Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Dominic Mackie or Richard Plummer
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: Apologies were received from Liz Bowes, Carol Coleman, Robert Evans, Denis Fuller, Marsha Mosley and Simon Parr. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 19 APRIL 2016
To agree the minutes as a true record of the meeting. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as a true and accurate record of proceedings. |
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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: There were no Declarations of Interest to report. |
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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 (Thursday 2 June 2016). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (Wednesday 1 June 2016) 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received. Minutes: There were no questions or petitions received. |
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RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SCRUTINY BOARD
To review responses from Cabinet to recommendations made by the Board. Minutes: There were no responses to report. |
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RECOMMENDATION TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
The Board is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings, and to review its Forward Work Programme. Additional documents: Minutes: The Board noted and agreed with the proposed Recommendations Tracker and Forward Work Programme. |
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Purpose of the report: To update the Education and Skills Board on the Surrey Area Review of Post-16 education. Minutes: Witnesses:
Ron Searle, Secondary Phase Council Chair
Key points raised during discussion:
1.
The Officer explained to the Board the purpose of
the Surrey Area Review, highlighting its nature as a central
government led scheme focussing on post-16 education in dedicated
Sixth Form colleges and general Further Education (FE) colleges. It
primarily focussed on FE for young people, but that some attention
was given to adult FE. The terms of reference of the review aimed
to scrutinise the sustainability and financial resilience of these
institutions. The Board expressed concerns with regards to the
limitations of the review, noting that schools with internal Sixth
Forms were not included, nor were academised schools, suggesting
that the review may not provide a comprehensive view of FE in the
Surrey area. It was also noted that any recommendations made by the
review were not binding on schools.
2.
The review suggested that, while Surrey was ahead
nationally on Level Three performance, it had a lower level of
attainment with regard to pupils supported by free school meals,
and that there was room for improvement with this.
3.
The Officer informed Members that the Employment and
Skills Board had identified that, to meet local business demands,
there was a need for increasing and developing FE provision in high
growth, significant employments such as finance, IT, construction
and new high-tech industries with particular focus on Science,
Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) skills. The Employment and
Skills Board also proposed a more comprehensive collaboration
between employers and schools to help ascertain employer skill
requirements whilst improving and informing school curriculum
planning. It was suggested by Members that it may be beneficial for
the Board to work with schools and local enterprise partners more
closely to ascertain required skills and suggested that a more
localised view was key to supporting this.
4.
It was queried by the Board why STEM subjects were
less popular among FE students in Surrey, and whether the relative
affluence of the county lead to a focus on arts teaching. The
Chairman invited the Secondary Phase Council Chair to speak on the
matter, who commented that, while Science and Mathematics were
compulsory subjects in Surrey schools, it was their opinion that
the reduction of vocational courses has had an impact on the
prevalence of employable skills.
5.
It was highlighted that that there had been an
increase in pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
(SEND) requiring transport services to FE providers outside of
county, and it was suggested that this may be a result of the
provisions of Children and Families Act (2014), but that more
research would have to be undertaken to identify this
trend.
6.
The Board praised the proposals made in the
Information Advice and Guidance (IAG), suggesting that they were
effective in their role of influencing the curriculum. 7. The Board queried the reasons for the higher numbers of children with SEND requiring Education, Health and Care Plans in comparison with other ... view the full minutes text for item 42/16 |
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PROCUREMENT FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES TRANSPORT SERVICES
Purpose of the report: Scrutiny of Services
To review the procurement processes home to school transport services for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Additional documents: Minutes: Witnessess:
Key points raised during discussion:
1.
Finance, Transport and Procurement officers gave the
Board presentations on SEND Transport.
2.
Officers explained that there had been consistent
budget overspends in SEND transport provision from the financial
years 2012/13 to 2015/16. It was suggested that this was, in part,
due to an increase in the demand of SEND transport in Surrey. It
was also explained in the presentation that the per pupil cost of
SEND transport had consistently risen in conjunction with a
reduction in the number of children carried per route, highlighting
the statistic of the number of solo routes has increasing by
8%.
3.
The Board queried whether combining more transport
routes would increase efficiency and reduce costs incurred by
transport provision. Officers agreed that shared routes would bring
down transport costs, however, they warned that there was a balance
required to meet the needs of some SEND students.
4.
Members asked if there was a possibility of
combining SEND transport with regular school transport. Officers
responded that this was already a practice in some cases, but that
any conjunction of service would need to be implemented by the SEND
team. Members suggested that better linkage between services would
be beneficial to the aim of solving such logistical
issues.
5.
The Board raised concerns with projected savings in
this services and questioned how, with the consistent history of
overspend and the numbers of eligible pupils rising, the service
can feasibly to deliver the projected £7 million cost
reduction.
6.
The Board questioned the major increase in SEND
transport routes between April 2013 and October 2013 and asked why
these figures were anomalous in comparison with the trend. Officers
commented that this was indeed out of place and that investigation
into these statistics would need to take place in order to identify
this anomaly.
7.
Officers identified that the number of required
medical and behavioural escorts had increased; indicating a
changing trend in SEND requirements. The Board questioned whether
escorts were more prevalent on solo routes and whether this served
to increase costs. Officers informed Members that the requirement
for escorts depended on a child’s Education, Health and Care
Plan and, although would directly affect overall costs, could not
be negotiated. Officers explained that more information on escorts
and how they were deployed was required to analyse any possible
cost reduction in the service. 8. Officers highlighted the changes made to the transport procurement system, praising the new system’s flexibility and ability ... view the full minutes text for item 43/16 |
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EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
Recommendation: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of Act. Minutes:
1.
The Chairman informed the Board that should any
Member had wished to raise any matter relating to the Part 2 Annex
[Item 8], that the meeting needed to be taken into a Part 2
session.
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PROCUREMENT FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES TRANSPORT SERVICES - ANNEX B
This is a Part Two Annex for [Item 8]
CONFIDENTIAL Not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 Minutes: 1. The Board requested clarity on the statistics published relating to procurement. The figures were clarified by officers. |
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PUBLICITY FOR PART TWO ITEMS
To consider whether any item considered under Part Two of the agenda should be made available to the Press and public. Minutes: The Board concluded that the items referred to in the Part Two annex should not be made available to the public at this time. |
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minutes:
1.
Henrietta Parker
Trust
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Board will be a private meeting held at County Hall on 7 July 2016 at 10.00am.
The next public meeting of the Board will be held at County Hall on 15 September 2016 at 10.00am.
Minutes: The next meeting of the Board will be a private meeting held at County Hall on 7 July 2016 at 10.00am.
The next public meeting of the Board will be held at County Hall on 15 September 2016 at 10.00am
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