Agenda and minutes

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting. 

Councillor Barbara Parry made a personal and non-prejudicial declaration of interest as she worked for Ridgeway School.

Councillor Bazil Solomon made a personal and non-prejudicial declaration of interest  in his capacity as a part time teacher.

There were no Public Questions.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th November 2019.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th November 2019, be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Committee received a joint report of the Head of Skills, Employment and Lifelong Learning and Education Place Planning and Admissions Manager setting out an overview of education and skills outcomes for children and young people in Swindon.  In presenting the report officers highlighted the following points:

·        There was good progress in Early Years Education with Good Levels of Development improving year on year and closing the gap on the national average.

·        At the end of Key Stage 1, 91% of pupils achieve the expected standard in phonics. Key stage 1 attainment outcomes are at or above the national results in all subjects.

·        Work was continuing to increase maintain nursery provision across the town and where possible with access to a qualified teacher to improve early standards.

·        Primary Key Stage 1 and 2 were meeting the expected standards for phonics which was stable over three years.  Key |Stage 1 attainment overall was above national standards average although there had been a slight decline in achievement although his was stable.

·        Writing had increased by 0.7% slightly when compared with the national expected standard.  Mathematics at the expected standard has risen slightly by 2% from the previous local figures but remains 2% below national figures.

·        The secondary phase had shown some steady improvement over the last three years in narrowing the gap to the national average with three secondary schools achieving positive Progress 8 scores. Swindon ranked 87th local authority compared to ranking 136th in 2017 for Progress 8 scores.

·        Discussions were on-going with secondary schools regarding the delivery of the Ebacc which remained an area of concern. In 2019 17% of key stage 4 pupils secured an Ebacc standard pass against a national average of 25%.

·        Securing improvements at key stage 4 maths has been a key priority for the Swindon Challenge Board. In 2019, standard passes in maths were 70% which is in line with national average.

·        There had also been an improvement in English outcomes with standard passes in English at 75%, almost in line with the national average of 76%.

·        In Key Stage 5 in 2019, there had been a small increase in the average point score per entry for A levels, increasing from 26.48 to 26.68. This compared to a national average of 33.77. Unfortunately the gap to the national average had not been reduced and further work was being undertaken to achieve consistent improvement and for high A level; achievement.

·        A positive destination of sustained education or employment from level 3 courses (A level or equivalent) in 2018 employment was 88% which is in line with national average. Those entering work continued at a high level but more work was required to get more young people in higher education (this had improved from the previous year).

·        The focus of the work on skills and employment related, in particular, to supporting vulnerable young people and putting improvements in place for Children Looked After and Care Leavers, including a case review of every case.

·        The work of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

The Head of Skills, employment and Life Long Learning submitted a progress report in respect of the Education, Training and Employment Sub Group and highlighted:

·         The outcomes of the first meeting of the sub-group held on 5^th December 2019 which were set out within the report and a second meeting held on 15^th January 2020.

·         A breakdown of the membership of the sub-group which included members not directly related to the Council and the skills and value that members brought to the sub-group.

·         The role of the sub-group in identifying opportunities and how these might be matched to young people in a streamlined manner.

·         The identification of areas the sub-group wanted to focus on.

·         Barriers faced by young people in employment or in accessing the mainstream education offer and stepping stones that might be put in place to allow young people to gain experience and confidence.

·         The task group would look at pathways for young people where current offer wasn’t meeting needs and securing support from employers. Also how the community and voluntary sectors might be assist.

·         The development of a plan to progress work on areas identified.

Following the presentation of the report Members discussed:

·         Ensuring maximum opportunities for vulnerable young people and also fulfilling the Council’s obligation as a Corporate Parent.

·         Possible links with Switch onto Swindon and the production of a toolkit to help businesses.

·         The need to identify meeting times suitable for the wide range of participants.

Resolved – That the update be noted.

(2) That the Committee Officer be requested to contact Members of the Committee to ascertain their ability to regularly participate in Sub-Group meetings.

The Corporate Director – Children Services setting out a plan of action on how children and young people will be engaged with within the Committee for the forthcoming year 2020/21. The following issues were highlighted in the presentation of the report:

·         Discussions held with the Children in Care Council regarding how they might participate in and contribute to meetings of the Committee as well as challenging the Committee in respect of services they receive.

·         Step under the current contract would work with FF to develop a network for young children.

·         Children and Young People would attend the Committee three times per annum to comment and feedback on reports that were relevant to them and a fourth meeting to present an annual report on activities they have been engaged with providing an overview of areas of success and those requiring further development.

·         Representatives of the Committee would attend an external meeting led by young people once a year.

·         Children and Young People would be offered the opportunity to undertake a qualification as part of their participation.

·         A review list would be kept by the young person representatives to track progress on any actions proposed by the Committee.

·         Councillors Barbara Parry and Carol Shelley had met with STEP and the Council’s Young Person Commissioner to consider a forward plan for the Committee work for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

·         Young People would have a pre-meeting prior to meetings they attended to be briefed on reports of interest.

·         The video of the young people’s involvement was being considered so that this could be shown to other Children and Young People.

Following the presentation officers responded to questions relating to:

·         The selection of the children and young people representatives which would initially be selected through a schools currently working with STEPS whilst the network was broadened.

·         Work to be undertaken to ensure representation of children and young people reflected students at Swindon schools.

Resolved – That the report be noted and the future attendance of children and young people representatives at the Committee be welcomed.

(Report to follow)

The Strategic Commissioner Special Educational Needs and Disability submitted a report setting out an overview of the Written Statement of Action for special educational needs and disability, a requirement on the local area following the Ofsted area inspection in November 2017. In introducing the report the Strategic Commissioner Special Educational Needs and Disability drew Members’ attention to

·         The Written Statement of Action for Special Educational Needs and Disability was required following the OFSTED inspection in November 2018.

·         The Statement of Action was approved in April 2019 and there were 18 months to deliver the action plan.

·         After the delivery date of October 2020 a re-inspection was anticipated and if this happened it was anticipated that the team would primarily be composed of inspectors from the initial visit and would review progress made against the plan and written statement of action.

·         The written statement of action was approved on first submission by the Department of Education.

·         The Statement of Action was ambitious with 179 actions to be reviewed by the end of January; 45% of which had been completely embedded or were RAG related green and 11% would require mitigating action. Priority would be given to those actions that needed to be delivered by the end of January

·         The Local Authority was required to lead the Written Statement of Action but Inspection and Written Statement of Action was about the Swindon area and involved all key partners in the Swindon area, including children and parent forums whose work was commended.

·         An outline of the work in respect of each of the eight priorities, some of which were fairly simple, for example the appointment of a designated clinical officer and a dedicated medical officer, and the Clinical Commissioning Group had appointed both.

·         Other priorities were more complex and required a far greater degree of work on the move towards a more participatory approach and a large change from the tradition means of operation.

·         Another clear priority was in respect of attendance and exclusion from schools and in particular those with Special Educational Needs which required a lot engagement with school leaders in the Borough.

·         Work was overseen by an active Strategic Board which met bi-monthly and was also attended by representatives of the Department of Education Advisor and a NHS England Advisor who were appointed to support, monitor and challenge the Board’s work and provided notes of actions following meetings they attended.

·         Every Strategic Board meeting received detailed reports from the various priority leads with a move towards impact reporting and examples of work being progressed was outlined.

Following the presentation Members scrutinised:

·         The role of Committee members and more widely Councillors in promoting the work relating to the Statement of Action to schools within the Borough.

·         Examples of the role of young people in shaping elements of work arising from the Written Statement of Action, including the young person’s roadshow, and how this was impacting service delivery.

·         The high case load in respect of Education Health and Care Plans and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

(Report to follow)

The Principal Officer for Health and Wellbeing, Children, Families

and Community Health, Swindon Borough Council and Esther Schmidt,

Children’s Commissioning Lead, Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group submitted a joint report setting out an update on performance and key issues relating to Mental Health Support Services in Swindon and highlighted:

·         A survey of the services currently available in relation to Mental Health Services.

·         The previous year had been a successful on with an additional £2.3 million being received for children and young people’s mental health which helped provide some significant improvements to the service.

·         Nationally there had been a 68% increase in mental health referrals for children and young people which created significant challenges.

·         The prevalence of mental health issues in children and young people has changed from 1 in 10 to 1 in 8.

·         The creation of a whole system approach to look at the needs of children and young people to provide the right at the right time in Swindon through partnership with the Local Authority, Trailblazer Service (40 schools), the voluntary sector the specialist health providers in Oxford Health Service.

·         The single point of access managed by TAMHS and the traded service with schools which included 47 schools in Swindon and the main service provision available to every child in Swindon.

·         That the majority of children accessing the service had mild to moderate mental health needs who were treated by Swindon with moderate to high needs receiving treatment from Oxford.

·         An additional funding bid for further work under the Trailblazer scheme.

·         The creation of a parenting hub by Swindon Borough Council and the creation of an additional post by the Clinical Group in the Specialist Hospital Liaison Service which were embedded in the wider CAMHS service.

Following the presentation Members questioned officers in respect of:

·         The average waiting time between referral and treatment for CAMHS and TAMHS services and proposed measures to reduce this period.

·        The waiting time for treatment following an assessment which was currently around 5 to 6 weeks for CAHMS services although all cases were triaged and so waiting times would vary.

·        Modelling work was progressing to reduce waiting times for CAMHS and TAMHS services but this would require additional staff to be recruited.

·        The extension of services to the 18-25 age group and how these services were advertised and accesses; including the role of universities in promoting mental health.

Resolved – That the the key performance messages from the performance information be noted.

(A Briefing Note has been circulated under separate cover)

The Manager, Named Nurse for Safeguarding submitted a briefing note setting out an update on performance and key issues relating to the Council’s Health Visiting Service and highlighted the following issues:

·         The role undertaken by a highly qualified Health Visitor team, including the Healthy Child Programme for the age range 0 to 5 which had a positive impact on family’s lives.

·         A summary of the Universal Offer which was often the first contact with new families and parents can call health visitors for advice.

·         The role of Child Health Hubs which were held weekly in three venues and support these provided to new families and which had been well received.

·         A twelve weekly visit to support parents with potential mental health issues.

·         The 24 to 30 month review to offer additional support to families and children and to check on the child’s development; in quarter 3 the number of visits were above the national average.

·         Enhanced work which was targeted to families that midwives had concerns about and might lead to a referral for other services such as baby steps and offer support to the family as early as possible.

·        an update on performance and key issues relating to the SBC Health Visiting Service.

·         Targeted twelve month contacts for those families requiring the most support; these visits were to be moved back within the Universal Offer in the future when additional Health Visitors were in post.

·         Work over the previous 12 months including Children Looked After Reviews which were carried out every six months.

·         Changes in the skills mix for health visitor teams, increased training, renewing the Baby Friendly Accreditation and improving the quality of recording to demonstrate outcomes.

Following the presentation Members scrutinised the following issues:

·         The capacity of baby hubs and how families could be encouraged to visit these. At the moment these tended to be used by families when they wanted to access a service.

·         Letters sent to families regarding their 12 month service setting out the type of activities children should be doing at that age and contact details in case parents want advice or help.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Committee considered a report by the Chief Legal Officer on the results of the work programme consultation and the suggested priorities for the work for the Municipal Year, 2019/20.

Resolved – That the report be noted.