Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room 3 - Civic Centre

Contact: Claire Heather, Democratic Support Officer  Tel: 023 8083 2412

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Vice Chair

To elect the Vice Chair for the Municipal Year 2016/17.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Councillor Taggart be elected Vice Chair for the Municipal Year 2016/17.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting (including matters arising) pdf icon PDF 66 KB

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings held on 21st April 2016 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21st April 2016 be approved and signed as a correct record.

3.

Children and Families - Performance pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance providing an overview of performance across Children and Families Services since June 2016.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered the report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance providing an overview of performance across the Children and Families Division since June 2016.

 

The Panel noted the following points:-

·  The instability of the social care workforce and high levels of demand continued to put pressure on meeting agreed timescales. 

·  Each social care team now had an improvement plan designed to deliver key targets.

·  A Children and Families Transformation Programme, containing a broad and ambitious range of projects and activities designed to deliver systemic improvement and transformation to new and more efficient ways of working, was signed off by Transformation and Improvement Board in June 2016.

·  Plans had been developed to reduce the number of Looked After Children and Children in Need in Southampton. 

·  Progress had been made reducing the number of Children in Need and the target was to reduce levels to approximately 1,200.

·  The target for Looked After Children was a reduction of circa 200 over the next 3 years.  It was proposed that these targets would be met through transformation and improving the understanding of the cohort.

·  It was noted that the transformation activity was welcomed and required but concerns were raised as to why the initiatives had not commenced a number of years ago.

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)  that the Children and Families dataset provided to the Panel be updated to include additional indicators relating to the outcomes of Care Leavers; and

(ii)  that the presentation delivered by the Strategic Lead for Children Services Transformation be circulated to the Panel.

 

4.

Educational Attainment and School Standards in Southampton pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance requesting that the Panel consider the provisional 2015/16 key stage exam results and school standards in Southampton.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel received and noted the report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance providing an overview of the provisional 2015/16 Key Stage Exam Results and the work of the School Improvement Team in Southampton.

 

David Townsend, Interim Head of School Effectiveness was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.  The Panel noted the encouraging performance at the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and the progress made at Key Stage 2.

 

The Panel expressed concern about the attainment levels of Looked After Children, particularly at Key Stage 4, and sought re-assurances from the Cabinet Member that the performance of Looked After Children in Southampton was a priority for the Executive.

 

The Chair informed the Panel that a discussion on Key Stage 5 performance in Southampton was scheduled for the March meeting of the Panel.

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)  that the report circulated to Southampton Connect on the correlation between deprivation and attainment be circulated to the Panel;

(ii)  that the Panel be provided with the Key Stage 2 results for all Southampton schools;

(iii)  that officers encourage all schools to report their 2015/16 exam results on the school’s website; and

(iv)  that, in preparation for a future discussion on the attainment of Looked After Children (LAC), the Panel be provided with the following information:

 

·  An overview, from the Head of the Virtual School, of the actions that were taken to support the 2015/16 LAC cohort achieve their potential in Key Stage 4 examinations.

 

·  Contextual information on the 2015/16 Year 11 cohort and the current Year 11 cohort of LAC, including the number of LAC; the number of different local authority areas they were residing in; a breakdown of the Ofsted category of the schools they were/are attending; how many were/are experiencing a part-time timetable; those who were/are being educated within a Pupil Referral Unit; and an overview of the average number of moves being experienced by the cohort within the past 12 months.

 

·  Information on the expectations with regards to Key Stage 4 attainment of the current Year 11 cohort of LAC and additional actions being undertaken in 2016/17 to support the educational attainment of LAC.

 

NOTE: Councillor Keogh and Councillor Taggart declared a personal interest in the matter set out in the report as college lecturers and remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion and decision.