Agenda item
ESTYN ACTION PLAN RECOMMENDATION 2
To consider a report by the Strategic Planning Team Manager (copy attached) which seeks the Committee to determine whether Estyn’s recommendations have now been met and whether any further monitoring of the action plan is required.
9.35 a.m. – 10.10 a.m.
Minutes:
A copy of a report by the Head of Education (HE), which provided an update on the progress
made in response to the recommendations made by Estyn
following the 2012 inspection, had been circulated with the papers for
the meeting.
The main findings of the Estyn Report showed
that the Local Authority achieved ‘Good’ for the three key questions, with the
exception of ‘Leadership’, which had been judged to be ‘Excellent’. In
order to improve further Estyn had made
recommendations and details had been encompassed in the report.
Officers advised that there was now a framework and structure in place
to try and address recommendation 2. An
extensive piece of work had been undertaken in an attempt to map the groups and
activities available to children and young people in the County. Work would continue until at least the end of
the current calendar year to populate the database with information on all
groups known to the Council, estimated to be around 1000 groups. It was emphasised that the exercise was more
complex and robust than just listing known groups, it also included meeting up
with the groups to better understand their needs and ensure they were aware of
matters such as their safeguarding responsibilities.
It was emphasised that work was still underway with respect to ensuring
a consistent database of clubs for all areas e.g. sports clubs etc. However, clubs or organisations were not
under any obligation to engage with the process. An on-line or telephone survey of the groups
would not be appropriate for this exercise, as it was a two-way contributory
process which benefitted both parties.
With respect to the inclusion of organisations for children and young
people with disabilities in the exercise, officers advised that these were
covered either as groups specially designated for disabled people or as groups
which welcomed disabled and able-bodied members. Denbighshire's Well-being Plan 'Supporting
Independence and Resilience' underpinned the County's vision for ensuring
services and activities were available and accessible to everyone across the
county. Whilst other organisations held
quite extensive databases on services available in the community they were
reluctant to share the information with the Council on Data Protection
Grounds.
In response to a suggestion from members, officers undertook to discuss
with the youth workers whether it would be feasible to offer publicity to clubs
and societies in exchange for their co-operation with the process for mapping
the services available in the community.
The Lead Member for Education suggested that it may be worthwhile to
take a report similar to the one presented to the Committee to the Member Area
Groups (MAGs) as they, in their capacity as the eyes and ears of the
communities, would know of any other groups not yet listed on the database or
contacted by officers.
Members and the Head of Education agreed that the vagueness of the Estyn recommendation had made it very difficult for the
Council to know exactly what was required of it in order to satisfy itself that
the recommendation had been fully complied with. Nevertheless, officers were satisfied that
they had an effective, well articulated process in
place to establish the majority of services available to children and young
people in the County. They were
satisfied that when Estyn next inspected the
Authority they could effectively demonstrate to them that Recommendation 2 had
now been met. Measuring the impact of
these services to the Authority and its partners and determining their value
for money in delivering improved outcomes for children and young people over a
long period of time would be far more difficult. It was therefore suggested that the Scrutiny
Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group (SCVCG) should discuss the most appropriate way to
scrutinise this aspect. Following a
detailed discussion it was:-
RESOLVED
– that:-
(a) based on the
information provided and the above observations, the Committee concludes that
the Local Education Authority has met Estyn's
recommendations; and
(b) the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group determines
the most appropriate way to monitor the impact and value for money of services
available to children and young people within their communities in delivering
improved outcomes for them, for the Authority and its partners.
Supporting documents:
-
Education Estyn Report 260215, item 5.
PDF 56 KB
-
Education Estyn Report 260215 - Appendix 1, item 5.
PDF 80 KB
-
Education Estyn Report 260215 - App 2, item 5.
PDF 2 MB