Agenda item

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

Councillor Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People addressed the Panel, a summary is set out below.

New Director for Children &Young People’s Service

I was delighted to be part of the interview panel in October when we appointed a new Director to take on the role previously held by Richard Baldwin and, on an interim basis, by Angela Clarke. I would like to set on record my thanks to Angela for her work during the last 5 months of 2018 and the professional way that she carried out the interim assignment and handed over the baton to Mary Kearney-Knowles at the end of December.  Mary is known to many of us from her previous role here as Senior Commissioning Manager and I am confident that we have made an excellent appointment.

Narrowing the Gap for disadvantaged children

Officers have launched a new initiative with primary schools to tackle the attainment gap for some of our disadvantaged children as you have heard earlier in the meeting. I was very sorry not to have been able to attend the launch with head teachers, as it has been a key personal priority for me to ensure we are effectively tackling this challenging but very important issue. Whilst our headline data for attainment is amongst the best, we still absolutely have to pay attention to the differential outcomes that could otherwise remain disguised by the positive overall picture.

SEND Inspection

The panel will recall that we anticipate receiving a joint inspection from Ofsted and CQC looking at the whole SEND system in the area, across the Council, schools and health system.  These inspections have been happening across the country and are followed by a published letter giving a narrative of an area’s strengths and areas for development, rather than a graded judgment of Good, Outstanding, etc. The call is expected on a Monday morning with inspectors arriving the following Monday for a week-long visit. We welcome this as an independent assessment of our performance and identification of areas where we can improve our response to children and young people with SEN and disabilities

Regional Improvement Alliance

Both the Corporate Director and I have been involved in the development of the new South West Regional Improvement Alliance, which was launched at a leadership summit on 9^th January in Taunton. Representatives from all 16 South West authorities were present, including Directors, Lead Members and Chief Executives as well as the LGA. We have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding about how we will work together to improve children’s services and children’s outcomes, through a range of activities which include:-

• An annual self-assessment peer challenge;
• Sharing data and benchmarking performance across the region and beyond;
• Thematic Peer Challenge between pairs of authorities;
• Participating in a regional improvement plan, networks and summits;
• Offering and seeking mutual support and sharing of good practice;
• Co-ordinating support requests from national and other partners outside the alliance.

Schools Funding Update

The Schools Forum in January received an update on funding levels for 2019/20, which indicate an overall 3.62% increase in the Dedicated Schools Grant locally. Of this, 2.9% represents the overall inflationary uplift for schools in addition to increases linked to rising pupil numbers. We have received some additional funding for High Needs, which will help to offset some of the SEND funding pressures otherwise falling to the Council.

I also approved a Single Member Decision to implement 6 relatively technical changes to the funding formula which had been recommended by Schools Forum.

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