Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Executive Member for Children and Young People’s Services, and to question the Executive Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8(2)(a).

 

To date, notice has been received of the following questions:

 

(i)         From Cllr Waudby:

“I understand that York’s Children and Young People’s Plan was launched yesterday; can the Executive Member for Children and Young People explain to Council what will happen to it next and how it will improve the lives of children and young people in the City?”

 

(i)         From Cllr Aspden:

“Can the Executive Member of Children and Young People give Council an update on the number of exclusions from schools in the City and why has a fall taken place?”

 

(iii)       From Cllr Orrell:

“How many schools in York have been awarded outstanding grades by OFSTED and how does this distribution compare to the national distribution?”

 

(iv)       From Cllr R Watson:

“I understand the Executive Member met with the Chief Executive of the Schools’ Food Trust earlier this week.  Could the Executive Member please give Council and update on how the meeting went and how the Schools’ Fund Trust plan to work with local schools in the future?”

A written report was received from Cllr Runciman, the Executive Member for Learning and Children’s Services.

 

Notice had been received of twelve questions on the report, submitted by Members in accordance with Standing Orders.  The first nine questions were put and answered, as follows:

 

(i)         From Cllr Waudby:

“I understand that York’s Children and Young People’s Plan was launched yesterday; can the Executive Member for Children and Young People explain to Council what will happen to it next and how it will improve the lives of children and young people in the City?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“The City of York Children and Young People’s Plan is the product of `widespread consultation, analysis and debate.  It summarises in a very user friendly format the issues which matter for the children of York and it will be used to ensure that all our partner agencies are working towards achieving the key improvement priorities that the plan describes.  The YorOK Board will receive regular monitoring reports on their ‘scorecard’ of issues that matter most from the plan.  The YorOK Board is well placed to ensure that action is taken across partners when progress is not being made.

Everyone will be working together to improve the lives of York’s children and to ensure all agencies make a difference to outcomes for our children and young people.”

 

(ii)        From Cllr Merrett:

“With regard to the new Children & Young People's Plan, and her comments about the Looked after children audit, would the Executive Member for Children Services accept that the reduced target N101 (s) of only 1 in 15 and only 1 in 10 children in care achieving 5 A* - C GCSE's (or equivalent) including English & maths at KS4 for the next two years, against 2 out of 13 this year, indicates a failure of both ambition and delivery of learning by the Council for the children we are corporate parents to, and will she agree that we should be setting an ambitious improving target for this?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“The education of our looked after children has never been a greater priority.  The figures quoted are simply based on a national requirement to track the expected outcomes of children already in the looked after system, as provided by the Fisher Family Trust.  Our aspirations for the looked after population are so much greater than that and as the excellent new Children and Young People’s Plan says, ‘we aspire for every child and young person in York to have the chance to reach their full potential and live their dreams.  We will stretch the most able, support those who start at a disadvantage and protect and nurture the most vulnerable.’

However, it is important to recognise that, for many young people, looked after children included, the government’s measure of success as 5 A* to Cs is not appropriate – their achievements in vocational and applied learning need to be acknowledged.  In addition, as I know from my own discussions with those involved, no child should be written off just because they do not achieve 5A* to C at 16 – many gain qualifications as they get older and go on to successful careers as a result.”

 

In response to a supplementary question from Cllr Merrett, asking why no target had been set for other qualifications, as discussed at the Executive Member and Advisory Panel meeting, the Executive Member replied that, although she agreed that other qualifications were equally important, the Council had to work towards the targets set by government.

 

(iii)       From Cllr Merrett:

“With regard to the Executive Member for Children Services comments on safeguarding, what are her reactions to the Laming report, and is she that the City of York's systems, including the CAF arrangements, and child social work staffing levels, would prevent major failures such as have recently been highlighted in a number of other authorities?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“The Laming report highlights that the changes he proposed following his enquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie are still the right direction of travel.  His latest report justifiably challenges the consistency of full implementation of his recommendations.

In York he would find much to be reassured about - as previous inspection and assessments have consistently demonstrated. One can never say that child deaths will be fully prevented – York is faced with the same challenges all authorities face – but what we can say is that we have the systems and quality of staff in place which reduce the likelihood of such sad events occurring in this city.”

 

(iv)       From Cllr Aspden:

“Can the Executive Member of Children and Young People give Council an update on the number of exclusions from schools in the City and why has a fall taken place?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“We have seen a very positive reduction in the exclusion figures of children from our schools.  There has been A 50% reduction in use of exclusions. Secondary fixed term exclusions have halved, from 434 to 213, compared with the same period last year with only 1 permanent exclusion compared with 12 for the same term. It is a similar picture in Primary Schools, with fixed term reducing from 79 to 40 and no permanent exclusions.

This has been achieved by a considerable amount of hard work between schools and our specialist support services to ensure that as far as possible children receive sanctions within their mainstream school rather than be excluded from that school.”

 

(v)        From Cllr Fraser:

“With regard to Early Intervention, and the YorOK partnership, does the Executive Member for Children Services agree with the recommendation that there should be general practitioner representation on the trust, and is she satisfied that general practitioners are adequately involved and engaged in early intervention and prevention work?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“GPs can and do play an incredibly important role in ensuring that universal provision for children and young people responds positively to individual need. I agree that to date the ability to engage representation of GPs on the YorOK Board has been unsuccessful but we still remain keen to find with the support of the PCT mechanisms to address this.”

 

(vi)       From Cllr Orrell:

“How many schools in York have been awarded outstanding grades by OFSTED and how does this distribution compare to the national distribution?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“We now have 13 of our schools judged outstanding which is approximately 20% of local schools and the highest ever number and percentage in the city. This compares with around 14% of school judged as outstanding nationally. All schools and their staff teams deserve our congratulations for the hard work that has gone into attaining such high standards, and the contributions of the central teams that support them is also a very significant factor in this achievement.”

 

(vii)      From Cllr Merrett:

“With regard to her comments regarding the new school build programme, would the Executive Member for Children Services  confirm how much of this programme has been funded by the Government and how much from local funds, and would she also indicate the cumulative capital investment in York schools since 1997 as against 1979 – 1997?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“The current approved Children’s Services capital programme covering the years 2008/09 to 2010/11 totals £85.3m.  Of this total, £75.8m is expected to be funded by central government and £9.5m from local funds.

From 1997/98 to 2010/11 the cumulative capital investment in Children’s Services in York is estimated at £163.4m.  As the City of York unitary authority only came in to existence in April 1996 we do not hold details for the level of investment prior to this date.  However, I can tell you that in 1996/97 annual capital investment in Children’s Services in York totalled £1.4m and this compares to an annual figure of £33.8m for 2008/09.”

 

In response to a supplementary question from Cllr Merrett, asking whether she agreed that those figures demonstrated the Labour government’s commitment to investment, as compared to that of the previous Conservative government, the Executive Member replied that extra funding was always welcome.  However, it did not always guarantee success and in fact much of the success achieved was due to the local Liberal Democrat administration.

 

(viii)     From Cllr R Watson:

“I understand the Executive Member met with the Chief Executive of the Schools’ Food Trust earlier this week.  Could the Executive Member please give Council an update on how the meeting went and how the Schools’ Fund Trust plan to work with local schools in the future?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“The meeting went well and the Chief Executive of the School Food Trust was pleased to hear that meals in York schools already reach the required nutritional standards. She met the head teachers of the two federated schools that are about to be rebuilt to talk to them about the space and facilities needed to provide hot meals and good food service in modern schools. We discussed the need for “real” cooking and how to overcome heavily promoted advertising about non health food options. The new schools will need to have equipment that cooks like to use and which works well and the visit has helped to guide our thinking on this subject. She praised the use of the Danesgate kitchens for Food Excellence and Skills Training which has enabled staff to achieve appropriate qualifications.”

 

(ix)       From Cllr Alexander:

“With regard to her comments regarding consulting young people, would the Executive Member for Children Services  advise where the much hoped for central My Place scheme & stage 2 bid has got to, and how children and young people are continuing to be involved in its progression?”

 

            The Executive Member replied:

“Work to prepare for the submission of a "round 2" myplace bid is continuing. The government's timetable for submitting such bids appears to have slipped from the original published date of "spring 2009" to a new date of "later this year". This has us

enabled us to continue discussions about an ambitious scheme based around the Railway Institute buildings, as well as to explore other options. We also continue to benefit from the services of Mr Phil Bixby, a local community architect, who has held a number of consultation meetings with young people to ensure their involvement and commitment, including the possibility of establishing a short-term city centre youth cafe as an interim step.”

 

The time limit on this item having expired, Members agreed to receive written responses to the remaining questions, which are reproduced below together with the written replies:

 

(x)        From Cllr Alexander:

“With regard to School's Councils and the schools conference, would the Executive Member for Children Services  advise how she is responding to the request for a Youth parliament?”

 

Reply:

“The new Children and Young People's Plan 2009-2012 published yesterday includes a firm commitment to establish a Youth Council in York linked to involvement with the UK Youth Parliament. A number of possible options for achieving this were discussed at the last Young People's Working Group, and work is continuing to refine these possibilities and to identify the resources necessary to support them. I will bring forward more definite proposals in the near future.”

 

(xi)       From Cllr Funnell:

“With regard to her comments regarding healthy schools school meals, would the Executive Member for Children Services indicate the current take up of school meals in primaries and secondaries compared to five years ago?”

 

Reply:

“In the period 2004/5 to 2008/09 take-up of school meals fell from 32.7% to 31.3% in primary schools and from 30.4% to 27.7% in secondary schools.

We are currently undertaking a marketing pilot sponsored by the School Food Trust which, although only half way through its 19 week timetable is showing a higher uptake of approx 5% overall in both

The pilot began in February and runs until April. Full findings will be published by School Food Trust in July.”

 

(xii)      From Cllr Looker:

“With regard to the Joseph Rowntree school, would the Executive Member for Children Services  advise where the original proposal for a windmill to help power the school and to achieve the BREAAM excellent rating has got to?”

 

Reply:

“The installation of a wind turbine on the Joseph Rowntree School site was considered in the early stages of the project.  This was omitted due to lack of funding and with advice from the Planning Department to submit a separate planning application at the end of the school building project for the wind turbine.  If funding is available at the end of the project it will be a priority of the Project Board to use it to fund and invest in green technology, such as a wind turbine. 

The Project Board feel that this will be a way of moving closer towards achieving a carbon neutral school. A feasibility study has been commissioned to establish the costs and benefits for the installation of a wind turbine, and the best position on the school site.

The BREEAM rating for the project will be "very good" although there are benefits for all to achieve a higher rating if possible.”