Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and to note the attendance of any substitute members.

The Panel noted the attendance of the following substitute member:

Councillor Allen for Councillor Ms Hayes.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 16 January 2013.  Information sought by the Panel at its last meeting has been circulated electronically and is appended to the minutes.

RESOLVED  that the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 16 January 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Panel received and noted previously circulated information pertaining to Short Break Care and the Youth Offending Service’s prevention service. 

Matters arising

·         Following input from the Panel on the Annual Admissions Arrangements 2014/15 siblings had been categorised as a social criteria in the new policy.  A move that should help ensure that the younger siblings of children placed in a school that was not their Designated Area School were not disadvantaged when it came to consideration of their applications to the same school as their sibling.

Members are requested to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interest, including the existence and nature of the Party Whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an affected interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest nor any indications that Members would be participating whilst under the party whip.

Any other items, which pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

There were no urgent items of business.

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

Members of the Youth Council will give a presentation concerning their current activities.

In the absence of the Bracknell Forest Youth Council it was agreed that this item would be deferred to the Panel’s next meeting.

To note the minutes of the meeting of the above advisory panel held on 27 March 2013 and to receive a verbal report in respect of the Life Chances Team Annual Report.

The Panel were provided with a briefing on the work of the Life Chances Team which had been operational since October 2011. 

The Life Chances Team was a virtual team of professionals with responsibility for looked after children drawn from a wide range of services including Early Years, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, the Youth Service, the Youth Offending Service, education and social workers.  The Team’s work focused on two key priorities: ensuring that resources were effectively and efficiently deployed and providing a service that met the needs of the looked after child in an effective and timely manner; work carried out through the early identification and addressing of problems.

The health, education and placement of all looked after children were continuously monitored and if a child was registered as having issues with two or more of these areas at any one time then additional support was put in place to help solve the problems. If at the Team’s next monthly meeting the issue has not been resolved then monitoring and action would continue.  If an issue is found to be a common one for the group then this was examined in more detail as a separate piece of work.

Since the Team’s inception there had been a number of positive developments including the development of more effective links between agencies, a reduction in the number of education issues recorded and the better understanding of the needs of all vulnerable children.  Foster carers had also reported that they feel better supported and that they feel better able to foster children with more complex needs. The development of the Team has also provided a model and a catalyst for resource development in other areas.

The Panel was informed that a Central Government Cross Party Working Group had identified the presence of a designated looked after children governor on a school governing body as being an example of best practice.  It was hoped that introducing this across schools in Bracknell Forest would help drive the work of the Life Chances Team forward.  The Panel acknowledged the good sense of this suggestion and agreed that the matter would be looked at by the Panel’s School Governance Working Group.

The Panel requested an update on the work of the Life Chances Team in six months time.

The Panel congratulated the Life Chances Team for the positive difference that they were making to Looked After Children.

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the Quarterly Service Report for the third quarter of 2012/13 (October to December 2012) relating to Children, Young People and Learning, giving particular attention to outcomes of Ofsted school inspections, the Family Focus Initiative and youth provision.

Panel members are, where possible, asked to give advance notice to the Overview and Scrutiny Team of any questions relating to the Quarterly Service Report.

Please bring the previously circulated Quarterly Service Report to the meeting.  Copies are available on request and attached to this agenda if viewed online.

Karen Frost, Head of Prevention and Early Intervention, gave a presentation in respect of Family Focus the Government’s Troubled Families initiative.

The programme, initiated in January 2012, was a three year programme which would introduce a systemic change to the way that families that incurred a high cost to the public purse were engaged with and helped. In the first year of the project the Council had engaged with 42 of the 115 families in Bracknell Forest identified as meeting two or more of the criteria set out by Central Government including involvement in crime or anti-social behaviour and children not attending school plus any locally decided criteria including domestic violence, mental health issues and neglect. A further 58 families would be engaged with during the current year.

On a day to day basis the initiative was being run by a virtual frontline team of experts meeting to monitor progress on a fortnightly basis.  Additional support was provided by a multi-agency project team that met three times a year and a stakeholder group acting as a Project Board to provide additional support and guidance when problems occurred.  Each family on the programme was assigned a named worker who worked with the family helping to resolve problems on a holistic basis.  The named worker was also responsible for co-ordinating meetings and ensuring that there was a single family plan reducing the number of visits that a family received from professionals.

The project was well supported by all partner agencies involved and a robust system was being put in place that would enable the secure sharing of case files.  A move that would further enhance the partnership working already taking place.  Extensive training had been put in place for front line staff to help them improve the way that they engaged with families and this was starting to pay dividends.

It was noted that schools were, through their Family Support Advisors, aware of families involved in the Family Focus project.  Where schools did not have Family Support Advisors the development of appropriate links would be explored.

It was agreed that that data relating to the number of Bracknell Forest families within the project meeting the various national criteria would be citculated to the Panel.

The Panel thanked Karen Frost for her update and it was agreed that the presentation would be circulated to the Panel.  It was requested that updates were brought to future Panel meetings.  

The Panel received an update on the provision of Youth Services within the Borough with a particular focus on the on-going modernisation of the service which aimed to provide the young people of Bracknell Forest with a mix of targeted provision and open access youth centres that provided a wide range of activities.  Work tied in with the key outcomes of the Get Us Involved consultation of young people which had highlighted three areas for development: increasing the involvement of young people, providing young people with the opportunity to participate in activities that they wouldn’t normally  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

A presentation in respect of changes affecting Special Educational Needs will be given.

Rosanna Border, Senior Advisor, provided a briefing on the emerging statutory reform programme in relation to children and young people with special educational needs (SEN).

The reforms were currently going through the second stage of the Parliamentary Committee process and it was expected that the majority of the changes set out in the legislation would be implemented through clauses within Section 3 of the Children and Families Bill that would receive Royal Assent in mid 2014.

The key changes that the Children and Families Bill would introduce were:

• The age range of those eligible for SEN to be increased from 19 years to 25 years old
• The replacement of statements and learning difficulty assessments with  Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP)
• The introduction of a statutory requirement to involve young people and families in the assessment process, the development and review of the local offer and in reviewing SEN provision
• The introduction of a mediation advisor to support those appealing to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal
• The introduction of the option of personal budgets enabling families to manage their child’s SEN package

Although the authority would not be developing EHCPs until clear guidance about what they would require had been published work was already taking place to develop the systems already in place to enable changes to progress in advance of the legislation.  Positive feedback had been given on pilot projects already in place including work with families at Holly Spring Schools to review the local SEN offer available.

The Panel questioned whether schools had the resources available to meet the ongoing budget pressures particularly in light of the presumption that schools and colleges would have to meet up to the first £6,000 of additional cots incurred for each child’s SEN Provision.  Officers acknowledged the Panel’s concerns and stressed that this figure was on top of the existing pupil funding received by schools and officers were working to develop more creative ways of delivering the SEN service.  Staff were also working closely with those mainstream schools with high SEN levels.  It was also noted that SEN needs often reduced over time as the focus moved to encouraging a child’s independence and self advocacy as they grew older.  In addition, work undertaken at Kennel Lane and College Hall had found that often a child’s SEN needs weren’t just about the requirement for additional equipment or material resources and that the attitudes of teachers had a far greater impact on their ability to learn.

The Panel was reassured that the method of funding used for Special Schools would remain unchanged with Kennel Lane School being funded on the basis of £10,000 per pupil plus top up funding according to need and provision would be put into place to charge pupils who lived outside the Borough at a set cost.  Notwithstanding this officers would continue to monitor the situation to ensure that funding was equitable and that educational resources met the needs of pupils.  It was agreed that the Panel would monitor the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

To comment on the Education Transport Policy 2014/15 prior to its approval by the Executive Member.

The Panel received a report containing a draft of the Education Transport Policy 2014/15 which they had been given an opportunity to comment on previously.

It was confirmed that if a child was allocated a place at a school that was not its designated area school and the school had not been named as a preference when applying for a place then the local authority would pay for the child’s transport to and from school.

It was agreed that the number of children being provided with transport and the cost of this provision would be circulated to the Panel.

To receive an update in respect of the working group of the Panel reviewing school governance.

The Panel received a report providing an update on the progress made to date by the Working Group of the Panel reviewing school governance.

It was reported that the review was drawing to a conclusion and a questionnaire had been circulated to head teachers to gather their views of the effectiveness of the structures in place.

Volunteers were requested for a Working Group to review the provision of school places.  It was agreed that the Working Group would consist of Councillors Mrs Birch, Kensall, Mrs McCracken and Mrs Temperton and Mr R Briscoe.

To consider scheduled Executive Key and Non-Key Decisions relating to Children, Young People and Learning.

The Panel noted the scheduled Executive Key and Non-Key Decisions relating to Children, Young People and Learning.