To
agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee’s
predecessor, the Education and Skills Board, as a true and accurate
record of proceedings.
Minutes:
The minutes of the previous meeting were
approved as a true and accurate record of proceedings.
3.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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All
Members present are required to declare, at this point in the
meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:
I.Any disclosable
pecuniary interests and / or
II.Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in
respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this
meeting
NOTES:
·Members are reminded that they must not participate
in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest
·As well as an interest of the Member, this includes
any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the
Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the
Member is living as a spouse or civil partner)
·Members with a significant personal interest may
participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that
interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial.
Minutes:
There were no declarations of interest
received.
4.
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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To
receive any questions or petitions.
Notes:
1.The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm
four working days before the meeting (31
August 2017).
2.The deadline for public questions is seven days
before the meeting (30 August
2017)
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.
5.
RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
Belinda Newth,Head of Quality & Experience
Will Balakrishnan,Head of Insight & Innovation
Frank Offer, Head of Market Strategy
Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children
Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Education
Declarations of Interest:
None
Key points
raised during the discussion:
Officers outlined the Children, Schools and Families
Commissioning plan, noting that it set out the challenges and
service delivery objectives for SEND services. It was highlighted
that this Plan feeds into the work of the Children and Young People
Partnership Strategy.
It was noted by officers that the service was
working closely with a significant number of partners to ensure
that the service was working to deliver in a cost effective
manner.
Several outcomes of the commissioning plan were
highlighted by officers as key points of improvement:
Improving outcomes for children and vulnerable
groups; and
Managing growing demand
It
was noted that there was an increase in needs based demand, but
that the service must work to manage this growing need with the
requirement to make budgetary savings. It was stressed that Early
Help would be a crucial aspect of ensuring delivery.
Officers highlighted that the service was shifting
to a strength based model of delivery, highlighting the Safer
Surrey practice guide as an example. It was explained that these
models would ensure that there was sufficient support available to
improve outcomes for service users.
The Committee questioned the proposed new approach
of working with families. It was highlighted that there was a
requirement to change the expectations of families and young people
to how services are offered and delivered. Officers and the Cabinet
Members stressed that this was a key concern, and that there was a
need for a significant culture change in the service to achieve
this. However, it was stressed that the service would maintain an
in depth level of assessment to determine the needs of a child and
what approach is working for the individual child. The Cabinet
Member for Children also highlighted that there would be a
fundamental change in how the service works with families, but that
the service was looking at more inclusive ways of working with them
to help resolve this issue.
The Committee questioned the disparity between the
quality of education in general in comparison with poorer outcomes
for vulnerable children. It was stressed that the service
recognised the contradiction between these two outcomes and that it
was a shortcoming of the service that needed to be addressed as
part of this new strategy of commissioning.
The Cabinet Member for Education noted that the
service, as part of its new Commissioning Plan, was moving to a
more data focussed approach. It was highlighted that there was a
greater requirement for provision of disadvantaged children and
that improved datasets would help the service focus on individual
children’s needs more effectively and that the service needed
to define the datasets used.
Officers responded to Member concerns regarding
places to meet for families and young people. It was stressed that
these were important ...
view the full minutes text for item 6.
Purpose of the report:To review the summary of audit findings and
Management Action Plan produced as a result of an internal audit
review of the Youth Services- Governance and
Business Management Arrangements Follow up Audit.
Nick Charalambous, Young People and Families Strategic Lead
– East
David John, Audit
Performance Manager
Tasneem Ali, Auditor
Declarations of Interest:
None
Key points
raised during the discussion:
Officers outlined the actions undertaken by the
service to resolve the recommendations highlighted as a priority.
The youth services officers noted improvement in governance
arrangements and continued work regarding the resolution of phone
contract misuse.
The Audit Performance Manager highlighted that the
risk register and ratings that had been assigned by the youth
services had been monitored by auditors to ensure
progress.
Auditors noted that the ongoing self-audit was
working to resolve longstanding issues undertaken by the service.
It was also noted that internal audit had not yet undertaken a
follow up audit, but that there would be one undertaken in future
to monitor actions taken. However, auditors noted the positive
progress highlighted in the self-audit.
Members questioned the misuse of mobile technology
within the service. It was queried whether lessons learnt from the
recuperating of misuses in mobile technology could be shared with
other services to ensure good practice. Youth service officers
stressed that they were sharing this good practice data with staff
in youth services and with other services. Auditors also noted that
they were also highlighting evidences of abuse within other
services and ensuring that any irregularities were
resolved.
The Committee were satisfied the current progress of
youth services and highlighted that they welcomed a follow up
audit.
Recommendations
That the Committee notes the audit report and
Management Action Plan and requests that the follow up audit is
shared with the Committee on its publication.
Julie Stockdale,SEND & School Organisation Strategic
Lead
Declarations of Interest:
None
Key points
raised during the discussion:
Officers outlined the background of the Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities reforms legislated by central
government, noting that there was a requirement for the publication
of a local offer in response to reforms in 2014. The SEND 2020 plan
was published as an additional to this requirement and detailed the
Surrey local offer. Officers followed that the plan put to the
select committee was a refresh of this plan to take into account
the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of SEND
services in October 2016 and the long term recommendations of the
Written Statement of Action published in May 2017.
It was noted by officers that the SEND Improvement
Board and SEND Partnership Board had influenced the changes in the
SEND Development Plan. Officers noted that there was a culture of
collaboration being developed within the service between the
Children’s Services and partners. Members highlighted and
expressed appreciation for the collaborative nature of these
groups.
Officers highlighted opportunities to review the
SEND services offer, noting that there was a potential to look into
options to reduce costs to these services.
Officers highlighted that there were several (remove
text) special schools being expanded and 2 successful new
specialist free school bids in Surrey as part of the Development
Plan. Members questioned where the funding was being allocated
from. Officers explained that there was funding awarded by the
Department for Education (DfE) to build two special needs Free
Schools. It was also noted that specialist, purpose-built
“Cullum Centres” have been funded by the Cullum
Family Trust, with an SCC contribution, to serve children with
high functioning autism, highlighting that the service was
innovating to fund new ways of supporting Special Education Needs
children.
Officers noted that there was demand within schools
to deliver inclusive SEND services. Officers noted (remove text)
that an index for inclusion had been developed for SCC in
conjunction with all schools and partners.
Officers highlighted that there was a requirement to
balance inclusion with the cost of the service to ensure that there
was a quality and cost effective service in future.
Officers explained that the refreshed plan was to be
published online in conjunction with the local offer.
Recommendations:
That the Select Committee to endorses the draft SEND
Development Plan for publication.
Purpose of the
report:To propose a Special Educational
Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Improvement Task and Finish Group to
the committee based on the terms of reference outlined and ask for
Members to consider their interest in joining the group.
Members noted the terms of reference of the Task and
Finish Group and recommended that they be submitted to the Overview
and Budget Scrutiny Board for approval.
Members noted that the proposed Membership for the
Task and Finish Group was as follows:
Purpose of the
report:To propose a Performance Member
Reference Group to the committee based on the terms of reference
outlined and ask for Members to consider their interest in joining
the group.
Members noted the terms of reference of the Task and
Finish Group and recommended that they be submitted to the Overview
and Budget Scrutiny Board for approval with the addition of an
emphasis for Key Performance Indicator analysis.
Members noted that the proposed Membership for the
Task and Finish Group was as follows:
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