Agenda and minutes

Members are requested to advise the Democratic Services Officer of any  apologies for this meeting.

Councillors Caren and Ramsdale.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2024 are attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2024 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Government guidance expected Members of Scrutiny Committees not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.

Government guidance expected Members of Scrutiny not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.

Resolved: There were no declarations.

Please find attached a link to the Council’s Forward Plan, which details the forthcoming Key and Non-Key decisions that are due to be taken by the Cabinet, a Member of the Cabinet (Portfolio Holder) or a Designated Officer relating to the service areas of this Committee, at this time: Forward Plan of Key/Non-Key Decisions.

The Committee considered the Council’s Forward Plan of forthcoming key and non-key decisions to be taken by the Cabinet, an Individual Portfolio Holder or delegated officers, in relation to the Children and Families Directorate.

Resolved: The Committee notes the forthcoming decisions, with no items being requested to be placed on a future agenda of the Committee.

The Committee considered a report and presentation of the Assistant Director – Education, Cath Pealing, presented by the Service Lead – Standards and Learning, Emlyn Wright, which provided an analysis of Wigan Borough’s Education Performance in the Academic Year 2023-24 and advised of the strategic priorities driving improvement in the required areas.

Some of the key areas included in the Committee’s discussion were:

?                the increase in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) requirements and the impact this has on individual schools;

?                repeat suspensions and permanent exclusion data;

?                attendance figures, and the impact of mental health; and

?                education at home.

The Assistant Director informed the Committee that it had been a challenge to forecast demand for need. Some schools were known for their excellent support for children with SEND and had become “magnet schools” where parents wanted their child to go to meet need. However, all schools should meet the needs of SEND children appropriately and the team had worked hard to ensure this happened. SEND children in the borough achieved in line with or better than SEND children nationally and the gap between SEND children and non-SEND children in the borough was similar or smaller than had been reported nationally.

The Assistant Director advised Members that a focus had been placed on reducing the number of repeat suspensions and permanent exclusions within the local authority. There had been less opportunity to offer alternative provision due to capacity in alternative provision for intervention programmes.

The Service Lead informed Members that the attendance of children was in line with national and regional averages. Authorities across Greater Manchester (GM) had been working with the Children’s Commissioner to identify trends and reasons for absence. Whilst there were a number of reasons for absence across the Wigan borough, mental health and anxiety had been a strong contributing factor, as had term time holidays and late after registration. In extreme cases of poor attendance, multi-agency panels had been created to work with families.

The Service Lead advised the Committee that parents withdrawing their children to home educate had increased, with the main reason being the mental health and anxiety of young people. Additional support had been put in place through the Mental Health in Schools teams and other support but it had remained a growing concern.

Resolved: The Committee:-

(1)         thanks the officers for their report and presentation; and

(2)         endorses the ongoing work in relation to Wigan borough’s education performance.

The Committee considered a report and presentation of the Director – Children’s Services, Colette Dutton, presented by the Service Lead - Performance Improvement and Transformation, Sarah Hodgson, and the Service Manager – Public Health, Michelle Forder, which provided an update on the progress of the Children’s Strategic Alliance Plan and work undertaken by the Children’s Health Transformation Board.

Some of the key areas included in the Committee’s discussion were:

?                open adoption and the impact on children and their families; and

?                the impact on dental, mental and physical health in areas of deprivation.

The Director – Prevention, Early Help and Sufficiency, Ann Clarkson informed the Committee that following the report by The Public Law Working Group “Recommendations for best practice in respect of adoption”, which had been published in November 2024, it had been identified that there was likely to be move to more direct contact for parents and adopted children.

The Service Manager – Public Health advised Members that local areas of deprivation had provided concerns for the health of young people. Mitigation had been targeted in the relevant areas by assessing inequalities and ensuring that the impact upon the health of young people was minimised as much as possible.

Resolved: The Committee:-

(1)          thanks the officers for their report and presentation; and

(2)          endorses the ongoing work of the Children’s Health Transformation Board including the Children’s Strategic Alliance Plan.

Report of Director – Children and Families is attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Children’s Services, presented by the Service Lead – Performance Improvement and Transformation, which provided an update on the Children’s Services Transformation Programme 2023-2028.

Governance of the Children’s First Transformation Programme was via a quarterly Assurance and Transformation Board as well as the Strategic Alliance, with progress monitored across three workstreams.

Some of the key areas included in the Committee’s discussions were:

?                the number of agency staff being utilised; and

?                significant areas of transformation work including family safeguarding, early help and prevention.

The Director – Children’s Services informed the Committee that the workforce strategy continued to be effective, with 81% of the social care workforce in permanent positions and 19% agency staff, which continued to decrease.

The Director advised Members that the new Family Safeguarding strategy had provided a positive impact for young people and their families, as evidenced in the performance data and quality assurance findings. Case loads for staff had decreased. The next phase of transformation work had now been identified and would focus upon areas that still provided challenge.

Resolved: The Committee:-

(1)          thanks the officers for their report; and

(2)          endorses the work ongoing in relation to the Children’s Services Transformation Programme 2023-2028.