Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2012 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            It was reported that no public questions had been received.

            The Board received a report which contained the minutes relating to the Children, Young People and Families portfolio which had been considered by Executive Board Committee since the last meeting of the PPB.

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

            The minutes of the Halton Children’s Trust meeting held on 4 September 2012 were submitted to the Board for information.

            Arising from the minutes Members raised queries on the Early Help Recommended Programmes and were requested to email the Chair who would seek responses.

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted and questions around 3.2 be mailed to the Chair.

The Board will receive a brief presentation providing an overview of the Learning and Achievement section within the Children and Enterprise Directorate.

            The Board received a short presentation from Steve Nyakatawa, Operational Director, Learning and Achievement which provided an overview of the Learning and Achievement area of the Children and Enterprise Directorate.

            Members were informed of structures, roles and responsibilities of teams, plus emerging key issues within the area. The presentation set out the following:

·         there were two divisions within Learning and Achievement: - 0-19 Learning and 0-25 Inclusion;

·         the two overarching measures of effectiveness: - annual performance in examination results and proportion of schools or settings judged good or better by Ofsted;

·         areas the department was responsible for; and

·         challenges for the Learning and Achievement department.

Arising from the presentation Members queried progress on Aspire which was a broker for schools to acquire services.  In response it was noted that the level of response had not been as high as hoped.  The Board requested a report be brought to a future meeting regarding Aspire and other Service Level Agreements in place, and the impact this would have if schools were not buying services from Halton.

 Members further queried whether the Council was in a position to challenge Academy schools over issues such as curriculum choices and performance.  In response it was noted that if standards at Academies was low the Council could ask why and what was being implemented to improve this.  However with regards to the curriculum Halton was not able to influence this.

            RESOLVED: That the presentation and comments made be noted.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which provided the opportunity for Members to contribute to the development of Directorate Business Plans for the coming financial year.

            Members were advised that each Directorate of the Council was required to develop a medium-term business plan, in parallel with the budget that was subject to annual review and refresh.  The process of developing such plans for the period 2013-2016 was just beginning.

            The Board was further advised that at this stage Members were invited to identify a small number of priorities for development or improvement (possibly 3-5) that they would like to see reflected within those plans. It was reported that a meeting had been scheduled for Monday 3 December at 5.45pm in Runcorn Town Hall to identify the proposals.

It was reported that Strategic Directors would then develop draft plans which would be available for consideration by Policy and Performance Boards early in the new year.

The report further set out the timeframe for plan preparation, development and endorsement.

Members raised concerns in relation to capacity problems with the server used for inputting cases. It was noted that meetings had been held with IT and a new server was being ordered.  Members wished to note their concern as the problem still remained and requested that this be pursued as a matter of urgency.

RESOLVED: That

1)     the content of the report be noted; and

2)     the meeting of 3 December at 5.45pm to identify proposals be noted.

            The Board received a report of the Director of Public Health, which presented Halton’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  It was noted that the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) had been working on the development of the Strategy for Halton which involved gathering and analysing information and intelligence from a variety of sources.

            It was reported that the analysis produced a comprehensive list of health and wellbeing needs for Halton. The list was then prioritised in a transparent way by the HWB through the use of a 5 Prioritisation Framework.  This enabled the Board to agree 5 priorities for the next 12 months as follows:

·         prevention and early detection of cancer;

·         improved child development;

·         reduction in the number of falls in adults;

·         reduction in the harm from alcohol; and

·         prevention and early detection of mental health conditions.

It was further noted that the priorities would be reviewed and either continued or changed depending on progress.  Following agreement of the priorities a draft Health and Wellbeing Strategy was developed and was approved by the HWB on 12 September.  The Strategy was appended to the report for information along with details of how the priorities would be taken forward.

Arising from discussion of the report the following points were noted:

·         a more systematic approach was being taken to tackling health in Halton with a much more integrated approach including GP’s and Clinical Commissioning Groups, Local Area Forums and Local Wellbeing Areas;

·         in relation to early detection and prevention of cancer, a strategy searching for genetic markers was being investigated;

·         work was being carried out with the Police as part of the alcohol harm reduction group, tobacco control and trading standards;

·         the effect the local environment had on people’s health in terms of factories and increased traffic;

·         quantitative and qualitative data was used to structure and produce the strategies;

·         the effect of the economic climate and further cutbacks to services could have on mental health figures in the borough.

RESOLVED: That the report and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy be noted.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which sought endorsement of the 2012 Annual Review of the Halton Children and Young People’s Plan 2011-14.  It was noted that the Review was formally approved by Halton Children’s Trust Board in May 2012.

            Members were advised that the Halton Children & Young People’s Plan (CYPP) was the agreed joint strategy of the partners within the Halton Children’s Trust and detailed how they would co-operate to improve children’s wellbeing.  It was further noted that the Plan represented Halton’s local vision and aspirations for children and young people in the borough and provided strategic direction and determined how the Children’s Trust Board would work together to commission services to address locally identified needs and better integrate provision.

            The Board was informed that although the Coalition Government removed the statutory footing for Children’s Trusts in July 2010, it did reconfirm its commitment to working in partnership to improve outcomes for children and young people through locally agreed partnerships.  Following the announcement of the reforms the future of Halton Children’s Trust was discussed at both the Board and Executive Group and there was a universal agreement from all partners to continue in its current format.

            Following extensive consultation, the priorities for Halton Children’s Trust for the period 2011-14 were agreed as follows:

·         improve outcomes for children and young people through embedding integrated processes to deliver early help and support;

·         improve outcomes for children and young people through effective joint commissioning; and

·         improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children and young people by targeting services effectively.

Appended to the report for information was the Annual Review, which was a short summary document that acted as a supplement to the CYPP.  The report further set out details of what the review contained, and provided an opportunity to celebrate the successes. 

RESOLVED: That the Board

1)    note the content of the report; and

2)    endorse the Annual Review Document.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which provided an overview of the latest Department for Education (DfE) policy regarding the raising of the Participation Age (RPA) to age 17 by 2013 and to age 18 by 2015.

            It was reported that the Government was increasing the age to which all young people in England must continue in education or training, requiring them to continue until the end of the academic year in which they turn 17 from 2013 and until 18 years old from 2015. 

            The Board was advised that this did not mean that they must stay in school but they could choose from either full time education, such as school sixth form, college or work-based learning, an apprenticeship or part time education or training if they were employed, self-employed or doing at least 20 hours or more a week volunteering.

            It was reported that RPA would mean that all young people were given the opportunity, provision and support they needed to learn and participate after age 16.  The first cohort of young people to which RPA applied to started in Year 11 in September 2012 and these young people would be required to continue in post-16 education or training until the end of the academic year in which they turned 17.

            The report further set out figures showing percentages of young people that were engaged in education and training,  proportions of young people NEET, what RPA meant for local authorities, schools and employers and Halton’s position.

            Arising from discussion of the report the Members noted that school settings would be monitored, performance would be published, the impact of the reduction of Connexions and the different number of years it took to complete apprenticeship schemes.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise which set out Halton’s 2012 school performance data for Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and Key States 1 to 4.

            It was reported that the data remained un-validated until performance tables were published later in the term.  There was no national data available at this stage to enable comparisons with national performance.  It was noted that headline data related to the Local Authority (LA’s) performance with a more detailed report including gender analysis to be presented at a future meeting.

            The report set out explanations of Foundation and Key Stages, the 6 key areas of a child’s development, for example, Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) and Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL).

Members were advised of the following headlines for 2012:

·         performance as a whole for 2012 had exceeded previous years;

·         numbers of pupils who achieved 6+ points in PSED and CLL was 6% higher than last year;

·         there had been an increase in level 2b+ for reading, writing and maths;

·         attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 continued to rise which compared well to the 2011 national outcomes;

·         there had been an increase in the higher level 5s;

·         closing the gap between Free School Meals (FSM) and Non FSM had also decreased in Key Stage 2;

·         in Key Stage 4 there had been a further rise in the DfE attainment floor standard and all schools in Halton had exceeded this threshold;

Information relating to the above headlines was provided in further detail in the report for information.

Arising from discussion of the report the following points were noted:

·         the 5 young people in care had exceeded the Halton averages which was a remarkable achievement;

·         there was further work to be carried out for reducing the between achievement levels for pupils receiving FSM and Non FSM;

·         the Board suggested further links be made with the School Development Panel; and

·         examples of practices and procedures used in schools performing well, be shared with schools that were not performing as highly.

The Board requested that future data of educational attainment be displayed in a graphical format as well as numerical data.

RESOLVED: That

1)    the attainment of the children and young people in Halton schools for the 2011/2012 academic year be noted; and

2)    stronger links with the School Development Panel be explored.