Agenda and minutes

The apologies of Councillor Guthrie were noted.

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings held on 4 June 2020 and 23 July 2020 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 4 June 2020 and 23 July 2020 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report Of Executive Director Children and Learning briefing the Panel on the revised Children and Learning Improvement Plan

The Panel considered the report of the Executive Director Children and Learning briefing the Panel on the revised Children and Learning Improvement Plan.

Councillor Barnes-Andrews, Cabinet Member in attendance as substitute for the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning; Rob Henderson, Executive Director Wellbeing (Children and Learning); John Harrison, Executive Director Finance and Commercialism; and Phil Bullingham, Head of Service – Children’s Social Care were present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED

(i)  That a recommended dataset to enable the Scrutiny Panel to monitor progress in the delivery of the Improvement Plan be presented to the Panel at the December meeting;

(ii)  That the ‘Line of Sight’ document that is in development be considered at the December meeting of the Panel; and

(iii)  That, if available, the feedback from Ofsted be shared with the Panel at, or before, the next meeting of the Panel.

The Panel considered the report of the Director, Legal and Business Operations, providing an overview of performance across Children and Families Services since July 2020.

Councillor Barnes-Andrews, Cabinet Member in attendance as substitute for the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning; Rob Henderson, Executive Director Wellbeing (Children and Learning); Julian Watkins, Interim Head of Service – Safeguarding; Phil Bullingham, Head of Service – Safeguarding; were present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED

(i)  That the planned threshold review be considered at a future meeting of the Panel; and

(ii)  That, in line with (i) above, consideration be given to including measures of quality, caseloads and supervision within the performance dataset to be discussed at the December meeting of the Panel.

To move that in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the exempt appendix to the following item

Appendices 2, 3and 6 are considered to be exempt from general publication based on Category 7a of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.  Category 1 relates to ‘Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual’, whilst Category 7 relates to ‘Information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.’

The Chair moved that in accordance with the Council's Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the exempt appendices to the following item.  It was not appropriate to disclose this information based on Category 7a of paragraph 10.4 of the council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.

RESOLVEDthat having applied the public interest test, the press and public be excluded from the meeting. 

Report of the Director, Legal and Business Operations setting out the provisional 2019/20 Key Stage exam results in Southampton.

The Panel considered the report of the Director, Legal and Business Operations setting out the provisional 2019/20 Key Stage exam results in Southampton.

Councillor Fielker, Cabinet Member in attendance as substitute for the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning; Rob Henderson, Executive Director Wellbeing (Children and Learning) and Derek Wiles, Head of Education and Learning was present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED that, reflecting concerns relating to sustainability of provision, the Panel be kept appraised of significant developments with regards to Key Stage 5 settings in the city.

To move that in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the exempt appendix to the following item

Appendix 1 is considered to be exempt from general publication based on Categories 3 of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.  Category 1 relates to ‘Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual’, whilst Category 7 relates to ‘Information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.’

The Chair moved that in accordance with the Council's Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the exempt appendix to the following item.  It was not appropriate to disclose this information based on Category 3 of paragraph 10.4 of the council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules as the information related to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

RESOLVEDthat having applied the public interest test, the press and public be excluded from the meeting.

To consider the report of the Executive Director Children and Learning outlining the Southampton City Council Fostering Services’ strategy to recruit more in house foster carers.

The Panel considered the report of the Executive Director Children and Learning outlining the Southampton City Council Fostering Services’ strategy to recruit more in house foster carers.

Councillor Barnes-Andrews, Cabinet Member in attendance as substitute for the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning; Rob Henderson, Executive Director Wellbeing (Children and Learning); and Phil Bullingham, Head of Service – Children’s Social Care were present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED

(i)  That consideration be given to providing full time funding for the proposed specialist foster carers; and

(ii)  That examples of the feedback provided by enquirers who did not progress to become foster carers is circulated to the Panel.

The Panel noted the report of the Director of Legal and Business Operations which enabled the Panel to monitor and track progress on recommendations made at previous meetings.