COMMUNITY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING
HELD ON 14 NOVEMBER 2007
Present:
Councillor J Lewis (Chair),
Councillors T E Ankers, D Bebbington, J D
Bratherton, D H D Charlesworth, S Conquest, C Goff, M Grant, G
Griffiths, R Jones and S J S Mottram
Officers in Attendance (for whole or
part):
A
Bain
Team Leader - Private Sector Housing
L
Carr
Policy and Performance Officer
S
Mantle
Principal Accountant, Treasury & Corporate
Support
K
Hercules
Local Strategic Partnership Manager
S
Turner
Local Strategic Partnership Manager
B
Vass Rural
Housing Enabler
C
Wilson Community
Development Manager
In Attendance (for Item 29
only):
L
Brown County
Manager, Inclusion and Education
A
Hatfield Head
Teacher, Beechwood School
S
Jackson
Principal Curriculum Adviser, Inclusion and
Education
P
Mottershead Head
Teacher, Ruskin Sports College
C Councillor D
Rowlands Lead
Member for Children’s Services, Cheshire
County
Council Executive
P
Simmons Locality
Manager, Inclusion and Education
V
Webster Principal
Primary School Improvement Adviser,
Inclusion and Education
In Attendance (for whole or
part):
Councillor R Westwood
Portfolio Holder
for Neighbourhoods
Apologies:
Councillor M A Martin
26. DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
Councillor Bratherton declared a personal
interest in Record No. 29 (Educational Attainment) as an employee
of Cheshire County Council Education.
27.
RECORD OF MEETING
AGREED: That the Record of the Meeting
held on 19 September 2007 be approved as
correct.
28. WHIPPING DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
29. EDUCATIONAL
ATTAINMENT
(Note: In accordance with Procedure
Rule 26(2), Councillor Westwood spoke on this item with the
permission of the Committee.)
The Chairman welcomed Sue Jackson, Principal
Curriculum Adviser (Inclusion and Education) together with
colleagues from Cheshire County Council to the meeting, the purpose
of their attendance being to present to Members the procedures
applied and measurements used to assess levels of educational
attainment in primary and secondary schools.
Prior to the presentation, the Chairman
invited Councillor Westwood to briefly address the meeting as he
had expressed concern about what he perceived to be a downward
trend in performance at secondary level. In response,
Councillor Westwood spoke to several documents tabled at the
meeting which supported his opinion. Ms Jackson was then
invited to respond to the comments made.
The presentation addressed the methods used
to qualify performance levels at primary and secondary schools and,
to provide members with the necessary context; the way in which
those methods had evolved over a 12 year period.
Historical Position
In the past, raw percentage figures had been
used to indicate attainment standards. This had resulted in
comparisons being made between all primary schools or all secondary
schools, which was considered to be an unfair measurement. To
address this, benchmark tables were developed which allowed
comparisons to be made between similar primary or similar secondary
schools but after a time this was shown not to be statistically
accurate and became defunct.
The measuring of attainment gave way to the
measurement of achievement. The recording of a pupil’s progress at
a key stage was introduced and compared with others across the
country. This ‘Value Added’ approach was, at that time,
accepted as the most appropriate method of measurement but had
recently been amended to allow for factors which could influence
performance such as sex, disability, time of birth to be taken into
account (Contextualised Value Added).
Present Position
Using CVA, early indications suggested that
there had been a fall in achievement levels at both primary and
secondary levels but that this was consistent with the position
nationally. Data was being used to pinpoint those pupils who,
according to their profile were underachieving and strategies were
being developed to allow any assistance to be effectively
focused.
It was anticipated that a number of
incremental changes would need to be introduced to improve
standards and issues such as teaching standards, leadership,
closure/amalgamation of schools and family support were being
monitored to examine their impact on pupil’s
achievements.
The Committee sought reassurances from those
present that the teaching support being offered to schools and to
individual pupils was adequate and effective. In response, it
was confirmed that the support level was considered to be adequate
and was available both on a full and part-time basis.
Whilst the information provided was welcomed
by the Committee, Councillor Westwood considered that it did not
address how performance in schools would be improved which, he
reiterated remained static and had taken a downward turn. The Head
Teacher of Ruskin Sports College, explained to members that
although schools were facing challenges with regard to the
individual ability and needs of their pupils, support and funding
had been increased to assist.
Having concluded the discussion, the
Chairman thanked all those present for their
attendance.
30. BOARD BUSINESS
30.1
Responses from the Board
As no comments were forwarded to the Board
following the Committee’s meeting on 19th September
2007; there were no responses to
report.
30.2 Board
Meeting - 15th November 2007
The Committee was invited to identify those
Board reports on which it wished to comment.
30.2.1
Appeal Contribution – Future Unitary Structures for Local
Government
Congleton Borough Council, together with
Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council had applied for a judicial
review into the Secretary of State’s decision to implement
proposals for unitary government within Cheshire and other
nominated areas. The review had been heard in the High Court
on 12 - 14 September 2007, where it had been dismissed.
The authorities were given leave to appeal and
the Chief Executives of Congleton and Shrewsbury and Atcham had
approached the district councils affected by the proposals seeking
financial contributions to enable such an appeal to be
lodged.
The issue of costs associated with the initial
action had been referred to at full Council on 10 October
2007. In response to questions raised by Members,
reassurances were given that no financial contribution towards the
review would be sought from Crewe and Nantwich Borough
Council. In light of this response, the legality of the
request was questioned.
It was reported to the Committee that the
contribution being sought by Congleton and Shrewsbury was to fund
an appeal which would only be progressed if sufficient funding
could be secured from those authorities affected by the
proposals. Should such monies be pledged, any amount received
would not be used to offset the cost of the original
challenge.
COMMENT TO THE BOARD: That -
The Committee expresses its concern about the
further implications which could arise from supporting this
contribution.
30.3
Provisional List of Board Items (Board’s Forward Plan)
The Committee commented on the absence of the
Mayoral Nomination report which was due to be submitted to Board in
January 2008.
31.
RESPONSES/REFERRALS FROM THE BOARD OR COUNCIL
The Committee noted that there were no
responses/referrals from the Board or Council on this
occasion.
32. LOCAL
AREA AGREEMENT REVIEW
At the request of the Local Strategic
Partnership Manager, the item was deferred until January at which
time a presentation would be made on the substantial changes coming
forward which would affect Local Area
Agreements.
33. RURAL
HOUSING
A new initiative across Cheshire had been put
in place to tackle the complicated process of providing affordable
housing.
Two posts had been created to drive the
programme forward with Bob Vass appointed as East Cheshire’s Rural
Housing Enabler. The role required the post-holder to work
across Crewe and Nantwich, Congleton and Macclesfield Boroughs to
achieve affordable housing solutions for the benefit of individuals
and organisations including Parish Councils, landowners, and
housing associations.
Mr Vass spoke briefly to the Committee about
his work and tabled a leaflet which explained the purpose of his
role i.e.
- Encourage the provision of
affordable housing in villages
- Challenge the perception of
affordable housing
- Act as the liaison between
interested parties to facilities affordable housing
schemes
- Educate Parish Councils and
Community Groups on the need for affordable housing
As the post had only been operational for a
short time, the Committee requested that a progress report be
submitted to a future meeting.
34.
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY
District authorities had a responsibility
for promoting and safeguarding children, the requirements of which
were set out under the Children Act 2004 and outlined in the
Government document “Working Together for Safeguard
Children”. A draft policy document had been drawn up to
address the Council’s responsibilities and the Community
Development Manager highlighted for Members some of the salient
points.
Further work was to be carried out on –
- Screening jobs to ensure compliance
with legislation
- Delivery of training for
employees on the requirements of the legislation
- Agreeing the level at which
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks on employees/Councillors would
be conducted
As this last requirement would apply across
authorities, work was also being undertaken to establish if the
outcome of CRB’s could be ‘transferred’ between authorities, to
reduce the need for unnecessary checks to be completed.
The final report would be submitted to the
Board for consideration in January, before the next meeting of the
Committee. To enable Members to feed into the process it was
–
AGREED: That Councillors
Bratherton and Grant meet with the Community Development Manager to
discuss the draft document.
35. PERFORMANCE
MONITORING
35.1
BVPI’s
The Committee received the report of the
Policy and Performance Officer which summarised the performance
activity on the key basket of performance indicators to 30
September 2007.
Performance Indicator LEE 501 –
Percentage of food premises that should have been carried out that
were carried out: a) high risk premises; and b) other
premises
It was noted that whilst this indicator had
fallen below target, all premises were inspected within a year of a
previous inspection having been carried out.
35.2 BVPI
128 - Vehicle Crimes per 1000 population
Councillor Grant, Chair of the Safer
Communities Partnership informed the Committee that performance
relating to this indicator was improving. Statistical data
illustrating actual performance over the first three quarters of
the year was also tabled for Members’
information.
Various bodies came under the umbrella of
the Crime and Disorder Steering Group, which had responsibility for
particular elements of Community Safety. Following
negotiations, the police authority had agreed to take over vehicle
crime as an area of work which was welcomed by the Committee as a
positive step
forward.
35.3
Financial Monitoring
The Principal Accountant reported to the
Committee on actual expenditure and income in the current financial
year up to 30 September 2007 compared with profiled budgets drawing
Members’ attention to –
- Budget under-spend
- Projected outturn
- Income monitoring
35.4
Private Sector Housing
The Committee received for information the
report of the Head of Housing which summarised the expenditure on
the four main housing renewal grants (Decent Homes, Disabled
Facilities, Empty Property and Energy Efficiency) or assistance up
to 30th September 2007.
A revised Empty Property Strategy had been
drafted and was currently out for consultation. It was
suggested that an item be included on the Committee’s next agenda
to provide Members with the opportunity to comment on the
document.
AGREED: That an item on the
revised Empty Property Strategy be included on the Committee’s next
agenda.
36.
WORK PROGRAMME
36.1 Police
Service Review
A meeting had taken place in September 2007
between Superintendent Garrihy and Councillor Griffiths as part of
the Committee’s review into the Police Service. Councillor
Griffiths made available to Members a short paper which gave
details of the subjects discussed during the meeting primarily
Borough Council/Police Liaison and Performance Monitoring, the
latter being an area where informative data was still being
sought.
The meeting had been considered useful and
the Committee supported Councillor Griffiths’ recommendation that
the initiative should be continued.
36.2
Cheshire County Council – Social Care
Following its initial discussion on the
impact of social care charges, the Committee had agreed that, in
order to aid Members’ understanding, an invitation be extended to
the Cheshire County Council Elected Member and officer responsible
for social care to attend a meeting of the Committee. Despite
an exchange of correspondence, a positive response to the
invitation had not been received and the Committee was invited to
determine the way forward.
The Committee expressed its disappointment
that, although the County Council had provided the written
information requested, no individual had consented to attend a
meeting. It was proposed that a letter be sent to the
Chairman of the relevant Scrutiny Committee at the County Council
seeking support for the Committee’s review.
AGREED: That a letter
outlining the difficulties experienced in respect of this review be
sent to the Chair of the Health & Adult Social Care Scrutiny
Select-Committee seeking support for the Committee’s
review.
36.3
Climate Change Task Group
The Committee received for information, the
notes of the inaugural meeting of the Climate Change Task Group,
held on 25 September 2007.
36.4 Membership
of Climate Change Task Group
Each of the Council’s three Scrutiny
Committees had been invited to nominate two Councillors to sit on
the Climate Change Task Group; Community Scrutiny Committee having
made one appointment to the group.
It was noted that, some Councillors had
commented that the remit of the group was too wide and in response,
amendments had been made to the Task Group’s Terms of
Reference. An invitation to make a second nomination to the
Task Group was extended to the Committee.
AGREED: That no
nomination be made to the Climate Change Task
Group.
37. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
9 January 2008