Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2012 were taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to noting that Councillor P Hignett had submitted apologies due to Council business rather than apologies for absence.

            It was reported that no public questions had been received.

            The Board received a report which contained the minutes relating to the Children, Young People and Families portfolio which had been considered by Executive Board Committee since the last meeting of the PPB.

            EXB 108 – Role of the Schools Forum – it was clarified that this was now a public meeting and as such the agendas and minutes would be published on the Council’s website, in line with other public meetings.

            RESOLVED: That the Minutes be noted.

            The minutes of the Halton Children’s Trust meeting held on 16 October 2012 were submitted to the Board for information.

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

Councillor Dennett declared a Disclosable Other Interest in the following item as he was the Chairperson of the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) Management Committee.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Policy and Resources, which provided performance management information for Quarter 2 of 2012-13. 

            It was reported that in line with the revised Council’s Performance Framework for 2012/13, the PPB had been provided with a Children and Young People’s Priority Based report which identified key issues that arose from performance in Quarter 2.  The priorities and common areas of focus were set out in the report as follows:

·         commissioning;

·         early help and support;

·         narrowing the gap; and

·         common areas of focus: workforce planning and development, asset management of resources.

Arising from Members discussions, the following points were highlighted / noted:

·         The rebranded Inspiring Families Project now had a multi-agency team in place building on what already existed, and officers were in place working with each of the families.  A family assessment tool was also being developed;

·         Provider contracts had been amended in 2012-13 to a ‘payment by results’ system where providers would receive base funding and then additional payments as rewards for successes and improvements in pupils’ results.  It was hoped this would drive up standards;

·         Ofsted were now conducting surveys in schools looking at how the Pupil Premium was being spent.  Schools would receive prior notice for such a visit;

·         Information relating to Ofsted inspections and surveys was available on the Ofsted website;

·         There would be a change to the local funding formula for schools from April 2013 and new funding arrangements affecting all areas;

·         Teenage conceptions had reduced in numbers;

·         SEN commissioning agreements existed across authorities but the child’s commissioning authority was where they lived, not where the school was;

·         Guidance regarding Pupil Premiums was sent out to schools and was based around Ofsted expectations;

·         Schools did collaborate with each other when underperforming schools were identified and in need of advice.  Careful consideration was given when selecting individuals to do this so that the best person was chosen to support these schools;

·         It was suggested that with so many Members presently in governor roles, that they could be of assistance to the Council and schools with the above issues, and disseminate information to each other.  Officers would look at this idea.

·         The Board raised the same concerns as they did previously with regards to the Carefirst system and requested that this be given priority in the coming months.

RESOLVED: That the second quarter performance monitoring reports and comments made be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which provided an update on Business Planning for the period 2013-16 and the Directorate priorities, objectives and targets for services for this period that fell within the remit of the Board.

The Board was advised that each Directorate was required to develop a medium term business plan, in parallel with the budget, that was subject to annual review and refresh.  Draft Service Objectives and Performance Indicators and targets had been developed by each department and the information had been included in the Appendices to the report.  These objectives and measures would form the basis of the quarterly performance monitoring received by the Board during the future year.

The Board was further advised key priorities for development or improvement in 2013-16 had been discussed with Members at a briefing meeting on 3 December 2012 and were proposed as follows:-

·         Integrating Commissioning;

·         Child’s journey through the continuing of need;

·         Improving opportunities for Halton’s most vulnerable young people; and

·         Driving economic prosperity.

It was reported that comments could also be made to the relevant Operational Director by no later than 18 January 2013 to allow inclusion in the Draft Business Plan. 

It addition, the draft Directorate Business Plan would be revised following Member consultation and be presented to Executive Board for approval on 7 February 2013, at the same time as the draft budget.  This would ensure that decisions on Business Planning were linked to resource allocation.  All Directorate plans would be considered by full Council at its 6 March 2013 meeting.

RESOLVED: That

1.    The report and comments made be noted; and

2.    Members of the Board pass any detailed comments that they may have on the information in the report to the relevant Operational Director by 18 January 2013.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which provided information on the progress in achieving targets contained within the 2011-2016 Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) for Halton and highlighted the annual “light touch” review of targets and measures.

            It was reported that the SCS for Halton was a central document for the Council and its partners, which provided evidence based framework through which actions and shared performance targets had been developed and communicated.

            The Board was advised that a new SCS (2011-26) had been approved by the Council on 20 April 2011.  The new SCS and its associated “living” 5 year delivery plan (2011-16), identified five community priorities that would form the basis of collective partnership intervention and action over the coming five years.  It was noted that the strategy was informed by and brought together national and local priorities and was aligned to other local delivery plans such as that of the Halton Children’s Trust. By being a “living” document it would provide sufficient flexibility to evolve as continuing changes within the public sector continued to emerge.

            Appended to the report for information was progress for the six month period April 2012 – September 2012, which included a summary of all indicators for the Children and Young Peoples’ Priority within the SCS.

            It was further noted that the Children, Young People and Families PPB was also asked to consider the inclusion of any additional measures to the set contained in the report to “narrow gaps” in performance where appropriate or respond to legislative / policy changes, thereby ensuring that all measures remained “fit for purpose”.

The Chairman requested that due to the timing of the next Board meeting, officers provide target projections for the year end in the next progress report.          

RESOLVED: That the report and comments made be noted.

            The Board received a presentation from Steven Nyakatawa, Operational Director Learning and Achievement, which provided the outcomes of the Peer Challenge Process on Narrowing the Gap. 

The presentation set out the following:

·         The scope of the Peer Challenge – what were the secrets of success in the Halton schools who were good at narrowing the gap in achievements, and how could the Council better support these;

·         The Peer Challenge Process;

·         Key lines of enquiry at Narrowing the Gap schools and local authorities;

·         Feedback with regards to successes, supporting schools and suggestions on how to take things forward;

·         The secrets of Success in Halton Primary Schools, teaching and learning and the use of resources;

·         What the Local Authority could do better; and

·         The secrets of success from the Local Authority point of view and the suggestions of the Local Authority to take things forward.

Members were advised that Central Government had provided funding for all local authorities (via NCIB) to develop a framework within the principles of sector led improvement to facilitate peer challenge and support on a regional basis.

It was noted that a National Children’s Improvement Board (NCIB) was set up and at a regional level the North West Children’s Improvement Board (NWCIB) was responsible for leading and coordinating activities and reporting back to the NCIB.

Set out in the report was Halton’s Performance for 2012 across the Key Stages and it was noted that the objective was to eliminate the gap completely by raising the performance of the Free School Meal (FSM) cohort to that of their non FSM peers.

Appended to the report for information was the Peer Challenge Action Plan for 2012/13.

It was further reported that implementing the recommendations of the Peer Challenge would help improve the proportion of young people in education and training.  The effective use of additional resources such as the Pupil Premium would ensure that pupils’ learning and wellbeing needs were addressed.

Arising from discussion of the report and following consideration of the presentation, the following was noted:

·         Aspire was a school Improvement partnership between Halton, Warrington and SERCO;

·         SEN children were the responsibility of the Local Authority regardless of which type of school they attended; and

·         As the present action plan ended in February; the Board requested an updated plan for the next PPB meeting.

RESOLVED: That the Board agrees the recommendations from the Peer Challenge Halton presentation.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which provided information regarding the changes in adoption practice as a result of the publication of “An Action Plan for Adoption – Tackling Delay” by the Department for Education.

            It was reported that the Adoption Action Plan had been published as a result of the Government’s activity in relation to Adoption Reform.  It set out proposals for tackling delay in the adoption system and what the Government intended to do to accelerate the whole adoption process. 

            The Action Plan set out a number of proposals to address these issues, which were detailed in the report for information.

            The Board was advised that in order to measure Adoption Performance, the Government had introduced the Adoption Scorecard, the first one of which was published in May 2012 and the second in November 2012.  It was noted that Halton met the threshold for both timeliness measures that were in place. 

            In response to the Government’s proposals so far, an action plan for adoption services in Halton had been developed which was appended to the report for information.  Implementation of this had already commenced, however it would require regular review and amendment as more proposals were announced.

            RESOLVED: That the implementation plan for Adoption Services in Halton is endorsed.

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which set out Halton’s position in relation to the Adoption Scorecard that was published by the Department for Education (DfE) on 30 November 2012.  This scorecard was attached as Appendix 1 for information.

It was noted that this was the second Adoption Scorecard that the DfE had produced which contained the same set of indicators as the previous scorecard, with the exception of one additional indicator.  Furthermore, the Scorecard was supported by a set of performance thresholds that set out the Government’s expectations of local authorities on two of the main timeliness indicators as explained in the report.  The graph on the scorecard showed Halton’s 2008-11 and 2009-12 average performance against the thresholds set for 2010-13 indicators, showing that Halton had met the thresholds for both timeliness indicators.

The Board was advised that although the North West was the poorest performing area in the UK, Halton and Cheshire West and Cheshire (CWAC) were two top performing Councils in the North West and Nationally (top quartile). 

RESOLVED:  That

1.    The Adoption Scorecard be received; and

2.    Members note that Halton had met both timeliness threshold indicators set by the DfE.

To notify Members of topics chosen and confirm Membership and agree first meeting dates.

The Chairman confirmed that the following topics had been agreed for the year 2013-14:

Preventing Child Exploitation – Membership: Cllr Dennett (Chair), Cllrs K Loftus, E Cargill, Horabin, Logan and Woolfall.  The Lead Officer would be Lorraine Crane and the first meeting date was arranged for 15 January 2013.

Independent Living Skills – Membership: Cllr Horabin (Chair), Cllrs Dennett, P Hignett and E Cargill.  The Lead officer would be Steve Nyakatawa and the first meeting date was to be confirmed.

RESOLVED:  That the scrutiny topics, membership and meeting dates be noted.