Agenda and minutes

Councillor M Lapsa declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the matter referred to in minute 75 below headed “Further Education Colleges”.  He withdrew from the meeting during the consideration of this item.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th March, 2017

b)  Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on the 9^th March, 2017 were approved.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

Further to minute 28/16 the Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note and presentation of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) which provided an update on the Health Visiting service, commissioned by Coventry City Council’s Public Health Department, including the proposed contribution of the Health Visiting service to the Family Hub model, recent work to increase health leadership for CAF’s (Common Assessment Framework) and the proposals regarding a new integrated Family Health and Lifestyle service.  The Board welcomed two Health Visitors to the meeting who had been invited to discuss their experiences.

The briefing note detailed collaborative work, CAF’s, caseload and proposed development of the service.  The presentation was an illustration of health visitors experience using case studies.

The Scrutiny Board questioned the officers present on the following:

·  Reasons for the reduction in the number of CAF’s held by Health Visitors

·  Communicating information about changes to the services delivered in the new family hubs

·  Whether there was enough health visitors to meet the demand

·  Caseloads held by health visitors

·  Costs

·  School readiness and partnership with school nurses

·  Technology

·  Health promotion

The Scrutiny Board were supportive of the services provided by health visitors regardless of whether a CAF was held by a family or not.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board

1)  Note the information provided in the report, particularly the details regarding the contribution of the Health Visiting service to the Family Hub model,

2)  Note the action plan developed to increase the number of health led CAF’s

3)  Support the proposed development of an integrated Family Health and Lifestyle service.

4)  Request that as part of the recommissioning process the health and CAF IT systems be better aligned as a matter of urgency

5)  Request information about the cost of support provided by health visitors be shared to demonstrate the cost of issues caused by domestic violence

6)  Request that further consideration be given in conjunction with Health Scrutiny Board regarding Health promotion and use of apps 

7)  Further consideration be given in conjunction with Health Scrutiny Board regarding Health promotion and use of apps

Briefing Note of the Director of Children’s Services

Further to minute 67/16 the Scrutiny Board noted a briefing note of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) regarding progress on Quality Assurance and the Audit Framework.  Appended to the report was the quality assurance and continuous improvement framework and the audit schedule 2017.

The briefing note recognised that the outcome of audits had led to action plans that would improve the quality of practice.  The briefing also noted headline data from the audits and performance indicators.  Strengths and areas for development were identified in the briefing.

The Scrutiny Board questioned the Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and officers on the following:

·  Concerns about the reference to the early stages of development in the improvements

·  The 16 areas for development

·  Signs of safety training

·  Early help with family group conferencing

RESOLVED that the report be noted and a further report be considered by the Board next municipal year.

Briefing Note of the Director of Education, Libraries and Adult Learning

The Scrutiny Board considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) which provided information on the current position of Coventry’s Further Education Colleges following the area review of post 16 provision.

The report noted that in advance of the area review in which merger was formally recommended, both Henley College and City College had already begun to develop their thinking about uniting their resources to create a sustainable, vibrant new focus of training excellence for Coventry.  The proposed name for the new organisation was Coventry College which would be created by the dissolution of City College Coventry and merger with Henley College Coventry.  It was proposed that the legal merger would take effect on 1^st August 2017.  A proposed merger consultation had been launched from 22^nd March to 3^rd May, responses to the consultation would be published on 30^th May.  Information on the merger was appended to the report.

Following the post-16 area review an Ofsted inspection of Henley College in November 2016 judged overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement.  This was a decline from the previous judgement of Good for overall effectiveness in January 2014.

An Ofsted inspection of City College in January 2017 judged overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement.  This was an improvement from the previous judgement of Inadequate for overall effectiveness in November 2015.

Following the post-16 area review an Ofsted inspection of Hereward College in October 2016 judged overall effectiveness as Inadequate. This was a decline from the previous judgement of Good for overall effectiveness in January 2015.  A re-inspection monitoring visit took place on 20 December 2016.  The report noted that the previous Principal had retired and an interim Principal, Geoff Draper, and a new chair of governors, Michael Lynch, had been in place since the end of November 2016. The college was currently working hard to address the issues raised by Ofsted and are in the process of developing a positive vision for the future.  The Safeguarding team had been strengthened and a review of the College has been undertaken by the FE Commissioner’s office.

The Scrutiny Board questioned the Cabinet Member or Education and Skills and the officer on aspects of the report including

·  Support from the Scrutiny Board

·  Local Enterprise Partnership

·  How the consultation had been shared with current and prospective pupils

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills noted that the Skills Summit would take place in April and agreed to discuss this with the Scrutiny Board at their additional meeting.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board were supportive of the merger and requested further information about how the consultation had been shared with pupils.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Scrutiny Board noted the briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator regarding actions requested by the Board.

RESOLVED that the officers responsible for outstanding actions be contacted.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Scrutiny Board noted the work programme.

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of business.