Agenda and draft minutes

CO-OPTED MEMBER (VOTING)

Mr E A Britten - Church Representative (Catholic)

Ms J Ward – Parent Governor Representative (Secondary)

CO-OPTED MEMBERS (NON-VOTING)

Ms C Foote – School Staff Representative

Ms H Bellamy – School Staff Representative

Ms L Whitaker - Young Lives Leeds

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 25* of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded).

(* In accordance with Procedure Rule 25, notice of an appeal must be received in writing by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting).

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents.

1.  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2.  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3.  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

No exempt items have been identified.

There were no exempt 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.)

No formal late items of business were added to the agenda.  However, the following supplementary information had been despatched to Members prior to the meeting and published to the Council’s website:

Ø  Appendix 1 to the report for agenda item 7 (Ofsted Inspection Report); and

Ø  Appendix 1 to the report for agenda item 8 (Notification of Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents Review Update).

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Gruen, Councillor Lay, Councillor Senior and Co-opted Members Kate Blacker and Andrew Graham.

Councillor J Lennox attended as substitute for Councillor Gruen.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th March 2022.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th March 2022 be approved as an accurate record.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services which invites the Scrutiny Board to consider the findings of the recent Ofsted inspection of children’s services in Leeds.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which invited the Scrutiny Board to consider and discuss the findings of the recent Ofsted inspection of children’s services in Leeds.

The following were in attendance for this item:

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education

·  Sal Tariq, Director of Children and Families

·  Julie Longworth, Deputy Director of Children and Families

·  Shaheen Myers, Deputy Director Learning

·  Val Waite, Head of Service, Learning Inclusion

In introducing this item, the Chair briefly explained that the full inspection report had been formally published by Ofsted on Monday 9^th May 2022. Once published, this was then shared with Board Members in readiness for today’s meeting.  The Chair then invited the lead Executive Members and the Director of Children and Families to provide further introductory comments on the Ofsted inspection report.  In doing so, the following key points were made:

Ø  That since the last full inspection of Leeds City Council in 2018, Ofsted has found that services for children have remained outstanding in their overall effectiveness.

Ø  As one of the largest cities in the UK, Ofsted had recognised that Leeds has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain an outstanding judgement, particularly during this very difficult period too, has been acknowledged as a huge achievement and is testament to the strong commitment and hard work of frontline staff and other key partners.

Ø  Linked to this achievement, Ofsted had particularly found that the restorative and relational practice model has been further embedded into practice and continues to be reinforced under the banner of ‘child-friendly Leeds’, along with corporate support and investment that recognises that children living in Leeds are of the highest priority.

Ø  As part of the inspection, Ofsted had also acknowledged the action plan put in place to address the areas for improvement identified at the last focused visit and found that all of these areas have now improved through this planning.

Ø  An improvement plan is to be put in place to address the two improvement areas identified within the Ofsted report and once available, this will also be shared with the Scrutiny Board.

Ø  Moving forward, it was stressed that Council would not become complacent and is keen to continue to learn and improve in collaboration with partners and also via the engagement of scrutiny.

The Chair relayed his congratulations surrounding the positive outcome of the Ofsted inspection and also acknowledged and welcomed the recognition that had been given to the role of scrutiny by Ofsted in terms of being robust and challenging.

In consideration of the Ofsted inspection report, other Board Members joined the Chair in congratulating the leadership and staff within the Children and Families directorate.  The following matters were also discussed by the Board:

Ø  The areas for improvement referenced in the Ofsted report, which had been reflective of the Council’s own self-assessment process.

Ø  The continued focus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services which presents a briefing paper by the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership updating the Scrutiny Board on the Notification of Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents review.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which presented an update from the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) on its review of the Notification Process with regards to Serious Child Safeguarding Incidents.

The following were in attendance for this item:

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education

·  Julie Longworth, Deputy Director of Children and Families

·  Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, Independent Chair of the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership

·  Chief Superintendent Damien Miller, Leeds District Commander and LSCP Executive Member

·  Jo Harding, Executive Director of Nursing and Quality and LSCP Executive Member

·  Rebecca Roberts, Section Head, Social Care Legal and legal adviser to the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership

The Chair explained that following the Board’s initial discussion on this matter in February, the Board was now receiving a further update on the review work being undertaken by the LSCP.  A briefing paper had been provided by the LSCP Executive and the Chair also welcomed the attendance of the LSCP Executive Members to help address any further questions from the Board.

In introducing the briefing paper, the Independent Chair of the LSCP firstly reflected on the importance of her role in maintaining an independent perspective.  The Board was then reminded of the rationale for the independent review of the notification systems in Leeds.  The Board was also advised that the review continues to be a work in progress and that once completed, a full report on the outcome of the review would be shared with the Scrutiny Board.  In the meantime, the Board was informed that the LSCP Executive is considering options to deal with differences of professional opinions. With regards to the three options set out in the briefing paper, it was reported that while the majority preference of the LSCP Executive is to proceed with option 2, the legal advice given by the LSCP Legal Advisor was that this option would be deemed unlawful and therefore efforts are continuing to achieve an appropriate way forward.

The other LSCP Executive Members were invited to add any further comments and in doing so had shared their commitment towards the review process and also their desire to reach a consensus approach in dealing with cases where there are differences of opinion amongst partners in terms of whether or not it meets the criteria for notification to the National Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

The Scrutiny Board Chair then invited the legal adviser to the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership to elaborate on the advice that had been provided to the LSCP Executive in terms of option 2 set out within the briefing paper.  In doing so, the legal adviser explained that the Children Act 2004 confers upon a local authority the function of making a notification. In making that decision it is an integral part of the decision-making process that they are informed and guided by the views of statutory partners. However, the ultimate responsibility to notify, or not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2021/22 municipal year and draft work schedule for the 2022/23 municipal year.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report that presented the work

schedule for the remainder of the municipal year (set out in Appendix 1), as well as a draft work schedule of the successor Scrutiny Board for the 2022/23 municipal year (set out in Appendix 3).

In consideration of the draft work schedule for the 2022/23 municipal year, it was suggested that issues surrounding teacher recruitment and retention also be added into the work schedule for the successor board to consider.

In conclusion, the Chair acknowledged that this was the Scrutiny Board’s final meeting of the municipal year and therefore thanked all Board Members and the officers for their contributions and support throughout the year.

RESOLVED –

a)  That the current work schedule, as presented at Appendix 1, be noted.

b)  That the draft work schedule for the 2022/23 municipal year, as presented at Appendix 3, be updated to include teacher recruitment and retention as a potential area for consideration by the successor board too.

The next meeting of the Children and Families Scrutiny Board is provisionally scheduled for Wednesday 8^th June 2022 at 10.00 am (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9.45 am).

The next meeting of the Children and Families Scrutiny Board is provisionally scheduled for Wednesday 8^th June 2022 at 10.00 am (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9.45 am).