Mr I Keith.

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services for the service for the period 1 April 2015 to 4 March 2016.

DECIDED:

(a) That the budget position be noted;

(b) That the carry forward of £500,000 of resources to 2016/17 to meet the costs of the relocation of Extended New Directions and other property work as detailed in paragraph 3.8 of the report be approved; and

(c) That it be noted that there had been net budget realignments of £168,812 processed since the last report primarily related to transfers to the corporate landlord partially offset by additional resources released by the Scottish Government in relation to the Youth Employment Strategy.

SEDERUNT

Councillor J Sharkey entered the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1 April 2015 to 4 March 2016.

Councillor Henry, seconded by Councillor M Macmillan moved that the report be noted.

Councillor Lawson, seconded by Councillor Cameron, moved as an amendment that the Board agrees to establish a sub committee of 5 members (2 Labour 2 SNP and 1 Independent) to meet as required to produce a detailed report on the Riverbrae School project for consideration at the next Education and Children Policy Board.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment: Councillors Cameron, Lawson, Mack, McQuade, Mylet and Perrie.

The following members voted for the motion: Councillors B Brown, Clark,Glen, Henry, M Macmillan, I McMillan, Murrin, J Sharkey, M Sharkey and Williams.

The following members abstained: Reverend Clark and Mr J Nellaney.

6 members having voted for the amendment, 10 members having voted for the motion and 2 members having abstained, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the service improvement plan (SIP) outturn report for the service to 31 March 2016.

The   SIP detailed the key challenges facing the service and outlined the range of activities the service would aim to achieve during 2015/16. The SIP also contained the service scorecard which detailed how the performance of the service would be monitored going forward. Progress on the implementation of the SIP was monitored and reported to the Board on a six-monthly basis to allow the Board to review progress. This report updated the progress which had been achieved with the implementation of the SIP to the end of March 2016.

The Director of Children’s Services gave a presentation to the Board.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress made with implementation of the 2015/16 to 2017/18 service improvement plan actions be noted;

(b) That the performance of Children’s Services as detailed in the balanced scorecard be noted; and

(c) That it be agreed that progress on service improvement plan implementation be reviewed in November 2016.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the annual health and safety report 2015/16 and action plan 2016/17.

The annual health and safety report formed Appendix 1 to the report and set out the arrangements for the management of health and safety within the service and demonstrated the service’s commitment to continuous improvement in health and safety performance.

The action plan formed Appendix 2 to the report and detailed the actions which the service aimed to take by March 2017 to consolidate and improve health and safety practice.      

DECIDED:   

(a)  That the annual health and safety report 2015/16, which formed Appendix 1 to the report, be noted; and

(b)  That the health and safety action plan for 2016/17, which formed Appendix 2 to the report, be approved. 

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Children’s Services risk management plan for 2016/17. The risk management plan and the risk register were appended to the report. The plan identified the key risks faced by the service together with management action to minimise the risks.

DECIDED:  That the Children’s Services risk management plan for 2016/17 be approved. 

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the inspection by the Care Inspectorate of individually-registered services.

The report intimated that social care services had been subject historically to a range of in-depth and rigorous inspections. Renfrewshire Council children’s social care currently provided nine registered services which were subject to inspection. These services would be assessed against four themes: quality of care and support; environment; staffing; and management and leadership, and would be awarded gradings of one to six with one being unsatisfactory and six being excellent. The report summarised the latest inspections.

Going forward, opportunities to provide updates on inspections across the whole of Children’s Services would be considered and reports aligned to reflect the developing structural and governance arrangements.

DECIDED:

(a) That the strong performance of Renfrewshire Council Children’s Services registered services be noted;

(b) That it be noted that all services had been graded as Good or Very Good for Quality of Care and Support; and

(c) That it be noted that the reporting of inspection updates relating to the entirety of Children’s Services was being considered for future Board meetings.

Under reference to item 3 of the Minute of the meeting of this Board held on 5 November 2015 there was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to issues raised and comments made in the course of the consultation exercise and recommendations to progress the proposals.

The report also highlighted an omission in the original proposal document to consult on the catchment review.  Education Scotland had notified the Council that Park Lane in Ferguslie had not be recorded on the list of streets affected by the proposal.  The details of the omission and the actions taken to address the inaccuracy were detailed in section 6 of the report and a revised list of streets affected by the proposal formed Appendix 5 to the report.

The report intimated that, in line with legislative requirements, a formal consultation on the proposal for a catchment review affecting Glencoats and West Primary Schools had been held. Responses to the proposal were detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.  Education Scotland had also been consulted on the proposal in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 and the response received was supportive of the Council’s proposal and was attached to the report as Appendix 4.

DECIDED:

(a) That the issues raised through the formal consultation, detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, be noted;

(b) That the comments made by Education Scotland in relation to the educational benefits of the proposals, detailed in Appendix 4 to the report, be noted;

(c) That it be noted that Park Lane in Ferguslie had been omitted from the original list of addresses affected by this catchment review.  The revised list including Park Lane formed Appendix 5 to the report;

(d) That it be noted that all properties on Park Lane were included in the revised catchment area for Glencoats Primary School;

(e) That it be noted that Education Scotland had made no representation relating to this omission;

(f) That it be noted that having reviewed the proposal, with regard to the representations received and the report from Education Scotland, no changes had been made to this proposal;

(g) That the revised catchment arrangements affecting Glencoats and West Primary Schools be approved; and

(h) That it be noted that the catchment changes would be implemented from August 2016.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to proposed developments in residential care provision.

The report intimated that Renfrewshire had radically reviewed and upgraded its residential estate over the course of the last decade by reducing the number of registered placements provided from 58 to 33, investing in two state of the art houses and re-launching the Philosophy of Care, a relationship and trauma-informed method of intervention.  Renfrewshire currently had five residential children’s houses and at the present time there were 28 children and young people accommodated across these establishments.

The report outlined a proposal to develop a close-support model of care within Renfrewshire, based around the recognition that some young people who entered residential child care required to be placed in a smaller group with higher staff to young people ratios.  Initially the close-support model would be developed within one of the council’s existing children’s houses whilst a purpose-design resource was built. It was proposed that the close-support model would begin in Roneil Children’s House and that once the new purpose-designed resource had been built, Roneil would close.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress being made within Children’s Services to deliver high quality services and accommodation for children and young people be noted;

(b) That the development of a close-support model of care as outlined in the report be approved;

(c) That the decision of the Leadership Board in December 2015 to approve the construction of new-build accommodation to house the new service be noted and agree that the capital plan be amended to reflect build costs; and

(d) That the closure of Roneil Children’s House following the transfer of the close-support service to new build accommodation be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

The report intimated that the intention of the Act was to bring about transformational changes to working practices across a wide range of public bodies. The report detailed the implications of the Act and the progress being made in implementing the new duties.

DECIDED:    That the extent of the implications of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and the progress being made in implementing the new duties be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Named Person Service and Child’s Plan in terms of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

The report intimated that the Act placed in statute key elements of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) being every child and young person in Scotland having access to a Named Person; a statutory Child’s Plan prepared for every child or young person who required one as a result of their wellbeing needs; and a holistic explanation of wellbeing, as set out in the Act.

Renfrewshire Children’s Services Partnership was currently preparing a GIRFEC implementation plan to ensure readiness for the GIRFEC elements of the Act coming into force in August 2016.  Engagement with education staff about the role of the Named Person service had begun and a Named Person reference group of practitioners had been set up to work towards implementation.  Children’s Services had been working on implementation of an electronic Child’s Plan which incorporated the core data set as set out in the Act.

DECIDED:

(a) That it be noted that the GIRFEC elements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 would come into force in August 2016;

(b) That the ongoing work to develop an implementation plan for the Named Person service be noted; and

(c) That the progress made towards achieving a single Child’s Plan across Children’s Services be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to numeracy and mathematics development.

The report highlighted that Renfrewshire Council had increased its focus on improving attainment levels in numeracy and mathematics across primary schools.  All primary schools had been supported through the introduction of a Renfrewshire Numeracy Framework in developing strategies to ensure that all children developed high levels of numeracy skills. 

The Scottish Government commissioned the policy review “Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective” in June 2015 to inform the ongoing development of education policy, practice and leadership in Scotland by providing an independent review of the direction of the Curriculum for Excellence and emerging impacts seen in quality and equity in Scottish schooling.  The report highlighted particular findings with regards to numeracy and mathematics.

In January 2013 Renfrewshire Council created the post of Numeracy Development Officer with a 0.2 FTE commitment to address issues arising from the 2011 Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy.

Renfrewshire Council had been allocated £8,344 to date from the Scottish Government to facilitate the sharing of good practice and raising awareness of the Education Scotland Virtual Numeracy Hub, which was accessible through Glow, and therefore assisted the development of best practice in numeracy and mathematics teaching and learning.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress to date in response to the Scottish Government’s commitment to introducing Numeracy Hubs for the sharing of good practice and consistency of experiences across establishments be noted; and

(b) That the allocation of £8,344 provided by the Scottish Government, from £1.2 million across Scotland, to support the development of the Numeracy Hub Initiative across Scotland be noted. 

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to amendments to Standard Circular 16a – The Appointment of Senior Promoted Staff in Primary, Secondary and Special Schools relating to denominational education following discussions between the Director of Children’s Services and the Roman Catholic Church.  A copy of the amended Standard Circular 16a formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED:     That the minor amendments to Standard Circular 16a, highlighted in italics, as detailed in the appendix to the report be approved.

The Board resolved that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the press and public were present there could be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 5 and 6 of Part I of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.