To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from

Members/Officers.

None

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from

01 September 2008 (including whipping declarations).

None

Invitees:

Deborah McMillan - Corporate Director - Education and Transformation

Susan Cooper - Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Councillor Huw David - Cabinet Member Children & Young People

Nicola Echanis - Head of Strategy Commissioning and Partnerships

Sue Roberts - Group Manager School Improvement

The Corporate Director – Education and Transformation submitted a report in order to inform the Committee of the Children’s Directorate’s revised Principles Document to inform the planning for school improvement.

She confirmed that the rationale for the revision was to ensure that plans for further school improvement take into account the current context of falling rolls, a number of surplus primary and secondary school places, a number of Head Teachers reaching retirement age in the next 5 years and financial constraints, all of which means that a Strategy for sustainable provision is required

The Corporate Director – Education and Transformation added that a set of Principles and criteria (Appendix 1 of the report referred), to underpin the future of education and learning provision which could then be applied to establish a Strategic Development Plan for the next 10 years has been developed. These criteria would provide a framework upon which decisions would be made.

A Member queried the graphs on page 13 of the report, in that data in 2015 reflected that there were 13,000 pupils currently in primary schools throughout the County Borough yet the projected number in secondary schools for 2020 was estimated to be only 9,500. She questioned the validity of this latest figure on the basis that most if not all young people would naturally proceed from primary schools into secondary schools.

The Corporate Director – Education and Transformation advised that the way this data was calculated was fairly complicated, and rather than explain this at the meeting, she felt there would be more merit to provide this information to Members outside of the meeting. The data shown however she added was accurate as there were robust methods in place on how this was calculated.

A Registered Representative stated that throughout the report and supporting information, there was reference to outdated legislation. These papers quoted the School Organisation Proposals 2002, where in actual fact, these had been superseded by the School Organisation Act 2009 and the School Organisation Code 2013.

The Group Manager School Improvement advised those present that she took these comments on board.

The Registered Representative accepted this, but confirmed however that the bodies to be consulted over the reports proposals as shown in Section 5 of the Appendix to the report, were few in number as they were wrongly taken from the School Organisation Proposals 2002.

This list of bodies was far longer under the 2013 Act, and therefore he was concerned that not all the views of interested parties would be sought. These were far more expansive and wider ranging he added.

The Head of Strategy Commissioning and Partnerships advised that the document before Members, was basically setting out the Directorates vision and principles for Bridgend, rather than reflecting different pieces of legislation.

A Member noted from the report that there were 5 primary schools and 1 secondary school that had significant surplus capacity at present, and he asked if he could have details of which schools these were.

The Corporate Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Invitees:

Deborah McMillan - Corporate Director - Education and Transformation

Susan Cooper - Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Councillor Huw David - Cabinet Member Children & Young People

Colin Turner - Head of Safeguarding and Family Support

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing submitted a report, in order to provide    the Committee with information in respect of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) within Bridgend County Borough and outlined the actions and strategies adopted to respond and prevent incidence of CSE.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support advised Members that Child Exploitation was a problem in society both historically and in current times with incidents that had occurred previously in Rotherham and Oxford, where a significant number of children had fallen foul of this by being not sufficiently protected in the system by Police, Social Workers and Council Officers.

He confirmed however, that there were very robust safeguarding methods in Bridgend to minimise or prevent child exploitation altogether, through agencies that worked together to prevent this occurrence being both reactive and proactive to this issue.

Paragraph 3.1 of the report gave a resume of what Child Exploitation was, and the type of people who carried out this crime. He confirmed that facebook and other social media sites had made it easier for perpetrators to prey on victims, including interaction on on-line gaming sites, where vulnerable young people could virtually speak to people all over the world, including on a one to one basis.

Paragraph 4.1 of the report then confirmed that the Authority was committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of our community from CSE, and as such all practitioners had access to a number of key documents which provided guidance and structure to their practice. Details of these were contained in the report.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support then confirmed the methods by which Practitioners in the Safeguarding Service were trained to ensure they were aware of the complexities, signs and risks within the parameters of CSE, including assessment of children and young people, particularly those categorised at “risk”. Those at risk were then investigated accordingly.

The prevention of CSE was assisted through weekly CSE meetings consisting of representatives from multi agency groups. These meetings ensured continuity and oversight of the actions identified within safeguarding plans, continuous evaluation of risk posed to the persons in question, as well as identification and monitoring of those persons who pose risks to children. This part of the report also gave certain statistical information as to the number of young people who had been identified as being at risk of CSE, including the number that were subject to Child Protection procedures and children that were Looked After. He advised that currently 10 young people in Bridgend were being protected, all of which were subject to Risk Assessments and Child Protection Plans.

He then referred to joint working arrangements that were in place with the South Wales Police and ABMU, as well as Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) that were in place. MAPPA were a set of arrangements in place to manage the risk posed by the most serious sexual and violent offenders.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support advised that training in respect of CSE  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report that requested Committee to appoint Members to sit on the Joint Research and Evaluation Panel in respect of the Social Services and Annual Reporting Framework

Resolved:         

That the following Members be appointed to sit on the above Joint Research and Evaluation Panel:

Councillor P John

Councillor D White

Councillor P Foley

Mr W Bond

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Forward Work Programme Update

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report outlining the items due to be considered at a meeting of the Committee to be held on the 11 May 2015, and further sought confirmation of the information required for the subsequent meeting following the Annual meeting of Council in May 2015.  The Committee noted the changes to the FWP from the report in that the item on the Remodelling of Children’s Residential Care would be postponed and that Estyn would be in attendance to present the Committee with their ‘Findings’ letter.

Conclusions:

The Committee noted the topics due to be considered at a meeting of the Committee scheduled for the 11 May 2015.

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person

presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be

transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.