Agenda and draft minutes

The minutes of the Family and Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Meeting held on Thursday 2 February 2023, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Family and Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Meeting held on Thursday 2 February 2023 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair with the following amendment noted:

D Lennox, P Rickeard and J Sanderson were in attendance.

To note the latest Forward Plan of key decisions for February to May 2023.  Any further changes made to the Forward Plan will be reported to the committee.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

The annual report details the Education and Skills performance for Northumberland in the 2021/22 academic year and informs Members of the detailed work supporting schools undertaken by the Education and Skills team along with wider services. Comments made by this Committee will be reported to Cabinet when they consider the report on Tuesday 14 March 2023.

The annual report detailed the Education and Skills performance for Northumberland in the 2021/22 academic year and informed of the detailed work supporting schools and skills undertaken by the Education and Skills team along with wider services.  A detailed introduction and presentation was provided by A Kingham, Executive Director – Children, Young People and Education. Councillor Renner-Thompson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services was in attendance and commended the report to the Committee.

Members welcomed the report and in response asked a number of questions. In relation to the increased number of fixed term exclusions the Committee was advised that this was due in part to an increase in the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and a covid legacy of more challenging behaviour.  A great deal of work was being undertaken by various services engaging with schools and headteachers along with pupils and their families to get pupils back into education quickly and provide the help required in order to achieve this.  

Information on the number of families who had benefitted from the use of the HUGGG voucher scheme would be provided outside of the meeting along with information on the range of grades for ‘A’ Level students.

It was clarified that the lower than national average performance due to Covid at KS2 was across the whole of the North East and not just within Northumberland.  The legacy of missing two years of schooling due to Covid could clearing be seen in the stats at KS2.  Collectively the region was doing a lot of work together and in particular the excellent Early Years Passport Scheme which had been developed in Northumberland was being shared with North Tyneside and Newcastle and with the creation of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) it was hoped that this would provide additional funding for education which could be used to drive improvements similar to those which had been achieved in London.  The Blyth Welding & Fabrication Training Centre would be the blue print to deliver this type of training across the County enabling young people to access skills training and jobs closer to home.   In relation to young people accessing alternative educational provision, it was clarified that the challenges were the sufficiency of places and finding provision in the locality of the young person. 

A Kingham and D Street were to meet with Headteachers the following week in relation to exclusions and it was hoped that the new inclusion dashboard would be owned and understood assisting in increasing the rate of change in bringing down the level of exclusions.  As there were increasing numbers of learners with EHCP it was probable that there was a corresponding increase in fixed term exclusions for that cohort of pupils.  When it was flagged that a disadvantaged pupil had received a fixed term exclusion then additional resources and support could be provided to meet the needs of the pupil therefore preventing repeat occurrences with schools being encouraged to come forward to ask for assistance for pupils  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

The report requests Members to consider current performance and the budgetary position as at December 2022 for services within the Committee’s terms of reference.

An introduction to the report which provided details of the current performance and budgetary position as at December 2022 for services within the Committee’s remit was provided by A Hartwell, Senior Manager - Performance and Systems Support. 

In response to questions from Members it was stated that the Ofsted framework was becoming quicker with a direct effort for legacy outstanding schools to be reinspected.  In the intervening time when Officers were aware that there had been a significant time lapse for an Ofsted reinspection, they then relied upon other data and referred to school improvement reports or information gathered by working with schools.  Following this, if there was any indication that the school was travelling in the wrong direction then support would be offered.  Ofsted had stated that no school should be beyond a 5 year reinspection and inspections would be brought forward if concerns were raised.  Meetings were held termly between the Council and Ofsted.  Ofsted visits to schools would be announced by a pre-preparation phone call between 12.00 pm – 1.00 pm the day before a visit and a conversation held at 2.00 pm that day between the Inspector and the School.  Five days’ notice was provided by Ofsted to local authorities for a Children’s Social Care inspection with a lot of information requested to be provided prior to the visit.  Focussed visits were also undertaken between full inspections.

The use of diagnostic software was being explored in relation to the provision of EHCPs and a Green Paper was exploring the use of a national digital system which would greatly assist in the time taken to provide EHCP, however the biggest challenge at the current time was the availability of Educational Psychologists to undertake the statutory review required as part of the process.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

The report provides an analysis of trends within social work activity in responding to safeguarding concerns regarding Northumberland’s children and young people; highlighting key indicators of performance, with comparisons to national and regional variations.

The purpose of the report was to provide an analysis of trends within social work activity in responding to safeguarding concerns regarding Northumberland’s children and young people.  An introduction to the report was provided by B Smeaton, Children's Improvement and Development Manager. 

In response to questions from Members it was stated that contact was usually made with care leavers at least every 3 months and this was usually in the form of a visit with staff or telephone call, and workers were very tenacious in maintaining contact to check the wellbeing of the young people leaving care.   With regards to social care activity data, it could be extracted in different ways such as geographical area, educational establishment etc depending on what was being looked at.

It was clarified that work was being undertaken in conjunction with the Health Service in relation to improving the numbers of looked after children accessing dental services, however no private treatment had been provided as it had always been possible to secure checks through contacts with NHS Dentists.

The Chair reminded Members of the invitation to attend the Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Meeting on Tuesday 14 March for the Director of Public Health report at 2.00 pm advising that the first item on the agenda was an update from NHS England on dentistry provision which would start at 1.00 pm.

Confirmation was provided that the health of looked after children was very important and detailed breakdowns of the findings and trends of the health checks undertaken were provided to the Corporate Parenting Group who would take action to address any health issues identified.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Members are asked to review and note the Family and Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Monitoring Report.

The work programme had been circulated for information and any issues which Members wished to bring to the Committee should be raised with the Chair or the Scrutiny Officer in the first instance.   The work programme for 2023/24 would be provided at the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.