Agenda and minutes
PDF 173 KBVenue: Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN. View directions
Contact: Andrew Spragg, Room 122, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: Apologies were received from Ben Carasco. Chris Pitt substituted for Ben Carsaco.
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.
Notes: · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest. · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register. · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.
Minutes: None. |
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QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes: 1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (Friday 16 October 2015). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (Thursday 15 October 2015) 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received. Minutes: There were no questions or petitions. |
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RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SCRUTINY BOARD
There are no responses to report. Minutes: There were no responses from Cabinet to report. |
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RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PLAN
The Board is asked to review its Recommendation Tracker and provide comment as necessary. Additional documents: Minutes: Key points raised during the discussion:
1. The subject of pupils being home educated was discussed. A suggestion to scrutinise the Council’s role in their education was noted. 2. The Board was asked to note that recommendations concerning funding schools for deprivation had been referred to the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 27 October 2015.
Actions: · Scrutiny of the education of pupils outside of the education system added to the forward work plan.
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SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES
Purpose of the report: To update the Board on progress to date of the Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Programme and recommend opportunities for further engagement Minutes: Declarations of interest:
None.
Witnesses:
Peter-John Wilkinson, Assistant Director for Schools and Learning Liz Mills, SEND Strategic Programme Lead Jo Holtom, Senior Strategy and Policy Development Manager Fran Morgan, Family Voice Representative Andrea Collins, Family Voice Representative
Key points raised during the discussion:
1. The Board was informed that Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) overlapped on all levels of education, and was subject to concerns for the Council around aspects such as; the quality of service and support received children and young people; the speed of assessing need and delivering services, and implementing of recent changes to legislation around SEND. 2. The Board was informed that the cost of providing SEND support in Surrey was higher than the national average. The Board raised concerns over the costs for provisions and requested a further update on the cost of delivering statutory responsibilities through residential SEND provisions.
3. The Board was informed that new government legislation introduced in 2014 raised the upper age cut-off for SEND provisions to 25 years. The Board raised concerns around what additional resource would be required in order to support young people with SEND, aged 16-25.
4. The Board asked whether the Council will reach the 2018 deadline to transfer SEND statements to Education, Health and Care Plans. Officers assured Members that staff are working on target to meet the 2018 deadlines. The Board was informed that the legislation brought additional responsibilities for the Council without significant additional resource being made available from central Government. Officers commented this created a challenge in implementing the required changes. As a result, the deadline for customer assessments being completed within the mandated 20 weeks was currently being missed.
5. The Board was informed that within the Education budgets, some money has been reassigned from mainstream schools for the funding of SEND projects. This decision was made so to encourage good change in the provision and support for SEND customers. Alongside this, a programme is being drawn up to greater improve SEND inclusion in mainstream schools. The programme will help support the SEND strategy across all education agencies.
6.
Further Education colleges have responded positively to future
changes and implications of the new legislation, and had been very
supportive with officers. The Board was informed that the SEND
programme aimed to bring together secondary schools and colleges
with their SEND provisions.
7. Officers highlighted that within the SEND strategy programme will be a customer experience work-stream. Members suggested that the Resident Experience Board could engage with this piece of work and feed back to the Education and Skills Board in due course.
8. Members commented that health and school partners should meet with the Wellbeing and Social Care sub-group to help ensure that all aspects of future SEND provisions are covered effectively.
Recommendations:
· That a further report is presented to ... view the full minutes text for item 15. |
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Break 11.35am - 11.40am |
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INTERNAL AUDIT - HENRIETTA PARKER TRUST FUNDS
Purpose of the report: Scrutiny of Services
To review the summary of audit findings and Management Action Plan produced as a result of an internal audit review of Henrietta Parker Trust Funds. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
None.
Witnesses:
Paul Hoffman, Principal Community Learning and Skills. David John, Audit Performance Manager
Key points raised during the discussion:
1. Officers gave the Board a report on the internal audit of the Henrietta Parker Trust Fund and an overview of the history and purpose of the Fund.
2. In the process of creating the audit report, investigations discovered that there was some uncertainty over the Fund governance structure. Members suggested that this needed to be explored further.
3.
The report also highlighted that Surrey County Council was the sole
trustee for the Fund. Members expressed that this was not
appropriate and that more robust governance arrangements needed to
be put in place.
Recommendations: · That officers explore the legal options available to pass management of the trust to a suitable body with appropriate governance arrangements. · That temporary trustee arrangements are put in place. · The Education and Skills Board requests a report back on progress in January 2016.
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 26 November 2015 at 10am.
Minutes: The Board was asked to note that the next meeting of the Education and Skills Board will be held at 10am on Thursday 24 November 2015.
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