Agenda item

(To receive a report from Jo Kavanagh, Assistant Director Early Help, which summarises for the Committee the Service Level Performance against the Corporate Performance Framework for Quarter 4, for measures that are above or below the target range)

The Chairman invited Janice Spencer OBE, Assistant Director – Children's Safeguarding to present the report to the Committee, which summarised the Service Level Performance against the Corporate Performance Framework for Quarter Four.

The Committee was advised that there were 11 measures that should have been reported on for Quarter Four.  Of the 11 measures, it was highlighted that seven had achieved their target; and four measures had been unable to be reported on due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Appendix A to the report provided a copy of the Performance Measure Summary for the Committee's consideration.

The Committee was invited to review and comment on the performance.

During discussion, the Committee commented on the following:

·       An observation was made that an historic graph on page 14 of the report still made reference to the term Looked After Children; it was believed that this term had been changed to Children in Care;

·       Some concern was raised regarding the educational achievements as a result of the pandemic; and as a result of this when it was likely the Committee would start to see the return of any data; and whether any mitigation had been put in to place to take the non-availability of data into consideration.  The Committee was advised that the impact of the pandemic would be felt over a number of years and that measures were in place to support children's education. It was highlighted that the focus of recovery was being held centrally by the Department of Education and that Ofsted's role had been to identify the impact of provision and what needed to be done to help recovery from the pandemic.  The Committee noted that there had been a national review report by Sir Kevan Collins, the Government's former education recovery commissioner, regarding educational recovery and funding that had been made available to schools to help them in their recovery process.  It was noted further that local authorities should not collect data, as the data was not comparable.  The Committee was advised that all schools had worked very hard to meet the deadline for the teacher assessment process for the children's results in August.  In conclusion, the Committee noted that the local authority had adopted a long term view approach and would be working closely with the Regional Schools Commissioner with regard to the recovery of education in Lincolnshire schools;

·       Clarity was sought as to what was meant by the term 'participating in learning' (page 27 of the report pack).  The Committee was advised that children in care participated in all forms of learning.   It was noted that children in care were not disadvantaged in any way, although some courses might be structured differently, the children in care would be on roll and participating in education. Officers agreed to provide members of the Committee with further information as to the level of participation;

·       Page 29 – Care Leavers in suitable accommodation.  Reassurance was given that a high percentage of care leavers were in suitable accommodation.  Praise was extended to all district councils for their  support to children in care;

·       Comparable statistics.  The Committee noted that the Council was aligned to comparable local authorities for statistical information;

·       Page 25 - The impact the pandemic had on the achievement gap between pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their non-FSM eligible peers nationally at Key Stage 4.  The Committee noted that schools were deploying the national tuition programme and summer schools were being arranged.  The Holiday and Activity Fund for engagement had been made available for schools to focus on this particular group to help narrow the gap.  The Committee noted that over 4,000 digital devices had been handed out to pupils through Local Authority maintained schools; as well as schools deploying other devices. A request was made for further information regarding the participation of the young people in  these activities;

·       How performance would be calibrated going forward.  The Committee was advised that schools had accommodated the teacher assessment process really well.  How that impacted on future choices would be a topic for debate over the next few years.    A further question asked was what could be done to monitor any alternative data.  The Committee was advised that the local authority could not request data from schools, however, it was felt that some alterative data could be gathered to identify how schools were delivering statutory functions;

·       Page 31 - Juvenile first time offenders - The Committee noted that data was still not available from the Youth Justice Board.  It was highlighted that a lot of restorative work was being undertaken; and a request was made for some internal data to be provided to the Committee to be able to monitor levels and have some assurances, in the absence of Youth Justice Board data being available.  Officers agreed to look into the request and that the information would be forwarded on to all members of the Committee.

RESOLVED

That the service level performance against the Corporate Performance Framework for Quarter Four be received.