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No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from
Councillors Elin Walker Jones and
Peter Read. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from
any members present |
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URGENT BUSINESS To note any items that are a
matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration. Additional documents: Minutes: There were
no urgent business. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held
on the 26 May 2016, be signed as a true copy. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed the
minutes of the previous meeting of this Committee that took place on
26 May 2016. |
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GWYNEDD COUNCIL PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW 2015-16 - CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AND CARE PDF 388 KB Cabinet Members: Cllrs.
Mair Rowlands, Gareth Roberts, Gareth Thomas (a)
To
consider a report by the Council Leader.
(Copy
enclosed) (b)
To
receive responses to specific questions: (i)
Response by the Children, Young People and Leisure Cabinet Member (Please see Appendix
1 and 2) (ii)
Response by the Education Cabinet Member (Please see Appendix 1) Additional documents:
Minutes: Submitted: (a) An overview of the Council's performance so far in the field of Children and Young People and Care, which addressed the transformational plans that were in
the Council's strategic
plan. (b) Written responses from the Cabinet Member for Children,
Young People and Leisure and the Cabinet Member for Education to specific questions from the Members of the Services Scrutiny Committee. (i) The opportunity was taken
to congratulate Aled Davies on
his permanent appointment
to the post of the Head of Adults
and Well-being Department and he was wished well for the future. (ii) Stemming from the content of the report and verbal
questions, responses were as follows: ·
The Cabinet Member for Children and
Young People acknowledged that deterioration had been seen in
the personal education percentages for looked after children
but was confident that the problems had been resolved in
terms of processes, with the relationship well between the Education Department and Social Services. It was foreseen that there
would be an increase in the target by next
year. ·
In terms of an increase in
the number of permanent exclusions in primary
schools, the Cabinet Member
for Education explained that, following having to close a specialist unit in Felinheli due to safety issues, he was confident that the number of exclusions would decrease because alternative arrangements had been put in
place in schools to support pupils with intense
and emotional behaviour. It was assured that there
would be an effort to decrease the number excluded. It was further noted that schools
had been able to cope very well after the closure of the unit and they were
to be praised for the work done with
the children. ·
In response to a query regarding support for 3* pupils, the Cabinet Member for Education explained
that, due to changes to the additional learning needs and inclusion provision,
there was much emphasis on early
intervention and, as a result, every
child would receive an individual
plan. ·
In response to concern highlighted in the context of a reduction in the budget for preventative
services and, in particular, the Team around the Children, the Cabinet Member for Children and
Young People explained that a Multi-agency Task Group was considering streams of specific work funded by
the grant. The Head of Children
and Supporting Families Department reiterated that the funding would continue
with a slight reduction and that
the direction and the vision was changing in terms of access
to the provisions in accordance with needs that had been identified during the previous period. It was further noted that
the preventative strategies
identified gaps based on local
needs in the fields as follows: o
Speech and language delay o
Parenting o
Behaviour o
Access to low level mental health services
for children, young people and
adults The Task Group agreed on the way forward, forming an action ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Cabinet Member: Cllr. Gareth Roberts To receive
a report on the above. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: A report was submitted outlining the vision for learning
disabilities services in Gwynedd, a review of the arrangements in order to realise the vision along with
information about the main findings of the review and an action plan. During the ensuing discussion, the following responses were given to the observations of the Members: ·
In response to a request regarding the work of developing strategic contacts in collaboration between health and social services,
the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department explained that the work on a regional
level was progressing and reported to the Scrutiny Services Committee as part of the process before it was submitted to the Government. ·
In response to concern highlighted by Cllr Linda Ann Wyn Jones regarding the reduction in the number of social workers, the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department promised he would
try to seek information for the Member of the structure, including the number of social workers that existed
four years ago. It was further
noted by looking at previous structures and the existing ones that
it needed to be borne in mind
how the service had progressed and had to cope with changes
in legislation, technology etc. ·
It was noted that attending Deprivation of Liberty (DoLs) training had been an eye
opener and it was noted that
there was grave concern about the lack of assessors. Around 200 cases were on the waiting
list and there was concern that this could
cost around £1,000 a week for the Council. ·
In response to the above, the Head of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department explained that the Council had taken steps to give one-off
funding to deal with the cases on the waiting list, but in
all likelihood an application would have to be submitted for continuous funding to deal with the waiting list. It was confirmed
that a co-ordinator had been appointed along with arrangements
put in place
to train social workers to be competent to deal with the cases.
Currently, it was believed that at least 13 officers were trained to Carry out assessments and it was aimed
to try to train 20 over a period of time. The matter was receiving further attention and a discussion was being held with
the relevant Cabinet Member
in terms of trying to put a structure in place
to deal with the broader Safety and Quality Assurance
matters. While acknowledging that there were risks
associated with this work, care
was needed not to over-react
without knowing what the full picture
was, and the nature of the comparison with other authorities. · In response to a Member’s concern about having assurance that there was sufficient funding for assessments, the Learning Disabilities Area Manager noted that, even though there were more individuals receiving assessments and more pressure on workers, the assessment method had changed in accordance ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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MOVING TOWARDS AN EDUCATION AREA OFFICES MODEL PDF 385 KB Cabinet Member: Cllr. Gareth Thomas To consider
a report on the above. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: A report from the Cabinet Member for Education was submitted, outlining
the purpose of the development of the Area Offices. (a) The Cabinet
Member provided the background for the proposal, noting that specialists in the
education field noted that leadership was important to uphold education
standards. It was noted that school leaders were under significant pressure by
having to manage staff, buildings, administration, lead the teaching within the
school and, on some occasions, teach. The main purpose of developing Area
Offices would be to be able to take some of the burden off school leaders in
order to enable teachers to teach and Headteachers to lead. It was highlighted that the proposed area offices were different to the
area offices that existed in the past, and the main aim was to promote
collaboration between schools on a number of levels. (b) The Head of
Education noted that there was more emphasis on regionalising the services
these days and as an education service they were not eager to distance the
service from the individuals. Due to the requirements in the three areas in
Gwynedd being very different, the importance of creating a procedure that would
be accountable locally and to ensure the correct kind of resources was
noted. Over the years,
more pressure was put on the schools and, in establishing Area Offices, it was
foreseen that it would be possible to remove the elements of administration and
management through a procedure where teachers could share responsibilities over
more than one site. It was noted that Headteachers felt that the pressure was
high, especially in rural schools and in the smallest schools. As a result of
cuts of £4.3m in schools' budget, the proposed structure would be a foundation
in terms of support and enabling teachers and Headteachers to concentrate on
educating children. (c) An outline of
the structure was received from the Area Education Manager that included
sub-groups, which was re-establishing a County Quality Board that would
supervise matters relating to well-being, safeguarding and improving education
quality. In addition, in order to ensure
local accountability, it was proposed to establish an Area Scrutiny Committee,
to create partners locally to include an Area Manager / Business and Services
Officer, School Challenge Advisor, Chair of Governors and two elected members
in order to be able to scrutinise on a specific theme locally. It was noted that
governors were integral to the success of a school and, in order to promote
strategic collaboration, it was proposed to establish a Strategic Catchment
area Board to include Governing Body Chairs from the catchment area that would
meet twice every term to hold training, discuss catchment area development
plans in specific fields in order to remove the work burden from individuals in
separate establishments. It was trusted that this would strengthen a closer
relationship and local accountability to promote education standards in the
schools. The above would be accountable to the Education Management Team. During the ensuing discussion, the following main points were highlighted by individual ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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SCHOOLS' SUMMER EXAMINATION RESULTS 2016 PDF 545 KB Cabinet Member: Cllr. Gareth Thomas To receive
a report on the above. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: The report of the Cabinet Member
for Education was submitted outlining early information on the performance of end of key stages
for the 2015/16 academic year. (a) The Head of Education emphasised the need to respect the content of the report because initial conditional information on KS4 results was being shared due
to having no access thus far to comparative benchmarked data for every key stage. (b) It was noted that results
were good in Gwynedd and specific attention was brought to the following: ·
a significant improvement was seen in Key Stage
4 across a range of indicators ·
KS3 results
remained strong (in second place
this year) ·
That Key Stage / Key Stage
2 results were relatively static and needed to undertake
a piece of work in terms of thresholds
in these ages to identify good practices, a comparison with areas in south
east Wales, teachers' assessments, etc. ·
Attention needed to be given
to KS3/KS4 in the fields of
Welsh, English and Mathematics ·
Need to improve the quality
of the provision and achievement standards in KS5 ·
Attendance had significantly improved
in KS4 and the Head of Education Department was very gratefu; to the schools and education services
for the support that was reflected in the results. (c)
The Cabinet Member for Education
reiterated the praise and appreciation for the schools' staff and the central officers of the Education Department for their hard work
in maintaining the performance that was specifically directed at TL2+
(68.5%) that was an increase of 5% on the 2015 performance and which had improved 13.5% since the beginning of this Council. ch) In response to enquiries by individual
Members, it was noted:- ·
that the relationship with
GwE had matured over the last two years
and that it was possible to discuss specific local needs for
Gwynedd through the business
plan e.g. a new appointment was made for Mathematics in KS4 that had been a success ·
A discussion
could be held on the nature of the support needed locally and it
was trusted that it would contribute
towards making a difference to the results ·
That the results of the inspections
in Gwynedd had significantly
improved. Resolved: To accept and note the contents of the report. |