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Meeting Details

Education and Children's Services Policy Board
24 May 2018 - 13:00 to 14:30
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda
Notification
Standard Items
Further Information
This is a meeting which is open to members of the public. 

A copy of the agenda and reports for this meeting will be available for inspection prior to the meeting at the Customer Service Centre, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley and online at www.renfrewshire.cmis.uk.com/renfrewshire/CouncilandBoards.aspx

For further information, please either email
democratic-services@renfrewshire.gov.uk or telephone 0141 618 7112.
Members of the Press and Public
Members of the press and public wishing to attend the meeting should report to the customer service centre where they will be met and directed to the meeting.
Chair
Councillor Paterson, Convener, presided.
In Attendance
S Quinn, Assistant Director – Schools, D Hawthorn, Head of Childcare and Criminal Justice, G McKinlay, Head of Schools, J Trainer, Head of Early Years and Inclusion and L Fingland, Service Planning and Policy Development  Manager (Children) (all Education & Children’s Services); and G McLachlan, Senior Finance Manager and D Low, Senior Committee Services Officer (both Finance & Resources).

Councillor Paterson welcomed Mr Singh to his first meeting of this Policy Board as a religious representative of the Sikh faith tradition.

Councillor Paterson also referred to the Director of Children's Services recent illness and intimated his hopes for a speedy recovery.
Items Of Business
Apologies
Apologies from members.
Councillors Bibby, Don and Kerr.
Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare an interest in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest.
.
BUDGET MONITORING REPORTS
Joint report by Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services.
1

There was submitted a joint report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services for the service for the period 1 April 2017 to 2 March 2018.

DECIDED:

 (a) That the report be noted; and

 (b) That it be noted that since the last report, there had been budget adjustments arising from the teachers’ pay award, partly offset by budget transfers to the Corporate Landlord for property repairs which had resulted in a net increase in the budget of £1.012 million.

Report by Director of Finance & Resources.
2

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1 April 2017 to 2 March 2018.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

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PERFORMANCE PLANNING
Report by Director of Children's Services.
3

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 2017 to 31 March 2018 and a revised Service Improvement Plan for 2017/20.

The report summarised the main achievements of the service during 2017/18 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 overview of performance (2017/18) report be noted;

(b) That the progress that had been made on areas of service performance in 2017/18 which fell under the remit of this Policy Board be noted;

 (c) That the progress made on actions and performance in the action plan be noted; and

 (d) That it be noted that the outturn report had also been submitted to the Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board.

Report by Director of Children's Services.  Plan attached as separate document.
4

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Children’s Services Partnership Plan 2018/21.

The report intimated that Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act placed a joint duty on local authorities and health boards to produce three-yearly children’s service plans.  To allow a full analysis of the children’s wellbeing data which was returned in February 2017, the Renfrewshire Children’s Services Partnership agreed to produce an interim plan for 2017/18 which was approved at the meeting of this Policy Board held on 1 June 2017.

The report advised that a new three-year Children’s Services Partnership Plan for 2018/21 had now been produced in collaboration with children and young people, Council colleagues, statutory partners and third sector organisations.  Taking into account feedback from children and young people, the Partnership had created a ‘Plan on a Page’ which conveyed all of the essential information required of a plan in a manner which was accessible to children and young people.

The 'Plan on a Page' was underpinned by detailed action plans which set out how partners would deliver the Plan and how progress would be monitored.  Finalisation of the action plans would take place once the recommendations of the national Child Protection Improvement Programme had been released and the new inspection framework had been published.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Children’s Services Partnership ‘Plan on a Page’ including the interactive multi-media resources be approved; and

(b) That the ongoing development of detailed action plans to support delivery of the priorities detailed in the Plan be noted.  The action plans would be finalised when the new inspection framework and requirements of the new national minimum dataset were confirmed by the Scottish Government.  This was anticipated to be during early summer 2018.

Report by Director of Children's Services.
5

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the annual health and safety report 2017/18 and action plan 2018/19.

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 2019 to consolidate and improve health and safety practice.

DECIDED:

 (a) That the content of the Children’s Services Annual Health and Safety Report 2017/18, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, be noted; and

(b) That the Health and Safety Action Plan for 2018/19, attached as Appendix 2 to the report, be approved.

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EDUCATION
Report by Director of Children's Services.
6

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the allocation of £200,000 in the Council budget to support a programme to increase music participation tuition and free instrument provision across Renfrewshire schools.  The additional funding was allocated to ensure the continuation of free music tuition for all children in Renfrewshire, support the continuation of the School Pipe Band and provide a fund to ensure that children from lower-income households had access to a personal instrument and access to funds to maintain these instruments.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the additional funding of £200,000 would be used as follows:

(a) £100,000 to ensure the continuation of free music tuition for pupils in Renfrewshire schools and provide additional music tuition to schools with high numbers of low-income households;

(b) £70,000 to support the continuation and development of the School Pipe Band; and

(c) £30,000 to fund the costs and maintenance of music instruments for children from lower-income households.

Report by Director of Children's Services.

 

 

 

 

7

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the allocation of £200,000 in the Council budget to support parents and siblings of children with visual or hearing impairments to access training in the use of braille and sign language.

The report intimated that parents and siblings could access the support by submitting a written request to the Head of Early Years and Inclusion.

DECIDED: That it be noted that parents and siblings of children with visual or hearing impairments could access support to learn braille or sign language by writing to the Head of Early Years and Inclusion.

Report by Director of Children's Services.
8

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to progress on the Renfrewshire Attainment Challenge.

The report referred to the four main work-stream areas of data analysis; learning and teaching; families and communities; and leadership. Key highlights were included in the report, drawing on the National Improvement Framework drivers of school leadership; teacher professionalism; parental engagement; assessment of a child’s progress; school improvement; and performance information. The Council was required to report quarterly to the Scottish Government on progress towards local and national outcomes and a copy of the quarter 4 return was appended to the report.

 DECIDED: That progress of the Renfrewshire Attainment Challenge work streams and individual projects detailed in the report be noted.

Report by Director of Children's Services.
9

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the distribution of funding to Moorpark Community Association – Cherrie Children’s Daycare, a private sector organisation which delivered out-of-school care support for young children.  An overview of the proposed allocation of £1,600 to Moorpark Community Association – Cherrie Children’s Daycare was appended to the report.

DECIDED:  That a grant of £1,600 to Moorpark Community Association – Cherrie Children’s Daycare be approved as detailed in the appendix to the report, subject to the completion of necessary checks and assessment.

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SCHOOL INSPECTION REPORTS
Report by Director of Children's Services.
10

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the inspection of St Andrew’s Academy, Paisley by Education Scotland.

The report intimated that the purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the quality of education, with the assessment focussing 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 five key strengths and three 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 the areas for improvement in the Education Scotland report on St Andrew’s Academy, Paisley be noted.

Report by Director of Children's Services.
11

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

The report intimated that the purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the quality of education, with the assessment focussing 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 four 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 the areas for improvement in the Education Scotland report on Renfrew High School, Renfrew be noted.

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CHILDREN'S AND FAMILIES SOCIAL CARE
Report by Director of Children's Services.
12

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the organisational duty of candour provisions of the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. & Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 and The Duty of Candour (Scotland) Regulations 2018 which came into force on 1 April 2018.

The report intimated that the purpose of the new duty of candour provisions was to support the implementation of consistent responses across health and social care providers when there had been an unexpected event or incident that had resulted in death or harm, that was not related to the course of the condition for which the person was receiving care.  The Scottish Government recognised that when adverse events occurred during the provision of treatment or care, openness and transparency was fundamental in promoting a culture of learning and continuous improvement in health and social care settings.

DECIDED:

 (a) That the establishment from 1 April 2018 of the organisational duty of candour for health and social care providers be noted;

(b) That the steps being taken to implement these responsibilities within Children’s Services be noted; and

(c) That it be noted that the Council would be required to report to the Scottish Government and the Care Inspectorate on how it had handled duty of candour incidents and demonstrate what had been learned from them.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

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