Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Gemma Armer, Parent Governor Representative and Michelle Ravey, Arch Diocese.

Members are requested at a meeting where a disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest arises, which is not already included in their Register of Members' Interests, todeclare any interests that relate to an item on the agenda.

Where a Member discloses a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, he/she must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest, except where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of a dispensation.

Where a Member discloses a personal interest he/she must seek advice from the Monitoring Officer or staff member representing the Monitoring Officer to determine whether the Member should withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest or whether the Member can remain in the meeting or remain in the meeting and vote on the relevant decision.

No declarations of any disclosable pecuniary interests or personal interests were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2024.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2024, be confirmed as a correct record.

The Committee considered a number of questions raised by Members of the  public, together with the responses given.

A member of the public who had submitted a question attended the meeting and supplementary questions were responded to by officers present.

RESOLVED:

That the questions and responses, be noted.

A petition has been submitted by Julie Hennessey containing 25 signatures. The petition states:

As a witness to the distress of parent carers reaching crisis point within our community, I call upon Sefton Council to take immediate action. Some parents are house bound whilst attempting to meet the needs of children without a school place. They're giving up their careers and are struggling to manage. All the while there is blatant uneven distribution of support, with some parents receiving more assistance than others - in the form of overnight respite, carers support, and full accessibility to schooling.

The current system of providing direct payments for carers to hire help is failing. With minimum wage rates, finding someone reliable for care giving is a steep uphill challenge. Within our community we have experienced instances, too many to count, of agency-assigned carers showing unreliability and safeguarding concerns.

It's time we rethink how respite is offered. Let's explore the possibility for Sefton to deliver an in-house family respite service, ensuring greater control, safety and consistency. Allowing more equitable use of facilities like Springbrook overnight respite should be a priority.

Sefton Council, we urge you to provide fair access to respite for all carers in the region and establish a reliable, in-house service to ensure safely-run and fully-accessible respite for our carers. Sign this petition to lend your voice to this vital call for fairness and support.

A representative will be allowed to address the Scrutiny Committee on the content of the petition for a period of 5 minutes.

The Committee considered a petition which had been received by the Council from The Voice of the Families group.

The petition wording was as follows:

“Establish Fair, Reliable, In-House Respite Services for Carers in Sefton”

A representative of The Voice of the Families was in attendance to present the petition.

The Committee responded with the following points:

• The Committee wants all disabled children to receive appropriate education, and to have the chance of short breaks for themselves and their families.
• The Council is listening to the concerns being raised regarding the uneven distribution of resources and has begun the process of reviewing this. Whilst it is recognised that the allocation of support can feel unfair to some families, the review will need to be managed sensitively to ensure that the needs of individual children are considered.
• Springbrook provides planned, overnight short breaks for children with learning and physical disabilities, some of whom may have complex medical needs. It is registered with Ofsted and can cater for up to 5 children age 7yrs – 17 yrs at a time.
• The home supports approximately 30 children, all of whom are known to the children with complex needs team and have had the need for this service confirmed by a social work assessment and panel meeting. The home does not provide emergency placements.
• Children with complex needs in Sefton have various resources available to them to access short breaks, these include: Aiming High, Buddy Up and Buddy up plus.
• It is recognised that services such as Aiming High or youth services such as Buddy Up may not meet the needs of all children. Feedback from parents has been taken on board about the need for creativity and developing our own in- house service. An outreach service is being developed, and this will be up and running by the end of April 2025.
• The Council acknowledges parents’ concern about children who don’t have a school place, the equity of resource distribution, insufficient capacity at Springbrook, the need for an in-house short breaks service and the need to review both the direct payments policy and the short breaks offer. Work is already being undertaken in respect of all these concerns and will be reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in due course.

RESOLVED:

That the petition be noted.

A petition has been received from David Moorhead containing 25 signatures. The petition states:

" Incompetence is the main reason for Sefton's Children overspend. This must be acknowledged and dealt with."

A representative will be allowed to address the Scrutiny Committee on the content of the petition for a period of 5 minutes.

The Committee considered a petition which had been received by the Council from The Voice of the Families group.

The petition wording was as follows:

“Incompetence is the main reason for Sefton's Children overspend. This must be acknowledged and dealt with."

A representative of The Voice of the Families was in attendance to present the petition.

The Committee responded with the following points:

• There was no evidence for this assertion has been provided. This Committee cannot acknowledge something that there is no evidence for.
• All the detail of the Council’s budget position will be reported to Full Council on 27 February 2025. Following this, this Committee can receive a verbal briefing from the Lead Member and Executive Director at the next meeting on 18 March 2025, at which any budget pressures and mitigating action can be discussed.
• It is a matter of public record that most Councils are dealing with overspends in their children’s services budgets.
• The High Needs Funding shortfall, Home to School Trasport and the rising cost of Residential Care are the main contributary factors for the overspend.
• These issues are well documented and affect all Local Authorities including Sefton. The Government has recognised the need for reform.
• Sefton’s Children’s Services spending is constantly monitored by the Executive Head of Corporate Services and Commercial in partnership with the Executive Director of Children’s Services, overseen by the Lead Member for Corporate Resources and Lead Member for Children’s Services.
• The Council strongly refutes any suggestion of incompetence in the management of this highly complex budget.

RESOLVED:

That the petition be noted.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer submitting the most recent update from the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families whose portfolio fell within the remit of the Committee.

The Cabinet Member update report which covered Education and Children’s Social Care, was attached to the report at Appendix A, and outlined information on the following:

Children’s Social Care:

·       Early Help

·       Data Performance and Quality Assurance

·       Performance for Cared for Children

·       Partnerships

·       Cared for Children and Care Experienced Young People

·       Team Around the School

·       Corporate Parenting

·       Private Fostering

·       Children with Complex Needs (Disabled Children)

·       Homeless 16-17 year olds

Education:

·       Southport Recovery

·       School Improvement Autumn 2024 update

·       School Improvement Post 16 work

·       Delivering Better Value/Inclusion

·       Attendance

·       SEND

Councillor Roscoe attended the meeting to present her report and to respond to any questions or issues raised by Members of the Committee.

Members of the Committee raised the following questions/issues:

·       Complaints service improvements

·       Private Fostering

·       Housing and budgeting support for young adults

RESOLVED:

That the update report from the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families be noted.

To receive the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education Annual Report.

The Committee considered the annual report of the Sefton Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education 2023-2024.

Ian Ross, Transpennine Learning, and Councillor Diane Roscoe, Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families, were in attendance to present the report.

Members of the Committee raised the following questions/issues:

The Committee noted the advice provided by SACRE to the Local Authority as follows:

·       How Teachers work load is managed.

·       How the success of community cohesion work is measured.

·       The vacancies on the SACRE Working Party and the need to represent a variety of faiths.

1.To review the funding of SACRE to ensure it is in line with national recommendations and good practice;

2.To review the membership of SACRE to ensure it reflects the breadth and diversity of the borough in terms of faiths and beliefs and schools’ structures.

3.To investigate the provision of quality teaching of RE at Key Stage Four for the non-examined students.

4.To provide opportunities for SACRE to work with other key areas of the Local Authority including the Communities team in order to support community cohesion.

RESOLVED: That

(1)           the report be noted; and

(2)           the Committee accepts the advice provided by SACRE to the Local Authority.

Report of the Executive Director of Children’s Social Care and Education.

The Committee received an update from the Executive Director of Children’s Services on progress made on the Improvement Programme.

Information was provided on the following:

·       Practice improvement work

·       Improvement activity when audits are graded inadequate

·       Improvements to partnership working

·       Preparation for the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children Services (ILACS)

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

Report of the Assistant Director of Children’s Services (Quality Assurance and Safeguarding).

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of Children’s Services (Quality Assurance and Safeguarding) that set out the quality assurance and performance headlines for the period

The performance Scorecard was circulated with the report and provided data and analysis of the Key Performance Indicators identified as illustrative of ‘system health’.

Members of the Committee raised the following questions/issues:

• The reason for the increase in referrals received
• Members were pleased to see that 94% of looked after children were offered dental appointments..
• The reason for the decrease in audits judged ‘good’
• Members were pleased to note the decrease in the number of agency Social Workers.

RESOLVED:

That the update on Quality Assurance and Practice Improvements be noted.

To receive the Corporate Parenting Board’s Annual Report.

The Committee considered the annual report 2023-2024 of the Sefton Corporate Parenting Board. The report related to all board activities completed between January 2024 and December 2024.

Councillor Diane Roscoe, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, was in attendance to present the report.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

To receive the Sefton Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report 2023/24.

The Committee considered the annual report 2023-2024 of the Sefton Safeguarding Children Partnership Board. The report related to all board activities completed between April 2023 and March 2024.

The purpose of the Safeguarding Children Partnership Board was to safeguard children and work together with a collective aim to better improve the outcomes for children and young people.

Members of the Committee raised the following questions/issues:

·       The work around children at risk from exploitation

·       Children who are out of school and the involvement of other agencies such as Merseyside Police.

·       Harm outside of the Home

RESOLVED: That

(1)  That the contents of the report be noted.

(2)  That the Police and other partners be invited to a future meeting to discuss partnership working.

Report of the Assistant Director, Communities.

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the work of the Domestic Abuse Partnership Board and its Mid-Year Report, published in September 2024. The report was presented to Members to provide an understanding of the work of the Domestic Abuse Board and how the Council collaborated with partners to respond to the requirements of the Domestic Abuse Act locally.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 placed duties on Local Authorities across England to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the right support in safe accommodation when they need it. The Council received £631,105 in new burdens funding for 2024/25 for delivery of this duty. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had confirmed that the domestic abuse safe accommodation grant would continue in 2025-26.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issue:

·       If training on Domestic Abuse was mandatory for elected members.

Following further discussion, the Committee felt that it was important that training on Domestic Abuse for elected Members should be mandatory in order for Members to better understand the risk elements and the correct approach Members should take when contacted by residents about cases of domestic abuse.

RESOLVED: That

(1)          the update be noted; and

(2)          it be recommended that Domestic Abuse training be considered as a mandatory training course for elected members and the suggestion be referred on to the Member Development Steering Group.

Report of the Assistant Director, Operational In-House Services.

At the request of the Committee, a report was presented providing an overview of the Council’s School Meals service.

The report provided an overview of the following:

·       An overview of the catering service as a whole

·       How the service interacts with our schools (both in terms of nutritional value and financial value)

·       How it interacts with colleagues in the Sefton education department

·       The service’s budget and how it got into the position it did in 2023/24 where it was increasing the amount it charged schools and backdating that charge

·       Where school meals provision sits within the Council structure

·       Reasons for the rise in school meals prices

·       Auto-enrolment for free school meals

Members of the Committee raised the following questions/issues:

·       The significant financial issues experienced by the service in 2023/24 due to increased food costs from suppliers.

·       How the service links in with schools who have different budgets and procedures.

·       Auto enrolment and if any work had been carried out to introduce this in Sefton.

RESOLVED: That

(1)           the update be noted; and

(2)           the Committee recommends the school meals service to continue to look in to using auto-enrolment.

Report of the Assistant Director of Children’s Services (Education Excellence).

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of Children’s Services (Education) that set out data on performance in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The report also set out information on the preparation for an impending joint area SEND inspection and confirmed the governance arrangements of the SEND Improvement Board, which oversees SEND performance in Sefton.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following matters:

·       The 45% of EHCP’s not being finalised within 20 weeks

·       The regional differences in EHCP data across the metro area and possible reasons for it.

·       The work around absences

RESOLVED:

That update on SEND be noted.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that sought to:

• seek the views of the Committee on the Work Programme for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2024/25;
• note that there was one item for pre-scrutiny by the Committee from the latest Key Decision Forward Plan;
• note that the topics of ASD/ADHD Services, Child Poverty and Health Inequalities in Care Experienced Children were being considered for in-depth scrutiny by Members of the Committee during 2024/25 and relevant activities are included in the schedule of the informal meetings of Committee Members and site visits to be undertaken during 2024/25, as set out at Appendix B;
• note the informal meetings of Committee Members and site visits to be undertaken during 2024/25;
• receive an update on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED: That

(1)          the Work Programme for 2024/25, as set out at Appendix A to the report, be noted, along with any additional items to be included and agreed;

(2)          the item for pre-scrutiny from the Key Decision Forward Plan that falls under the remit of the Committee, on this occasion, be noted;

(3)          note the topics of Child Poverty, ADHD/ASD services and Health Inequalities in Care Experienced Children for in-depth review;

(4)          the informal meetings of Committee Members and site visits to be undertaken during 2023/24, as set out at Appendix B to the report be noted; and

(5)          the update on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted.