Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 17 July 2012.

The record of the meeting held on 17 July 2012 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clarke, Craven and Iles.  Apologies for absence were also received from Samantha Collins (Parent Governor representative), Shirley Griffiths (LINk representative) and Sam Tutt (Medway Youth Parliament representative).

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

There were none. 

This report provides the committee with an update on the future location of the Child Development Centre. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, Commissioning and Strategy, provided Members with a brief explanation of the background to the Child Development Centre, which had been located within Medway Maritime Hospital until the accommodation was needed for more beds.  After lengthy consultation it had been agreed that the service would be placed within part of the old Temple School site.  She explained that due to various changes from the health reforms, progress of this had been delayed however, it was hoped that the Strategic Health Authority would shortly confirm authorisation of the use of corporate monies to progress the development so work on the site could then begin.

Officers then answered questions from Members, which included: -

·        Confirmation of transport infrastructure;

·        Other uses of the remainder of the Temple site;

·        Consideration of other accommodation.

In response the Assistant Director, Commissioning and Strategy confirmed that transport infrastructure had been carefully considered as part of the feasibility study and that road networks to the site were good with adequate parking available and additionally there were a number of bus services to the site.  Furthermore, she confirmed that the remainder of the Temple site (three quarters of the retained part of the site) would be used for educational purposes, supporting the integrated working model for the service.  It was also confirmed that other properties had been considered for the service but due to the space required there were very few options available and so it had been decided to use the Temple site.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report.

This report provides information on the provisional education results for Medway for 2012.  The data is un-validated and must be treated with caution. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, Inclusion and Improvement provided the committee with a detailed presentation setting out the provision test and examination results for Medway and how they compared nationally.  She explained that results for all key stages had improved from the previous year, however, in comparison to national results, for Key stage 2 Medway was ranked as joint bottom with another local authority.  She confirmed that some schools had made outstanding progress, with one school improving its results by 30%.  She also reported that of the eleven schools that had been below the floor target in 2011, nine had improved to above floor in 2012.  Two schools remained below floor this year and two schools had dipped to below floor.  The Assistant Director was also able to report on the local authority’s performance on the phonics testing, which had been the first year this had been tested and unfortunately, despite the improvement of Key Stage 1 results, Medway’s performance was 11% below the national average and therefore this performance data needed interrogation to understand what went wrong and what needed to be done to improve results in 2013.

The committee then asked officers a number of questions and made various comments, which included: -

·        Confirmation that phonics programmes are used in Medway schools;

·        Concern that the improvement was not good enough;

·        That schools’ governing bodies and leadership teams need to be supported to improve together

·        That schools in Medway should improve their working together to peer challenge, share best practice and work together to improve and that this is done in a supportive and co-operative way;

·        That a report back on the analysis of the phonics performance, what went wrong and what interventions can be made to improve performance be brought back to a future meeting of the committee;

·        That a report back on analysis of the schools that made good improvement to identify best practice and how this can be shared with other schools across Medway;

·        Concerns about budgetary implications following school funding reforms and a suggestion that a risk analysis be undertaken of schools that will receive a reduced budget;

·        What measures will be put in place to prevent other schools dropping in attainment;

·        How the gap between the performance of girls and boys can be reduced;

·        That the School Improvement Team should be enhanced to help provide  more support to more schools to improve.

Officers confirmed that phonics programmes were being used in schools and support would be provided to schools to ensure they are being used effectively.

The Director of Children and Adult Services confirmed that improving performance, particularly at Key Stage 2, was one of her key priorities.  She felt that good progress had been made this year but was built on very small progress being made in previous years that had caused the positioning of Medway to be so low compared to nationally.  She added that there were staff within the local authority, within the schools themselves and Governors that know what is needed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 425.

This report provides Members with an update on progress made with the committee’s recommendations from the in-depth review of improving performance at Key Stage 2 in Medway. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, Inclusion and Improvement introduced the report and explained that the recommendations were not yet completed but progress had been made against each one.

The committee then asked various questions and made comments which included:-

·        Clarification on whether or not it be insisted that the local authority be on the interview panels for the appointment of Deputy Headteachers;

·        Details relating to the Medway Chartered Teacher Award (MCTA);

·        Re-appointment of local authority governors;

·        Are Headteachers supported in addressing competency issues with staff.

In relation to Deputy Headteacher interviews it was explained that Governors could insist on local authority involvement.  With regard to the MCTA officers explained that the scheme had been launched with eligibility criteria and applications had started to be received.  In relation to supporting Headteachers in addressing competency issues with their staff officers confirmed that the Human Resources team work very closely with Headteachers on such issues.

In relation to the re-appointment of local authority Governors some of the Council’s Group Whips in attendance at the meeting stated that they were concerned about the re-appointment of Governors where they had not been under-going training and would be requesting a meeting with the Head of Governor Services to discuss this issue further.

Decision:

The committee noted the progress made against the recommendations of the task group.

This report sets out the performance against the Council’s key measures of success for the first quarter of 2012/13 that relate to this committee. 

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adults introduced the report and highlighted key issues to the committee.  She explained that performance indicators (PIs) relating to special educational needs were good.  In relation to PIs relating to social care the Director explained that there was beginning to be some improvement in these areas and that the poor performance for this quarter was partly due to addressing a backlog of cases and it was hoped that performance for quarter 2 would demonstrate improvement.  In addition, work was being carried out by a Principal Social Worker with the customer contact centre regarding case referrals and another Principal Social Worker was carrying out some work to look at reducing the number of children who were subject to a Child Protection Plan for more than two years.  Neither of these pieces of work were ready to be reported back on.

In addition a member raised that at a recent meeting of the Corporate Parenting Group the Director had undertaken to work with other departments and agencies, such as the courts, to see if anything could be done to reduce waiting times and delays.  The Director reported that she had met with the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Social Care and the Chairman of the Family Justice Board to discuss initial issues and this would be pursued and reported back.

Decision:

The committee noted the report.

This report sets out the proposed work programme previously agreed by the Committee for 2012/13. 

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and clarified that it was proposed that a special meeting of the committee be tentatively booked for late February 2013 to consider the proposals relating to the review of overnight short breaks and the closure of Preston Skreens.

Decision: 

(a)               The committee agreed the work programme as attached at Appendix 1.

(b)               The committee recommended the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee to add to its work programme an item on transport accessibility for children and young people.

(c)               That a special meeting of this committee be tentatively arranged for late February 2013 to consider the outcome of the consultation and proposed action regarding the review of overnight short breaks/closure of Preston Skreens.