Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting. The Scrutiny Officer will then read out a list of those invited to the meeting to confirm who is in attendance.]

Cllr Rita Potter, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public.

[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 process to be followed during the meeting for asking questions.

Apologies were received from the following member of the panel:

Cllr Rupinderjit Kaur

The following members of the panel declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 8.

Cllr Dr Michael Hardacre

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

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2022, subject to the agreed changes, be approved as a correct record.

The panel agreed the following amendment to minutes – Agenda 7  Youth and holiday offer in the City – page 5

"The holiday programme covered a period of ten weeks which included some of the school holidays. The Council contributed additional funding to cover the remaining weeks."

"During the Christmas and New Year period holiday activities were offered for part of this holiday period in response to parents' comments."

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to present report]

The Chair invited Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to present the report.

The Deputy of Director of Education outlined the background to the Written Statement of Action (WSOA) and to the establishment of the review group to monitor the progress. The Deputy Director of Education gave a summary of the progress against the actions that was presented to members of the Cross-Party Scrutiny Review Group on 13 December 2022.

The Deputy Direction of Education advised the panel that there is an 18-month period set by CQC to achieve the actions in the WSOA.

The Deputy Direction of Education advised the panel that a meeting of the review group was held in December 2022 following a second monitoring visit by the DfE and the Care Quality Commission.

The Deputy Director of Education gave a summary of the information presented to the group which highlighted the good progress being made against the agreed actions. The CQC and DfE outcome letter commented that Wolverhampton partners had demonstrated that there is effective governance co -production and strategic leadership in place to support the delivery of WSOA.

The review group acknowledged the progress made and highlighted the achievements made since the WSOA was produced.

The review group had a specific concern about the delay in introducing a replacement IT system. The Deputy Director of Education advised the working group about the interim arrangements to address the concern until a new IT system is introduced. The feedback from the working group on this issue was included in a report to the SEND Partnership Board for their consideration.

The Deputy Director of Education was confident that the remaining actions will be achieved within the timescale.

The panel were invited to comment on the report.

The panel acknowledged the scale of the work completed and the good progress made to date. The panel commented on the importance to continue engaging with parents about planned changes to the service.

The panel highlighted a concern about the impact of delays in the CAHMS assessment. The Deputy Director of Education advised the panel that the issue of delays was a key focus of the discussion earlier in the day at a meeting of the SEND Partnership Board.

The panel queried the reference to issue of identifying children with SEND needs in the timely manner in primary and secondary schools and the view that the process was too long due to delays in the assessment and wanted further details.

The Deputy Director of Education commented on the ongoing challenges in this area and advised the panel of the plans for improving the service. The Deputy Director of Education acknowledged the need for Council and other partner organisations to get better at identifying young people of school age with SEND needs more quickly and that the issue is due primarily to delays in the CAMHS assessment process.

The panel discussed the different factors contributing to delays in the CAMHS assessment process and suggested that the report should make clear the complexity of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families,James Barlow, Finance Business Partner and James Amphlett ,Head of Data and Analytics,to present report]

The Chair invited Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families, to introduce the presentation.

The Executive Director advised the panel about the changes to the presentation of budget and performance information into a single report, rather than separately. The aim is to present the information in a way which makes it clear the budget expenditure, the impact on performance of Council services, and the link to specific performance against local and national data sets.

The report focuses on services to children and young people, and highlights information which was previously included in the 2022-2023 Performance and Budget monitoring update – Quarter 2.

The Executive Director advised the panel that the presentation would provide an update on the in- year performance and budget position and a summary of the draft budget for 2023 – 2024 and Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The panel comments would be included in a consolidated report and presented to Scrutiny Board. A further report would then be presented to the Cabinet as part of the budget consultation process.

The Executive Director advised the panel that an integrated performance and budget monitoring report is presented to Cabinet on a quarterly basis. The recent report presented to Cabinet on 16 November 2022 predicted a forecast budget overspend across the Council of £1.5 million, which was mainly due to the 2022-2023 pay award.

The Executive Director gave a summary of the Quarter 2 performance of the Council against 56 KPIs in the Our City: Our Plan performance framework document. The Executive Director advised the panel that 33 of the KPIs have shown improvement or have seen similar performance, 17 are yet to be updated and 6 have seen a decrease in performance compared to the previous quarter.

The Executive Director gave further details of the performance of the service in Quarter 2 in the following areas, children’s social care, education, and NEET.

The Executive Director commented on the summary forecast budget position for the families and children service areas and invited James Barlow, Finance Business Partner, to present the detailed budget report.

The Finance Business Partner advised the panel about efforts to improve the budget scrutiny process and welcomed comments on the approach and the 2023-2024 Draft Budget and MTFS 2023-2024 to 2025-2026 overview report.

The Finance Business Partner commented that overall Children’s and Education Services is projected to have an underspend of £1.1 million. The Finance Business Partner advised that the main areas of underspend were in speciality support and the closure of internal residential childcare provision, and the budget is being maintained while the new provision is being prepared.

The Finance Business Partner gave an overview of the key highlights of the 2022-2023 budget and MTFS report that was approved by Council on 2 March 2022. The Council is required to set a balanced budget and regular updates are presented to Cabinet to advise them of changes. The reported forecast budget deficit of £12.6 million in 2023 – 2024 and is predicted to rise to £25.8 million over the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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

The Chair invited Cllr Burden, Cabinet for Education and Skills, to introduce the report. The Cabinet Member commented on the positive findings in the report, and the progress made over the years to improve educational attainment scores. The Cabinet Member commented that 88 per cent of Wolverhampton schools were rated by Ofsted overall as being either good or outstanding as of November 2022. The figure is above the West Midlands average of 85 per cent and in line with national rates.

The Cabinet Member commented on the progress of Wolverhampton schools at each of the key stages, highlighting the excellent performance at Key Stage2, where Wolverhampton was rated above the national average in reading, writing and arithmetic.

The Cabinet Member invited Phil Leivers, Head of Education Excellence, to present the detail of the report.

The Head of Education Excellence, commented on improvements to the layout of the report and that in response to recent comments from a panel member that further changes to include more analysis to better understand the impact on work of the service will be added to the next annual report to the panel.

The Head of Education Excellence commented that education is a key priority for the Council and outlined the development of the strategy over the years. The Head of Education Excellence advised the panel that a holistic approach was taken to improving educational achievement which looks at how the Council supports children and their families both at home and in schools.

The Head of Education Excellence commented on the positive impact of the continued investment in core education services compared to other authorities, which has contributed to the sustained improvements in performance.

The Head of Education Excellence highlighted the key educational achievements during the period 2021- 2022 and commented specifically on the progress made by pupils at Key Stage 2, 4 and 5.

The Head of Education Excellence advised the panel that there is a wider review of post 16 education qualifications and advice given to support decision about future pathways. The review led by the City of Wolverhampton Council includes representatives from schools and other education providers. The Council will publish the review findings and recommendations in March 2023.

The panel were invited to comment on the report.

The panel welcomed the report and congratulated the presenter on the performance of schools.

The panel queried the Council’s relationship with schools and how successes about improved educational performance is shared with them. The Head of Education Excellence commented that results of Ofsted attainment scores are included in a weekly school bulletin.

The panel queried what was being done to capture the experiences of those pupils who perform better during assessments rather than focusing on exam performance as a success measure, in the annual report.

The Head of Education Excellence welcomed the comment about the importance to consider the voice of students and agreed to consider how this information could be collected and presented.

The panel commented on the importance of getting data presented at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Darren Martindale, Virtual School Head, to present report]

The Chair invited Darren Martindale, Virtual School Head, to present the report.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that the draft annual report 2022 was being presented for comment before being considered for approval by Cabinet. The Virtual School Head advised the panel the presentation will give a summary of annual report which details the educational outcomes and achievements of children and young people in care and care leavers from September 2021 to July 2022 in Wolverhampton.

The annual report also highlights, future priorities for 2022 - 2023, and areas for development of the work being done by the Council and other partners to support the achievement of children and young people in care.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel of the statutory responsibilities of the Virtual School Head and explained that the data in the report is based on the Department of Education definition of ‘looked after child’ which states that this is a child or young person “who have been continuously looked after for at least 12 months up to and including 31 March 2022”.

The Virtual School Head commented that the vast majority of looked after children attend schools rated as either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ and explained the small number of children attending a school rated as ‘inadequate’ would only do so for a limited period and a specific reason. A decision about moving a child from a school with an Ofsted rating of ‘inadequate’ would be based on what is in the best interest of that child.

The Virtual School Head commented on the main educational achievements of children in care in the annual report.

The Virtual School Head referred to an earlier discussion where it was highlighted that research suggest that exam-based system disproportionately affect pupils who are already disadvantaged. The Virtual School Head commented that this view is supported by the results of the high GSCE attainment scores at Key Stage 4 for looked after children based on teacher assessment during the pandemic, which has subsequently fallen this year following the return to exam-based assessments.

The Virtual School Head commented on the overall improved educational performance in GSCE attainment. The Virtual School Head commented on the support given to children to allow them to pursue other interests, for example, some children have been given tuition lessons to allow them to develop their musical skills. The service is working to improve the local arts and cultural offer for children in care.

The Virtual School Head commented that they were not having issues with schools not accepting applications from children in care and highlighted the good working relationship with schools. The Virtual School Head added that there is a good understanding among schools about their corporate parent responsibilities and the value of attachment trauma informed practice.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that two local schools were nominated for The Alex Timpson ARC Attachment Award in 2022 in recognition of their good work in this area, and Low Hill Nursery School was successful  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

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

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

The Scrutiny Officer advised the panel of future agenda items detailed in the work programme report.

The Scrutiny Officer advised the panel that the work programme will be updated to include actions agreed earlier in the meeting.

The Scrutiny Officer invited the panel to comment on the draft work programme and to suggest future agenda items.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.