Agenda and minutes
PDF 216 KBVenue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN. View directions
Contact: Julie Armstrong, Scrutiny Officer
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Simon Parr. Tanya Quddus attended remotely and had no voting rights. .
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 2 MARCH 2023
To agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture as a true and accurate record of proceedings. Additional documents: 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. Additional documents: Minutes: None were 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 (6 June 2023).
2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(5 June 2023).
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
The public retain their right to submit questions for written response, with such answers recorded in the minutes of the meeting; questioners may participate in meetings to ask a supplementary question. Petitioners may address the Committee on their petition for up to three minutes Guidance will be made available to any member of the public wishing to speak at a meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: There were three public questions, one Member question and no petitions. The questions and responses were published as a supplement to the 12 June agenda. The Scrutiny Officer read a supplementary question on behalf of Roisin Kennedy, asking when the Council would stop offering only two sessions of speech therapy as standard when many children needed more. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning agreed to provide a written response. A second questioner, Charles Hepburn, did not attend the meeting. Anna Sutherland attended the meeting and asked for an answer to her original question which she felt had not been provided by the response. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning offered to have a discussion with Mrs Sutherland outside the meeting. Adjournment for 7 minutes while building works noise resolved. Meeting resumed at 10:18 am. As a supplementary to his written question, Jonathan Essex asked what would be done to address the shortfall in play and youth activities. He said this had not been bridged by DfE funding, which had created an expectation for something additional that might not be funded in the future. The Cabinet Member for Children and Families said she had committed to review the budget position for 2024/25. In the meantime, outcomes would be measured and evaluated, and feedback from carers and young people accessing the service would be harnessed through Family Voice. Actions/requests for further information: 1. Cabinet Member for Education and Learning to reach out for discussion with Anna Sutherland regarding her Public Question and share notes of the conversation with the Select Committee.
2. Cabinet Member for Education and Learning to send a written response to Roisin Kennedy’s supplementary question and share it with the Select Committee.
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CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS
For the Chairman to provide any updates and comments to the Committee. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman paid tribute to her predecessor, Liz Bowes, for creating a spirit of collaboration. She declared her intention to limit public meetings to three hours, continue Member visits to front line operations and engage with education providers. |
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ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PLAN
To review the actions and recommendations tracker and forward work programme, making suggestions for additions or amendments as appropriate. Additional documents: Minutes: A forward work programming session will be held for all Committee Members on 10 July. |
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CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES AND SHORT BREAKS
To review the current short breaks offer and the practice and performance, priorities, and improvement progress of the Children with Disabilities Service since its 2021 review. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses: Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families Rachael Wardell, Executive Director – Children, Families & Learning Jenny Brickell, Assistant Director – Children with Disabilities Eamonn Gilbert, Assistant Director – Commissioning Chris Tisdall, Service Manager, Commissioning – Corporate Parenting Kate Goode, Family Voice Surrey Participation Manager
Key points made in the discussion – Children with Disabilities: 1. Mandatory additional safeguarding training for social workers in the children with disabilities service was introduced following Ofsted’s 2021 visit, after the service took over case management responsibility for safeguarding cases, which previously had been transferred to family safeguarding teams. A Member asked how their understanding of safeguarding issues was being checked. The Assistant Director for Children with Disabilities said training had a safeguarding focus every three months, and one month ago a quarterly report to management from the Academy was introduced to check social workers’ attendance at training, including agency staff. She informed the Committee the internal audit of the whole service in February 2023 did not identify any safeguarding concerns. A second audit was to be carried out later in 2023.
2. A Member asked how often children placed in specialist independent schools around the country were visited by Surrey staff. The Assistant Director for Children with Disabilities clarified the statutory requirement is for the child to be visited within the first week of a new placement, then at least once every six weeks, reduced to every three months if the placement is made permanent. Compliance was monitored monthly.
3. Regarding the 2023 dip sample, the Assistant Director for Children with Disabilities was asked what was being done to address the fact most of the child and family assessments were out-of-date. It was being considered whether these yearly assessments were proportionate and necessary in addition to the statutory child in need visits. A Member queried why in most of the audits there was no consent for information sharing. The Assistant Director said it was mainly due to the consent obtained not being evidenced, and parents understood information needed to be shared with schools and health partners. In order to improve the quality of reports, an exemplar assessment had been developed and shown to staff in practice improvement sessions.
4. Regarding timeliness of child in need visits, 87% of children were currently being seen within timescale, compared with 77% when Ofsted expressed concern in their January 2022 visit.
5. A Member asked if once a child had been classified as having lower needs and placed accordingly, there were subsequent reviews to check if their needs had changed. The Assistant Director for Children with Disabilities clarified a review took place every six months by a team that included an advanced social worker. Although this was an issue identified in the Ofsted report of March 2021, it was now an area of strong performance within a stable team.
6. A Member asked what had been done since the January 2022 Ofsted inspection to ensure a child’s wider needs are met, not just those relating ... view the full minutes text for item 18/23 |
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REPORT OF THE ADULT LEARNING AND SKILLS TASK GROUP
To provide the findings and recommendations of the Adult Learning and Skills Task Group, set up to consider what changes to adult learning and skills policy and provision would meet the economic and social needs of the community and deliver relevant environmental commitments. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses: Chris Townsend, Chairman of the Task Group Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning Liz Mills, Director – Education and Lifelong Learning
Key points made in the discussion:
Resolved: The Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee:
2. Asks the relevant officers to provide a progress report to this Select Committee on the progress being made in relation to the Task Group’s recommendations at the first Select Committee meeting of 2024, to include an analysis of the funding implications. |
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HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE UPDATE
To receive an update on what progress has been made against the recommendations made in December 2022 by the Select Committee, the Learning Review and Family Voice Surrey, and what changes have been made to enhance the customer experience for September 2023. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses: Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning Rachael Wardell, Executive Director – Children, Families and Learning Michael Smith, Temporary Senior Responsible Officer for Home to School Transport Improvement Gerry Hughes, H2STA Service Manager Leanne Henderson, Family Voice Surrey Participation Manager
Key points made in the discussion:
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ADDITIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES MONITORING
To receive an updated report on progress made towards and barriers against achieving the recommendations for the Inclusion and Additional Needs Partnership Strategy agreed by Select Committee in December 2022. Additional documents: Minutes: Key points made in the discussion:
Resolved: The Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee recommends: 1. That from the October 2023 committee meeting, key performance indicators measuring performance in additional needs and disabilities, to be agreed between the Director of Education and the Chairman, are added to the data provided in the performance overview standing item. 2. Given the committee’s recommendations from December 2022 are all considered to be complete, that additional needs monitoring is removed as a standing item once recommendation 1 is implemented. |
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To review new Ofsted reports on Surrey County Council-run Children’s Homes, received as part of the communications plan in Children’s Services agreed in 2022. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses: Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families Rachael Wardell, Executive Director – Children, Families and Learning
Key points made in the discussion:
Ashley Tilling left at 3:17 pm. Actions/requests for further information: |
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PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW
To review the latest performance information for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses: Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning Patricia Denney, Director of Children’s Quality Assurance and Performance Chris Tisdall, Service Manager, Commissioning – Corporate Parenting
Key points made in the discussion:
Rachael Lake left at 3:38 pm.
Actions/requests for further information: |
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DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next public meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday, 20 July 2023. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on Thursday 20 July 2023. |