Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Kyle Daisley, David Chambers and Mike Rouse (Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport) and Tim Reid (Church Representative).

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 21 March 2023).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 January 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(Indicative timing: 2.05 – 2.55pm)

Present for this item:

Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education

Chairman, Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel

Director of Children’s Services, Worcestershire County Council (WCC)/Chief Executive, Worcestershire Children First (WCF)

Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations, WCC

Director of Resources, WCF

Director, Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning, WCF

Transport Network Development and Commissioning Manager, WCC

The Panel received an update on issues relating to home to school transport. By way of introduction, the Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations reminded the Panel that the County Council had a duty to provide home to school transport within certain criteria.  The challenges currently faced by the Council were not unique to Worcestershire as referenced in the County Councils Network (CCN) report of March 2022 (Appendix 1 to the agenda report).

The Director of Resources (WCF) informed the Panel that the budget for home to school transport had a forecast gross overspend of £4.6m at the end of December (period 9).  The budget had been set before the war in Ukraine and the consequent increase in fuel prices.

The Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations went on to make the following main points:

·       Historically, the number of children requesting mainstream home to school transport had remained consistent year on year.  However, 2022 had seen year on year growth and work was now being carried out to identify the reasons for this growth in demand.

·       Demand for transport for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) had been rising year on year.  One of the key drivers for this growth in demand was the Children and Families Act 2014 which had increased the age of eligibility for SEND transport from 18 to 25.  Unit costs for SEND transport were higher than for mainstream.

·       The County Council (the Council) had a home to school transport policy which accorded with the Statutory Duty as set out in the Education Act 1996 and also included discretionary elements such as Post-16.

·       The increased demand for SEND school places had created a challenge in terms of the availability of places at settings within the County, resulting in more children needing to travel out of county to ensure educational needs were met.

·       The number of home to school transport operators in the county had reduced as a result of inflation and labour supply issues and this had had an adverse impact on contracts.  Route optimisation work was more difficult with fewer operators.

·       Currently, in-house operators were the provision of last resort but further consideration would be given to the option of internal service provision.

·       As part of mitigation in response to budget pressures, weekly meetings were held (chaired by the Director of All-Age Disability) to ensure value for money for all new transport provision.

·       The provision of transport assistance included the option of direct transport payments, ie payment for parents/carers to take the child to school themselves.

·       A Corporate Transport Review was now underway covering mainstream and SEND transport.  The Transport Service would work closely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 570.

(Indicative timing: 2.55 – 3.35pm)

Present for this item:

Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education

Director of Children’s Services, WCC/Chief Executive, WCF

Director, Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning, WCF

Assistant Director for Education Quality and Improvement, WCF

Virtual School Headteacher, WCF

The Panel was provided with an update on:

·       Educational outcomes for children and young people educated in Worcestershire schools for the academic year 2021/22

·       The overview of Ofsted inspections of Worcestershire’s state funded schools for the academic year 2021/22.

The Director of Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning introduced the report and made the following main points:

·       The Panel received an update on educational outcomes annually and this was the first report since the pandemic to include nationally reported data.

·       When making comparisons with previous years, it was not a straightforward story.  A new Ofsted Framework had been introduced in September 2019 and the period of time out of school due to the pandemic had resulted in a reduction in attainment nationally.  Performance in Worcestershire remained mainly in line with statistical neighbours.

·       As a result of school improvement work with maintained schools, the overall direction of travel was a positive one.  Schools which had received Ofsted inspections were making good progress especially with reference to pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·       Concern was expressed that outcomes for vulnerable pupils and those with SEND were below national figures.  Members were reminded that these outcomes were for 2021/22.  School improvement work was ongoing and it was anticipated that there would be an impact on outcomes in 2023.  This work aimed to achieve improvements for all children and young people and included a focus on inclusion to improve everyday provision in the classroom and the development of an Inclusion Quality Mark.

·       The first full year of inspections under the new Ofsted framework showed that improvement work was starting to have an impact with 62% of reports referring to positive SEND practice, but this was not yet showing in end of Key Stage outcomes.

·       In response to a question about WCF’s influence on academy schools, Members were reminded about the SEND Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) and associated challenge from the DfE to ensure that all schools were on board.  A set of indicators had been devised and, where further investigation was needed, schools would be contacted.  The team was confident that there was good engagement with academies.

·       A question was asked about why, after relatively successful end of Key Stage 4 outcomes, results appeared to dip at A level (although this was not the case for T levels).  (From 2020, T levels give 16- to 19-year-olds a technical alternative to A levels.  One T level is equivalent to 3 A levels.)  It was suggested that this might be due to the situation in Worcestershire where some high schools had their own 6^th forms resulting in a larger number of smaller 6^th form settings.  It was suggested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 571.

(Indicative timing: 3.35 – 4.05pm)

The Panel received an update on performance and financial information for services relating to Children and Families.  In the discussion, the following main points were raised:

Performance Information

·       With reference to Child Protection, it was confirmed that the decision to step back from pre-proceedings would only be taken where it was safe to do so and this decision would be taken by a manager. 25% of cases in pre-proceedings were successfully stepped down and work was now being undertaken to look at whether these cases had needed to go into pre-proceedings at all.  It was important to emphasise to parents the importance of child protection and bring greater understanding and gravitas to the issuing of a Child Protection Plan, with the aim of making changes at an earlier stage.  This approach was better for children and families, but also better in terms of the budget.

·       The Director of Children’s Services agreed with the Chairman of the Panel that 25% of cases being stepped down was high.  She went on to explain that this was as a result of particular circumstances in this quarter (with two large families skewing the figures) but would be something that would be closely monitored in the future.

·       With reference to the Family Front Door, it was noted that the primary reason for contacts was ‘Parents struggling with managing their children’s behaviour’.  It was confirmed that in these cases support would focus on underlying causes as well as potential parenting issues.

·       A Member noted that the Foster Care buddy system had been ‘slow and limited to date’.  The Director of Children’s Services acknowledged that Foster Care recruitment was a challenge.  Future recruitment would be more targeted, including targeting big employers such as the police and the health service.  The service was also looking at regional recruitment options.

Financial Information

·       The Director of Resources confirmed that there was a forecast overspend of £8.4m at Period 9 as a result of Covid and inflation.  This would be reduced by the year end and would be mitigated by reserves.

·       Every local authority nationally was having difficulties managing demand for social care and Members’ attention was drawn to the chart in the agenda pack which showed that WCF was not out of line when compared with other local authorities including statistical neighbours.

·       With reference to the Dedicated Schools Grant, on 12 December 2022 the Government had announced its intention to extend the statutory override for the next three years to 2025/26.  Whilst this was welcome in the short term, it essentially deferred the problem of funding and how to solve the historic deficit.

·       The Director of Resources told the Panel about the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme which aimed to support local authorities and their local area partners to improve the delivery of SEND services whilst working towards financial sustainability.  Further details of the programme would be shared with the Panel in the future.

(Indicative timing: 4.05 – 4.15pm)

The Panel considered suggestions for its 2023/24 Work Programme and the following changes were agreed:

·       Current organisation of education within the County (2 tier/3 tier) to be given greater priority (no specific date agreed)

·       Update on the Assessment Pathway for Children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to be given greater priority (no specific date agreed)

·       Update on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Accelerated Progress Plan to be considered in May 2023

·       Vulnerable Learners (as a specific item) to be removed from the work programme

·       Item on Children Missing Education to be added

·       Nursery provision for 2-year-olds to be expanded to Nursery provision and wrap around care following Government announcements in the recent budget

·       Domestic abuse and children update to be removed and covered by the OSPB under community safety/crime and disorder

The draft 2023/24 Work Programme would be considered by OSPB in April and submitted to Council for approval on 18 May.