Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

The Cabinet Member was invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Decision Session of the Executive Member for Children and Young People’s Services held on 12 April 2011.

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the Decision Session held on 8 March 2011 be signed by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak at the meeting can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Friday 8 July 2011.

Members of the public may register to speak on:-

• An item on the agenda
• An issue within the Cabinet Member’s remit
• An item that has been published on the Information Log since the last Decision Session.

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

This report provides information about the current position with regard to vacancies for Authority seats on governing bodies, lists current nominations and those vacancies, as detailed in Annex 1 of the report, and requests the appointment, or reappointment, of the listed nominees.

RESOLVED:That the Cabinet Member appointed or re-appointed Authority Governors to fill vacant places as proposed in Annex 1 of the Officer’s report.

REASON:            To ensure that the Local Authority places on School Governing Bodies continue to be effectively filled.

The Cabinet Member considered a report which provided information about the current position with regard to vacancies for Authority seats on governing bodies, listed current nominations for those vacancies, as detailed in Annex 1, and requested the appointment or re-appointment of the listed nominees.

The Cabinet Member thanked Officers for the report and for the hard work of the Governor Service in keeping vacancies at a low level. In response to Officers comments, the Cabinet Member suggested that rather than redressing the political balance of Governors, the Service should encourage members of all political parties to put themselves forward to be Governors.

RESOLVED:That the Cabinet Member appointed or re-appointed Authority Governors to fill vacant places as proposed in Annex 1 of the Officer’s report.

REASON:            To ensure that the Local Authority places on School Governing Bodies continue to be effectively filled.

This paper describes the rationale for the review and restructure of Children’s Centres, Early Years and Extended Services as a result of national and local policy, local reviews and national and local financial contexts.  The report asks the Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People to approve the restructure.

RESOLVED:That the Cabinet Member approved Option 1 and so approved the revised structure to enable the delivery of both universal and targeted services against the key principles described in Paragraph 9 of the Officer report, to meet the statutory duties of the Local Authority and to improve outcomes for all children and families.

REASON:            Option 1 keeps all 9 Childrens Centres open, thus providing both universal and targeted services to the most deprived areas of the City, improving outcomes for users. Services are deliverable with the appropriate balance of management, front line delivery and support posts, and the structure will deliver savings still to be found in the 2012-2013 budget. Statutory duties across Early Years will be met.

The Cabinet Member considered a report which described the rationale for the review and restructure of Children’s Centres, Early Years and Extended Services as a result of national and local policy, local reviews and national and local financial contexts. The report asked the Cabinet Member to approve the restructure.

In response to the written representation and questions from Unison, Officers advised as follows:

·        There will be a formal review of the 3 strand structure. It will be checked within 6 weeks to look for any initial problems, then again at Christmas and Easter followed by a formal review after 1 year. The views of stakeholders and partners will be considered.

·        Key roles will be looked at across Early Years and a simple summary chart will be drawn up of the roles to establish who is responsible for what.

·        In relation to a post that delivers Extended Learning Opportunities, Officers advised that whilst this had been considered and although they did not want to undervalue such a role, at the moment it would not be possible to fund a part time position. It would be something that could happen in the future.

·        It is positive that 9 Children Centres have stayed open, but with a reduced number of staff, the opening times will need to be looked at. Numbers of staff at each centre would be based on the need in each area and the particular Centre.

·        The 28% reduction in Government funding  and the £1.8m shortfall in grants would not all be met through the restructure. In terms of staffing the figure is 4-500,000k  with the rest being found through other routes. Staffing decisions had not been a ‘knee jerk’ reaction and had been done in consultation with Unions and taking into consideration the strategic responsibility to Early Years and Children’s Centres.

The Cabinet Member thanked Officers for the report and Unison for their feedback and then made the following comments:

·        It is important to look at the budget now to avoid further cuts in following years as it is not anticipated that there will be any more cash available in the future.

·        It is important to measure the effectiveness of work in Children’s Centres and to consider how the work fits in with the Community Cohesion Agenda . Ideally the Children’s Centres would be open for longer but this needs to be balanced by jobs.

·        The Cabinet Member suggested work could be undertaken with the Director of Communities and Neighbourhood’s team to identify opportunities for the Children’s Centre buildings to be used for other community groups and purposes.

RESOLVED:That the Cabinet Member approved Option 1 and so approved the revised structure to enable the delivery of both universal and targeted services against the key principles described in Paragraph 9 of the Officer report, to meet the statutory duties of the Local Authority and to improve outcomes for all children and families.

REASON:            Option 1 keeps all 9 Childrens Centres open, thus providing both universal and targeted services to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This paper presents a review of the current City of York Council Young People’s Services and York Youth Offending Team, and offers options and proposals on three interlinked areas of a new integrated service.

RESOLVED:(i)That Option 2 in Annex A of the Report be agreed as the basis of the restructuring of the Youth Support Services with effect from September 2011.

                             (ii)That the York Youth Offer set out in Annex A be agreed as the high level framework both for restructuring Youth Support Services and for engaging with the voluntary, community, faith and uniformed youth sectors.

                             (iii)That the proposal for a staged approach to harmonisation of pay and conditions as set out in Annex A be endorsed as the starting point for consultation and negotiation with staff and unions.

REASON:            To continue with a process of integration of all youth support services that started a year ago, and to enable these services to operate within the revised budget set by Council.

The Cabinet Member considered a report which presented a review of the current City of York Council (CYC) Young Peoples Services (YPS) and  York Youth Offending Team (YOT) and offered options and proposals on three interlinked areas of a new integrated service.

The Head of Integrated Youth Support outlined the report and advised that the proposals followed on from the decisions made in July 2010 by the former Executive, to complete the integration of CYC Youth Services and Connexions, to include York YOT. He advised that the challenging areas of work going forward, would be the Youth Support Services Structure as highlighted on page 63 of the agenda and the staff pay and conditions as detailed on page 64.

The Cabinet Member commented that she was happy with the ‘Youth Offer’ as set out in Annex A and queried how Officers would report on the implementation of it. The Director of Adults, Children and Education suggested that a progress report could be brought back to a future decision session.

The Cabinet Member thanked Officers for the report and all their hard work.

RESOLVED:(i)That Option 2 in Annex A of the Report be agreed as the basis of the restructuring of the Youth Support Services with effect from September 2011.

                             (ii)That the York Youth Offer set out in Annex A be agreed as the high level framework both for restructuring Youth Support Services and for engaging with the voluntary, community, faith and uniformed youth sectors.

                             (iii)That the proposal for a staged approach to harmonisation of pay and conditions as set out in Annex A be endorsed as the starting point for consultation and negotiation with staff and unions.

REASON:            To continue with a process of integration of all youth support services that started a year ago, and to enable these services to operate within the revised budget set by Council.