Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the committee business planner as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance.  Members asked a number of questions in respect of items on the planner.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        in relation to St Peter’s School – Long Term Education Provision, to request that officers look into the possibility of submitting the report to the May meeting of the Education Operational Delivery Committee following consideration at the Capital Programme Committee, rather than to the September meeting as outlined in the planner;

(ii)       in relation to the Review of Free Bus Travel and Safe Routes to Lochside Academy, to request that officers provide Members with information outwith the meeting as to how the long the review would be likely to take and whether there would be scope to undertake the review earlier in the year to allow parents to have firm plans in place ahead of the school term;

(iii)      also in relation to the Review of Free Bus Travel and Safe Routes to Lochside Academy, to request that officers look to report back to Committee in April 2019 as previously agreed, rather than in August 2019 as outlined in the update on the business planner;

(iv)      in relation to the Provision of Free School Meals to Children During School Holidays, to request that the business planner be updated to reflect that a Service Update was to be provided to Members after Summer 2018; and

(v)       to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided Members with a summary of the key outcome and operational performance indicator information in respect of in-house educational services for the period to 31 December 2018.  Appended to the report were the Education and Inclusion Services performance improvement scorecard; the Education and Inclusion Services performance improvement trend charts; and the national data release schedule.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the content of the report and attached appendices.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        in relation to staff absence figures, to request that officers circulate information to Members outwith the meeting as to how tools and best practice set out in the performance report were being utilised to support staff in getting back to work;

(ii)       to request that officers circulate information to Members outwith the meeting in respect of whether there had also been an increase in occupational health referrals alongside the increase in long-term absence;

(iii)      to request that officers include information in future reports on examples of best practice from inspection regimes to highlight the good work going on in schools, to sit alongside the statistics in respect of positive evaluation of Quality Reference Indicators and Care Inspectorate inspection reports; and

(iv)      to otherwise note the report and appendices.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which sought endorsement for the proposed approach to school improvement with the aim of securing improved outcomes for children and young people.  The report set out the introduction of a series of measures to help track and report progress towards realising the educational ambitions of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and associated locality plans.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the proposed alignment between the national and local system of planning which will underpin the school improvement plans for the academic term 2018-19;

(b)       instruct the Chief Operating Officer to contribute to the development of the Northern Alliance regional improvement plan and submit to a future meeting of the Committee; and

(c)       instruct the Chief Operating Officer to track progress against the proposed KPIs in order to report progress to the Education Committee.  Reporting will comprise a yearly progress report based on validated data and a six monthly update to provide an indication of progress to that point.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to thank Mrs Sheppard and Mrs Scanlon and team for the work undertaken on the report;

(ii)       in relation to pages 63 to 65 of the report (Baseline Measures and Improvement Targets), to request that officers provide information to Members outwith the meeting to explain the discrepancy in the figures;

(iii)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Integrated Children’s Services to bring a report to Committee following the publication of the Education Bill by the Scottish Government detailing:-

(a)             how the national and local systems will be aligned

(b)             how the measures will help track and report progress against realising the ambitions of the LOIP and locality plans; and

(c)              the proposed KPIs for reporting to Committee; and

(iv)      to otherwise approve the recommendations in the report.

With reference to the Council Budget meeting of 6 March 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which sought endorsement for the proposed approach to ensure the substantial increase of the registration and subsequent uptake of free school meals throughout the city.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the current workstreams for ensuring maximum registration and uptake of free school meals; and

(b)       endorse the future proposed workstreams for ensuring maximum registration and uptake of free school meals.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that the wording at section 3.2.5 in the report should reflect that the Pupil Equity Fund was not solely for those who were eligible for free school meals, and that it in fact aimed to improve the outcomes of some of the most vulnerable children and young people;

(ii)       to request that officers highlight information on free school meals on the Council website;

(iii)      to request that officers investigate whether videos highlighting the initiative could be created by schoolchildren to be placed on school websites;

(iv)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Integrated Children’s Services to bring a report to Committee outlining the impact of the proposed work streams for ensuring maximum registration and uptake of free school meals following submission of figures to the Scottish Government;

(v)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Integrated Children’s Services to bring a report to Committee prior to the close of each school year;

(a)             detailing the numbers registered for and taking free school meals by school; and

(b)             assessing the progress made by implementing the new work streams and detailing any required adjustments for the following school year; and

(vi)      to ensure that as future work streams are progressed that at all times it be recognised that there may be individuals who have difficulty accessing digital platforms to allow registration and to endeavour in these cases to assist so that barriers are not created in accessing free school meal services as a result of this digital initiative; and

(vii)    to otherwise approve the recommendations contained in the report.

-           COUNCILLOR JOHN WHEELER, Convener