Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Rita Potter, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public. Cllr Potter advised that she was not expecting any exempt or restricted items on the agenda. A recording of the meeting would be available for viewing on the Council’s website at a future date

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

Cllr Potter explained the protocol to be followed during the meeting for asking questions and reminded everyone that microphones should be muted and cameras off unless they have been invited to speak.

Apologies were received from the following member(s) of the panel:

Cllr Asha Mattu

Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 10.

[To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2021 as a correct record]

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2021 be approved as a correct record.

[To approve the minutes of the meeting of 6 January 2022 as a correct record]

The panel agreed the following amendments to the draft minutes 6 January 2022

1.     To note that due to a technical fault panel members taking part via Microsoft Teams and also the public were not able to hear or add to the discussion in the meeting room. A separate meeting was arranged for panel members to be briefed by the Deputy of Director of Education on the main points of the presentation.

2.     The panel endorsed the procurement of preferred IT solution to enable collaborative electronic EHC plan process and the other proposed improvements to the wider IT platforms and the website.

4.     The attendance list to be amended to show the Cllr Burden took part via Microsoft Teams.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 January 2022, subject to the agreed changes, be approved,  as a correct record.

[This item is being considered as pre-decision scrutiny and will therefore not be available for Call-in once a decision has been made by the Executive].

[Rachel King, Head of Service, and Steven Larking, Commissioning Manager, to present report]

The Chair invited Rachel King, Service Manager, to present the report to the panel. 

The Service Manager advised the panel that the presentation will give an overview of the work done to develop options to create a new restorative practice, multi-agency children homes in Wolverhampton. The proposals will be presented to Cabinet Resources Panel on 23 February 2022 for discussion and approval of the draft recommendations. 

The Service Manager outlined the background to the proposals. A residential review started in July 2021 led by the Children’s Commissioning Team to initially look at the sufficiency of residential placements for children and young people with complex care needs.  

The Service Manager added that there is a small cohort of vulnerable young people with very complex needs who the Council have not always been able to find suitable placements. The Council has a statutory duty to ensure that are enough residential places to meet the needs of such young people. The service aims wherever possible to make sure that children are placed either with foster care or with connected family members before this option is considered. Residential placements in children’s homes are regulated through the Ofsted inspection framework.

The Service Manager advised the panel that the number of children needing specialist support has reduced every year.  The Service Manager added that in response to concerns about the findings from national reviews about the growth of private residential care home providers, the quality and cost of provision and the barriers to the new providers entering the market the Council decided to look at different options for meeting the needs of young people needing a residential placement.

The Service Manager advised the panel that a Residential Review Project Group was set up to develop the options detailed in the report. 

The Service Manager outlined the merits of the different options proposed by the group as detailed in the report. 

The group recommended that Option 5 (to continue using spot purchases and framework placements alongside the establishment of a new restorative practice, multi-agency home within the City.) was the preferred option. The Service Manager commented that this option would help to build strong working relationships with key providers of external provision and support some internal provision.

The Service Manager advised the panel that the report will be presented to Cabinet Resources Panel on 23 February 2022 to approve the recommended option and the allocation of £35,000 to develop an overall business case. A further report would be presented to Cabinet Resources Panel in June 2022 for consideration and approval.

The panel were invited comment on the report and the proposal to recommend supporting Option 5 as detailed in the main report.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report and welcomed the focus on offering restorative practice to young people to help break the cycle of behaviour, which is often generational. The panel support combining Option 1 and Option 4 into Option 5 as it will maintain flexibility and provide a long-term solution to the issues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Darren Martindale, Service Manager, to present report]

The Chair invited Darren Martindale, Service Manager, to present the report. The Service Manager outlined the structure of the Virtual School Head Annual Report 2021 and explained that the presentation would focus on five key themes. 

The Service Manager commented on the profile of children and young people in care or previously care covered by the report.

The Service Manager highlighted the educational achievements and the progress of children, young people in care and the efforts made by schools and the local authority and partners to support them. The Service Manager commented on the school Oftsed ratings attended by children and young people care and reported that 85 per cent of children are attending schools rated as either Good (69%) or Outstanding (16%) which is in line with what was expected and an improvement on the previous year’s results. The Service Manager added that some of the schools are awaiting outcomes of inspections by Oftsed which could affect the results.

The Service Manager commented that one percent of children and young people are in schools rated by Oftsed as being ‘Inadequate’ and explained the reasons for this could be that either the rating of the school was changed following an inspection, or a judgement was made that at the time it would not be in the child’s best interest to move them to a different school.

The Service Manager reassured the panel that every effort is made to ensure that children and young people are attending the best educational provision that is available to them.

The Service Manager explained that it is a statutory requirement of local authorities to have an update Personal Education Plans (PEP) for children and young people in care. The Service Manager gave a breakdown of the PEP completion rates at the end of June 2021. The Service Manager advised the panel that an estimated 80 per cent of children and young people in care have an up-to-date completed PEP based on the monthly analysis of the figures.

The Service Manager commented on the findings based on an audit of 235 PEP plans which reported that 84 percent had SMART targets, an increase of three per cent compared to the figures for 2020.There are ongoing efforts to make sure that all children have a quality PEP. The Service Manager commented that attendance at schools for children in care overall remain high and the aim is to see a slow incremental improvement every year.

The Service Manager commented on the work done to monitor attendance by Virtual Schools team by all children and young people, with half-termly reports being checked, and action taken where issues have been highlighted. The Service Manager commented about the concerns about the level of persistent absence (pupils with less than 90% attendance) after schools re-opened on 8 March 2022. 

The Service Manager commented on the challenges presented by Covid 19 and the range of work being done to promote good school attendance. The figures nationally for school attendance report similar results as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Phil Leivers, Head of Education Excellence, to present report]

The Chair invited Councillor Dr Mike Hardacre, Cabinet for Education, Skills and Work, to make some introductory comments on the report. The Cabinet Member advised the panel that because of the changes made to the exam assessment arrangements it will not be possible to compare current educational performance with previous years.

The Cabinet Member commented on the extent of the disruption to children’s educational because of the pandemic and added that this should be considered when future reports on educational performance are presented to the panel.

The Cabinet Member commented on the important role of school governing as they are responsible for the vision and strategic direction of the school, the proper and effective use of the school's financial resources among other responsibilities. The Cabinet Member highlighted the limited ability of the local authority to intervene where there are concerns about the performance of academies and this should be noted when commenting on the report findings.

The Chair invited Brenda Wile, Deputy Director Education, to present the detailed report to the panel. The Deputy Director of Education commented that the performance of schools in 2020 and 2021 should be seen in the context of the impact of measures introduced in response to Covid 19 during this period.

The Deputy Director of Education commented on the different periods when schools were either closed or pupils attending had to meet specific criteria during the pandemic and advised the panel that they were only reopened fully in March 2021. The majority of pupils were either educated at home or taught remotely prior to this period.

The Deputy Director of Education commented that the number of Covid 19 cases in school remain high and is most prevalent amongst young people, which has significantly impacted on their education, during the last few weeks. There are signs however that the situation is improving but some schools have reintroduced remote learning for some groups were there was insufficient staff available either because they tested positive or were isolating. 

The Deputy Director of Education praised the response of teachers and schools in providing remote learning opportunities and commented on how well children embraced and adapted to different ways of learning. The Deputy Director of Education commented on how some children has benefited from the experience of remote learning and added that this will help them become more flexible learners in the future. The learning from providing remote teaching during the pandemic will also enable schools to offer support for children who cannot attend school due to health or other reasons.

The Deputy Director of Education advised the panel that the DfE suspended all public examinations and assessments for the 2019 2020 academic year, and last year, replaced GCSE and A levels with teacher assessed grades.

The Deputy Director of Education advised the panel that safeguarding inspections were maintained if concerns were raised.

The Deputy Director of Education advised the panel that report does not contain individual school level results as the information legally can only be published if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

[Cllr Collinge, Vice Chair, to present briefing]

The Chair invited Cllr Collinge to give the panel an update on the visit to The Way in October 2021. 

Cllr Collinge referred to the notes from the visit and advised the panel that the presentation would provide an update on issues highlighted at the time. Cllr Collinge recommending panel members should take the opportunity to visit The Way to see the facilities and meet the young people. 

Cllr Collinge commented on the range of facilities and the current offer to children and young people and highlighted the services offered to children and young people with special needs. Cllr Collinge briefed the panel on the range issues discussed with the Chief Executive of The Way, for example, the gap in provision for young people aged 13 to 14 years and the different figures for usage of the site based on an analysis of postcode as areas of concern. Cllr Collinge welcomed the response to the Chief Executive and the changes made to address these and other issues.

Cllr Collinge commented on the safety concerns of some parents travelling to The Way and wanting to have access to local facilities where possible. Cllr Collinge commented on the opportunities for partnership and outreach work to build on the services offered by The Way.

The panel thanked Cllr Collinge for the presentation.

The panel queried the postcode data which suggested higher numbers of young people were willing to travel The Way in post codes WV11 and WV10 compared to areas closer to the site but with lower numbers attending. The panel suggested that the reasons for this should be investigated further. The panel suggested the review should also include membership compared to levels of attendance.

The panel discussed the possible impact of Covid -19 on future attendance numbers 

The panel commented that the venue also hosts work coaches from the Job Centre and members of Wolves at Work and the positive feedback from young people to have a neutral space to talk about employment opportunities.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the presentation.

[Earl Piggott-Smith,Scrutiny Officer, to present report]

The Chair invited, Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report.

The Scrutiny Officer briefed the panel on the agenda for the next meeting. The meeting would focus on safeguarding issues. The panel were invited to comment on the draft report.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.