Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Cabinet Member for Education, Children & Young People's Services and to question the Cabinet Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8.2.1.

written report was received from Cllr Potter, the Cabinet Member for Education, Children & Young People’s Services.

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

(i)      From Cllr Brooks:

“Is the Cabinet Member concerned that over 40% of pupils reported feeling lonely at school and could she explain what is being done to reduce that percentage?”

          The Cabinet Member replied:

“This is the percentage of pupils who reported feeling lonely at some point in the month preceding the survey.  To put that figure in context, only 8% of primary and 1.5% of secondary pupils reported feeling lonely often.  Each school has access to detailed information about the position in their organisation and schools have a variety of different systems in place to support young people.”

In response to a supplementary question asking why more detailed information on this area had not been included in the report, the Cabinet Member replied that it was not possible to include full details of every aspect of her portfolio area in a brief report to Council.

(ii)      From Cllr Barton:

”In view of the 2011 bullying survey which shows that over 40% of both primary and secondary school pupils experience some form of bullying on a daily basis, how might you suggest these figures be used to inform policy and practice development?”

          The Cabinet Member replied:

“Again, it is probably not true to say that 40% of pupils are bullied daily.  This is the cumulative figure incorporating a number of different categories, not all of which are mutually exclusive.  In one area, that of cyber-bullying, the figures are relatively low in York.  More analysis is needed to determine the reasons behind the statistics. 

In response to a supplementary question seeking results from two recent anti-bullying initiatives in schools, the Cabinet Member replied that she would report back on these after contacting those schools where these initiatives had been used. She further highlighted that, overall, 92% had reported feeling safe at school and 84% liked going to school. 

In response to a second supplementary question asking why the report had not mentioned the youth support services in connection with cyber-bullying, new integrated services for young people would be included in her next report, once implementation of the new services was complete.

(iii)     From Cllr Aspden:

”Could the Cabinet Member give more information on what she will be doing to work towards preventing future increases in the number of looked after children in York?”

          The Cabinet Member replied:

“It is sad that the number of looked after children has increased to 250, and it highlights the importance of early intervention work to support families at an early stage.  As mentioned in my report, the new ‘Front Door’ early intervention service is bringing together a multi-agency team to provide this support.  Since its introduction, there have been 2,650 contacts with the service.  The picture in York does need to be placed in the national context of a 20% increase in looked after children, against a background of a period of austerity.  This situation is likely to be compounded by government changes to the benefits system.”

The time limit having expired for this item, written answers were circulated after the meeting to the remaining question as follows:

(iv)     From Cllr Healey

“Firstly I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the students, parents and teachers for their collective success in this year’s ‘A’ level and GCSE results.  Notwithstanding the City’s successes, how many students left school without an A-C in Maths or English?”

Reply

Whilst we have only have provisional data (therefore liable to change when re-grades/re-marks filter through) for 2011 for students results at the end of KS4, we can say that out of the total numbers of KS4 students 1838 (including Danesgate and Applefields) there were 736 students who left school without the full GCSE qualification in English and Maths.  It should be noted that 484 students either didn’t enter or achieve a A*–C in English GCSE, and a further 100 students didn’t enter or achieve a A*-C in Maths GCSE.  However, that is the picture at the end of KS4 rather than of leaving school.  We would expect at least some of those students to be retaking GCSE-level qualifications in their school sixth form or at York College and so the final figure will be slightly better. We achieved 62% pass in 5+ A*–C (including English & Maths) in York in 2011, against a very provisional national result for 2011 of 58%, or a definite national result for 2010 of 55.2%, so significantly better. Please note these % results do not include Danesgate, as PRUs are not included at national levels.

(v)     From Cllr Aspden

“Can the Cabinet Member say what steps she will be taking to ensure the upcoming safeguarding inspection in 2012 continues to meet the high standards of previous inspections?”

Reply

The main area where we under achieved last time was in members’ engagement with the corporate parenting role. I am pleased that we will be asking for agreement to a new Corporate Parenting Forum at the meeting of the Cabinet next week. This will help elected members scrutinise the services that looked after children receive and involve more elected members in this very important role. 

(vi)     From Cllr Healey

“What new initiatives has the Labour administration put in place since May, or plan to this year, to meet the Cabinet Member’s aspiration to ‘maintain a strong commitment to and focus on early intervention and prevention’.”

Reply

We have commissioned work to look at how we support families and young people in the areas of the city that have higher levels of deprivation in the City. This will be coming to Cabinet early next year. We have also agreed to maintain all 9 children’s centres in the City despite savage cuts to budgets by the Coalition government.  I believe that children’s centres have a crucial role in supporting families in difficult times.

(vii)    From Cllr Healey

“What’s the latest estimate of the number of children leaving school at 16 who are functionally illiterate?”

Reply

There were only 19 students who didn’t achieve a recognised qualification, or if you say that the pass should be equivalent to of at least 1+ A*-G then there were 32 students. In percentage terms this is 99% or 98.3% respectively. That isn’t necessarily a measure of functional literacy, but I am not sure exactly what qualifications to use to get that measurement.