northlincs.gov.uk

131 (13) OFSTED INSPECTIONS – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report on the outcome of an Ofsted inspection at Epworth Primary School.

Seven schools had been inspected as part of the Pilot Ofsted inspection schedule for schools in North Lincolnshire, which was currently a three year cycle. Full copies of the report had been placed in the political group offices.

Resolved – (a) That approval be given to continue supporting improvements in the schools inspected above, and (b) that the Cabinet Member writes to the schools and makes suitable comments on the reports.

132 (14) OAKFIELD PRIMARY (THE OLD SUNWAY INFANTS), SCUNTHORPE – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report seeking approval to declare former school building surplus to requirements.

Sunway Infants School was amalgamated with Rochdale Road Junior School to make Oakfield Primary School in January 2005. Both buildings had been used to house the primary school until the council had the resources to extend the Rochdale Road building. The building project started in March 2009 and was due to finish in May 2010.

It was proposed that the former Sunway Infants building be declared as surplus to requirements as assumed in the corporate capital bid. There was no apparent alternative use for the building within the Children and Young People’s Service, and if the building remained empty it would be become vulnerable to vandalism and also to public concern about empty buildings.

Resolved – (a) That Option 1 of the report be approved and the former Sunway Infants building be declared as surplus to requirements from 1 May 2010, (b) that the Service Director Asset Management and Culture explores the options for the building and negotiates the sale of the property if appropriate, and (c) that the future use and terms be reported to the Corporate Services Cabinet Member for approval through the Transaction Schedule.

133 (15) INSPECTION OF ADOPTION AND FOSTERING SERVICES – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report informing the Cabinet Member of the outcome of the inspection of Adoption and Fostering Services in June 2009.

Ofsted inspected the Adoption and Fostering Service in June 2009. This was the second inspection by Ofsted who had taken over the role and function of the previous Commission for Social Care Inspectorate and the first under the new Ofsted regime.

The inspection was carried out under the statutory responsibilities given by the Care Standards Act 2000, and against the Outcomes for Children set within the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards.

The inspectors gathered evidence from a variety of sources, from a range of professionals, adults and children. The inspections were carried out by four inspectors, the adoption services inspectors were on site for three days, the fostering for five days.

The inspection judgement was based upon new guidance, and therefore gave an overall judgement for each area inspected, and that of organisation.

The report gave full details of overall inspection judgements received and further comments received.

Resolved – That the outcomes of the inspection be noted and welcomed.

134 (16) AIMING HIGH FOR DISABLED CHILDREN: COMMISSIONING LOCALITY BASED ACTIVITIES – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report confirming the processes and outcomes of the commissioning of locality based activities for disabled children and young people, within the Aiming High agenda.

The council was awarded £1.13m over two years (until March 2011) to deliver short breaks for disabled children and young people through the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme. Following consultation with parent carers and disabled children and young people (CYP), the AHDC Steering Group allocated £100,000 to develop locality based activities. This was to develop specialist group activities specifically for these CYP within each of the five localities. Existing activities for disabled CYP were limited, and often involved travelling from one end of North Lincolnshire to the other.

A full analysis of need was completed before the commissioning and assessment process began. The objective of all stages of the AHDC commissioning procedure was to ensure that the best outcomes were achieved at a best value level, meeting the requirements of disabled children and their parents.

The report gave full details of the consultation and commissioning process, including details of the organisations that were successful in the process.

Resolved – That the contents of the reports be noted and the relevant commissioning decisions be supported.

The following item contains exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

135 (17) TENDER FOR SUPPLY TEACHER CONTRACT – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report seeking approval for the procurement of a contract under a framework agreement for the provision of supply teachers on behalf of schools.

In April 2006, a contract for the provision of supply teachers was entered into by the council on behalf of schools. The contract was for a duration of three years and offered two options; a set hourly rate or paying to scale (as per teachers pay and conditions). The contractor ensured that all staff had a valid enhanced CRB clearance before being taken on in a school and they also offered CPD and training.

In addition, schools could still employ their own supply teachers who were paid through the council via timesheets. This was not a managed service and as such it was the duty of individual schools to ensure that supply teachers had a valid enhanced CRB clearance and were appropriately recruited in line with safer recruitment guidelines. Teachers employed in this way may not be receiving the necessary CPD depending on their circumstances of employment.

It was proposed to invite tenders from the marketplace for the provision of supply teachers and other classroom based staff under a framework arrangement on behalf of schools.

Resolved – That the procurement of supply teachers, as outlined in the report, be approved.

136 (18) MANAGEMENT OF LEARNER DATA AND FINANCIAL MATTERS – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report seeking to consider the regrading of the posts of Finance Officer and Management Information Systems (MIS)/Examinations Officer within the Adult Education Service.

Following the restructuring of the Adult Education Service in 2005 significant progress had been made in managing cost and attracting additional funding to resolve budget shortfalls, ensuring that the service could manage financial risk and maintain financial viability. A new post of MIS/Examinations Officer was created and this post, together with the present Finance Officer, took over the responsibilities of the previous Service Support Manager.

The Head and Deputy Head of Service post were amalgamated resulting in the need for the two posts to take on additional duties that supported this role. The changing nature of service provision and the demands of the Learning and Skills Council for increasing accountability had also resulted in both posts taking greater responsibility for the management of learner data and financial matters.

Resolved – (a) That the proposals to regrade the posts of Finance Officer and Management Information Systems/Examinations Officer, as set out in the report, be endorsed, and (b) that the report be referred to the Corporate Services Cabinet Member for approval.

Note: Reports are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.