Brighton & Hove City Council
Children, Young People & Skills Committee
4.00pm11 January 2021
Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall
MINUTES
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Present: Councillor Clare (Chair)
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Also in attendance: Councillor Hills (Deputy Chair), Allcock (Opposition Spokesperson), Brown (Group Spokesperson), Grimshaw, Hamilton, Lloyd, McNair, Nield and Simson
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Other Members present: Councillors
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PART ONE
Procedural Business
Declarations of Substitutes
Mr S Parr was present as a substitute for Ms B Connor
Declarations of Interest
51.2 Councillor Nield declared that she had previously volunteered at Stanford Infant and so would refrain from voting on recommendation 2.8 in Item 61 - School Admission Arrangements 2022-23.
Exclusion of Press and Public
51.3 The Committee considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any of the items listed on the agenda.
51.4 RESOLVED: There were no part two in the agenda.
Minutes
52.1 RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2020 be agreed and signed as a correct record.
Chair's Communications
53.1 The Chair gave the following communication:
Welcome to this virtual meeting of the Children Young People & Skills Committee. Please note that this meeting is being webcast and is capable of repeat viewing.
We have two addendums to the main agenda. Please note that Item 67A is an additional item regarding the Executive Director’s use of Urgency Powers regarding Council Nurseries and that can be seen in Addendum 2.
On Saturday 2 January, Brighton and Hove City Council made the tough decision to advise our primary schools to close to all but vulnerable children and the children of key workers. We did this because we were worried about rising case numbers and that we wanted to protect our community. But we did this with concern – knowing that this would cause challenges to some families, particularly with short notice and that we may end up in the position that Greenwich Council did before Christmas, being challenged legally by Government.
On Sunday 3 January, the Government said schools were safe and on Andrew Marr, the Prime Minister issued a challenge to us. Just one day later, the Prime Minister issued a directive for all primary schools across England to close - after many primary schools had been open for just one day.
We said at the start that we were making the brave decision that Government weren’t willing to make, based on concerns for safety, of staff, families and in recognition of the shocking rise in cases in our city. And we heard huge relief from our community when they did make that decision – and that we had made the call a few days earlier; given that the government’s announcement meant children had gone into school and then back out again within 24 hours. Having reviewed the data on the rise in cases – at that time, telling us of an increase in cases across all ages and up to 700% increase since the end of the November lockdown. However we still felt there is inconsistency in the guidance and later in the week we made the decision to close council-run nurseries to all but vulnerable children and the children of key workers. The same justification for schools applied – we need to protect our wider community and the public health figures were showing it.
The figures for cases among 0-4 year olds were very similar to 5-9, but even if you weren’t looking at the children themselves, it’s about staff, its about families and it’s about those in the community. It’s about decision makers making the decisions needed to bring down rates of transmission, so we are ready to open when it is safe to do so.
As a council, we can do little about private early years providers. But we know many are concerned about the effect on the community from remaining open to all children. Sadly without support from Government, making this call will come at a financial cost to them.
I am grateful to Cllrs of all parties for their engagement over this issue. Cllr Allcock and I also wrote to the children’s minister Vicky Ford, asking her to reconsider the government’s decision to not advise early years providers to close and to not reimburse them as they did during the lockdown period last year.
As of yet, we are waiting for Government to change their mind on early years too. We may well see it in the coming days. Today, the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said in the press that parents and carers should avoid sending children to nurseries where possible.
This is a testing time for families and we have also focused on ensuring provision is in place to support families in need through our approach. Government should do similar.
Similarly, you may recall that at the last committee I raised the situation with exams this year and green councillors had written to Government to ask them to cancel this years’ examinations. We welcome the decision that has finally been made – as we will highlight in a joint notice of motion with the Labour Group today. But we advised in our letter that early notice was welcome to enable schools to prepare. Once again they delayed and delayed and delayed the right decision. We’re still waiting on BTECs.
It shouldn’t be up to local councils to have to challenge Government’s decisions to make them do the right thing. The Government has received feedback from schools and unions about what measures – particularly around exams – would support students and school staff in combatting the virus.
Our focus locally is on managing the response to the virus and taking reasonable and effective measures to keep our community safe as far as we can. But sadly it has been repeatedly proven that we are left waiting for government guidance or action.
I want to thank Brighton and Hove City Council’s education and skills team who have been supporting schools and early years providers through the many last-minute changes from Government over the last 9 months. And of course, the schools and providers themselves who have shown great resolve in tackling the pandemic and are now delivering high-quality online learning for most pupils, while still delivering face-to-face learning for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children.
I wanted to highlight that members of this committee will spot there are two papers on today’s agenda which relate to our social work provision. Coming in as chair, I felt that this committee needed this oversight of children open to social work – because there are many children who we are not corporate parents for, that we still support. Over the next few committees you will see more reports on this – and I hope that committee members use this opportunity to challenge and ask questions on what is a vital part of the work delivered by the families, children and learning directorate.
This agenda today has some papers which are emotive and difficult and involve councillors making tough decisions on behalf of the community. In particular, I know that many may be upset by decisions made on school admissions.
As Chair, I attended one consultation meeting for each school, and I want to thank colleagues on this committee who also attended various sessions. Councillors have also had oversight of all written responses to the consultation. Councillors on the school organisation working group in particular have poured over these tough decisions and weighed up all the responses. More than anything, we want to avoid closing a school – this is my absolute priority - and this is why we have taken this approach.
This is the last meeting of this committee ahead of all councillors meeting to set the budget in February. We as an administration have sought to prioritise avoiding the worst of cuts to our city's children and families. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any cuts in our directorate at all – but as our plans become clear over the coming weeks you will see that despite the inadequacies of Government funding, we are prioritising protecting the most vulnerable.
Many on this committee will know that youth engagement is of particular importance to me. So firstly, to welcome Ben Skinner and Louise Brown who are attending today on behalf of Brighton & Hove Youth Council and will present to us later on their work. But secondly to say that today, we look to be the first council to sign up to the Power of Youth Charter – something which is a real sign of our commitment to listening to young people. Work on listening to young people on decisions is never over – and I’d welcome thoughts from any young people themselves on the decisions we make and how we make them.
I’d finish by saying that if I have any further sway over the next decision that Government make, I’d ask them to consider releasing the Youth Investment Fund. Nearly 18 months ago they announced vital funding for youth services that they haven’t yet delivered on. And in the pandemic, it’s needed more than ever.
Call Over
The following items on the agenda were reserved for discussion:
Item 58 – Update on Hidden Children Strategy
Item 59 – Power of Youth Charter
Item 60 - Hertford Infant and Nursery School: Raising Lower Age Range of School from Three to Four Years and
Closure of the Nursery Class
Item 61 - School Admission Arrangements 2022-23
Item 62 – School Ofsted Presentation
Item 63 – Introduction of a Charging Policy for Children who
are Accommodated at the request of their parents
under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989
Item 64 - Kinship Care Support Offer
Item 67 - Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit Version 4
The following items on the agenda were agreed without discussion:
Item 65 – Families, Children and Learning Fees and Charges
2021/22
Item 66 – Compensation Payment for Early Years Providers
Item 67A – Council nurseries only open to critical worker and
vulnerable children
Public Involvement
55(a) Petitions
Objection to PAN Proposal Benfield Primary School
55.1 Mr S Theobald presented a petition on ‘Objection to PAN Proposal Benfield Primary School’. The wording of the petition was:
We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to reject the proposal to reduce the number of pupil places, based on a number of arguments already submitted to the council, through both consultation and follow up correspondence.
We strongly object to the proposal, we have already petitioned (successfully) against this in 2017 and we want to reiterate as before, that Benfield primary, which is stronger now than ever, is a child centric, well run, successful school that provides the diversity and choice that we need in this area.
55.2 The Chair gave the following response:
There is already a report on this matter on the agenda today - Item 61 – School Admission Arrangement 2022/23 and I therefore suggest that this petition is noted.
55.3 RESOLVED: That the Petition be noted.
Closure of Hertford Infant Nursery
55.4 Ms G Lain and Ms G Austen presented a petition on ‘Closure of Hertford Nursery’. The wording of the petition was:
Reconsider the closure of Hertford Infants Nursery Provision in September 2021.
The nursery is an integral part of a child’s education and means that each child in the local area can attend the same site when they start nursery age 3 through to when they transfer to junior school. Transition becomes easier as friendships span through from the nursery setting into the infants. The nursery also offers the option of 15 free hours over term time, ensuring parents and carers can avoid additional costs which private settings often incur.
There are also plenty of families ready and waiting to use the existing provision and also those that would be happy to consider nursery and reception children coming together in their education setting if this helps keep the nursery open
55.5 The Chair gave the following response:
There is already a report on this matter on the agenda today - Item 60 - Hertford Infant and Nursery School: Raising Lower Age Range of School from Three to Four Years and Closure of the Nursery Class and I therefore suggest that this petition is noted.
55.6 RESOLVED: that the Petition be noted
Reduce the Costs of Secondary School Uniform in Brighton & Hove.
55.7 This petition had been presented by Ms E Daniels at Full Council held on 17 December 2020 and referred to this Committee. The wording of the petition was:
In our city, we already had some areas with high levels of child poverty.
The economic impacts of the COVID crisis have made this situation
even worse. 33,000 people were furloughed in our city and by June
2019 the numbers of households on Universal Credit had risen from
5,860 in February 2019 to 14,180 in May 2019.
Secondary schools in Brighton and Hove have branded items which you can only source from a single supplier. My daughter's school have branded PE socks at £7 a pair, white polo neck shirts with a tiny logo at £8.95 (available for £4 on the high street without the logo). Without the branding you can save nearly £40. In addition, people need to have multiple items such as 2 or 3 polo necks to send their kids to school clean and smart.
We challenge the heads to reduce the number of items with branding on to save hard pressed families money. No new uniform should cost more than £55 for mandatory items. Poverty means that every penny spent on uniform is taken from something else that child needs. Providing discounts using pupil premium helps, but that could be spent on enrichment such as free school trips.
Please listen to the city's families and act.
55.8 The Chair gave the following response:
An officer report will be provided for the next CYPS Committee in March 2021 as agreed at Full Council, and I therefore suggest that the Petition be noted.
55.9 RESOLVED: That the Petition be noted.
55(b) Written Questions
55.10 There were none.
55(c) Deputations
55.11 There were no Deputations.
Member Involvement
(a) Petitions
56.1 There were none
(b) Written Questions
56.2 There were none
(c) Letters
56.3 There were none
Notices of Motion
Power of Youth Charter
56.4 The Notice of Motion had been proposed and debated at Full Council on 17 December 2020 and had then been referred to this Committee.
56.5 The Chair noted that Item 59 ‘Power of Youth Charter’ related to this matter and therefore suggested that the Notice of Motion and issues agreed by Full Council be noted.
56.6 RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed to note the Notice of Motion and the issues agreed by Full Council.
Supporting Schools Through the Pandemic
56.7 The Chair stated that they had agreed to accept a late Notice of Motion and asked Councillor Nield to present it.
56.8 Councillor Nield introduced the Notion of Motion which stated:
This committee welcomes the Government’s
· announcement on Monday 4 January that schools would move to remote learning for a further lockdown period, for all except vulnerable children and the children of critical workers
· decision to cancel SATs, GCSEs and A Level examinations this year and commitment to a different method of assessment from last year’s widely criticised algorithm
The committee notes the:
· Government have allowed individual providers to make decisions on how they will assess BTECs
· impact of moving education online which brings significant challenges for learning and the wellbeing of pupils
Therefore, this committee requests:
1. A report at the March committee detailing how the Council, schools and other providers are responding to the pandemic, including through supporting home learning, and access to food and devices
2. That the Director of Families, Children and Learning writes to the Secretary of State and the Shadow Secretary of State for Education requesting that:
o School and nursery staff are prioritised for vaccination, along with critical workers who support children and young people, such as social workers and youth workers
o Schools receive additional funding to address increased costs from the pandemic such as increased cleaning costs, which they can currently only claim under strict criteria for the last lockdown period and increased use of supply staff
o BTEC exams are cancelled in line with GCSE and A-Levels, and other forms of safe and fair assessment are considered
o Additional funding is issued to NHS trusts to increase mental health and wellbeing support
56.9 Councillor Allcock seconded the Notice of Motion.
56.10 RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed to the requests as set out in the Notice of Motion.
SEND SUMMER AND HALF TERM ACTIVITIES
57.1 Ms Zoe Ansty (Manager of BHCC Outreach Service) and Ms F England (Parent and Carers Council (PaCC)) gave a presentation on activities held during the Summer holidays and October half-term in 2020 for children and young people with SEND. The Committee were advised that due to the ongoing pandemic it had been highlighted by PaCC that there was a need for an increase in the availability of holiday activities. This led to a city-wide development of activities through the voluntary sector, Brighton & Hove City Council and PaCC partner groups. The activities were funded by combining budgets from within the Families, Children & Learning Directorate. The activities provided included various sports events, day trips for families, kayaking, circus workshops and play sessions as well as online activities such as music workshops and peer support sessions. In total 92 different events were held during the summer, which were attended by over 203 people from the ages of 5 to 25, and during the half term multi-sport activities were held at Mouslecoomb Primary School which were attended by 53 people from ages 6 to 18. It was noted that both the summer and half term activities were attended by more males than females and the reasons for that would be looked at when future activities were planned to encourage more females to attend. The families and young people fully supported the provision and said that attending the provision had many benefits including allowing them to meet up with their friends, helping to reduce isolation, gave the young people something to look forward to, provided exercise and allowed them to take part in activities which were different from the norm. For the families of the young people it provided support during the holidays and gave some respite to parents and carers.
57.2 The Chair was pleased to announce that Brighton & Hove City Council had been allocated just under £800k in the Holiday Activity and Food Programme. This programme aimed to make free places available to children who were eligible for free school meals, and would be the equivalent of four hours a day for four days a week for six weeks of the year. As a Local Authority there was some flexibility on how the provision would be delivered and so it was hoped that some of that funding could be used to offer further activities in the future.
57.3 The Chair thanked Ms Ansty and Ms England for the interesting presentation.
57.4 RESOLVED: The Committee agreed to note the presentation.
Update on the Hidden Children Strategy
58.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning which provided an update on the Hidden Children Strategy that was brought to the Children Young People & Skills Committee on 17 September 2018. The report was introduced by the Head of School Organisation and was joined by Ms D Boyd from PaCC, Ms R Cook (Amaze) and Ms M Banks (Asc-Mascot) who spoke on their own experiences.
58.2 Councillor Hills noted the rise in the number of children who were home educated, and that some of those would be vulnerable children, and asked if a full Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) would be undertaken when the new officer was in place. The Head of School Organisation confirmed that would be done. She noted that some children did fall through the net and so had an incomplete schooling and asked if there would be a catch-up procedure in place to assist them. The Head of School Organisation said that it would depend on each child, but they would be supported to return to school and officers would sign-post families to assistance which was available.
58.3 Mr Muirhead asked how the Local Authority could ensure that any impact Covid may have on the hidden children agenda was kept to a minimum. The Head of School Organisation said that there would be a focus on minimising the impact of Covid and would be something which the Steering Group would look closely at. Mr Muirhead noted that whilst the term ‘hidden children’ was widely used it also had the possibility of alienating some parents and stakeholders and asked if the language used could be reviewed. The Head of School Organisation said he aware of those concerns and confirmed that the terminology would be reviewed.
58.4 Councillor Brown said that it was important to have more contact with families of hidden children to ensure that they were receiving the required level of education, but noted that the Local Authority did not have the right to enter those family’s home without being invited in and hoped that person in the new role would be able to have more contact with those families. The Head of School Organisation agreed and said that officers would continue to engage with all home-educated children.
58.5 Councillor Nield noted that the most common reason cited by parents or carers for electing to home educate their child(ren) was due to health concerns related directly to Covid-19, and asked how many of those parents had a general concern about their children being exposed to the virus and how many were worried because their children had a specific medical condition such as asthma and so would be more vulnerable, and how many parents/carers were likely to allow their children to return to school once the pandemic was over. The Head of School Organisation said he didn’t have that information but would provide after the meeting.
58.6 RESOLVED: That the committee
Noted the progress on the original hidden children strategy as
detailed in the report and in Appendix 1.
(ii) Noted the actions being taken to recruit to a the new post of hidden children officer and the future focus on early identification and support, preventative and restorative action, re-engaging pupils who have been out of education and the monitoring and tracking of children and young people at risk of becoming hidden.
Power of Youth Charter
59.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning regarding the Power of Youth Charter. The report was introduced by the Integrated Team for Families Manager and was accompanied by Ben Skinner and Louise Brown who are members of the Youth Council and who explained why they felt the Charter was important. The Committee were advised that the word ‘appropriate’ was missing from the end of Recommendation 2.3.
59.2 Councillor Lloyd said he supported the initiative to mentor young people and felt that it would be beneficial to all parties.
59.3 Councillor Allcock said he was in favour of mentoring and asked Louise and Ben whether they felt young people would want to have some input into other Committee run by the Council, and how people from disadvantaged backgrounds could be included more. Louise said that many children were interested in politics and suggested that going into schools to speak to pupils to talk about youth participation, and publishing information on social media would be useful. Young People would be interested in joining all the committees. Ben agreed and said that it was important to bridge the gap between the Youth Council and the Council, and more information on the Council’s website would be very useful.
59.4 Councillor Hills also supported the idea of mentoring and said that it would be beneficial to everyone to have young people’s voices heard when decisions were being made at committee meetings. It was important to encourage as many children to be involved and asked what social media platform would be best to use. Ben suggested that all social media platforms could be used, but many young people used Instagram and noted that the Youth Parliament had an Instagram page.
59.5 Councillor McNair said he would be happy to mentor a young person.
59.6 Mr Muirhead said that the voluntary youth sector full supported the Power of Youth Charter and meaningful engagement with young people would have lasting gains for everyone in the City.
59.7 RESOLVED: That the Committee
Noted the purpose of the Charter and agreed to sign up to this on behalf of the Council;
Agreed to regularly monitor progress made towards actions it would take to deliver on the Charter commitments;
Agreed to Councillors being invited to mentor young people wanting to learn how to be more involved in local politics and offer opportunities to shadow them where appropriate.
Raising lower age range of Hertford Infant and Nursery School from Three to Four Years and Closure of Nursery Class
60.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning regarding raising the lower age range of Hertford Infant School from three to four years and the closure of the Nursery Class. The report was introduced by the Childcare Strategy Manager who was joined by Ms Z McGuigan (Head Teacher) and Ms R Attwell (Governing Body).
60.2 Councillor Nield asked if there would be sufficient nursery provision in the local area offering free nursery places if this one closed and was advised that there was alternative provision in the local area.
60.3 RESOLVED: That the committee confirmed the proposal contained in the statutory notice to raise the lower age range by one year from three to four years and close the nursery class at Hertford Infant and Nursery School with effect from 1st September 2021.
School Admission Arrangements 2022/23
61.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning regarding the proposed school admission arrangements for the City’s schools, for which the Council is the admission authority, for the academic year 2022-23. The report was introduced by the Head of School Organisation.
61.2 Councillor Brown accepted that it was always a difficult decision to reduce the Published Admission Number (PAN) for a school and accepted that the recommendations in the report had not been taken lightly. The Conservative Group would support the reduction in PAN for most of the schools listed in the report but did not agree with reducing PAN for West Blatchington Primary School. The report states that if the PAN were lowered there be insufficient places for 3 pupils living in that area should all pupils express a preference to attend their local school. In addition, West Blatchington Primary has only just reopened in their new building and should be given at least one further year to see if its popularity and numbers increase, and it was the only primary school in the City to have an autistic spectrum unit.
61.3 Councillor Simson agreed with Councillor Brown’s comments and said that West Blatchington had only been operating on its new site for one year and the Council did promote local schools for local children, and if the PAN was reduced that may not be possible. She asked what help the school had been given to the school to increase its pupil numbers. The Head of School Organisation said that officers had been supporting the Head Teacher and Governors, but it was not possible to recommend one school over another to parents and carers.
61.4 Councillor Hills noted that reducing the PAN was not a reflection on how well a school was performing, and if the decision was taken to reduce the admission number the infrastructure would still be in place to increase the PAN in the future if needed. If action were not taken now the Schools Adjudicator may get involved and schools may be closed
61.5 Councillor Hamilton said that this was a difficult decision for Councillors to make but there were too many places for the number of children in the city, and if the admission numbers was not reduced at some schools it would be necessary to close schools and it would then be very difficult to open them again if additional places were required.
61.6 The Chair noted that some schools on the list were agreeable with the reduction in PAN and that some of the consultation meetings had been less well attended than others and confirmed that she had attended at least one of the consultation meetings at each of the schools.
61.7 RESOLVED: That the Committee –
Agreed to make no changes to the council’s school admission arrangements or secondary school catchment areas, except for the changes listed in sub- paragraphs 2.2- 2.10 in the report, which would result in a reduction in the total of primary school places in the city by 240 places and a reduction of secondary school places by 120 places;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Balfour Primary School from 120 to 90 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Benfield Primary School from 60 to 30 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Brunswick Primary School from 120 to 90 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Downs Infant School from 120 to 90 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Goldstone Primary School from 90 to 60 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Moulsecoomb Primary School from 60 to 30 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Stanford Infant School from 90 to 60 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for West Blatchington Primary School from 60 to 30 pupils;
Agreed to a change to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Hove Park School from 300 to 180 pupils;
Agreed to make no change to the co-ordinated scheme for admissions or to the “relevant area”.
School OFSTED Presentation
62.1 The Head of Education Standards & Achievement and the Head of Early Years and Strategic Lead for Whole Family Working provided an update on the latest Ofsted inspections for schools in the City.
62.2 The Head of Education Standards & Achievement advised the Committee that the normal inspection regime was still suspended by Ofsted. However last term interim visits did take place at four schools: St Bartholomew’s CE Primary, Hertford Infant, Moulsecoomb Primary School and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. These were visits which commented on children’s return to schools but made no judgement. Three of those reports had been published and the final one, for Hertford Infant, would be published in due course. Ofsted announced in December that this term they would start monitoring visits for ‘Requires Improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’ schools and had issued guidance on how those visits would take place. The Head of Early Years and Strategic Lead for Whole Family Working added that it was similar for Early Years inspections in that they hadn’t taken place, but there had been one interim visit to the Nest Nursery School, which had previously been graded as ‘Requires Improvement’ and they found that all identified actions had been met. The Council were waiting for further information from Ofsted on when and how inspections could recommence.
62.3 RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
Introduction of a Charging Policy for Children who are Accommodated at the request of their parents under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989
63.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning regarding the introduction of a Charging Policy for children who were accommodated at the request of their parents under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989. The report was introduced by the the Head of Safeguarding & Performance.
63.2 Councillor Grimshaw was pleased to note that the Head of Service may apply discretion on the payments made.
63.3 Councillor Hills said that this would always be a difficult decision for parents/carers to make and asked if officers worked with families to avoid the children going into care and asked why the number of children in this situation had increased. The Head of Safeguarding & Performance said that significant support was given to families. The increase in number was due to a number of reasons but was sometimes due to a parental breakup and the child could not then be accommodated by either parent. Often the time children were in care was short.
63.4 The Chair noted that in the draft policy there was reference to ‘County Council’ and confirmed that that wording would be amended.
63.5 RESOLVED: That the Committee approved the introduction of the Charging Policy, pending ratification at Policy and Resource Committee, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report to seek to recoup partial costs in defined circumstances when a child becomes Looked After at the request of parents.
Kinship Care Support Offer
64.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning regarding the current support offer to Kinship Care and Family & Friends placements in Brighton and Hove. The report was introduced by the Head of Service - Fostering Adoption & Permanence.
64.2 Councillor Hills asked how long the process of moving from Foster Care to Kinship Care would take, and referred to paragraph 3.11 and asked if the 34 who had moved out of the care of the Local Authority onto Special Guardianship Orders and asked if that was from the 35 or 49. The Head of Service - Fostering Adoption & Permanence advised that the length of time taken would vary for each child and would depend on how long the care proceedings but there was a target of 26 weeks, but due to the current pandemic it was taking longer. The number of children was 34 out of 35.
64.3 Councillor Grimshaw asked if people undertook the additional training whether the enhanced money would continue permanently, and if they were receiving the additional money would that mean that the child would continue as being classed as ‘in care’ and have the support of a social worker? If that was the case, would the involvement of a social worker may be why people didn’t go for the extra training. The Head of Service - Fostering Adoption & Permanence advised that the additional money would continue. With regard to not undertaking the training it was more the case that the carers defined themselves as family members rather than viewed as a foster carer and so did not want the close supervision of having a social worker.
64.4 Councillor Allcock noted that the Council was acknowledged nationally as an ‘exemplar of good practice in its assessment and support to Kinship Carers’ and asked what that meant. The Head of Service - Fostering Adoption & Permanence said that the Council were seen as doing their best, offering the right level of support and providing a good level of payment. CoramBAAF (family placement organisation) and the Department for Education have both visited Brighton & Hove to look at our processes. The Lawyer to the meeting added that the Council was not only cited as an exemplar of good practice but had also formulated best practice guidance which was published last year and had been endorsed by the Department for Education, the Association of Directors for Children’s Services and the President of the Family Division and had changed practice nationally.
64.5 RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the report.
Families, Children and Learning Fees and Charges 2021/22
65.1 The recommndations in the report were agreed without discussion.
65.2 RESOLVED: That the Committee
Agreed the position on fees charged for nurseries as detailed in section 3.3 of the report;
Agreed the position on fees and charges for Childcare Workforce Development as detailed in section 3.4 of the report;
Agreed the position on fees and charges for the Early Years Quality Improvement Programme as detailed in section 3.4.7 of the report;
Noted the position on the charges for school meals as detailed in section 3.5 of the report.
Compensation Payment for Early Years Providers - record of urgent decision
66.1 The recommndation in the report was agreed without discussion.
66.2 RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the use of officer urgency powers by the Interim Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to agree the recommendations for funding compensation payments for early years providers:
Providers of EYFE for two-year olds to be compensated at 100% of the difference between autumn 2020 hours, and an average of their total hours from autumn 2017, 2018 and 2019;
Private, voluntary and independent providers of EYFE for three and four year olds to be compensated at 60% of the difference between autumn 2020 and autumn 2019 hours and maintained providers (schools) to be funded at 100%;
The small number of childminders who may be eligible to apply for compensation will be considered individually.
Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit (4th Edition)
67.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning which provided an update on the progress of version 4 of the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit. The report was introduced by the Partnership Adviser Health & Wellbeing and was accompanied by Mr R Gingell (Allsorts).
67.2 Councillor Grimshaw thanked Mr Gingell for attending the meeting and was pleased that the toolkit which was a valuable resource for schools who were supporting children.
67.3 Councillor Nield said that the toolkit was an important document for all children at school not just for those who were transitioning.
67.4 Councillor McNair said that he was a member of SACRE and thanked officers for ensuring that they had had an opportunity to feedback on the possible changes to the toolkit. He said that the document raised a number of issues including whether gender was socially constructed, some possible confusion between the words for ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and the insistence that teachers use gender neutral language which he did struggle with. It was important that all Council documents were balanced and accurate, which he was sure this document would be and that they were inclusive of all children in their approach otherwise it could be undermined. He asked whether all members of different faith communities had responded to the consultation and asked if SACRE would have the opportunity to see the final document before it came back to this Committee. The Partnership Adviser Health & Wellbeing confirmed that there had been changes to the toolkit in response to the comments from the faith community, and she would send out the latest version to SACRE as requested.
67.5 Councillor Allcock said that the Toolkit was very good, and reviewing the document was helpful and gave an opportunity for debate on the issues covered. He was pleased to note that other local authorities now used this toolkit.
67.6 RESOLVED: That the Committee
Agreed that the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit is needed to support schools in supporting trans and gender exploring children and young people;
Noted the progress in reviewing the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit V4 and agree that it is released for wider consultation;
Agreed that a final version of the report is presented to June 2021 CYPS committee for sign off.
67A Council Nurseries Only Open to Critical Workers and Vulnerable Children
67.1 The recommndation in the report was agreed without discussion.
67.2 RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the use of officer urgency powers by the Interim Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to agree that Council nurseries should only be open to critical worker and vulnerable children from 7 January 2021.
Items Referred For Council
68.1 RESOLVED: That no items were referred to the next meeting of Full Council.
The meeting concluded at 7.50pm
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