Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, London NW4 4BQ. View directions

Contact: Pakeezah Rahman Email: Pakeezah.Rahman@Barnet.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of the last Meeting pdf icon PDF 248 KB

Minutes:

Under Educational Standards Update on page 3, Members sought clarification to the sentence, ‘It was noted that the overall ranking of Key Stages 4 and 5 placed Barnet in the top 5% of the country.’

 

Officers confirmed that the sentence was correct adding that in 2019, Barnet came in second in the UK for progress figures.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Children, Education & Safeguarding Committee held on 19 January 2022 be approved as a correct record.

 

2.

Absence of Members

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Joshua Conway who was substituted for by Councillor Alex Prager.

 

3.

Declarations of Members Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Interests

Minutes:

None.

4.

Report of the Monitoring Officer (if Any)

Minutes:

None.

5.

Public Questions and Comments (if Any) pdf icon PDF 104 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted that details of a written question and response were published and circulated in advance of the meeting.

 

Verbal responses were given to a supplementary question at the meeting.

 

6.

Members' Items (if Any)

Minutes:

None.

7.

Update on Barnet's Asylum Seeker Contingency Hotels pdf icon PDF 1009 KB

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Sean Palmer, Director of Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration Support at the Home Office (HO) and Tina Rea, Operations Director at Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd. to the meeting.

 

Mr Palmer thanked Barnet for all the support that was being provided to asylum seekers and refugees in the Borough.

 

Mr Palmer answered questions from the Committee and Council.  With regards to costs incurred by the Council on contingency hotels, a new scheme was being implemented to pay the Council £250 for every asylum seeker placed in accommodation and to direct other Local Authorities in providing housing for asylum seekers. Through the scheme, an additional £3,500 per bed space would be made available for accepted dispersal accommodation.

 

Informal consultation on accomplishing full dispersal as a commitment to the New burdens doctrine was underway between the Government, Home Office (HO) and other interested parties. The HO had been working closely with Clearsprings to move people out of temporary accommodation in order of priority.

 

In relation to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), where a Local Authority’s child population consisted of over 0.07% asylum seeking children, a higher rate of funding would be made available. Additional children could be referred via the national transfer scheme to be looked after by other Local Authorities.

 

Mr Palmer apologised for the time taken in processing Asylum claims but reassured the Committee that a lot of work was being done to speed up the process, especially for asylum seeking children with a dedicated asylum case worker team in place.

The Age Assessments process had recently changed due to litigation (R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant) which ruled in favour of the HO.

Immigration Officers were being trained so as to be able to assess and determine whether one was 18 years of age or over.

The Nationality and Borders Act allowed for a National Age Assessment Board within the HO to enable social workers to conduct such assessments which would be binding on the LA. Any mitigation arising out of that would be the responsibility of the HO. It was noted that costs for assessments and legal challenges would be incurred by the HO. An exceptional cost fund had also been set up which invited LAs to refer additional costs incurred to the HO.

 

Chris Munday, Executive Director, Children’s and Family Services, highlighted that £250 per person was approximately a quarter of what had been spent per person in contingency hotels and as of September 2021, the Council had already disbursed over £600,000. In addition, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)

funding had been set aside for schools to enable support for children coming in at different times of the year.

 

Mr Palmer explained that £250 was only a contribution towards costs incurred by LAs. The New burdens doctrine would need to be adopted to assess Barnet’s situation and going forward, additional costs could be picked up by the Home Office.

 

Mr Munday said that there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

CES Priorities of the New Administration pdf icon PDF 207 KB

Minutes:

In response to Members’ questions, the Chair addressed some of the new administration’s priorities. They included support from staff to ensure that children services reached to an outstanding level of performance. There was a need for sustainable nurseries and schools to function properly. Schools in deficit due to additional costs and budgeting problems, had to be addressed. Another priority was to focus on children who suffered during the pandemic and to support schools in getting them back on track.

 

Transitional Housing for Care Leavers had been an ongoing problem. Therefore, a bigger push for supported lodgings for Care leavers was needed. Problems with providers and affordable childcare had been noted with residents paying a lot more for childcare in comparison to other countries.

 

Members suggested identifying suitable locations of current nurseries and 0-19 hubs to increase productivity for Barnet residents and their children.

 

In relation to the vision for youth services, the Chair spoke about finding ways to provide more services through the Borough or charitable organisations so that all young people could have access to the things they wanted to do in areas which were not easily accessible.

 

RESOLVED:

-       That Committee requests that the Executive Director for Children and Families develops a programme of work which embeds the aspirations of the new Administration and bring back to the next CES committee for agreement.

 

9.

SEND Inspection, Schools White Paper and SEND Green Paper pdf icon PDF 783 KB

Minutes:

Mr Munday talked about the inspection carried out by Ofsted and the CPC on services for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), the outcome of which was very positive. An action plan had been developed to focus on particular issues such as therapies and diagnosis which would be monitored and updates arising out of that would be reported back to a future Committee.

 

Cllr Longstaff congratulated Officers and the SEND team for all their work as noted in Parliament and for being top five for SEND services in the UK which was a great achievement. The Councillor also thanked all health partners, police and parents for their contribution.

 

Neil Marlow, Chief Executive and Director of Education and Learning, Barnet Education and Learning Service (BELS) presented the report. The Committee was asked to note the outcome of the inspection and to delegate authority to the Executive Director to develop a Barnet response to the White Paper as well as explore the development of a Local Authority Multi Academy Trust.

 

One of the key points arising out of the White Paper and Schools Bill had been legally enforceable set of standards for academy trusts and a legal tool for LAs to request that some of their schools join an academy trust. It was noted that the Bill would provide protection and other benefits to schools.

 

A coordinated response to the White Paper was required to address the controversial decision to enjoin all Barnet schools to multi academy trusts.

 

One of the implications for Barnet was a minimum length of school week of 32.5 hours. There was the ambition that 90% of children would leave primary school by 2030 with expected standards in Reading, Writing and Maths. A drop in attainment was expected this year due to the loss of learning as a result of the pandemic. Ranking of schools however, remained at the top 10%.

 

Guidance would be provided to schools to achieve pre-pandemic levels of attendance.

 

A lot of Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) support was already available in schools and the LA would continue to ensure that the needs of schools in SEMH would be met.

 

The LA worked well in partnership with schools by demonstrating the benefit of change rather than enforcing it on them. There was the possibility of BELS or the Local Authority starting one or more Multi Academy Trusts to help shape the future with schools by enhancing what was already being provided.


It was noted that the DFE had released a ‘Test and Learn’ for LAs which allowed the Local Authority to put in an interest as early adopter of the multi academy trust on a trial basis.

Officers suggested raising at the next Directors’ briefing that governing bodies and Headteachers start discussions with the LA on the new prospect.

 

A motion was moved and seconded by the Chair for an additional recommendation to be added as follows:

 

To delegate the Executive Director to explore options for sharing the expertise in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Family Services Quarterly Update pdf icon PDF 655 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Munday presented the Children’s Services Analysis Tool (ChAT) used as performance indicators.

 

It was noted that Social Care placements have been challenging due to shortages. However, referral pathways have proven to be successful.

 

One key issue raised by Members had been around performance in relation to time scale of assessments. Assessments were noted to be of good quality and recruitment would support teams to increase performance.

 

Low numbers of dental checks for Looked After Children was due to the pandemic as well as older children choosing not to visit a dentist. Many young people comprised of UASC with associated issues such as their age being matched with dental records hence fear of repercussion.  Other children who came into Care had never been to a dentist and may have been avoiding checks out of fear. The service continued to ensure registration with dentists and to appoint a trusted person in the young person’s life.

 

Tina McElligott, Director, Children’s Social Care explained that that statutory worker assessments should be completed within 45 days from start to finish for a Child in Need. (CIN) Data presented to Committee appeared as though assessments were not completed in time. However, due to complex needs in particular cases, a break might be needed to seek expert professional input into the assessment. It was noted that an assessment would commence as soon as a need had been identified to ensure the child received the support needed.

 

It was noted that a session on the ChAT might prove useful for Members.  Members also requested a mechanism of comparative data.

 

An Annual Self-Assessment was done each year to show data trends which could be used for scrutiny.

 

RESOLVED That Committee:

-       Notes and provides comments on the ChAT performance report summarised in this report and provided in Appendix 1

 

-       Notes and provides comments on the Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) report into the Children’s Social Care placements market summarised in this report and provided in Appendix 2, and to note and provide comments on our placements sufficiency programme an update on the Greenbank House provision, and the London Accommodation Pathfinder programme secure.

 

-       Agrees the revised Special Guardianship Policy, provided in Appendix 4

 

-       Agrees the revised Connected Carers Policy, provided in Appendix 5

 

-       Notes and provide comments on the Nationals Referral Mechanism report summarised in this report and included in Appendix 6

 

11.

Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 204 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Committee notes the Work Programme.

12.

Any other Item(s) that the Chairman decides are Urgent (if Any)

Minutes:

None.

 

 

 

 

 

The meeting ended at 8.53pm.