Agenda item

No urgent matters.

 

 

At this juncture, Members were informed that there would be two questions put forward as follows:

 

(i)            Miss Talulah Thomas of Llangollen had sent in the following question but was unable to attend in person.  The Head of Legal, HR & Democratic Services proceeded to read the question on behalf of Miss Thomas in her absence:

 

“Will the relevant portfolio holder explain what steps the Council is taking to ensure that pupils in the county's schools receive the necessary mental health care, and what steps are being taken to identify any mental health disorders at an early enough stage?”

 

Response by the Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts:

 

“The Local Authority’s responsibility on mental health lies with CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service).  However, as an Authority, we are actually supporting the work of this, working alongside them with our young people in schools. 

 

How do we do this?  We use PASS (pupils attitude towards self and school) to evaluate the pupils self-esteem and emotional health in the school and what opportunities for the school to intervene if there are any issues at that stage.  We also, as an Authority, provide ELSA (Emotional, Literacy Support Assistant) training for teaching assistants in schools to carry out emotional health interventions on individual pupils and groups of pupils who had been identified as requiring the support. 

 

The Authority works with CAMHS to facilitate training for schools, carry out interventions for such as bereavement and loss and “think good, feel good” which is a behavioural intervention at school level.

 

The Authority provides access to education psychology service.  The Authority also has school based counselling available in our secondary schools and at year 6 age.  The Authority provides therapeutic service for pupils. 

 

The Authority works extensively with CAMHS on the self-harm and suicide prevention pathway to train groups and staff in all secondary settings.  The training provides a clear protocol for the trained school staff to liaise with CAMHS for every individual pupil who is identified as self-harming or suicidal to a certain risk and to create safety plans and determine the approach on the intervention with CAMHS.

 

There is an immense amount of work being done around this and we do recognise how important it is and we ensure we are putting the child at the fore every time.  If Ms Thomas would like any further information, the officers and myself would be happy to meet up with her.”

 

 

(ii)          Councillor Graham Timms raised the following question:

 

“Can you please update members concerning the council's intentions for 21st Century Schools Band B which is due to start in April 2019 in terms of its timetable and its scope?”

 

Response by the Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts:

 

“Band B -  the 21^st Century School programme will run for 7 years from 2019.   In 2017 Cabinet approved Band B submission to Welsh Government and it was approved by them in November 2017.  The Cabinet Secretary for Education at the Welsh Government announced in November, amendments to the funding regime which increases the percentage of the contribution from Welsh Government, however, the contribution will remain the same.  This means Denbighshire’s programme was likely to have a lower overall value than the programme back in 2017.  Officers have been asked to re-examine where the original scope work we have done could be reviewed. 

 

Feasibility works presently going on examining school buildings in the Denbigh area and the primary sector in Rhyl.

 

The future provision for children with additional needs is also currently under review with further works looking at provisions in Llangollen.  The revised programme will be presented to elected members in September 2019 to note the work programme going forward.

 

Band A has seen some really good investments from the north to the south of Denbighshire.  There have been some really good projects on which Councillor Eryl Williams led very successfully and our children are seeing the benefit of that in our area now.”

 

Councillor Graham Timms thanked the Lead Member for his response but went on to add:

 

“I have had an opportunity to visit Rhyl High School, Ysgol Glan Clwyd and the new school building in Ruthin.  It is with great pride I see what has happened in Denbighshire under Band A where Welsh Labour Government and Denbighshire have been working together to finance some incredible buildings and it is good to see first hand the improvements in the school environment and how that leads to improvement in behaviour and improvement in achievement in schools.

 

Our three schools in Llangollen are genuinely struggling with the buildings which were mostly built in the last century and one of them in the previous century.  Can you assure us that you will work with the Welsh Labour Government to ensure our children in Llangollen and other areas will be in schools fit for this century? 

 

I would like to extend an invitation to the Lead Member to come with me to visit the Llangollen schools.”

 

The Lead Member responded further as follows:

 

“We are committed to these projects and we are committed to every child in Denbighshire and we will certainly do everything in our power, with the funding available from the Welsh Government to deliver the best we can.

 

You have my full commitment I will do everything in my power to support your project going forward but, obviously, dependent on funding and the feasibility work we are doing at the moment.

 

I accept your invitation to meet with you in Llangollen and visit the schools.”