Local democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

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

Contact: Fatima Butt / Jill Bell 

Items
No. Item

14.

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:

(1)  Councillor Engel disclosed an interest in Minute 80 as one of her children participated in youth activities.

 

(2)  Kerr Kennedy disclosed an interest in Minute 80 as he was a Trustee of the Bradford Youth Development Partnership.

 

(3)  Councillor Dale Smith disclosed an interest in Minute 81 as he used to be a Governor of Immanuel College.

 

Action:           City Solicitor

15.

MINUTES

Recommended –

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January and 14 February  2017 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

 

(Fatima Butt – 01274 432227)

Minutes:

Resolved-

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January and 14 February 2017 be signed as a correct record.

16.

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.

 

17.

REFERRALS TO THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

The Committee is asked to note any referrals that have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda.

 

Minutes:

No referrals had been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda.

18.

THE YOUTH OFFER IN THE DISTRICT pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Members are reminded that the Assistant Director for Neighbourhood and Customer Services presented a report to the meeting of this Committee on 12th April 2016. This report outlined plans for establishing a new Youth Offer for the Bradford District in response to the recommendations made in the Youth Offer Review Report produced in November 2014.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AO” which reports on the progress made in relation to the establishment of the new Youth Offer in the District.

 

Recommended-

 

(1)     That the Work undertaken by the Youth Offer Working Group and the districts Youth Sector be welcomed.

 

(2)     That the Committee considers and comments on the shared direction of travel and of the continued commitment from the Youth Sector to work together, and to do things differently.

 

(3)     That the work already undertaken around Youth Voice be noted and the Committee commits to formalising Youth Voice arrangements in respect of Overview and Scrutiny work going forward.

 

(4)     That the achievements of the Youth Offer Working Group as outlined in the Action Plan be noted and a further update be submitted to the Committee in 12 months time.

 

                                                            (Heather Wilson – 01274 431781)

 

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

Members were reminded that the Assistant Director for Neighbourhood and Customer Services presented a report to the Committee on 12th April 2016. This report outlined plans for establishing a new Youth Offer for the Bradford District in response to the recommendations made in the Youth Offer Review Report produced in November 2014.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AO” which reported on the progress made in relation to the establishment of the new Youth Offer in the District.

 

An update version of the Youth Offer for the Bradford West Ward was tabled at the meeting.  Members were informed that the Youth Offer for the district comprised of 5 key elements; information and advice, voice and influence, open access, targeted provision and active citizens and young people’s contribution towards community life (further details of the 5 key elements were detailed on pages 3 to 9 of Document “AO”).

 

It was reported that in strengthening the offer around information and advice a web based app would be rolled out across the district in April 2017.  Young people had worked with the Youth Service to shape the app and engagement would continue through the roll out of the app.

 

Members were informed that using the Youth Voice Framework the service had ran 15 district wide cross sector youth events which had influenced key plans around services for young people.

 

A DVD was shown to the Committee on the experiences of young people growing up North exploring the impact on where young people live and their aspirations and successes. The launch of the short film took place in December 2016 and was the start of the voice and influence by Bradford’s young people on the Northern Powerhouse developments.

 

Members felt the film was not as enthusiastic as it could have been.

 

It was reported that the Youth Service had maintained partnership working with voluntary sector provision that had enabled the continuation of provisions for LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) young people.

 

A number of young people who attend the Phoenix transgender group attended the meeting and spoke about their positive experience and the valuable support they had received since attending the Phoenix Group.

 

In response to Members’ questions it was reported that young people found out about the Phoenix Group through various means such as through friends and different youth groups.

 

It was reported that information on the Phoenix Group and other groups would be available on the District’s Youth Offer App.

 

 

Members were informed that details on the Phoenix Group and the Sound Group was available/advertised at the Annual Bradford Pride festival.

 

A number of volunteers from Culture Fusion attended the meeting and spoke about their positive experiences and how they supported other young people through volunteering since being involved with the Youth Service and completing the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

 

Members commended the work being undertaken by Youth Workers and the young people and the contribution that both were making to Bradford.

 

In response to a Member’s question in getting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

19.

SCHOOL CAPITAL FUNDING AND SCHOOL EXPANSION PROGRAMME 2017-2018 pdf icon PDF 323 KB

The Council has a programme of school expansions which it is delivering to ensure that all Children have a school place available. To date many of the expansion projects have been at primary school level but secondary Schools are now been expanded as the increased pupil numbers move through from primary to secondary schools.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AP” which details the school expansion projects the Authority is currently undertaking.

 

Recommended-

 

That the report be noted.

 

                                                                        (Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

Minutes:

 

The Council had a programme of school expansions which it was delivering to ensure that all Children had a school place available. To date many of the expansion projects had been at primary school level but secondary Schools were now been expanded as the increased pupil numbers move through from primary to secondary schools.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AP” which detailed the school expansion projects the Authority was currently undertaking.

 

It was reported that:

 

·         The Education Funding Agency had announced that £3.7 million would be allocated as the Schools Capital Maintenance Grant for repairs to schools.

·         There was a reduction on the previous allocation of the Schools Capital Maintenance Grant due to a number of schools becoming academies.

·         The Basic Need funding allocated for 2019-20 was £1.1 million for primary school expansions which was a significant drop from last year; the money allocated was for 91 primary places approximately.

·         No money had been allocated for secondary school expansions; a meeting should be held with DfE in April in relation to the funding needs for secondary schools and the way that had been calculated.

 

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

 

·         What difficulties did not knowing location of free schools in time pose? What difficulties did Schools not being in locations where they should be pose? The travel distance to free schools; most children attending the Dixons Schools did not live in the locality.

·         Was physical space per child considered when planning for places?

·         Did the aspect of funding include accessibility to schools such as children with wheelchairs etc?

·         Did the funding take into account PRU’s (Pupil Referral Units)?

·         What were the next steps for secondary school planning?

·         What happened if a sponsor of an academy or free school withdrew?

 

In response to Members’ questions it was reported that:

 

·         Free schools had their own admission policies; it was parental preference for sending a child to a particular school; primary schools were generally within the local area.

·         More discussions were taking place with free school sponsors and academies; free schools did present a huge challenge as previously the authority decided where a school should be located; until the authority knows where a free school would be cited it could not start planning.

·         Space allocated for each child was undertaken through government guidelines (Building Bulletin – design guide for safety in schools); free schools did not have to follow Building Bulletin guidance.

·         There was no SEN Capital funding; authorities had to comply with the DDAct (Disability Discrimination Act); challenges from older schools had not been taken into account; recent notification was to use basic need funding to support SEN work.

·         There was no separate funding allocated for Pupil Referral Units.

·         It was difficult to plan for secondary places as the authority was still not made aware of where the new girls academy would be sited? as well as the issue of funding for secondary schools.

·         Free schools and academies were the responsibility of the Regional Schools Commissioner;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

20.

SCHOOLS FORUM UPDATE pdf icon PDF 191 KB

The Committee has asked for regular updates to be provided on the work of the Schools Forum.

 

The last update was presented to the Committee on 24 January 2017.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AQ” which reports that the Schools Forum has met once on 15 March 2017. The decisions list from the 15 March meeting is attached at Appendix 1 to the report.The 2nd spring term Schools Forum meeting is typically low key in terms of agenda items, falling between the Dedicated Schools Grant setting process and the presentation of more detailed information about the position of school balances, which is available following the closure of accounts in May. As a result, Document “AQ” is a short update report.

 

Recommended-

 

That the information provided in Document “AQ” be noted.

 

                                                            (Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

. 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had asked for regular updates to be provided on the work of the Schools Forum.

 

The last update was presented to the Committee on 24 January 2017.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AQ” which reported that the Schools Forum had met once on 15 March 2017. The decisions list from the 15 March meeting was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.The 2nd spring term Schools Forum meeting was typically low key in terms of agenda items, falling between the Dedicated Schools Grant setting process and the presentation of more detailed information about the position of school balances, which was available following the closure of accounts in May. As a result, Document “AQ” was a short update report.

 

Members were informed that the Authority was still wanting the outcome of the National Funding Formula Consultation response.

 

Resolved-

 

That the information provided in the report be noted.

 

                                                                       

21.

RESOLUTION TRACKING 2016-17 pdf icon PDF 164 KB

The Chair of the Committee will submit Document “AR” which details the progress made against the resolutions passed by the Committee during the 2016-17 municipal year.

 

Recommended-

 

That the Committee comments on areas where resolutions do not appear to have been acted upon or feel insufficient progress has been made.

 

                                                            (Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair of the Committee submitted Document “AR” which detailed the progress made against the resolutions passed by the Committee during the 2016-17 municipal year.

 

Resolved-

 

The Chair thanked all officers and Members of the Committee for their support  throughout the year.