No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were received.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meetings held on 22 November and

13 December 2017 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Jill Bell – 01274 434580)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meetings held on 22 November and

13 December 2017 be signed as a correct record.

(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. 

(Jill Bell - 01274 434580)

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

documents.

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has asked for regular updates on the work of Bradford’s Schools Forum.

The last update was presented to the Committee on 22 November 2017. The Schools Forum has met twice since on 6 December 2017 and 10 January 2018. The decisions lists from these meetings are attached at Appendices 1 and 2 to the report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “V”). Due to the timing for publication of this report Appendix 2 will be circulated to Members following its initial publication and further key messages on will be reported verbally directly to the meeting.

The Schools Forum has made its recommendations on the allocation of the 2018/19 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) on 10 January. These recommendations will be presented to the Executive and then to full Council for final decisions on 22 February 2018.

Recommended -

Committee Members are asked to consider and to note the information provided in Document “V”.

(Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee had asked for regular updates on the work of Bradford’s Schools Forum.

The last update was presented to the Committee on 22 November 2017. The Schools Forum had met twice since on 6 December 2017 and 10 January 2018. The decision lists from these meetings were attached at Appendices 1 and 2 to the report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “V”). Due to the timing for publication of this report Appendix 2 was circulated to Members following its initial publication and further key messages on it were reported verbally directly to the meeting.

The Schools Forum had made its recommendations on the allocation of the 2018/19 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) on 10 January. These recommendations would be presented to the Executive and then to full Council for final decisions on 22 February 2018.

Members were advised that in the next three years schools would still need to take corrective action to balance budgets.  Reference was made to the two consultations which were underway on Early Help and the SEND review.  A deficit was being forecast in the High Needs Block in 2018-19 and mitigation activities were being undertaken to reduce this however risks would also have to be managed.

In response to a member question it was noted that the membership of the School’s Forum was reviewed annually.  The next review would be in September 2018.

A member asked about the implications of the cessation of the High Needs Block’s direct funding of the Top Up for pupils in the District PRU.  In response it was stressed that the double funding of children with no Education, Health and Care (EMC) plan in placements could no longer be afforded by the High Needs Block and further discussion was required with the District PRU.

It was noted that channels of communication with primary and secondary head teachers and business managers were being used to convey information.  However caution had to be exercised until any decision was taken at Council on 22 February and it was noted that there was a likelihood that the pay award would be more than 1% and there would be a significant increase in employers contributions to teacher’s costs.

Resolved -

That the information provided in Document “V” be received and noted.

ACTION:        Strategic Director of Children’s Services

The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “X”)provides information on the Children’s Services budget proposals for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Recommended -

That the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the details of the budget saving proposals for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

(Michael Jameson – 01274 431266)

The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “X”) provided information on the Children’s Services budget proposals for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The Strategic Director put the budget proposals into the context of the reduction by 50% of the Council’s budget from 2010 to 2020.  He noted that standards and value for money continued to improve with Bradford having the lowest cost base in Yorkshire and Humber on spending per capita and that there were fewer children in care.  He referred to the additional investment into Bradford which would be used to mitigate austerity.  He noted that despite a significant increase in demand for Children’s and Adult services in the last 12 months Bradford was still in a better position than Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.  He added that despite lobbying that as a Council Bradford needed £5m investment in Social Care nothing had been forthcoming from the Government.

The following questions were asked and answers given:

Q         Are the proposals based on the potential 1% Council Tax increase which had recently been announced ?

A         The proposals were written before the announcement.

Q         What would be the service impact of the proposals ?

A         There are impacts on service users, the community and staff

Q         How much funding will be coming in ?

A         The Council was to allocate £2.8m to manage increased demand.  The      £3.4m Innovation finance was a major boost for Bradford.  Officers          would report to a future meeting on the Opportunity Investment Fund.       European Structural and Investment fund (ESIF) Local Flexibilities             funding was being used to get people into employment.  Reductions in     Early Help were being faced and if more money became available this            would be put into providing front line staff.

Q         What action has been undertaken as a result of the review of front door     customer contact for Children’s Social Care Services ?

A         Some front line activity had been transferred from Children’s to        Corporate Services and 93% of calls were answered first time.  Better             screening of calls had resulted in a saving of 1 social worker.  This had     been in place since the summer and had been well received.

Q         Are any assumptions made in the budget proposals about the number       of looked after children ?

A         Although predictions were difficult it was known that the numbers had       grown which were as a result of children living in poverty, the growing             population of Bradford and unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Q         How do we mitigate against the increase in looked after children ?

A         By meeting their needs in Bradford and keeping them with foster carers     in Bradford where possible.  The number of foster carers had increased by 53 in a year and the number of looked after children in external             placement had reduced which had resulted in a saving of £300,000 in 3             months.  The Innovation fund and the B positive pathways   concentrated on adolescents on the edge of care to keep them in their            own homes and out of care.

Q  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

(Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “Y”) highlighted the progress the Council and partners had made in bringing together existing arrangements for early help and early years services. 

The Council was facing unprecedented pressure on its budgets whilst the demand and costs for services were rising.  Government cuts meant that the resources the Council would have to spend on Prevention and Early Help would reduce by £13.3m or more than one third, from £37.1m in 2016/17 to £23.8m in 2020.  These cuts were in addition to the ones the Council had already had to make.  It meant that from 2010 to 2020, the overall funding the Council had available would have halved whilst demand and costs were increasing.

The Council would only ensure babies, children and young people had a great start and better life chances if the Council drew on the energy, experience and effort of the whole system, particularly the strengths and assets within families themselves and local communities.

The report outlined the need for proposed changes to how services were delivered in order to ensure that resources were targeted at a time of increasing demand to avoid a detrimental impact on outcomes to children.  Services could not continue to be delivered in the way they were now with this level of government cuts. The focus would be on a proposed partnership approach which was more targeted to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for children and young people across the District.

On the 7 November 2017, Executive approved a period of consultation on a proposed new Prevention and Early Help delivery model. The Committee was asked to consider and comment on the report as part of formal consultation.

Committee members made the following comments and posed questions:

·         Parents were attending the wrong consultation events.  Officers endeavoured to look again at the communications to make the difficult events clearer however they acknowledged that there may be an overlap.

·         A member had experience a number of “invest to save” schemes in which there was an injection of funding and resultant savings.  He questioned whether a disinvestment scheme would work.

·         The report says that none of the Children’s Centres will close yet, what does this mean?

·         Implementation is already 18 months behind the date in the  KPMG report.

·         Do not understand how Children’s Centres will be “aligned” with the hubs.

·         Work should be done to increase engagement in Children’s Centres not reduce them.

·         The same level of activity that was presently provided across the district would not continue to be delivered.  Who will be affected and when?

·         In which buildings would the hubs be?

·         There has been a lot of investment in Margaret McMillan Tower but it had been said that there were not many people working in it.

·         Is the model based on North Yorkshire because Bradford is very different.

·         How can people comment on the proposals when they don’t know where the jobs will be?

·         How will transient families be affected by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The shortage of teachers is a continuing challenge for the education sector in England, particularly in certain subjects and regions.  Bradford has no more nor less an issue than the national picture. However, Bradford has been the first local authority to commission a designated post to address these concerns at a district level. This model is now being replicated in other authorities due the publicly acknowledged success of the Bradford campaign to date.

The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “W”) will advise members how the Recruitment & Retention Strategy Manager is addressing the key issues, progress to date and next steps as the project comes to an end in August 18.

Recommended -

That the Committee comments on Document “W”.

(Judith Kirk – 01274 439255)

The shortage of teachers was a continuing challenge for the education sector in England, particularly in certain subjects and regions.  Bradford had no more nor less an issue than the national picture. However, Bradford had been the first local authority to commission a designated post to address these concerns at a district level. This model was now being replicated in other authorities due the publicly acknowledged success of the Bradford campaign to date.

The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “W”) advised members how the Recruitment & Retention Strategy Manager was addressing the key issues, progress to date and next steps as the project came to an end in August 18.

The following were raised:

·         It is not just workload but teacher’s control of the workload that was important.

·         Q How committed were head teachers of schools that were within academy chains that were not Bradford based.  

A They worked with all head teachers.

·         The work being undertaken was innovative and valuable to the authority, it should continue and resources should be found to allow it to.

·         Reference was made to the need to provide support to long serving teachers to allow them a period to refresh  and go on performing at their peek.  It was noted that this was part of the programme.

Resolved –

(1)          That the Council be congratulated on the vision and implementation of the recruitment and retention of teachers programme.

(2)          That the continuation of the project be recommended to the Executive and the opportunity for it to become a traded service be investigated.

ACTION:        Strategic Director of Children’s Services

The report of the Chair (Document “Z”) presents the Committee’s Work Programme 2017-18.

Recommended –

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

(Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

Resolved –

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

ACTION:        Overview & Scrutiny Lead