Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

Apologies for absence had been received from Mr M Vye, Mr R Truelove and Mrs P Stockell. 

Mrs T Dean was substituting for Mr M Vye.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared

Mr P Oakford declared an interest in agenda item C4, Early Years National Funding Formula as his wife owned and operated an early years setting.

Mrs P Cole declared an interest in agenda item B5 as a governor of Stone St Mary’s School which was due to join the Aletheia Trust, and also that her husband was a governor of St George’s Church of England School.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2016 were correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

To receive verbal updates from the relevant Cabinet Members and Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services portfolio.

Mr Oakford, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services gave the following update:

(a)  Out of area places with other local authorities placing children within Kent: Mr Oakford had secured a meeting with the office of the Children’s Commissioner and the Margate Task Force where he had presented details of the impact on certain areas of Kent with out of area placement within Kent of the most vulnerable children.  There was concern that this could have an impact on gangs.  A watered down version of a harrowing presentation was available.  Mr Oakford had been advised that the Children’s Commissioner appreciated the concerns and would be including the issue in the business plan with a view to strengthening the guidelines about other authorities placing their most vulnerable children in Kent.

(b)  Unaccompanied asylum seekers: Mr Oakford reported that numbers continued to fall with the total now being 1265, 580 of whom were under 18 and just under 700 were care leavers.  By the end of May 2017 it was projected that there would be around 1000 unaccompanied asylum seeker care leavers which would generate accommodation and related issues.  The costs of this area exceeded the level of Government grant and the Government was being lobbied to address this shortfall.  The number of arrivals in the past six weeks had been 18 with just five in January 2017.  The Appledore reception had been closed in December 2016, meaning that the County only had one reception centre (Millbank) out of the three that had been opened at the height of arrivals.  There were currently 12 young people in Millbank, all of whom were part of the national dispersal scheme which had been the case since July 2016.  Since that date 139 young people had been dispersed to other local authorities under the national programme and 133 prior to that under separate arrangements.  A further 171 young people had been resettled with other authorities but those authorities had yet to accept full responsibility for those young people.  Negotiations were in hand to achieve this which was important so as to avoid them reverting to Kent as care leavers.

In response to questions by members of the Committee, Mr Oakford advised the following:

·         He and the Leader were continuing to lobby the Government over the funding for care leaving unaccompanied asylum seekers and was confident that the £2m shortfall in 2016-17 would be recouped and he would be pushing for the anticipated shortfall of £4-4.5m in 2017-18 to also be recovered

·         Whilst winter did tend to reduce the number of arrivals of unaccompanied asylum seekers, the closure of the Calais camps had had a far bigger impact as had other Government schemes

·         The full presentation on the impact of out of area placement of young people might be presented to the Council and Members of Parliament after May 2017.

·         There was no cost to Kent in respect of unaccompanied asylum seekers who had been dispersed elsewhere.

RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted.

To receive a report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People's Services which asks the Committee to consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to authorise the Corporate Director to issue a public notice, allocate £350k from the Education and Young People’s Service Capital budget, authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation  with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and to authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

(Ms M White, Area Education Officer, East Kent attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Ms White introduced the report which set out the results of the public consultation on the proposal to expand Wickhambreaux CE Primary School for September 2018 and the accommodation works required.  Ms White updated the list of responses to the consultation which had been received since the report had been published: firstly a response from Littlebourne Parish Council and secondly from an early years provider in Littlebourne, neither of which were in support of the proposal.

2.     Ms White responded to questions from members of the Committee as follows:

·         Expansion of Wickhambreaux rather than Littlebourne School was being proposed because at the time of analysis and developer negotiation, Littlebourne had been less popular and was in need of improvement in terms of OFSTED standards.  Despite improvements in standards at Littlebourne School, Wickhambreaux School had been named in the proposals and legislation did not allow for schemes to be amended or substituted.  Further, Wickhambeaux School continued to be oversubscribed.

·         Parking would be addressed as part of the planning process.

·         The expansion of Wickhambreaux School and the vacant spaces in Littlebourne School were projected to be sufficient to meet the additional demands that would be generated by the new housing developments in Littlebourne.

·         The objections by Littlebourne Parish Council related to concerns to ensure a viable school remained in the village and that their site was better placed to cope with additional parking

·         Rural primary schools often used external halls for dining and assembly.  In terms of accommodating all the children and staff, it was also the case that many schools were unable to accommodate the entire school.  Fire regulations and health and safety were always paramount and would be complied with.  Lunches were managed either by phasing or by separating those children with packed lunches from those eating school meals.  Whole school assemblies were not possible at the current time so these proposals would not change the situation.

·         Revenue funding for the school would be in line with the pupil funding scheme – ie there would be additional funds for the school if pupil numbers increased.

3.         RESOLVED to endorse the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to:

a)    Authorise the Corporate Director - Education and Young People's Services to issue Public Notice to expand  the capacity of Wickhambreaux CE School from 105 to 140 pupil places, with a published admissions number of 20 from September 2018 (subject to planning permission being granted);

b)    Allocate £350k from the Education and Young People’s Service Capital budget;

c)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation  with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

d)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 243.

To receive a report from the Corporate Director for Education and Young People's Services and the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform asking the Committee Members to consider and endorse or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to allocate £1.3m from the Education and Young People’s Services Capital budget; authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation  with the General Counsel, to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

(Ms M White, Area Education Officer, East Kent attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Ms White introduced the report whichset out the results of the public consultation undertaken by Minster-in-Sheppey Primary (Academy) School and the Island Learning Trust on a proposal to increase the number of places available at the school and to permanently increase the PAN from 60 to 90 for Year R entry in September 2017. 

2.     Ms White responded to questions from members of the Committee as follows:

·         Clarifying the temporary changes to the operation of the children’s centre that normally operated from the site

3          RESOLVED to endorse the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to:

a)         Allocate £1.3m from the Education and Young People’s Services Capital budget;

b)         Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation  with the General Counsel, to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

c)         Authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record of Decision.

This proposal was also subject to agreement from the Secretary of State for Education.

To receive a report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People's Services which asks the Committee to consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member on the decision to authorise the Corporate Director to issue a public notice, allocate funding from the Education and Young People’s Service Capital budget for accommodation works, authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

Ms M White, Area Education Officer, East Kent, and Mr K Abbott, Director of Education Planning and Access, were in attendance for this item.

1.            Ms White introduced the report and advised the committee that, although the consultation process had not yet finished, twenty replies had been received.  These had been mostly from parents and staff and all but two had been in support of the proposed changes.  At the time of drafting the report, the estimated costs of the accommodation works had not been known, but the committee was advised that these had now been confirmed as £30,000 in total. Financial analysis of the boarding provision had demonstrated that the school would require a minimum of twelve young people in fortnightly boarding at any one time in order to make it financially sustainable. There were four young people currently in the fortnightly boarding provision. Two of these would be moving into adult provisions at the end of this academic year and two would need alternative fortnightly provision. Specialist Children’s Services and Strategic Commissioning were currently undertaking an impact analysis on the removal of the fortnightly boarding provision. This was not yet completed but would be completed in order to inform the key decision to be taken by the Cabinet Member.

2.            Ms White responded to comments and questions from Members, as follows:-

a)    the school and local authority were working with the two young people directly affected, their families and social workers in order to secure appropriate alternative provision. Detailed information on the circumstances of the two families involved was not available for the meeting but many of the families of young people attending Stone Bay lived locally or had moved locally to be nearer to their children. If this proved to be the case in relation to the two young people involved, a move out of the area could impact on the families, should they wish to move again to be near their children;

b)    in response to concern that some younger pupils might be distressed by sharing school premises with much older pupils, Ms White advised that learning areas and playtime/social areas would be separate, and access to them managed or staggered when required. The school had expertise in identifying and responding to individual pupils’ needs and the current proposal would allow it to develop this further for Key Stage 2 pupils as a specialism. Parents had welcomed the extension of the age range; and

c)    the few redundancies which would arise from the proposed changes were to non-teaching posts only, related to the weekend boarding facility.

3.            RESOLVED that, subject to the addition of the costs of the accommodation works, now confirmed as £30,000, and to the completion of the impact analysis of the proposed changes to the boarding model, set out above, the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, to:

a)            authorise the Corporate Director of Education and Young People's Services to issue a Public Notice to:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 245.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services, and to consider and endorse or make proposals to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decision to accept and determine the co-ordinated schemes for Primary and Secondary Admissions in Kent, the In-Year Admission process for Primary and Secondary schools in Kent and the admission arrangements for the 2018/19 school year.

(Scott Bagshaw, Head of Admissions and Transport attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Mr Bagshaw introduced the report on the outcome of the consultation on the proposed scheme for transfer to Primary and Secondary schools in September 2018 including the proposed process for non-coordinated In-Year Admissions.

2.     Mr Bagshaw responded to questions from members of the Committee as follows

·         Explaining the rationale around 0.5 mile and 1.5 mile radii for priority for admission of children to Bunbury Primary School and the links with Aylesford and Boxley Parishes and anticipated new house building in the area.

3.     RESOLVED to endorse the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to accept and determine:

a)     The Coordinated Primary Admissions Scheme 2018/19 incorporating the In Year admissions process as detailed in Appendix A

b)     The Co-ordinated Secondary Admissions Scheme 2018/19 incorporating the In Year admissions process as detailed in Appendix B

c)      The oversubscription criteria relating to Community and Voluntary Controlled Infant, Junior and Primary Schools in Kent 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix C (1)

d)     The oversubscription criteria relating to Community and Voluntary Controlled Secondary Schools in Kent 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix D (1)

e)     The Published Admissions Number for Community and Voluntary Controlled Infant, Junior and Primary Schools 2018/19 as set out in Appendix C (2)

f)       The Published Admissions Number for Community and Voluntary Controlled Secondary Schools 2018/19 as set out in Appendix D (2)

g)     The relevant statutory consultation areas for Kent Infant, Junior and Primary Schools 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix C (3) and the relevant statutory consultation areas for Kent Secondary Schools 2018/19 as set out in Appendix D (3).

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and theCorporate Director for Educationand Young People’sServices which asks the Committee to consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform on the decision to allocate £7.1m from the Education and Young People’s Services Capital Budget, to fund any necessary additional works or variations to accommodation, authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council, and authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

(Ian Watts, Area Education Officer, North Kent, attended the meeting for this item)

Mr Watts introduced this report which informed the Cabinet Committee of the proposal to change the age range of Saint George’s Church of England School to create an all-through school for pupils aged 4 to 19 from September 2018, and requested members to recommend that the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform agree to release sufficient funding to put the necessary infrastructure in place.

RESOLVED to endorse the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform to:

a.         Allocate £7.1m from the Education and Young People’s Services Capital Budget, to fund any necessary additional works or variations to accommodation.

b.         Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council.

c.         Authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

To receive a report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services which asks the Committee to note and endorse: the development of a more preventative and advisory approach in supporting schools to improve attendance and to reduce exclusions; the revised Code of Practice for issuing education related penalty notices and a streamlined attendance enforcement team to ensure consistency and effectiveness across Kent, and the positive impacts that the new Service has made in improving attendance and reducing exclusions.

(Mr Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services, and Mr Ming Zhang, Head of Service (PRU, inclusion and attendance) attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Mr Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, and Mr Leeson, Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services, jointly introduced the report which stated that following the establishment of the new Inclusion and Attendance Service as part of Early Help and Preventative Services, the service had developed effective new approaches to supporting children’s maximum access to education by reducing school absence and exclusions. The Committee was asked to note and endorse the service’s new approach of refocusing on preventative, advisory and outcomes-focused support for schools and families while streamlining the enforcement interventions to provide an effective and consistent county-wide service.

2.     Mr Leeson responded to questions from members of the Committee as follows:

·         Comparing and contrasting the actions taken in respect of attendance rates of 90% with those of the child represented in the Supreme Court, asserting that Kent’s position was that 90% attendance was not satisfactory.  95-96% was the Kent target for good attendance and families were not encouraged to take children out of school for holidays even if attendance was above that figure.

·         Emphasising the benefits of the new code of conduct and the fact that it had been appreciated by schools

·         Clarifying the structure of intervention including the removal of eight intervention hubs for addressing attendance issues with the replacement by a single County unit for all aspects of enforcement and court actions, with a digital front door for schools to access this service

·         Explaining the benefits of the changes in operation, structures, numbers and practices at the PRUs within Kent

·         Clarification that attendance rates in Thanet had improved dramatically in recent times.

·         Indicating that officers and partners work together to ensure that non attending young people are not undertaking anti social behaviour.

3.    RESOLVED to note and endorse:

(i)             the development of a more preventative and advisory approach in supporting schools to improve attendance and to reduce exclusions;  

(ii)            the revised Code of Practice for issuing education related penalty notices and a streamlined attendance enforcement team to ensure consistency and effectiveness across Kent;

(iii)          the positive impacts that the new Service has made in improving attendance and reducing exclusions.

To receive a report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services which asks the Committee to note the update and the progress achieved in taking the specification to market, awarding the contract to Servelec, and starting the implementation process.

(Mr Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services, attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Mr Leeson introduced the item which comprised a briefing note on the EYPS Systems Refresh Programme which was an important project for the rationalisation and improvement to a range of old and inefficient data systems in the Directorate.  It aimed to provide a more integrated and business appropriate IT platform for officers’ work.  After nearly two years of research and development, the specification had gone to market and a contract had been awarded to the successful supplier.  A phased approach to programme implementation has been planned is currently being finalised to meet service needs, and will take place between now and March 2018.

2.      RESOLVED to note the update and the progress achieved in taking the specification to market, awarding the contract to Servelec, and starting the implementation process.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services which asks the Committee to note the proposals within the Department for Education consultation, and make suggestions to the Cabinet Member on any issue which should be reflected in the consultation response.

(Mr Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services, and Mr Simon Pleace, Revenue Finance Manager, attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Mr Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, introduced this report which advised that the Department for Education (DfE) had recently published its detailed consultation on proposals to move schools’ funding on to a national funding formula from 1 April 2018.  This report provided details on the key proposals as well as highlighting the impact of these proposals on Kent schools and academies.  Mr Pleace reminded the Committee of the Council’s response to the Government consultation.

2.     Mr Pleace responded to questions from members of the Committee as follows:

·         Smaller schools would be negatively impacted on by the reductions in the level of the lump sum currently allocated by Kent County Council.  The Council’s response would be addressing this issue.

·         Clarifying that where schools lose income from this change of formula it will be for the individual school to decide how to cover that funding gap.

·         Clarifying that nationally the transition to the new formula would cost the Government £535m – Kent’s proportion of this was £29m.

3     RESOLVED that the proposals within the Department for Education consultation as outlined in this report be noted.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services which asks the Committee to note the main points from the Government’s response to its earlier consultation and the implications for Kent and its Early Years providers

(Mr Simon Pleace, Revenue Finance Manager, attended the meeting for this item)

1.     Mr Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, introduced this report which advised that the Government was introducing changes to the way Early Years funding was to be calculated from 1 April 2017.  The Department for Education had consulted on the proposals last year and had now published its response.  This paper highlighted the main implications for this Council and its Early Years providers.  Mr Pleace gave the Committee a summary of the results of consultation undertaken with all Kent Early Years providers.

2.     RESOLVED that the main points from the Government’s response to its earlier consultation and the implications for Kent and its Early Years providers be noted.

To receive the report from the Head of Democratic Services that gives details of the proposed Work Programme for the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee.

(Ms Louise Whitaker, Democratic Services Manager (Executive), attended the meeting for this item).

1.     Ms Whitaker, Democratic Services Manager (Executive), introduced this item which provided updated details on the proposed work programme and sought suggestions for future topics to be considered by the Committee.

2.     RESOLVED that the work programme for 2017 be noted.

To receive a report from the Chairman of Kent SACREand the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services which asks the Committee to consider and endorse the draft SACRE Annual Report 2015-16

(Mr Steve Manion, Chairman of the Kent SACRE, Ms Penny Smith-Orr, adviser to the SACRE, and Mr Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services, attended the meeting for this item).

1.     Mr Manion and Ms Smith-Orr jointly introduced the report which reflected the focus of SACRE meetings during the academic year 2015 – 2016, and the key local and national issues that have engaged the Religious Education (RE) community during this time. A key aspect of SACRE’s role was to support the effective provision of RE and Collective Worship in schools. The monitoring of provision and standards in RE was reported on. This report contained advice and recommendations to the Local Authority which should be shared with schools and governing bodies in order to ensure that schools complied with their statutory responsibilities and provide the highest quality teaching and learning of RE and provision for Collective Acts of Worship for pupils in Kent schools. Additionally, this report highlighted the meetings organised by SACRE for pupils from Primary and Secondary schools in Kent.  Mr Manion thanked the many contributors to the work of the SACRE in 2015-16 whilst Ms Smith-Orr drew the Committee’s attention to the executive summary contained within the annual report.  Mr Leeson thanked the Chairman of the SACRE and the whole Standing Committee for their work and emphasised that this work was vital and seriously applied in Kent.

2.     RESOLVED that the draft SACRE Annual Report 2015-16 be endorsed.

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To note the report which gives an update on the development of the Full Business Case for a proposed Education Services Company.

This exempt report provided Members with an update on the development of the full business case for the proposed Education Services Company and provided an update on the proposed implementation of a new service delivery model for Kent Education Services.

RESOLVED to note the update provided in the report.