Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L Wootten, R Wootten and Mr S C Rudman (Church representative).

An apology for absence was also received from Councillor Mrs P A Bradwell (Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services).

There were no declarations of members' interest made at this stage of the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2017, be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Reverend Philip Johnson, who had been appointed by the Diocesan Board of Education as the replacement member for Reverend Sue Evans. 

The Committee was advised that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman had on the 14 November 2017 had a very interesting visit to Bridge House in Boston, which supported Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils who found themselves outside of mainstream education.

Also, on 16 November 2017, the Chairman advised that he and Councillor S R Dodds had been on very successful visits to the premises of the Lincolnshire Leaving Care Service in Louth, Ingoldmells and Skegness.

The Chairman advised further that he and Councillors A P Maughan and Mrs K Cook had attended the V4C meeting at Sleaford.  It was noted the V4C or Voices for Choices was Lincolnshire's Council for Looked after Children aged between 8 and 17 years. The V4C aimed to bring looked after children and young people in Lincolnshire together for social activities and to have a greater say in their activities.

The Executive Director for Children's Services updated the Committee with regard to the Children and Young People Now Awards 2017. Children's Services had been shortlisted in the Early Intervention, Children in Care and Partnership Working categories, but had not been selected as a finalist in the 2017 awards.

(To receive a report from Eileen McMorrow, Senior Project Officer Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Building Communities of Specialist Provision for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Lincolnshire, which is due to be considered by the Executive on 5 December 2017)

Consideration was given to a report from Eileen McMorrow, Senior Project Officer Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review, which asked the Committee to consider the strategic vision of SEND provisions as detailed in the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy information detailed in the Executive report attached at Appendix 1.

The Committee was advised that Lincolnshire had 20 special schools for pupils with SEND, and that all special schools were delivering Good or Outstanding education according to the current Ofsted ratings.  In 2015/16 the Council had commissioned some research by the ISOS Partnership which had identified the need to reshape SEND provision to meet the needs of the increasing population of pupils requiring placement in special school settings.  The research had also highlighted a need for more collaborative working between special and mainstream schools.  The combination of the research and changes to national policy development from the Department for Education (DfE), the Council had identified the need to review its current provision and create a new strategy to reshape the special school system in Lincolnshire.

It was highlighted to the Committee that the high demand for special school places had put significant capacity pressures on many of Lincolnshire special schools.  It was highlighted further that the current education system had special schools operating within clearly defined designations, and as a result many pupils had to travel for significant periods of time and distance in order to access a special school place which could meet their individual needs.

In response to the identified local challenges and national directives, Lincolnshire had recognised the need to work more collaboratively to address the main issues impacting on special school provision.  The Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy proposed to develop an integrated system of special education for pupils with SEND, to meet their education and health care needs as close to their home as possible.  This would be achieved as a result of significant capital investment being made to special schools to enhance their provision to meet most of the needs and designations of disability, and to create increased capacity to meet growing demand. 

The Committee was advised that the proposed model had been agreed with all special school Head Teachers and the Lincolnshire Parent Carer Forum and fully met the strategic vision for SEND provision. If agreed the proposals would then be subject to wider consultation.  The results of the consultation would then be presented to a future meeting of Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee and finally to the Executive (or the Executive Councillor) for a decision on whether to proceed with the strategy and the proposed special school changes.

It was highlighted that comments raised from the meeting would be reported to the Executive for their consideration at the meeting due to be held on 5 December 2017.

During discussion, the Committee raised the following issues:-

·         How the proposal would be funded – The Committee was advised that the purpose of the report was for the Committee to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

(To receive a report by Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Domiciliary Care and Short Breaks Services for Children with Disabilities which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services between the 15 and 22 December 2017)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which invited the Committee to consider the services commissioned for children with disabilities, (CWD), details of which were contained in the Executive Councillor report attached at Appendix 1.

In a joint presentation, the Commissioning Manager, Children's Services and Team Manager, Children with Disabilities advised the Committee that the inability to meet demand in the domiciliary care service had enabled the exploration of a different approach to recommissioning all three services, by means of an open competitive tender.  It was noted as there was likely to be minimal interest in the market for a Domiciliary Care Service for children with disabilities on its own; it was proposed that two other contracts for CWDs (short breaks services) were to be re-commissioned at the same time as the Domiciliary Care service to generate interest in the market.  It was noted that the annual value of the contracts in 2016/17 was £820,148.  It was highlighted that the approach to recommissioning the three services would provide the greatest opportunity for the Council to secure a suitable supplier(s) to develop a sufficient level of provision and increase the quality of the services that children with disabilities receive across Lincolnshire.

Reference was made to the three individual services detailed at paragraphs 2.1; 2.2; and 2.3 of the report presented.  Particular reference was made to fact that it had been difficult to recruit staff for the domiciliary care due to the nature of the service (early morning and evenings).  It was highlighted that many local authorities faced very similar local pressures in respect of recruitment in their localities as a result from competition from other employers, external perceptions of the care sector relating to role; low-pay and limited career paths.

Appendix 1 of the report provided the Committee with details of the Equality Impact Assessment.

The Committee was requested to consider whether it supported the recommendations in the report and whether it wished to make any additional comments to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services.

During discussion, the Committee raised the following issues:-

·         Recruitment – Some concern was expressed to the recruitment situation.  It was highlighted that there should be a more joined up approach between children and adults as there appeared to be competition for the carers. Officers confirmed that discussion and previous experience had shown that adult providers did not generally really want to expand into the children's element of domiciliary care;

·         Quality of the Service being provided – The feedback received was that the Domiciliary Service currently provided by the Lincolnshire Community Health Services was very good;  and  

·         The use of direct payments – It was reported that 110 families had opted for direct payment out of 250.  The problem was still the same families were finding it hard to recruit carers.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee supports the three recommendations as detailed on pages 69/70 of the Executive report presented.

2.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

(To receive a report by Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Alternative Education for Key Stage 4 Pupils Permanently Excluded from Schools, which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services between 5 and 12 December 2017)

Consideration was given to a report from Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which asked the Committee to consider whether it supported the future commissioning intentions to procure a number of places for alternative education provision for key stage 4 pupils permanently excluded from schools by means of an open competitive tender.  Mary Meredith, Children's Services Manager – Inclusion, was also in attendance to present the report to the Committee.

The Committee was advised that there was a clear need for greater capacity with Lincolnshire's Alternative Education Provision (AEP) sector.  It was reported that there were several reasons for that, one of which was that historically Lincolnshire's Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), now known as Springwell Lincoln City Academy and part of the Wellspring Academy, Trust had gone over Pupil Admission numbers by on average 75 pupils and that there had been a year-end reconciliation with the provider to cover the additional numbers.  It was highlighted that investing in additionality at the beginning of the year would improve the quality of strategic planning. 

The report highlighted that it was crucial that investment sustained the sector and with a minimum of 75 places required, there was an opportunity to do this in diversifying Lincolnshire's AEP offer in the best interests of disaffected Key Stage 4 learners.  The increase in capacity was key to the Council meeting its obligations in ensuring young people, permanently excluded, or on a pre-excluded programme placement from school continued to receive education.  The report highlighted that the required AEP capacity was currently unable to be found, except through external commissioning of these placements.  The Committee was advised that Children's Services were therefore seeking an approach to commission a minimum of 75 placements (but up to a maximum of 125) with effect from the start of the 2018/19 academic year to ensure that education for Key Stage 4 pupils could be maintained.

The Committee was requested to consider whether it supported the recommendations as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report and whether it wished to make any additional comments to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services. The Committee noted that any comments raised would be reported to the Executive Councillor before the decision being taken between the 5 December and the 12 December 2017.

During discussion, the following issues were raised:-

·    Some concern was expressed as to whether if capacity was increased whether this would portray the wrong message and that schools would not seek to establish or develop their own solutions.  Officers felt that this was a risk, but reminded the Committee that the Local Authority was responsible for the education of those excluded from day six and thereafter.  The Committee noted the progress that had been made by the primary sector in reducing the number of pupils excluded.  Clarification was given that all that was being proposed was formalising what was already in place, to ensure that places were available

·       It was noted that Lincolnshire's market of suppliers for AEP who were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

(To receive a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services, which asks for the Committees views on the Local Authority's funding formula proposals for 2018/19 and advises of the direction of travel following the government's implementation of a national funding formula for schools in 2018/19 and 2019/20, which will be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services on 10 January 2018)

Consideration was given to a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services, which invited the Committee to consider a report entitled National Funding Formula for Mainstream Schools', which was appended at Appendix 1 to the report, which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services on 10 January 2018.

In guiding the Committee through the report the Head of Finance, Children's Services highlighted the background to the Government's implementation of the national funding formula for school for 2018/19.

The Committee was advised that the Government had encouraged Local Authorities to move towards the national funding formula so that schools' allocations were on a sensible trajectory towards the move to a 'hard' national funding formula from 2020/21.

Page 17 and 18 of the report presented provided the Committee with information relating to the government's building blocks of the schools national funding formula, which included basic per-pupil funding (including minimum per-pupil level), additional needs funding, school-led funding and geographical funding. Details of the fourteen formula factors within the building blocks were shown including key points from the formula.

Table one on page 5 of the report, outlined Lincolnshire's schools overall planned funding level for 2018/19, through the implementation of the national funding formula compared to other Local Authorities.  It was highlighted that Lincolnshire continued to remain in the lowest quartile for school funding levels with Lincolnshire primary schools overall being the 33^rd lowest funded Local Authority and Lincolnshire secondary schools being the 37^th lowest out of 150 Local Authorities overall. 

Tables two and three on page 7 provided the planned monetary gains by the sector in year 1 of the national funding formula implementation using schools 2017/18 census data.

The Committee was advised that due to the Government's tight timescales for completion of the work, the consultation with schools had been conducted in a relatively short period of time.  The Local Authority had however forewarned schools of the consultation.  The Forum was advised that the response rate had been disappointing (9% of primary schools and 20% of secondary schools).  A copy of the consultation document was shown in Appendix A to the report.

It was highlighted that the implementation of the national funding formula was forecasted to bring in more monies into Lincolnshire schools by an overall increase of 3.7% in 2018/19, and a 6.6% increase overall in 2019/20 from the current 2017/18 schools baseline funding, which was a positive picture for Lincolnshire.

Details of the next steps to be followed were shown on page 8 of the report; and it was highlighted that the Council understood the impact of the national funding formula for 2018/19 and 2019/20 and that it was proposed to replicate the national funding formula in each of the two years to ensure a sensible trajectory for schools towards the 'hard formula' due to take effect in 2020/21.  It was noted that 97% of schools that had responded to the consultation supported the Local Authority's proposals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

(To receive a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer – Children's, which provides the Committee with an update on the progress made by the Council to deliver 0 – 19 health services to children and young people following the decision made by the Executive in November 2016 to insource these services)

Consideration was given to a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer – Children's, which provided the Committee with an update on the progress made by the Council to deliver the 0 – 19 health services to children and young people.  It was noted that a decision had been made by the Executive in November 2016 to insource the 0 - 19 health services.  Details of the new model of Children's 0 – 19 Services in Lincolnshire was detailed at Appendix A for the Committee to consider.

The reported highlighted that the 0 - 19 health services had successfully transferred into the Council.  It was highlighted further that additional services to support the overall model had been commissioned and were now in place.  Work had also started on identifying the future model of working by staff in the localities.  The Committee noted that regular communication with partners was taking place; and that positive feedback had been received.  Moving forward the focus was now on improving performance in relation to the key elements of the service and that future transformation to ensure that the full benefits of integration were achieved. 

The Committee was also advised that from 1 October 2017, the Lincolnshire Integrated Sexual Health Service provided by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust was now delivering a young person's sexual health service throughout the county for teenagers from age 13 to 19.  Full details of the service were shown on pages 123/124 of the report presented.  Reference was also made to the launch of the new Healthy Minds Lincolnshire Service to support the emotional wellbeing needs of children and young people in Lincolnshire, this service had also commenced on 1 October 2017.  The Committee noted that a new online Emotional Wellbeing/Behaviour Pathway had been developed to support public and professionals to access or refer to the most appropriate services more easily.

It was reported that the transition of services had occurred with minimum disruption; however, they were two issues that were currently ongoing these were IT; and property issues.

A discussion ensued, from which the following issued were raised:-

·         Impact of the Integrated Sexual Health Services – The Committee was advised that the service had only been running for two months; but that extra resources had been allocated to enable more work to be undertaken with young people; this included speaking to young people in schools.  A suggestion was made for some of the engagement sessions with young people to be held outside of a school environment;

·         Interaction with young people – The Committee was advised that officers were looking into ways of interacting more with young people i.e. on-line portal; and web based application; and Apps;

·         Concern was expressed as to whether the IT provision would be in place for the workforce to be able to operate efficiently.  Officers advised that it was hopeful that the IT would be in place by 1 April 2018.  It was highlighted that interim arrangements were in place, officers were receiving support from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

(To receive a joint report from John O'Connor, Children's Services Manager, Education Support and Jennifer McKie, Senior Music Adviser, Lincolnshire Music Service, which updates the Committee on the history and future of the music service following a decision taken by the Council in December 2016 to continue to operate a music service on a fully traded basis)

The Committee gave consideration to a joint report from John O'Connor, Children's Services Manager, Education Support and Jennifer McKie, Senior Music Adviser, Lincolnshire Music Services, which updated on the history and future of the music service following the decision by the Council in December 2016 to continue to operate a music service on a fully traded basis.

The report highlighted that the Lincolnshire Music Service was a well-respected service, which had served the children and young people of Lincolnshire for over 40 years.   The Committee was advised that the service had been long-listed for a national award by the Music Education Council, which had placed the service in the top 10% of high achieving music services.

In a short presentation to the Committee, the Senior Music Adviser provided the Committee with a short presentation which provided an overview of the Lincolnshire Music Service.  The short film captured the incredible opportunities the Lincolnshire Music Service provided for children and young people in Lincolnshire.

The Committee was advised that the Lincolnshire Music Service had streamlined their working practices to ensure that the service provided was fit for purpose.  It was highlighted that there had been engagement with 87% of schools across the county and over 22,000 children and young people had accessed the service during the last academic year.  It was highlighted that there were supportive subsidies in place for looked after and pupil premium children.  The service also provided pathways for the most talented young people with many progressing to conservatoire level and accessing professional playing careers.

The Committee was invited to attend a County Groups Music Showcase at the Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground during April 2018, which would demonstrate the extraordinary musical talent within the county.

The Executive Director of Children's Services thanked the Senior Music Adviser for the excellent service provided by the Lincolnshire Music Service.

RESOLVED

            That the report presented be noted.

(To receive a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer – Children's Services, which provides key performance information for Quarter 2 2017/18 relevant to the work of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.  Please note that Appendix D to this report contains exempt information under Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and discussion of this information could result in the exclusion of the press and public)

Consideration was given to a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer, which invited the Committee to consider and comment on Quarter 2 performance information relevant to the work of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.

Attached to the report were the following Appendices:-

·    Appendix A – Council Business Plan Measures

·    Appendix B – Customer Satisfaction Information

·    Appendix C - Summary of Most Recent Mainstream Ofsted Inspections

·    Appendix D – Children's Services Contract Performance – Exempt Information

During a short discussion, the following issues were raised:

·         Page 166 - 16 – 17 year old Looked After Children participating in learning.  One member enquired as to why 39% of LAC were not in education, learning or training.  Officers advised that from the small cohort, some were in prison and some were pregnant young mothers.  The Committee was advised that a series of workshops had been delivered to support care leavers; as were apprenticeship opportunities to help them to be work ready.  The Committee noted that the 12 week targeted course was provided by Barnardo's.  Officers were asked to provide a breakdown of the figures for future reports, instead of percentages;

·         Ombudsman Complaints – Clarification was given that a report would only be taken to a full Council meeting in circumstances where a decision had been upheld and the Ombudsman had directed this;

·         Page 175 – Table 5 - Schools currently judged to be inadequate and/or under Interim Executive Board;

·         Page 159 – Children who are subject to a child protection plan – The Committee noted that the target was 24 per 10,000 population, which equated to 340 children, the current rate was 25.5 which correlated to 362 children.  It was noted that the tolerance was very sensitive and that the rate had reduced over the last two quarters; and

·         Page 151 - Juvenile first time offenders -   One member enquired as to how many young juvenile first time offenders were LAC.  Officers agreed to look into this matter.  The Committee was reminded of the recently launched diversionary project in Lincolnshire in conjunction with Lincolnshire Police, which would divert young people who had offended at a low level, through local panels to help to try to prevent the young people from obtaining a criminal record.  It was hoped that this would also reduce the number of first time entrants.  The Committee noted that the effectiveness of the restorative panel process should be seen in Quarter 3.

RESOLVED

That the performance for Quarter 2 2017/18 be received by the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee and that officers note the comments raised by the Committee.

(To receive a report from Simon Evans, Health Scrutiny Officer, which enables the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider its work programme for the coming year)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from Simon Evans, Health Scrutiny Officer, which enabled the Committee to consider and comment on the content of its work programme as detailed in Appendix A.

The Health Scrutiny Officer advised the Committee that the following items had come forward earlier in the meeting, these were:-

·         Children's Commissioner – Briefing – Falling Through the Gaps in Education;

·         Funding for Special Education Needs, and the process behind EHC Plans.

RESOLVED

That the work programme as detailed at Appendix A to the report presented be received, subject to the addition of the items listed above.