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 are 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 usually circulated with the agenda.

There were no additional interests declared, but it was noted by Members that the Declarations of Interest sheet had not been included with the agenda. It has thus been appended to the Minutes.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 24 February 2009.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 February 2009  be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

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 Monday 6 April 2009 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 report provides an update on the current scrutiny review of the Extended Schools Agenda.

The Assistant Director of Partnership and Early Intervention informed Members about the Extended Services Disadvantaged Subsidy and circulated a one-page briefing note (see appendix A).  He stated that:

·          The government recognised the importance of extended services for children from disadvantaged and vulnerable families

·          A key fund had been set up, which for 2010/11 would be £217 million to assist disadvantaged families to access Extended Services.

·          The Government suggested that ‘disadvantaged children’ be defined as those receiving free school meals and/or ‘looked after children’

·          The new subsidy would encourage a greater degree of collaboration between schools which was considered crucial to making the services ‘fit for need’

·          York had been invited to pilot the subsidy using a small cluster of schools with funding of £80,000 in 2009/10

·          Currently schools in York do not operate on a conventional cluster model, and for the most part, each school decides for itself what Extended Services it will provide

·          The pilot would be officially launched in York on 29 April 2009 and would focus on schools that were geographically close - York High School, Westfield Primary Community, Hob Moor Community Primary and Woodthorpe Primary schools

·          The money will be used to enable families to access existing services or to purchase new services not currently available

·          The funding calculations per family were based on Pathfinder work and believed to be about £300 of benefit and 60% eligible take up

·          In 2010-11, the Disadvantaged Subsidy Funding will rise to £217m to be used by all schools across England

·          York would receive £300,000 from the 2010/11 funding

Members noted that the take up of free school meals in York was not as high as in other authorities and expressed concern about entitlement to the service i.e. whether it should be ‘eligible for’ not ‘take up’ of Free School Meals. They also agreed that some flexibility in the criteria would be helpful where there were other deprivations and difficulties for the child or the family, and raised concerns about small village schools and access to extended services.  Officers agreed to:

·          look at the definition of disadvantaged and the common assessment framework,

·          circulate information on the Free School Meals eligibility criteria to Members ¹

·          explore how the subsidy would work in rural communities

Members recognised the difficulties around transport and the need for effective provision i.e. safe and affordable transport arrangements.  Officers confirmed they had already explored the issue of collaboration between schools with the head teachers from the schools involved in the pilot scheme, and work had been done on linking with the community and helping vulnerable children through primary and secondary schooling. 

The Assistant Director of Partnership and Early Intervention also confirmed that:

·          an Extended Services Team had been set up, but as yet this did not include cluster coordinators due to lack of funding

·          after 2011 the funding would be mainstreamed into school budgets giving a two year period to prove that the service could make a difference - feedback on this would come from schools and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To consider and agree the updated workplan of the Education Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the 2008-09 Civic Year.

Members considered the updated Workplan. It was noted that the Extended Schools Agenda item report would be signed off at the meeting on 19 May 2009.

RESOLVED:             That the Workplan be agreed.

REASON:                  To progress the committee’s Workplan.