Agenda and minutes

In the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair chaired this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee.  The Committee was agreed that a Vice-Chair be appointed, and Councillor Richard Owain Jones was duly elected to serve as Vice-Chair for this meeting only.

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

Councillor Dylan Rees declared a personal interest in item 7 on the agenda as Chair of the Governing Body of Ysgol Bodffordd. He stood down as Chair of this meeting for item 7 taking part in the discussion as a Local Member only.

Councillor Nicola Roberts declared a personal interest in item 7 on the agenda as a school governor and as the parent of a child attending Ysgol y Graig.

To present the minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 4 February, 2019.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 4 February, 2019 were presented and were confirmed as correct.

To present the report of the Head of Profession (HR and Transformation).

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 3 2018/19 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report portrayed the position of the Council against its operational objectives as outlined and agreed at the beginning of the year at the end of the third quarter.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Business reported that overall the Scorecard reflects the very good performance of services, and the best performance against the Performance Indicators at the end of Quarter 3 since the Council began monitoring and tracking performance in this format. The report highlights three areas where performance is below target, two of which are in Adults’ Services – PM20a: the percentage of adults who completed a period of re-ablement and have a reduced package of care and support 6 months later and PAM/025 (PM19): the rate of people kept in hospital while waiting for social care per 1,000 population aged 75+; the third underperforming area (PAM018) is in the Regulation and Economic Development Service and relates to the percentage of all planning applications determined in time. The report refers to factors which have contributed to the below target performance in those areas and outlines the mitigating actions that will be taken to improve performance by Quarter 4.

The Portfolio Member referred to People Management and confirmed that sickness absence levels are on a par with the figure for the same quarter in 2017/18 namely 2.69 working days lost per FTE days. There continues to be assurance that Services are following procedure in accordance with the managing absence policy.

In relation to Customer Service the number of registered users of both AppMôn and the Council’s website continues to grow which is a positive result in light of the delayed release of the new Council website because of technical issues. It is expected that once the new website is up and running it will lead to increased use of online forms and online contact as well as online payments. Due to a long-term sickness absence within the team responsible for collating data, it is not possible to report on Customer Complaints or FOI requests for the quarter. In Social Services, the rate of written responses to complaints within timescale in Children and Families’ Services continues to fall short of target with no written response having been provided within timescale for 13 of the 27 Stage 1 complaints - although for 22 of those complaints a discussion with the complainant was held within timescale. The written response rate to complaints within Children and Families’ Services has been highlighted as an area for improvement by the SLT. The Portfolio Member said that Appendix B to the report provides an overview of the performance to date of the Council’s current service transformation projects.

In the subsequent Committee discussion of the report, the following issues were raised –

•           That the report conveys an improving picture of Council Service performance with some pockets of underperformance. The challenge is to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To present the report of the Head of Learning.

The report of the Head of Learning incorporating a revised School Transport Policy was presented for the Committee’s consideration and scrutiny.

The Leader reported that the revised School Transport Policy has been the subject of a Members’ Briefing Session and has also been scrutinised by the Finance Scrutiny Panel which gave careful consideration to its financial impact. The reformed policy clearly sets out the Authority’s arrangements and eligibility criteria for providing transport for the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s school and college pupils.

The Head of Learning highlighted that the revised Policy adheres closely to the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 and the Learner Travel: Statutory Provision and Operational Guidance 2014 and it is sufficiently detailed to enable the Authority to respond to situations and circumstances with clarity and consistency. The Officer said that there were aspects of school transport arrangements which needed to be reviewed clarified, and amended; that has happened during the year with a resulting positive impact on the school transport budget.

In the subsequent Committee discussion of the report, the following issues were raised –

•           Can assurances be given that transport to school will be provided on routes which may be considered hazardous even if those routes are below the statutory qualifying distance?

•           Whether the policy treatment of faith schools is consistent with the policy approach overall given that it is stated at section 3.2 of the policy that the Authority will consider on a discretionary basis, applications for transport to the nearest suitable Faith School if it is the parental/carer’s choice and that this will apply even if the school is not their nearest suitable school but is within the Local Authority area.

•           What financial effects are there to the policy?

•           It was noted that no transport will be provided for children aged 3 or 4 attending nursery school or nursery classed. However, transport will be provided for eligible children from the commencement of the school year in which the child attains the age of 5 and starts full-time education meaning that it is possible that a 4 year old child who has his/her 5th birthday later in the school year could be eligible for transport. Have the risks of transporting a child as young as 4 by bus unsupervised been assessed?

•           It was noted that the Authority will not provide transport to or from out of school clubs (i.e. breakfast clubs, after school clubs or extra-curricular activities that fall outside the school curriculum). How can this approach be reconciled to the needs of children whose parents do not have their own transport who live in areas where access to public transport might be limited and who have need for breakfast clubs; how may the Education Authority address this need in the context of the Policy?

•           How successful is the Authority in collecting and administering payments for school transport?

Clarifications/explanations were provided by Officers and Portfolio Members as follows –

•           That section 2.10 of the Policy outlines the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

·        To present the report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services.

·        To present the report of the Children’s Services Improvement Panel.

•           The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services setting out progress to date in implementing the Children’s Services Improvement Plan was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Leader and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that the report marks a milestone in the Children’s Services’ improvement process in that moving forward it has been agreed to close down the current Service Improvement Plan (SIP) and to produce a Service Development Plan for 2019-22.This will include any outstanding actions from the Current SIP that need to be further progressed and will incorporate the 14 areas for development identified by Care Inspectorate Wakes in its re-inspection report of December, 2018.The whole service will be working under the new Service Development Plan which will be agreed by the Service’s Senior Management Team, the Children’s Services Improvement Panel, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and the Executive. The Service will also be undertaking the specific improvement activities listed in the report to consolidate the progress already made.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services referred to progress with recruitment and retention as well as with developing the Small Group Homes model which is an initiative which will allow some of the children who may currently be in care placements far away from Anglesey to be looked after locally in “homely” surroundings which replicate the way in which their peers live i.e. living in the community, attending the local school, making friends in the neighbourhood. Also, as part of the effort to improve placement options to meet demand, the Service is looking to recruit and retain more Foster Carers and the report summarises the benefits which the new Foster Care package will provide to the Authority’s Foster Carers when it is implemented in April, 2019.

In the subsequent Committee discussion of the report, the following issues were raised –

•           That significant progress has been made by Children’s Services over the lifetime of the Service Improvement Plan. However, 14 areas for further development were identified by CIW. Are there any areas within the 14 identified which require priority attention and does the service have the resources to address these matters and take the Service Development Plan forwards?

•           Arrangements in relation to the Small Group Homes including staffing, registration and the plans for opening more small group homes beyond the 2 homes which are expected to open in each of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years.

•           Whether consideration has been given to allocating council housing to individuals/ families wanting to foster which would fulfil the same objective as having staff caring for looked after children in council properties.

Clarifications/explanations were provided by Officers and Portfolio Members as follows –

•           That over the course of the implementing the Service Improvement Plan, Children’s Services have developed a greater self-awareness and know where the Service is at, where it wants to get and how it will do so. After-care and care leavers are among the priority areas for the next phase for which plans are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider adopting the following:-

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test”.

It was considered and resolved under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion of the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test.

To present the report of the Head of Learning.

This item was chaired by Councillor Richard Owain Jones, the Vice-Chair for the meeting.

The report of the Head of Learning incorporating the Full Business Case for a new primary school to replace Ysgol Bodffordd and Ysgol Corn Hir was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Leader and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that if the Full Business Case is approved by Welsh Government, it will secure 50% of the finance for the project, the project being at the end of the Band A phase.

The Head of Learning said that an application for a Welsh Medium Capital Grant for a Nursery Unit was approved in November, 2018 and that the Education Minister approved the Strategic Outline Business case and Outline Business Case (SOC/BOC) for the new school in principle in January, 2019. The Full Business Case sets out the strategic, economic, commercial, financial and managerial justification for the proposal. The Officer referred to the specification for the build which will be for a community school accommodating 360 pupils taking into account prospective housing developments in this part of Llangefni and providing for up to 10% spare capacity; it will have a larger main hall for community activities, a community meeting room and a pre-school nursery unit for 2 to 4 year olds. External areas will include a playing field, MUGA games area, hard play areas, soft play areas and a garden area. The FBC also sets out the outline project timescale for the new build and school opening.

The Head of Learning said that the Executive’s decision on 30 April 2018 to approve a new school to replace Ysgol Bodffordd and Ysgol Corn Hir also referenced Ysgol Henblas whereby an education provision was to be maintained in Llangristiolus either by maintaining the current Ysgol Henblas or by merging Ysgol Henblas with the new school and creating one school on two sites. This decision was linked to the Council receiving assurance that standards at Ysgol Henblas are improving and that pupil numbers remain constant. An Estyn re-inspection of Ysgol Henblas in October 2018 confirms that the school has made sufficient progress in relation to the recommendations made following the inspection in May, 2017 and can be taken out of the list of schools that are in need of significant improvement. Projections also indicate that pupil number at Ysgol Henblas will remain constant for the next 3 years. Consequently, the Authority therefore feels that it has had assurance as regards improving standards at Ysgol Henblas and the stability of pupil numbers. It is therefore recommended that Ysgol Henblas be removed from the proposal.

In the subsequent Committee discussion of the report, the following issues were raised –

•           How does the Full Business Case satisfy the matters raised previously by the Committee at the Outline Business Case stage in relation to highway issues and adequacy of parking arrangements; traffic and road safety issues in the vicinity of the new school and the future of Canolfan Bodffordd as a community resource?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.