Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence received from Kath Phelan (Co-optee).

Members are reminded of their personal responsibility to declare any personal and prejudicial interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government and Finance Act 1992 relating to Council Tax, the Local Government Act 2000, the Council’s Constitution and the Members Code of Conduct

Note:

(a)  Members are reminded that they must identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest and

(b)  Where Members withdraw from a Meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chair when they leave

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider report of the Chief Officer Education

The Chair welcomed Betsan O’Connor to the meeting.

Sue Walker referred Members to the report on Performance Measures for Education and advised it is a summary of the changes to performance measures across education settings and that consideration will need to be given on what performance measures might be used in the future.  

Due to the Chair having to leave the meeting for a short time, Councillor Jago took the Chair. 

Sue Walker and Batsan O’Connor then took members through the report and appendix in detail and provided background information in relation to the following:

-       How to challenge and scrutinise within the Scrutiny Committee due to the change in measurement data being available.   How is this being done in different Local Authorities across Wales?

-       Effective Self Evaluation Arrangements.

-       Consideration of how the sharing of data across Wales can be taken forward and how these can be evaluated.

-       Performance information not being provided at a national level in relation to attendance, current situation on the Authority’s attendance figures and the arrangements to be put in place to encourage parents to bring children back into schools. 

-       Difficulty in tracking progress against performance of our Schools due to no available national benchmarking figures.   

-       When will Members have the opportunity to look at proposed key performance measures for Merthyr.   Will they come to Scrutiny for agreement?

-       How to link the preventative agenda into school outcomes, e.g Flying Start and Families First.   

-       The use of Capita One across the Families First Programmes.  

RESOLVED that:

-       The contents of the report be noted.

-       A Task and Finish Group be arranged, consisting of Members, Headteachers and Batsan O’Connor, to give consideration to future proposed key performance measures for Merthyr.

To consider report of the Chief Officer Education

Sue Walker referred Members to the report, namely an update on activity during the Pandemic, and gave an overview of the work undertaken by the Learning Department since September 2020 together with what needs to be done next to ensure children and young people have the best educational experiences possible in order to mitigate the impact of lockdown. 

Sue Walker provided background information in relation to the following:

-       Update on progress and the continued development of the Vulnerable Learning Panel set up during lockdown.

-       Challenges for the Learning Department during lockdown.

-       The rise in Free School Meals. 

-       Support structures in place for the Schools’ workforce staff.

RESOLVED that:

The contents of the report be noted by Members.

To consider the attached report

Councillor Harvey Jones returned to the meeting and took the Chair.

The Chair referred to the Forward Work Programme and the items listed for future Committee Meetings were agreed.

In addition, it was agreed that consideration be given to including the following in the forthcoming work programme.         

-       Update on future Key Performance Measures following the Task and Finish Group, possibly May 2021.

-       Update on Trauma Informed Practices in Schools.

The Chair advised that there were no new referrals.

To receive an update from the Chair

The Chair and the Committee reflected in detail on the items that had been considered in the Meeting.

The Chair advised that there were no items deemed urgent.