Minutes:
8.1 The chair opened the discussion on the work plan by recommending that the sub committee continue the practice of annually interviewing the independent chair of the children’s safeguarding board. He reported that he had recently spoken with Ofsted as part of the inspection of Southwark safeguarding. Kerry Crichlow, Assistant Director Strategy & Support, informed the committee that the council has received back the results of the inspection, which had been good, with Southwark was graded as having an outstanding ‘capacity for improvement’.
8.2 Sub committee members indicated that cabinet member interviews and attendance to cover aspects of their portfolios should take place, and that March would be a good time for the interview of Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle, cabinet lead for Children’s Services.
8.3 The chair commented that it would be useful to continue to look at families in difficulty and facing challenging situations; recent reviews had focused on this theme and the CSV pilot programme is particularly relevant to this area.
8.4 The sub committee discussed undertaking a review on the role of local authorities in education. The chair commented that he had recently read an excellent report on this subject and requested a copy be circulated to the sub committee.
8.5 Members indicated that a review on bullying , considering both school and council policy in supporting vulnerable children and reducing abusive and poor peer relations would be worthwhile.
8.6 A member indicated that a report on the Olympic legacy would be useful.
8.7 Swimming pools in Southwark and their efficient provision was raised by a member and it was agreed that a report would be requested on this.
8.8 A member commented that young people from Southwark Youth Council and Speaker Box have raised concerns about the transition from school into training and employment and that a report on this would be helpful.
8.9 The chair thanked the sub - committee for their contributions and invited members to make any further suggestions for review items via email.
8.10 A member of the public, Mr Junior McDonald, asked the chair if he could make a comment about the previous item on Adult Education, as he had been unable to attend earlier in the evening. The chair invited him to comment and Mr McDonald explained that he was from CYPA and represented voluntary organisations that delivered services from Thomas Calton centre. He went on to say that he thought that council officers had wrongly stated at previous scrutiny committee meetings that the £750,000 received from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) had a condition attached which stated that if adult services did not have 100% use of Thomas Calton then these funds would need to be repaid. He also stated that he thought council officers had suggested at a scrutiny meeting that all voluntary sector organisations at Thomas Calton had been consulted prior to refurbishment plans.
8.11
He said that he believed that these statements had
been made, and they were inaccurate. In particular he said that it
would have been inaccurate for officers to state that there were
conditions attached to the grant funding by SFA. He alleged that
because of this inaccurate information many voluntary organisations
had been displaced from the centre.
8.12 The senior legal officer, Sarah Feasey, advised the chair, on behalf of the Monitoring Officer, that there are legal proceedings between the CYPA and the council to in relation to Thomas Calton centre. She advised that it would therefore not be appropriate for the the sub-committee to consider matters which are before the court. Mr McDonald responded by stating that although a Section 25 Notice is the subject of litigation the issue of inaccurate submissions made to this committee is something which should be addressed by this committee.
8.13 The chair requested that the minutes of the relevant scrutiny committees be consulted to ascertain if officers had indeed made these statements. [This resolution is recorded under the relevant Adult Education item].
RESOLVED
Work Programme 2012/13
Set piece interviews
Safeguarding – annual report and interview of Independent chair - April
Cabinet member interviews:
Cllr Veronica Ward: Olympics and Leisure – 12 September
Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle: Children – 12 March
Cabinet member invited to participate:
Cllr Claire Hickson: 26 November
Regular items
Rotherhithe School and Southwark Free Schools – update reports each meeting.
Twice yearly attendance at 26 November and 12 March by Southwark Youth Council & Speakerbox, alongside review of Children’s and Young People’s Plan (CYPP)
(Coinciding with cabinet members’ attendance/ interviews with Cllr Hickson and Cllr Dixon-Fyle).
Monitoring of cabinet members reports in response to the following reviews: Obesity and Sports Provision (February), and Support for parents and carers of disabled children and young people (November).
Presentations and reports
Olympics - measuring the impact (September).
Swimming pools - is our provision efficient and meeting community needs (September).
*The work of the council in supporting young people transition from school to collage and work. How do we promote and support young people to access jobs, training and work qualifications (November)
Supporting parents in challenging situations: update report on the work being done by CSV to support parents (January)
Learning and improvement in local safeguarding
Safeguarding report (September).
Update on Domestic Abuse including cabinet response to the scrutiny report produced by Housing, Environment, Transport & Community Safety Scrutiny Sub-Committee (January).
Reviews
Request introductory report form officers (September)
Request introductory report form officers (November)