Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point in the meeting, the Executive Member is 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. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see attached sheet for further guidance for Members].

The Executive Member was asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any disclosable pecuniary interests, or other registerable interests he might have in respect of business on the agenda, if he had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Decision Session held on Tuesday 24 September 2024.

Resolved: That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 September 2024 be approved and then signed as a correct record by the Executive Member.

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 have changed to 2 working days before the meeting. The deadline for registering at this meeting is at 5.00pm on Friday 18 October 2024.

 To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill out an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting whose details can be found at the foot of the agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this public meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The public meeting can be viewed on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Flick Williams spoke on item 4, regarding language contained in the report and links to culture related to the Social Model of Disability.

The purpose of this report is to gain approval to the submitted Strategic Plan for this academic year (2024-2025) for York Learning.

The report sets out how we will respond, and our targets within that, to the agreed Accountability Statement which reflects the needs of the local environment as determined by the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP).

Resolved:  To approve the York Learning Strategic Service Plan for 2024-2025, subject to any suggested changes.

Reason:    This helps monitor the service and provide sound governance arrangement for York Learning Services and agrees that the received funding aims to meet resident’s needs. 

The Executive Member considered a report presented by the Head of Adult Learning Service - York Learning, which highlighted strategic aims, and requested his approval.

The Executive Member praised the work that York Learning did, noting that it was externally funded to the City of York Council budget, and he commended it as an essential life-enhancing service, suggesting that the Combined Authority may be in a position to provide some financial relief to the service going forward. He concurred with the report that further venues needed to be sought for the service to operate.

Further to a suggestion raised in the public participation, the Executive Member agreed that language does matter, requesting care be taken to exclude any ablist language from this report and specifically a change be made to a sentence in paragraph 17 of the report, which improperly used the term “the disabled”. He said that this alienating terminology put the emphasis on individuals concerned rather than on society as a whole. He further suggested that “Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)” was a potentially problematic term, as various people learn differently and there is arguably nothing “special” about requiring a differing approach.

The Executive Member suggested further work could be done with the Job Centre to make it feel less punitive and more of a place that helps people. The Head of Adult Learning Service responded that York Learning were sending people into the Job Centre every week to work with people on skills, and that they worked closely with the Job Centre on setting up job fairs to catch people who are unemployed as well as recent graduates.

Resolved:   To approve the York Learning Strategic Service Plan for 2024-2025, subject to any suggested changes.

Reason:     This helps monitor the service, provides sound governance arrangement for York Learning Services and agrees that the received funding aims to meet residents’ needs.