SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (LIFELONG LEARNING)
MINUTES of a meeting held at the County Library, Barry on 22nd January, 2007.
Present: Councillor A.D. Hampton (Chairman); Councillor E. Hacker (Vice-Chairman); Mrs. M.E.J. Birch, J. Clifford, Miss J. Cole, A.M. Ernest, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, F.T. Johnson, G.C. Kemp, Mrs. A.J. Moore, Mrs. S.I. Sharpe, B.I. Shaw, S.T. Wiliam, A.C. Williams and E.T. Williams.
Co-opted Member: Mrs. C. Baggett.
Non-Voting Observer: Mr. G. Beaudette.
Also present: Mrs. M. Kelly Owen.
717 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillor Ms. R.M. Birch and Mr. T. Cox.
718 MINUTES -
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the minutes of the meetings held on 4th December, 2006 and 9th January, 2007 be signed as accurate records, subject to the following amendments to the minute of the meeting held on 4th December, 2006:
(i) Reference within minute no. 578 (on page 703) to “School Improvement Grant of £1.4m.” being replaced by “School Improvement Grant and £1.4m.”.
(ii) The headers to the columns in the table within minute no. 579 including £000’s.
719 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -
The following Members declared the nature of their interest, being governors of schools within the Vale of Glamorgan, it being noted that the Standards Committee on 9th September and 21st October, 2004 and 13th January, 2005 had granted them a general dispensation to vote upon any matters to be considered by the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) in relation to matters of a general educational matter in terms of policy, plans, policy frameworks and budgets etc:
Councillors A.D. Hampton, E. Hacker, Mrs. M.E.J. Birch, J. Clifford, A.M. Ernest, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, F.T. Johnson, G.C. Kemp, Mrs. S.I. Sharpe, B.I. Shaw, S.T. Wiliam, A.C. Williams and E.T. Williams.
720 WELCOME -
Sian Jones, Chief Librarian, welcomed all present to the new County Library. The library had opened only a few weeks ago and attendances had trebled as compared to the old premises and now stood at some 1,800 visitors per day compared with the previous figure of 500.
The room in which the meeting was held was called the “Phil Jones Community Room” and had been named in memory of Phil Jones who had previously worked for the Library Service for some 45 years, of which he had been the Borough Librarian for 12 years.
Members were offered the opportunity to tour the new library facility at the conclusion of the meeting.
721 QUALITY AND PROVISION OF BUS SHELTERS (REF) -
The Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) had on 24th October, 2006 received a request for consideration of matter in order to examine the quality of Council owned bus shelters to discuss ways of improving them and to evaluate existing provision and determine whether that was adequate and subsequently made the following recommendations:
(1) T H A T the report be referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Community Wellbeing and Safety) and the Community Safety Partnership for information.
(2) T H A T measures be immediately put in place to collect statistics in respect of incidents of vandalism (identifying bus shelters specifically) and associated costs and that a report on the same be made to this Committee in six months.
The report before the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) noted that the Council currently had 186 bus shelters located on bus routes across the Vale of Glamorgan and another 35 were maintained and owned by Adshel. Many of the shelters had been inherited from the former highway authorities in 1996 and were in varying condition. An allocation of £36,532 was allocated within the Highway Maintenance budget for repairs to bus shelters which was used for repairs, maintenance and new provision although that provision generally referred to the replacement of existing shelters. It was accepted it was generally very difficult to find suitable locations for new bus shelters given that bus users wanted bus shelters to be provided but not directly outside their own properties.
It was also recognised that the use of shelters as a meeting point for youths which could cause annoyance to neighbours was prevalent and liaison with the police was regularly carried out. No incidents of youth annoyance had recently been reported to the Department although Members themselves were aware that problems were occurring within the community. Members welcomed the report and queried the cost of bus shelters and were advised of the following:
· Flagpole bus-stop - £100
· basic shelter - £2,000
· new style bus shelter to be placed in Holton Road to include seating, lights etc., - £10,000 - the figure included installation costs. The more facilities that were placed in bus shelters the more expensive they were.
As a result of the above it was
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the report be referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) for consideration, in light of the youth provision report that they had recently received and the fact that the Vale of Glamorgan was below the Welsh average for funding per person within the Youth Service.
(2) T H A T recommendation (2) of the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) as above be supported and that a further report be also presented to this Committee in relation to the matter.”
Scrutiny Committee recognised the annoyance caused as a result of the use of bus shelters as meeting points for youths, and also acknowledged that resources for the repair of bus shelters was limited.
Some Members expressed concern that the Council’s practice of allowing vandalised bus shelters to fall into a state of disrepair in an attempt to make them less attractive to youths may deter genuine bus users from using public transport although it was recognised that this practice was only used as a last resort.
Committee recognised the role of the youth service in providing services for the youth of the Vale and recalled that the Committee had previously received a report on the youth provision within the Vale, and felt it to be opportune to request an update report.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the views of Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) be noted.
(2) T H A T this Committee receive an update report on the provision of youth services within the Vale.
(3) T H A T a further report be presented to this Committee on the result of the six months collection of statistics in respect of incidents of vandalism and associated costs.
722 ESTYN AREA INSPECTION OF ADULT AND COMMUNITY LEARNING (DLD) -
Committee were advised that Estyn would inspect all adult and community learning in the Vale and that the inspection would take place from 12th March, 2007 for a period of two weeks. The inspection would include all providers that work in partnership with the Council’s Lifelong Learning Service. As the major provider and facilitator of adult and community learning in the Vale, the role of the Council and its Lifelong Learning Service would be the major focus of the inspection.
The governance role of scrutiny was a key element to the strategic management and leadership of the service’s effective use of resources in order to improve quality of provision.
Members were informed that 4,860 learners used the service at 31 community venues throughout the Vale, and that the service also made a significant contribution to the implementation of other plans and strategies, including the Community Strategy, the Health and Well-being Strategy and the Corporate Plan.
Estyn will follow the common inspection framework that was also used in schools. However, each provider of adult and community learning would receive an individual grade on the standard of learning that was achieved, whereas an overall grade is awarded for the quality of education and training and for leadership and management. It was important therefore that all providers worked collaboratively and effectively.
An Action Plan in response to the recommendations that result from the inspection would need to be agreed and implemented by all partner organisations.
Having considered the report and associated power point display, it was
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the contents of the report be noted.
(2) T H A T this Committee receive a report on the achievements of the Vale Learning Network at it’s March meeting.
723 REVENUE AND CAPITAL MONITORING FOR THE PERIOD 1ST APRIL, 2006 TO 30TH NOVEMBER, 2006 (DLD) -
The projected outturn for 2006/2007 Revenue Budget was shown in comparison with the amended Revenue Budget at Appendix 1 to the report. The current forecast was for a balanced budget for the Directorate.
The delegated budgets relating to schools was expected to balance as any under/over spend was carried forward by schools.
A saving of £120,000 on Strategy and Performance arising from a lower than expected inflation increase on the renewed contracts such as school transport together with staff vacancies within the Education Department, had been used to off-set the overspending on Lifelong Learning.
The Library Service was projected to outturn on target.
It was anticipated, that with Lifelong Learning, there would be a deficit of £120,000 at the year-end due to income generation problems in the training section and Job Shop Extra and running costs of the Heritage Skills Centre. The deficit would be off-set by savings identified within the Education Department.
Committee was also advised of the financial progress on the capital programme as at 30th November, 2006.
Arising from consideration of the report, it was
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the position with regard to the 2006/07 Revenue and Capital Monitoring be noted.
724 VENUES OF FUTURE MEETINGS -
The Chairman asked Members if they wished to continue the practice whereby meetings of the Committee had been held in Lifelong Learning establishments rather than the Civic Offices.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T future meetings of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) be held in Lifelong Learning establishments wherever possible.