Agenda item

The Panel will receive a verbal update on this item from the People and Communities Strategic Director.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities addressed the Panel. He said from what he had seen of the new White Paper there was good content within it relating to teaching and standards, but that this had been overshadowed by the announcement relating to academies. He proposed that at a future meeting the Panel receives and discusses a summary report on this matter.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked which education services are the Council continuing to provide to schools and how are these services being funded.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities provided the Panel with the following list:

Admissions (Local Authority)

Home to School Transport (Local Authority)

Schools Planning and Sufficiency (Local Authority)

Early Years Planning and Sufficiency (Dedicated Schools Grant / Local Authority)

Schools Improvement and Achievement (Local Authority)

Foundation Stage (Local Authority / Dedicated Schools Grant)

Integrated Working (Local Authority)

Educational Psychology (Local Authority)

Special Educational Needs and Disability (Dedicated Schools Grant / Local Authority)

Virtual School (Local Authority / Dedicated Schools Grant)

Hospital Education and Reintegration Service (Dedicated Schools Grant)

Children Missing Education Service (Education Welfare / Local Authority)

Music Service (Local Authority / Department for Education Grant)

The Chair asked how these services relate to the priorities for children and young people in the area, in particular disadvantaged students.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that the services are a mix of those that are universal i.e. to enable all children to access education (Admissions) and targeted i.e. to enable specific support due to a specific need, situation or condition (Virtual School, EPS, CMES, etc).

The Chair asked how the Council is ensuring that it will still be able to deliver its statutory duties in the current climate of austerity.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that no reductions to statutory services in education were contained within the MTSRP for 2016-20.

The Chair asked how the Council is ensuring that safeguarding remains the top priority.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that school representatives are on the LSCB, there are regular Child Protection Fora for schools, the LSCB oversees Section 11 Audits of all schools regarding compliance, the duty data shows that schools remain in the top two referrers into Children’s Social Care and that there is a focus on Integrated Working and “Step Up / Step Down”.

The Chair asked does the Council have an agreement with academies regarding access to information.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that Council has an Information Sharing Protocol with all academies. He added that it was currently being revised to enable better sharing across schools of achievement data.

The Chair asked which education services has the Council stopped providing to schools.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that services of Specialist Teaching, Preventative Educational Psychology and the majority of school improvement and curriculum development services were no longer provided by the Council.

The Chair asked how outcomes for young people will be affected if external service providers cannot fill the gap.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that to date this situation has not arisen as a range of alternative providers are available and a range of collaborative arrangements are in place with schools pooling resource and expertise.

The Chair asked does the Council have a role in school-based partnerships.

The Strategic Director for People & Communities replied that it does and that it had brokered a number of these and was encouraging schools to try different forms of collaboration. He added that the Council is a member of the Teaching School Partnership which provides school to school support.