(1)  Councillor Dale Smith disclosed an interest in Minute 39 as he was a Trustee of Canterbury Imagination Library.

(2)  Councillor Sajawal disclosed an interest in Minute 39 as he was an employee of Barnados.

(3)  Councillor Peart disclosed an interest in Minute 39 as she worked at Tong School.

(4)  Councillor Ward disclosed an interest in Minute 39 as his wife was an Education Social Worker.

(5)  All those who were School Governors disclosed an interest.

Action:            City Solicitor

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2016 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Fatima Butt – 01274 432227)

Resolved-

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2016 be signed as a correct record.

The Chair commended the Committee Services Officer for her comprehensive minutes.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Fatima Butt - 01274 432227)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

Any referrals that have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda will be reported at the meeting.

No Referrals had been made to the Committee.

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has asked for a regular update on the work of the Schools Forum.  The last update was presented to the Committee on 12 October 2016. The Schools Forum has met once since on 19 October. The decisions list from this meeting is attached at Appendix 1 of the report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services (Document “S”).

                                                            (Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has asked for a regular update on the work of the Schools Forum.  The last update was presented to the Committee on 12 October 2016. The Schools Forum had met once since on 19 October.

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services submitted Document “S” which reported on the principal items that were considered by the Schools Forum on 19 October, which were:

·        Primary and Secondary formula funding arrangements in Bradford for the 2017/18 financial year (the outcomes of our consultation).

·        The consultation on proposals for funding the early years free entitlements in Bradford for the 2017/18 financial year.

·        The consultation on proposals for funding High Needs provisions in Bradford for the 2017/18 financial year.

·        The future position of DSG centrally managed and de-delegated funds.

It was reported that in relation to the Primary and Secondary formula funding arrangements in Bradford, further discussion was now taking place on the values of formulae factors and the value of additional contribution from the Schools Block to High Needs Block pressures.

Members were informed that The Schools Forum had approved the publication of the consultation on the approach to the funding of the early years free entitlements delivered by providers in Bradford (Nursery school, nursery classes and Private, Voluntary and Independent providers) in the 2017/18 financial year. The proposals were put forward in the context of the Government’s proposals for its Early Years Funding Reform (National Funding Formula), an outline of which was provided to the Committee on 12 October. The consultation closed on 28 November 2016.

It was reported that the Authority would more closely assess the potential impact of the proposed funding reduction on our Early Years Foundation Stage outcomes, the financial sustainability of individual providers, the continuation of nursery schools in their current forms, and the sufficiency of free entitlement places.

Members were informed that dialogue was taking place with other local authorities in relation to the Funding Formula Reforms.

Members were informed that the Schools Forum had also approved the publication of the consultation on the approach to the funding of High Needs providers in the 2017/18 financial year. These proposals were put forward in the context of the announcement by Government in July 2016 of the delay in the implementation of National Funding Formula arrangements, with changes now expected to be introduced from April 2018.

An outline of the position of National Funding Formula reforms were provided to the Committee on 12 October.

It was reported that the size and continuing growth of the cost pressure within the High Needs Block was one of key issues for the Local Authority, which the Schools Forum, must manage. The High Needs Block continued to be under significant financial pressure; overspending in 2016/17 in total by £5.6m (10%), and estimated to overspend by a further £5.4m in 2017/18, against the notional DSG budget allocated by the DfE. This was largely the result of demographic stresses, which will continue for a number of years. This overspending  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Under Section 436A of the Education and Inspections Act 1996 all local authorities have a statutory responsibility to:

“make arrangements to enable them to establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of children residing in their area who are not receiving a suitable education. In relation to children, by ‘suitable education’ we mean efficient full-time education suitable to her/his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have.”

The Strategic Director Children’s Services will submit Document “T” which provides information on matters relating to children missing education.

Recommended -

(1)          That the Committee receive and note the report (Document “T”) on matters relating to Children Missing Education.

(2)       That the development of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Team be supported.

(3)          That the work that is being undertaken in raising awareness of Children Missing Education among Council Wardens, the police and other council employees be supported.

(Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

Under Section 436A of the Education and Inspections Act 1996 all local authorities have a statutory responsibility to:

“make arrangements to enable them to establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of children residing in their area who are not receiving a suitable education. In relation to children, by ‘suitable education’ we mean efficient full-time education suitable to her/his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have.”

The Strategic Director Children’s Services submitted Document “T” which provided information on matters relating to children missing education.

It was reported that In order to fulfil its statutory duty the Education Social Worker Service had established the ‘Out of School Register’ where all known pupils missing from education were placed in one of four referral categories until they had been accessed to an appropriate education provision. This did not capture any possible ‘unknown’ children in the district, this number maybe considerable, therefore the Out of School Register will not represent the whole picture for Bradford.

Referral Categories included:

Missing Children – pupils who had gone missing, with their families, from Bradford Schools. The ESWS (Education Social Work Service) had an established information sharing and gathering arrangements with Children’s Social Care, Health Services, Police, Housing and Welfare Benefits. Since 2011 the Service had access to the Council’s Benefits system. This had been extremely useful in tracking and tracing families.

Not on Roll – pupils who had been identified as living in Bradford but not on the roll of a school. These pupils were identified through a variety of sources including Health Services, Police, Children’s Social Care and Education Services.

Removed from Roll – Pupils who had failed to return following a period of Leave of Absence or Extended Leave of Absence. The Pupil Registration Regulations allowed a school to remove a child from the school roll if they failed to return to school within 10 schools days of the agreed return date or after 20 days of unauthorised absence and there was no good reason for the non-return.

Other Local Authority referrals – there was an established network of Named Persons responsible for Children Missing from Education within every LA. The ESWS via this network regularly received referrals from other LA’s informing them of pupils who had or may have moved into the Bradford area.

Members were informed that from January 2017 Bradford Council’s Department for Children’s Services would be part of a pilot with HMRC, whereby the Council would share information of children who were missing. HMRC would cross-reference the address details the Council held of the individual family with those that they had in relation to their receipt of benefits. The first phase of this pilot was rolled out in Sheffield earlier this year, whereby over 40% of their missing family’s whereabouts were located.

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

·        Would be useful to have a breakdown of the age of children missing education as well as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “U”) presents the Committee’s Work Programme 2016-17.

Recommended –

That the Work Programme 2016-17 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

                                                            (Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “U”) presented the Committee’s Work Programme 2016-17.

Resolved –

That the Work Programme 2016-17 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

Action:          Scrutiny Lead