Agenda item

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

Youth Trailblazer Scheme

Cllr May welcomed officers from the Business Growth and Skills Team to update the Panel on the Youth Trailblazer scheme as follows:

-  The scheme was a national pilot initiative that supported young people aged 18–21 who were not in education, employment, or training (NEET).  In B&NES, the scheme had been extended to include 16 & 17-year-olds.

-  The scheme was open to all young people in B&NES but there was a particular focus on rural areas where lack of transport had been identified as restricting opportunities for young people.

-  The team was trying to support as many young people as possible with a range of projects such as support with interviews and free bus passes.

-  The support of the Panel was requested to promote the scheme and make links in communities.

Panel Members asked questions about the scheme and received responses as follows:

1.  Cllr Hardman - How do you define rural?  Would Paulton qualify?  Yes, although the scheme was open to all young people, there was a particular focus on areas outside the urban areas of Bath and Keynsham.

2.  Cllr Hardman - Do you have any timetable of events?  WECA will be marketing the scheme, and we weren’t able to publicise in advance of securing the funding in April.  Since then, we have been going out to speak to local communities to publicise the scheme.  Events include mock interviews planned for September.  We have a target to secure 100 work placements.

3.  Cllr Harding - What work have you done in Chew Valley?  It would be useful for the team to publicise the scheme with Parish Councils.  There had been engagement with Chew Valley School and the team had met with young people whose transition plans had not worked out as anticipated.  Cllr May undertook to pick up the point relating to Parish Councils.

4.  Cllr Harding - What other options were available for young people in villages with limited public transport?  We have listened to feedback from young people, and we are looking at putting on a minibus to attend the mock interviews and also considering options around e-bikes and moped training.

5.  Cllr Auton - As well as transport, there is a lack of local employment opportunities, e.g., in Midsomer Norton where a lot of residents commute to Bristol or Bath for work.  Have you worked with Youth Connect South West?  We are engaging with local employers and building on existing relationships.  We are also working with key partners including Youth Connect South West to add value to what they are doing to support young people.

6.  Kevin Burnett –Who will evaluate the success of the project and how will this be done?  The scheme will be evaluated by the DWP.  There is a detailed plan for evaluation including a target of engaging with 250 young people, 100 employers to offer work tasters/placements and referring young people on for mental health support recognising that this can be a barrier to being work-ready. 

7.  Kevin Burnett - what are the criteria for the scheme?  Is there an overlap with other projects? Are you coordinating work on youth hubs?  The criterion is to support young people in the local authority area.  There are some projects that overlap but we can dovetail with these to ensure work is joined up.

8.  Kevin Burnett – do you find that young people being work-ready is a big factor? Progression is the key, whether the person needs support with their mental health or with securing employment or training.  We are using an evaluation tool “Outcomes Star” which will enable young people to see their progression.

9.  Cllr Mansell – welcome engagement with young people in Radstock. One impact of Covid is that some young people don’t have the confidence to travel on public transport and it is good to see you are working with local employers.  There is a concern that it is a short-term scheme and welcome future information about outcomes.  Would also welcome links with data around attainment gap/attendance/exclusions and ensure that disadvantaged groups are targeted. 

10.Cllr Romero - are you aware of proposed funding for investment with youth service projects and would you expect to receive some of this funding?  Funding would be allocated to WECA, and our team would only receive some if there was a link with business skills, but it may be directed to another team in the Council.

11.Cllr Romero – are you working with Bath College?  Yes, we work with the college and both universities.

12.Cllr Romero – connectivity can be an issue in rural areas and young people may not be able to access digital bus timetables?  We are addressing this through our digital hubs.

13.Cllr Harding – where are the digital hubs? Is there one in Chew Valley?  The hubs are in Twerton, Midsomer Norton and Paulton.  We welcome other suggestions.  Cllr Harding - Chew Valley Community Library?

14.Are you doing any additional work for young people with SEND?  Yes, we are working with neurodivergent young people.  We are adding value to the work of We Work for Everyone.

The Panel thanked officers for the update and welcomed an update at a future meeting.

Free School Meals

Cllr Paul May introduced officers from the Finance Welfare Support and Education Teams to answer questions about the new rules relating to free school meals.

1.  Cllr Hardman: had the additional 666 students entitled to free school meals been identified?  This figure was based on the estimate by Government, we think there will be 1,128 additional children eligible for free school meals.  We haven’t identified them, that work will be done after we have completed auto enrolment process this August.  We need to establish a baseline first.  Also, we didn’t contact households too far in advance in case the rules change, but this would be done in advance of the new rules being in place in September 2026. 

2.  Cllr Romero: will the new rules affect Free School Meals Ever 6?  Yes, the DfE has stated that the transitional protection will come to an end in September 2026.

3.  Kevin Burnett: can you explain the conflicting messages about families getting entitlement for free school meals and schools not getting pupil premium funding and having to subsidise school meals?  There are two parts, when a child registers for free school meals, the schools get additional resources through funding formula.  Under the new rules, pupils entitled to free school meals through universal credit will not get a pupil premium allocation on top.  Some schools may get more money, and some may get less under the new rules, but it was difficult to assess the full impact at the current time.

4.  Kevin Burnett: If there is a shortfall, will there be additional resources for schools to pay for top up? – This will be an issue for schools in setting their budgets.  This is likely to be a challenge as there was an article in the media recently about schools struggling to find suppliers who could deliver the service for the contracted price. 

The Panel agreed that there should be a further update at the October meeting.

School Attendance

The Director of Education confirmed that school attendance in B&NES had risen back up to pre-Covid levels but there was a group of children with long term health issues.  It was noted that there would be an update in October and the Panel asked that this also include:

1.  Data around respiratory infections including Covid/long Covid.

2.  Data and details of work carried out to reduce exclusions.

Safety Valve

Cllr May responded to questions as follows:

1.  Cllr Hardman – I note that the submission is held up by the free schools issue, is there any way forward?  We have to respond to questions this week about mitigations if we don’t get the funding for the provision for the 2 free schools at the Culverhay site.  The provision is fundamental for us breaking even on SEND.Addressing SEND in mainstream schools would not be a solution for the students who would be served by the provision at Culverhay.  £11m of safety valve money is being held back pending the outcome.

2.  Cllr Hardman – do you need to contact a different Government department re-Culverhay?  We have contacted different departments and have also asked the Labour Group Leader at B&NES for help in getting clarification about the position relating to Culverhay.

3.  Kevin Burnett:  As projects applied for by the Local Authority are on hold, but some projects applied through by a Multi Academy Trust are progressing, could a B&NES MAT take on the applications for the 2 free schools or could the LA consider saving that money by putting capital up front? The LA had already entered into a contract with a MAT to run the free schools and it had still not been possible to progress.  In terms of putting capital into a school scheme, I don’t know if there is an opportunity to do this, but I’ll take this back.

Baroness Casey Report

The Chair asked for a future update on how the B&NES Community Safety and Safeguarding Partnership would be addressing the recommendations within the report.

ILACS Inspection

The Panel noted that the inspection had been carried out and the report was embargoed until early August and would be brought back to a future meeting.  The Chair thanked all staff involved in the recent inspection.