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  • Agenda and minutes
  • Agenda and minutes

    Venue: Darent Room, Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone. View directions

    Contact: Christine Singh  03000 416687

    Media

    Items
    No. Item

    97.

    Apologies and Substitutes

    To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Mr Ridings, Mr Pearman, Mr Ozog, Mr Brunning, Mr Roper and the Cabinet Member, Mr Hill.

     

    Mr Brookbank was present representing Mr Ridings, Mr Foulkes was present representing Mr Roper; and Deputy Cabinet Member, Mrs Hohler, was present representing Mr Hill.

    98.

    Declarations of Interest by Members in items on the Agenda

    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

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    No declaration of interest were made.            .

    99.

    Future meeting dates 2016/17

    The Education and Young People's Services Cabinet Committee is asked to note the future meetings dates for 2016/17 as follows:

     

    2016

    Thursday, 21 January

    Thursday, 17 March

    Wednesday, 11 May

    Friday, 1 July

    Thursday, 22 September

    Wednesday, 23 November

      2017

     

    Wednesday, 1 February

    Thursday, 30 March

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    RESOLVED that the future meeting dates for 2016/17 were noted as follows:

     

    2016

    Thursday, 21 January

    Thursday, 17 March

    Wednesday, 11 May

    Friday, 1 July

    Thursday, 22 September

    Wednesday, 23 November

     

    2017

     

    Wednesday, 1 February

    Thursday, 30 March

     

    100.

    Minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2015 pdf icon PDF 183 KB

    To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2015 were correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

    101.

    Verbal Updates pdf icon PDF 51 KB

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

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

     

    (Mr Cowan made a declared of interest as he is a Foster Parent)

     

    1.            The Cabinet Members, Mr Gough and Mr Oakford; and the Corporate Director, Mr Leeson gave their verbal updates highlighting the following:

     

    2.            Mr Gough advised that the GCSE results were in line with the first entry level results that were achieved in 2014.

     

     

    3.            Many MPs had been raising their concerns about the issue of Fair Funding as parts of the country had been underfunded in relation to schooling.  Kent was one of those that had been underfunded especially when looking at the schools block. Last year there had been some mini reforms from the government with the allocation of £390m to support some of the underfunded local authorities but the way this had been drawn up meant that Kent did not benefit.  This was because it did not take account of the degree of extensive delegation and devolution to schools that Kent had undertaken over the years, in accordance to what the government had been keen for local authorities to do, particularly in areas of high need. Mr Gough assured Members that Kent would remain engaged in the debate and considered that there was some prospect of improvement in the area of the schools block but he was wary of seeing a repeat of reforms which by not taking in the full picture would not work in Kent's favour. He added that with aggregate DSG flat cash settlements it was not clear that the government could move radically without creating large numbers of losers as well as winners.

     

    4.            A report was being submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee on 2 October 2015 that had Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee relevance.  The report related to a complaint from School Governors that addressed a number of issues, in particular, the scope for complaints of that kind to go to the Local Government Ombudsman.  The Local Government Ombudsman had taken a view that it had no locus in this area and took the view that it should be able to be complained to, if appropriate.  The paper would also look at improving the process and record keeping regarding decisions made in accordance with some statutory powers.

     

    5.            Mr Gough responded to questions by Members as follows:

     

    a)    Mr Gough advised that it was incumbent on the Local Authority to act as an advocate for those schools that were having budget difficulties.  A vast amount of schools funding was driven by pupil numbers.  There were serious concerns regarding the 2013 school funding reforms and the impact of Kent’s ability to provide support to schools that were undergoing periods of financial pressure.  He referred to the situation of secondary schools giving the example of a maintained school; Chaucer Technology School, Canterbury and Oasis Academy, Hextable that were both closed at the time due to low pupil numbers and deficit budget situations. Both closures could be soon followed by the need to put back secondary provision in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

    102.

    Procurement of SEN Transport provision for Phase 1 Schools pdf icon PDF 70 KB

    To receive a report by the relevant Cabinet Member and Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services to consider and endorse or make recommendations on a decision.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gough, introduced the report advising that SEN Transport was an area of the Education Budget that had often proved difficult to control.  The aim was to save money and boost the experience for the young people and the schools that manage those relationships.  This would be carried out through a single provider and route optimisation for each of the schools undertaking the pilot.  At present there were three Special schools; Ifield, Gravesend, St Nicolas, Canterbury and Grange Park, Wrotham.  There had been extensive engagement with the schools, the parents and the providers as the process moved closer to the contract award next April 2016.

     

    2.            The Head of Admissions and Transport, Mr Bagshaw, advised that there had been a move from contracting on a single route basis to schools to one where all the different transport routes to a school had been looked at to seek procurement for all of the routes to one school through one operator or a group of operators that came together.  The benefits of this approach would provide the opportunity to drive down costs, improve the quality of supporting the journeys and challenging poor performance.

     

    3.            Mr Leeson, Mr Bagshaw and Mr Good responded to questions by Members as follows:

     

    a)    Mr Bagshaw advised that there had been engagement with all the operators.  There were a number of small operators that would not be able to cover a contract as large and as in depth as this on their own.  Those small businesses had been encouraged to come together as a consortium to ensure that they an opportunity to bid for the contract.  This was a pilot and how the market developed to meet the change was awaited.

    b)    Mr Bagshaw and his Team were congratulated for the work they carried out

    c)    Mr Bagshaw agreed to supply the exact number of students that were receiving home to school transport, but advised that this figure was fluid.

    d)    Members commended the communications made with parents, students, schools and operators.

    e)    Mr Good advised that lessons learned through this process would be used in the future to ensure that schemes were sustainable.  There was an understanding that each school would have different needs and the transport arrangements would be designed with those in mind.

    f)     Mr Good advised that within the SEN transport contracts there would be clauses that would be mandatory including meeting with parents and the child beforehand and attending parents evening during the Spring Term.  Where there was a struggle with change for the family there would be a phased approach so that disruption was minimised.

    g)    Mr Leeson said that this was well planned.  Headteachers were supporting the project.  Phase II would be rolled out next year.

     

    4.            RESOLVED that:-

     

    (a)  the responses to questions by Members be noted; and

     

    (b)  the Cabinet Committee endorsed the decision to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform for the award of contract for SEN  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

    103.

    Early Help and Preventative Services Commissioning Intentions for 2016-17 pdf icon PDF 476 KB

    To receive a report by the relevant Cabinet Committee Members and Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services to consider and endorse or make recommendations on a decision.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Corporate Director, Mr Leeson, introduced a report that outlined the proposals for future commissioning intentions, central to which was the alignment of approaches with Public Health to ensure the maximum utilisation of resources and integrated approaches to service delivery.

     

    2.            Mr Leeson advised that a restructure of the Early Help and Preventative service had been undertaken to integrate teams at district level.  The second phase of reorganising the service, to produce better quality support for children and families with better outcomes, was to look at the range of commissioned services that were used to support those families.  There were over 100 different contracts in place to provide different kinds of support for families in their localities.  This report looked at the re-commissioning of many of those services and rationalising those to integrate with the models that were now delivered in each district. 

     

    3.            The Director of Early Help and Preventative Services, Mrs Kroll, highlighted the four appendices to the report; (i) KCC strategic and supporting outcomes, (ii) Existing EHPS contracts, (iii) Diagnostic report and (iv) Procurement timeline. All of the work had been informed by the 2015 Commissioning Framework for KCC, delivering better outcomes through improved commissioning and aligned with the new structure of EHPS.  Mrs Kroll stated that underpinning all commissioning must be the outcomes for children and young people.  There also needed to be a consistent approach across Kent.  Mrs Kroll advised that all of the 100 contracts across Kent had been aligned to end at the same time.  The first phase to end by March 2016 and the second phase by October 2016. She explained that many of the contracts dealt with single issues instead of the whole family.  Many of the contracts had cumbersome pathways to access services causing delays and waiting lists due to a high level of bureaucratic processes before children could access services.  Work had been carried out to improve the specification to improve access to support services.  The work needed to complement EHPS as well as Specialist Children’s Services.

     

    4.            Mrs KrolI gave an overview of the scope of the Commissioning Framework.  This included all the family work, the youth offer contracts, the Emotional Health and Wellbeing, to be aligned with the Public Health work regarding the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) specification.  The re-commissioning would be for a “family approach” that included the Troubled Families work, the Youth offer, Young Carers; and Emotional Health and Wellbeing.  This would also be aligned with the recommissioning in October 2016 of Health Visitors, School nursing, substance misuse and Emotional Health and Wellbeing.

     

    5.            Mrs Kroll advised that there was a grant programme being developed to ensure that small local organisations had access to grants and promoted innovation and promoted local solutions.

     

    6.            Mrs Kroll explained the timeline.  There were two phases; (i) the Youth Services and Young Carers and the grant programme which would be at the start of the procurement in October 2015.  The award  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

    104.

    Performance of Early Help and Preventative Services pdf icon PDF 151 KB

    To receive a report by the relevant Cabinet Members and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that sets out the progress made to date in delivering an effective Early Help service, the current performance of the service and the performance monitoring arrangements that have been developed.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            Mr Leeson introduced a report on the progress made to date in delivering an effective Early Help and Preventative Service, the current performance of the service and the performance monitoring arrangements that had been developed.  The performance of this service was also scrutinised by Kent Safeguarding Children’s Board, where regular reports were presented.

     

    2.            Mr Leeson and Mrs Kroll received comments and responded to questions by Members as follows:

     

    a)    Mrs Kroll advised that skilled staff were working with children who looked after their parents.

    b)    Mrs Kroll advised that where required a family would continue to be monitored for a year.  This reduced the need for high intensive work.  There was a lot of work being carried out with young people and families through a structure that had clear lines of responsibility.  Members of staff were no longer isolated.  There were now integrated units of four or five members of staff.  They would come together once a week to review their client caseloads.

     

    3.            RESOLVED that:-

     

    (a)  the responses to questions by Members be noted; and

     

    (b)  the progress to date, the current performance and the arrangements for monitoring performance through the scorecard be noted.

    105.

    Teacher Recruitment and Retention Activity for 2015 pdf icon PDF 102 KB

    To receive the report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that provides a general update on Teacher Recruitment and Retention Activity for 2015 and any key issues in relation to teacher recruitment and retention in Kent schools.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gough, introduced a report that gave an update on Teacher Recruitment and Retention Activity for 2015 and key issues in relation to teacher recruitment and retention in Kent schools.

     

    2.            The Director of Education, Quality and Standards Mrs Cawley,  highlighted that in common with the national picture, schools in Kent were experiencing difficulties in teacher recruitment in Science, Mathematics, English, Modern Foreign Languages and Design Technology.  She advised that work was being undertaken with Canterbury Christ Church University to address the issue; this included retraining courses run for teachers that wanted to change the subject they taught.

     

    3.            Mr Leeson, Mrs Cawley and Mrs Vandersteen received comments and responded to questions by Members as follows:

     

    a) A Member referred to the difficulties that Sheppey Academy was having in recruiting teaching staff. 

    b) Mrs Cawley advised that there was an important area of work being undertaken regarding the development of a Leadership Strategy to nurture and develop our own school Leaders.  The Teachers School Alliance and Teachers Network were looking at tools to find pathways to support teachers.

    c) Mrs Cawley explained that there was a clear message that it was difficult to recruit Mathematics and Science teachers in all schools including Grammar schools.  This was a national problem.  Mr Leeson stated that it was important that schools to have good leaders.  He advised that there was a significant turnover of Headteachers.  Kent had done well in securing good leadership of its schools and was confident with its arrangements.  It was recognised that a number of schools with headteacher vacancies were being led by an Executive Headteacher but the arrangements in each case were robust.  These also included a Head of School or an interim Headteacher.  Mr Leeson advised that arrangements were underway to support small Kent schools to federate with Executive Headteacher arrangements. 

    d) A Member advised that schools in Sevenoaks had difficulties in recruiting teachers due to the cost of housing in the area.  Mrs Cawley advised that this may not change but a teacher applying to that area may need to think long term about their career and progression.

    e) Mrs Cawley stated that Kent was not losing more teachers than elsewhere in the country.

     

    4.            RESOLVED that the responses to questions by Members and the report be noted.

    106.

    Active Travel Strategy pdf icon PDF 78 KB

    To receive a report by the Cabinet Members for Environment & Transport and  Adult Social Care and Public Health on the proposal to develop an Active Travel Strategy for Kent.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Area Education Officer, Mr Adams, introduced a report on the development of an Active Travel Strategy to be adopted as County Council policy.  The strategy would be cost neutral and provide strategic guidance in order to maximise existing investment in projects.  He highlighted that if developed the Strategy would; provide a commissioning framework for all directorates and partner organisations, inform local transport and health policies, provide a context for bids for external funding; and deliver an increase in walking and cycling to contribute to keeping Kent moving and healthy.

     

    2.            Mr Adams received comments and suggestions by Members as follows:

     

    a)    A comment was made that this was a good initiative, but it was important to have parents on side when encouraging children to be more active.

    b)    A suggestion was made that it was about changing attitudes.  There had been similar initiatives developed over the years   including cycling lanes on the roads but the roads were considered too dangerous for cyclists.  To allow this initiative to work there would need to be radical change.

    c)    It was suggested that there were parents that did not allow their children to walk or cycle to school because of the volume of traffic, a fear of strangers and because of bad weather.  The attitudes of parents would need to change.

    d)    A Member referred to a cycling scheme set up for Pfizer employees to cycle to the town centre but there were fears regarding the increase in traffic year on year.

    e)    A suggestion was made that the 106 scheme could be used in this strategy.

    f)     A comment was made that consideration needed to be given to children who were travelling further from home to get to school.

     

    3.            Mr Adams considered that an overarching strategy was required. He agreed with the suggestions regarding parents’ attitudes being key.  The Cabinet Committee noted that there were practical issues that would need to be addressed in schools including; storage for bikes, wet clothes etc.

     

    4.            RESOLVED that the comments and suggestions by Members be noted and the development of an Active Travel Strategy for Kent be noted.

    107.

    Work Programme 2015/16 pdf icon PDF 133 KB

    To receive a report by the Head of Democratic Services that gives details of the proposed Work Programme 2015/16 for the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Cabinet Committee considered its proposed work programme for 2015/16.

     

    2.            A comment was made that there were sufficient topics on the work programme to be carried out.

     

    3.            RESOLVED that the work programme for 2015/16 be agreed.

    108.

    Annual Equality and Diversity Report for Education and Young People's Services 2014-15 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

    To receive a report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that setsout a positionstatement for services within the EducationandYoungPeople’sService (EYPS)Directorate regarding equalityand diversitywork and provides an update on progress in delivering Kent County Council's (KCC's)Equality Objectivesfor the year2014-15.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Equality and Diversity Corporate Lead, Mrs Agyepong, introduced a report that sets out the position statement for services within the Education and Young People’s Services (EYPS) Directorate regarding equality and diversity work and provided an update on progress in delivering Kent County Council’s Equality Objectives for the year 2014-15.

     

    2.            RESOLVED that the following be noted:-

     

    (a)    the current performance of EYPS in relation to equality priorities in Appendix 1 of the report;

     

    (b)    the progress EYPS had made in reducing inequalities in 2014-15 and future key actions proposed in Appendix 1 of the report; and

     

    (c)    future reports be received annually in order to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

    109.

    Education and Young People's Services Directorate Scorecard pdf icon PDF 77 KB

    To receive the report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that reviews the performance Management Framework, a monitoring tool, for the targets and the milestones for each year up to 2018 set out in the Strategic Priority Statement and Service Business Plans.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.            The Cabinet Committee considered a report that reviewed the performance management framework, a monitoring tool for the targets and the milestones for each year up to 2018, set out in the Strategic Priority Statement, Vision and Priorities for Improvement and service business plans.

     

    2.            RESOLVED that the revised and expanded Education and Young People’s Services performance scorecard, which had been designed to reflect the expanded scope of the work the Directorate, including Early Help be noted.