Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Saltmarsh, Councillor Fower and Councillor Nawaz.  Councillor Sandford was in attendance as substitute for Councillor Fower.

There were no declarations of Interest or whipping declarations.

The minutes of the meetings held on 9 September 2013 were approved as an accurate record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions.  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for Call-in to consider.

The report was introduced by the Assistant Director for Education and Resources and provided the Committee with an update on the development of the School to School Support Partnerships.  Members were informed that a significant amount of work had been achieved with schools and SLE Associates and this is seen as an invaluable way of improving schools outcomes through schools working together.  John Harris from SLE Associates advised Members that work had now been undertaken to put a proposal together which had been shared with schools. Members were asked to refer to Appendix 2 of the report ‘System on a Page - Peterborough Schools Self Improving Network’ which outlined the proposed school to school support system.  This had been presented to all Head Teachers and Governors at the beginning of October.  The key proposal and thinking behind school to school support was that schools in Peterborough become self-improving schools and as a result of this Peterborough becomes an attractive place for people in the community to learn and for people who work in schools.

Key components to the network:

• Head teachers challenge each other about their schools performance through a formal process of peer challenge.
• Schools would work in groups of approximately nine schools.
• Support available to schools is widely developed and more flexible.
• Overseen by School Improvement Board which sets overall direction of the school improvement strategy.  The Board would be accountable to Scrutiny, the Director of Children’s Services and the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and University.

The next stage would be to pilot some of the work with a Primary School and Secondary School starting in January the results of which would be brought back to the committee. 

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members supported the proposal but were concerned at how the change from the proposal into working practice would work and how the school grouping would be achieved to ensure a good mix of schools were in place in each group. Members were concerned about the weighting of the school groups.  Members were advised that the major element was the core quality peer challenge process and the rigour of that process. The next stage of work was to develop in detail how the peer challenge would work to ensure people providing the challenge were working to a common set of arrangements.  Training and development would be provided supported by high quality data.  The   Head teachers would work in groups of three to ensure a spread of expertise.

·         Members wanted to know why there would only be three Head Teachers in a group.  Members were advised that the Head Teacher Task and Finish group working on the proposal had assessed this and felt that three was the right number.  The Triad System was typically used in Peer Challenge systems and there was good evidence to show that it was an appropriate process.

·         Members also wanted to know about the process of encouraging collaboration instead of forcing collaboration.  Members were informed that collaboratives were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The report provided the Committee with a summary of the 2013 unvalidated assessment and examination results for both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.  The results were provisional and Members were advised that they were liable to change as they did not take into account any re-marks or any allowances for pupils who were new to the UK and had been present for less than 2 years.

Key Highlights were:

Key Stage 2

·         The way Primary School Key Stage 2 tests were assessed had been changed.  There was still a focus on Level 4 but English had been split into two different measures: reading and writing and a child would need to pass both measures to achieve the bench mark.

·         The gap in reading and writing to the national average was still significant but this should narrow when the results have been validated and had improved over the last three years.

·         Additional support was being provided to schools where needed to help narrow the gap with the national average.

·         Key Stage 2 results should show a further increase in positive results when the validated data arrives.

Key Stage 4

·         The gap to average had been closed by 6% this year and there had been a significant improvement from secondary schools.

·         Results for 5 A* to C remains above national average.

·         Pupil Premium performance had shown a 10% increase this year.

·         15% increase in GCSE results over the last 5 years.

·         The authority is the 5^th most improved authority since 2008 in terms of 5 A* to C GCSE’s (excluding English and Maths).

·         No secondary schools below floor standards.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members congratulated the officers on a positive set of results.

·         Members sought assurance that the positive progress that had been made would continue under the proposed new school improvement process.  Members were informed that a lot of the improvement work was driven by the analysis of data and this would still be the key driver going forward. Some of the interventions already in place would remain as they had proved to be outstanding.   The school improvement strategy going forward would incorporate the improvement work done so far.

·         Members sought clarification that under the changing landscape improvement in KS4 results would continue.  Members were informed that nationally at Key Stage 4 - 5 A* to C including Maths and English fell by 2% this year and the expectation was that it would fall again in the next two years.  Next year would be due to the Government changes regarding early entry to exams which meant that a child could only be counted on their first exam entry whereas previously all entries prior to the summer exams had been counted.  In 2015 there would also be a change in the measure of how a schools performance was measured.  5 A*-C including Maths and English will disappear and there will be a measure around the best eight subjects at GCSE.  The expectation was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report was introduced by the Community Cohesion Manager and provided the Committee with a final draft of the Tackling Poverty Strategy and Action Plan.  The strategy provided a structure and common accountability to the work being done to tackle poverty.  The following had been added to the strategy since last being presented to the Committee:

·         Measures had been developed to help evaluate the progress being made in tackling poverty.

·         A large amount of data has been added.

·         An action plan to show how the strategy will be taken forward.

·         A governance structure to oversee the work.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members referred to page 53 of the report, Priority 4:  “A city of people living healthy and resilient lives in decent homes”.  There was no mention of the environment in which people live and having access to green space.  Could this be incorporated?  Officers noted the comment and agreed to incorporate the ‘green space’ factor in the strategy.

·         Members wished to pass on thanks to Adrian Chapman for an excellent and comprehensive piece of work he had done on the Poverty Strategy.

·         What is the timescale for the action plans?  Members were advised that there would be a detailed action plan for each of the key delivery projects but timescales had not been confirmed yet.

·         Members requested that a detailed structure plan be included in the Poverty Strategy and to show how the scrutiny committees would fit into this.

·         A Member of the Youth Council referred to page 55, Priority 5: “A city where children enjoy their childhood and express their skills and potential in life” and was concerned that work experience had not been included as part of this priority. Members were referred to page 82, Priority 5, “Children are enjoying their childhood and expressing their skills and potential in life” and Priority 6, “Our city is a place where business succeeds and communities thrive”.  Although work experience was not mentioned there were projects within these priorities that would support work experience.  Officers noted however that this element could be strengthened.

·         Members referred again to Priority 5 in the strategy and referred specifically to the statement “To give our children the best chance for success and reaching their potential we will invest in the early years so that children make the best start in life”. Members wanted to know if this referred to all children in all wards across the city and if there would be an impact on the strategy following the recent announcement regarding the change of status in the Children’s Centres.  Members were informed that it did refer to all children in all wards across the city.  With regard to the Children’s Centres the strategy would be amended accordingly to incorporate the outcome of the decision with regard to the children’s centres once that was known. 

·         Members commented on the improvement in employment figures for Peterborough and wanted to know what percentage of the improvement might be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services introduced the report.  The report informed the Committee on progress that had been made on the Children’s Services Improvement Programme which had been put in place following an Ofsted Inspection in August 2011.  The progress report had been a regular report to the committee and the last update to the committee had been in September 2013.  The key highlights of the report were:

• Decrease in number of referrals in September
• Re-referrals dropped down to 23.3%
• Decrease in number of initial assessments completed down to 151
• Increase in number of initial assessments completed in timescale to 88.1%
• Decrease in CAFs – although within target
• Decrease in Child Protection Plans to 189
• There had been some staffing problems as some staff were leaving due to more attractive pay rates in some failing authorities. A refreshed advertising campaign had been launched to attract new staff.
• Early Intervention and Prevention – Cherry Lodge and the Manor had recently received an Ofsted Inspection and both units had received a ‘good’.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members requested an update on Looked After Children visits.  The Director of Children’s Services did not have the information at the meeting but agreed to send this out separately.

·         Members noted a large decrease in the number of referrals for September and sought clarification on why and assurance that the decrease was an unusual month.  Members were advised that this had been looked into and dip samples of some contacts and referrals were taken to see if all the contacts were meeting the threshold criteria for referral and then initial assessments.  The contacts sampled were consistent with the threshold criteria.  It was unclear why there had been such a decrease in that month.

·         Members referred to the Troubled Families Project and sought assurance that mechanisms had been put in place to ensure that those families that had been “turned around” did not slip back.  Members were advised that there was a fast track process in place.  This was provided for families that had been on the programme and was in place in case they did need further support in some way.  Families could be fast tracked back into the programme to ensure improvement could be sustained in their lives.

The Chair thanked the Executive Director of Children’s Services for a positive report but voiced concern on the staffing issues and hoped that the recruitment campaign would be successful.

ACTIONS AGREED

The Committee noted the report and requested that the Executive Director of Children’s Services provide an update on Looked After Children visits.

The Senior Governance Officer introduced the report which provided the Committee with an update on the progress being made towards organising the Scrutiny in a Day event on 17 January 2014 which would focus on the impacts of Welfare Reform.

The following comments and suggestions were made:

·         Members commented that the time available in the morning for information gathering may not be enough to take in all the information.

·         A member of the Working Party advised that Members would be able to focus on strands of interest relevant to their own committees.

·         Members commented that it might be difficult for some people to attend the event in the day time.

·         Councillor Sandford commented that it was an important subject and a high level of scrutiny should be applied and felt that the whole day should be held in public.

·         Members commented that the morning session was in effect the equivalent of the pre meeting of a normal committee meeting.  This allowed Members the opportunity to study the reports, go through the evidence and identify key lines of enquiry.

·         Members wanted to know if other councillors who were not Members of the Scrutiny Committees could also attend the event.  The Senior Governance Officer advised that other councillors could attend to observe the Joint Scrutiny Committee and ask questions in the same way they would be allowed to at an ordinary scrutiny meeting.

ACTIONS AGREED

The Committee agreed that the Senior Governance Officer take the comments made by the Committee back to the Member Working Party for consideration.

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Forward Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2013/14 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme for 2013/14 and the Senior Governance Officer to include any additional items as requested during the meeting including:

• Domestic Violence Strategy
• Early Years Children’s Centres
• Poverty Action Plan Update

6 January 2013

Monday 6 January 2013

The meeting began at 7.00pm and ended at 9.34pm