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 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

Councillor C Webster declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 - Review of Post 16 Provisions across Bridgend, Public Consultation on Concepts as she has a child in secondary education in the County Borough.

Councillor NA Burnett declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 - Review of Post 16 Provisions across Bridgend, Public Consultation on Concepts as she has a child in secondary education in the County Borough.

Rev Canon E Evans declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 - Review of Post 16 Provisions across Bridgend, Public Consultation on Concepts as he is the Chairperson of the governing body of Bryntirion Comprehensive School. 

Mr K Pascoe declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 - Review of Post 16 Provisions across Bridgend, Public Consultation on Concepts as he is a member of the governing body of Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School.  

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of 05/09/2018

RESOLVED:         That the minutes of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 of 5 September 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record subject to Councillor KJ Watts name being added to the list of apologies for absence for the meeting. 

The Scrutiny Officer reported on items which had been prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, each Overview and Scrutiny Committee in its next cycle of meetings would be considering the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  The Committee considered that it wished to scrutinise Education Outcomes at its meeting in January and the Review of the Fostering Project in February. 

The Scrutiny Officer presented a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation and requested the Committee identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form.  

Conclusions

In relation to the response received from Welsh Government regarding the transfer of funding for prisoners in the secure estate, Members recommend that a reply is drafted and that a subject access request is made covering the following:

·         The cost of individually housing prisoners per year;

·         The cost of the Parc Prison contract;

·                                                        The cost to Bridgend Council - taking into consideration the grant that used to receive and the funding now allocated through the RSG.

Members prioritised the following items to be presented to Corporate for future allocation:

January                       Education Outcomes

February         Review of Fostering Project

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.

There were no urgent items. 

Invitees:

Lindsay Harvey, Corporate Director - Education and Family Support;

Cllr Charles Smith, Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration;

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Early Help;

Michelle Hatcher, Group Manager Inclusion and School Improvement;

John Fabes, Specialist Officer Post 16 Education and Training.

The Corporate Director Education and Family Support introduced the report on the review of post 16 provision which would be the subject of public consultation.  He stated that the review had been shaped by a number of reviews, a variety of reports and professional dialogue amongst the local education community.  There was general consensus that current provision did not meet the stated ambitions for post-16 education across the County.  He welcomed the views of the Committee in shaping future post 16 provision and stated that there was a need for post-16 education to deliver the best it could possibly be.    

The Specialist Officer Post 16 Education and Training informed the Committee of the background to the review of post 16 education which went back to 2011 wherein a distributed tertiary model was agreed by schools and colleges at that time offering a breadth of subjects with twilight provision delivered by Bridgend College.  A further review took place in 2013 at the request of the Welsh Government which found that there was a good range of subjects on offer and good collaboration, but due to the pace of change there was a need for change.  Further reviews took place with the establishment of a PSG Group.  The Strategic Review Board in turn established a Post 16 Operational Board to review post 16 provision.  The Strategic Review Board recommended six concepts be considered and two preferred options for the future of post 16 education.  Cabinet in endorsing the recommendations in October 2017 requested more detailed work be undertaken and in April 2018 approved a public consultation on the six concepts and preferred options for post 16 education. 

The Specialist Officer Post 16 Education and Training informed the Committee that there are sixth forms in each secondary school which vary considerably in size for approximately 1,500 learners; including twilight provision; Welsh-medium provision is enhanced through extensive collaboration between YGG Llangynwyd with YGG Llanhari in RCT with faith education provision available at Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School.  He indicated that from a variety of reports and professional dialogue from stakeholders there was general agreement that current provision did not meet the ambitions for post 16 education across the Borough, due to the size of sixth forms, post 16 funding, standards of achievement, the range of subjects offered and access to digital learning and staffing.  The two preferred options are concept 4 which is a mix of school sixth forms with some mergers to create new local authority maintained sixth form centres and concept 5 which is a mix of school sixth forms with some mergers to create new FE college governed sixth form centres(s). 

The Specialist Officer Post 16 Education and Training informed the Committee that the issues of Faith and Welsh language education and additional learning needs require separate consideration.  In relation to Faith education, the Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School is some distance away from other faith schools, while there is a shortage of Welsh medium teachers and if sixth form provision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.