Agenda item

The Cabinet Member will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions.

Councillor Michael Evans, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services addressed the Panel. He informed them that he had attended a meeting of South West Lead Members on October 22^nd where they received a presentation from Bradley Simmons, Ofsted Regional Director, South West.

He said that he took away the following particular points from the meeting:

i)  Attainment at Key Stage 5 (2014); B&NES performed below the national average for 3A* - A or better. B&NES performed at national average for AAB or better. On both performance measures we were slightly better than Bristol, on a par with North Somerset and decisively poorer than Wiltshire, Poole, Bournemouth, Gloucestershire and Torbay.

He said that this confirmed his concern that as an area we are not serving our higher ability students as well as we should be and that he would continue to exert what influence he has to highlight their needs.

ii)  Value added for previously high attaining pupils KS2 to KS4 (2014); B&NES performed slightly below national average. Dorset, Bristol, Isles of Scilly, Devon, Bournemouth, Torbay, Poole, North Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire all outperformed B&NES on this performance measure.

iii)  KS1 to KS2 Value Added Score (2014) for previously high attaining pupils; B&NES was below the national average on this measure and in the South West it was below Somerset, Devon, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Torbay, Bristol and the Isles of Scilly.

He said that this evidence gave him cause for concern.

On October 20^th he attended a meeting of the Children & Young People’s Network. He said that he was impressed by the contributions of young people who came forward to give feedback on their experience of some of the services they receive. He said that there was a strong feeling of the need for a Member’s Champion for Voluntary Services so that these groups have someone within the Council who would be conscious of their concerns and represent them if necessary. He asked for any member interested in the role to put their name forward.

He said that he had met with Dr Melanie Macer and Dr Laura Green to further discuss the matter of the Child Friendly City. He informed the Panel that the Bath Spa University Institute for Education would consider funding a project to develop a B&NES Child Friendly City manifesto using online tools including Learn to Lead to maximise young people’s involvement. He added that the manifesto would frame the job and person specification for a Project Officer. Further funding would then be sought from appropriate Trusts and potentially crowd funding to finance the post.

He said that he was happy to support and further explore this initiative and learn more about the Learn to Lead programme and to hopefully see it in action at Chew Valley School.

Finally, he stated that discussions are well advanced with stakeholders for a project to refurbish the Riverside Youth Centre for inclusion in the 2016/17 budget.

Councillor Liz Hardman suggested that Value Added information be included the exam results reports that the Panel receive.

Councillor Lisa Brett noted there were significant pressures on SEND provisions across B&NES, that Special School Places are now at capacity, and that the Council now have to pay for independent school provision.

She asked what is the additional cost to B&NES between state and independent provision for SEND (per child/currently/four year forecast) and how far advanced are plans to build another special school.

Councillor Evans replied that the costs associated with an SEN pupil at a state school is £18,500 and at an independent school is £81,000. He added that a better mix of SEN provision is required across the Council.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities added that whist B&NES does need further provision it does have to be the right mix. He said that this could come in the shape specialised units within mainstream schools.

Councillor Lisa Brett further noted that it is not just special schools who are struggling, all schools in BANES are experiencing increased demand for SEND provision due to legislative changes, additional burdens being introduced by central government without sufficient additional resources

Councillor Lisa Brett asked what is the Council’s budget shortfall for SEND provision in schools and what steps are being undertaken to ensure that, despite the shortfall in the budget, children are getting the level of support they legally entitled to.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that there had been a 50% increase in assessments over the past year due to the new legislation, so there is a cost towards pupil support and administration. He added that the Council receives £180,000 through new burdens funding, but that he felt that total costs would be around £200,000 more, these are costs that the Council has to meet. He said that the budget pressure related to levels of pupils support and placements costs lie with the schools and not the Local Authority through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if he could explain further a line from the report that said existing resources for this work area were not enough.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that this was regarding the numbers of staff required to administer the new assessments. He added that he had discussed this matter with schools over a number of years to seek them working more collaboratively and inclusively so that more children are supported locally and the numbers moving into provision outside of the area is restricted to those that truly require a highly specialist school placement.

The Chair asked if the automatic enrolment to pensions which is to cost around £1.1m should been seen as a ‘Stealth Tax’ to the Treasury and a way of not implementing direct cuts.

Councillor Evans replied that he would not wish to comment until the comprehensive spending review had been announced.

The Chair thanked him for his update on behalf of the Panel.