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.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda, in addition to the general personal non-prejudicial interests detailed on the sheet attached to the agenda.

Councillor R Watson declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 6 (Service Plan Performance 2^nd Quarter 2008/9 – Children and Young People’s Services), in relation to music tuition fees, and also a general personal non-prejudicial interest, both as a member of the Education Appeals Committee.

Councillor Brooks declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 6 (Service Plan Performance 2^nd Quarter 2008/9 – Children and Young People’s Services), in relation to music tuition fees, as a member of the Education Appeals Committee.

Councillor Merrett declared a general personal non-prejudicial interest as his child used the digital arts and holiday schemes.

Dr D Sellick declared a general personal non-prejudicial interest as a representative of the Church of England.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2008.

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the last meeting of the Executive Member for Children and Young People’s Services and Advisory Panel, held on 6 November 2008 be approved and signed as a correct record.

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 3 December 2008 at 5pm.

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

This report provides information about the current position with regard to vacancies for Local Authority (LA) seats on governing bodies, lists current nominations for those vacancies and requests the appointment, or re-appointment, of the listed nominees.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That LA Governors be appointed, or re-appointed, to fill vacant seats as proposed in Annex 1 of the report, with the addition of Mr Owen Seagar as a governor for the Federation of Derwent Infant and Junior Schools;

(ii)     That, in relation to nominations for LA Governors to the governing body for the new Federation of Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks School, details of nominees and a skills audit be circulated to Members and Statutory Co-Optees, with ballot papers to be returned by Friday 12 December 2008. That the views expressed through this process be considered by the Executive Member when making the appointments:

(iii)    That the fifth nominee be recommended to the governing body to be considered as a community representative.

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:To ensure that Local Authority places on school governing bodies continue to be effectively filled.

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

The report presented the following options for consideration:

·  To appoint/re-appoint and fill the vacancies;

·  Not to appoint/re-appoint and fill the vacancies.

An additional annex had been circulated detailing nominees for LA seats on the governing body for the new Federation of Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks School and officers outlined how these appointments would be dealt with, given that there were five nominees for four places.

The Executive Member recorded her thanks to all those who were school governors for their hard work.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That LA Governors be appointed, or re-appointed, to fill vacant seats as proposed in Annex 1 of the report, with the addition of Mr Owen Seager as a governor for the Federation of Derwent Infant and Junior Schools;¹

(ii)     That, in relation to nominations for LA Governors to the governing body for the new Federation of Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks School, details of nominees and a skills audit be circulated to Members and Statutory Co-optees, with ballot papers to be returned by Friday 12 December 2008,² and that the views expressed through this process be considered by the Executive Member when making the appointments;³

(iii)    That the fifth nominee be recommended to the governing body to be considered as a community representative.⁴

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:To ensure that Local Authority places on school governing bodies continue to be effectively filled.

[Note:  Mr Nick Coakley, Honorary Alderman Charles William Fairclough, Mrs Margaret Clare Hyett and Mr Nick Smart were appointed as LA Governors to the governing body for the new Federation of Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks School.  Dr David Hopton was recommended to the governing body to be considered as a community representative.]

This report informs Members of the decision made by Hob Moor Oaks Special School and Hob Moor Primary School to federate and asks the Executive Member to support the decision of the governing bodies.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to support the decision of both governing bodies to federate.

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:To brief Members on a key decision by the governing bodies of  two local schools.

Members received a report which informed them of the decision made by Hob Moor Oaks Special School and Hob Moor Primary School to federate and asked the Executive Member to support the decision of the governing bodies.

It was noted that the power to take a decision about whether or not to federate rested with the two governing bodies and not the Local Authority, and that the governing bodies had consulted and considered thoroughly the options of choosing to federate or not to federate.

Some Members expressed concern that none of the results of the consultation were included in the report and highlighted the importance of understanding any negative implications of federating, as well as positive ones.  The Director of Learning, Culture & Children’s Services and the Assistant Director (School Improvement & Staff Development) outlined some of the key issues raised in the consultation.  A request for more comprehensive and balanced reports in the future was made by some Members.  All Members recognised the considerable benefits of the federation and the opportunities it created to enable progress at both schools.

The Executive Member reassured the schools that she would not support any change to the policy of having one special primary school and one special secondary school in the city.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to support the decision of both governing bodies to federate.

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:To brief Members on a key decision by the governing bodies of  two local schools.

This report analyses performance by reference to the service plan, the budget and the performance indicators for all of the services funded through the Children’s Services budget.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That the performance of services within the directorate funded through the Children’s Services budget be noted and thanks to Officers be recorded for their hard work and particularly to all those individuals and organisations who helped after the recent fire at York High School;

(iii)    That the Executive be requested to agree to release the following amounts currently contained within the Corporate Contingency Budget:

·  £80k for Children’s Social Care Fostering;

·  £142k for Children’s Social Care Legal Fees;

·  £40k for Music Service Income Shortfall.

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:In order to ensure appropriate performance management arrangements are in place for the work of the department.

Members received a report which analysed performance by reference to the service plan, the budget and the performance indicators for all of the services funded through the Children’s Services budget.

There had been good progress in the first six months of the year against the actions from the service plans and key achievements to date and areas where further work was needed were set out in paragraph 9 of the report.  Particular attention was drawn in the report to the excellent feedback in the Audit Commission survey on the views of schools on the local authority, on the feedback on the Primary Capital Strategy submission, and on the actions arising from the York High School fire.

The projected net outturn for 2008/09 was £30,108k, which left a projected net overspend of £828k against the latest approved net budget of £29,280k.  This was split between the General Fund, with a projected net overspend on £528k, and the Dedicated Schools Grant, with a projected net overspend of £300k.  In relation to the General Fund, the report detailed work being undertaken by officers to identify further savings and set out a recommendation to the Executive for use of funds from the Corporate Contingency Budget.

Officers provided an update on the Directorate’s progress with a review of child protection arrangements, following the Baby P case at Haringey, and Members discussed how Executive Members with statutory responsibility for this area could ensure that this responsibility was fulfilled.

Officers also confirmed that a high quality Myplace bid would be submitted in the second round of bidding, although there was still some doubt as to whether it would be around the young people’s preferred site in the city centre, as this option was complex and could require additional capital injection by other parties.  A Bid Manager had been appointed to take forward this work.

Other comments made during the discussion of the report included:

·  A request to investigate if a local indicator could be developed for the number of three year olds receiving free early years provision who lived within the City of York, as the current indicator included children living in other authorities, thereby returning results of over 100%, and making it hard to detect if any York children were not taking up this opportunity.¹

·  The need to examine vocational qualifications, as well as academic qualifications, for looked after children and an officer update on work currently in progress to develop additional indicators to do this.³

·  The welcome progress with the Books for Babies project.

·  The issue of access to dentistry, which had been raised by the Show Me That I Matter Panel, and an update on improvement work being undertaken.

·  A correction to the quarter two performance figure for indicator CF4 (% of health needs assessments undertaken for children in care for more than 1 year) which was 70%, not 59.7% as written in Annex 1 of the report, and an update on the work being undertaken to improve performance.

Advice of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

This report informs Members of the likely out-turn position of the 2008/09 Capital Programme, advises of changes to existing schemes and reprofiling of expenditure to allow the more effective management and monitoring of the Capital Programme, provides details of any slippage in budgets between financial years, and sets out any new schemes and seeks approval for their addition to the 2008/11 Capital Programme.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That the capital programme forecast outturn for 2008/09, as shown in Annex A of the report, be noted;

(ii)     That the additions and amendments to the capital programme, as set out in the report and summarised in Annex A, be approved;

(iii)    That the scheme reprofiling and slippage, as set out in the report and summarised in Annex A, be approved;

(iv)    That the revised capital programme, as shown at Annex A of the report, be agreed, 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:To enable the effective management and monitoring of the capital programme.

Members received a report which informed them of the likely outturn position of the 2008/09 Capital Programme, advised of changes to existing schemes and reprofiling of expenditure to allow the more effective management and monitoring of the Capital Programme, provided details of any slippage in budgets between financial years, and set out any new schemes and sought approval for their addition to the 2008/11 Capital Programme.

The predicted outturn for 2008/09 was £33.145m, against a current approved budget of £33.217m, which represented a projected underspend of £0.072m.  Table 2, at paragraph 33 of the report, summarised changes to the capital programme for 2008/09 to 2010/11 and Annex A of the report provided a scheme-by-scheme update, detailing predicted variances and the resulting amendments to the capital programme.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That the capital programme forecast outturn for 2008/09, as shown in Annex A of the report, be noted;

(ii)     That the additions and amendments to the capital programme, as set out in the report and summarised in Annex A, be approved;¹

(iii)    That the scheme reprofiling and slippage, as set out in the report and summarised in Annex A, be approved;²

(iv)    That the revised capital programme, as shown at Annex A of the report, be agreed, subject to the approval of the Executive.³

Decision of the Executive Member

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

REASON:To enable the effective management and monitoring of the capital programme.