Councillor Paterson, Convener, presided.

P Macleod, Director of Children’s Services; P Quinn, Assistant Director – Schools, D Hawthorn, Head of Childcare and Criminal Justice, G McKinlay, Head of Schools and J Trainer, Head of Early Years and Inclusion (all Children’s Services); and G McLachlan, Senior Finance Manager and D Low, Senior Committee Services Officer (both Finance & Resources).

Councillor Binks.

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

There was submitted a joint report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services for the service for the period 1 April 2016 to 3 March 2017.  

DECIDED:

(a) That the budget position be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that since the last report there had been a number of budget adjustments resulting in a decrease of £95,000 related to the transfer of budgets to the corporate landlord for property repairs.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1 April 2016 to 3 March 2017.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.  

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to an overview of progress to deliver the Children’s Services Service Improvement Plan during the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 and a revised Service Improvement Plan for 2017/20.

The report summarised the main achievements of the service during 2016/17 and included an action plan that monitored progress to date and identified areas where significant advances had been made and actions that had been reviewed or delayed as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  Appendix 1 also included a score card of performance indicators measuring annual progress to deliver key tasks.

The revised Children’s Services Service Improvement Plan 2017/20 was set out in Appendix 2 to the report and identified a range of actions to be undertaken in partnership with all stakeholders to improve and develop service provision.  This included a revised score card highlighting a range of specific performance indicators and associated targets to monitor and track progress.
        
DECIDED: 
  
(a) That the content of the Overview of Performance (2016/17) report attached as Appendix 1 be noted;

(b) That the Service Improvement Plan 2017/20 attached as Appendix 2 be approved; and

(c) That progress in terms of implementation of the Service Improvement Plan be reported to the Board in November 2017.

There was submitted a joint report by the Director of Children’s Services and the Chief Officer, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership relative to the requirement to produce three-yearly Children’s Services Plans, commencing on 1 April 2017, in terms of Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

The report intimated that the Statutory Guidance for Children’s Services Plans had been issued in December 2016 and that the children’s wellbeing survey commissioned in Renfrewshire submitted its results late in February 2017.  In order to allow full consideration of the survey results and to establish the processes necessary to satisfy the new statutory requirements, an interim Children’s Service Plan entitled ‘Re-assessing Our Priorities’ was developed to cover the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.  A copy of the interim plan was appended to the report.  The full three-year Children’s Services Plan would be ready for consultation from October 2017, with the finalised Plan being ready for publication by 1 April 2018.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Children’s Services Partnership Plan, which had been submitted in draft as required to the Scottish Government, be approved;

(b) That the approach to developing the new Plan as described within the interim plan be approved; and

(c) That it be noted that the Plan would also require to be approved at the meeting of the Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Integration Joint Board to be held on 23 June 2017.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the annual health and safety report 2016/17 and action plan 2017/18.

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 joint action plan formed Appendix 2 to the report and detailed the actions which the service aimed to take by March 2018 to consolidate and improve health and safety practice.      
  
DECIDED:   
     
(a) That the annual health and safety report 2016/17, which formed Appendix 1 to the report, be noted; 
  
(b) That the health and safety action plan for 2017/18, which formed Appendix 2 to the report, be approved; and

(c) That it be approved that meetings of the Children’s Services Health and Safety Group be held bi-annually rather than quarterly.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the inspection of Johnstone High School by Education Scotland. 

The report intimated that the purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the quality of education, with the assessment focusing on four quality indicators: leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; raising attainment and achievement; and ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion.

The letter to parents, appended to the report, identified four key strengths and five areas for further improvement.  Children’s Services would continue to monitor the improvement in the school and the inspection report would be used by the school and service to support and develop the quality of educational provision.  

DECIDED:    That the key strengths and areas for improvement in the Education Scotland report on Johnstone High School be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources seeking approval to declare an area of land at Renfrew High School, Haining Road, Renfrew as surplus to requirements.  The area of land was detailed on plan E2604, a copy of which was attached to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the area of land at Haining Road, Renfrew shown outlined on the attached plan be declared surplus to the Council’s requirements; 

(b) That the Head of Property Services be authorised to dispose of the land to Scottish Gas Networks and to allow a right of access over the secondary access to the site; and

(c) That the Head of Corporate Governance be authorised to conclude the sale incorporating into the bargain such terms and conditions as may be deemed necessary to protect the Council’s interests.

The Assistant Director – Schools gave a presentation updating members on the attainment challenge and Pupil Equity Fund. 

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.

The Head of Early Years and Inclusion gave a presentation on the initial findings from the school survey carried out by the Dartington Social Research Unit as part of their Children and Young People Well-being Survey in Renfrewshire.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.