Agenda and minutes

The Chairman extended Members and Officers a warm welcome to this meeting of the Joint Committee.

To receive any declaration of interest by any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Joint-Committee held on 5^th July, 2013 to be presented for confirmation.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Joint Committee held on 5 July 2013 were submitted and confirmed as correct.

The Headteacher of Ysgol Glancegin, Bangor will give a presentation on the subject of the five steps to establishing a sound procedure for Care, Support and Guidance.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Bethan Morris Jones, the Head of Ysgol Glancegin, Bangor to the meeting and invited her to address the meeting on the five steps to establishing a sound procedure for Care, Support and Guidance.

Mrs Bethan Morris Jones explained that she had been requested to give the Joint Committee, as the forum responsible for overseeing additional learning needs in both counties, an overview of the work done at Ysgol Glancegin, Bangor during the last six years to address problems highlighted at the school in the Estyn inspection held in 2007.  She reported that the period in question had been a journey for all the school’s population leading to the publication of Estyn’s latest inspection report earlier this year that judged the school’s current performance and the prospects for improvement to be good.  In addition, in the 2013 report the Inspector found that welfare standards at the school were outstanding and that the care, support and guidance it provides in promoting the spiritual, moral and social development of the pupils is equally outstanding.  The Head therefore stated that she would be focussing in her presentation on the section of the inspection report dealing with additional learning needs and would draw upon it to demonstrate how the strategies and schemes implemented following the inspection six years ago have borne fruit and have culminated in very positive outcomes at the school in the form of particularly good behaviour; positive attitudes to learning; pupils taking pride in their responsibilities and playing a lead role in a number of activities; pupils feeling that their voices are important and that they are being listened to by adults, together with a considerable increase in attendance levels and standards generally.

In her subsequent presentation, the Head of Ysgol Glancegin referred to the following information and considerations –

·         The Context – The social environment of Ysgol Glancegin on the Maesgeirchen estate in Bangor, which is an area considered to be socially deprived.  Over 97% of the pupils live in an area that is amongst the 20% of the most deprived areas in Wales.  42% of the pupils are eligible for free school meals and 41% have been identified as pupils with additional learning needs.  A Nursery Group has been established in the school funded through Communities First which  receives  60 children and provides Welsh medium education for 12 ½ hours per week with the aim of giving them a solid start.

·         The Five Steps

·         Promoting the spiritual, moral and social development of pupils.

The Inspector found that teachers and ancillary staff at the school are thoroughly committed to high quality pastoral support that meets the needs of all the pupils.  A range of effective strategies was implemented consistently and robustly to foster respect for others and promote good conduct.  The Head referred in particular to a strategy entitled Solution Focused Therapy that concentrates on the positives in any situation rather than negatives and which encourages and trains children to think positively about themselves.  This  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

·        To present the Joint-Committee’s final accounts and Annual Governance Statement for 2012/13.

·        To present the External Auditor’s report on the audit of the Financial Statements 2012/13.

1.1  The Joint Committee’s post-audit Final Accounts for 2012/13 were presented together with the Annual Governance Statement.

The Senior Finance Manager of Gwynedd Council reminded the Members of the discussions at the previous meeting on 5^th July regarding the additional reporting requirements for accounting and auditing the accounts of Joint Committees, namely that the Accounts and Audit (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 require all Joint Committee to prepare annual accounts i.e. an income and expenditure account, and where the turnover exceeds £1m, a statement of accounts must be prepared in accordance with the CIPFA code for the Joint Committee.  The Officer stated that he had noted in the previous meeting that the accounts submitted at that time were subject to a separate audit by the Wales Audit Office.  That audit has now taken place and the minor amendments since the pre-audit version have been outlined in the WAO ISA260 report by the Wales Audit Office.  The Appointed  Auditor intends to publish an unqualified audit report on the financial statements once the Letter of Representation is completed based on that which is outlined in Appendix 1 of the Auditor’s Report, namely the response of Gwynedd Council as the organisation with financial oversight of the Joint Committee’s activities.

1.2  A report by the Wales Audit Office was submitted for the Joint Committee’s consideration on the audit of the Special Educational Needs Joint Committee’s Financial Statements.

Amanda Hughes of the Wales Audit Office confirmed that the Appointed Auditor’s opinion on the Joint Committee accounting statements is that they give true and fair view of the financial position of the Special Educational Needs Joint Committee on 31 March 2013 and its income and expenditure for the year then ended and that they have been prepared appropriately in accordance with the Code of Practice for Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom for 2012/13.  However, Members’ attention was drawn to the fact that prior to the 2012-13 financial year, the Joint Committee as a local government body for the purposes of Section 12 of the Public Audit Act (Wales) 2004 had not complied with the requirement in Section 13 of that Act to maintain accounts that are subject to annual audit, and that it had failed to produce financial statements in accordance with statutory requirements.  She declared that it is unlikely that this would have had a material effect on the accounts of both constituent authorities (Anglesey and Gwynedd) and that it is mainly an accounting issue and not a matter relating to the payment of the respective contributions of the constituent authorities for the Joint Committee.  However, although the Appointed Auditor proposes to publish an unqualified report on the financial statements, this is noted as another matter to report upon in the Appointed Auditor’s report.

The Senior Finance Manager of Gwynedd Council explained that although independent accounts had not been prepared for the Joint Committee in previous years, the financial activities of the Joint Committee had been reported as part of Gwynedd Council’s accounts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Friday, 22 November, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. in Llangefni.

Friday, 22 November, 2013 at 10:30 a.m.