Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel – 18 May 2009

PRESENT:  Councillor Wilson in the chair.

Councillors Mrs Bromby (vice-chair), Cawsey, C Sherwood, Sidell, Simpson and Whiteley.

Statutory Co-opted Members: Mrs A Dunkerley (Parent Governor Representative), Mr W Egan and Mrs W Witter (Church Representative)

Councillor Smith attended the meeting in accordance with Procedure 37 (b)

The panel met at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe.

78  DECLARATIONS – OF PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND DECLARATIONS OF WHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS (IF ANY) – There were no declarations of personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

No whip was declared.

79  PUBLIC REQUESTS TO SPEAK – There were no requests received

80  TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING DRAFT REPORTS FOR SUBMISSION TO FULL COUNCIL –

(i)  (1)  Every Child Matters – The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) – The Chair invited members of the panel to comment on the report.

Councillor Mrs Bromby confirmed that at the last meeting of the sub group, Dave Basker, Head of Practice, Children and Families had attended and assisted with the review of the final draft report.  Councillor Cawsey confirmed that throughout the review, Dave Basker had shown an outstanding level of commitment and asked that much deserved recognition be given for his ongoing work with the implementation of the CAF and also the engagement process with partners and multi agencies.

Details of the report were discussed and amendments agreed.

Resolved – (a) That the agreed amendments be made to the report, (b) that the position be noted, and (c) that the final report having been approved by all members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel be submitted to Council.

(ii)  (2)  Play Areas and Open Spaces within North Lincolnshire – The Chair welcomed comments from members of the panel on the final draft of the report.

Details of the report were discussed and amendments agreed.

Resolved – (a) That the agreed amendments be made to the report, and (b) that the final report having been approved by all members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel be submitted to Council.

81  TO DISCUSS THE OPTIONS FOR THE NEXT SCRUTINY REVIEW – The Chair welcomed Wendy Holmes, Education Welfare Officer to the meeting and explained that the panel had considered looking into school absence rates and also exclusion rates within North Lincolnshire, for their next scrutiny review.  Wendy Holmes was invited to provide a brief overview of the absence and exclusion rates within North Lincolnshire.

The panel was advised that there were seven Education Welfare Officers dealing with approximately 500 cases, most of whom were children attending school on an agreed part-time basis to minimise broken attendance rates.  Part of the process involved risk assessment to ascertain why the children were not attending school on a regular basis, which involved the use of the Common Assessment Framework and multi agency working for most cases.  The aim was to improve the percentage of attendance within schools.

Further discussions ensued, covering issues such as lack of substantiated parent/guardian details held within schools, the need for a uniform approach to dealing with holidays taken within term time, the number of fines that had been issued since the start of the new regulations and also the prosecution process.

The panel concluded that there was a great deal of work ongoing to meet the reduced absence targets by 2011, however difficulties were still apparent in certain areas.  Members agreed that this would be the next Scrutiny review for the panel and would cover both absence rates and exclusions within North Lincolnshire.

82  (3) LEADER OF THE COUNCIL’S FORWARD PLAN – MAY TO AUGUST 2009 – The Service Director Legal and Democratic circulated the Leader of North Lincolnshire Council’s Forward Plan for May to August 2009.

The plan contained details of all matters and issues likely to be the subject of key decisions for a period of the next four months, updated on a monthly basis.  Members discussed various items on the Forward Plan.

Resolved – That the position be noted.