Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Councillor Runciman – Governor of Joseph Rowntree School and Trustee of the Theatre Royal.

Councillor Aspden – Governor of Knavesmire Primary School. Member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Teacher at Norton College, Malton, North Yorkshire.

Councillor Bradley – Governor of Poppleton Ousebank School

Councillor Cuthbertson – Governor of Headlands Primary School

Councillor Kind – Governor of Burnholme Community College; Haxby Road Primary School

Councillor King – Governor of Burton Green School

Mr A Lawton - Governor of Canon Lee School

Mr J Bailey – Governor of Huntington School

Ms F Barclay – ATL: Branch Secretary for City of York and teacher at All Saints School.

Mrs J Ellis – Governor of Burton Green Primary School

Ms B Reagan is a teacher at Joseph Rowntree School, SENCO and Secretary of the York Association of the National Union of Teachers.

The following interests were also declared:

Councillor Bradley declared a personal and prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 Local Authority (LA) School Governors (Primary) as he had been nominated as a primary school governor and he left the room for this item and took no part in the discussion or voting thereon. Councillor Cuthbertson took the Chair during consideration of this item.

Councillor Bradley also declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in Manor School as his son had started as a pupil at the school the previous day.

Councillor Cuthbertson declared a personal and prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 Local Authority (LA) School Governors (Secondary) as he had been nominated as a secondary school governor and he left the room for this item and took no part in the discussion or voting thereon.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2006.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Panel, held on 20 July 2006 be approved and signed as a correct record subject to the addition of Cllr D’Agornes name in the list of apologies.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Panel’s remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Wednesday 6 September 2006 at 10am.

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

This report provides information about the current position with regard to vacancies for LA seats on governing bodies, lists current nominations for those vacancies, as detailed in Annex One, and requests the appointment, or re-appointment, of the listed nominees.

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised to appoint, or re-appoint LA Governors to fill vacant seats as proposed in Annex One.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:            That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed

REASON:            To progress work in this area.

Members considered a report which provided information about the current position with regard to vacancies for Local Authority seats on governing bodies, listed current nominations for those vacancies and requested the appointment, or re-appointment of the listed nominees.

It was noted that all governing bodies were required to reconstitute by 31 August 2006 under the terms of the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2003. Many governing bodies had agreed to adopt a new constitution and determined the size of the new governing body.  It was noted that in some cases this would result in there being fewer Local Authority places and it was important that this was considered when new LA appointments were made.  The current position of each governing body was detailed in Annex One of the report.

Officers confirmed that their was now a waiting list for school governor vacancies but that is any member was aware of an interest in a position they should refer them to the Governance Service. Members expressed their thanks to the Service and for ensuring that York had a well below average of Local Authority governor vacancies.

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised to appoint, or re-appoint Local Authority Governors to fill vacant seats as proposed in Annex One.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:            That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:            To progress work in this area.

This Report outlines the procedures for performance reporting and analyses performance by reference to the service plan, the budget and the performance indicators for all of the services funded through the education budget and through the budget for the children’s division of community services. 

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)                      To note the performance of services within the Directorate funded through the Children’s Services budgets.

(ii)                    To agree to the transfer of £41k to the Leisure & Culture portfolio as set out in paragraph 4 of the report

Decision of the Executive Member:

RESOLVED:       That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:            (i)      In accordance with monitoring procedures.

(ii)In order to meet funding requirements.

Members considered a report which analysed performance by reference to the Service Plan, the budget and performance indicators (PIs) for all services funded through the Children’s Services budget.

Officers updated Members and circulated a summary of the Children’s Services portfolio which outlined the 2006/07 original estimates and latest approved budget together with details of Service Plan variations from the approved budget.

The report highlighted steady progress in the first period of the year against the service plans and identified some of the key achievements in the year to date:

·         Within Access and inclusion, targets had been met for the preparation of statements of SEN and deadlines have been met for statements that required input from other agencies, such as the Health Service

·         The Youth Service have implemented a number of important initiatives including the extension of the Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP), the establishment of Make Space Youth Centre at Fulford School.

·         Considerable progress had been made against key actions for Children and Families.  In particular, the work on integrating frontline services into local integrated children’s centres

·         Progress had been made in the transition to an Integrated Children’s System within electronic records and in responding to new requirements of the Adoption and Children Act.

The report also highlighted areas where further work  was needed.   These included a likely delay in the publication of the draft Youth Offer and the delayed opening of the City Centre One-Stop Shop at Castlegate from September 2006 to January 2007.  Of most concern was the increase in the number of looked after children in the first quarter of the year which had placed considerable pressure on local resources and budgets.

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)                      To note the performance of services within the Directorate funded through the Children’s Services budgets.

(ii)                    To agree to the transfer of £41k to the Leisure & Culture portfolio as set out in paragraph 4 of the report

Decision of the Executive Member:

RESOLVED:       That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:            (i)      In accordance with monitoring procedures.

(ii)In order to meet funding requirements.

This report informs Members of the likely outturn position of the 2006/07 Capital Programme based on the spend profile and information to the end of July 2006, and seeks agreement of the revised  Capital Programme.

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)                 To note the capital programme forecast out-turn for 2006/07, as shown in Annex A to the report.

(ii)               To approve the amendments to the programme, as summarised in Annex A.

(iii)             Agree the revised capital programme as shown in Annex A, subject to the approval of the Executive.

Decision of the Executive Member:

RESOLVED:            That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:            In accordance with budget monitoring procedures and to produce a balanced budget.

Members considered a report which informed them of the likely out-turn position of the 2006/07 Education Capital Programme, based on information to the end of July 2006, and sought agreement for the revised programme.

Updates on, and variations to, the schemes in the programme were outlined in paragraphs 5 to 27 of the report and detailed in Annex A.  These variations had produced a gross capital programme for 2006/07 of £12.879m, of which £11.792m was funded externally, resulting in a net cost to the City of £1.087m.

Members thanks Officers for their work in the production of the report.

Advice of the Advisory Panel:

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)                 To note the capital programme forecast out-turn for 2006/07, as shown in Annex A to the report.

(ii)               To approve the additions and amendments to the programme, as summarised in Annex A.

(iii)             To approve the scheme reprofiling and slippage, as summarised in Annex A.

(iv)              Agree the revised capital programme as shown in Annex A, subject to the approval of the Executive.

Decision of the Executive Member:

RESOLVED:            That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:            In accordance with budget monitoring procedures and to produce a balanced budget.