Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Councillors: Bob Connah and Tudor Jones declared a personal interest in Agenda item 5 – Community Asset Transfer Update.

Councillors: Janet Axworthy, Sean Bibby, Sian Braun, Gladys Healey, David Mackie and David Williams declared a personal interest in Agenda item 6 – Update on Council funding for schools, as School Governors.

Mr. David Hytch and Mrs. Rebecca Stark declared a personal interest in Agenda item 6 – Update on Council funding for schools, as School Governors.

            Councillors Bob Connah and Tudor Jones declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 5 – Community Asset Transfer Update.  The Facilitator explained that Councillor Jones had received confirmation from the Monitoring Officer that the interest was personal and that he should not participate when voting for the recommendation relating to Holywell Leisure Centre within the report.

            Councillors Paul Cunningham, Gladys Healey, Dave Mackie, Tudor Jones and Mr. David Hytch and Mrs. Rebecca Stark declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 6 – Update on Council Funding for Schools, as School Governors.

            Councillor Gladys Healey declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7 – Self-Evaluation Report on Education Services, as a School Governor at Castell Alun High School.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 28 January 2021.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 January 2021 were received.

The minutes were approved, as moved and seconded by Councillors Tudor Jones and Martin White.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(a) That the attendance data for Flintshire schools and the actions undertaken by officers to support engagement and safeguarding during the period of lockdown; and

(b) That the Committee recognise that the data provided had been impacted by COVID-19 lockdown and school closure.

            The Senior Learning Advisor (Engagement) introduced an overview of school attendance and exclusions for the year 2019/20, which had been impacted by the pandemic, as outlined within the report.  He provided information on the trends for attendance, persistent absence and permanent and fixed term exclusions which had been highlighted by Estyn. 

            Councillor Dave Mackie commented on the table showing fixed term exclusions and asked what processes were in place to understand the causes of the increase in these figures and what steps were being taken to address them.  In response, the Senior Learning Advisor provided information on the work carried out by the team, which was more proactive, working with children, families, head teachers and communities to better understand issues at an earlier stage. 

The recommendations,  outlined within the report,  were moved and seconded by Councillors Paul Cunningham and Dave Mackie.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the attendance data for Flintshire schools and the actions undertaken by officers to support engagement and safeguarding during the period of lockdown; and

(b) That the Committee recognise that the data provided had been impacted by COVID-19 lockdown and school closure.

(a) That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b) That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the report confirming the next meeting of the Committee was the joint meeting with the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee scheduled for the 17^th June.  The next ordinary meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held on the 1^st July where the Annual Report from GwE, Social Media and internet Safety would be presented.  All actions arising from previous meetings had been completed.

            The Facilitator also reminded Members of the Out of County briefing sessions which had been arranged for all Members and co-opted Members for 22^nd March.

The recommendations, outlined within the report, were moved and seconded by Councillor Paul Cunningham and Mrs Lynne Bartlett.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b) That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

(a) That the progress of the Community Asset Transfers be noted;

(b) That the Committee supported the continued grant support for Cambrian Aquatics into 2021/22; and

(c) That the Committee support the continued grant support for Holywell Leisure Centre into 2021/22.

            The report was presented by the Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) and Strategic Finance Manager (Commercial and Housing) and provided an overview of the progress of the two largest Community Asset Transfers and how the pandemic had impacted them.  Cambria Aquatics had transferred in 2016 with Holywell Leisure Centre commencing trading in 2017 and the Chief Officer provided detailed information on the benefits to the council, the substantial financial impact because of the pandemic together with precautionary steps taken to enable re-opening safely.  He also provided information on the grant support schemes and furlough opportunities.   He paid tribute to the management of these organisations which had very strong community support and felt confident that these would move forward beyond the pandemic.

Councillor Mackie commented on the unprecedented difficulties faced by the two organisations and suggested that the Committee write to them to praise the work of the managers and volunteers for the way in which they had dealt with them.  The Facilitator agreed to send a letter on behalf of the Committee to both organisations.

The recommendations outlined within the report were taken separately.  The first and second recommendations were moved and seconded by Councillor Martin White and Mrs. Rebecca Stark.  The third recommendation was moved by Councillors Janet Axworthy and Gladys Healey.  Councillor Tudor Jones did not take part in the vote on the third recommendation. 

RESOLVED:

(a) That the progress of the Community Asset Transfers be noted;

(b) That the Committee supported the continued grant support for Cambrian Aquatics into 2021/22; and

(c) That the Committee support the continued grant support for Holywell Leisure Centre into 2021/22.

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That the positive thematic report undertaken by Estyn on the work of education services in Flintshire to support children and young people during the pandemic be noted.

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) presented the self-evaluation report and explained that, due to the pandemic, the information had not been structured in the usual way against the Estyn Framework for the inspection of Local Government Education Services which had been temporarily suspended together with the key data collections from Welsh Government (WG).  She referred to previous reports to meetings attended by GwE and Estyn colleagues with the Thematic Review of the Regional Services presented at the last meeting and attached to the report was the letter sent to Flintshire County Council from Estyn which summarised the positive assessment of the work undertaken in schools during this period.  She also provided information on the next steps and priorities within the Council Plan.

The Chair said that the format of the report was very useful in providing information on all service areas.  He invited questions on each of the service areas, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report.

Inclusion and Progression Service

            The Chair referred to page 54 the last paragraph and asked as this was now an online offer with no theoretical limit why the training was not available to everyone.  In response the Chief Officer confirmed she would refer this to the Senior Manager (Inclusion and Progression) to provide a response. 

            Mrs Stark asked if provision had been considered for young person counselling and psychology services moving forward and were schools aware of pupils who may already require that support.  In response the Chief Officer confirmed that this had been identified by the Children’s Commissioner and that previously WG had provided additional funding for counselling services to support ALN services and that this would be a priority moving forward for them.  There was a strong holistic recovery programme working with Health and CAMMS colleagues and Children’s Services to enable a wraparound model to support these children and young people.  She added that additional funding had been provided last year to support young people’s emotional health and well-being.

Early Entitlement Service

            The Chair asked for an explanation on what was covered by the Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme.  In response, the Chief Officer explained that during the pandemic WG had suspended the childcare offer and created the Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme and that similar to schools who operated during the pandemic providing childcare for critical workers, WG provided funding for this service to provide the same support for critical workers.  This was managed by the Childcare team within Social Services.

            Mrs Stark asked if WG had anticipated the impact of the gap in education for young learners in their early years’ education and would this be taken into account when measuring their performance.   In response, the Chief Officer confirmed that this was being discussed and referred to the Foundation Phase Curriculum for 3 – 7 year olds which firstly looked at the child and their personal and social development and then provided support across different areas of learning.  She confirmed the early years was front and centre of the National  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

(a) That the Committee support the principles as the basis for allocating the £1m additional funding to reduce deficits in secondary schools in 2021/22, as set out within the report;

(b) That the allocations, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, be noted; and

(c) That the Committee support the Council’s intent to raise the amount of funding to schools year on year, in line with the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

            The Chief Executive introduced a report to outline to the Committee the proposal for distributing the additional £1m allocated to secondary schools in the 2021/22 budget.  Because of the timing and purpose of the funding, the Council will allocate the funding in 2021/22 as a supplementary allocation. 

            The Estyn inspection of the Local Authority in 2019 raised concerns about the long term nature of deficit budgets in certain secondary schools, and as part of their inspection report, a key recommendation was that the Authority took steps to address the deficits.  The additional funding in the budget was primarily to provide additional resource to those schools in financial difficulty.             

The Chief Executive explained that there had been no funding solution available to deal with the deficits, but by working hard to set the 2021/22 budget, together with investigating the opportunities within the Welsh Government (WG) WG settlement to realign additional funding to Schools, a solution had been reached to provide additional funding to secondary schools.  Explaining the way in which the funding had been allocated, he commented on the concerns which had been received by some Headteachers and School Governors.  He advised that it was acknowledged by the Authority that in recent years secondary schools in general had experienced pressure on budget, and therefore, a proportion of the funding would go to those schools which had not met the principles, as set out in the report.  

The Leader of the Council spoke in support of the comments made by the Chief Executive and advised that the proposed additional funding had been fully supported by the County Council.  He commented on the challenging position schools had faced due to austerity but said that young people across Flintshire had the right to access a broad and balanced curriculum.  

            The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) added that young people in schools across Flintshire should not suffer because of a variety of very complex factors which had led to the deficits being accrued.  She provided a detailed explanation of the allocation principles, as outlined within the report, which had included deprivation factors.  Additional funding was also being provided to school from WG which would continue for the next financial year.  Whilst this was welcomed, she commented on the importance of the Council maximising its Council budget to assist in addressing school deficits.   

            The Chair invited Mr. Jim Connelly, Head of Flint High School, who was in attendance, to comment on the proposal.

            Mr Jim Connelly thanked the Chair for the opportunity to attend the meeting and address the Committee.  He welcomed the comments made by the Chief Executive, Leader and Chief Officer, which he said had provided some rationale behind the proposal and said that had the Secondary Heads Federation received this information beforehand it would had alleviated some of the concerns.  He asked that the consultation process be improved in the future and commented on the difficult decisions which had been made by all schools across Flintshire, due to austerity and a reduction in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

(a) That the implementation of the national Hwb programme in Flintshire schools and the work undertaken to increase the ratios of devices to pupils be noted; and

(b) That the Committee was assured that Flintshire learners had not been digitally disadvantaged during the lockdown period by the effective actions of schools and the Council’s Education and IT Services.

            The Primary Learning Advisor introduced a report which provided details of the implementation of the national HWB programme in Flintshire schools and the work undertaken to increase the ratios of devices to pupils.

            During the pandemic there had been constant communication with schools and a gap analysis of devices was carried out.  This provided information on how many devices were already in schools which had been very encouraging but there were more required to meet the formula agreed with the schools.  The Primary Learning Advisor confirmed there was a need for 6,000 more devices following the last delivery into schools in January and February and confirmed there was also an order of Chrome Books which was due in May from WG which would meet some of the needs in the gap analysis. 

There had been very positive feedback from schools regarding blended learning with detailed analysis shown in section 1.04 of the report.  The Primary Learning Advisor confirmed MiFi devices were procured as part of the HWB and these had gone to families who did not have enough Wi-Fi connection.  She referred to the Neumark Foundation who had supported all of the North Wales Authorities procuring a further 110 devices and about 80 or 90 devices had been deployed directly to schools where they were needed.  A sustainable model would be put in through the School funding formula to ensure all schools had the same equipment as schools would now be required to maintain the same level of devices and hopefully all learners would have more devices to do their homework. 

            Councillor Dave Mackie referred to the financial impact on schools on their commitment to keep the devices up to date and fund repairs etc. which could be an expensive cost in the future.  He understood this was being considered as an allocation on funding within the school budget formula and asked if schools were aware of the cost implications.  In response, the Primary Learning Advisor advised that additional funding was to be provided to Schools as digital devices would now be a key part of pupil’s education and digital equipment was the new resource that schools needed to budget for.  This would be discussed further at the forthcoming School Budget Forum meeting. 

            Councillor Smith as for clarification on the PSBA Network.  In response, the Chief Officer commented that this was the internet network which was routed through the council’s network to schools to ensure the firewalls were maintained together with internet speeds.  The Primary Learning Advisor added that this was monitored by the Council’s IT department and that during lockdown most schools had had sufficient capacity.  The Chief Officer confirmed that if there were issues with the bandwidth used by schools to deliver lessons then schools were able to escalate this with the IT Department.

            The Senior Manager (School Improvement) confirmed the term PSBA was the Public Sector Broadband Aggregation across lots of public sector networks all the way through Wales where usage could be monitored.  Education delivery had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

That the updated Risk Register and Risk Mitigation Actions, as outlined within the report, be noted.

            The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) introduced a report to provide an oversight on the recovery planning for the Committee’s respective portfolio.  She referred to the portfolio risk register and risk mitigation actions which were appended to the report and reported on the most significant risk; secondary school funding, which had been discussed earlier in the meeting.  

            The Chair applauded the support of the HR team to schools asked that the Committee’s thanks be passed to the team. 

The recommendation, outlined within the report, was moved and seconded by Mrs Rebecca Stark and Councillor Dave Mackie.  

RESOLVED:

That the updated Risk Register and Risk Mitigation Actions, as outlined within the report, be noted.

There was one members of the press in attendance.