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144 (26) OFSTED INSPECTIONS – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report on the outcome of Ofsted inspections at Luddington and Garthorpe and Saint Norbert’s Catholic Primary Schools.

The schools had been inspected under the Section 5 Ofsted inspection schedule for schools. 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.

145 (27) APPOINTMENT OF EDUCATION APPEALS PANEL MEMBER – The Service Director Legal and Democratic submitted a report seeking approval to appoint an independent member to the Education Appeals Panel to hear appeals in respect of school admissions, exclusions and reinstatements.

Parents were entitled to express a preference for the school they would like their child to attend. Parents could appeal to an independent Panel if they were refused a place they wanted or were dissatisfied with the place offered by the Local Education Authority.

Parents could also appeal against any decision of the governing body under regulation 5 of The Education (Pupil Exclusions and Appeals) (Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2002 not to reinstate a pupil who had been permanently excluded from a school maintained by the council.

Councils responsible for making arrangements for appeals had to advertise for lay members under regulations made by the Secretary of State (The Education (Lay Members of Appeals Committees) Regulations 1994) and had to consider appointing to appeal panels persons who responded to such advertisements.

Following an advertisement in the council’s Direct magazine the Cabinet Member formally appointed three new members in January 2009 (minute 95 refers). Another ad hoc appointment was made during 2009, and subsequently a further application had been received.

Resolved – That approval be given to appoint the following applicant with a view to the new member receiving training and being gradually introduced onto panels as outlined in paragraph 3.4 of the report:

Janet Lyus

146 (28) APPROVAL OF TAXI PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT – The Service Director Children and Young People submitted a report seeking approval to renew the taxi procurement framework agreement in order to efficiently engage private hire, hackney carriage and psv operators to transport children and young people.

A framework agreement was a general term for arrangements with providers that set out terms and conditions under which specific purchases that could be made throughout the term of the agreement. The three year term of the current contract ended in August 2010 and arrangements were being made for its replacement. As for the present contract, the new arrangements would be separated into:

• Long term/planned journeys (long term framework list)
• Ad-hoc/unplanned journeys (ad hoc framework list)

The council’s financial regulations required Cabinet Member approval to undertake procurement exercises if the cumulative cost over the term of the contract was more than the council’s threshold.

It was a statutory requirement that, for contracts of that value, the council had to advertise in the Official Journal of the European Union and followed the EU Procurement Regulations and Corporate Procurement Regulations.

The service provided by the taxi companies was essential as it offered the flexible transport needed by the children and young people to access both education and care related activities.

Resolved – That the procurement exercise to engage private hire, hackney carriage and psv operators to offer vehicles to enable children and young people to access education services during the period September 2010 and August 2013 be approved.

147 (29) INSPECTION OF CONTACT, REFERRAL AND ASSESSMENT – The Service Director Children and Young People submitted a report informing the Cabinet Member of the outcome of the unannounced inspection of Contract, Referral and Assessment in November 2009.

Ofsted inspected the above service under section 138 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and was the first inspection of the service.

The inspection was carried out under the statutory responsibilities given and assessed the service against statutory guidance that underpinned the work of the service including the National Assessment Framework, Working Together and the relevant legislation.

The inspectors were on site for two days and gathered evidence from a variety of sources, from a range of professionals working within and in support of the contract, referral and assessment function and purpose.

The report gave details of the inspectors’ findings, including particular strengths and areas for development.

Resolved – That the outcomes of the inspection be acknowledged.

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).

148 (30) CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE SENIOR MANAGEMENT SUPPORT TEAM REVIEW – The Service Director Children and Young People submitted a report seeking endorsement of the changes required to align the management support team to the new structure of first and second tier management, and maintain adequate support to third tier management.

In June 2009, the Shaping the Council Committee approved the deletion of the posts of Service Director Children, Strategy and Partnerships and Service Director Learning, Schools and Communities and the creation of one post of Service Director Children’s Services acting as Statutory Director of Children’s Services.

It was agreed that a more detailed review of the senior management structure of the new service be undertaken, phase 1 of the review had now been completed. The PA/secretarial support now required aligning to the new senior management structure.

The report gave full details of the review, including financial implications.

Resolved – (a) That the review of the Senior Management Support Team, as set out in the report and accompanying appendices, be endorsed, and (b) that the report be forwarded 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