Archived decisions

p F. Allgood

p C. Bailey

p D. Blampied

p Mrs E.M. Byrom

p B.D. Dash

a K. Evans

p Mrs J.K. Frankum

p K. Gill

p G.M. Hockley

p R.J. Kimber

p Mrs A. McNair Scott

p Mrs P.G. Peskett

p S.H. Reid

p J.K. West

a P.A. West

p S. Wheale

ACTION

111

APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Councillors K. Evans, Mrs. P.A. West, Mr. T. Blackshaw, Mrs U. Topp and Mr. M. White.

112

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code.

Councillors Allgood, Dash and Gill each declared a personal interest on Minute 116, being governor representatives at South Downs, Totton and Brune Park Colleges respectively.

113

MINUTES

The Minutes of the Committee held on 2 July 2008 were signed as a correct record.

Matter arising thereon:

Minute 105 - Scrutiny of Short Break, Palliative Care and Carer Services for Children with Severe Learning Disabilities

Councillor Mrs. A. McNair Scott reported on a statement from the Hampshire PCT in response to those actions which this Committee had invited the Hampshire Overview and Scrutiny Committee to follow up. It mentioned that the Hampshire PCT was working closely with the County Council to improve services for disabled children. It was also in partnership with the Council in relation to a needs assessment and developing a joint commissioning strategy for services for children with disabilities, including a short break plan. The statement forms part of the Item 5 report to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting of 23 September 2008.

114

CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman congratulated HC3S, the County Council's Catering Service on being the first in the country to receive the Highest Award for Excellence in School Catering by the Hyperactive Children's Support Group (HAGS). To gain this award, the HC3S menus and ingredients for its primary school meals had been audited and shown not to contain any of the 66 additives, which HAGS recommends should be avoided as they may cause either health or behaviour linked problems for sensitive children.

The Committee noted that John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services would be giving his presentation about "Schools in the 21^st Century" to the County Council's Members Briefing Session on 27 January 2009. The date was noted by Members.

The Chairman reported the intention to convene a half-day workshop on "Prevention and Management of Risk". The purpose of this was to progress the earlier recommendations of the Policy and Resources Select Committee on this matter. Members of the original Working Group were to re-convene for the workshop and Members of this Committee would be invited to attend.

Members felt it was an appropriate time to ask the Director of Children's Services to prepare an updated version of the existing glossary of terms used by Children's Services in their reports to the Committee and this was agreed.

115

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED YOUTH SERVICE

The Director of Children's Services gave a verbal update on this item . The update highlighted a variety of steps taken since 1 April 2008 to integrate the Service and included information about management and staffing issues in general, the establishment of two new Manager posts for East Hampshire and Andover, news about the new training programme, current vacancies, and recent deployment of staff within Schools and Colleges. The Committee welcomed the progress made and felt it would be helpful if the Director could provide a short briefing note for Members' information summarising the main points of the verbal presentation. The Chairman also requested that the briefing note include details about those young people in Hampshire who drop-out of the education system.

Pete Marsh (Children's Services Department)

116

TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITIES FOR 16-19 FUNDING AND PLANNING FROM THE LSC TO THE LA

The Committee considered the briefing note by the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) setting out the issues to be addressed in planning for the transfer of 16-19 responsibilities from the LSC to local authorities from 2010. As part of the same item, Members also received information about `Raising the Participation Age', involving new legislation which, subject to approval by Parliament, will increase the minimum age at which young people can leave learning to 17 from 2013 and to 18 from 2015.

There followed a detailed discussion which dealt with progress to date and with the funding, governance and planning issues still being considered on a local, regional and sub-regional basis. The Director of Children's Services reported in further detail on some of the key outstanding issues. Members noted that they would be kept informed of developments.

117

RECRUITMENT OF FIELD SOCIAL WORKERS

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the position in relation to the recruitment and retention of social workers as at the end of August 2008.

In discussion a number of points were clarified and the Committee congratulated the officers on the steps being taken to improve recruitment and retention. Members welcomed the news that the social work vacancy rate in Summer 2007 had been reduced from 32.72 to the present 11.72 full time equivalent posts.

118

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS - UPDATE TO THE CHILDREN'S SPECIAL NEEDS TASK AND FINISH GROUP

The Committee considered the briefing note of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) giving an update on resourcing and other issues identified by the Children's Special Needs Task and Finish Group and communicated to this Committee in October 2007.

In discussion, the Director of Children's Services answered Members' questions. The Committee noted those steps being taken to deal with the pressures for Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals which continued to rise in number. With regard to the Inclusion Partnership Agreements (IPAs) mentioned in the report, it was suggested by a Member that a new Children's Services web page might be a useful way of making parents aware of IPAs as a positive alternative to requests for statutory assessments, especially at key transitional phases (Year R, Year 3 and Year 7). Members were also interested to learn more about progress regarding unresolved issues around IT and data input in relation to the Special Educational Needs Service. Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Director of Children's Services arrange for a new Children's Services web-page with details about the Inclusion Partnership Agreements and the way in which they operate.

(b) That the Director of Children's Services prepare a report for the next meeting of the Committee on progress in relation to the new software aimed at improving the reporting facilities for the Special Educational Needs Service.

Felicity Dickinson (Children's Services Department)

119

PROGRESS WITH THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLEDGE FOR CHILDREN IN CARE

The Committee considered the report of the Scrutiny Officer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on progress with the development and roll-out of the Pledge, including the outcomes of the workshop with the Care Council held on 9 September 2008. Members noted an amendment to paragraph 3.3.2 to read `a pupil not on roll in a Hampshire School, regardless of their care authority'.

The Committee welcomed the progress with delivering and implementing the Pledge and highlighted several points meriting action at this stage.

Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Executive Member for Children and Families investigates how Hampshire's children in care can communicate effectively with their Corporate Parents using a postcard system.

(b) That the Executive Member for Children and Families considers how progress in implementing the Pledge can be measured through a set of tangible performance indicators.

(c) That the Executive Member for Children and Families investigates how ICT can be further improved to facilitate communication between Hampshire's children in care and their Corporate Parents, including consideration of the development of a Care Council website.

Gill Horrobin

(Children's Services Department)

120

REVIEW OF SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS

It was reported that a comprehensive response had been received from the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) following the recommendations of the Review of Prevention and Management of School Exclusions. So as to finalise this piece of work, the Review Group was to reconvene to consider their response in detail and a report showing the Executive Lead Member's comments, and outlining any further actions and ongoing reports for monitoring would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee.

121

ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMME

Members received the list of topics identified by the Committee for scrutiny in their 2008/09 work programme. It was noted that "Tackling Underachievement of Schools" had inadvertently been included as one of the topics and should be deleted from the list.