Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – The minutes of the meeting held on 6^th January 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

Apologies for absence were received from co-opted members Simon Clifford and Denis Carey.

None were declared.

None.

Public comments were made by Barbara Jacobson, Bob Jacobson, Theresa Musgrove, Maria Nash, Emily Burnham, Heval Kartal and Keith Martin in relation to Item 7 – Barnet’s future Library Service.

Public questions and their corresponding answers were detailed in the item’s supplementary paper.

Due to the large volume of public questions received, the Chairman extended the time allocated for public questions and comments by 15 minutes. Answers were given to supplementary questions at the meeting.  

The Chairman and Commissioning Director, Children and Young People, introduced the item which related to the draft Barnet Children and Young People Plan 2016-2020.

The committee noted the need for children to have healthy and active lifestyles, and that the council take a proactive role to encourage this in the borough.

Following discussion of the item, the Chairman moved to the recommendations outlined in the cover report. Votes were recorded as follows:

The recommendations were therefore carried, and the following was RESOLVED:

-       The Children, Education, Library and Safeguarding Committee considered and commented on the draft Children and Young People’s Plan 2016-20 including the revised vision and key outcomes as summarised in 1.1 to 1.11.

-       That the Children, Education, Library and Safeguarding Committee agreed that the draft Children and Young People’s Plan 2016-20 contained in Appendix A and summarised in paragraph’s 1.1 to 1.11 be approved for further public consultation.

The Chairman introduced the item, which related to Barnet’s future Library Service.

John Hooton, Chief Operating Officer, provided a statement to the committee which outlined the information provided in Appendix L.

The Programme Director, Education and Learning, informed the committee of the main changes that have been made to the future library service proposal since receiving responses from the residents’ consultation:

-       That live, monitored CCTV would be installed in libraries where Technology Enabled Opening (TEO) applied to help reassure residents regarding safety and therefore increase confidence in the new system. This would come at a cost of approximately £75,000 per annum.

-       That the age for unaccompanied children attending TEO libraries would be lowered to include pupils in Year 11 who were aged 15

-       That Partnership Libraries would be given more funding in the first two years of their opening. In year one, funding would be £35,000, in year two it would be £28,000 and then in year three £25,000. Whilst this would have a negative impact on saving proposals, it was considered that additional funding would be appropriate to better support the start-up of Partnership Libraries.

During the course of discussion, Councillor Helena Hart noted that she was pleased that the options before the committee would see the retention of all 14 libraries should the recommendations be approved. She further noted that she had been encouraged by the trial of TEO technology at Edgware Library, which is in her ward.

The IT Director, CSG, proceeded to clarify the failure of the pre-existing library management system, the detail of which was outlined in Appendix L. The committee were informed of the following in relation to this:

-       That the failure of this software was unrelated to TEO software, and was due to hardware failure.

-       Some hardware parts were up to nine years old.

-       The failure of this hardware was compounded by the fact that the backup system was located on the same server as the core hardware. It was noted that it is not uncommon for a hardware failure to take place or for the backup to be on a local mirrored system. However, a corruption of both the main disc and the backup was less common. CSG have taken several actions to mitigate this risk, notably the following:

o   That an extra, off-site, back-up system has been created which is located a remote, cloud-based location.

o   Notifications about server limit will now be sent to a shared email address so that all relevant staff will be aware when server space is running out. 

o   That the system is now categorised in the ‘Platinum Tier’, which adds several more layers of security to the system.

o   A lot of old hardware will be – or already has been – updated and replaced. 

-       It was further noted that if a hardware failure takes place in the future, system downtime would now most likely be a matter of hours as opposed to an undetermined period of days,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chairman welcomed the Education and Skills Director to introduce the item, which related to the Annual Report of Educational Standards.

Following discussion of the report, the Chairman moved to the recommendations outlined in the cover report. Votes were recorded as follows:

The recommendations were therefore carried, and the following was RESOLVED:

-       That the Committee noted the validated results for school performance in Barnet for the academic year 2014/15 as set out in Appendix A: Report on Educational Standards in Barnet (Academic Year 2014/15).

The Commissioning Director, Children and Young People, introduced the item which related to the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Commissioning Plan addendum.

Following discussion of the item, the Chairman moved to the recommendations outlined in the cover report. Votes were recorded as follows:

The recommendations were therefore carried, and the following was RESOLVED:

-       That the Committee reviewed and approved the addendum to the CELS Commissioning Plan for 2016/17 (Appendix A).

Councillor Anne Hutton introduced her Member’s Item, which related to developing cultural activities in the borough.

Following discussion of the item, the committee unanimously RESOLVED:

-       That the Commissioning Director, Children and Young People, bring a report back to a future meeting of the committee which details the following:

1.    The possible development of a cultural activities plan which could include: making a dedicated page on the internet for cultural activities, promoting the arts through the council’s magazine Barnet First and how the arts can be incorporated in future meeting agendas. 

2.    Suggestions of how to involve residents and community groups in cultural activities.

3.    Feasibility of the council appointing an artist-in-residence and/or an ‘Arts Champion’ to be an ambassador for arts in the borough. 

4.    Whether community spaces can be offered at discounted rates across the borough to community groups (for instance spaces in libraries).  This will include a definitive view on the current – and any potential future – rates available for community groups.

The Commissioning Director for Children and Young People introduced the Committee Work Programme.

The Committee unanimously noted the report.

There were none.