Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

18.

Apologies for absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Carter.

19.

Declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Mallett stated that she was a governor of Broadwaters and Chair of its Community Services Committee.  Councillor Wright stated that he was Chair of Governors at Highgate Wood School.

 

20.

Deputations/Petitions/Presentations/Questions

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

None.

21.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 58 KB

To approve the minutes of the meetings of 9 July and 16 November 2015.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

AGREED:

 

That the minutes of the meetings of 9 July and 16 November 2015 be approved.

22.

Local Children's Safeguarding Board - Annual Report pdf icon PDF 191 KB

To receive a presentation from the Chair of Haringey Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB), Sir Paul Ennals, on the LSCB’s Annual Report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel welcomed Sir Paul Ennals, Independent Chair of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.

 

He reported that arrangements for effective safeguarding were improving and that there were no immediate issues, although there were a number of matters of concern on the horizon.  Ofsted had rated the service as requiring improvement when it had visited in 2014 and had flagged up a number of areas where improvement was required.  These included:

·         Gangs and engagement with girls at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE);

·         Children missing from care; and

·         Engagement with schools.

Good progress had been made against each of these. 

 

Serious case reviews were the issues most likely to attract public interest into the work of the LSCB.  The report into the case of Child O had been published and had flagged up a number of issues requiring attention including;

·         Out of borough placements;

·         Work with mental health services; and

·         The quality of risk assessments. 

The learning from these had been implemented.  Two further serious case reviews had been commissioned.

 

The LSCB faced a number of specific challenges;

·         Partners were still not good at sharing performance data;

·         Engagement with children and young people still required improvement;

·         All agencies were facing budget cuts and these would probably impact most severely on staff most likely to have a role in supporting multi agency work;

·         The increasing fragmentation of services

 

He reported that a review was taking place on the future role of the LSCB and this was due to report in April.  There was a need to consider partnership working beyond borough boundaries, possibly on a sub regional basis. 

 

Specific work had been undertaken to improve how the views of children and young people were sought and responded to by the LSCB. New and better tools for listening had now been developed and progress would be monitored regularly.

 

In answer to a question, he stated that he met annually with Aspire and had twice met with them so far.  In terms of peer advocacy, the benefits of this were well proven.  However, a lot of funding that could be used for such initiatives had gone and it was not a cheap option. 

 

In terms of issues relating to data, this was a London wide problem.  Most agencies worked beyond borough boundaries and their data systems therefore were not coterminous with Haringey’s.  The data available to Haringey needed to be broadly the same as that available to other LSCBs as well as meaningful and proportionate.  It was also essential that core data was focussed on the areas of greatest risk.

 

Sir Paul felt that the partnership was working better than it had been 15 months ago.  He encouraged strong challenge and this needed to be taken properly and responded to effectively. There were considerable resource issues for partners though.  For example, the Police sat on 7 different LSCBs whilst the Whittington Hospital and the North Middlesex sat on 3.  Action had therefore been taken to reduce the number of meetings and alternatives such as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

23.

Child sexual exploitation; outcome of diagnostic report

To consider the outcome of a recent diagnostic audit in respect of how effectively partners on the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board address the issue of child sexual exploitation

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Children’s Services reported that it had not been possible to share the executive summary of the diagnostic report with the Panel at this stage as the action plan associated with it had not yet been agreed formally with partners. 

 

He stated that OFSTED had been keen to pilot their new joint area targeted inspection process with local authorities.  Haringey had instead decided to commission its own review, with assistance from Police and health colleagues.  This process had included desk top analysis, examining cases at random, observation and tracking and focus groups. 

 

There had been a number of findings from the review.  There was found to be good leadership and partnership and tackling CSE was seen as a priority.  There was good engagement with staff and some high quality practice.  However, the review highlighted the lack of prosecutions.  Investigations were also found to be fragmented and not child and victim focussed enough.  It highlighted that there was a lot of movement amongst the young people concerned.  In addition, CSE and missing children were found to be closely linked.  An operational group of relevant partners had been set up to address the issue of missing children and it was recognised that work was still required in this area. 

 

The Panel noted that there were currently 162 children who were home educated and that this had grown from 100 three years ago.  There was currently no defined remit for partners in respect of them but action was now being taken to improve engagement with such children.  Regular contact was also made with all schools as well as supplementary schools.

 

In answer to a question, the Director of Children’s Services stated that the local authority strove to have a relationship with all schools and, to this end, met regularly with diocesan authorities.  There was a small team that responsible for school improvement and they could intervene where risks were identified at particular schools.  There was less engagement where schools were performing well.  In addition, specific work had been undertaken with governors on safeguarding policies. 

 

AGREED:

 

That, when available, the diagnostic report be circulated to Panel Members.

 

 

24.

2015 Test and Examination Results pdf icon PDF 159 KB

To consider an overview of test and examination results for 2015.   

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Jane Blakey, Head of School Standards and Performance, reported on the outcome of 2015 Tests and Examinations.  With the exception of Key Stage 4, improvement had been either maintained or further accelerated in all areas and remained above the national average.  This was despite the borough being the 24th most deprived local authority in the country. 

 

In respect of early years, performance was above the national average and the gap with the London average had been narrowed.  The setting of targets for schools had led to improvements in this area. Key stages 1 and 2 had shown the biggest improvements with performance being above the national average and in line with the London average.  For Key Stage 2 reading, progress had been in the top ten nationally.  This had followed a particular focus on reading and, in particular, teaching.  The School Improvement Team was very small though, with only 5 staff to cover 90 schools. 

 

There were major changes to tests and examinations in progress.  GCSEs were to become more academically rigorous and fewer vocational routes were now recognised.  Performance was now assessed exclusively by test.  This had affected results already. From 2016, the main measure of progress by schools at KS4 would be Progress 8, which will be based on students’ progress measured across eight subjects. 

 

At post 16, there had been strong improvement with the gap with other London boroughs being narrowed.  Across all tests and examinations, performance of disadvantaged children was generally above national averages. Groups that were making good progress but which needed to make better than expected progress in order to narrow attainment gaps were black caribbean pupils and school action plus/statemented pupils.

 

In answer to a question, Ms Blakey reported that specific groups within schools had been targeted in order to accelerate progress against challenging targets.  Work had also been undertaken to identify where weaknesses lay.  It was noted that the percentage of schools rated as either good or outstanding had increased from 61% to over 90%.  School data was analysed by the Fischer Family Trust, which looked at data for every group and which ensured that schools were fully aware of any specific issues. School governors were also challenged in respect of performance issues of schools.

 

Panel Members were concerned that the changes in the curriculum might result in schools focussing disproportionately on high achievers.  There were also recruitment and retention issues facing schools in respect of teachers.  Ms Blakey stated that all areas were facing challenge in dealing with these issues.  In addition, there were demographic issues including a large number of teachers reaching retirement age. 

 

The Director of Children’s Services reported that the role of local authorities in respect of schools had diminished considerably.  Schools paid for the work undertaken by the Council’s School Improvement Team due to the high regard in which they were held.  The key issue facing the borough was how progress could be maintained in the light of the challenges now being faced. 

In answer to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

AGREED:

 

1.         That the future work programme be noted; and

 

2.         That the draft scope and terms of reference for the Panel’s review on disproportionality in the youth justice system be approved.