Venue: Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN
Contact: Ross Pike, Committees Business Manager
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: Apologies were received from Liz Bowes and Barbara Thomson. .
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 13 DECEMBER 2019
To agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture as a true and accurate record of proceedings.
Minutes: The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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: None received. |
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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 (15 January 2020).
2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(14 January 2020)
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received. Minutes: None received. |
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SCRUTINY OF REVENUE AND CAPITAL BUDGET 2020/21
Purpose of report: To provide details of the budget for scrutiny prior to Cabinet and Council meetings. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Julie Iles, Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families
Rachel Wigley, Director of Financial Insight Daniel Peattie, Strategic Finance Business Partner Dave Hill, Executive Director for Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture
Key points raised during the discussion:
Peter Martin declared a personal interest – grandchild applying for an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) in Surrey.
[Amanda Boote arrived at the meeting at 10.08] 2. The Director stated that the financial strategy set out how resources would be directed to deliver on both the organisation strategy and the transformation and ambitions of the council. Significant progress had been made as an organisation from financial recovery towards financial stability, whilst continuing the journey of improvement. The Director stated that two years previously the council had been relying on reserves to balance the budget however, the budget for 2020/21 would be based on sustainability and investment. The Transformation Programme would continue to deliver efficiencies, providing offset against continuing demand for services. For the council’s picture as a whole, in terms of revenue, there was £78m worth of demand pressure from services which were partly offset by £38m in proposed efficiencies. Therefore, the council’s net budget increased from £928m to £968m in 20/21. The £40m increase was from additional funding from central government. The Capital Programme proposed over the coming years was £1.4bn. The Director highlighted that the cost of borrowing had been included in the council’s budget. [Peter Martin arrived at the meeting 10.10]
[Yvonna Lay arrived at the meeting at 10.20] |
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CORPORATE PARENTING STRATEGY
Purpose of report: to review and agree the Corporate Parenting Strategy which will be published and become a Council wide document
Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families
Davie Hill, Executive Director Children, Families, Culture and Lifelong Learning Tina Benjamin, Director – Corporate Parenting Simon Hart, Independent Chair of Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership
1. The Chairman invited the Director – Corporate Parenting to introduce the Corporate Parenting Strategy document. The Director informed the Committee that the principles established in the 2017 Children Social Work Bill were at the heart of the Corporate Parenting Strategy. The thinking around this strategy was to bring together the expectations of the Local Authority to make explicit what the duties were and how governance would be managed and monitored. A report would be established to inform council on the annual performance and outcomes for LAC within one document. The Director – Corporate Parenting asked that the Committee to endorse the document and comment on how it had been presented.
2. A Member asked how the strategy had been developed with partners. The Director informed the Committee that there was more that could be done to work with partners albeit they were extending their roles with partners on delivery.
3. The Vice Chairman applauded the strategy for being ambitious and compassionate though he acknowledged existing challenges, the biggest of which seemed to be around leaving care. The Committee suggested adopting a more strategic approach and stepping up work on duties to care leavers, apprenticeships, and supporting care leavers with student loans. The Vice Chairman asked whether there were opportunities for them to consider, with partners and the chamber of commerce, assisting care leavers with scholarship applications, and generally encouraging young people in care to pursue higher education.
4. The Cabinet Member stated that the Corporate Parenting Board had made significant improvement following a restructure that slimmed down the membership of the board The most recent report from the Children’s Commissioner stated that the ‘corporate parenting was developing well’. The Cabinet Member stated the importance of partners working alongside the board in all aspects of corporate parenting. They believed that the strategy did express the desire of the corporate parenting board to give children healthy lives. They suggested that something could be added to the strategy on how to bring partners in more closely to the corporate parenting work.
5. A Member stated that foster parents should be recognised as partners as they are key in looking after Surrey’s children on behalf of corporate parents. The Cabinet Member informed the Committee that there was foster carer representation on the Corporate Parenting Board. Nevertheless, the Cabinet Member stated that they were happy to look at the wording of the relevant part of the report to see how it could perhaps be strengthened to greater reflect the importance of foster carers, and the partnership aspect. The Cabinet Member also stated that under levels of corporate parenting responsibility an additional bullet point could be added to summarise that the chair/ members of the corporate parenting board would take a lead role in promoting awareness of applying ... view the full minutes text for item 6/20 |
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UPDATE ON OFSTED AND CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER INSPECTIONS
Purpose of report: to provide a summary of the recent inspections of Surrey’s children’s services including the latest Ofsted Monitoring Visit and the final review by the Children’s Commissioner.
Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families Dave Hill, Executive Director for Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture
RESOLVED:
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RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
Purpose of report: For the Select Committee to review the attached Recommendations Tracker and Forward Work Programme, making suggestions for additions or amendments as appropriate.
Additional documents: Minutes:
Recommendations i. The Committee reviews the attached forward work programme and recommendations tracker at each of the meetings. ii. Many items need to be further scoped in terms of purpose and timing – would welcome the Committee’s views on these.
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DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: 26 MARCH 2020
The next public meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday 26 March 2020 at 10:00am in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall. Minutes: The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on 26 March 2020. |