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’s Services addressed the Panel, a summary of his update is set out below and will be attached as an online appendix to these minutes.

Home-to-School Transport

Education and Transport teams are drafting a new HTST policy. This policy is in response to the Department for Education's consultation on changes to the statutory Home to School Transport guidance issued by the DFE in 2014. In July this year, the DFE concluded this consultation and issued updated guidance for all local authorities. All LAs are expected to update their HTST policies per this guidance by September 2024.

As part of the development of the policy, we will go through a consultation process with parents and carers and our solicitors to examine our policy to ensure we comply with the new DFE guidance. I plan to ask officers to bring the draft policy to scrutiny in May 2024. We aim to implement the new policy in time for the new academic year in September 2024.

Corporate Parenting

A Corporate Parenting meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, the 17th of January. I reported to the last full Council that I am seeking protected status for care leavers (care experienced). At this meeting, I will discuss the reasons behind this recommendation and the need for a Council joint motion to promote and adopt this status. I have also spoken to Curo, seeking their similar support, though, of course, we will need the Council to adopt the proposal first.

Faulty concrete in schools (RACC)

So far, no RAAC has been identified in B&NES schools. However, the DFE have commissioned and instructed LAs and Trusts to conduct more intrusive RAAC examinations of school buildings. When findings of these reports become available, we will report anything that detrimentally affects education provision in B&NES.

DFE Safety Valve scheme

In previous Panel reports, you will have read about the DFE's Safety Valve programme and the work officers are doing to improve our placements and services for children with SEND. Whilst this programme has challenging expectations from the DFE, there are many positive developments that the programme will deliver. I will ask officers to bring a full report to scrutiny to bring a spotlight on this work.

Councillor Alex Beaumont asked if there was a timescale for the RACC examinations to be completed.

Councillor May replied that he would inform the Panel as soon as any new information had been obtained.

Councillor Joanna Wright asked why the decision was taken to stop accepting Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) within B&NES.

Councillor May replied that the costs and performance of the service were being adversely affected. He added that during recent budget discussions it had become apparent that not all Councils within the South West were accepting their share of these young people.

The Director of Children & Education added that no formal request had been made to stop receiving referrals of UASC. She said that the Chief Executive had asked the Home Office for referrals to be paused until the end of March 2024 as B&NES had exceeded its quota whereas other Local Authorities had not.

She said that a briefing could be circulated to the Panel to provide further information.

Councillor Wright referred to the Scholar Scheme which enables A-Level students to access reduced train fares and called for support to make this more publicly aware. She said that a referral was required from a school or education establishment to Great Western Railway so that these price reductions can be obtained.

She questioned whether a review of the city centre security bollards was required as they failed to work properly to allow emergency vehicle access on one occasion recently. She added that if a review was required how much would it cost and what are the health implications if the bollards continue to fail.

The Chair replied that a response was likely to be required from the relevant Cabinet Member.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if the new Home to School Transport policy would see a reduction in this budget area.

Councillor May replied that a summary of the DfE guidance was available that he was happy to share with the Panel. He said that with particular regard to young people with SEND, that the service was likely to need to increase and that having asked the question, no additional funding was planned to be received.

Kevin Burnett asked if the Council was involved in co-ordinating the RAAC surveys for schools.

The Director of Children & Education replied that they were not, it was for the schools to handle the matter directly.

Kevin Burnett asked if the Music Service for schools within B&NES was now safe and had the agreement between them, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset been approved.

The Director of Children & Education said that she was pleased to say that the agreement had been confirmed on 12^th January 2024.

Kevin Burnett asked if the proposed role of a Designated Social Care Officer was within the current growth plans.

The Director of Children & Education replied that it was and that they were looking at how the role can be taken forward across Education and Social Care.

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