Welcome to the
Vale of Glamorgan Council

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (LIFELONG LEARNING)

 

Minutes of a meeting held on 1^st December, 2008.

 

Present:  Councillor J. Clifford (Chairman); Councillor Mrs. K.A. Kemp (Vice-Chairman); Councillors Mrs. M.E.J. Birch, Mrs. V.L. Ellis, C.P.J. Elmore, J.F. Fraser, E. Hacker, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, C.L. Osborne and Mrs. S.I. Sharpe.

 

Also present: Councillors Ms. M.E. Alexander and A.D. Hampton.

 

 

593     APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE -

 

These were received from Councillor F.T. Johnson and Mr. T. Cox (non-voting observer). 

 

 

594     MINUTES -

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th November, 2008 be approved as an accurate record.

 

 

595     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -

 

The following Councillors declared the nature of their personal interests, being Governors of schools within the Vale of Glamorgan:

 

Councillors J. Clifford, Mrs. K.A. Kemp, Mrs. M.E.J. Birch, C.P.J. Elmore, J.F. Fraser, E. Hacker, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey and C.L. Osborne.

 

 

596     EDUCATION WELFARE SERVICE (DLD) -       

 

Councillor Elmore had requested a report on the Education Welfare Service for information.

 

It was reported that the Education Welfare Service (EWS) aimed to ensure children and young people achieved their full potential both educationally and socially.  It was a statutory service providing specialist advice, support and guidance on matters relating to the attendance, welfare and protection of young people of statutory school age to parents, pupils and schools.  Additionally, it carried out the Authority’s statutory responsibility to licence Chaperones and Young People in Employment and Entertainment.

 

Regular attendance was crucial if children and young people were to gain full advantage from the quality education available in schools across the Authority.  Education Welfare officers (EWOs) had a pivotal role as a link between schools and homes.  As a school based service, it was in a position to be reactive and proactive in addressing issues at an early stage and had developed very good working relationships with schools and other relevant agencies. 

 

The current establishment of the Education and Welfare Service comprised a Senior EWO who managed a team of 7.5 EWOs and an Education Liaison officer seconded to the YOS. 

 

When work with pupils and their families did not achieve an improvement in schools attendance, prosecution was considered under Section 444 of the 1996 Education Act.  The prosecution rates in the Authority were low, averaging 15 a year for the past 5 years.

 

Key issues which impacted on the work of the service included:

 

·                    Electronic Registration and Data Collection - the use of electronic registration had increased incrementally since 2000 to the extent that all Secondary Schools now used a lesson monitoring system.  This made the tracking and monitoring of pupils with attendance issues easier and more responsive.  It had also raised the awareness of schools to the issue of non-attendance and increased the good liaison between the EWS, Schools and the SIMS Data Team.  The Primary Sector used a system called “One Registration”.  The collection and collation of attendance data was also much easier and would increasingly be used to target intervention where problems were highlighted.

·                    Holidays in Term Time - this was not a major problem for the Authority. Schools and the Council discouraged the taking of holidays in term time.  However, it was an issue that could increase in the light of the current economic climate.  Families may be driven to go for a cheaper option of holidays in term time.

·                    Lone Working (Health and Safety) - The EWS was one of the few services that was legally entitled to visit people’s homes and this could put an EWO in a vulnerable position.  Being able to recognise and diffuse a potentially difficult situation was an important element of the role.  The current implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter Act placed an emphasis on all employers and individual managers and employees to ensure personal safety.  This was particularly difficult when “cold calling” was a vital part of the role.  Methods were in place to reduce the risk to officers e.g. SEWO accompanying EWOs if a risk had been identified. 

·                    Performance Licensing - the Clwych Report had placed an increased responsibility on authorities to ensure the safety of children both inside and out of schools.  The Vale, as with all other Authorities where the EWS was charged with performance licensing, was not currently able to provide an all-encompassing service because the majority of child performances were outside normal working hours i.e. evenings and week ends.  It was envisaged that staff may have to be employed or job descriptions changed to meet a new requirement.  At present the EWS licensed approximately 300 to 350 young people a year, including children and young people from birth to statutory school leaving age who may be involved in acting in films, shows or the theatre, modelling or performing in any place the public have to pay to see a performance.

 

Following consideration of the contents of the report, discussions ensued on the levels of accountability of staff based in the schools.

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the contents of the report be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T a future meeting of the Committee receive a report on the operating procedures in place within the Education Welfare Service.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       To note the contents of the report.

 

(2)       To further inform Committee.

 

(Councillors Ms. M.E. Alexander and A.D. Hampton spoke on this matter with the consent of the Committee.)

 

 

597     SCHOOL BUDGETS 2009/10 ( ) -

 

The following members of the Schools Budget Forum were in attendance for this item:

 

            Mr M. Clinch - Headteacher, St. Richard Gwyn R/C High School

            Mr M. Price - Governor Representative

            Mr. D. Fisk - Headteacher, Peterston-Super-Ely Junior School.

 

The representatives of the Schools Budget Forum had been invited to attend the meeting in order that Committee may receive their view on the budget proposal.

 

Mr. Clinch, on behalf of the representatives, expressed disappointment that the Vale of Glamorgan Council was not spending up to its education Indicative Budget Allocation (IBA) and ranked 17^th out of the 22 Welsh Authorities in this respect. 

 

It was projected that the Education Service required an additional £3.725m. simply for a standstill. 

 

Mr. Clinch outlined the pressures facing schools, as follows.

 

·                    The implementation of national policies but funded locally.  Schools are facing endless change much of which is statutory and is not backed up by the necessary funding.  For example:

-                      Secondary:

o                   14-19 Transformation Agenda - developing partnerships and collaboration.  Fforwm estimates total cost across Wales to be £91m. - £30m. has been made available.

o                   Curriculum Developments across all phases - skills based curriculum at Key Stage 3; GCSE reviews to implement; new requirements with at AS and A2.

o                   Introduction of Welsh Baccalaureate is funded to a maximum of 30%.

o                   Withdrawal of SATS means more teacher based assessments at KS3.

-                      Primary:

o                   Implementation of the Foundation Phase: latest figures show only 35.1% of 3-4 year olds in the Vale are taught in classes of 8 or less (21/22).

o                   Skills based curriculum at KS2.

·                    Community Focussed Schools Agenda will not move forward due to lack of funding.

·                    There is a lack of training opportunities with GTCW running out of cash and BSF grant cut.  Staff are forced to muddle along as best they can.

·                    With the Centre stripped right back there is little support for Vale schools.  Schools work individually or at best with ad hoc arrangements and peer support - there is no overall direction and leadership.

·                    The overall education experience provided by our schools is being compromised through lack of funding resulting in Vale children being disadvantaged e.g. access to ICT facilities.

·                    The Education Service is under threat with the inevitable impact on standards, e.g. at KS4 Vale of Glamorgan was 3/22, 2006/07 slipped to 5/22.

·                    Progress that had been made over the period 2004/06 has been slowed considerably in last two years.

·                    ESTYN Inspection of LEA is due 2010.

 

In conclusion, Mr. Clinch stated that his hope was that the meeting would:

 

·                    agree a commitment to develop a shared vision for the Education Service in the Vale

·                    demonstrate a commitment to fund Education at least up to IBA level

·                    agree to develop a joint strategy, the Budget Forum and the Council, targeted at the National Assembly, to address the chronic under funding of Vale schools.

 

Following discussions on the contents of Mr. Clinch’s address, it was

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the comments of the Schools Budget Forum be noted and considered later in the meeting when the Initial Revenue Budget Proposals for 2009/10 were considered.

 

(Councillor A.D. Hampton spoke with the consent of the Committee.)

 

 

598     INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

Committee were advised that the report before them on the Initial Budget Proposals for 2009/10 was submitted for consultation purposes.  Committee were also advised of the amended original budget for 2008/09 for services which formed part of the Committee’s remit.

 

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report were details of the necessary transfers to the original budget for 2008/09, which were required to be made as follows:

 

·                    Asset Rents - the main reason for this movement was due to revisions to the Accounting Code of Practice that required deferred Government grant income to be released to revenue services which offset the asset rent already charged.

·                    Recharges - adjustment required to reflect movement in charges between internal Council services.

·                    Budget Transfers - budget adjustments to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services.

 

It was reported that, overall, the education budget was projected to balance as at the end of March 2009.  Particular pressures had been felt in respect of School Transport which was projected to overspend by £35,000 due to increased re-tendered contract costs, and the need to fund the costs of school efficiency measures such as the amalgamation of Romilly Infant and Junior Schools (£45,000).  The education budget had also had to absorb minor health and safety works which were the responsibility of the Authority and could not be accommodated within the Capital Programme.  These totalled £29,000.  All of these pressures had been funded from savings elsewhere in the budget.  Overspends were also projected for the Pupil Referral Unit (£34,000) and extra-district payments (£112,390).  However, in both cases these were offset by increased income from incoming placements from other authorities.  The education service currently had a number of vacant posts which would be filled once the re-structuring of the service was completed.  Any savings identified between now and the end of the financial year would be available to be re-directed into the School Investment Strategy or other reserves.

 

It was also reported that the Catering service was anticipated to outturn on budget.  However, external factors and requirements to meet WAG nutritional guidelines could affect the outturn for the service.

 

The Budget Strategy for 2009/10 outlined that in order to establish a base line, services should prepare initial revenue budgets for next year based on the cost of providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions.  This meant that the cost of price increases and pay awards should be included. 

 

Services were expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget, and Schools were expected to plan for efficiency savings of at least 0.3%. 

 

The costs of service development were to be met from within the respective services from savings that they identified.  In addition, works may need to be prioritised within a service to meet any higher priority demands.  Services had therefore been asked to identify any burgeoning revenue cost pressures.

 

A summary of the overall base budget for 2009/10 was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  This had been arrived at by adjusting the 2008/09 budget for items such as Budget Transfers, inflation and unavoidable growth. 

 

Inflation amounted to £610,000 of which £290,000 related to pay awards and £320,000 for general price increases.  These figures excluded inflation for Schools, which was dealt with under the Cost Pressures section of the report.

 

There was no Committed Growth for the Directorate. 

 

A list of the 2009/10 cost pressures as identified by Services was attached at Appendix 3 to the report. These were not shown in a strict order of priority, and totalled some £6.138m.  The total for all services was £13.646m. and some were likely to need to be met.  The rest excluded the cost of redundancies which may be incurred in order to maintain the budget within the resources available.  These costs could be significant. 

 

Increased energy costs were likely to have a significant impact right across the Council and a provisional cost pressure of £2.75m. was included within Policy.  There was some uncertainty as to the likely level of future energy prices and further work would be carried out on this matter by the Budget Working Group.  This would include the potential for energy saving measures to offset, to some extent, the pressure being exerted by increased prices.

 

The budget was presented to Committee for consultation purposes.  Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee was the lead Scrutiny Committee and would consider the Initial Revenue Budget Proposals and any comments that other Scrutiny Committees had made.  The responses of Scrutiny Committee must be made no later than 23^rd December 2008.

 

Cabinet’s final budget proposals would be considered by Council at a meeting to be held by 4^th March 2009.

 

Discussions ensued on the content of the report, and the unanimous view of the Committee was that the budget allocation was inadequate. 

 

Concern was also expressed at the possibility that the following cost-pressure items may not be included within the budget:

 

·                    Teachers’ pay awards - £1,109,000

·                    Teachers’ threshold and leadership - £987,000

·                    Teaching-increments - £471,000

·                    Non-teaching pay award - £387,000

·                    Non-teaching increments - £355,000

·                    General inflation - £416,000

·                    £1,189,000 - closure of shortfall of overall education budget against Education SSA (of, at least, part of this amount).

 

Following further discussions, it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in the table below be noted:

 

 

(2)       T H A T the following cost-pressure monies be allocated to the Lifelong Learning Directorate:

 

·                    Teachers’ pay awards - £1,109,000

·                    Teachers’ threshold and leadership - £987,000

·                    Teaching increments - £471,000

·                    Non-teaching pay award - £387,000

·                    Non-teaching increments - £355,000

·                    General inflation - £416,000

·                    Closure of shortfall of overall education budget against Education SSA - £1,189,000 (or part thereof).

 

(3)       T H A T the WAG Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and Minister for Social Justice and Local Government be invited to address a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning).

 

(4)       T H A T the request of the Schools Budget Forum be noted and drawn to Cabinet’s attention, namely:

 

·                    agree a commitment to develop a shared vision for the Education Service in the Vale

·                    demonstrate a commitment to fund Education at least up to IBA level

·                    agree to develop a joint strategy, the Budget Forum and the Council, targeted at the National Assembly, to address the chronic under funding of Vale schools.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       To facilitate the monitoring of the budget.

 

(2-4)    To inform Cabinet of the comments of this Committee.

 

 

599     INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

Committee were advised of the progress of the 2008/09 Capital Programme for the period ended 31^st October 2008 and considered, for consultation purposes, the initial capital proposals for 2009/10.

 

It was reported that the final estimates for the Rhoose Primary Accommodation Scheme had been received and were below budget.  Works were anticipated to be complete in April 2009 and it was proposed that the anticipated underspend of £110,000 be vired to the School Investment Strategy budget.  This proposal required the approval of Council.

 

For 2009/10, the Welsh Assembly Government had announced the provisional General Capital Funding.  The provisional allocation was unchanged from the current year at £8,198,000.  The final settlement was expected to be announced by January 2009.

 

In addition to funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, the Council would finance part of the Capital Programme from its own resources e.g. capital receipts and reserves.

 

The indicative 2009/10 Capital Programme was shown at Appendix B to the report and included allocations already approved by Council and the slippage requests referred to earlier in the report. 

 

In addition to the bids shown at Appendix B to the report, Appendix C listed capital bids received that were unsuccessful and which had not been put forward for inclusion in the 2009/10 Programme.  The Corporate Asset Management Group had prioritised schemes that fell within their remit. 

 

A Project Fund had initially been established to finance Revenue Projects with repayment of such advances (including interest) being credited back to the Fund.  It was proposed that the Project Fund be used to provide match funding for the grant towards the setting up of a carbon Management Fund, a ringfenced, sustainable fund to finance energy efficiencies and renewable energy projects within the Council in line with the Council’s Carbon Management Programme. The Fund would be credited with finance from Salix grant and the Council’s match funding.  A minimum of 75% investment financed by the Fund would be repaid into the fund over an agreed period in order to finance further energy saving projects.  The balance could be retained by service accounts as revenue savings.  Investment projects would be subject to evaluation.  Projects must deliver CO₂ and revenue benefits and must offer long term CO₂ savings.  Projects would be prioritised on capital cost per ton of CO₂ saved on a lifetime basis. 

 

Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee was the lead Scrutiny Committee and would consider both the initial Budget Proposals and the comments that other Scrutiny Committees had made.  The responses of Scrutiny Committee were to be made by no later than 23^rd December 2008. 

 

Cabinet’s final Capital Programme proposals would be considered at a special meeting of Council to be held by 4^th March 2009. 

 

In considering the proposed Capital Programme, Members noted with regret that the following capital bids had been unsuccessful:

 

·                    Catering - Ventilock ventilation systems to school kitchens

·                    Penarth Library replacement roof covering.

 

In the case of the former, Members expressed the view that this may be required as a result of Health and Safety regulations.  In respect of the latter, Members expressed the view that to delay the work may lead to an increased cost falling upon the Authority at a later date.

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the initial budget proposals as outlined in the report be accepted.

 

(2)       T H A T, should  funds become available, Cabinet be requested to agree the inclusion of the following schemes in the Capital Programme but in the event insufficient Capital Funds being available that (a) below be considered for funding from the Miscellaneous Properties Asset Renewal Budget:

 

            (a)       Ventilock ventilation systems in school kitchens

(b)       Penarth Library replacement roof covering

 

Reason for decision

 

(1&2)  In order that Cabinet be informed of the comments of this Committee before making a final proposal on the Capital Programme.

 

(Councillor A.D. Hampton spoke on this item with the consent of the Committee.)

 

 

600     MR. MARTIN DONOVAN -

 

Committee were advised that this would be the last meeting attended by Mr. Martin Donovan before he took up his new post with Wiltshire Council.

 

Members expressed their gratitude for Martin’s dedicated efforts on behalf of the Committee, and wished him well in his new post.