(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.

(1)          Councillor Engel disclosed an interest in the item relating to Special Educational Needs and Disability Reforms (Minute 8) as her child was on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting list.

(2)          Claire Parr disclosed an interest in the item relating to Update following OFSTED Inspection of Children’s Services (Minute 7) as her daughter was a Social Worker.

(3)          Councillor Humphreys disclosed an interest in the item relating to special Educational Needs and Disability Reforms (Minute 8) as her son had an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP)

ACTION: City Solicitor

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February, 20 March and 10 April 2019 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Jill Bell – 01274 432227/4580)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meetings held on 13 February, 20 March and 10 April 2019 be signed as a correct record.

ACTION: City Solicitor

(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.

The following referral has been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda:

Corporate Parenting Panel on Monday, 15 April 2019

Resolved -

That the Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to consider the outcome of the recent Care Quality Commission inspection in relation to CAMHS provision.

ACTION: Interim Strategic Director of Children’s Services/ Bradford District Clinical Commissioning Group non-voting co-opted Member/ Interim Assistant Director (Children’s Social Care Improvement)

The Committee is asked to note the referral listed above and decide how it wishes to proceed, for example by incorporating the item into the work programme, requesting that it be subject to more detailed examination, or refer it to an appropriate Working Group/Committee.

The following referral had been made to this Committee:

Corporate Parenting Panel on 15 April 2019

Resolved -

That the Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to consider the outcome of the recent Care Quality Commission inspection in relation to CAMHS provision.

Resolved –

That the outcome of the recent Care Quality Commission inspection in relation to CAMHS provision be added to the work programme.

ACTION: Scrutiny Lead

(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 2019/2020 municipal year:

NON VOTING CO-OPTED MEMBERS:

Teachers Secondary School Representative: Tom Bright

Teachers Special School Representative: Irene Docherty

Voluntary Sector Representative: Kerr Kennedy

(Jill Bell  - 01274 434580)

Resolved -

That the appointment of the following non-voting co-opted representatives for the 2019/2020 municipal year be recommended to Council :

NON VOTING CO-OPTED MEMBERS:

Teachers Secondary School Representative: Tom Bright

Voluntary Sector Representative: Kerr Kennedy

ACTION: City Solicitor

(Article 6.7.2 of the Constitution)

The Committee is asked to confirm and recommend to Council the appointment of the following voting co-opted representatives for the 2019/2020 municipal year:

Katherine Haskett – Parent Governor Representative from 16 July 2019

FauziaRaza - Parent Governor Representative from 3 September 2019

(Jill Bell  - 01274 432227)

Resolved  -

That the appointment of the following voting co-opted representatives for the 2019/2020 municipal year be recommended to Council :

Katherine Haskett – Parent Governor Representative from 16 July 2019

Fauzia Raza - Parent Governor Representative from 3 September 2019

ACTION: City Solicitor

The Strategic Director Children’s Services will present a report (Document “A”) that provides the Committee with a progress update in respect of improvements identified within the Improvement Plan following the Ofsted inspection of September 2018 and the subsequent Department for Education (DfE) notice to improve issued in December 2018.

More specifically the report will focus on the actions underway in improving management oversight and quality assurance through this workstream of the Improvement Board.

Recommended -

That this Committee note the contents of the report.

(Jenny Cryer – 01274 432438)

The Strategic Director Children’s Services presented a report (Document “A”) that provided the Committee with a progress update in respect of improvements identified within the Improvement Plan following the Ofsted inspection of September 2018 and the subsequent Department for Education (DfE) notice to improve issued in December 2018.

More specifically the report focused on the actions underway in improving management oversight and quality assurance through this work stream of the Improvement Board.

The newly appointed Strategic Director of Children’s Services noted that the authority was keen to learn from best practice across the country.  He added that there was a lot of work to do but that formal plans were in place to make progress.  He accepted that there were still challenges and that the authority was working to direct activity in the right places.

The Chair of the Improvement Board attended the meeting and explained that following the Ofsted judgement that Children’s Social Care services were inadequate the Government had decided not to appoint a Commissioner as it considered that Bradford had the capacity to self improve.  As Chair of the Improvement Board he had been tasked with reporting to the Department for Education to assure it that the Council was doing what was needed to improve and prepare for an inspection of good or better.  He added that the Committee should get to a position where it was able to scrutinise the service and make a judgement for itself regardless of what officers told it.  He referred to the “vital signs” report which contained 200 performance indicators of which there was a short version.  It was being considered by the Improvement Board  to identify how to know if things were going wrong.  The report would start to be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He described it as an early warning system that could be imbedded in the Overview and Scrutiny’s business.  He explained that the Improvement Board had identified 8 to 10 areas of development and the Board was overseeing areas of work.  At the point when these were good or better the Board would like to transfer them to a statutory body such as the Corporate Parenting Panel, the Health and Wellbeing Board, the Community Safety Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, with a recommendation that they be seen at a regular interval.  He suggested that the Chairs of the statutory Committees would have to agree that these areas of work were reported to them on a regular basis.  However, he pointed out that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could call anything in.  He confirmed that the transfer would not happen until the Improvement Board had agreed to it and he noted that the Chair of this Committee was a member of the Improvement Board.

The Chair welcomed the input from the Chair of the Improvement Board and was appreciative of the extra work undertaken by a significant number of people.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the pathway  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The report of the Strategic Director Children’s Services (Document “B”) provides an update on the developments and progress in respect of the delivery of the SEND reforms.  This report is an update to the report presented to the Committee on 13 February 2019. It updates the risk profile and impact of the work undertaken and provides and supports the updated SEND Action Plan.

Recommended -

That the Committee notes the contents of the report.

(Marium Haque – 01274 431078)

The report of the Strategic Director Children’s Services (Document “B”) provided an update on the developments and progress in respect of the delivery of the SEND reforms.  This report was an update to the report presented to the Committee on 13 February 2019. It updated the risk profile and impact of the work undertaken and provided and supports the updated SEND Action Plan.

The Deputy Director of Education reported that compliance rates within the statutory 20 week period for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) had improved but it was still not good enough.  She added that the targeted assessment team had significantly reduced the backlog allowing staff to concentrate on new cases coming in.  All  of the 3,800 cases had been allocated to case workers and the teams were now aligned with schools.  She summarised the progress to date and the areas of risk as detailed in the report.

In response to a question from the Chair she expressed confidence that the issue of the department being spread over two floors would be resolved.

The Chair asked about progress in establishing a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for Health and was advised that there had been a number of issues such as information governance between health and the Council but confidence was expressed that it should be in place by September 2019 and that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be kept up to date on progress.

Responses were given to member questions and member comments were made as follows:

·         Staff had been positive about the restructuring that would increase capacity and reduce workloads which had been welcomed by staff.  Consideration was being given to changing ways of working, some staff would require training and this had been welcomed.  It was accepted that there had been some anxiety because of the changes.

·         Personal budgets were a mandatory requirement.  Increasingly families felt the need to have more choice and to make decisions on how to meet their child’s needs.  It was noted that there had not been a significant closure of respite provision nationally as a consequence to the use of personal budgets.

·         A member referred to an example of a child moving to secondary school where there had been a delay in their EHCP and they had been allocated a school which was a  long way from their home.  She added that the quality of school SENCO’s varied from school to school.  She was extremely concerned that the waiting time for auditory appointments was 6 months and for an ADHD assessment it was 18 months .  In response the Deputy Director of Education reported that an SEN matrix of need had been launched on Bradford Schools on line and the Local Offer website.  All SENCO’s and head teachers had been invited to learn how to use the matrix to understand and meet the needs of children with SEND with or without an EHCP and to make their responsibilities and duties clear.  Over 65% of schools had attended  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee presents the Committee’s Draft Work Programme 2019-20.

Recommended -

(1)          That the Committee agrees the Work Programme

(2)          That the Work programme 2019-20 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

(Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

The following changes were made to the work programme:

·         Post 16 be added to 9 October.

·         Provisional Educational Standards Secondary Schools be added to the work programme.

·         The “vital signs” report be included at the same time as the Improvement Plan updates.

·         At the request of the Corporate Parenting Panel 15 April 2019 the outcome of the recent Care Quality Commission Inspection in relation to CAMHS be added to the work programme.

Resolved -

(1)          That the Committee agrees the Work Programme

(2)          That the Work programme 2019-20 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

ACTION: Scrutiny Lead