Agenda and minutes

Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday, 7th September, 2021 6.30 pm

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Venue: Council Chamber, Bury Town Hall

Contact: Julie Gallagher 

Items
No. Item

CYPSC.1

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee are asked to consider whether they have any interest in any matters on the agenda and, if so, to formally declare that interest.

Minutes:

Councillor Whitby declared a personal interest as Chair of the Audit Committee in relation to the Audit Committee receiving reports and updates referencing Project Safety Valve and the Designated Schools Grant.

 

Councillor Boles declared a personal interest as he was employed by a Bolton school which also has a site in Bury.

 

Councillor Staple Jones declared a personal interest as a Governor of Bury Church High School.

 

Councillor Wright declared a personal interest as he wife is employed at a school in Bury.

 

Councillor Pilkington declared a personal interest as a parent of a child with special educational needs who attends a school in Bury.

CYPSC.2

PUBLIC QUESTIONS TIME

A period of 30 minutes has been set aside for members of the public to ask questions on the agenda for tonight’s meeting.

Minutes:

There were no members of the public present to ask questions.

CYPSC.3

MEMBER QUESTION TIME

A period of up to 15 minutes will be allocated for questions and supplementary questions from Members of the Council who are not Members of the Committee.  The period may be varied at the discretion of the Chair.  

Minutes:

There were no Members questions.

CYPSC.4

MEETING THEME - SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS PROVISION WITHIN THE BOROUGH pdf icon PDF 841 KB

Report attached.

 

In attendance Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Cabinet Member Children and Young People.

Sheila Durr, Executive Director Children and Young People and Isobel Booler, Director of Education and Skills

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills thanked  the Committee for his invitation to attend and introduced Isobel Booler, Director of Education and Skills, Paul Cooke, Strategic Lead, Educational Services.

 

Councillor Tariq presented a report which provided the Committee with an update on Bury’s progress on embedding the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 including the progress against the Written Statement of Action.

 

It was reported that in terms of SEND Bury were not where they wanted to be. It was explained that the Council were working closely with Bury Together and the CCG in relation to SEND reform and co-production and the relationship with these partners was very important.

 

The Council was inspected as a local area  in 2017 with a follow up visit in 2019 and both visits had found that Bury had not been effective in its implementation of the SEND reforms.

 

Following the 2017 inspection  a ‘written statement of action’ was produced setting out how the Council and CCG together with partners and stakeholders would respond to the recommendations  arising from the inspection.

 

A SEND assurance Board has been established in partnership with Bury2Gether parents’ group and is chaired by the Director of Education and Skills. Members of the Board are at director level from children’s social care, education, early help, health commissioning and clinical leads, together with representatives from Bury2Gether and Bury’s Parent Carer Forum. The Board reports into the Children’s Strategic Partnership Board and links with the Health Charter Groups through the Deputy Director of Commissioning and the clinical lead from the CCG, who sit on both Boards.

 

Good progress has been achieved against the each of the priorities in the written statement of action however there is a need to ensure a shared strategic vision across all partner agencies to deliver SEND transformation in co-production with parents and carers through a Local Strategic Action Plan.

 

Isobel Booler introduced herself to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions in relation to the information provided and the following points were raised:

 

  • Councillor Lancaster referred to  Project Safety Valve and asked how and when the delivery of this would be measured.

 

It was explained that a lot of work had been going on to ensure that the  governance structure was right  and that the correct people were in place within the project delivery board and the project work streams. Recruitment had been undertaken to increase capacity within the SEND team, anew SEND Team Manager had recently been recruited. Work on aligning special place planning and sufficiency with all school place planning and sufficiency was being carried out.

 

It was reported that with regards to delivery and change, March 2022 was the date for Education Health and Care Plan and process to be in place and showing a difference. Bury2Gether are working with the Council co-produce a pilot looking at the  assessment process  ...  view the full minutes text for item CYPSC.4

CYPSC.5

SEPTEMBER RETURN TO SCHOOL UPDATE pdf icon PDF 202 KB

A report from Councillor Tariq, Cabinet Member is attached.

Minutes:

Councillor Tariq presented a report  giving an overview of the support provided to schools in preparation for the return of all pupils at the start of the new academic year 2021/2022 and in line with the government’s COVID-19 operational guidance.

 

The report provided information in relation to the following:

 

  • Preparation for the Start of the Autumn Term 2021
  • Government Guidance
  • Next Steps

 

It was explained that Officers would continue to work closely with the Headteachers Advisory Groups in line with national guidance.

 

CYPSC.6

URGENT BUSINESS

Any other business which by reason of special circumstance the Chair agrees may be considered as a matter of urgency.