Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Elizabeth Patterson 01597 826980
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor L R E Davies and Co-opted Members Mrs M Evitts and Mrs L Jenkin. |
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Minutes of previous meeting PDF 86 KB To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting(s) of the committee held on the following date(s) as a correct record: · 14th December 2017 Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on the 14th December 2017. |
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Declarations of interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Declaration of Party Whip To receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78 (3) of the Local Government Measure 2011. NB. Members are reminded that under Section 78 (3) Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee. Minutes: No declarations of party whip were received. |
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Schools Cashless System To receive an oral update on the implementation of the Schools Cashless System. Minutes: The Business Services Programme Delivery Manager gave a presentation on the progress of implementation of the Schools Cashless System (copy filed with signed minutes).
The project introduces cashless payment in all schools to include school meals, trips and other parental payments such as uniform, sports kit and proms. It aims to improve risk avoidance (by not having to handle cash), service improvement for parents and pupils and efficiencies (cashier posts are being deleted from those primary schools where this has been brought in). There has been an increase in the uptake of both paid and free school meals.
The project has been funded from the capital budget and the Commercial Services department of the Council procured the two systems which were required (Nationwide Retail Systems for the hardware needed in schools and the online Parent Pay system which enables parents to pay for pupils meals).
The system was piloted in Crickhowell catchment which included a large high school and four primary schools including both large and small primary schools. The pilot demonstrated that the biggest benefits were to be found in the secondary sector (in terms of take up of paid and free school meals) and on this basis Project Board made a decision to rollout to all secondary schools first.
The system in now live in 15 schools (10 secondary and 5 primary). The two remaining secondary schools to go live are Llanfyllin (9th March) and Bro Hyddgen (13th March). There was a delay before the system could be rolled out to some schools in the north as it required translation. This was completed on the 1st March and the system is now fully bilingual.
The co-operation and support from all schools has been outstanding.
It has been calculated that there has been an increase in take up of free school meals between 2017-18 of 8% as per indicative figures in the PLASC return. It is not possible to conclude that this is solely due to the introduction of the cashless system but it appears that by removing any stigma of claiming free school meals there may have been an increase in takeup.
The next phase will be the rollout to all primary schools which will be done by catchment areas in the same order that high schools were rolled out subject to ongoing scrutiny by Project Board. Members will be written to with this programme so that they are aware when this will take place in their community.
A further phase is planned in the future where the opportunities to use the system for other school based activities such as attendance or home to school transport would be explored.
How was it possible for bilingual schools in south Powys to introduce the cashless system before it had been translated? The schools were given an opportunity to introduce it in English only or wait until it had been translated. Now that the system has been translated all schools have the opportunity to use it in either ... view the full minutes text for item PSC5-2017 |
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Head of Children's Services Introductory presentation from Carolann James recently appointed Head of Children’s Services. Minutes: The Head of Children’s Services was invited to give an overview of the work of her department. She explained that she had taken up the role in late September 2016 taking over from the Interim Head of Children’s Services who had been in role approximately two months.
Children’s Services covers the following areas: · Child Protection · Looked After Children · Care Leavers · Early help (support to try and avoid the need for intervention such as Flying Start and Families First) · Youth Justice · Bannau/Camlas residential unit · Fostering and adoption · Supported lodgings · Safeguarding · Independent reviewing officers · Children and Young Peoples Partnership
How many children are currently Looked After? At present there are 160 which is the higher than the previous level of around 145 (at around this level for the last three years). This equates to approximately 59 per 10,000 population which compares well with Wales (80/10,000) and England (60/10,000). There has been an increase in Looked After Children since the death of Baby P in 2007. The Head of Children’s Services explained that she was seeking information regarding the length of time that children who become looked after are known to the service to ascertain if more could have been done earlier to prevent them becoming looked after.
Why are children taken into care? This data is not currently easily accessible but it tends to be due to neglect rather than physical or sexual abuse. Research is being undertaken to ascertain if action is taken too late including discussions with CAFCASS. The service are examining the possibility of creating an edge of care service to support those children at risk of being taken into care. In the last quarter more under 5s were taken into care whereas in quarters 1 and 2 were mostly older children. This will continue to be monitored.
It appears that Powys have more Child Protection cases than regional partners. All regional partners are working to the same criteria and therefore the reasons for this difference are being examined.
What are the new safeguarding reporting arrangements? The new reporting will be introduced in quarter 4. It will enable data to be comparable and therefore it will be possible to understand where Powys is similar or different to other authorities.
How is the Corporate Parenting Group working currently? The Head of Children’s Services advised that she was implementing changes to the way this group worked to improve the opportunity for the voice of children and young people to be heard. Residential provision for young people with specific needs is being examined by this group including capacity at Bannau/Camlas.
Is there a connection between the children of care leavers becoming looked after? The Head of Children’s Services explained that this was being investigated. The service are looking to see if any of the people that they are working with would benefit from working with PAUSE which is a programme to provide support to women who have had children repeatedly taken into care to try to break ... view the full minutes text for item PSC6-2017 |
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Chair's Briefing Minutes: Chair’s Briefing matters were discussed under Updates from Working Groups. |
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Adult Social Care Scrutiny Group PDF 100 KB To receive an update from the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Group. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Scrutiny Officer explained that the current system of undertaking pre-Cabinet scrutiny had been in place for the last three months. Some early difficulties had been experienced getting hold of Cabinet reports in time for the scrutiny process to have a meaningful opportunity to comment. Another difficulty scrutiny were experiencing was an incomplete Cabinet work programme which was making the early identification of potential items for scrutiny problematic. It is understood that Cabinet and Management Team are aware of these problems and steps are being taken to address these issues.
Documents considered: · Progress report
The work programme for this group would be driven by instruction from Joint Chairs but was known to include: · Older Person’s Accommodation · Future Domiciliary Care Commissioning intentions
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Adult Social Care - Audit Scrutiny Group PDF 48 KB To receive an update on the work of the Adult Social Care – Audit Scrutiny Group. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair advised that this paper had been taken to Cabinet on 28th February 2017. He expressed disappointment that the Portfolio Holder had not been more receptive to the findings of the scrutiny group. At the Cabinet meeting the Leader indicated that a formal cabinet response to the report would be provided. |
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Education Scrutiny Group PDF 170 KB To receive an update from the Education Scrutiny Group. Minutes: Documents considered: · Progress report – Scrutiny Officer
County Councillors D Jones and S McNichoas had attended a meeting of the ERW Joint Scrutiny Group on the 27th February 2017. The following matters were noted: · it was the responsibility of the local scrutiny committees to seek assurance from their Portfolio Holder regarding the performance management of challenge advisors; · that it was good practice for individual school scrutiny panels to invite high performing schools as well as struggling schools to a scrutiny panel meeting, · the ERW business plan would be coming to individual cabinets imminently · that deficit school budgets in other authorities do not appear to be allowed to reach the levels that are evidenced in the case of Brecon High School and Ysgol Cedewain.
The Lead Member advised that a report had gone to Cabinet on the Brecon High School deficit earlier this week. The Cabinet discussion appeared to acknowledge that a wrong decision in respect of school reorganisation at Brecon/Gwernyfed might have been made. The Cabinet decision in respect of this item will be published imminently. The joint Audit / Education Scrutiny Group will continue to monitor this matter. |
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To receive an update from the Joint Health Scrutiny Group Minutes: Documents considered: · Progress report – Scrutiny Officer
Outcome: · That the report be received |
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To receive the notes of the Joint Chairs Steering Group held on: · 22th November 2016 · 17th January 2017 Additional documents: Minutes: Documents considered: · Notes of the meeting held on the 22nd November 2016 and 17th January 2017.
Outcome: · That the notes be received.
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To receive the work programme. Minutes: The work programme was received.
The Chair noted that this was the last meeting of the People Scrutiny Committee before the elections in May and thanked all Members of the Committee and the Scrutiny Officer for the work they had undertaken over the last five years. |