RESOLVED:                  1. That Councillor T Giffard be elected as Chairperson of the Combined Meeting of all Overview & Scrutiny Committees up to the conclusion of Item 4 in respect of Education and Family Support.

                                       2. That Councillor JPD Blundell be elected as Chairperson of the Combined Meeting of all Overview & Scrutiny Committees for the consideration of Item 4, in respect of Communities.

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)

The Chairperson explained to Members that it was recognised that many of them would be LEA governors and as such there was no requirement to declare an interest however, if any Members had any declarations such as a Community Governor, they must declare those interests.

Cllr JP Blundell declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 because he was a Community Governor at Cefn Glas Infants School.

Rev. Canon E Evans, Registered Representative, Church in Wales, declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 because he was a Community Governor of Bryntirion Comprehensive School

L Morris, Registered Representative, Secondary Schools Sector declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 because she was a Parent Governor at Maesteg Comprehensive School.

Councillor J Gebbie declared a personal interest in agenda Item 4 as she was Chair of Mynydd Cynffig.

Councillor T Beedle declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 as he was Chair of Bridgend Governors Association.

A.        Education and Family Support

Invitees:

Councillor Huw David, Leader

Councillor Hywel Williams, Deputy Leader

Councillor Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Future Generations and Wellbeing

Councillor Charles Smith, Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration

Lindsay Harvey, Corporate Director - Education and Family Support

Gill Lewis, Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change

Mark Shephard, Chief Executive

Kelly Watson, Chief Officer Legal, HR and Regulatory Services

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Family Support

Deborah Exton, Interim Deputy Head of Finance

Victoria Adams, Interim Finance Manager – Budget Management: Communities, Education and Family Support

Hannah Castle, Headteacher, Cynffig Comprehensive School - Chair of Schools Budget Forum

Neil Clode, Headteacher, Llangewydd Junior School - Vice-Chair of Schools Budget Forum

Registered Representatives

Tim Cahalane - Roman Catholic Church

Ciaron Jackson - Primary School Sector

Rev. Canon Edward Evans - Church in Wales

Lynsey Morris – Secondary School Sector

B.        Communities Directorate

Invitees:

Councillor Huw David, Leader

Councillor Hywel Williams, Deputy Leader

Councillor Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Future Generations and Wellbeing

Councillor Richard Young, Cabinet Member Communities

Gill Lewis, Interim Head of Finance, Performance and Change

Janine Nightingale, Corporate Director - Communities

Mark Shephard, Chief Executive

Kelly Watson, Chief Officer Legal, HR and Regulatory Services

Deborah Exton, Interim Deputy Head of Finance

Zak Shell, Head of Operations – Community Services

Victoria Adams, Interim Finance Manager – Budget Management: Communities, Education and Family Support

Education and Family Support

The Interim Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented a report, the purpose of which was to present the Committee with the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021-22 to 2024-25, which set out the spending priorities of the Council, key investment objectives and budget areas targeted for necessary savings. The strategy included a financial forecast for 2021-2025 and a detailed draft revenue budget for 2021-22.

The Chair thanked the Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change and explained that this was the session on the Education and Family Support Directorate, with the Communities one to follow.

A Member stated that she had heard the Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change speak many times and challenged the use of the word ‘savings’, stating that the Local Authority was not saving anything, but trying to make cuts to services because it didn’t have the budget consequentially.

A Member referred to page 39, ESF5 and a reference to autistic spectrum disorder children and asked whether the pandemic had any detrimental effect on autistic children. What had been the experience and how badly, or not, had these children been affected.

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support explained that he was proud that Bridgend had established a number of settings to support the needs of learners with ASD, both in English and Welsh Medium settings. It was fair to say that the last 10 months had been deeply challenging for all sorts of learners. He praised schools for the phenomenal efforts put in place to make sure children were not affected and highlighted his personal experience of visiting schools and observing learners happy and settled within those settings.

In terms of additional support from the local authority, this took different avenues including additional support within classroom settings, within schools with learning resource centres, additional support from learning support staff and also staff within the school and in bespoke settings within the specialist school environment, providing support for families as well when learners were not on site. From the feedback received, this had been successful. It had inevitably affected learners, but from the efforts of school staff and inclusion staff in particular, the local authority aimed to mitigate any risk to learners’ wellbeing.

The Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration began by thanking relevant staff, noting that every autistic person was different. What was shared by many autistic people was that change was not welcome and timetabling changes could be upsetting. He noted the dedication of expert staff in special schools and settings in mainstream schools which had been recognised by Estyn, who were very supportive of the Team Bridgend approach.

A Member referred to page 39, ESF6. He noted the figure of £903k for 2021-22 and recurring amount of £1.1million in future years and asked how the figure had been calculated and whether it was a percentage of the budget, how was it split across Education, where did it go altogether and was it just for schools. In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 200.

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.

None.