Agenda item

Cabinet Member Briefing - Cllr Michael Hardacre

Minutes:

Cllr Michael Hardacre, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, presented his paper. The paper was drafted in response to questions submitted by panel. The panel were invited to comment on the responses and also to raise any matters of clarification.

 

The panel invited the Cabinet Member to comment on the relationship between the Council and academies. The Cabinet Member responded that the good progress has been made to build positive working relationships with academies and the Council continues to work constructively with all schools in Wolverhampton. Bill Hague, Head of School Organisation, added that the Council has no direct control over academies and that partnership working was considered to be essential for achieving educational success. The Head of School Organisation commented on the range of work done to build good working relationships with schools, for example, an annual conversation takes place with individual Academy Trusts to share information and to review progress in the city. In addition, some Academy Trusts are purchasing school improvement support services from the Local Authority. The Cabinet Member wanted to formally acknowledge the success and national recognition of the school improvement offer service that is managed by the Head of School Improvement.

 

The panel queried the work done to monitor compliance by local schools with the DfE School Admissions Code and the success rate of parents when applying to their preferred school. The Cabinet Member explained that there is a general misunderstanding that parents have a choice of schools, when the legislation refers to parents expressing a preference. The Cabinet Member added that ideally he would have wanted to see 100% of parents getting their first preference as detailed in the report, but welcomes the current figures showing the majority being successful in getting their first preference.

 

The situation around the provision of additional school places is complicated by current legislation which states that any new school must be either an academy or free school. The Head of School Organisation explained the challenges this creates in trying to increase the number of school places to respond to the expected growth the school age population. The Head of School Organisation commented on the success in increasing extra provision at minimal costs at some schools, but this is expected to be more difficult in the future. There is expected to be an increase in demand for secondary school places in 2021.

 

 

The Head of School Organisation outlined the statutory responsibilities of the Council to check that schools are following the DfE School Admissions Code and can refer the matter to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator if there are concerns. The Council has not needed to make a referral since 2004. The Head of School Organisation added that a number of academies had adopted the admission arrangements prepared by the Council. In addition, the continued co-ordination of in-year admissions and subsequent pupil tracking processes have led to a 50% reduction in the number cases of children missing education.

 

The panel commented that the Council cannot compel schools to increase the number of places to meet demand and the difficulties in getting funding to build extra schools as part of any expansion programme. The panel supported plans to increase the provision of resource bases in schools to meet the need for specialist provision. The Head of School Organisation commented on the increase in the number of children with educational health care plans and the view that some children with a disability can thrive in a mainstream school without the need for specialist educational provision.

 

The panel queried feedback received from the public to the Proposed All Age Travel Assistance Policy consultation. The panel were advised that the consultation ends on 29.11.19 and Chair encouraged panel members to complete on the online consultation form. The panel shared a range of views of the current provision and the challenge to provide specialist provision in more schools to reduce the need for long travel journeys.

 

The panel wanted reassurance that the responses to the proposals in the consultation will be properly taken into consideration before a decision is made. The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills explained the background to the proposals and advised the panel that any changes would not happen till September 2021 and offered a reassurance that all comments would be considered. The Cabinet Member outlined the public consultation events and the work done to encourage interested groups to share their views about the proposed changes. The panel were encouraged take part in the consultation. Andrew Wolverson commented on the importance of encouraging children to be independent travel where it is possible and helping to prepare them for adult life, when level of support offered will change.

 

The Cabinet Member agreed to bring a report of the findings and recommendations to a future meeting of the panel for pre-decision scrutiny.

 

Resolved:

1.    The panel welcomed the report and thanked the presenters for their contributions.

2.    The panel agreed to add the findings of the Proposed All Age Travel Assistance Policy consultation to a future agenda for pre-decision scrutiny.

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: