Agenda item

The Board considered a report from the Executive Director, Children’s Services, which informed Members of the key performance indicators identified to measure progress against each of the priorities identified within the Children and Young People Plan.

The format of the Quarterly Monitoring Report (QMR) had changed from previous reporting, in order to comply with the new corporate reporting template.  The performance measures of the QMR had also changed, to correlate with the priorities identified in the newly launched Children and Young People Plan.

It was noted that the quarter 1 QMR was presented to the Board at the September meeting in the old format with the old measures.  The new formatted report included the quarter 1 data, but reported on the new measures, so is able to demonstrate to Members the format and allow for comments so that any amendments could be made in preparation for future reporting.

The following performance indicators were questioned by Members:

P2.2 – this was found to be a typographical error as progress had increased from 12% to 17%;

P2.3-6 – the information was not provided as it related to quarter 2 data which was not ready.  This would be presented going forward in this new template;

P3 – 6 & 7 – challenges continued with the new Speech and Language provider as they struggled to recruit staff and because of this, clients had to be prioritised according to need.  This has since improved and they were now fully staffed so an improvement was expected.  It was suggested that a report on the Speech and Language Service be included on the next PPB agenda;

P5 1-4 – there were unprecedented numbers of school suspensions and exclusions last year.  This was a national issue and was thought to be related to social, mental and emotional health issues with some children, resulting from the Covid period.  Officers were working with schools on this issue, although it was noted that any solutions would take time to get through the system and show improvements.  There was no evidence that school exclusions were related to the aspirations of a schools exam results.  If a pupil was presenting with behaviour problems all schools were encouraged to flag this up with the Local Authority.  This would be reiterated at the upcoming Governors’ conference;

P6.5 – management of those children being home educated (Electively Home Educated) was explained to Members.  There were two dedicated Home Education Officers employed by the Council, who monitored the quality of education being provided at home by carrying out reviews.  The recent Ofsted inspection did highlight that Halton’s EHE service was robust.  A School Attendance Order was explained, which was used when Home Education Officers considered the home provision to be inadequate.   Debate around social interaction, support for EHE children, safeguarding, home visits and taking exams took place.

The Chair commented that some secondary school curriculums did not offer any creative GCSE’s.  This was noted and Officers advised that a curriculum review was being conducted by the new Government.

RESOLVED:  That the quarterly monitoring report (QMR) is accepted as the mechanism by which Elected Members can monitor and scrutinise progress going forward.