To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2022.

To receive the minutes of the meetings of the Ofsted Subgroup held on 24 November 2021 and 19 January 2022.

Decisions

1.            To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2022.

2.            To receive the minutes of the meetings of the Ofsted Subgroup held on 24 November 2021 and 19 January 2022.

Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services and the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report sets out the collaborative work undertaken by the Homeless Service and Children’s services to support families who are impacted by homelessness.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services and the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which set out the collaborative work undertaken by the Homeless Service and Children’s Services to support families who were impacted by homelessness.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Background information;
• School and travel;
• Support for families;
• Reducing the use of bed and breakfast and out of city placements;
• Prevention;
• Apex House as a model;
• Placing families directly into dispersed accommodation;
• Nightly rate accommodation;
• Private Rented Sector;
• Domestic Violence and Abuse;
• Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF); and
• Transformation Programme.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Who funded school transport when a homeless family was moved to a different area;
• The impact on families of living in temporary homeless accommodation and the impact on children of having to leave their area and move elsewhere;
• The importance of intervening early, when families first started struggling to pay their rent, and the roles housing providers and schools could play in this;
• Concern about the impact of rising costs of living and private landlords increasing rents;
• Concern about insufficient housing stock in the city;
• Concern about families in overcrowded housing who were not classed as homeless;
• People, predominantly women and children, becoming homeless due to domestic abuse, while the perpetrator was able to remain in the family home;
• Consideration about the safety of refugee families when allocating housing, for example, if racist, anti-refugee groups were active in the area; and
• To request more information on nightly rate accommodation.

The Ward Councillor for Miles Platting and Newton Heath highlighted how unaffordable rents were for people on the minimum wage.  She expressed concern at the length of time that people were in dispersed temporary accommodation.  She also expressed concern that people who were found housing in the private sector still did not have secure long-term accommodation, if they only had a six-month secured tenure.  She reported that homeless people from other areas were being placed in temporary accommodation in her ward, whereas people from her ward who had become homeless were being placed elsewhere.  She advised that consideration should be given to the needs of displaced families and the needs of and impact on the host community.    The Chair suggested that figures on homeless families being placed in their ward could be provided to Members through Ward Co-ordination, noting that this disproportionately impacted on certain wards.  She also expressed concern about the children who were being moved out of their communities and the impact of that.

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Housing Operations informed the Committee that the Private Rented Sector Team was working to source permanent accommodation for homeless families in the private sector and to prevent families from becoming homeless through engagement with landlords and families, including providing incentives.  He confirmed that links were being made with schools and other services, especially in relation to early intervention to prevent homelessness.  He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services

Following the Spending Review announcements and provisional local government finance settlement 2022/23 the Council is forecasting a balanced budget for 2022/23, a gap of £37m in 2023/24 and £58m by 2024/25. This report sets out the high-level position.  

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which stated that, following the Spending Review announcements and provisional local government finance settlement 2022/23, the Council was forecasting a balanced budget for 2022/23, a gap of £37m in 2023/24 and £58m by 2024/25.  The report set out the high-level position.  Included in the report were the priorities for the services in the remit of this Committee. Appended were details of the initial revenue budget changes proposed by officers and the planned capital programme as well as information on the 2022/23 Dedicated Schools Grant.  The Committee was invited to comment on the proposals prior to their submission to the Executive on 16 February 2022.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Summary of Council budget;
• Current budget position;
• Scrutiny of draft budget proposals and budget report;
• Next steps;
• Children and Education Services context;
• Budget overview;
• Dedicated Schools Grant; and
• Capital budget.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services drew Members’ attention to the budget reports which had been submitted to the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee and the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee which included proposals for additional funding for youth services and for Free School Meals over the Easter holidays respectively.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To what extent the budget had taken into account the need for more special school places;
• Funding for improving the condition of school buildings, including school-based Early Years provision;
• To welcome the focus on carbon reduction around schools and to recognise the additional benefits of investing in reducing carbon, such as lower energy bills and improving children’s well-being;
• Whether the Council had considered asset transfers for buildings which had previously been Council-run daycare provision but were now commissioned to other providers;
• Concern about home to school transport putting additional pressure on the Children’s Services budget, as outlined in the report; and
• Concern about the national insurance increase referred to in the report.

The Director of Education reported that school places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) were funded by the Department for Education (DfE) through the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant, which would be increased by £10 million next year.  She informed Members about additional special school places which had recently been created and about plans for more to become available from next year.  She advised that the Council had a capital maintenance grant each year to assist schools with significantly expensive maintenance issues, such as a new roof or boiler, and so had an understanding of the condition of school buildings; however, she drew Members’ attention to proposals to undertake condition surveys of school buildings which, she advised, would formalise this knowledge and enable the Council to plan work for the future.  She reported that the DfE was going to be making some funding available for new school buildings and that these conditions surveys would help the Council to provide evidence to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Director of Education

The report from Manchester’s Virtual School Head for Our Children and Young People provides an overview of the work that has been undertaken, through the Corporate Parenting Partnership, during 2020-21 to promote the education, employment and training of the Children and Young People in the care of Manchester (referred to as Our Children and Young People from this point), Manchester Care Leavers, Previously Looked After Children who attend education settings within Manchester and Young People supported by the Youth Justice Service.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Education which provided an overview of the work that had been undertaken, through the Corporate Parenting Partnership, during 2020-21 to promote the education, employment and training of the Children and Young People in the care of Manchester (referred to as Our Children and Young People), Manchester Care Leavers, Previously Looked After Children who attended education settings within Manchester and Young People supported by the Youth Justice Service.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Key educational headlines for children and young people;
• Attendance at education settings; and
• Key high-level priorities for the Virtual School.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Praise for the work of the Virtual School;
• Access to educational psychologists and training for teachers;
• How Manchester compared with other core cities, for example, in relation to the number of Our Children who were in education, employment or training post-16;
• Whether data was available broken down by ethnicity;
• Our Children and Young People who had Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND);
• The Virtual School’s new duties in relation to children and young people with a social worker; and
• What was being done to inform teachers about the work of the Virtual School.

Following a Member’s comments about young people becoming involved in crime and serious youth violence, the Chair reported that the Committee had previously visited Wetherby Young Offender Institution and Barton Moss Secure Children’s Home.  She suggested that the Committee visit them again, as a joint visit with the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee.  She suggested that the Committee consider bringing a joint report on knife crime, in conjunction with the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee.  The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services highlighted how the use of Personal Education Plans (PEPs) in Youth Justice had improved young people’s engagement with education, employment and training.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services informed the Committee that a Youth Justice Peer Review had taken place towards the end of 2021 and that they had been very impressed by the work being done in Manchester.

The Virtual School Head reported that the Virtual School commissioned additional educational psychology time for consultation, advice, guidance and training for teachers.  She informed Members that the Pupil Premium was paid to schools termly on receipt of a satisfactory PEP outlining how the money would be spent and that additional funding could also be provided to schools, where it was needed, including for staff training to support the needs of the child.  In response to a Member’s comments about exclusions, she reported that figures for fixed term exclusions for Our Children were currently higher than they wanted it to be but reducing and that permanent exclusions of Our Children were very rare.  She drew Members’ attention to the Inclusion Strategy which her service had been involved in developing and confirmed the service’s aspiration to reduce the number of fixed-term exclusions.

The Virtual School Deputy Head (Post-16)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Report of the Assistant Director of Education

This report is one of a series of scrutiny reports on the impact and consequence management of COVID 19 on children and their families. This report provides an update on the return of children and young people to education following the Christmas break and the arrangements in place in schools and colleges to report and manage COVID19. The report has a particular focus on the bespoke offer to increase uptake of the vaccine in children and young people aged 12 to 15 and address inequalities therefore reducing disruption to children’s education and learning. 

School attendance continues to be positive, despite the impact of the Omicron variant and is subject to regular monitoring and intervention.

The Committee received a report of Assistant Director of Education which provided an update on the return of children and young people to education following the Christmas break and the arrangements in place in schools and colleges to report and manage COVID-19. The report had a particular focus on the bespoke offer to increase uptake of the vaccine in children and young people aged 12 to 15 and address inequalities therefore reducing disruption to children’s education and learning.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Main changes to guidance for schools from January 2022;
• Vaccinations;
• Positive cases in Manchester schools; and
• School attendance.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Concern about lower take-up of COVID-19 vaccines in more deprived areas and in some demographic groups;
• The benefits of “Covid chat” and the role older pupils and members of the community could play in having conversations and answering questions about the vaccination; and
• Why more private schools had received the vaccines first.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services reported that the Council had been working with health service colleagues to identify and address barriers to the vaccination of children and young people, highlighting capacity for school immunisation and how consent was gathered.  He outlined some of the steps being taken to improve take-up, including a bespoke offer for each school, as well as an out of school offer, alongside an adult offer, and improved communications, including in community languages.

Ben Aspinall, COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Lead from MLCO, explained that the initial school immunisation programme had had to be introduced very quickly, that all Manchester schools had been contacted to ask when this could be timetabled in and that those who had responded first had been scheduled first.  In relation to schools where a lower percentage of pupils had taken up the offer of a vaccine, he outlined the work taking place to address this, engaging with the schools, community leaders and the wider community and highlighting the offer for pupils to be vaccinated at other vaccination sites in the community, if they had not been vaccinated when the vaccination service was at their school.  In response to a Member’s comments about the electronic process for parents giving their consent (“e-consent”), he advised that, while it was quick and easy for some, having listened to stakeholders, schools were now being given the option to use e-consent, paper-based consent forms or a combination of the two.

The Chair expressed concern that anti-vaccination campaigners were also affecting the take-up of the MMR vaccine and advised that the Committee would continue to look at child health, in conjunction with the Health Scrutiny Committee.

Decision

To note the report.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report alsoincludes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.

The Chair welcomed the new Co-opted Member, Mr Cleworth.

Decision

To note the report and agree the work programme.