LIFELONG LEARNING AND LEISURE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
ACTION SHEET ARISING FROM THE ABOVE COMMITTEE
14 May 2003.
Present: Councillors Pennington (Chair), Carson, Cullen, Eglin, Upton, Witkowski, Fernandez,
Reverend Perrott - Free Federal Church, Reverend Dr Archer - Church of England and Reverend Paxton - Roman
Catholic Church.
Councillors Mann and Daniels (for items 4,5 & 6)
Officers: Russell Bernstein, Karen Lucas, Lynn Wright (items 4, 5, 6 & 7), Beth Parr (item 4), Robert McIntyre (item
5) and Paul Greenway (item 6).
ITEM
1.
Apologies for
absence.
2.
Declarations of
Interest.
3.
Action sheet of the
last meeting on the
9 April2003.
ACTION REQUIRED
RESPONSIBLE
MEMBER / OFFICER
Apologies received from Councillors Smyth, Dobbs and
Slater. Jill Baker Director of Education and Leisure.
There were no declarations of interest raised.
It was confirmed that the action sheet replaces the
minutes previously taken by Committee Services as
agreed by Members following the Democratic Services
review. Russell Bernstein added that views and
thoughts from Members and Officers are welcome to
ensure that the new format fulfils the necessary
requirements as an accurate record of the meeting.
Members agreed that the revised format was easier
to follow and likely to better reflect the needs of
scrutiny committees.
TIMESCALE
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Karen Lucas
Ongoing.
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The action sheet of the last meeting was approved.
4.
Post Ofsted
Monitoring – April
2003, Draft 4.
It was confirmed that an OFSTED Inspection would
take place during September 2003.
Beth Parr reported that following the Inspection in
1999, progress in the first year against the issues
raised was fairly slow, as the systems put into place to
measure the outcomes take time to implement and
provide information on outcomes.
Beth Parr and
Councillor Mann.
Beth Parr provided the following resume on each of
recommendations listed in the Post Ofsted Action Plan
Monitoring report:
Recommendation 1 – The delegation of funds has
improved. However, further time is required in order
to measure outcomes.
Recommendation 2 - Key stage 2 is good. Key stages 3
and 4 are below the national average, it is felt that
once the national strategies settle in we will start to
see improvement.
Secondary schools will take part in a national pilot for
key stage 3 in literacy and numeracy, Members felt it
is good for the schools in Salford to take part in the
national pilot.
Recommendation 3 - The management and Governance
of schools has improved. The Directorate have
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recently had a recruitment drive for Governors, which
has created a lot of interest.
Recommendation 4 - The levels of service management
have improved and have been received positively.
Progress with Service Plans is reported quarterly to
the relevant Assistant Directors and to Scrutiny
Committee on a half yearly basis.
The Services to Schools Directory is upgraded year on
year to ensure schools have access to useful, accurate
information.
Recommendation 5 – It was reported that it is to
early to see the significant outcomes in special
educational needs provision. The ‘working together
strategies’ have now been implemented.
It was noted that a special educational needs policy
has been established and action plans developed.
Recommendation 6 – Communication with the Dioceses
is ongoing and further information is required from
them with regards reducing places in primary schools.
The primary school review is underway, and is due for
presentation at the School Organisation Committee in
August 2003.
Recommendation 7 – PFI has been granted for 3 high
schools in Salford.
Requests for refurbishment of schools is based on the
greatest need via the Asset Management Plan process.
It was confirmed that the Asset Management Plan had
been included as a future item on the work programme
for this Scrutiny Committee.
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Following questions from Members of the Scrutiny
Committee it was confirmed that the ongoing work in
respect of Broadband Project will be completed in all
schools by August 2004.
Reverend Dr Archer asked where the discussions with
the Roman Catholic Dioceses were up to; Councillor
Mann confirmed that the LEA are involved in lengthy
discussions at the moment in respect of surplus places.
The Council are in favour of funding bids to reduce
places. However, the funding bid to the DfES to
reduce three RC schools in to one, was not successful.
No explanation for this was provided by the DfES,
priorities are changing and they are more concerned
that proper maintenance and refurbishment is
undertaken.
It was also confirmed by Councillor Mann that with
regards to the Church of England Diocese, detailed
discussions would be held over the next few weeks, in
respect of surplus places.
It was reported that Salford LEA is now involved In a
significant brokerage partnership with seven other
local authorities in the North West.
Members of the Scrutiny Committee agreed that
when the Asset Management Plan item is presented
they would prefer to concentrate solely on this item.
Karen Lucas in liaison
with Lynn Wright.
Date to be
agreed.
Resolved:
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5.
New Funding
Arrangements for
Education
- That the comments received today and at previous
meetings from Scrutiny Committee Members are
included in the evaluation of this action plan.
Beth Parr.
Following the recent media coverage Councillor
Pennington asked for an update on whether Salford
LEA had provided all schools within the City the
appropriate levels of finance. Members were provided
with a copy of a reply to a letter sent to the DfES in
respect of how the City Council has allocated its
education budget for 2003-2004. It was noted that
copies of this letter would be sent to schools.
Robert McIntyre,
Lynn Wright. And
Councillor Mann.
It was felt that Members may require more time to
digest the contents of the letter and may have
further questions.
It was reported that for the third year Salford
received one of the lowest percentage increases in
FSS for Metropolitan Councils, and Salford were not
on the list to benefit from the additional grant
allocated in March 2003, thus the LEA are utilising
monies from other resources.
The following points were noted:
- From September 2003 as in every other year
contingency money will be available for extra
pupils. This point had not been understood in
the DfES letter.
- Salford has a declining number of pupils, which
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deflates the allocated budget.
There has been ongoing consultation with
Teachers and various other bodies in respect of
the Government’s review of the allocation of
funding.
The Excellence in Cities grant will be
distributed to schools.
The amount not yet allocated to specific schools
represents 0.3%, significantly below the
understood national average of 2.4%.
Members asked if there is national guidance on how
much contingency an LEA needs to retain; in response
Directorate Officers confirmed the DfES do not
provide any guidance, Salford keep it to a minimum,
the benchmark is 0.1% of the ‘individual schools
budget’.
Resolved:
-That the Scrutiny Committee accept that the LEA
are not holding back any funding centrally which has
been allocated to Schools except for a minimal
contingency.
Robert McIntyre.
Upon receipt.
-That the Scrutiny Committee receives a copy of the
response letter from the DfES.
6.
Delegation of
Resources for AEN
and SEN.
The Scrutiny Committee received a copy of the report
that went to Cabinet on the 19 February 2003, which
was agreed.
Paul Greenway, Lynn
Wright and Councillor
Mann.
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It was reported that a funding group and Partnership
Board was established to look at delegating more
funds and revising how the funds are allocated, the
groups included officers and school representatives,
parent governors and other agencies. They considered
how much to delegate to schools, how much to retain
for central services to schools, staff support, and the
best way to delegate monies which in the past had
been based on free school meals. The group looked at
a formula based on children in public care, deprivation,
prior attainment and mobility. The DfES has published
guidelines for allocating funds; the author was invited
to Salford to provide advice on best practise from
around the country.
Recommendations from the funding group were
consulted on with a wider audience including schools,
parents, Social Services and Health. This includes a
range of meeting and the circulation of a
questionnaire. In January 2003 consideration was
given to the feedback received and the
recommendations were revised. A further series of
meetings were then arranged to discuss the final
recommendations. A report went to Cabinet in
February and the recommendations agreed.
The LEA is starting to monitor the schools’ spending
of their budget. However, they cannot direct
Governors on how it should be spent.
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The funding changes are part of a range of
developments in Salford including the development of
the Educational Psychology Team.
It was noted that Salford LEA presently have 6
vacancies for Educational Psychologists. Following a
restructure and revised job descriptions four post
have been filled and a further advert for the two
remaining posts has created a lot of interest.
It was also confirmed by Councillor Mann that the
message within the North West is; Salford is a good
place to work for Educational Psychologists due to the
funding changes.
Following a request from Councillor Pennington for
further information. The committee received details
of each individual school’s budget SEN allocation for
2003/04 compared to allocation in 2002/03. This
confirmed a redistribution of the funding between
schools.
Councillor Upton asked for clarification in relation to
how some of the financial information had been
presented and do LEA’s receive money for equipment?
It was confirmed by Directorate Officers that the
information related to the allocation of funding for
staffing and the increase in salary scales. With
regards to purchasing equipment extra monies are
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available through the LEA, plus there is also joint
funding available through Health and Social Services.
Councillor Cullen asked how the LEA is reassuring
parents who remain unhappy with the formula
implemented in Salford. It was confirmed that the
LEA are continuing to consult with parents. The LEA
has also agreed to keep the formula structure under
review.
Members asked if the formula had been externally
benchmarked and was it accepted as good practice?
It was confirmed that Salford’s formula is similar to
that of other LEA’s. Some issues remain under review
eg deprivation, and the use of ethnicity will be
revisited. Nationally schools are moving away from the
‘free school meals’ formula previously used.
Members of the Scrutiny Committee asked for
reports to be presented to the committee prior to a
decision by Cabinet to enable Members to have the
opportunity to contribute to policy development.
Councillor Mann agreed that this would occur in future
as long as this would not cause any delay in the
decision making process.
Resolved:
-Update reports on the progress of AEN and SEN
delegations be provided to this Scrutiny Committee.
Paul Greenway
Date to be
agreed.
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7.
Work Programme.
8.
Forward Plan.
9.
Any Other Business
of an Urgent
Nature.
-That the work programme be revised to ensure that
reports presented to Scrutiny Committee are
complementary with the Cabinet reporting process to
ensure the contribution to policy development is
achieved.
Karen Lucas in liaison
with Lynn Wright.
Ongoing.
It has been agreed to include a presentation at a
future meeting, explaining the Asset Management Plan
process to Members. Councillor Pennington requested
that this be the only item on the agenda for
discussion.
Karen Lucas in liaison
with Lynn Wright.
Scheduling
of report to
be agreed.
It was noted that any key decisions of interest have
already been included on the work programme.
Karen Lucas in liaison
with Lynn Wright.
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A) It was reported at the last meeting that the
Karen Lucas.
Committee had received three nominations for
the two parent governor places on the
committee, Members agreed to invite all three
nominees to join the committee. It was reported
that only one nominee, Mike Hendstock
remained interested in becoming a parent
governor representative. Mike will be attending
the next meeting on the 11 June 2003.
11 June
2003.
B) Due to possible forthcoming changes in
Councillors sitting on Scrutiny Committees,
Councillor Pennington thanked Members who may
be attending their last meeting for their input
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on Lifelong Learning and Leisure.
C) Members were reminded that a review session
for this scrutiny committee will take place at
the next meeting on the 11 June, looking back at
achievements and issues for development. It
was noted that it is also an opportunity for Lead
Members and the Director of Education and
Leisure to have an input.
Chairman
Assistant Director
Scrutiny Support Officer
Councillor Bernard Pennington
Russell Bernstein
Karen Lucas
All Members, Jill
Baker, Lynn Wright
and Lead Members.
11 June
2003.
0161 790 4181
0161 793 3530
0161 793 3318
20.5.03
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