Agenda and draft minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest or other registerable interest they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests, not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 December 2022.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 20 December 2022 be approved and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so.  Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee. Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 16 February 2023.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda. 

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand atwww.york.gov.uk/webcasts.  During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy ) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report provides the members of the scrutiny and policy committee with an overview of the outcomes of the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities inspection revisit.

The Assistant Director of Education and Skills presented a report on the outcome of the Local Area SEND Inspection Revisit.  It was reported that sufficient progress had been made against the four areas of weakness.

Members were informed that the next inspection would be against a new SEND framework which mirrored the Health and Social Care ILAC (Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services) and was to take place annually.  It was noted that the green paper was to be published in the near future.  

The next steps in the post Ofsted improvement journey were outlined and it was highlighted that Co-production had been viewed as a significant strength by Ofsted and CQC.  It was confirmed that the substantive SEN Services Team would be in place by the end of March which would improve capacity.

Cllr Waller, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, paid tribute to staff.  He reported that the partnership with Health had been critical in developing EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans).  He highlighted the strong team that was in place to continue the improvement journey.

In response to questions from Members covering the rationale for the operational plan, parental support for transition from primary to secondary school, the inclusion model for SEND students, role of educational psychologists and identification of needs, officers noted the following:

·        During the last two years the pandemic had meant that it had been difficult to undertake partnership work. There was now clarity in the roles of Health and Education and what each service was leading on.

·        The aim was to establish consistency across schools in terms of what was meant by ‘reasonable adjustments’ and the focus was on need rather than diagnosis.

·        It was important to ensure that the best use was made of special school places and the service was working towards developing confidence in mainstream placements with reasonable adjustments. Annual reviews were held to assess placements and assistive technology such as an AV robot had proved useful in supporting children.

·        Educational psychologists provided preventative information as well as statutory assessments and had developed SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) support for schools and continued to provide clinics and helplines.

·        Early years screening of speech and language enabled appropriate early provision to be put in place and was reviewed annually.

Resolved:            that the outcomes of the SEND inspection revisit and the work taking place to embed improvement through the co-production and implementation of the Local Area SEND operational plan were noted.

Reason:              To keep the Committee updated.

Members will receive a report on the Ofsted Action Plan, together with an update on children in care and the workforce.

The Director of Safeguarding, Children’s Services outlined the report which provided an update to the Committee on the Ofsted Action Plan.  She noted that since she had last reported to Committee in November 2022,  an Ambition Plan had been developed, contained in Appendix 1 of the agenda. 

In relation to Children in Care, it was reported that a Registered Manager had been appointed which meant that the new model for children’s homes could be developed at pace.

Members were informed that the use of agency staff had been reduced by 50% and the senior management team was now permanent.

In response to questions from Members which covered children in care residing outside of the city, numbers of experienced social workers, the sharing of findings with other service areas from children’s voice initiatives and feed back to young people, young people’s involvement in democracy, and recruitment agreements, officers noted the following:

·        Since August 2022, no new care placements had been made outside of York.

·        The support provided to social workers was a key factor in retention.

·        The Director of Safeguarding, together with the Corporate Director of Children and Education, sat on the Executive, which provided an opportunity to share experience with other service delivery areas. 

·        A pay cap on agency workers, within the local area network had not proved workable.

Cllr Waller, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, noted that young people had been involved in the design of the action plan and their views helped to inform policy. He highlighted the work of the apprenticeship team in providing opportunities for young people and the recent recruitment event which aimed to give confidence in York being a good place to work.

Members thanked officers for their hard work and it was:

Resolved:            that the report be noted.

Reason:              To keep the Committee updated on the progress of areas reported on.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Members considered the work plan for the final meeting of the Committee, 07 March 2023.  It was

Resolved:            that the work plan be noted.  

Reason:              To ensure that the Committee discharges its statutory duties and covers all items on the Work Plan.