Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included in the register of interests, any prejudicial interests or disclosable interests which they might have in respect of the business on the agenda or any other general interests the might have within the remit of the Committee other than those listed on the agenda. No interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Learning & Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on Wednesday 12 June 2013 and Wednesday 17 July 2013.

Members of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Task Group will be asked to approve and sign the minutes of the last CEIAG Task Group meeting held on Tuesday 3 September 2013.

Resolved:      That the minutes of the meetings of the Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12 June and 17 July 2013 and the minutes of the final meeting of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Task Group held on 3 September 2013 be approved and signed by the chair as correct records.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak on an item on the agenda or an issue within the committee’s remit can do so.

Anyone who wishes to register or who requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer for this meeting, details of whom are listed at the foot of this agenda.

The deadline for registering to speak is 5.00pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5.00pm onTuesday 17 September 2013.

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

Members will receive a presentation on the School Improvement and Ofsted update.

Members received a presentation which provided them with an update on School Improvement and Ofsted results. Members welcomed Maxine Squire, to her first meeting of the committee in her role as Interim Assistant Director (Education and Skills).

She reported that, against a background of a more challenging framework, over the last two years York had seen an increase in the proportion of schools being judged as good or better. Members were able to compare York to its statistical neighbours, schools in the Yorkshire and Humber region and nationally as of June 2013 and were provided with the 2013 results across all key stage areas. They were told what had been done to achieve these results and the next steps which would be taken in order to achieve their ambition to have 90% of schools categorised as good or better within two years. They were advised that this would be supported by the refreshed council plan recognising the ambition for Education and Children’s Services, the completed peer review of Children’s Services, the two-year School Improvement Plan (with the York Education Partnership) and targeted investment.

Members acknowledged that while the results showed a very strong Ofsted attainment profile in terms of secondary schools, which at 80% in the good or better categories was well above regional and national average, this profile was reversed when you looked at primary schools with only 74% of schools classed as good or better. The Principal Advisor assured Members that they were working in a targeted way to ensure primaries not yet classed as good achieved this level within two years. She explained that due to the relatively small number of schools in York, the percentage of schools falling below good may appear high, but in fact this only actually accounted for two schools. She assured Members that they were working actively with school leaders to achieve improvements in these two schools.

She drew Members attention to the Key Stage 4 results and advised them that it was the first time that York had been top of the region at this level. Members were advised that there were also some improvements in outcomes at Key Stage 2.

Resolved:      That the presentation be noted.

Reason:         In order that the Committee is kept up to date on Ofsted results of schools in York.

This report describes the trends in the number of children and young people looked after by the City of York.  It examines the reasons for a significant and sustained growth in this population over a number of years and describes the progress of a programme of work launched in 2012 to safely reduce these numbers.

Members considered a report which detailed the trends in the number of children and young people looked after by the City of York. It examined the reasons for a significant and sustained growth in this population over a number of years and described the progress of a programme of work launched in 2012 to safely reduce these numbers. The report put forward some specific proposals for further work to ensure that all children and young people’s services were focussed on those children who would be most likely to enter public care if alternative help and support was not provided.

The Assistant Director, Children’s Specialist Services, and the Head of Services Resources provided additional information in response to issues raised by Members during discussion of the report.

Resolved:      That the report and further work described in annex 1 be noted.

Reason:         In order that Members are aware of the proposed work will ensure that there are robust early support arrangements for those children and young people most at risk of becoming looked after.

This report analyses the latest performance for 2013/14 and forecasts the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Communities & Neighbourhoods and the Director of Children’s Services, Education & Skills

Members considered the 2013-14 First Quarter Financial Monitoring Report which provided an analysis of the latest performance for 2013-14 and forcasted the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Communities and Neighbourhoods and the Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills.

Resolved:      That the report be noted.

Reason:         To update the committee on the latest financial and performance position for 2013-14.

The Chair of York @ Large will be in attendance at the meeting to discuss the ongoing work of York @ Large and how it works with the Council and other partners to deliver any joint services.

The Chair of York@Large attended the meeting and provided an update on York@Large and how it worked with the Council and other partners to deliver joint services.

Members expressed concerns about the decrease in footfall figures in the city. The Chair of York@Large acknowledged the situation and advised the committee that they were looking at making a joint bid to the Arts Council and Visit England based on trying to find ways to increase the number of visitor  spending with cultural tourism in mind. He stated that the ongoing bid was already informing the work being undertaken by Visit York in conjunction with City of York Council towards a Tourism Strategy for York. Members were advised that the interim Tourism Strategy was already in the public domain, and although Visit York normally reported to the Economic and City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee, there was no reason why Members of this committee should not view it. The Chair of York@Large stated that they had highlighted the need to include a contemporary offer against the background of a historic city, in addition to the heritage offer and noted the benefit to York@Large of the Tourism Strategy including a cultural input. The Chair asked that a link to the interim Tourism Strategy be emailed to committee members. ¹

The Chair of York@Large advised that they had had discussions with economic development with regard to improving the impact of creative industries and businesses setting up in the city with the hope of creating a hub of likeminded companies.

Resolved:      That the update from York@Large be noted.

Reason:         In order that Members are kept informed on work undertaken by the Council’s strategic partners.

This report presents the findings from the recently completed careers education information and guidance (CEIAG) Task Group Scrutiny Review and the recommendations arising and asks the Learning & Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee to agree any changes required to the report before its presentation to Cabinet in November 2013.

Members considered the draft final report of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Scrutiny Review. The report presented the findings from the recently completed CEIAG Task Group Scrutiny Review and the recommendations arising and asked the Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee to agree any changes required to the report before its presentation to Cabinet in November 2013.

Members had been provided with a revised draft final report following publication of the agenda and prior to the meeting. This included some minor changes to the wording of the report as suggested by the Youth Support Services Manager. Members were advised that the changes did not materially affect the findings or recommendations and had been made with the agreement of the Task Group Chair.

The Youth Support Services Manager advised Members that research by Barnados and Ofsted which had recently been published drew similar conclusions regarding careers education, advice and guidance as the CEIAG Task Group had.

Resolved:      That the draft recommendations shown in paragraphs 79-81 of the report be agreed.

Reason:         To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures, protocols and the committee’s annual work plan.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s workplan for the 2013-14 municipal year.

Members considered the Committee’s work plan for the 2013-14 municipal year.

It was agreed that an update on the ongoing School Meals Scrutiny Review would be forwarded to Members by email due to time constraints.

Resolved:      That the work plan be noted.

Reason:         To keep the Committee’s work plan updated.