Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda. A list of general personal interests previously declared is attached.

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 list of general personal interests circulated with the agenda.  No additional interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 26 February 2008.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2008 be approved and signed by the Chair 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 Committee’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, 2 April 2008 at 5:00 pm.

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

This fourth interim report on the review of school governors provides additional information in relation to the survey of individual governors, following the consultation session held after the last meeting, and presents a draft questionnaire to be sent to governing bodies.

Members considered a fourth interim report on the scrutiny review of the role of School Governors (Part A).  The report set out details of work on the review to date.  It also provided additional information relating to the survey of individual governors, following the informal consultation session held after the last meeting, and presented a further draft questionnaire to governing bodies. 

Details of the comments made by governors at the consultation session, and the Committee’s responses, were attached as Annex A to the report.  Additional comments provided by governors on their completed survey forms  were set out in Annex B.  Officers reported that there had been an error in the number of returned survey forms indicated in this report and the report to the last meeting.  In fact, only about 354 forms had been returned; approximately one-third of the total sent out.  This meant that the apparent lack of response to particular questions, as highlighted in the reports, was no longer an issue, since it reflected the overall response to the survey rather than a reluctance to answer certain questions. 

In respect of the key objective ‘to identify ways of increasing the number of Community Governors’, it was reported that the exit questionnaire considered by Members at their meeting in January had now been circulated, but no completed forms were available as yet.  It had already been agreed that the latest interim report would be sent to governing bodies, along with a questionnaire requesting further information to support the review.  A draft questionnaire and covering letter were attached as Annex C to the report.  

Members discussed and agreed a number of amendments that they felt should be made to the interim report, covering letter and questionnaire before these documents were sent out to governing bodies for consideration at their full governors’ meetings over the half term period.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the interim report be amended to reflect the true position regarding the number of completed governor survey forms received, as reported at the meeting.

                        (ii)        That the covering letter at Annex C be amended to reflect the true position on the number of completed survey forms received, and also to:

·        express the Committee’s thanks and appreciation to those who responded to the survey;

·        clarify that governing bodies are welcome to provide feedback on the interim report, as well as responding to the questionnaire;

·        include a paragraph seeking information on governing bodies’ involvement in extended schools (Part B of the remit of this scrutiny topic);

·        emphasise the deadline date for responses, 19 May, by putting it in bold text.

                        (iii)       That amendments be made to the questionnaire at Annex C, as requested by Members at the meeting.*

                        (iv)       That the Scrutiny Officer circulate the amended documents to Members by e-mail for comment prior to sending them to the governing bodies.

REASONS:    To ensure that Members’ views on these documents are taken into account and to ensure that work can proceed as planned for this review, whilst complying with scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Any other business which the Chair considers urgent under the  Local Government Act 1972

The Chair raised the matter of a forward plan for progressing the Committee’s work on future topics for review.

AGREED:      That the Chair and Vice-Chair meet with the Scrutiny Officer to draft a forward plan to be presented for consideration at the next meeting of the Committee.