Minutes:
A report was submitted by the Assistant Chief Executive of Planning, Policy and Improvement which provided Members with background to the development of Leeds Strategic Plan, and details of the associated consultation process. The report also gave Members the opportunity to consider and comment upon the draft strategic outcomes and improvement priorities within the plan which aimed to meet the needs of the city’s children and young people. A table detailing the draft strategic outcomes and improvement priorities was appended to the report for Members’ information.
Mariana Pexton, Deputy Director – Innovation and Change, Children’s Services, and Jane Stageman, Senior Policy Manager, Policy, Planning and Improvement, were both in attendance to answer Members’ questions.
Having received a brief summary of the key issues detailed within the report, the Board viewed a promotional videowhich was being used as part of the consultation process, and which outlined the plan’s draft strategic outcomes and improvement priorities. A question and answer session then ensued. The main areas of debate were as follows:-
Draft Strategic Outcomes and Draft Improvement Priorities
· Members highlighted the importance of, and recognition that was given to the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda, and suggested that in order to reflect this, the plan should make explicit reference to this issue;
· Members proposed that consideration was given to including a specific reference within the plan to improved outcomes for Looked After Children, which could possibly be added to the health and wellbeing theme;
· The Board emphasised the need for the plan to acknowledge the importance of parental involvement in young people’s learning;
· Members proposed that reference was made within the plan to the importance of young people having a better understanding of both their own culture, and of the many other cultures which made up the city;
· Members acknowledged the draft priority which aimed to reduce emissions from public sector buildings, operations and service delivery, but emphasised the need for the plan to also encourage the private sector to reduce emission levels. The Board proposed that the plan should take a broader focus, which recognised the need for the behaviour of all sectors to change, in order to improve the city’s environment;
· Having noted that the Council still had a statutory requirement to produce a Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP), Members made reference to the strong links which existed between the priorities within the CYPP and the draft strategic outcomes of the Leeds Strategic Plan. The Board also acknowledged that in the context of the strategic plan, most of the outcomes were applicable to the general population of Leeds, rather than children and young people specifically. Members were then advised of how the plan would sit in terms of the statutory planning framework.
Issues Relating to the Associated Consultation Exercise
· The Board discussed the actions being taken to ensure that the strategic plan was inclusive of young people from all sections of society;
· Having commented upon the style and content of the video, the Board learned of its intended audience, and how it would be used as part of a consultation process;
· The Board was advised of the agencies which would be involved in the consultation process, and that following all Scrutiny Board responses being considered at Overview and Scrutiny Committee, a revised version of the relevant draft strategic outcomes and improvement priorities would be submitted to the Board in January 2008 for further consideration.
General Observations
· Following Members’ questions, the Board learned of the administrative arrangements which had been established to help form and deliver the strategic plan;
· The Board acknowledged the relationship between the strategic plan and the Council’s Mission, which was to ‘bring the benefits of a prosperous, vibrant and attractive city to all the people of Leeds’, but emphasised that in order to achieve this, a greater level of equality needed to be established throughout the city;
· Members made specific enquiries into the methods which would be used to implement the draft outcomes and priorities, and how long this process would take to complete.
RESOLVED – That subject to the above comments, the proposed strategic outcomes and improvement priorities of the Leeds Strategic Plan which are aimed at meeting the needs of children and young people in the city be noted, and that the revised draft of the plan be submitted to the January 2008 meeting of the Board.