Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. View directions

Contact: Sandra Pentelow (0113) 37 88655  Email: sandra.pentelow@leeds.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

CO-OPTED MEMBERS (VOTING)

Ms J Ward – Parent Governor Representative (Secondary)

 

CO-OPTED MEMBERS (NON-VOTING)

Ms C Bewsher – Looked after Children and Care Leavers

 

67.

Late Items

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

 

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

Minutes:

There were no late items of business.

 

68.

Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

 

69.

Apologies for Absence and Notification of Substitutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Dawson and Ogilvie. Councillor Harland attended the meeting as a substitute for Cllr Dawson. Apologies were also received from Mr EA Britten; Mr A Graham; Ms J Hazelgrave; Ms C Foote; Ms M Owen; Mrs S Hutchinson and Ms C Hopkins.

 

70.

Minutes - 25 January 2018 pdf icon PDF 232 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2018.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 25th January 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

 

71.

Increasing the Number of Young People in Education, Employment or Training pdf icon PDF 138 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Governance and Scrutiny Support and the Director of Children and Families regarding increasing the number of young people in education, employment or training.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Director of Children and Families provided an update on the NEET obsession and on activity to meet the monitoring requirement of the Scrutiny Board following the 2013 review into the support for young people identified as being Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) or at the risk of becoming NEET.

 

The report identified that of the 13 recommendations arising from the review, only Recommendation 6 remained outstanding: “That the Director of Children’s Services works with Clusters across the City to share good practice and establish programmes in primary schools which reduce the risk of NEET, such as the concept of ‘World of work Wednesdays’. Such programmes should also be adapted to suit the needs of young people in secondary education.”

 

The following information was included within the report:

-  Pathways Support Team – Summary for the City October to December 2017

-  Year 12 & 13 NEET story behind the baseline

 

The following were in attendance:

-  Councillor L Mulherin, Executive Member for Children & Families

-  Councillor A Lamb, Chair Scrutiny Board (Inclusive Growth, Culture & Sport)

-  Steve Walker – Director of Children & Families

-  Andrea Richardson – Head of Services, Learning for Life

-  Jean Ellison – Youth Offer Lead

-  Peter Storrie – Intelligence & Policy Service

 

(Councillor Iqbal and Councillor Lamb joined the meeting at this point)

 

The Board received a presentation which outlined the following matters:

·  The new DfE headline performance measure which combined the NEET rate with the ‘not known’ rate

·  The role of the Pathway Team, providing Information, Advice & Guidance (IAG) support for 18 months and locality working through provision in Community Hubs

·  The use of the Leeds Pathway Grant to commission voluntary sector organisations to engage with hardest to reach/least likely to engage young people

·  Future plans included further use of assertive outreach work and the annual Leeds Apprenticeship Fair scheduled for 5th March 2018

 

Referring specifically to Recommendation 6; the Board heard that the structure of Clusters/primary schools had changed and practice now centred on “readiness activities” provided by Children & Families in conjunction with the Jobs & Skills Service. A cross-directorate strategic group had been established to develop shared work and the Scrutiny Board (Inclusive Growth, Culture & Sport) was currently reviewing the Draft Leeds Talent & Skills Plan and would revisit the picture of programmes in primary schools in order introduce children to the concept of work and reduce the risk of NEET.

 

The Board also received assurance on the NEET and ‘Not Known’ data sets.  Some of the data collection methods required review in respect of individual settings before the annual data was submitted to the DfE.

 

Councillor Lamb reported on the findings so far of the Scrutiny Board (Inclusive Growth, Culture & Sport) inquiry, and the nature of the IAG service provision across the city. He reported it was likely that the Scrutiny Board (Inclusive Growth, Culture & Sport) would continue to monitor that provision and highlighted the importance of the development of the IAG Charter, developed by young people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

72.

Work Schedule

Minutes:

The Head of Governance and Scrutiny submitted a report which invited Members to consider the Board’s Work Schedule for the remainder of the current municipal year.

RESOLVED – That the work schedule be agreed.

 

73.

Adjournment of the meeting

Minutes:

Due to the lack of heating in the meeting room, the Board

RESOLVED

a)  To adjourn the meeting.

b)  To defer the remaining matters on the agenda to the next Board meeting

i)  Youth Service – Review of Impact and Outcomes since Service Reconfigurations

 

74.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Thursday 15 March 2018 at 9:45am

 

(pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9:15am)

Minutes:

Thursday 15th March 2018 at 9:45 am (with a pre-meeting for Board Members at 9.15 am)