The Chair invited the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) to address the Committee on the recent reports regarding the treatment of a young female detained at the Wetherby Young Offender Institution. He stated that following the reporting in the press he had contacted the Governor and had received confirmation that the incident was subject to an internal review and the appropriate safeguarding response had been initiated by Leeds Council. He confirmed that no children from Manchester were involved in the incident.

The Chair commented that both herself and the Chair of the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee would be writing a joint letter to the appropriate bodies to articulate their concerns regarding the incident reported.

Decision

To note the oral update from the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services).

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2024.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2024.

Report of the Strategic Director (Children’s and Education Services).

This report provides an overview of the proposed reforms outlined in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan 2023 and how Manchester is working in coproduction with parents/carers, young people and partners across education, health and care to test the reforms.

The Local Area Inclusion Plan attached to this report is one of the reforms Manchester is being asked to test. This document outlines the continued work to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability and their families and the local offer available to support them to achieve their outcomes.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an overview of the proposed reforms outlined in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan 2023 and how Manchester was working in coproduction with parents/carers, young people and partners across education, health and care to test the reforms.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       Providing an introduction and background;

·       Information relating to the Department for Education Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Change Programme;

·       An update on the Local Area Inclusion Plan (LAIP) and reflections on this;

·       A summary of findings from Manchester Local area’s LAIP; and

·       Conclusions and actions.

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

·       The importance of early identification, particularly of hidden disabilities;

·       The relationship between screen time and speech and language development;

·       The role of Health Visitors in identifying need, especially for those children not in a nursery / early years setting;

·       Noting that the increase from April 2024 for eligible working families to be able to access 15 hours of early education from the term after their child's 2nd birthday would assist with early identification and diagnosis;

·       The need to consider all good practice in relation to early identification and diagnosis;

·       How did Manchester compare to other comparable cities in regard to early identification;

·       How would the Local Area Inclusion Plan improve the outcomes of young people;

·       What were the reasons for the increase in the numbers of SEND children and how did Manchester compare to other comparable cities;

·       The need for more Education Psychologists to meet demand; and

·       Calling for adequate government funding to support and deliver the ambitions described in the report.

The SEND Lead commented that the SEND reforms were focused on prevention work and early intervention. She commented that the Local Area Inclusion Plan testing had been launched in September 2023 and that the Plan would provide transparency of this work with all stakeholders included. Actions would be developed and reported against to drive improvements in this area of activity, especially in regard to early identification. She commented that currently 6% of children in Manchester had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), adding that this was comparable to other cities with similar levels of deprivation. She also commented on the impact of the pandemic on children and young people and their development, especially in regard to speech, language and communication.

The Assistant Director of Education referred to the Kickstarter projects that were being delivered through Public Health funding, as part of the wider Making Manchester Fairer work that had seen additional resources allocated to support young people in the most deprived wards in the city. She commented that they were also working with relevant partners, including CAHMS and Health Visitors more widely on the issue of early identification, noting that appropriate support could then be offered prior to any formal assessment and diagnosis.

The Director of Education referred to an event that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

Following the formal announcement at Full Council on 31^st January 2024, committee members will be familiar that Manchester is working with UNICEF UK's Child Friendly Cities and Communities programme to put children's rights into practice.

We are now in our ‘development phase’ of the programme.  This is the phase where an action plan to progress and deliver each of the chosen ‘badges’ are to be considered and agreed by the Executive on the 15^th of March 2024.

The action plan(s) will demonstrate how we will progress and evidence progress against each respective badge.

The badges were chosen after a record breaking consultation which saw over 11,000 children and young people take part.

The top three badges identified by Manchester’s children and young people for the city to focus on are : Safe and Secure, Place and Healthy.

In addition to these the city will focus on a further three core badges

Culture, Communication and Co-operation and Leadership. We have also committed to ensuring that the Equal and Included badge is a cross-cutting golden thread across all we do.

The city’s bid for UNICEF recognition will now see the council and local partners putting children’s rights into practice over the coming years, as we work together towards our shared goal for Manchester to be a UNICEF Child Friendly City.

Scrutiny members will have the benefit of seeing, and providing feedback on our respective draft action plans  that will be submitted to UNICEF for final approval on the 7^th March. 

Final action plans will be presented to the executive for sign off on the 15^th March 2024.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an update on work to become a Child Friendly City, including information on the chosen ‘badges’ for Manchester to focus on, the mandatory badges and the action plans for progressing and evidencing progress against each respective badge.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       Manchester’s badge selections;

·       Mandatory badges; and

·       Delivery stage.

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

·       To welcome the report and the work taking place;

·       To welcome the number of children and young people who had been involved in the discovery phase of this work;

·       To emphasise the importance of children and young people being able to influence policies and strategies that affected them and discussion of options of ways this could take place, such as a children and young people’s assembly;

·       That planning was a key area where the voices and needs of children and young people needed to be integrated into decision-making on developments across the city;

·       Positive comments about the children’s rights training;

·       That Councillors needed to ensure that they listen equally to the voices of children and young people as to the voices of adults, in particular, in relation to the development of local areas;

·       The positive impact on pupils and the city of schools becoming Rights Respecting Schools; and

·       Barriers to young people gaining work experience.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People agreed that it was important that children and young people be involved at the highest level of decision-making and outlined some of the work which had been taking place to identify the best way to do this, in particular, the development of Area Youth Forums in different parts of the city.  He advised that further consideration would be given to how the Forums could be brought together on a citywide level and have input into scrutiny meetings and Council meetings.  He highlighted that the work to become a Child Friendly City was much wider than Children’s Services.  He informed Members about conversations which were taking place with colleagues in Strategic Development, who were looking into how young people who could be more involved in local design and advised that all Ward Councillors had a responsibility to ensure that the voice of children and young people was taken into account in decision-making and that the children’s rights training would assist with this.

The Director of Neighbourhood Delivery reported that Manchester had a strong Youth Council, which would continue; however, he advised that there was a need to introduce better engagement with a wider range of young people at a neighbourhood level so the Area Youth Forums would be rolled out from March 2024, working with youth providers in the area.  He reported that parks were important to young people and connected strongly with the top three badges identified by Manchester’s children and young people for the city to focus on are (Safe and Secure,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report is an update to a previous paper brought forward in March 2022 in which Executive gave approval for officers to identify a future provider for Manchester Sensory Support Service through an open tender process. This process has now been completed and the contract for this service has been awarded to Big Life Schools Multi Academy Trust. The process of transferring the service to this new provider has been initiated and the plan (subject to due diligence) is that it will be completed by September 2024.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an update to a previous paper brought forward in March 2022 in which Executive gave approval for officers to identify a future provider for Manchester Sensory Support Service through an open tender process. The process had now been completed and the contract for this service had been awarded to Big Life Schools Multi Academy Trust. The process of transferring the service to this new provider had been initiated and the plan (subject to due diligence) was that it will be completed by September 2024.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       Background information;

·       Future governance of the Sensory Support Service;

·       Considerations in the specification for a new managing organisation;

·       Performance indicators and reporting requirements;

·       Outcome of commissioning process; and

·       Proposed timeline.

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

·       What experience did Big Life Schools Multi Academy Trust have in running similar services;

·       What monitoring would be done of the service, especially for those students taking their GCSEs;

·       Where would staff working in the service be located; and

·       Why had the decision been taken to move away from the Lancastrian Sensory Support Service.

The Assistant Director of Education stated that there would be no change to the frontline service provided to students, including the delivery of careers advice and the family support workers, adding that this was included in the service specification as part of the procurement process. She confirmed that TUPE arrangements for existing staff would be applied and if there was a failure during the due diligence process that this would result in a retender process, with no disruption to service. She commented that commissioning mechanisms were established to provide ongoing assessment and evaluation of service delivery post transition. She commented that the service had outgrown the Lancastrian Sensory Support Service. She said that the staff, who were agile workers were currently based in Alexandra House and details of where staff would be located in the future was yet to be finalised, adding that staff and trade unions would continue to be consulted with.

Decision

To note the report.

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

This report describes a draft education strategy for Manchester from 2024 to 2030. It brings together our early years settings, school system and post 16 provision to ensure a strong and coherent education offer continues to be available to children and young people which meets the collective ambition and priorities of the City. The strategy also sets out the role of the Local Authority as a system leader, place shaper and advocate for children and young people within the education system.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which described a draft education strategy for Manchester from 2024 to 2030.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       Contextual information;

·       An overview of the draft education strategy, which was appended to the report; and

·       Next steps.

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

·       To strongly support the draft Education Strategy;

·       To welcome the list of opportunities that children and young people educated in the city would have access to, the focus on the development of the whole child, not just on examination results, and that this would address the divide between the children who had greater access to these opportunities and those that currently faced barriers to accessing these opportunities;

·       The increasing numbers of children with SEND and that the reasons for this should be investigated;

·       Ensuring equity across different parts of the city;

·       The challenges presented by contaminated land in the city when building new schools or leisure facilities and the need for good links with Planning;

·       How the Strategy would address potential challenges such as changes of Government and of national education policy;

·       Addressing disparities and ensuring equitable access to educational opportunities and experiences;

·       The importance of raising the aspirations of all children and young people and that schools needed to have the same aspirations for all pupils and not expect less from children from disadvantaged backgrounds;

·       The importance of soft skills; and

·       The importance of intersectionality and that disadvantage was not only about pupils who were receiving Free School Meals.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People reported that the Strategy outlined the vision for education in Manchester and advised that there would be more detailed plans on how this would be achieved.  He informed Members about work that was already taking place to identify ways to remove the barriers that prevented some children and young people from accessing the experiences listed in the Strategy, for example, the cost of residential trips.

The Director of Education informed Members that disadvantaged children in Manchester did significantly better than those in other parts of the country but that there was still a gap between the outcomes for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children.  She highlighted the importance of cultural capital in improving outcomes and in supporting schools to provide that offer to all pupils.  She reported that business involvement in the Child Friendly City work provided the opportunity to access both funding and opportunities that children would not otherwise have.  She advised that the vision and approach set out in the Education Strategy could be taken forward, regardless of changes in Government and national education policy.

Decision

To support the draft Education Strategy.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

The monthly report includes the recommendations monitor, relevant key decisions, the Committee’s work programme and any items for information.

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.

Decision

To note the report and agree the work programme.