Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Conference Room 1a, County Hall, Ruthin
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APOLOGIES Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor David Williams and Co-opted Member Mike Hall |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Minutes: Declarations of a personal interest were submitted by
Councillors: · Ellie Chard – Governor Ysgol Tir Morfa and Ysgol Mair · Martyn Holland – Governor Ysgol Bro Famau · Huw Jones – Governor of Ysgol Caer Drewyn and Ysgol Carrog · Arwel Roberts – Governor Ysgol Y Castell and Ysgol Dewi Sant · Peter Scott – Governor Ysgol Brynhyfryd and St Asaph VP School and · Graham Timms – Governor Ysgol Dinas Bran |
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URGENT MATTERS AS AGREED BY THE CHAIR Notice of items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972. Minutes: No urgent matters were raised. At this juncture the chair welcomed the Council’s new Chief Executive to her first meeting of the Committee. He wished her well in her new role with the Council. The Chief Executive responded stating that she was looking forward to the new role and thanked councillors and staff for the warm welcome to the Council. |
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MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING PDF 417 KB To receive the minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15 March 2018 (copy enclosed). Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Performance Scrutiny
Committee held on 15 March 2018 were submitted. RESOLVED that
the minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15 March 2018 be received
and approved as a correct record. |
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PUPIL PROGRESS FROM YEAR 10 TO YEAR 11 (KS4) PDF 508 KB To consider a report by the Principal Education Manager (copy enclosed) on the findings of the study undertaken on Year 10 pupils from choice subjects to attainment. 10:05 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Additional documents: Minutes: In welcoming
the Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People, the Head of Education
and Children’s Services and the Senior School Improvement Officer – Secondary
to the meeting to present the first report, the Committee congratulated
them on their hard work which had resulted in Estyn, following its recent
inspection, judging the Service to be achieving good outcomes, delivering
quality education services and to have excellent leadership and
management. The leadership qualities of the Head of Education and
Children’s Services had been cited as “highly effective and exemplary”, members
congratulated her and asked her to convey their congratulation to all staff
within the Service. The Lead
Member for Education, Children and Young People introduced the report
(previously circulated) which sought the Committee to consider the
findings of the study undertaken on Year 10 pupils from choice of subjects to
attainment. During his introduction the Lead Member informed the
Committee that the Council’s Corporate Plan for 2017-2022 included an ambition
to see every child that was achieving the expected standard at the end of
primary school, achieving as a minimum 5 GCSEs A* - C (including English or
Welsh and Maths) by the end of secondary school. Estyn had referred
to this ambition in its recent report. The Head of
Service advised that the Council acknowledged that a deficit in attainment
existed between Key Stage (KS) 2 and KS4, with performance dipping
significantly in the region of 20% to 25% between both key stages.
Officers had devised a number of intervention measures to support pupils
transferring from primary to secondary schools in a bid to make sure that they
did not become excluded or disengaged with the education process and consequently
under achieve, as this could impact on their life outcomes. Listed in the
report were the different types of support and intervention measures available
to pupils. A number of intervention measures could be triggered if a
pupil was beginning to disengage with the education system i.e. by the use of
the TRAC system. This system would identify the most appropriate type of
support for a pupil on an individual basis, including the most effective
educational environment required to support their learning to ensure the pupil
thrived and achieved their potential. However, it was important to
realise that not all pupils would achieve the Level 2 inclusive threshold at
KS4, nevertheless the aim was to ensure that they would achieve to the best of
their ability. Denbighshire
tracked each individual pupil from the day they entered the County’s education
system until the day they left. Whilst the local authority knew its
pupils and their needs very well, it probably needed to evidence its processes
and the extent of its knowledge better. Appendix 1 to the report
contained an example of a tracking matrix used to monitor the progress of
pupils identified as having special educational needs (SEN), or who qualified
for free school meals (FSMs), had English as an additional language (EAL), or
were regarded as transient pupils. This matrix profiled each pupil who
may require additional support. The use of this matrix ensured that all
factors were taken into account when determining the type of additional support
they required. When determining the type and level of any additional
support required officers would also have regard to a pupil’s attendance
record, behaviour and any school exclusions imposed. Whilst accountability measures were due to change again during the 2018/19 academic year which would further complicate the process of identifying support needs, every effort was being made to develop a system that would identify all pupils requiring support to enable appropriate intervention ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT IN DENBIGHSHIRE SCHOOLS PDF 226 KB To consider a report by the Principal Education Manager
(copy enclosed) which seeks the Committee to review the county’s trends in
school exclusions to determine if the use of short
term exclusions has an adverse effect on pupils’ educational attainment. 10:45 a.m. –
11:15 a.m. Additional documents:
Minutes: Introducing the report and appendices
(previously circulated) which summarised the trends in permanent and
fixed term exclusions the Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People advised
that the report had been requested by a member who had concerns about the
number of fixed term exclusions of five days or less within the county’s
schools. During his introduction the Lead Member advised that whilst
Estyn, as part of its recent inspection of the Council’s Education Service, had
examined this particular area it had not made any specific recommendations in
relation to school exclusion rates or policy. The Lead Member emphasised
that the Council had an ambition and a policy to keep children in school and to
support them through their education. Permanent exclusion from school was
the very last resort, when all other interventions had failed, short –term
exclusions were therefore high in a bid to address problems escalating to a
need to permanently exclude a pupil, as permanent exclusion was likely to
result in the pupil becoming ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET),
disengaged, under or not achieving and therefore impacting on his/her eventual
life outcomes. The Head of Education and Children’s
Services advised that:
Responding to members’ questions the
Lead Member, Head of Education and Children’s Services and Senior School Improvement
Officer – Secondary:
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CORPORATE RISK REGISTER REVIEW, MARCH 2018 PDF 146 KB To consider a report by the Strategic Planning Team Manager (copy enclosed) which presents the Committee with the March 2018 version of the Council’s Corporate Risk Register and seeks members’ comments on the revised version. 11:25 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Assets introduced the report and appendices (previously circulated) which presented to the Committee the formally updated version of the Council’s Risk Register for consideration. As part of his introduction the Lead Member highlighted the main changes to the risk register as outlined in Appendix 1 to the report. At the conclusion of his introduction he explained that the risk associated with local government re-organisation had been removed from the register recently. However, following the recent announcement that local government reform was again being considered the risk may appear again when the Committee next considered the Risk Register report. With respect of the new risk relating to the return on investment for Denbighshire from the Regional Growth Deal, he explained that this was a very new and unknown risk at present, hence the reason why its inherent and residual risk scores were identical at present. It was anticipated that as the project progressed the residual risk score would reduce. The residual risk score relating to the Council being able to deliver a balanced budget had increased. The decision to increase the residual risk score was based on the fact that going forward the actions needed to secure the delivery of balanced budgets would require some extremely difficult and unpopular decisions to be taken, which would attract unfavourable media coverage and had the potential to damage the Council’s reputation. Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Assets and the Strategic Planning Team Manager:
At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations being
actioned to confirm the deletions, additions and amendments to the Corporate
Risk Register |
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SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME PDF 141 KB To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy enclosed) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues. 12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Scrutiny Co-ordinator (SC) presented the report (previously circulated) seeking Members’ review of the Committee’s work programme and providing an update on relevant issues. Members enquired whether a representative from Kingdom would be in attendance when the Committee would be examining the company’s performance in delivering enforcement action on the Council’s behalf at its next meeting on 7th June. The Scrutiny Co-ordinator undertook to ask officers to invite the most appropriate senior officer from the company to attend. The SC informed members that the National Report on Waste Management, due to be presented to the Committee at its June meeting had been rescheduled to the autumn as the report was yet to be published. The Committee: RESOLVED that subject to the above observations and
amendments, the Forward Work Programme be approved. |
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FEEDBACK FROM COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES To receive any
updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups 12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Minutes: Councillor Arwel Roberts and Councillor Geraint Lloyd-Williams both praised a recent service challenge meeting which they had attended. Members asked that the latest list of scrutiny committee representatives on Service Challenge Groups be circulated to them. Meeting concluded
12:42pm |