Apologies for absence were received from the following Members/Officer:-

Councillor HJ David

Councillor H Townsend

Councillor R Thomas

Councillor M Jones

S Cooper

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).

Registered representative K Pascoe declared a personal interest in Agenda item 6. As on occasions he undertook consultancy work for the Central South Consortium

To receive for approval the minutes of the meetings of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 16 June and 21 July 2016.  

RESOLVED:                That the Minutes of meetings of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the following dates be approved as a true and accurate record:-

                                     16 June 2016

                                     21July 2016

It was noted that there was no reference in both the above sets of Minutes to any of the registered representatives being in attendance at the meetings, which it was further noted, had not in fact been the case and that some of these had attended either/both the meetings.

Members asked for this to be noted in future, and also that the Registered Representatives be named on the agenda for future such meetings which had also not been the case in respect of the last few Committee send outs.

The Senior Democratic Services Officer – Committees advised that there may be a need to alter the distribution list on the Modern.Gov database system, and that he would look into these issues accordingly in order to ensure that they be addressed.                             

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present the items due to be considered at the Committee meetings scheduled to be held on 15 December 2016 and 2 February 2017.

Paragraph 4.3 of the report included a table which listed all potential items that the Committee approved at its meeting on 16 June 2016, which were presented to members for reprioritisation as appropriate.

The Scrutiny Officer concluded her submission by referring to paragraph 4.4 of the report which outlined once more in table format certain extra items that may be considered in the future by the Committee.

Members felt that in light of both the number and complexity of some of the items listed on the Forward Work Programme, that there should be further meetings of the Committee convened for this municipal year.

The Scrutiny Officer advised that this was considered difficult to achieve in light of current and future predicted resources.

A Member further added that there should also be introduced further Research and Evaluation Panels, to concentrate upon the more key areas of work highlighted by Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

RESOLVED:                        That Members noted the topics due to be considered at the next two scheduled meetings of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.                                         

Invitees:

Cllr Huw David, Leader

Cllr Hailey Townsend, Cabinet Member, Childrens Social Services and Equalities

Susan Cooper, Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing
Laura Kinsey, Head of Safeguarding and Family Support
Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Education and Transformation

Elizabeth Walton-James, Group Manager Safeguarding & Quality Assurance

Mark Lewis, Group Manager Integrated Working & Family Support

The Chairperson invited to the meeting the Invitees for the above item, and it was agreed by Members that Committee went straight into a question and answering session on the report.

A Member asked how the Western Bay Partnership Group could be challenged, and if necessary, held to account in respect of their Child Practice Safeguarding Review decisions. He added that information regarding these decisions should also be made available to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for monitoring purposes.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support advised that the Western Bay Safeguarding Board was formed of multi-agency associates, which included representatives from Children’s and Adult Services. This included representatives from these multi-agency groups being represented on this Board.

She explained that the Child Practice Reviews were carried out by a Sub-Committee that sat under the Board and therefore any such Reviews were actively considered before being undertaken, and where deemed necessary, by professionals from the key stakeholder groups that made up Western Bay. Safeguarding issues were looked at not only regionally she added, but also as part of local arrangements.

The Member whilst acknowledging the above, still considered that Members of the Committee should be made aware of outcomes in respect of important matters such as Child Practice Reviews. This was required, in order to ascertain if services were progressing to the necessary standard, as well as to establish if recommendations proposed were acted upon and/or service improvements were being made.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support further added, that as soon as a Child Practice Review was concluded then it was reported to Members through relevant Committees.

A Member  referred to page 35 of the report and paragraph 4.30 that stated that Early Help refers to a way of working, which will ensure that children, young people and families who are at risk or vulnerable to poor outcomes are identified early and that their needs are effectively assessed and met by agencies working together. The aim here being to prevent their escalation rather than to respond only when the difficulty has become so acute to as to demand attention. He felt that the crux here was the various agencies working closely together in order to prevent any tragedies occurring. He hoped that any such close partnership working involved all key stakeholders, for example the Police, Flying Start, Health partners, the local authority, and enabling all information generated in respect of a young person within the system, being closely shared between stakeholders so that they all play their respective parts in  providing support for young people who were looked after. He asked how the Early Help and Permanence Strategy would address issues such as this.

The Member referred to page 45 of the report where it listed the ambitions of the Strategy, and in conjunction with this, he referred to page 46 where there were listed key objectives under the sub-heading Key Objectives in Early Help and Permanence Planning Early Help. In relation to bullet point 3 here, where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 241.

Invitees:

Cllr Huw David, Leader

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Education and Transformation

Nicola Echanis, Head of Strategy Commissioning and Partnerships

Hannah Woodhouse, Managing Director – Central South Consortium

The Chairperson welcomed the Invitees to the meeting.

The Managing Director – Central South Consortium presented this item, the purpose of which was to share with Members the findings of the Estyn Report on the Central South Consortium (CSC).

She gave some background information on the report confirming that Estyn had inspected the CSC in March 2016 and that this was the first Consortium to be inspected under a new Consortia Inspection Framework. All four Consortia had been inspected, and key outcomes regarding these inspections were outlined in Appendix A to the report.

The Managing Director – Central South Consortium, advised that the Inspection was supported by the Wales Audit Office and that a number of different components were examined as a result of this Inspection, including surveys received from Head teachers, Business Plan(s), performance levels, and the likes of feedback following the interview of teachers, governors, Council Leaders and Cabinet Members, and the senior team of the Consortium amongst others.

The Report as published, entitled ‘Quality of the School Improvement services provided by the Central South Consortium’ was attached at Appendix B to the report, and it was expected that all consortia would be revisited to measure progress against their recommendations from the autumn of 2017 onwards.

The Managing Director – Central South Consortium added that as Members would note from the paper tabled at the meeting, the report was overall positive and that the CSC were the fastest improving region in Wales currently and possible even in the UK.

The Report included some recommendations made as a result of the inspection, and she gave a summary of each of these for the benefit of Members. Page 3 of the tabled paper also gave some comparable information with other authorities, which confirmed that Bridgend were performing well in terms of its Key Stage 4/Level 2 Regional Performance, including in English/Welsh or Mathematics.

Other main headlines from the inspection had also been positive she advised, and these included the Consortia’s vision, strategy and investment in its schools.

The Managing Director – Central South Consortium confirmed that the Judgements made from the inspection in respect of the various key category areas reflected that 3 Judgements had been deemed at Good, with 2 being classed as Adequate. The two main issues highlighted as Adequate were in the categories of Support for School Improvement and Resource Management.

Paragraph 4.3 of the main report highlighted a number of areas of strength in the way that the Consortium operated and delivers impact and these were listed in this section of the report.

The Managing Director – Central South Consortium confirmed that the Consortium had reviewed action plans against the recommendations and added to them where necessary. Appendix C to the report detailed a summary of each of the recommendations with actions and impact against them.

A Member noted from the report and supporting information that there were mixed feelings and reviews portrayed in relation to the support at schools of Challenge Advisors. He was aware  ...  view the full minutes text for item 242.

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.