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.

The following personal declarations of interest were made in respect of Agenda item 5:-

Councillor N Burnett – School Governor at Brynteg Comprehensive School

Councillor C Webster – Has a child that studies at Brynteg Comprehensive School

Reverend Canon Evans – School Governor at Brynteg Comprehensive School

Tim Cahalane – Member of Central South Consortium

Kevin Pascoe – School Governor at Archbishop McGrath Comprehensive School, and a Member of Central South Consortium

Councillor JP Blundell – School Governor at Bryntirion Comprehensive School.

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting held on 4/12/17.

RESOLVED:              That the Minutes of a meeting of Subject O&S Committee 1 dated 4 December 2017, be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present the items prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee; to present Committee with a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation, and finally to ask the Committee to identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form.

Attached at Appendix A to the report was the overall FWP for the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees, which included the topics prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the next set of Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees in Table A, as well as a list of topics that were deemed important for future prioritisation at Table B.

The Scrutiny Officer advised, that if Members required any further items for considering as part of the FWP going forward, then these could be forwarded to the Scrutiny Unit by email outside of the meeting.

Members agreed to accept the items as detailed in the attachments of the report, subject to the following:-

1. To prioritise the item detailed on page 19 of the report, ie Budgetary Impacts of Parc Prison.
2. To invite to the meeting that considers the subject of Emergency Housing, a representative from the Wales Audit Office.
3. That a site visit be arranged to St. David’s 6^th form College in Cardiff

RESOLVED:               That the report be accepted and noted, subject to points 1. to 3. above.   

Invitees:

Cllr CE Smith, Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration;

Lindsay Harvey, Interim Corporate Director - Education and Family Support;

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Early Help;

John Fabes, Specialist Officer: Post 16 Education and Training

Mandy Paish, CSC Senior Challenge Advisor

The Chairperson welcomed into the meeting the Invitees, and the Specialist Officer: Post 16 Education and Training gave an introduction to the report on the above, following which the Chairperson invited questions from Members.

A Member advised that whilst the introduction given by the above Officer to the report had explained quite considerably what the Review would entail, the report she felt lacked detail as to what Officers required the Committee to do, ie what input to have from the Overview and Scrutiny process, and more notably what to scrutinise.

The Specialist Officer: Post 16 Education and Training referred those present to the report’s Appendices, which detailed the final report in respect of the Post 16 Operational Board Final Report and proposals going forward. He added that these documents had been considered previously by the Post 16 Statutory Review Board as part of Phase 1 of the review. Phase 2 was now underway and further information and documentation would be presented to the Board on 15 January 2018. He added that the new project initiation document, terms of reference and project milestones would be available following this date. A previous report on this topic had been considered by Cabinet, prior to it being considered today by Overview and Scrutiny.

He added however, that future proposals regarding Post 16 Education and Training would not formally go out to consultation until a further report on the next stages of the process was due to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting in April 2018. Presently, appropriate data was being collated for inclusion in this report.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration added that it would assist Cabinet in their future deliberations on this matter, if Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members paid particular attention to paragraphs 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 of the report, as these were the available options to the local education authority moving forward which would form part of a future Options Strategy. He informed Members that Cabinet were due to visit Pencoed Campus this Friday, following which visits would be made to other schools, including those that offered special provisions, in order that options for the future could be shared.

The Specialist Officer: Post 16 Education and Training referred to the different phases of work that had been undertaken, outcomes of which were detailed in the supporting information contained within the Appendices to the report, and various elements of these had been scored against, details of which were also shown in the report’s supporting information.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support, advised that the Post 16 Board as part of its deliberations had reviewed a range of concepts for the future of post 16 provisions across BCBC, which included:-

• The retention of the status quo;
• The merger of sixth forms into a BCBC sixth form centre, or the development of a new independent sixth form college, or the development of one or more sixth-form centres as part of the FE college
• A mixed model with some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Invitees:

Councillor CE Smith – Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration

Lindsay Harvey – Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report, the purpose of which, was to present the Committee with the findings and recommendations from a Member and School Engagement Panel (MSEP) meeting with Maesteg School.

The report gave some background information, highlighting that the schools performance had been previously questioned, especially in the combined English and Mathematics threshold indicator. This had been possibly compounded by the fact, that there were also a number of changes that all schools have had to address over the recent academic year, which may have impacted on this year’s performance at all schools, including Maesteg, and these were outlined in more detail within the report.

The report then advised that in respect of Maesteg School, a joint local authority and Central South Consortium enquiry, conducted alongside the school was undertaken in May 2017, and some suggested recommendations set for the school in order that it may achieve improved performance, were shown in bullet point format at paragraph 3.5 of the report. A review of the school’s performance had indicated that the school had made a positive start to addressing these recommendations.

In terms of the latest developments at the school, and in order to further gauge the improvements that have been made there, the Member School Engagement Panel met with the Headteacher and the Chair of Governors, together with Officers from the Education and Family Support Directorate in November 2017.

Following this the Panel highlighted a series of key points and recommendations, and these were highlighted in bullet point format, in the first section of paragraph 4.1 of the report. The Panel also highlighted certain further points, in terms of key methods the school had identified for improvement as well as some possible areas for sharing best practice with others.

Paragraph 4.2 of the report then gave three recommendations the Panel also put forward at/following its meeting.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support, advised that he would act appropriately on the recommendations put forward, and ensure these are implemented. He added that he would also arrange for these improvements to be monitored accordingly.

The Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration supported the comments made by the Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support.

RECOMMENDED:          That the Committee:

(1)   Accepted the comments and recommendations of the Member and School Engagement Panel in relation to Maesteg School.

Determined to send the comments and recommendations to Cabinet, the Directorate and the Consortium for any suitable response.

To consider any other item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Rule 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.

None.