SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (LIFELONG
LEARNING)
MINUTES of a meeting held at Ysgol Sant Curig,
Barry on 5th November, 2007.
Present: Councillor A.D. Hampton
(Chairman); Councillor E. Hacker (Vice-Chairman); Councillors Mrs.
M.E.J. Birch, Ms. R.M. Birch, P. Church, J. Clifford, Miss. J.
Cole, A.M. Ernest, F.T. Johnson, G.C. Kemp, A.G. Powell, Mrs.
S.I. Sharpe, B.I. Shaw and E.T. Williams.
Non-Voting Observers: Mr. G. Beaudette,
Mr. T. Cox and Mr. G. Roberts.
Also Present: Councillor N.J.
Gibbs.
488 APOLOGIES FOR
ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillors A.D.
Dobbinson and C. Franks, and Mrs. J. Williams (Headteacher,
Oakfield Primary School) and Mr. P. Whitcombe
(Headteacher, Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School).
489 MINUTES -
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the minutes of the
meeting held on 8th October, 2007 be approved as a
correct record.
490 DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST -
The following Councillors 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,
13th January 2005 and 5th February 2007 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 nature in terms of
policy, plans, policy framework and budgets, etc.
Councillors A.D. Hampton, E. Hacker, Mrs.
M.E.J. Birch, Ms. R.M. Birch, P. Church, J. Clifford, Miss. J.
Cole, A.M. Ernest, F.T. Johnson, G.C. Kemp, A.G. Powell, B.I. Shaw
and E.T. Williams.
Councillors Miss. J. Cole, J. Clifford, F.T.
Johnson and Mrs. S.I. Sharpe declared an interest in that part of
Agenda Item No. 9 that related to Cowbridge Comprehensive School in
view of their membership of the Trust Committee.
491 WELCOME -
Mrs. S. Owen, Headteacher of Ysgol Sant Curig,
welcomed all present to the school. Ysgol Sant Curig was a
Welsh-medium primary school which taught pupils between the ages of
3 and 11. The school accommodated some 400 pupils, and this
number was expected to rise to 425 with the projected Easter
intake.
Ysgol Sant Curig was a feeder school to Ysgol
Bro Morgannwg.
It was often the case that, on first entry to
the school, children had no knowledge of the Welsh language.
Mrs. Owen was proud to state that, on leaving the school, most
pupils were conversant in Welsh. The school, in its present
form had opened in 1992. Mrs. Owen felt that the school
occupied a fantastic site. However, in common with most older
buildings, there was a need for much maintenance. Mrs. Owen,
in particular, drew Committee’s attention to an area of dampness on
the school’s top floor.
Mrs. Owen advised that the school was due to
be inspected in January 2008.
The Chairman thanked Mrs. Owen for the
hospitality shown to the Committee and wished the school well in
the future.
492 REVENUE AND
CAPITAL MONITORING FOR THE PERIOD 1ST APRIL, 2007
TO 30TH SEPTEMBER, 2007 (DLD) -
Committee’s attention was drawn to the
position in respect of the revenue and capital expenditure for the
period 1st April, 2007 to 30th September,
2007 regarding those Revenue and Capital Budgets which formed the
Committee’s
remit.
The projected outturn for the 2007/08 Revenue
Budget was shown in comparison with the Budget at Appendix 1 to the
report. Current forecast was for a balanced budget for the
Directorate.
Schools - the delegated budget relating to
schools was expected to balance as any under / over spend was
carried forward by schools.
Education Service - currently a detailed
monitoring exercise was being undertaken on the recoupment income
and expenditure budgets within Access and Inclusion. This was
a volatile budget area but it was likely that there would be a net
surplus at the year end on this budget which would be used to
support the Schools Investment Strategy. This would be
additional to the efficiency savings of £267,000 previously
reported.
Grant related expenditure - the following
additional grants had been received from the Welsh Assembly
Government:
£24,201 as a
contribution for specific teaching staff to undertake a Middle
Level Leadership course
A further £7,583
Support Induction for the LEA assessment and quality assurance of
newly qualified teachers.
Libraries - this service was projected to
outturn on target.
Lifelong Learning - as had been previously
reported, a review of the service indicated that the anticipated
savings were not accruing and that the service was currently facing
a potential overspend at year end of £147,000. This was due
to delay in starting the new learning programmes to the
economically inactive and the low enrolments over the summer period
(£51k.), unbudgeted premises costs at the Heritage Skills Centre
(£9k.) and the uncertainty of future funding sources of the Vale
Learning Network (£87k.). Actions would be implemented in an
effort to reduce this figure and consequently reduce the support
needed from the Strategy and Performance budget. Any
variations would be reported in future monitoring reports.
Catering - as had been previously reported,
this service was projected to outturn with an adverse variance of
£120,000. This was due to the reduced meal numbers not
recovering to the previous levels and addition cost pressures on
food and staff resources resulting from the implementation of Welsh
Assembly Nutritional guidelines. The service was currently
being reviewed in order to achieve a balanced budget. Cabinet
on 3rd October, 2007 had requested that a report
detailing the current position in relation to the Catering budget
and proposals for the future be submitted to a future meeting of
Cabinet. This report would also be submitted to the Scrutiny
Committee (Lifelong Learning).
In relation to the Capital Programme, Appendix
2 to the report detailed the financial progress on the programme as
at 30th September, 2007 and Appendix 3 to the report
provided non-financial information on capital schemes.
It was reported that the following schemes
would not be completed on target:
Rhws Primary School Development - the progress
on this scheme had been delayed due to heavy workloads within the
Property Section following the recent schools flooding. As
such it was requested that the amount of £355,000 be slipped into
the 2008/09 Capital Programme.
Additional Schools Investment Strategy - the
2007/08 budget allocation of £500,000 would not be required this
financial year as the Project Design Team had just been
appointed. As such, the works themselves would not be due to
commence until 2008/09. It was therefore requested that the
whole budget of £500,000 be slipped until 2008/09.
Members noted that the installation of a
broadband link, and some building words remained outstanding at
Sully demountable library, and Committee asked to be informed when
the scheme was completed.
Members also expressed a wish to be informed
of the position relating to schools delegated budgets.
Having discussed the operation of the Middle
Level Leadership course, Members asked if they could be send a
short report outlining the way the course was operated and
monitored.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the
position with regard to the 2007/08 Revenue and Capital Monitoring
be noted.
(2) T H A T a future
meeting of the Committee receive a report on the position relating
to schools delegated budgets.
Reasons for decisions
(1) That Members are
aware of the position with regard to the 2007/08 Revenue and
Capital Monitoring relevant to the Scrutiny Committee.
(2) For the information
of the Committee.
493 QUARTERLY
PERFORMANCE REPORTS (DLD) -
Committee received the Quarterly Performance
reports in respect of:
Access and
Inclusion
School
Improvement
Strategy,
Planning and Performance
Lifelong
Learning
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the 2nd
Quarter Performance Monitoring reports be noted.
494 SCHOOL FLOODING
(DLPPHS) -
Mr. P. Clinch, Headteacher of St. Richard Gwyn
High School, was in attendance for this item.
Committee considered a report which had been
presented to Cabinet on 24th October, 2007.
The report advised that on 20th
July, 2007, exceptional rainfall resulted in the flooding of four
Barry schools. Oakfield School was entirely flooded and none
of the accommodation was able to be utilised. At Gwaun y
Nant, two new classrooms which had been “handed over” in July were
not flooded, but no other part of the school was usable. At
St. Richard Gwyn, the flooding damaged approximately 40% of the
teaching areas, main hall, gymnasium and kitchen. At Bryn
Hafren, the flooding of the lower teaching levels resulted in
damage to 13 classrooms, staff areas, the drama studio and ICT
facilities.
The flooding occurred on the last day of
term. At each school, pupils were evacuated safely.
Whilst there was significant damage to the fabric of the buildings,
fixtures, fittings and loss of learning resources, teaching staff
on each site appropriately and effectively managed the priority of
ensuring safety of children.
Cabinet had been updated on the actions taken
in response to the flooding of these schools and were advised on
the progress made to reinstate the schools.
The report to Cabinet had advised of the
actions taken to address the situation in all schools under the
following headings:
Security
Cleansing
Salvage
Storage
Timescales
Sourcing
temporary accommodation
Emergency
planning
Emergency
powers / financial controls
Communication
Legal
issues
Temporary
accommodation
Delays in
opening
Alternative
provision
Health and
Safety
Elected
Member involvement
Community
communications
Project
management
Catering
ICT
Building
services
Changes to
the school day
Insurance /
loss adjustor.
Whilst good progress had been achieved to
date, there were a number of outstanding matters, as follows:
(i) A
major programme of building and refurbishment needed to be
progressed and monitored
(ii) Final estimates of
the costs of flood damage, temporary accommodation and
refurbishment needed to be concluded with the Loss Adjuster.
(iii)
Plans needed to be put into place to enable the temporary
accommodation to be removed and for pupils to return to the
refurbished school accommodation.
(iv) Effective representations
needed to be made to relevant agencies to consider remedial action
to reduce the risk of recurrence.
As part of the review of the Council’s own
performance in this matter, the Emergency Planning Team had been
asked to consider a review of the corporate response to the school
flooding to identify areas of good practice and possible areas for
improvement. The report and advice was awaited.
The Emergency Planning Team had been asked to
undertake a similar task for each school so that the emergency
response arrangements and actions could be examined and if
possible, improved.
On 11th October, the Director met
the Headteacher and Chair of Governors at Oakfield School, who had
identified a number of concerns. Whilst the majority of
issues related to management and detail of flood repair work,
school governors had raised a specific anxiety about the potential
for future flooding of the site, the consequential risks to pupils
and the stress / anxiety levels of staff. Arrangements had
been put into place for a further site risk assessment and review
of emergency evacuation procedures at the school.
Cabinet had
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A T
the actions taken in response to school flooding be noted.
(2) T H A T
a further report be presented to Cabinet detailing final costs and
progress towards reopening the schools.
(3) T H A T
officers, teachers and parents be thanked for their assistance and
co-operation in this matter.
Mr. Clinch provided Committee with a progress
report on the flood renovation works at St. Richard Gwyn High
School:
- Work was
progressing very well and was ahead of schedule. The good
weather over the past two months had helped. Six classrooms
were reoccupied on 5th November as well as the
gymnasium, changing rooms and one small IT room;
- It was planned
that the school hall, chapel, catering facility and main admin
areas would be available on 19th November;
- A date had yet
to be fixed for re-occupation of pupil toilets. This was because
the school wished to upgrade the toilets but could only make a firm
commitment when full costs were known;
- The standard of
work was high and the contractor (Pinit) had been mindful of the
fact that we were running a school on a day to day basis. Any
problems had been sorted out promptly;
- There were a
number of minor issues that still needed to be resolved before
final hand over and discussions were taking place with the project
managers;
- The temporary
buildings were of such a high standard which, combined with a
positive attitude from staff and students, had meant that there had
been a minimal impact on standards of education;
- Jane Hutt, AM,
had shown a keen interest and had asked to be kept up to date with
progress;
- The school’s
drainage system had been thoroughly checked and flushed out.
Improvements had been undertaken at a cost to the Governors of
£8,150. A bi-annual maintenance agreement was currently being
drawn up;
- The storm water
pumps (Council’s responsibility) had been overhauled and
serviced;
- Temporary
repairs had been made to the flat roof (Governors’
responsibility). A longer term solution had been produced and
was currently out to tender. Estimated costs are £150k, 85%
of which would be funded by WAG. The remainder fell on the
Governors. It was anticipated that this work would not be
completed until March 2008 at the earliest;
- The Environment
Agency had improved the efficiency of water draining the Coldbrook
stream by clearing culverts, removing some vegetation and clearing
other debris along the banks;
- The Governors
were seeking advice from specialist companies on the installation
of specialist flood barriers for the doors;
- The incident
had been reviewed in full and an emergency plan for future events
was currently being prepared, with the support of the Council;
- The school was
built on a flood plain. No matter what remedial works were
undertaken the risk of flooding would never be fully
eliminated;
- A meeting
between the Environment Agency, Welsh Water, the Council and the
school had taken place that morning, the outcome of which had been
positive;
- The Environment
Agency was conducting a detailed survey of the whole
catchment. This would be completed within ten days;
- As a result a
computer model will be drawn up which will identify possible
solutions;
- A feasibility
study would then be drawn up with suggestions put forward outlining
the most cost effective solution;
- It was likely
that any future solution would involve the combined action of
Council and the Environment Agency;
- Any works that
involve capital investment would be subject to WAG approval;
- A further
meeting was planned for the new year.
Mr. Clinch stated that the Governors were
extremely grateful to the Council for the support it had shown over
the past few months, especially that of Jonathan Werrett, Mark
Haynes and Gary Bissett, without whom reinstatement would have been
a much more difficult and time consuming process.
Having considered the report, and comments of
Mr. Clinch, Committee
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the appreciation of the
Committee for the work of the staff of the Council and St. Richard
Gwyn High School be placed on record.
495 PROGRESS REPORT ON
PERFORMANCE IN RELATION TO THE WELSH PUBLIC LIBRARIES STANDARDS
(DLPPHS) -
Committee received a report which had been
presented to Cabinet on 24th October, 2007.
Cabinet had been
- updated on the
Library and Information Services progress in the context of
the Welsh Public Libraries Standards
- informed of the
feedback from the Welsh Assembly Government on the Annual Report
submitted for 2006/07.
There were 22 Standards and they measured
performance in a number of key areas in the Library and Information
Service:
· location and
accessibility of libraries
· availability
and use of information technology
· effectiveness
of systems for reserving and supplying items for customers
· use made of the
service
· user
satisfaction
· staffing
· quality of
library resources provided for customers
· suitability and
quality of library spaces.
It was reported that steady progress had been
made in performance, with 13 of the 22 Standards achieved by March
2007 compared to 10 in March 2006. A further four Standards
were partly achieved in March 2007. Feedback from the Welsh
Assembly Government notes in particular the improvements in mobile
library provision, library opening hours, investment and management
of the book stock and other library resources, and further
anticipated improvements arising from the opening of the new County
Library.
The areas where performance was below the
Standard were:
· visitor
numbers
· IT facilities
on mobile libraries
· website
visits
· opening
hours
· staff
qualifications
· provision of
Welsh language resources
· library floor
space available.
It was expected that further progress would be
made in some of these areas during 2007/08 and the Council was on
target to achieve a further three of the Standards by the end of
March 2008.
A number of the Council’s targets had been
revised to reflect the anticipated impact of efficiency
savings. Further improvements in opening hours would not now
be implemented and it was possible that reductions in expenditure
on library resources would impact on the Council’s performance in a
number of Standards relating to the range and quality of resources
available to customers. The service was committed to minimise
the impact of such measures on user satisfaction levels and visitor
numbers.
It was noted that the current framework of
performance assessment came to an end in March 2008 and that the
next Three Year Framework (2008-11) was currently being
finalised. This incorporated a number of anticipated changes,
the key ones being:
· a broader range
of assessment tools
· more emphasis
on service effectiveness and efficiency
· a better
balance between input and output measures
· more emphasis
on demonstrating the links between corporate and library
priorities
· no requirement
for a Three Year Plan, but more reliance on the Annual Return for
assessing performance and progress.
Cabinet had
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A T
the continued improvement in performance in the Library and
Information Service during 2006/07 be accepted.
(2) T H A T
the budget of the Library and Information Service be reviewed with
a view to examining the budgetary pressures on the Service.
(3) T H A T
the WLGA be informed of this Authority’s opinion that the Welsh
Libraries Standards should be simplified.
(4) T H A T
the Director and his staff be thanked for the significant
improvement in the Standards during 2006/07.
The Chief Librarian advised Members of the
Scrutiny Committee that the library service was making steady
progress. Most pleasing were the comments of the Welsh
Assembly Government relating to the improvements in mobile library
provision, library opening hours, investment and management of the
book stock and other library resources.
Measures taken to improve the service had
included:
- an increase in
the book fund
- increased
opening hours
- increased
opening hours for the mobile library
- engaging with
other library services to bulk-purchase books
- an improvement
in the website which had led to an increase in “hits” from 9,000 in
2003 to 138,000 in 2006.
It was reported, however, that, in common with
all other Welsh library services, the effect of the forthcoming
efficiency savings would have an impact.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T
the continued improvement in performance in the Library and
Information Service during 2006/07 be noted.
(2) T H A T
Committee receive a report in due course to advise when the Mobile
Library will be “online”.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To keep
Members informed of progress.
(2) To
advise Members.
496 SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
- TRACKING OF RECOMMENDATIONS (DLPPHS) -
Members were informed of the progress in
relation to recommendations made during the period July - September
2007 and their views requested relating to the progress against
each recommendation, whether further action might be required, to
ensure the required action had been undertaken and confirm those
actions which had been completed. The requirement of
reporting in the current system of tracking recommendations was a
direct result of a recent Scrutiny Review which had recommended
that Scrutiny progress needed to be more transparent, accountable
and readily understood. It was the intention that such
tracking reports be submitted to Scrutiny Committees on a quarterly
basis. Members agreed that it was important to note that the
decisions of Scrutiny Committees were tracked and monitored in such
a way since failure to do so could result in a risk that
recommended courses of action would not be followed and
consequently “lost” which would, in turn, undermine the credibility
of the Scrutiny process. The Committee’s views on the status
of the actions were therefore requested. Members were pleased
to receive the report which formally provided them with the
up-to-date position on their recommendations.
Having considered the report, it was
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T
the actions detailed as completed below be agreed:
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10 September 2007 - Min. No. 318
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Revenue and Capital Monitoring for the Period
1st April to 31st July, 2007 -
Recommended
(1) That an up to date report be presented to
the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee detailing the reasons
for the delay in the delivery of the “Foundation Programme) of the
Welsh Assembly Government;
(2) That information on the Assembly Learner
Grant be forwarded to Members as soon as possible
(4) That details of the current position in
relation to the proposed “land exchange” of Cowbridge Comprehensive
School and the Trust Committee be presented to the Scrutiny
Committee as soon as possible.
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Reported on 8 October 2007.
Completed.
Completed.
Reported on 8 October 2007.
Completed.
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10 September 2007 - Min. No. 321
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School Flooding (DLD) - Recommended -
(2) That a further report in respect of the
implications of the flood and the up to date position in respect of
the four schools be presented to the Scrutiny Committee in due
course.
(3) That the above recommendations be referred
to Cabinet for information and endorsement.
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Reported on 5 November 2007.
Completed.
Cabinet, on 3 October, 2007 RESOLVED:
(1) That the views of Scrutiny Committee be
noted.
(2) That it be confirmed that the Council had
already pressed WAG for financial assistance, that the schools had
now been brought back into use, that the costs had been covered to
a large extent by insurance and that there would be no consequent
effect on the School Investment Strategy
(3) That a press release be issued to
publicise the facts as set out at (2) above.
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