Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Meeting Room G02A - 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH. View directions

Contact: Amit Alva  Email: Amit.Alva@southwark.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

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    To receive any apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    Apologies for absence were received from Martin Brecknell (Co-opted member), Lynette Murphy O’Dwyer (Co-opted member) and also Councillor Renata Hamvas who was substituted by Councillor Maggie Browning.

     

    Apologies for lateness were received from Marcin Jagodzinski (Co-opted member), however the member did not attend the meeting.

2.

Notification of any items of business which the chair deems urgent

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    In special circumstances, an item of business may be added to an agenda within five clear working days of the meeting.

    Minutes:

    There were no items of business which the Chair deemed urgent.

3.

Disclosure of interests and dispensations.

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    Members to declare any interests and dispensations in respect of any item of business to be considered at this meeting.

    Minutes:

    Councillor Rachel Bentley disclosed that she is employed with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) which has been mentioned in one of the reports in the agenda pack, however she also explained that there is no co-relation between her role at CLES and the information contained in the report.

4.

Pupil Places: Looking at shortfalls in primary pupil numbers across Southwark

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    To receive a report from Councillor Jasmine Ali, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and senior officers on Pupil Places: Looking at shortfalls in primary pupil numbers across Southwark. (report to follow)

     

    ·  Impact of Brexit

    ·  Falling population rates

    ·  Pupil premium

    ·  Migration to outside of London.

    ·  Planning Policy and overall house-building programme

     

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The commission received a report from Councillor Jasmine Ali, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education on Pupil Places, looking at shortfalls in primary pupil numbers across Southwark. The commission heard from Councillor Ali on the following topics:

     

    ·  Demographics of Southwark being a young diverse and rapidly growing borough with large numbers of young adults and residents from very wide range of ethnic backgrounds.

    ·  Falling rolls in primary and secondary schools, performance and standards of schools and investment in schools.

    ·  Falling rolls being attributed to falling birth rates, Housing, Global Pandemic, Brexit and Housing shortages.

    ·  Mitigation of falling rolls by managing pupil admission numbers, federating schools, repurposing schools for community use and special needs and setup of a member officer group to tackle falling rolls.

    ·  Case studies on church schools having the lowest numbers of admission.

    ·  Future steps- Letter to Education Secretary, Green Paper on Special Education Needs, White paper on Schools and Strategy to Cabinet in autumn 2022.

     

    The Chair suggested that the commission write a joint letter to the MP Robert Halfon, Chair of the Education Select Committee on falling rolls in pupil numbers in Southwark and nationally.

     

    The commission then heard from Nina Dohel, Director of Education, Children and Adults Services on the following topics:

     

    • Need for initiative in tracking and analysing falling rolls nationally from the Department for Education (DFE).
    • Southwark Council’s proposal to Cabinet on managing falling rolls and funding.
    • Maintaining high quality education by working with Heads of Schools, parents and teachers.
    • Inaccuracies in GLA projections which schools use plan their provisions in schools.

     

    Nina Dohel and Councillor Ali answered the commission’s questions on the following topics:

     

    • Factors for reception cohorts (admission rates) that are at around 70% in relation to birth rates across London.
    • Disproportionate impact on: good and outstanding schools and disadvantaged pupils and working class pupils in good and outstanding schools.

     

    Councillor Ali expressed that it would be valuable to the work of the commission to look at data for factors leading to reception cohorts corresponding to birth rates. Nina suggested that the commission could approach the London Councils and PAN London Place Planning Group for the factors affecting receptions cohort rate and also approach the Secretary of State for statistics on population and migration out of London.

     

    The commission also learned that factors such as parent preference and proximity affect the intake in good and outstanding schools noting that the quality of education is quite similar between the schools. On disadvantaged and working class pupils in good and outstanding schools the commission learned that equality impact assessments are carried out to ascertain any measures to be taken. The commission also learned that schools having falling rolls and more than 10% vacancy struggle to get funding.

     

    The commission agreed to look into planning matters on provisions of family sized homes in London and also health and safety, bringing up children with regards to air quality and climate change that could cause migration out of London.

     

    The commission asked questions on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Impact on businesses in the face of the cost-of-living crisis

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    To receive a report from Matthew Little, Principal Strategy Officer, Chief Executive’s on Impact on businesses in the face of the cost-of-living crisis specifically the Council’s role in:

    • Jobs and recruitment
    • Business support
    • Community wealth building (addressing the supply chain question)
    • London Living Wage

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The commission received a report from Matthew Little, Principal Strategy officer on the impact on businesses in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. The commission heard from Matthew on the following topics:

     

    ·  Jobs and recruitment – Economic mitigation strategies that are currently in consultation with businesses to overcome barriers in the aftermath of the pandemic such as cost of living crisis.

    ·  Business support employment programs such as Southwark Works and Southwark Pioneers Fund (SPF) meeting inflationary costs

    ·  Supply chain- local spend research with CLES.

    ·  London Living Wage- Target of 250 employers with the help of a steering group.

     

    The commission then discussed the following topics:

     

    ·  New Economic Strategy consultation- response to inflationary pressures with innovative procurement strategies.

    ·  Opportunities for ex-offenders and their success rate in Southwark Works.

    ·  Southwark Works contract renewal in June 2023.

    ·  Living wage and conditions of employment such as zero hour contracts.

    ·  Affordable work spaces.

    ·  Landlords for commercial properties occupied and empty properties including council and privately owned properties.

    ·  Procurement strategy with CLES.

    ·  Impact of the £2m SPF funding on regular and BAME businesses in the aftermath of the pandemic.

     

6.

Work Programme 2022-2023

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    To propose work programme items for the year 2022-2023 based on discussions at this meeting.

    Minutes:

    The commission proposed the following work programmes items:

     

    ·  Pupil Places - looking at shortfalls in primary pupil numbers across Southwark

    ·  Impact of businesses in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

    ·  Progress and delivery of the inclusion Charter in schools across Southwark including the inclusion of Black children and anti-racism in schools.

    ·  Performance of businesses - Climate change targets including green jobs for youth.

    ·  Southwark Works and its outreach programme.

    ·  Progress and delivery of the SPF.

    ·  Green energy and BAME staff disciplining in schools.

    ·  Attending out of commission meetings for information gathering such as All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) meetings.