Agenda item

The Early Years, Children and Youth Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel are recommended to:

·  Comment on the Service Action Plans, taking into account the matters referred to above.

·  Identify any issues requiring further consideration at the special meeting of the CPR Overview & Scrutiny Panel on 6th February and subsequently by Cabinet in February as part of the annual Service Action Planning and Budget process.

·  Identify any issues arising from the draft Service Action Plans it wishes to refer to the relevant portfolio holder for further consideration in advance of the Cabinet meeting in February.

Equality Impact Assessments for Financial Plans are available on Council’s website on the following link http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/communityandliving/equality/Pages/FinancialPlans.aspx .

The People and Communities Strategic Director introduced this item to the Panel. He informed them of the six priorities within the Service Action Plan.

·  Multi-agency delivery of the Children & Young People’s Plan 2011-14

·  People and Communities Department Restructure to integrate adult social care and community health service commissioning, housing, public health, children’s services, employability and skills.

·  To develop an integrated approach to the provision and commissioning of preventative services for those young people aged 11-19 who are most at risk.

·  Improve provision for disaffected young people in schools and through our Specialist Behaviour Support Service.

·  Further improve service for Young People in danger of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

·  Develop a supported programme of work placements, volunteering and work experience opportunities for Out of Work Benefit claimants.

Councillor Dine Romero asked if in future years an achievements section could be added to the plan.

The People and Communities Strategic Director replied yes.

Councillor Dine Romero asked how he saw the figures associated with NEETs as changing and would the Council be able analyse the disappointment of young people given that the job market is getting smaller.

The People and Communities Strategic Director described this area of work as a real challenge. He hoped that they could build resilience within young people so that they would be able to take a knock and bounce back.

The Divisional Director for Learning and Inclusion added that the age for young people that must participate in education, employment or training was rising to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015.

Councillor Dine Romero asked how the Council will assess if all schools act the same way with regard to exclusions given the number of Secondary Schools that have become Academies.

The Divisional Director for Learning and Inclusion replied that exclusions are being monitored and that that work is on-going to put some preventative measures in place.

Councillor Ian Gilchrist asked for an explanation over the budget gap mentioned in section 3.5 of the report.

The People and Communities Strategic Director replied that a substantial amount of on-going revenue headroom had been identified to fund the gap that exists. He added that this would obviously form part of the decision making process at the Council’s Budget meeting in February.

Councillor Dine Romero commented that she had concerns over the potential number of 19 year olds that could become NEETS and asked would the systems being put in place work.

The Divisional Director for Learning and Inclusion replied there was no guarantee we would be able to reduce NEETs to zero. He added that the challenge was to find the appropriate provision for them.

The People and Communities Strategic Director added that however difficult, the intervention must take place as soon as possible for the benefit of all parties.

Sanjeev Chaddha asked if there was historic data available to compare the numbers of NEET young people aged 16 -18 with the new figures that will be recorded as young people aged 16 -19.

The Divisional Director for Learning and Inclusion replied that good data was available and that this could be broken down into gender specific if required.

The Chairman summed up by explaining that the Resources Panel would now have an additional meeting in February prior to the meetings of Cabinet and Council when the budget will formally be agreed.

The Panel RESOLVED to approve the People & Communities, Children's Services - Service Action Plan as printed.