Agenda and minutes

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 extraordinary meeting of the Joint-Committee held on 20^th September, 2013 to be submitted for confirmation.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Joint Committee held on 20 September 2013 were  submitted and confirmed as correct.

·        To present a report on the activities of the SEN Provider Unit during the Summer Term, 2013.

·        To present a copy of correspondence sent to both the Assembly Member and Member of Parliament for Anglesey in relation to issues arising with training Educational Psychologists in Wales.

3.1       The report of the Principal Educational Psychologist outlining the activities of the SEN Provider Unit during the 2013 Summer Term was submitted.

The Principal Educational Psychologist referred to the main considerations arising from the report as follows:

•           Changes amongst members of staff responsible for the administration of assessment processes and reviewing arrangements made to undertake the work.  It was noted that a replacement had been appointed for the Senior Administration Officer for the duration of the secondment of the permanent holder of the post.

•           With regard to the Specialist Teachers Service, discussions had been held at the beginning of the term to consider employing new teachers as it was apparent that it was not possible to meet the needs of all the children based on the size of the current team and because a number of the teachers  were nearing retirement age. An exercise was held in May which demonstrated the difficulty experienced by teachers in meeting the educational needs of all the children.  For example, the number of children known to the Language and Communication Service meant that a full time teacher would need to work with 376 children annually. Similarly a teacher for children with physical/medical difficulties would need to work with 202 children every year.  Although the numbers are not as high in Hearing and Sight services there is an important minority of children who need weekly input from specialist teachers to develop Braille and sign language skills.  Due to the difficulty in recruiting qualified Welsh speaking teachers it has been the practice to employ trainee teachers and subsequently arrange for them to attend training courses whilst in post.

•           A similar trend is apparent in the Educational Psychology Service with a substantially reduced  number of psychologists within the team during the Summer term.  A service had been provided for every school but it had been necessary to reduce the number of visits to each school.  As a result it was disappointing, although not surprising, that the response to the questions in the quality questionnaire usually circulated to the schools was not as favourable as last year.  78% stated that they were satisfied with the service provided compared to 85% last year and 83% in previous years.  A number of the schools had scored the service lower as they had not seen the psychologist as frequently and not because of any dissatisfaction with the standard of the work.  46% of the schools were satisfied with the time allocated to them.  In light of this feedback the new Psychologist post was advertised for a second time and, as with the previous advertisement, no application was received from a Welsh speaking qualified Psychologist.  Over the years the service has employed trainee psychologists and has arranged for them to attend courses subsequently.  Currently, 7 of the 9 psychologists in the service are trainee psychologists. Three assistant psychologists were employed at the end of the term in order to alleviate some of the strain on the service and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To submit an update on the position with regard to the Joint-Committee’s 2013/14 budget.

The Senior Education Accountant of Gwynedd Council outlined the position as follows:

•           That the 2013/14 budget incorporates the costs of employment contracts, salary increments, adjustments for National Insurance and inflation in the budget for 2013/14.  The contribution of the Gwynedd and Anglesey Authorities has increased by 1.2%.

•           The current staffing structure of the Joint Committee is outlined below:

Number of full time equivalent posts:

•           8.1 psychologists

•           7.6 support teachers

•           6.4 administrative staff

•           A number of posts have been vacant during the year as well as staff being on maternity leave.  It has been difficult to find supply staff.  The situation led to a significant estimated underspend in the SEN Joint Committee’s account for the year split between the three staff teams as follows:

•           Psychologists                       £99,950

•           Support Teachers               £24,200

•           Administrative Staff            £14,050

Total                                               £138,200

Training costs are also estimated to be underspent by approximately £4,520 dependent on the availability of courses before the end of March 2014.

•           An estimated overspend of about £1,700 is anticipated in postage costs and a reduction of approximately £5,890 in the income generated by the Joint Committee through the provision of  training and the sale of publications to schools and the Authorities.

•           This amounts to a total estimated underspend of approximately £135,000 in this year’s accounts.  Having added this figure to the revised carry forward balance from 2012/13 it is estimated that the  Joint Committee’s balances will be approximately £300,000 by the end of the 2013/14  financial year which equates to nearly 30% of its budget.

•           The Joint Committee’s staff and the  Education Officers from both Authorities have made  temporary arrangements to reinforce staffing levels and continue to consider the best use of the remaining balances for the benefit of children and schools in Gwynedd and Anglesey.

The Senior Accountant stated that filling the vacant post would bring with it additional costs and it is not therefore possible for the Joint Committee to commit itself to expenditure that would have to be funded from the balances.

The Members of the Joint Committee considered the information on the financial position.  A suggestion was made that some of the underspend could be reimbursed to both Authorities and included in the budget for next year.

The Head of Education of Gwynedd Council stated that it would useful for the Joint Committee to receive a further analysis of the financial position, including the balances, to highlight permanent funding, the requirements to fill posts and the balances remaining after so doing.  If it subsequently transpires that there would be a considerable surplus there may be an opportunity to enter into dialogue with the Psychology Department of Bangor University on the possibility of supporting young people in their courses with a view to them considering committing to the area. He emphasised that there is an opportunity here for the Joint Committee to be proactive particularly in relation to Educational Psychologists and the specialist teachers and to look at alternative recruitment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

10:30 a.m. on Friday, 14^th March, 2014 in Caernarfon.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Joint Committee would be held in Caernarfon at 10.30am on Friday, 14 March 2014.