Agenda and minutes
Venue: The Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX
Contact: Stephanie Davis
02087266000 x84384
Email: stephanie.davis@croydon.gov.uk
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Apologies for absence To receive any apologies for absence from any members of the Committee.
Minutes: Apologies received from Councillor Jerry Fitzpatrick, Councillor Mary Croos was in attendance in his absence. Apologies received from Dave Harvey. |
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Minutes of the previous sub-committee meeting PDF 85 KB To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019 as an accurate record.
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held pm 18 June 2019 was agreed and signed as an accurate record. |
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Disclosures of interest In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.
Minutes: Councillor Callton Young declared that he was Chair of Governors at St Giles school. |
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Urgent Business (if any) To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency. Minutes: There was none |
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Actions List Update Discussion on the actions arising from previous meetings.
Minutes: The Chair confirmed that there were no outstanding items on the Action List to be discussed. |
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Children's Improvement Plan Update PDF 622 KB To receive an update on the Children’s Improvement Programme. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Executive Director of Children, Families and Education introduced the report and the following was noted:
In response to a question for clarification on the assessment team vacancy rate of 80% and whether there were interim posts, officers responded that this was interim/agency rates. There had been some issues with senior management in the service which had been resolved. The team currently had excess number of staff which would be reduced gradually over the next few years.
It was questioned how confident the service was on the figures presented regarding the number of private fostering cases. Officers responded that whilst they were not confident that the figures were accurate, Croydon was doing well in trying to identify private fostering arrangements. In order to identify further cases, all partners needed to be vigilant and proactive in identification and reporting of concerns.
A Member commented that the report showed that 59% of children’s immunisations were not up to date and questioned how this would be addressed. Officers responded that this was an area of priority and work was being done by Early Help through a joint workshop to look at current processes. Additionally exploring alternative ways of working together more effectively to address the numbers of children not immunised.
A question was raised on what the sustainability of the service would involve and officers responded that the transformation and sustainability of the service would be based on early intervention. Currently, as a result of the Ofsted judgement, Croydon was conducting more assessment and S47 than any other borough and using up a lot of resources. This was attributed to social workers are being over cautious. It was envisaged that this would improve in time through social workers and senior managements increased confidence in their judgements.
It was commented that the reduction of child protection cases was evidence that the service was moving in the right direction with its preventative work.
The Sub-Committee came to the ... view the full minutes text for item 42/19 |
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Croydon Safeguarding Children's Board Annual Report PDF 355 KB (To Follow) Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair of the Children Safeguarding Children Board presented the annual report and the following was noted:
It was asked what the Board’s definition of a child ‘off roll’ was, officers responded that this was a child/children not in school for a number of reasons. The most vulnerable were those that had come off the school roll, stopped attending for various reasons and were not in another setting with the LA unable to track their whereabouts.
A Member highlighted concerns for children at risk of exclusions and suggested that a case be made for schools to be more accessible for children after 4pm through various therapeutic services. Officers said that issues of mental health were a strong theme highlighted by the review. Evidence did show that some schools handled exclusions every well and put in support over and beyond what was statutorily required.
It was further commented that training for exclusion boards was inconsistent with some very good and others not so. Officers said that it was important that the quality of the exclusions board be consistent. The Vulnerable Adolescence review drew a compelling correlation between children that had been excluded and those that went on to receive a criminal record.
The Chair asked for suggestions on topics that the sub-committee should be looking into and was not. Officers replied that they were unsure how clear the sub-committee was on exploitation and county lines and that this may be an area for the sub-committee to delve into further.
A Member asked what advice could be given to the sub-committee in order to fulfil its role to hold the partnership to account. Officers responded that the executive group was fundamental to the success of the partnership and they would meet every month. In its questioning, Members should be checking what the partnerships had done individually but also collectively. Members should ask the partnership to evidence that their meetings are solutions focused and impact positively on safeguarding. Additionally what they were doing to address long standing issues such as quality and quantity of health assessments of looked after children.
It was commented that the voice of the child examples were powerful in the report and going forward all reports should follow the ... view the full minutes text for item 43/19 |
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Draft Education Estates Strategy Update PDF 913 KB To receive the draft Education Estates Strategy update which details the Council’s performance in meeting its statutory duty for sufficiency of school places prior to its presentation at Cabinet.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Interim director of education presented the Draft report which was due to be presented at Cabinet and detailed the following:
It was noted that there was limited capacity in the south of borough whilst the north has excess capacity and it was questioned if the LA had the ability to do anything regarding this. Officers said that whilst there were north and south planning of spaces, families could exercise their right to send their children to any school of their choice irrespective of location. This did make school place planning complicated and schools have to make decisions based on forecasts and seek advice on reduction of their PAN but the LA was clear on ensuring provision of enough school places for children in the borough.
A further question was asked on the record of a child’s school journey and it was requested that officers provide a map of excess places. Officers responded that primary school places have to be allocated for children within a certain mileage of their home, this was not always the case with secondary allocation. Children were admitted based on admissions criteria and not catchment. It was agreed that Map of excess school places would be provided to Members.
It was commented that it was important that primary school children were allocated a local school place to enable them to walk to school and if unable to attend a local school, travel provisions to be made. Officers responded that there was enough school places for children to retain a local place but parents were able to make decisions to send their children to schools out of the borough. Children are able to travel for free on buses and trams.
A Member questioned what was being done regarding schools that wanted to admit over their agreed PAN’s due to them being their own admissions authority. Officers responded that ... view the full minutes text for item 44/19 |
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What difference has this meeting made to Croydon's Children To discuss the findings from this meeting and the expectations for Croydon’s Children.
Minutes: Members noted the following from the meeting:
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Work Programme 2019/20 PDF 15 KB To agree the work programme for the 2019/20 municipal year. Additional documents: Minutes: The items on the agenda for 5 November 2019 meeting were confirmed.
It was also confirmed that the Sub-Committee would receive an interim not a final report from the Task and Finish group at the 5 November 2019 meeting. |
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Exclusion of the Press and Public The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:
“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”
Minutes: This was not required. |