r first programme.

The Panel commented on the increase in the number of children in placements and the numbers of children on full care orders.

Service Director commented on the link between deprivation and number of children admitted into care and the work done to look at the risk factors. Service Director gave details of a number of funded projects and support available and the importance of services working together. Service Director commented that would have look at the interventions to better to reduce the number of young people looked after in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Rachel King, Head of Service Early Help (5-18), will present a report detailing the role and remit and priorities of this new service area and how it has developed from the previous MAST structure.]

Rachel King, Head of Service, Early Help Service, gave a brief overview of the background to the new service model and the reasons for reorganising the service to achieve agreed savings and better services.

Head of Service explained the background to the introduction of MASTs and the changes made following a peer safeguarding review of the service. Head of Service outlined the new restructured service and the move from a child focus model to a family focused model of working.

Head of Service explained the introduction of new model of early help service to 5-18 is supported by the Troubled Families programme.  Head of Service outlined the achievements of the programme to date and plans for the phase of the programme. The next phase of the programme starts in April and has profile funding for the next five years. Wolverhampton has been guaranteed funding for 12 months and has a target for supporting 2840 families over the 5 year duration. Head of Service explained that local authorities will be able to suggest their own key performance indicators and will need to develop an Outcomes Plan. The measures will need to be agreed by the Department of Local Government.

The Panel welcomed the success of the programme and also report in detailing the progress. The Panel supported the focus in early intervention and targeted support.

Head of Service explained that a key part of the next phase of the programme is sharing knowledge and intelligence about families. This will involve looking at database and agreeing an information sharing protocol.

The panel commented on the reasons behind the achievement of 100% of payment by results in February 2015. Head of Service explained the work done to provide evidence of the work being done with families identified by the programme. Cllr Gibson commented on the difficulty in getting details of families and sharing the information.

The Head of Service commented on the target of engaging with 2840 families in the phase 2 of the programme starting in April 2015 and the work being planned to ensure the right families are targeted for support.The panel discussed the merits of payment by results schemes and the risks to the Council undertaking the work with no guarantee of payment.  The Head of Service explained the funding process for the scheme. Cllr Gibson commented on the work being planned to promote the programme with Head teachers.

Resolved

The panel welcomed the report. The panel welcomed a further progress report in 18 months to review progress

The meeting closed a 19:40