Local democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - City Hall, Bradford. View directions

Contact: Fatima Butt / Jill Bell 

Items
No. Item

7.

DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST

(Members Code of Conduct - Part 4A of the Constitution)

 

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

 

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

 

Notes:

 

(1)       Members may remain in the meeting and take part fully in discussion and voting unless the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an interest which the Member feels would call into question their compliance with the wider principles set out in the Code of Conduct.  Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

 

(2)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

 

(3)       Members are also welcome to disclose interests which are not disclosable pecuniary interests but which they consider should be made in the interest of clarity.

 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Mullaney disclosed an interest in Minute 11  as her son and nephew worked in Care Services.

 

Action:           City Solicitor

8.

MINUTES

Recommended –

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2017 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

 

(Fatima Butt – 01274 432227)

Minutes:

Resolved-

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2017 be signed as a correct record.

 

Action:           City Solicitor

9.

INSPECTION OF REPORTS AND BACKGROUND PAPERS

(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)

 

Minutes:

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

10.

APPOINTMENT OF NON-VOTING CO-OPTED MEMBERS

(Article 6.7.2 of the Constitution)

 

The Committee is asked to confirm and recommend to Council the appointment of the following non-voting co-opted representatives for the 2016/2017 municipal year:

 

NON VOTING CO-OPTED MEMBER:

 

Irene Docherty – Teachers Special School Representative

 

                                                            (Fatima Butt – 01274 432227)

 

Minutes:

The Committee was asked to confirm and recommend to Council the appointment of Irene Docherty as a Non-voting Teachers Special School Representative for the 2016/17 municipal year.

 

Resolved-

 

That it be recommended to Council that the following be appointed Non Voting Co-opted Member of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year:

 

Teachers Special School Representative:      Irene Docherty

 

Action:           City Solicitor

11.

UPDATED INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS ON THE WORKLOADS OF CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE SERVICES pdf icon PDF 503 KB

Previous Reference:           Minute 51 (2016/17)

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AL” which  presents information on the workload of Children’s Social Work Teams and updates Members on key pressures on the service. The workload analysis is based on activity up to 31st December 2016. Earlier reports presented to the Committee have confirmed strong, robust and well managed Social Work Services for Children and Young People in the District.  Information within this report therefore examines any changes in workload and demand on resources since that date.

 

Recommended-

 

That the Committee consider further reports in the 2017-18 work programme to ensure the continuation of safe workloads and practice into the future given the current financial climate.

 

                                                (Di Watherston/Cat Moss – 01274 437077)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AL” which  presented information on the workload of Children’s Social Work Teams and updated Members on key pressures on the service. The workload analysis was based on activity up to 31st December 2016.

 

Earlier reports presented to the Committee had confirmed strong, robust and well managed Social Work Services for Children and Young People in the District.  Information within this report therefore examined any changes in workload and demand on resources since that date.

 

It was reported that:

 

·         There were 186 Social Workers in Children’s Social Care directly employed by the Council. This was a reduction since December 2015 when there were 208.

·         The significant change in number of social workers was due the change in how the service was now calculating staffing numbers. This would now be replicated in future reports. There were 44 Community Resource Workers (CRWs).

·         At 31st December 2016 there were 10 agency Social Workers and no agency CRWs being utilised within the social work services. This was a reduction from December 2015 when there were 12 agency SWs and 1 agency CRW.

§  Bradford had 46% of Social Workers who were experienced social workers and had high levels of experience and training. This percentage had dropped slightly over the past year, from 48% in December 2015.

§  The average caseload per full time equivalent  (FTE) Social Worker was 16.1 cases, an  increase from 12.7 in December 2015. Within the long term Social Work teams this figure rose to 17.6 cases per FTE (compared to 15.4 in December 2015).

§  The average caseload per full time equivalent Community Resource Worker was 12.4 (a decrease from 12.6 at December 2015). The most recent published figures from the DfE (2014-15) showed a national average of 15 cases per FTE social worker and a regional average of 12 cases; the average across our statistical neighbours was 16 cases.

§  48% of looked after children (LAC) cases were held by an experienced social worker. The average number of LAC cases held by each FTE worker was 6.6, rising to 14.5 cases for the dedicated Looked After Children Teams. This was an increase from December 2015 when the average number of cases held was 6.0 (14.1 in the LAC teams).

·        The overall trend in the numbers of children who were the subject of a child protection plan had been gradually rising over the last year, after a sharp fall between summer 2014 and May 2015; there were 535 at 31st December 2016 compared to 484 in December 2015.

 

 

 

 

·        The percentage of Child Protection Plans lasting for 2 years or more had improved over the last year, with 3.4% in the year to 31st December 2016; this compares to 3.7% in the year to 31st December 2015.

§  The number of looked after children had seen a sharp rise in the last 12 months. The number of children being looked after was 928 at 31st December  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

HMRC CHILDREN MISSING EDUCATION DATA SHARING PILOT pdf icon PDF 170 KB

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AM” which reports that as part of the Local Authorities statutory responsibilities around locating Children who are Missing in Education (CME), the Education Safeguarding Team have entered into a data sharing pilot with HMRC, in order to reduce the number of CME cases the Council holds. This is the second phase of this pilot; the first took place with Sheffield Local Authority, whereby they located over 40% of their CME using the data sharing agreement.

 

Recommended-

 

That the Committee notes the report as an update to the HMRC pilot on matters relating to Children Missing Education.

 

                                                            (Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

 

Minutes:

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AM” which reported that as part of the Local Authorities statutory responsibilities around locating Children who were Missing in Education (CME), the Education Safeguarding Team had entered into a data sharing pilot with HMRC, in order to reduce the number of CME cases the Council holds.

 

This was the second phase of this pilot; the first took place with Sheffield Local Authority, whereby they located over 40% of their CME using the data sharing agreement. Leeds, Harrow and Lancashire were also involved in the pilot with HMRC.

It was reported that this was the first time that data had been shared with the authority , and until now officers not been able to obtain address details of families who were in receipt of Child Benefit. The pilot would run from January to June 2017.

Members were informed that the authority would share details with HMRC of those children who were missing from education (CME) after officers had exhausted all enquiries when trying to find them. HMRC would then check if the family were in receipt of benefits, and if the address they held was different from the one that the authority held, they would share these details with the authority in view of trying to locate the children. If the address was the same, HMRC would then write to the family advising they had reason to believe they were no longer living at the address they held, asking them to get in touch as well as being at risk of losing their benefit payments.

Members were informed that the pilot commenced on 9th January 2017  and the authority had so far sent in two data returns consisting of 15 cases. The authority had one return with a possible address and one that officers were closing as enquires exhausted, as HMRC had identified them as left the country. Data returns were submitted on a weekly basis.

It was reported that details of 59 families had been passed onto HMRC; the authority had been passed details of alternative addresses of five families and so far had located four of them, some were outside this local authority and others were abroad.

It was reported that HMRC had already made saving of £300,000 from fraudulent claims.

It was reported that Sheffield shared the information received from HMRC with their Housing Benefit and Council Tax Department where as this authority did not and was something officers would be looking into.

The Chair emphasised that from the Committee’s point of view, this was mainly about finding children who were missing education but any savings would be beneficial.

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that due to data protection issues, the authority was unable to share details of the families with other local authorities not involved in the pilot.

Members felt that the Committee should lobby the local MP to have this pilot more widely extended.

Resolved-

 

(1)          That officers advise the Committee as soon as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS 2016 - EARLY YEARS TO KEY STAGE 5 pdf icon PDF 675 KB

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AN” which provides a summary of performance for children and young people attending Bradford Schools at the following key stages:

 

·         Early Years Foundation Stage – 5 year olds

·         Key Stage 1 – 7 year olds

·         Key Stage 2 – 11 year olds

·         Key Stage 4 – 16 year olds

·         Key Stage 5 – 18 year olds

 

Recommended-

 

(1)       That the revised report on the performance of Bradford’s Children and Young People in Key Stage tests and exams for 2016 be received.

 

(2)       That further reports be provided to the Committee as the Local Authority receives additional published data from the Department for Education.

 

                                                            (Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

 

Minutes:

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AN” which provided a summary of performance for children and young people attending Bradford Schools at the following key stages:

 

·         Early Years Foundation Stage – 5 year olds

·         Key Stage 1 – 7 year olds

·         Key Stage 2 – 11 year olds

·         Key Stage 4 – 16 year olds

·         Key Stage 5 – 18 year olds

 

It was reported that:

 

·         Outcomes in Early Years had improved over recent years and at a faster rate than national.

 

·         The percentage of Year 1 pupils achieving the required standard in phonics continued to improve in 2016.

 

·         In 2016, Bradford’s Key Stage 1 (KS1) pupils had performed slightly below national in reading, writing and mathematics on the new expected standard performance measures.

 

·         At the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) in Bradford, pupils’ results were below the national averages on the new expected standard for reading, writing and mathematics (RWM) combined and separately.

 

·         Bradford’s KS2 pupils made above average progress in writing and maths in 2016 but were below average in reading.

 

·         The number of primary schools below the Floor Standard was 6 (4% of schools).  There were 15 schools below the Floor Standard in 2015 and 23 in 2014.

           

·         In 2016, pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in Bradford achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 45.7, slightly below national.  Bradford’s Progress 8 score was below average. 

 

·         Outcomes at Key Stage 5 in Bradford schools had been maintained in line with last year.

 

Members were informed that while in many areas results in the district had improved over the past year, boys still performed much worse than girls, and reading levels in Bradford were still too low.

 

It was also reported that:

 

·         in early years 66 per cent of children achieved a “good” level of development, compared to 69% nationally.  In 2014 the gap was five percent.

·         At Key Stage 2, the percentage of Bradford pupils meeting expected standards in reading, writing and Maths was 47 per cent, compared with the national average of 53 per cent.

·         The largest performance gap between Bradford and the national average was the percentage of pupils meeting expected standards on their reading test; 57 per cent of Bradford pupils compared with 66 per cent nationally – a gap of nine per cent.

·         The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in the writing assessment was the same nationally; Bradford leapt from 140th out of 152 local authorities fro writing in 2015 to 81st; last years figures also showed that Bradford pupils made better than average progress in writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1.

·         At GCSE level the percentage of students getting A-C in English and Maths was 52.1 % last year up 4.3% on 2015 results.

 

Members were informed that there was still a lot of development needed, especially in Key Stage 4 and 5. People were working very hard to deliver big changes.

 

It was reported that the Education Improvement Board met 4  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.