Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Peter Clayton (no substitute) and Mrs Eileen Tipper (co-opted member).

Apologies were received from Councillor Peter Clayton (no substitute) and Mrs Eileen Tipper (co-opted member).

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

There were no new declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve the Minutes from the meeting held on Wednesday 13 September 2023.

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee - Childrens and Families held on Wednesday 13 September 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee - Childrens and Families held on Wednesday 13 September 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

To approve the Minutes from the Joint Meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Children and Families and the Scrutiny Committee – Adults and Health on Wednesday 25 October 2023.

Resolved that the minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Children & Families and the Scrutiny Committee – Adults & Health held on Wednesday 25 October 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes will also need to be confirmed by the Scrutiny Committee – Adults & Health.

Resolved that the minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Children & Families and the Scrutiny Committee – Adults & Health held on Wednesday 25 October 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes will also need to be confirmed by the Scrutiny Committee – Adults & Health.

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

There were no questions asked, statements made or petitions presented.

To receive an update from the Service Manager, Governance Scrutiny. To assist the discussion, the following documents are attached:-

(a)  The Committee’s work programme

(b)  The Committee’s outcome tracker

Please use the following links to view the latest Somerset Council Forward Plans and Executive Forward Plan of planned key decisions that have been published on the Council’s website:

Somerset Council Forward Plans

Somerset Council Executive Forward Plan

The Committee received and noted the current work plan and outcome tracker and Executive Forward Plan.

The Chair highlighted the following:

·      There is an additional meeting scheduled for Tuesday 12 December at 10 am at Brympton Way, Yeovil.

·      To note that Committee Members will be invited to attend the Adults and Health Committee on 7 December for the following agenda item – Overview of Crime & Disorder.

·      The outcome tracker on the vaping item, considered at the joint meeting on 25 October, should be ‘orange’ (rather than ‘green’) as there are still actions outstanding.

·      Add ‘Connect Somerset’ as an item on the work plan.

The Committee received and noted the current work plan and outcome tracker and Executive Forward Plan.

The Chair highlighted the following:

·      There is an additional meeting scheduled for Tuesday 12 December at 10 am at Brympton Way, Yeovil.

·      To note that Committee Members will be invited to attend the Adults and Health Committee on 7 December for the following agenda item – Overview of Crime & Disorder.

·      The outcome tracker on the vaping item, considered at the joint meeting on 25 October, should be ‘orange’ (rather than ‘green’) as there are still actions outstanding.

·      To add ‘Connect Somerset’ as an item on the work plan.

The 2023/24 budget monitoring slides in the PowerPoint presentation will be led by the Council’s Strategic Manager, Finance Business Partnering, Sian Kenny.

The Committee received a presentation on the 23/24 Children’s Services budget and a verbal update on the month 6 position, which is showing a slight increase in forecast overspend (£11.8m to £12.4m).

A key area of deficit is the DSG, High Needs Block and will include more detail on this and the 2 areas overspending in the next update to the Committee.

Also requested a briefing note explaining differences between ‘mainstream home to school transport’ and ‘SEND transport’ (statutory / non statutory elements).

The Committee received a presentation from the Council’s Strategic manager, Finance Business Partnering, Sian Kenny on the 2023/24 Children’s Services budget as at month 5 and additionally provided a verbal update on the month 6 position.

Ms Kenny outlined that the 2023/24 Children’s Services (General Fund) has a net budget of £123.1m and has forecast overspend of £11.8m at the end of month 5 (9.6% of budget). The month 6 position is showing a slight increase, at £12.4m.

Ms Kenny highlighted the key pressures and key cost drivers, in relation to:

(a)  external placements pressures (£10.1m overspend) (slides 3 – 4):

• unregistered placements £4.2m – although numbers are reducing, almost three quarters of the annual 2,190 budgeted placement days have been provided in the first 5 months of the financial year.
• residential placements £4.2m – increase in placements due to complexity of children, moves from unregistered placements and lack of sufficiency within fostering both internally and in the external market.

(b)  Home to school SEND Transport (£1.7m) (slide 5):

• demand for SEND Transport has doubled since 2018 - significant factor is the rise in number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) attending a school other than their local mainstream setting.
• passenger costs increasing by 10%.
• increasing cost of contracted supply.

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DGS) which has £15.6m forecast in year deficit; cumulative £37.5m deficit (slide 6) and Ms Kenny highlighted the key cost drivers – High Needs Block and the Schools Block (slide 7).

The Committee asked a number of questions and made a number of comments which were responded to at the meeting, as follows:

• how and where is the DSG reported – this is reported in the Schools Forum and to the Executive in the regular budget monitoring reports – there are 3 sections to this report. The DSG is a ring-fenced grant which is allocated in four blocks (Schools, Early Years, High Needs, central Schools Servies). The key risks in the High Needs Block are increased demand for EHCP’s, sufficiency of provision of social, emotional and mental health support.
• Position regarding LA maintained schools revenue budgets / reserves – these reserves are regarded as being under the control of the individual schools and not the local authority and are therefore not included in the calculation of the overall DSG reserves.
• Detail on slide 2 – confirmed information is correct, including areas reporting ‘0.0’ variances. The committee still needs to see the budget information across all lines (e.g. fostering & permanence; leaving care) to show the full position.
• Explanation of difference between ‘mainstream home to school transport’ and ‘SEND transport’ (statutory / non statutory elements)

Claire Winter, the Council’s Executive Director, Children, Families and Education explained that ‘mainstream’ is essentially children being transported to / from school, as the closest school with an available place is further away than the statutory walking distance for their age or it’s deemed as an unsafe walking route to school or to pupils from low-income families (in certain  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7a

To consider PowerPoint presentation.

The item will be led by the Council’s Executive Director – Children, Families and Education, Claire Winter and the Service Manager, Caroline Barnes.

Note – the Chair will allow 50 minutes for agenda item 7.

The Committee received a presentation on Children’s Transformation Programme / Business Plan.

The transformation priorities are – sufficiency, efficiency, managing risks (slide 8). The 4 strategies underpinning the priorities 2023 - 2026 (slide 9) are –

·      Education for Life

·      CLA Transformation

·      SEND Strategy

·      Connect Somerset

The Chair asked that the committee think further on these areas and at the next meeting will ask for volunteers, to act as champions for each area.

The Committee received a presentation from Caroline Barnes, the Council’s Children’s Services Transformation Project Manager and Claire Winter, the Council’s Executive Director, Children, Families and Education on the Children’s Transformation Programme / Business Plan.

Ms Barnes outlined the Children’s Services transformation priorities, which are:

• Sufficiency – ensuring that have enough resources to predict demand and to manage the needs of our most vulnerable children within the available budget.
• Efficiency – making the best use of the resources we have, ensuring focus on agreed priorities and providing value for money.
• Managing risks – taking decisive and timely action to prevent crisis for children and/or deterioration in the services children need.

The four strategies / strands underpinning the Children’s Services transformation priorities 2023 – 2026 (slide 9) are – Education for Life, CLA Transformation, SEND Strategy, and Connect Somerset. Ms Barnes provided information and some examples of what sufficiency, efficiency and managing risk will look like (slides 10 – 12).

The Committee asked a number of questions and made a number of comments which were responded to at the meeting, as follows:

• Key theme is prevention how keep people with high needs in mainstream school - noted this is an item on the agenda for next meeting of the Committee; also around how support schools better to support children with EHCPs or special educational needs in the mainstream and referenced the Education Finance consultation (agenda item 8 below).
• Role of housing, housing allocation and the schools children attend not being a consideration – agreed that housing is critical and officers have asked ‘Research in Practice’, a national organisation, to deliver training in the new year to adults, children’s and housing teams to help working together / better understanding of each other’s roles – and develop a toolkit around housing / adults / children’s services.
• Now that are ‘one Council’ should be easier to connect things.
• Not sure there is a lot of awareness in schools about Connect Somerset and needs to be some work done about awareness raising – noted – the Committee would also benefit from further information on it and has been added to the work plan.

The Chair asked that committee members think further on the four areas / strategies underpinning the Children’s Services transformation priorities namely - Education for Life; CLA Transformation; SEND Strategy; Connect Somerset – and that at the next meeting on 12 December, will seek volunteers for the areas to allow individual meetings with officers to gain a better understanding of a topic of interest. The Chair clarified that he is not looking for a topic expert but is hoping that members would volunteer to learn more about one of the areas and from that knowledge, feedback to committee and it will hopefully support a better scrutiny.

The Chair thanked officers for the presentation and the Committee noted the update.

To receive presentation.

The presentation provides a summary of the Education Finance consultation (which runs until 10 November), including responses as at 6 November. The link to the consultation has been shared previously – see

How should we meet education funding challenges in Somerset? Have your say - Somerset Council - Citizen Space

The item will be led by the Council’s Executive Director – Children, Families and Education, Claire Winter.

Note – the Chair will allow 30 minutes for this agenda item.

The Committee received a presentation on the Education Finance consultation on how can meet education funding challenges in Somerset, and which concluded on 10 November 2023. There were 346 responses to the consultation survey.

The committee discussed the areas which it is proposed will be developed further into detailed, costed options for consultation.

The Chair asked for clarification around ‘banding’ at next meeting, referenced on slide 7).

The Committee received a presentation from Claire Winter, the Council’s Executive Director, Children, Families and Education on the Education Finance consultation on how can meet education funding challenges in Somerset,.

The consultation concluded on 10 November 2023 and there had been 346 responses to the consultation survey. The Committee discussed the areas which it is proposed will be developed further into detailed, costed options for consultation.  

The areas were:

1. Funding for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) – upfront funding, equalising banding, pupil budgets.
2. Early Help funding proposal.
3. Options for Early Years.
4. Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) – this question was aimed at schools and the outcome will be discussed further by the Schools Forum.

The Committee asked a number of questions and made a number of comments which were responded to at the meeting, as follows:

• Parents / carers / public had responded to the question aimed at schools (MFG)  and the outcome to the option had been close - this was noted and will be reflected on.
• Early Help, funding and impact on workforce  - will be whole system perspective and referenced the Early Help 5-year funding proposal (slide 13).
• ECHP and upfront funding and whether this is feasible -  it is not LA funding and is around using the grant differently and how assess the amount each school will get – business intelligence / modelling work needs to be undertaken, and then understand how should allocate that funding up front for each school - will be a strong QA approach.
• Percentage of responses from early years settings – this information can be broken down.
• Seems to be some element of ‘unclarity’ in the responses to the survey – are officers comfortable with what have – this is in 2 areas – (a) personal budget question / pupil funding) – are fairly confident that was misunderstood and have reflected on the use of language used and will rework this along with the Parent Carer Forum to talk to parents in a different way and have a more direct conversation about it and what it means; (b) MFG questions – this was a very technical question and was well described and schools understood it and the public were able to respond to it as well. Officers are confident the responses received are adequate.

Officers stressed that this consultation is only about finding out which of these options are a good idea to look at further and that nothing will change for schools or families without a further consultation that gives a lot more detail about how an option would work.

The Chair reminded the Committee that the next meeting has an item on SEND / EHCP and it would be helpful to have clarification in that item on ‘banding’ which had been referenced in the presentation (slide 7).

The Committee thanked officers for the presentation and the Committee noted the update.

To receive briefing note and update from the Chair of Panel, Cllr Evie Potts-Jones.

Note -the Chair will allow 15 minutes for this agenda item.

The Committee received an update from the Chair of the Education Standards Panel, Cllr Evie Potts-Jones. The first, introductory meeting had been held on 26 October. Going forward the Panel will recommend items or certain data for the Scrutiny Committee to discuss.

The Committee welcomed and noted the update.

The Committee received an update from the Chair of the Education Standards Panel, Cllr Evie Potts-Jones. The first, introductory meeting had been held on 26 October 2023. Going forward the Panel will recommend items or certain data for the Scrutiny Committee to discuss.

The Committee welcomed and noted the update.

This is a standing agenda item and will provide details of information sent to Committee members in between meetings, that cover the Committee’s policy areas.

(a)  SSCP Learning Bulletin - September 2023 – circulated on 20 September 2023

(b)  Children & Young People LGA bulletin – September 2023 – circulated in 28 September 2023

(c)  Link to the consultation on ‘creating a smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping’, which runs to 6 December - Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping: your views - Department of Health and Social Care (dhsc.gov.uk) – circulated on 30 October 2023

(d)  Link to NHS dental statistics for England 2022-23, Annual Report  - circulated on 30 October 2023

(e)  Information on the Education Finance consultation – circulated on 1 November 2023

(f)   LA maintained schools core offer – update – circulated on 6 November 2023

If Committee members have any questions or comments on the information, please contact the Committee Administrator on democraticservicesteam@somerset.gov.uk in the first instance and before the date of the meeting.

The Committee noted the following items for information:

The Committee noted the following items for information:

(a)  SSCP Learning Bulletin - September 2023 – circulated on 20 September 2023

(b)  Children & Young People LGA bulletin – September 2023 – circulated in 28 September 2023

(c)  Link to the consultation on ‘creating a smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping’, which runs to 6 December - Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping: your views - Department of Health and Social Care (dhsc.gov.uk) – circulated on 30 October 2023

(d)  Link to NHS dental statistics for England 2022-23, Annual Report  - circulated on 30 October 2023

(e)  Information on the Education Finance consultation – circulated on 1 November 2023

(f)   LA maintained schools core offer – update – circulated on 6 November 2023