Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors M A Whittington and Mrs P A Bradwell, Executive Councillor – Children's Services, Community Safety and Procurement, and Megan Machin, Parent Governor Representative.

No declarations of Members’ interest were made at this stage of the proceedings.

The Chairman extended the Committee’s thanks to Alex Sayer, Parent Governor Representative, for her contributions over the past four years, as her term of office was to end on 2 November 2022.

(To receive a report from Andrew Morris, Corporate Parenting Manager, which invites the Committee to consider a report on the Children in Care and Care Leaver Strategy, which is being presented to the Executive for a decision on 01 November 2022. The views of the Committee will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by Andrew Morris, Corporate Parenting Manager, on the Children in Care and Care Leaver Strategy, which was being presented to the Executive for a decision on 1 November 2022.

It was confirmed that references to ‘looked after children’ had been changed to ‘children in care’, and that the strategy had been reviewed by the Corporate Parenting Panel and had been well socialised.

There were no additional comments from the Committee for the Executive’s consideration.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee support the recommendation to the Executive as set out in the report.

(To receive a report from Eileen McMorrow, Programme Manager, Special Schools Strategy, which provides the Committee with an update on the implementation of the Building Communities of Specialist Provision; Together in Lincolnshire Strategy, approved by Executive on 6 November 2018)

Consideration was given to a report by Eileen McMorrow, Programme Manager, Special Schools Strategy, on the implementation of the Building Communities of Specialist Provision; Together in Lincolnshire Strategy.

With reference to the report, officers gave an overview of completed and upcoming capital programme projects, and the following matters were highlighted:

·   Inflationary pressures, particularly in the construction industry, were starting to reduce. However, budgets had been revised upwards to account for the overall changes in inflation.

·   Induction level workforce development training had now been digitised and was fully operational. Tier one training had been developed and was in quality assurance review. Tier two content was in development.

·   Providers were working closely with the University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University to promote and build the training programme.

·   All special schools had now joined the existing contractual arrangements held by the Council with specialist equipment providers, which enabled them to make savings in expenditure by ordering directly through the Council’s contractual arrangements.

In response to a question raised by the Committee, it was explained that an update on the medical offer of the strategy was to be presented at a subsequent meeting of the Committee, and that this aspect of the strategy was administrated by Lincolnshire Community Health Services.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Committee be satisfied with the progress made since October 2021.

2. That the Committee receive an update on Year Five of implementation at the meeting on 20 October 2023.

(To receive a report from Tracy Johnson, Senior Scrutiny Officer, which enables the Committee to consider and comment on the contents of its work programme to ensure that its scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit)

The Committee considered its work programme, to ensure that scrutiny activity was focused where it could be of greatest benefit.

It was reported that there is one amendment to the published work programme. The decision report on Alternative Provision Key Stage 4 (APKS4) Interim Commissioning Arrangements, which was due to come to the Committee on 13 January 2023 had been removed from the Forward Plan and work programme as the decision was no longer required.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be agreed subject to the amendment above.

In accordance with Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the following agenda item has not been circulated to the press and public on the grounds that it is considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. The press and public may be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this item of business.

RESOLVED:       

That in accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that if they were present there could be a disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.

(To receive an exempt report from Matthew Clayton, Interim Head of Service – Children’s Transformation and Capital Reform & Sufficiency, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Education Provision Planning, which is being presented to the Executive Councillor for Children's Services, Community Safety and Procurement for a decision between 31 October 2022 and 4 November 2022. The views of the Committee will be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of their consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to the exempt report.

The Committee raised a number of questions which were answered by the Officers present.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Committee support the recommendations to the Executive Councillor as set out in the report.

2. That the Committee’s comments be passed on to the Executive Councillor in relation to this item.