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

Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

Cllr Brooks declared a personal non prejudicial interest in agenda item 7 (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) Annual Report) as a Council appointed representative on SACRE.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 11 January 2017.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 11 January 2017 be approved as a correct record and then signed by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Tuesday 21 March 2017.  Members of the public can speak on agenda items or matters within the remit of the committee.

To register to speak please contact the Democracy Officers for the meeting, on the details at the foot of the agenda.

 Filming, Recording or Webcasting Meetings

Please note this meeting may be filmed and webcast or audio recorded and that includes any registered public speakers, who have given their permission.  The broadcast can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts  or, if sound recorded, this will be uploaded onto the Council’s website following the meeting.

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officers (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/11406/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings_20160809.pdf

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

The Chair of York@Large will be in attendance at the meeting to provide an update on how the organisation has been working with the Council and other partners to deliver joint services.

The Chair of York @ Large attended the meeting to present a briefing paper on the work of York @ Large. He updated Members on how the organisation had been working with the Council and other partners to deliver joint services during the past 12 months

He drew Members attention to a list of priorities for York @ Large stating that emphasis would be given to priority 4 (to develop a new York narrative with Arts Council England). He advised Members that a Green Paper on industrial strategy had been issued by the Business Enterprise and Industrial Strategy department in Whitehall and that creative industries was one of the priority sectors mentioned in that strategy. He stated that a paper about culture and the creative sector was being prepared by the outgoing chair of the Arts Council, who had visited York on numerous occasions, and that this could be quite influential on the eventual reception of that green paper by government, therefore his view of culture and creative industries and the role culture could play in improving quality of life was important to consider.

He advised Members that he would like to see the words “cultural wellbeing” used in documents moving forward which would reflect its use in planning documents from government and the fact that wellbeing was an important issue locally.

He responded to particular issues raised by Members during discussion of the report and provided further relevant information.

Resolved:  That the report and update be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that Members are kept updated on the work of York@Large

This report analyses the latest performance for 2016/17 and forecasts the financial outturn position by reference to the service plans and budgets for all of the services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Children, Education & Communities.

Members considered a report which analysed the latest performance for 2016-17 and forecasted the financial outturn position by reference to the service plans and budgets for all of the services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Children, Education and Communities.

The Finance Manager, Adults, Children and Education, was in attendance to present the report with the Director of Children, Education and Communities. They drew Members’ attention to a typing error in paragraph 4 of the report and stated that the projected under spend within Special Educational Needs on out of city education placements should read £441k and not £548k as stated.

In response to a number of queries, officers provided the following information to Members:

·        With regard to schools funding and assets, officers confirmed that the first sentence of paragraph 7 should refer to net variation and not net overspend, as it includes both projected net overspends and projected savings and a surplus carry forward of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

·        With regard to the attainment gap for pupils receiving free school meals (FSM)and the reference to organisations being signposted, officers advised that Career Ready and the Social Mobility Foundation would advise, intervene and support the work of the college and other post 16 institutions that work with FSM students, thus helping the council in their overall strategy to narrow the gap.

·        The Make York Home initiative would enable more children to remain in placements in their own city close to family links and friends, enabling a programme to be built which was specific to the needs of the young person. It would be more cost efficient and had been made possible through increased levels of confidence and knowledge as a result of partnership working, and no quality of service would be lost.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:     To update the committee on the latest financial and performance position for 2016-17.

This report provides an update on the progress of City of York Safeguarding Children Board, highlighting the outcome of the recent Ofsted inspection and the ongoing development of the Children and Social Work Bill, which will directly impact on safeguarding children legislation.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the progress of City of York Safeguarding Children Board, highlighting the outcome of the recent Ofsted inspection and the ongoing development of the Children and Social Work Bill.

The Corporate Director, Children, Education and Communities reported that, in November, Ofsted had undertaken an inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers and a review of the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB). He advised that City of York Safeguarding Children Board had been judged as outstanding and was only the second Board in the country to be judged as such. Members asked that their congratulations be passed on to the Board and its partners acknowledging that the result was due to good partnership working.

In relation to the Children and Social work bill currently passing through parliament, the Director advised that this would include changes to current safeguarding children legislation including the abolishment of the current LSCB statutory requirement and its replacement with a statutory framework for local safeguarding arrangements. He explained that it would be up to individual local authorities to determine how this would work and it would give them freedom to decide how to carry out the arrangements. He advised that a senior board would oversee arrangements in future but care would need to be given not to deviate too far from current arrangements which worked well for York.

He provided further information in relation to queries raised by Members in relation to: support for, and funding of, new arrangements; and ensuring that existing wider engagement of other partners and relevant agencies could be sustained. Members commented that it would be useful to be able to see a forward plan for how some of the issues highlighted as requiring consideration by statutory partners (in paragraph 9 of the report) would be tackled. It was agreed that Members would continue to receive twice yearly updates in order that they could continue to challenge and scrutinise arrangements going forward.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:     To update the committee on the progress of the City of York Safeguarding Children Board over the past 6 months.

This report provides Members with details of the work of the City of York Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) from January to December 2016.

Members considered the annual report of the City of York Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) which provided them with details of work undertaken during 2016.

The Chair of SACRE and the Council’s School Effectiveness and Achievement Adviser attended the meeting and provided additional information during discussion on the annual report including:

·        The new agreed syllabus was launched summer 2016 – this provided a comprehensive framework for teaching and learning and assessment of pupils’ knowledge and understanding of religions.

·        Church of England Schools and Roman Catholic Schools have their own syllabus and way of teaching.

·        guidance would be reissued to all schools on acts of collective worship at next SACRE meeting.

·        There had been a slight fall in the number of pupils taking RE accreditation at end of KS4.In York RE is treated as humanities subject but not classed as EBacc subject although it did count as the Progress 8 Measure

·        There was a national requirement to teach RE in all schools. Up to now all schools have been recommended to teach an accredited course in RE but this is now compulsory.

·        The agreed syllabus would apply to fewer secondary schools but all schools would still need to comply with national requirements.

Resolved:  That the SACRE annual report be noted.

Reason:     To update the committee on the work of SACRE and the outcomes in religious education in York’s schools, in line with the statutory requirement to report annually to elected members.

This paper provides an update on implementation of Local Area Teams following their launch in January 2017.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the implementation of local area teams (LATs) which brought together a range of pre-existing services to form a new set of preventative arrangements for families, following their launch in January 2017.

The Head of Early Years Help and Local Area Teams presented the report which provided detail on the early work of local area teams and responded to issues raised by members. He advised that the service had been launched in January but that a transition plan had been put in place and transitional arrangements would operate over the next 12 – 18 months.

He advised that the Early Years Board had provided a draft of the Early Help Strategy and suggested it would be useful for the committee to look at this strategy as local area teams were an integral part of how early help was developed in the city. It was agreed that the committee look at the role of local areas teams within the Early Help strategy at a future meeting.

During discussion, it was suggested that in relation to paragraph 17 and forming strong relationships with key partners, “elected  members” should be added to the list of key partners, and that Members should be well informed about changes taking place and that opportunities for working at ward level with ward budget should not be forgotten.

Officers expressed the view that better engagement with Elected Members on ongoing basis would be beneficial to both sides in order that ward priorities could be aligned alongside the priorities of LATs. It was agreed that this be discussed further at a future meeting along with an update on progress in relation to Local Area Teams in six months time.

The work of staff was commended by officers and members as it was recognised that the implementation of local area teams had been a significant change to how they worked and what they were expected to do.

Resolved:  (i)      That the report be noted.

                   (ii)      That further updates be provided as detailed above.

Reason:     To keep Members updated on the implementation of Local Area Teams.

This report provides Members with a further update on the implementation of the outstanding recommendations arising from a previously completed scrutiny review on Disabled Access to York’s Heritage & Cultural Offer. 

Members considered a report which provided them with a further update on the implementation of the outstanding recommendations arising from a previously completed scrutiny review on Disabled Access to York’s Heritage and Cultural Offer, having previously signed off some of the review recommendations at previous meetings in March and September 2016.

The committee discussed the four outstanding recommendations and made the following comments:

Recommendation  5 - Members noted that liaison had taken place and was ongoing with bus operators. They acknowledged that the Quality Bus Partnership would continue to strive for improvements with regard to disabled access so agreed that this recommendation should be signed off.

Recommendation 6 - Members noted the update provided but felt that this did not address the recommendation.  They expressed concern that the recommendation had been approved but no funding provided to allow implementation, and were concerned this was not the only recommendation arising from a scrutiny review where this had happened.  They agreed that this recommendation should be left outstanding and that the Chair should write to the Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism to remind him of the endorsement the Executive gave to this recommendation, and officers should seek clarification whether the current website was a suitable substitute for an app (therefore making an app unnecessary), or whether the app might better support the public and improve their access to the city’s heritage and cultural offer.

Recommendation 7 - It was agreed this recommendation be left outstanding as Members recognised this was dependent on recommendation 6.

Recommendation 13 - Members welcomed the new award  entitled “Cultural Equality and Diversity Award” introduced in 2016 but expressed concern that this was more focused on cultural identity and did not address accessibility (specific tangible measures to make buildings and cultural offers more accessible). Members agreed to sign off this recommendation but agreed that the Chair should write to the Chair of Make it York to remind him of the intention of the  recommendation i.e. to encourage city centre venues to improve access for people with disabilities, and to ask that they investigate this further and re-consider the possibility of including an ‘Access for All’ award or similar award  in the annual Tourism Awards the following year.

Resolved:(i)      That the report be noted.

(ii)       That recommendations 5 and 13 be signed off as being fully implemented but that the Chair of the Committee be requested to write to the Chair of Make it York as detailed above.

(iii)    That recommendations 6 and 7 remain outstanding and that the Chair of the Committee be requested to write to Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism as detailed above.

(iv)      That a further update on the outstanding two recommendations be provided in 6 months time.

Reason:     To raise awareness of those recommendations which are still to be fully implemented.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for the 2016-17 municipal year.

Members considered the committee’s work plan for the remainder of the 2016-17 municipal year.

Members were reminded that the next meeting would take place on 10 May rather than 24 May as originally scheduled.

With regard to the draft workplan for the new municipal year, the Scrutiny Officer suggested that the following reports be added, in view of suggestions made by officers during the meeting.

·        June 2017 – Update on Early Help Strategy

·        November 2017 – Update on Local Area Teams and the new service at Sycamore House

·        January 2018 - Update on take-up of school meals

Resolved:  That the suggestions for the 2017-18 municipal year be noted.

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