Agenda and minutes

Venue: New Council Chamber

Contact: Michele Chesterman 

Items
No. Item

CAY1

Addresses by Members of the Public (Standing Order SSO9)

To receive and hear any person who wishes to address the Panel on matters which affect the District and fall within the remit of the Panel.  The Chairman will select the order of the matters to be heard.

 

Members of the Panel may ask questions of the member of the public and a dialogue between the parties can be undertaken.

 

Requests to speak must be submitted in writing to the Assistant Director Legal & Governance and Monitoring Officer, or the officer mentioned at the top of this agenda letter, by noon on the day before the meeting and the request must detail the subject matter of the address.

 

Minutes:

None.

CAY2

Election of the Vice Chairman

Endorsement of the Panel’s nomination of the Vice-Chairman at the informal meeting of the Children and Young People’s Policy and Scrutiny Panel held on 10 June 2022.

Minutes:

Resolved: that the election of Councillor Donald Davies as Vice-chairman at the informal meeting of 10 June 2022 be endorsed.

 

CAY4

Declaration of disclosable pecuniary interest (Standing Order 37)

A Member must declare any disclosable pecuniary interest where it relates to any matter being considered at the meeting. A declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest should indicate the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. A Member is not permitted to participate in this agenda item by law and should immediately leave the meeting before the start of any debate.

 

If the Member leaves the Chamber in respect of a declaration, he or she should ensure that the Chairman is aware of this before he or she leaves to enable their exit from the meeting to be recorded in the minutes in accordance with Standing Order 37.

 

Minutes:

None.

 

CAY5

Minutes pdf icon PDF 221 KB

Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 10 March 2022 – to approve as a correct record.

 

Notes of the informal panel meeting held on 16 June 2022 – for noting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 10 March 2022 – to approve as a correct record.

Notes of the informal panel meeting held on 16 June 2022 – for noting.

 

Resolved: that

i) the minutes of the meeting of 10 March 2022 be approved as a correct record; and that

ii) the notes of the informal meeting of 16 June 2022 be noted.

 

CAY6

Matters referred by Council, the Executive, other Committees and Panels (if any)

Minutes:

None.

 

CAY7

Children's Improvement Progress pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Report of the Director of Children’s Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Children’s Services presented the report, which updated the Panel on the Ofsted visit to the Front Door service, and the follow-up visit by Mark Riddell (the DfE’s national advisor on care leavers) to the Care Leavers’ Service.

 

Attention was drawn to the key performance indicators, which compared with statistical neighbours and national comparators. Ofsted had suggested that the practice framework of ‘curiosity and openness’ was not yet consistent, although the Front Door Service had been on a positive journey since the Ofsted ILACS inspection in March 2020.

 

Mark Riddell’s visit focused on the 13 recommendations for improvement after his last visit, and the report reflected that these had been worked on.

 

In discussion, the following points were raised (officer responses in italics):

·       How many positions were open in the service, and how many agency staff were being employed to fill in the gaps? There was an increase in the number of vacancies which were being filled in by locum staff. The workforce strategy had been refreshed and a rolling employment campaign had been implemented. Early intervention had been focused on to prevent the need for statutory intervention later on, which ameliorated the staffing need.

·       Was there an update on home-educated children? The numbers of these were slowly reducing, although there was a concern that these children showed an increase in anxiety post-Covid.

 

Concluded:that the report be received and that Members’ comments be forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

 

CAY8

CYPS task-and-finish groups update pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Report of the Chairman, Children and Young Peoples’ Policy and Scrutiny Panel.

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Children and Young People’s Policy and Scrutiny Panel presented the report, which updated the Panel on the activities of the three task-and-finish groups set up by the Panel, as well as the activity of the School Organisation Standing Group. The work of the Care Leavers NEET working group was now complete, and a report would be sent to Members in due course.

 

Concluded that the report be received and that Members’ comments be forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

 

CAY9

Schools Capital Programme pdf icon PDF 285 KB

Report of the Head of Strategic Planning and Governance.

Minutes:

The Head of Strategic Planning & Governance updated the Panel on the details of the Basic Need allocations, the Special Provision High Needs grant, and the School Condition allocation announced by the Department for Education in March.

 

In discussion, Members raised the following: the works required at Banwell School; discussion with the young people on the SEND Council about what they needed from Nurture Groups; that traffic enforcement of the pedestrian crossing outside Banwell School was needed; whether the funding would meet the need for future SEN provision; and projections of demographics for SEND.

 

Concluded: that the report be received, and the Members’ comments forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

CAY10

Adoption West Annual Report pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Report of the Assistant Director, Family Support and Safeguarding.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Assistant Director of Children’s Services presented the 2021/22 Annual Report from Adoption West, the Regional Adoption Agency commissioned by six local authorities including North Somerset.

 

Members then discussed disruptions to adoptions caused by the needs of children and the refresh of the Adoption Protocol that was due later in the year.

 

Concluded: that the report be received, and Members’ comments be forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

 

CAY11

Month 5 Children's Services Budget Monitor pdf icon PDF 357 KB

Report of the Principal Accountant (Children’s Services).

Minutes:

The report was presented by the Principal Accountant (Children’s Services), and focused on the forecast spend against budget, and the risks and opportunities associated with the medium-term position.

 

Concluded: that the report be received, and Members’ comments be forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

 

CAY12

North Somerset Annual Children's Social Care Complaints and Compliments report for the 2021-22 financial year pdf icon PDF 173 KB

Report of the Interim Directorate Governance and Complaints Manager.

Minutes:

The Interim DirectorateGovernance and Complaints Manager presented the report, which covered the Council’s actions and responses to complaints and compliments about Children’s Social Care. There had been 43 complaints and 19 compliments in the 2021/22 financial year.

 

The new Directorate Governance & Complaints Manager would begin in post on 1 November 2022 and would start investigating ways to capture and implement lessons learned as a result of complaints.

 

Concluded: that the report be received, and Members’ comments be forwarded to officers in the form of minutes.

 

CAY13

Future Governance of the Music Service pdf icon PDF 108 KB

Report of the Head of North Somerset Music & South Glos Music.

Minutes:

The Head of North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Music Services, and Strategic Consultant: B&NES Music Service presented the report which proposed actions to protect the music offer for young people and build a robust music education future for young people in North Somerset. The proposal was for North Somerset Music Service to merge with Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire Music Services and spin out of the local authority into an independent company.

 

Discussion by Members focused on the overall funding of Music Services by the government, the new funding model brought in by the Department for Education, and whether the Music Service would continue to be able to reach all those who would benefit from it.

 

Concluded: that

i) the Panel recommend approval to the Executive of the proposal that the Music Service form a tri-LA shared service with B&NES and South Gloucestershire; and that

ii) the Panel recommend approval to the Executive of the shared service being established as an independent organisation outside the three Councils, taking forward and expanding a broader, universal youth music education offer on behalf of the three Councils.

 

CAY14

CYPS Panel Work Plan pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Report of the Policy and Scrutiny Senior Officer.

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer discussed the Panel’s work plan and invited discussion with Members for additional items to add to it, as well as picking up any actions from the meeting. Members were reminded that as invitations to the working group meetings were sent to all Panel Members, they could attend these even if they had not previously been involved with a specific working group.

 

Concluded: that the work plan be updated.