To receive verbal updates from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, the Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services, the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services.
Minutes:
(1) Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform) said a new Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, had been appointed since the last meeting of the Cabinet Committee. She had deferred implementation of the national funding formula for schools for a year to enable further consideration and review. This deferral had mixed implications for Kent. It had been expected that Kent schools would benefit from a small increase in funding as a result of the introduction of the Fair Funding Formula which would have been welcome, particularly as schools had received “flat cash” for the last six years and pressure on budgets continued. On the other hand, the deferral was welcome as there were concerns that some of the proposals, including a proposal to fund the Schools Block directly from the centre and separate it from the High Needs Block, would negatively impact on local flexibility and reduce incentives to work co-operatively across the whole system.
(2) Mr Gough said the Secretary of State had set out Government policy in relation to the conversion of all schools to academies. While it was still policy that all schools would become academies, the previous deadline of 2020/22 had been relaxed.
(3) Mr Gough referred to the green paper on Grammar Schools Expansion and said many points in it were similar in spirit and to the recommendations of the authority’s recent Select Committee on Grammar Schools and Social Mobility. He said the proportion of grammar school places in the county was broadly correct and new grammar school places would be provided only in response to an increasing school population as a result of housing development and to fill egregious gaps in provision. The green paper also addressed some of the concerns of the Catholic Archdiocese which might result in the development of Catholic Free Schools which would have implications for schools expansion in Kent.
(4) Mr Gough also referred to the consultation on converting to a mixed sex grammar school being undertaken by Meopham School in Gravesend.
(5) Mr Hill (Cabinet Member for Community Services) said that the Community Learning and Skills service (Adult Education) had been inspected by Ofsted in June and had been assessed as good against a national standard that had been raised considerably. Mr Hill said this was an excellent achievement particularly in the light of the significant disruption experienced by the service in the past year and congratulated the service on the achievement.
(6) Mr Hill said that 2016 was the sixtieth anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and a celebratory event would be held at Detling to thank volunteers. He said that Kent County Council was one of the largest providers of opportunities to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award in the country. He said he had been particularly proud to attend an award ceremony at St James Palace, a few years ago, where a complete room was full of young people from Kent receiving their gold award.
(7) Mr Hill said that the Kent Youth County Council had asked to shadow County Councillors as part of Local Democracy week (10-16 October 2016). He said one of the young people would shadow him when he was attending the Community Safety Partnership meeting on 13 October.
(8) Mr Oakford (Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services) said the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking minors (UASM) in the county remained at 1400 of whom 600 were over 18. From January 2017 the number of over 18s would increase to 800 and this had significant budgetary implications. The authority continued to lobby the Government to increase funding as £100 per week was spent on each person over 18, only £50 of which was received directly from the government.
(9) The number of UASM arriving until May 2016 was greater than the number arriving over the same period in the previous year, however, numbers were down by 25% since May when security measures had been put in place. Mr Oakford said that 70 UASM were being supported by other local authorities under the Voluntary Dispersal Scheme. In practice, new arrivals were being dispersed but the cohort remaining in Kent was not being reduced.
(10) Mr Oakford said that the authority had written to the Children’s Commissioner requesting a meeting to discuss concerns about children from other areas being placed in Kent without prior discussion. The letter included case studies illustrating the danger to the children of such practices. About 1300 children had been placed in Kent.
(11) Mr Oakford said he had completed his visits to all children’s centres in August and the review of improved utilisation of buildings was well underway. The aim of the review was to consider ways of generating additional income to maintain the viability of some of the buildings used by children’s centres.
(12) Mr Oakford said he had attended the VSK awards in Canterbury and that the authority was participating in the Children’s Commissioner’s Take Over Challenge. As part of the challenge his job would be done for one day by 8 young people and the plans for the day included an opportunity for the young people to consider a report on accommodation for care leavers, a report on foster care placements and a review of the Early Help and Preventative Services Scorecard.
(13) Mr Oakford said he had spent a day at the Port of Dover following an invitation from the UK Border Agency and a joint meeting would be convened shortly to consider opportunities for joint working.
(14) Mr Leeson (Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services) said that 89.6% of schools in Kent had been assessed by Ofsted as good or outstanding and was ahead of the target for 2017 of 90% of schools being good or outstanding. 90% of primary schools, 84% of secondary schools, 96% of special schools and 86% of pupil referral units were judged to be good or outstanding. As of July 2016, 26 schools more schools were judged to be good or outstanding compared with July 2015 and this meant that 16,425 more pupils attended good or outstanding schools. Mr Leeson said this was a good outcome and that the upward trend was expected to continue.
(15) Mr Leeson said there had been particular challenges in providing additional school places for the new school year and paid tribute to the work of the Property team and the area education officers who had ensured that every child who needed a place got one. 601 additional reception class places had been provided in 19 schools and 20 additional classes had been provided in primary schools. While at secondary level, 447 additional places had been created in 15 schools. 38% of additional places at primary level and 36% of additional places at secondary level had been provided in Dartford and Gravesham.
(16) Comments were made in response to the verbal updates including:
· concerns about the frequency of changes to the Secretary of State for Education and to changes to the Government’s education policies;
· the possibility of a boys’ grammar school on the Wilderness site in Sevenoaks;
· the continuing need to improve performance at A-Level and to lobby the Government on making the voluntary dispersal scheme compulsory;
· the ability of the Government to deal directly with 23000 schools nationally in the way local authorities traditionally had;
· the potential impact of a loss of income on the viability of community centres run by volunteers when KCC ceased to provide community services from them.
(17) In response to comments and questions, Mr Gough said that, as a result of legislative changes arising from the green paper, there might be a different way of making grammar school provision for both boys and girls in Sevenoaks.
(18) Mr Oakford said that the authorities that placed children in Kent paid for their care but KCC met the costs of social care and support. He confirmed that the letter to the Children’s Commissioner listed the authorities who had placed children in Kent without prior discussion.
(19) In response to questions, Mr Leeson said the Lilac Sky School Academy Trust had failed, however, the regional and national schools commissioners had responded quickly to ensure the management of schools affected passed to other sponsors quickly and with minimum disruption.
(20) In response to a further question, Mr Leeson said the recruitment of teachers was still a concern and not enough teachers were being trained nationally. He said the Department of Education was taking the matter seriously and work was underway to support recently qualified teachers to reduce the number of them that left within their first five years.
(21) In response to a concern raised, Mr Oakford undertook to investigate the upkeep of the grounds around the Pie Factory in Thanet which were overgrown and poorly maintained.
(22) Ian Watts (Area Education Officer – North Kent) and his team were thanked for their work in providing additional school places in Dartford and Gravesham.