Agenda and minutes

All Members of the committee were in attendance.

Councillor Rebecca Challice declared a non-pecuniary interest noting that she is a trustee of Barnet carer’s centre.

Councillor Anne Hutton declared a non-pecuniary interest noting that she is a representative of the Council on the Barnet Fostering Panel.

Details are appended of the Public Questions including the answers given by the Chairman. There were no supplementary questions.

Public Comments were received by Mark Holden-Aikhomu, Mark White, Rose Charles  and Sarah Sackman This was in relation to Members Item 4.a), Funding of Short Breaks.

The Chairman welcomed all interested parties and thanked them all for attending.  He provided a verbal update relating to the funding of short breaks contracts and the connection to Mapledown School and Oakleigh School. 

Following the Committees consideration of this item, the chairman proposed the following motion which was seconded by Councillor Thomas.

Resolved:

That the Committee unanimously agreed that:

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee request the Director of Children’s Services – under her delegated powers under the Council’s financial regulations – to underwrite the Council’s funding to Oakleigh Opportunities Play Schemefor the provision of a summer play scheme to the value of the Council’s funding in 2013/14 of £21k.

• That the Committee note that it will consider a report titled Short Breaks Commissioning Strategy at the meeting taking place on 29 July 2014.

The Committee considered Councillor Anna Hutton’s Member item which requested an update on recent Ofsted inspections of schools and their rating which they received. 

The Committee noted the update provided by the School, Skills and Learning Lead Commissioner. 

Resolved:

That the Committee note the Member’s Item.

The Chairman introduced the report and informed the Committed that the Policy and Resources Committee on 10 June 2014 approved the Priorities and Spending Review. 

Members considered the reports impact to the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee’s in line with its terms of reference.

Having given consideration to the report the Committee:

Resolved:

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note the Policy and Resources Committee report as set out in Appendix A; 1.2 That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note the savings target of £8 million

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee agreed to receive a report back in the autumn with an agreed commissioning plan and savings proposals for inclusion in the Policy and Resources Committee meeting on 2 December 2014

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note the service information packs included in Appendix B which provide some contextual information on budgets, past spend and performance data, contracts, customer and staffing data.

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee agreed the approach to preliminary consultation on the Education and Skills service as set out in 1.10.3 and authorise the Strategic Director for Communities to finalise the detail of consultation with stakeholders.

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note that the Early Years Review paper to this committee recommends commencing consultation to inform a full business case to be presented to this committee in September.

The report was introduced by the Family and Community Well-being Lead Commissioner.   He noted the intention of the report and highlighted the report’s recommendations.

The Committee noted the report and the intention for a further report to be presented to the Committee on 15 September following consultation. 

Having given consideration to the report the Committee:

Resolved:

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee approve the commencement of consultation on the proposals for early years as laid out in this report.

·         1.2 That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note that following this period of consultation, a full business case for changes to the early years system will be presented to the Children’s, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee on 15 September for final approval.

The report was introduced by the School, Skills and Learning Lead Commissioner.

The Committee noted the report and supported the officer’s recommendations as set out in the report.

Having given consideration to the report the Committee:

Resolved:

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee note the progress made on the implementation of the recommendations of the Education Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

·         That the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee agreed the recommendation 2 of the Education Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Panel ‘to adopt a streamlined approach to nominating local authority governors’ and note that a report will be reported to the General Functions Committee to agree the approach outlines in section 1.3 of the report. 

The Chairman introduced the Committees work programme and highlighted the volume of business which the will be considered during the municipal year.

A motion was passed for an additional meeting to take place.

Resolved:

·         That the Committee note the work programme

·         That the Committee agree that an additional meeting take place on Tuesday 28 October 2014.

There were no urgent items.