SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (LIFELONG LEARNING)
Minutes of a meeting held on 28th
June, 2010.
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, F.T. Johnson and J.W. Thomas.
Co-opted Member: Mr. S. Williams
(Parent Governor - Primary Sector).
Non-Voting Observer: Mr. T. Cox
(Secondary Sector).
Also present: Councillor M.R.
Wilson.
146 APOLOGIES FOR
ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillors E. Hacker
and Mrs. S.I. Sharpe.
147 MINUTES -
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the minutes of the
meeting held on 2nd June, 2010 be approved as a correct
record.
148 DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST -
No declarations were received.
149 MEMBERSHIP OF
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (LIFELONG LEARNING): PERFORMANCE PANEL (CX)
-
The current Performance Panel comprised one
representative from each of the political groups on the Council,
namely Councillor J. Clifford (Conservative), Councillor E. Hacker
(Independent), Councillor F.T. Johnson (Labour) and Councillor Mrs.
V.M. Hartrey (Plaid Cymru). As Councillor Mrs. V.M.
Hartrey was no longer a member of the Committee consideration was
given to her replacement. Contained within the report were
details of the proposed topics that would be considered by the
Panel as follows:
· July - end
of year performance 2009/10 and target setting 2010/11
· September -
quarter 1 performance monitoring 2010/11
· December -
monitoring progress of actions within the 2010/11 Service Plans and
quarter 2 performance monitoring 2010/11
· January -
draft Service Plans 2011/12
· March -
quarter 3 performance monitoring 2010/11.
Following a brief discussion it was indicated
that Councillor F.T. Johnson requested to be replaced on the
Performance Panel by Councillor C.P.J. Elmore.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the contents of the
report be noted and that the membership of the Performance Panel be
amended to reflect Councillor S.T. Wiliam replacing Councillor
Mrs. Hartrey and Councillor C.P.J. Elmore replacing Councillor
Johnson.
Reason for recommendation
To amend the current membership of the
Panel.
150 REVENUE AND
CAPITAL MONITORING FOR THE PERIOD 1ST APRIL 2010 TO
30TH APRIL 2010 (DLD) -
The current forecast for the Revenue Budget
for 2010/11 was showing a balanced budget. Details were also
contained within the report on the financial progress on the
Capital Programme. Specific elements of the Revenue Budget
were referred to, in particular Grant Related Expenditure which
related to the central education budget which currently provided
£473,911 match funding towards the Better Schools Fund and Welsh
Language grants which totalled £675,664. It was also noted
that schools also had access to the following Welsh Assembly funded
grants, namely: Foundation Phase funding was £3,208,562 of which
there were four purposes for the grant and these were set out in
the report.
In regard to Libraries, Lifelong Learning and
Catering Services, these were currently anticipated to outturn on
target / budget.
It was indicated that in respect of all
capital schemes for 2010/11, these had been profiled on a monthly
basis by the relevant officers. Where there was a significant
underspend / overspend of the profiled budget an explanation would
be provided and the scheme would be re-profiled if necessary.
This arrangement would apply to all individual schemes over
£500,000 in value that had a variance of 20% or more on their
profiled budget.
For all schemes where it was evident that the
full year’s budget would not be spent during the year, the relevant
officers would be required to provide an explanation of any
shortfalls. The report made particular reference to Schools
IT Equipment where an allocation of £100,000 for the purchase of IT
equipment for schools had been included in Appendix 2 to the
report. Other schemes of particular interest related to
Cowbridge Library where the Authority had been successful in a bid
to CyMAL (Museum Archives and Libraries Wales) for grant money to
modernise Cowbridge Library. The grant was valid until
28th February 2011 and the Cabinet had consequently
approved the inclusion of £329,886 in the Capital Programme for
2010/11. In addition, the Council had also accepted a grant
from WAG in the sum of £140,229 in respect of Foundation Phase
Grant. This grant funding had been allocated as specified in
the body of the report and the receipt of grant had accordingly
been reflected in Appendix 2 of the report.
Appendix 3 provided non-financial information
on capital schemes with a budget over £100,000.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the position with regard
to the 2010/11 Revenue and Capital Programme monitoring be
noted.
Reason for recommendation
To apprise Members of the position with regard
to the relevant programmes.
151 ESTYN INSPECTION -
EDUCATION SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE VALE OF
GLAMORGAN (DLD) -
The Director apprised the Committee of the
outcome of the recent Estyn inspection into the Council’s Education
Services for Children and Young People. The Committee noted
that the matter had recently been reported to the Council’s Cabinet
of which copies were attached to the report with it further being
noted that the report was extremely positive and whilst there were
issues that were required to be addressed, the overall judgement of
the quality of education services within the Council were
welcomed.
The Director, in commenting on the outcome of
the recent inspection, indicated that whilst the findings were
overall very positive, there was still a range of issues that
required to be addressed. Consequently, an action plan would
be formulated in the near future and reported to the Scrutiny
Committee and the Cabinet for consideration. It was also
noted that the draft Action Plan which covered only the five
recommendations from Estyn. The other issues raised in the
report would be dealt with through the Service plans to ensure a
comprehensive joined up approach and response was realised.
The draft Action Plan would need to be developed prior to November
2010 and it was important that the resulting action plan also
dovetailed into corporate objectives. The Scrutiny Committee
welcomed the findings from Estyn and commended the Director and his
staff for the hard work in preparing towards the inspection.
Discussion ensued with a number of questions
posed by the Committee in regard to issues identified by Estyn in
relation to unauthorised absences; CRB checks for School Governors;
admission arrangements for foundation schools and the related
ability to monitor activities of such schools and matters relating
to NEETs.
Having regard to the above and related issues
it was
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A
T the Scrutiny Committee welcome the outcomes of the Estyn
inspection.
(2) T H A
T a further report including the draft Action Plan be submitted to
the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee for consideration.
Reasons for recommendations
(1) To
apprise the Committee of the Estyn outcomes.
(2) To
allow consideration of the proposed draft Action Plan.
152 ANNUAL REVIEW OF
THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN - REVISION OF THE CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PEOPLE’S (CYPP) ACTION PLAN (DLD) -
The existing CYPP Plan was developed during
2008 by the Children and Young People’s Partnership as a defining
statement for strategy planning intentions and priorities for all
children and young people’s services. The Plan developed at
that time included arrangements for the local delivery of the seven
Core Aims for Children and Young People. Attached at Appendix
A to the report was the CYPP Action Plan which had been revised
during 2009 using the Results Based Accountability (RBA)
methodology. This methodology built on the outcomes for
children and young people not on a quantitative data
collection. This was a more refined and easier to understand
document which would contribute to a reduction in partnership
bureaucracy. The CYPP was the first of the five main Vale
partnerships to adopt the RBA process which was being encouraged
from both local and national agendas.
It was a requirement for the Children and
Young People’s Partnership to submit an annual review of the CYPP
Plan to the Welsh Assembly Government during October 2009.
The Partnership had offered to be a pilot also for the WAG Self
Assessment and Improvement Tool (SAIT). The revised Plan
would be an important part of this process.
The Director indicated that a report on
progress against each of the actions contained in the Action Plan
would be submitted to the Scrutiny Committee in September 2010 and
this report would identify milestones and completion of
targets.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A
T the annual review of the Children and Young People’s Plan and the
related Action Plan be noted.
(2) T H A
T a further report be presented on progress against the Action Plan
to the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) in September
2010.
Reasons for recommendations
(1) To
apprise Members in respect of developments in regard to the
Children and Young People’s Plan.
(2) To
allow monitoring of progress in regard to the related Action
Plan.
153 EDUCATION
COLLABORATION PROJECT FOR CONNECTING SOUTH EAST WALES (DLD) -
The 10 Authorities of South East Wales who
would be working in partnership with the Welsh Local Government
Association, had commenced a project to identify potential areas of
collaboration.
A summary of the project was set out in
Appendix A to the report and it was noted that the intention was to
review existing data on Local Authority Education Services patterns
of expenditure and service priorities to develop conclusions about
potential areas for collaboration. Consultants ServQ had been
commissioned to undertake the work.
The Director anticipated that a final report
would be available in September 2010 and referred to the
challenging timetable and to a number of issues that would need to
be considered and resolved by the Programme Board in this short
space of time. There was an expectation that not all 10
Authorities would adopt agreed priorities for collaboration but
collaborative arrangements between a number of Authorities would be
identified and encouraged. The Director indicated that some
concerns had already been expressed by this Council about project
management arrangements and these had been considered by the
Programme Board, similarly issues in regard to the need to
communicate with key stakeholders had also been explained and
accepted.
The project was being funded through the Welsh
Assembly Government and the Connecting South East Wales Programme
Board.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A
T the work of the Education Collaboration Project initiative be
noted.
(2) T H A
T the Director submit the consultant’s final report on proposed
options for change to this Scrutiny Committee.
Reasons for recommendations
(1) To
apprise Members of the initiative.
(2) To
ensure that the consultant's final report is submitted for
consideration by this Scrutiny Committee.
154 MATTER WHICH THE
CHAIRMAN HAD DECIDED WAS URGENT -
RESOLVED - T H A T the following matter which
the Chairman had decided was urgent for the reason given beneath
the minute heading be considered.
155 ARRANGEMENTS FOR
YOUTH PROVISION IN PENARTH ON MONDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHTS (DLD) -
Urgent by reason of the need to
inform the Scrutiny Committee of the current situation in respect
of youth provision in Penarth
Councillors Mrs. M.E.J. Birch and M.R. Wilson
had submitted a request for “Consideration of a Matter” to the
Committee which raised concerns in relation to the proposed closure
of the Youth Information Shop in Penarth and as a consequence there
would be no youth club provision on Monday and Friday nights with
alternative provision requiring to be found.
The Chairman invited Councillors Birch and
Wilson to comment on their request and accordingly Councillor Mrs.
Birch opened the discussion by referring to the short notice of the
intention of the Penarth Youth Project to close their facility in
the Penarth Town Centre and expressed concern that the youth of
Penarth as a consequence would be disenfranchised. She
considered that the Council had a responsibility to find suitable
alternatives to ensure in the short term the youth of Penarth would
not be adversely affected. In referring to the closure she
also commented on the historical loss of youth facilities at
Stanwell Comprehensive School and Church in Wales sites e.g.
Redlands Road, Penarth and indeed there were very little suitable
sites for similar replacements. In addition, she felt that if
the Council had been alerted earlier of the organisation’s
intention to close the facility attempts / arrangements could have
been put in place to ensure that there was no negative
impact. She put no blame on officers of the Council and
acknowledged they also had little notice of the intention to close
the facility and accordingly, she requested the support of the
Scrutiny Committee to identify alternatives as soon as
possible. Councillor Wilson echoed Councillor Birch’s
concerns and considered that replacement facilities should be
considered as a matter of urgency. He was also concerned
about the impact on youth and that the absence of the facility
would lead to further disaffection of young people in the Penarth
area.
Mr. Fussell the Council’s Principal Youth
Officer, in commenting on the proposals to close the facility,
confirmed that he had only been notified of the Youth Project
Committee’s intention to close the facility on 10th June
2010. He went on to comment on the longstanding financial
issues which had impacted on the organisation which stemmed in the
main from lack of core funding to staff and run the administrative
office based within the Penarth Town Centre. He indicated
that the administrative base would now move to accommodation based
at West House Cottage, Penarth.
The net effect of the closure would result in
no Monday and Friday evenings provision for young people in Penarth
and there was also currently no other open access provision in
Penarth on these evenings. He went on to remind the Scrutiny
Committee that the Council’s youth service provision in the Penarth
area was currently:
· Monday -
Clwb Ieuenctid Cymraeg at Penarth Leisure Centre and Physically and
Able Bodied Club in partnership at Byrd Crescent Youth Club
· Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday - Byrd Crescent Youth Club
· Wednesday
and Thursday - The Crib at Penarth Leisure Centre
· Wednesday
and Thursday - Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at West House
Cottage
· Monday
(fortnightly) - Penarth Youth Action at West House Cottage
· Friday -
Support given to Penarth Gym Club.
He also indicated that the Project would still
deliver its Peered-up Project at venues throughout the Vale but its
physical presence at Penarth Town Centre would cease, hence the
closure of provision to young people on a Monday and Friday
nights. With such short notice, it had been difficult to find
a suitable alternative venue for Monday and Friday provision given
the lack of suitable premises in the area. Initial
discussions had taken place and had resulted in the following
options:
· using the
present staff to work on the streets with young people
· contact
the Pulse Detached Youth Work Team to ascertain the possibility of
working in the area on Monday and Friday evenings
· seek
alternative premises - Glyndwr Community Centre subject to the
suitability for youth provision.
The Director in commenting on the proposed
closure indicated that it was disappointing that there was little
advance notice provided by the Youth Project Committee and he was
concerned that funding issues affecting this organisation would be
the start of a trend affecting other voluntary sector organisations
ceasing services due to funding issues. He confirmed that the
Youth Bus would be diverted to the Penarth area to partly address
the shortfall in youth provision but acknowledged this would not be
a replacement of the existing service.
Discussion ensued with a number of points
touched upon in regard to the possible impact on employment of
staff employed by the Penarth Youth Project, funding issues
currently experienced by the organisation, assistance to be
provided by Penarth Town Council to support Penarth Youth Project
at West House Cottage and also the intention of Penarth Town
Council to seek to help the Project to identify the use of town
council facilities to host youth provision on Monday and Friday
evenings and the possibility of Stanwell and St. Cyres
Comprehensive Schools to host youth provision in the area.
Having regard to the above and related issues
it was
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the request for
consideration received from Councillors Mrs. M.E.J. Birch and M.R.
Wilson regarding the current situation in respect of youth
provision in Penarth be noted and that the action of officers taken
to date to seek alternative provision be endorsed.
Reason for recommendation
To apprise Committee of proposals for
alternative youth provision in Penarth.