Agenda item

The Panel was updated on performance information relating to Quarter 1 (April to June 2021) and financial information for Quarter 1. Members were also provided with the Ofsted letter following their inspection visit to the Family Front Door in July.

Budget Monitoring 2021/22

The Director of Resources highlighted the following points:

·         The Designated Schools Grant year-end position at Period 3 was a forecast overspend of £5.7m. The forecast deficit on the DSG for the end of 2021/22 was £15.7m and for 2022/23, £19.7m. The Director explained that this Council was working with others to seek urgent Government action on this situation.

·         For the High Needs Block allocation, owing to some extra Government funding, the variance on overspend had been slightly reduced. 

·         The Society of County Treasurers had written to the Chancellor to lobby for the Government to take urgent action in the Spending Review to address the national £1.3bn special education needs deficit position which was predicted by the end of 2022/23.

·         Over half of the WCF annual Budget related to ‘demand led’ budgets of placements and Home to School Transport, upon which there was considerable pressure.

·         In response to a query about what was suggested by the ‘prompt action’ that might be required on the placements budget, the Director explained that an end-to-end audit was being carried out, in addition to closely monitoring the situation. In terms of the £1.9m risk reserve, this was available should it prove necessary. In the previous 3 years it had not been necessary to make use of this.

·         The Director highlighted that the Annual General Meeting of Worcestershire Children First was being held on 30 September.

Children’s Social Care

The Assistant Director (Family Front Door and Partnerships) introduced the performance information and made the following key points:

·         The demand on the FFD and the conversion rate were areas of concern. There were still big challenges ahead, but the Ofsted letter had provided welcome reassurance that timely decisions were being made.

·         Through care (Looked after Children and Care Leavers) – there was significant pressure on finding the right placements for young people.

·         The data on children missing from home during the pandemic indicated that the figures had stayed low during this period. The situation was being looked at in detail to ensure that cases were being reported accurately.

Members raised a few questions:

·         In response to a question about whether 2020/21 figures would be relevant to make comparisons with going forward, the Assistant Director suggested that it would depend on what was being measured. There was also the question as to whether this was the ‘new norm’?

·         A question was raised about the situation where vulnerable children had been kept on the Child Protection register during the pandemic for their protection. The Assistant Director advised that this situation had changed in September 2020, when each family situation had been assessed and reviewed. Assurance was given that only those children who had needed to remain on a Child Protection Plan had done so.

Education and SEND

The Director of Education and Early Help introduced the performance data and made the following points:

·         The Director advised that Ofsted had re-started their full inspections this term, with one visit having already been completed. As there was a 3-term lag in inspections, a high volume of inspections were expected going forward.

·         Attendance figures for last term had been good, particularly when there was a full return to school. Unfortunately, the figures didn’t show the children who were receiving education from home. A new Attendance Officer role had been created to scrutinise the data and liaise with the schools offering early help where problems with pupils were identified.

·         Children missing education – this data was showing an improving picture, slightly affected by the Year 11 leavers.

·         The NEET figure was not as significant as had been anticipated with the effect of the pandemic, with the figure about 100 higher than the previous year.

·         In partnership with Social Care, a new Personal Progression Plan for LAC’s had been successfully piloted by the Virtual school and was looking to be extended by social workers.

·         The number of children who were being home educated remained fairly static for this quarter, with some families remaining anxious about a return to school with the ongoing COVID-19 situation, whilst others had found the home education model had been a positive experience for their children.

Members raised a number of points:

·         The CMR commented that it was difficult to assess the impact of the lag in Ofsted inspections. Over the year ahead, he was keen to see whether the improvement works that had been carried out by schools had made a positive impact. In particular he highlighted that the Academy Converters had not been externally inspected recently, so he was keen to see whether their situation had significantly improved.

·         A Member highlighted that the numbers of children and young people being permanently excluded had risen from 63 to 83. The Director advised that they had been reviewing this situation in detail to try to understand what was causing this trend. Whilst fixed term exclusion could serve a helpful purpose, permanent exclusions should be avoided wherever possible. The Director advised that the numbers had since reduced from the Quarter 1 figure and that an implementation plan was in place to address the situation, including the use of two behaviour hubs in the County.

·         School exclusions – a Member requested data on excluded pupils over recent years as to whether they had moved to another school or been moved to the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). Details were also sought on the number of Exclusion Review Panels which had been upheld. The Director reported that there were very few appeals of exclusions, but would check information on both queries and report back. It was agreed that a review of exclusions should be added to the Panel’s Work Programme.

·         In response to a question regarding undiagnosed autism and a link to exclusions, the Director advised that this situation was now much- improved and the data demonstrated that this was no longer a significant issue. Mainstream schools were now better able to identify and support such children.

·         A Member questioned the classification of schools which had recently been converted to an Academy. The Director confirmed that they would be classed as ‘uninspected’ and were included in a separate breakdown of figures but were just not showing in this data set. 

The Chairman commented that the Panel were pleased with the positive Ofsted letter and thanked the Chief Executive and WCF colleagues for their work on the Family Front Door which had led to this.