Agenda and minutes

Learning and Skills Scrutiny Committee - Monday, 22nd June, 2020 1.00 pm

Venue: By Teams. View directions

Contact: Wyn Richards, Scrutiny Manager and Head of Democratic Services

Items

No.

Item

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor D Jones, and from L Lovell (Interim Chief Education Officer) and E Palmer (Head of Transformation and Communications)

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interest from Members.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest from Members relating to items for consideration on the agenda.

Declarations 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 Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee.)

Minutes:

The Committee did not receive any disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member had been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.

Briefing - Transforming Education Programme PDF 391 KB

To receive and consider the report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Property and comment thereon.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

· Report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Property.

Issues Discussed:

· A programme of governance relating to the transformation programme had been presented to the Cabinet and the appendices to the document related to the various workstreams. Work had continued on the programme despite the Covid-19 outbreak and although the work was not critical, it is important that the governance arrangements be established.

· Workstream 1 – Primaries and all age schools.

· There is a great deal of integration between workstreams. The primary and all age schools are linked to learner entitlement in the strategy. Wave 1 in 2020-21 would be seeking to develop 3 all through schools. It would also be considering the reconfiguration of schools. There are a number of small schools in the county and it is necessary to see how these fit into the all school age principles. PIDs (Project Initiation Documents) have been produced for all workstreams, which as live documents can be changed and approved by the Transformation Board.

· Questions:

Will there be more all age schools in Waves 2 and 3.	Yes 3 in Wave 2 and more in Wave 3.
Are all primaries to be reviewed in Wave 1 or by areas	The Council is looking at the smallest schools first as they have relationships with other neighbouring schools.
Does it make more sense to look at all schools and develop the model, as if you are just looking at smallest schools there will be a knock-on effect on other schools	The Council wants to avoid moving pupils 2 or 3 times in their educational career. Therefore, it is looking strategically at small schools but also looking at the impact on the catchment area, transport etc.
This is a huge scheme and there is a need to look on a county wide basis, but some schools are unsustainable currently. The bigger picture and clusters will need to be addressed, but there are some issues that need to be dealt with now	Wave 1 is looking at 3 all through schools and also there is a triage element to Wave 1 looking at other problems to be addressed before Waves 2 and 3.
Are the waves considering all aspects such as federation, consolidation or are there limitations as to what can be looked at	There are no limitations. Legally the Council has to look at all options especially in relation to smaller and rural schools which is set out in the legislation. The Council will also have to state why is has selected certain options and not others.
Are the timescales realistic for the number of people undertaking this work	Yes, as the Council has set the timetable. The problem has been the Covid-19 outbreak and the ability to undertake consultation with schools and others. All the workstreams have cross service input into them as it is a wide corporate programme of work.
Page 5, para 4.2 – where will the resource funding come from if not from the 21^st Century ... view the full minutes text for item 4.

Work Programme

The next meeting of the Committee will be on:

6 July 2020

1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.

Item: Schools Service – Financial Out-turn

Further meetings will be held on:

20 July 2020

1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.

Item: School Budgets 2020-21

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the next meetings would be held as follows:

6 July 2020	1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.	Item: Schools Service – Financial Out-turn
20 July 2020	1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.	Item: School Budgets 2020-21