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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted, subject to the following additions: (a) National Eisteddfod 2026 Update Mobile Phone Policy at Schools in Pembrokeshire
RESOLVED That the Panel and members of the Committee visit the school towards the end of 2024 in a support capacity to monitor progress
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the report be noted. [Councillor Iwan Ward left the meeting at this juncture at 11:20] [The Meeting adjourned at 11:20 and reconvened at 11:36]
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED a) That Councillor Mel Philips replaces Councillor Iwan Ward as a member of the Panel That the Terms of Reference be amended to include the members of the Committee as reserves for the Panel
Councillor Huw Murphy Moved that Councillor Marc Tierney be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Anji Tinley. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Marc Tierney be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.
The following declarations of interest were made in respect of Agenda Item No. 8 – School Scrutiny Panel Visit – Ysgol Harri Tudur: Mrs Alison Kavanagh declared a personal and prejudicial interest by virtue of the fact that she was a Parent Governor of Ysgol Harri Tudur. Councillor Maureen Bowen declared a personal and perceived prejudicial interest by virtue of the fact that her partner worked at Ysgol Harri Tudur. Councillor Viv Stoddart declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that she had a close friend who worked at Ysgol Harri Tudur. Councillor Mike Stoddart declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he had a close friend who worked at Ysgol Harri Tudur. The Director of Education declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was the Improvement Advisor of Ysgol Harri Tudur. The following declarations of interest were made in respect of Agenda Item No. 10 – School Finances: Mrs Alison Kavanagh declared a personal and prejudicial interest by virtue of the fact that she was a Parent Governor of Ysgol Harri Tudur and Ysgol Gelli Aur. Mr James Parkin declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was a Parent Governor of St Oswalds. Councillor Alistair Cameron declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was a Governor of Greenhill School, and a non-voting Governor of Stepaside School. Councillor Sam Skyrme-Blackhall declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that she was a Governor of Greenhill School. Councillor Huw Murphy declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was a Governor of Ysgol Bro Ingli. Councillor Bethan Price declared a personal interest in respect of Agenda Item No. 12 – School Transport Overview by virtue of the fact that she is a Local Government appointed School Governor of Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi.
Councillor David Howlett Moved that the Minutes of the Meeting held on the 28 March 2024 be approved as a correct record; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 March 2024 be approved as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Democratic Services on the Action Log. The Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. On the outstanding actions, the Director of Education clarified that the supply staff details would be presented at September’s meeting and the Pupil Development Grant case studies would be presented at a future meeting too. The insurance claim for Manorbier School was still ongoing. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Huw Murphy; Seconded by Councillor David Howlett. The votes, undertaken by way of a show of hands, were carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
There was no public submission / correspondence.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted, subject to the following additions: (a) National Eisteddfod 2026 Update Mobile Phone Policy at Schools in Pembrokeshire
The Chair noted that with the planned reorganisation of schools, it was likely that the Committee would have more work to do, other than the items on the work programme. Councillor Murphy requested that an update of Pembrokeshire’s bid to host the 2026 National Eisteddfod be added to the work programme for six months’ time. Councillor Guy Woodham, the relevant Cabinet Member for Education & Welsh Language, suggested that a mobile phone policy for schools be added onto the work programme following the question from Councillor Viv Stoddart at Full Council. Councillor Viv Stoddart supported this proposal and suggested that it be put onto the work programme at a time convenient for the Committee. Moved by Councillor David Howlett; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted, subject to the following additions: (a) National Eisteddfod 2026 Update Mobile Phone Policy at Schools in Pembrokeshire
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Panel and members of the Committee visit the school towards the end of 2024 in a support capacity to monitor progress
The Committee considered a report by the Schools Scrutiny Panel on the Panel’s visit to Ysgol Harri Tudur. The Chair read out a statement on behalf of Mrs Fiona Kite, the Head Teacher of Ysgol Harri Tudur, who could not attend due to staff shortages. Mrs Kite thanked the Panel for visiting and listening to their concerns around budget constraints and the funding formula. The Chair welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report, and the key points were highlighted as follows: The Chair noted how impressed he was by the work of the school, especially with the work in the Phoenix Centre which catered for 60 pupils in alternative educational provision. Councillor Cameron concurred with the Chair’s comments. Regarding staff absences, Councillor Cameron queried if there was a response from HR in the Council on the issue as the cost of cover was costing the school a lot of money. He concluded that the Committee should monitor this issue and a sensible policy for this should be implemented. The Director of Education stated that they had strengthened relationships with HR due to the amount of staff absences across schools in Pembrokeshire He noted that there were issues with the current policy for staff absences. The Chair highlighted the importance for learners to have the right cover and the amount of absences was an effect of Covid-19. In response to a question from Mrs Kavanagh, the Director of Education agreed to supply the Sixth Form report showing its cost neutrality to the school’s governing body. Regarding class cost neutrality, Councillor Michael Stoddart noted that a previous report stated that to run the Sixth Form at cost neutral, there would need to be 15 pupils per class but he had heard that the class size was eight on average. The Finance Manager clarified that the report in question only looked at teaching costs at the Sixth Form. This report used the original cost calculation. The Chair requested that this report be shared with the Committee. Mrs Kavanagh clarified that a Sixth Form class did not run unless there were at least 10 students in it, as stated in the report. Councillor Tierney highlighted the importance of schools attending the meeting that the report is presented at. Regarding school attendance, Councillor Tierney noted that it was important to have a breakdown of the causes of school absences. He queried if there was an opportunity to see links with particular issues at schools. He also questioned how the senior leadership team at the school could be supported when running on a financial deficit. The Director of Education confirmed that officers were working with school on the issues raised and this would continue until the issues were resolved. Mrs Kavanagh reiterated that the school could not attend the meeting due to teaching commitments. It was noted that the school was available to attend the meeting date in June but due to the General Election, that meeting was postponed. In response to a question from Councillor Viv Stoddart on the Panel’s concern with ‘misusing elective home education’, Councillor Murphy clarified that parents who were threatened with sanctions for their children missing school would remove their child from the school in favour of ‘home schooling’. After the threat of sanctions was gone, they would then re-register their children back at the school. He noted that there were concerns over the strength of the ‘home education’ given to these pupils. Councillor Murphy praised the facilities at the school as well as the strength of Welsh language education. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Anji Tinley; Seconded by Councillor Marc Tierney. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Panel and members of the Committee visit the school towards the end of 2024 in a support capacity to monitor progress
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the RE Advisory Support, Director of Education and Head of Education Improvement on Relationships and Sexuality Education. The Chair welcomed the RE Advisory Support and Head of Education Head of Engagement, Performance & Community to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Councillor Howlett noted that the mandatory element of RSE was controversial and when he spoke to schools they said they had no issues arise from teaching it. He queried if the officers had heard of any issues from other schools in Pembrokeshire. The Director of Education stated that they had not been made aware of any issues from teachers, including parents removing their children from these lessons. Meetings with parents on this topic were generally well received and there were no issues from lobby groups. With regards to the new RSE policy, Councillor Viv Stoddart queried if there plans to annually review the policy, after its introduction in September 2023. The Director of Education confirmed that each school had their own date to review the policy and they would send the review back to the Council on this date. Each school would adapt the template policy to work for them. Councillor Anji Tinley questioned the difference between the RSE training, working group and being in the Partneriaeth partnership and whether the partnership delivered training to other teachers. Regarding the partnership, the Director of Education said that this covered the Partneriaeth area which was four different local authorities. From Pembrokeshire, there were four schools with two teachers from each. The RE Advisory Support stated that the teachers in the working group write case studies which are shared regionally and they would present these at network meetings to educate other teachers. Councillor Tierney questioned whether the outcomes of the policy were monitored. The RE Advisory Support stated that the school should be monitoring the outcomes along with other subjects like maths, but they would monitor this with Estyn’s outcome reports. Regarding Estyn, Councillor Tierney noted that they did not always monitor what members would like, for example religious and ethical education. He quiried how they could be sure that Estyn would monitor RSE in their reports. As RSE was mandatory, the Director of Education stated that Estyn should report on whether RSE was not being taught as well as what was happening if it was. The Chair questioned how the new curriculum for Wales was being communicated to the public who were not School Governors. He suggested that work be done to increase public engagement with parents and interested parties to show the plan for education in Wales moving forward. The Head of Education Improvement noted that schools must publish their curriculum on their school websites and they were encouraged to work with staff and parents to engage them on the curriculum. Stakeholder surveys were carried out by schools to engage them on curriculum proposals. Councillor Michael Stoddart noted the ‘chicken and egg’ situation with RSE teaching and whether society influenced the teaching or if the teaching of RSE was influenced by society. The RE Advisory Support stated that RSE was expected to be taught age and developmentally appropriate. Sensitive issues with RSE would not be taught unless the teachers and parents felt that their children were ready. Councillor Michael Stoddart said that he had read reports of advocacy groups influencing RSE. The Head of Education Improvement clarified that the RSE policy was meant to be evidence based approach with teaching. Mr James Parkin praised the work done by the team on RSE and noted that his school engaged well with officers for this. He noted that the Council’s conselling service intertwined with this. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Maureen Bowen; Seconded by Councillor Alistair Cameron. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted. [Councillor Iwan Ward left the meeting at this juncture at 11:20] [The Meeting adjourned at 11:20 and reconvened at 11:36]
The Committee considered a report by the Finance Manager on School Finances. The Chair welcomed the Finance Manager to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Mrs Kavanagh queried the progress of the review into formula funding as noted in the Financial Services Plan 2022-26. She highlighted the financial pressures on all schools. The Finance Manager noted that the review would implicate all Pembrokeshire schools because the total quorum for the ISB (individual schools budget) would not change following it, it would only affect the allocation based on the updated formula. The review could mean less funding for schools already in deficit, or they could get a better budget share to get them out of deficit. He noted that the most common reasons schools went into deficit was because of pay inflation exceeding the ISB. Regarding the school budget, Councillor Cameron noted that the cut in the budget negatively impacted schools and that a couple of schools were in financial special measures and facing difficult situations. He questioned how these schools were being supported and how they expected the budget to work in the future. The Director of Education confirmed that there were now no schools in special measures and there had been extensive work done to improve the development financially and educationally. The schools struggling financially were met termly to work on this but he did not expect the financial situation to improve or the ISB share to increase. In response to question from Councillor Mike Stoddart on the deficit role with pupil numbers, the Finance Manager confirmed that smaller schools with less pupils received less funding. Councillor Murphy noted that the financial pressures from falling school numbers would be discussed at Full Council on 18 July 2024 and difficult decisions would need to be made. Regarding funding, the Director of Education clarified that school funding was 70% pupil led. In response to a question from Councillor Howlett on the school who increased funds, the Finance Manager confirmed that this was Portfield School and they had increased their funding because it was a special school who had pupils with higher needs. Therefore, they needed more funding to accommodate these needs. The Chair queried what lessons could be learnt from schools in surplus or breaking even and how this was managed. The Finance Manager suggested that some elements of the formula needed reviewing, especially around ALN funding. Older and newer build schools were funding equally and this might need to change. He noted that schools that were breaking even now would go into deficit due to pay increases from inflation. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Huw Murphy; Seconded by Councillor David Howlett. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted. [Councillor Iwan Ward left the meeting at this juncture at 11:20] [The Meeting adjourned at 11:20 and reconvened at 11:36]
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Safeguarding in Education Manager on the Section 175 Report. The Chair welcomed the Safeguarding in Education Manager to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: To record safeguarding concerns, Councillor Cameron noted that many schools still used notebooks and he expressed his concerns with this as electronic systems were more secure. The Safeguarding in Education Manager concurred with Councillor Cameron but noted that schools had to pay for electronic system out of their own budget and she had no power to change this. In response to a point raised by Councillor Cameron on the amount of traffic on school sites, the Safeguarding in Education Manager noted that they looked at the traffic management system as part of their physical health checks for schools. To improve this issue, two schools had put a ban on cars moving on school site in a time frame so children leaving school not in cars could leave safely. Councillor Cameron highlighted that the cuts in social care and the lack in provision had a negative impact on school safety. The Safeguarding in Education Manager said that they had a good relationship with the social care team and having a MARF (multi agency referral form) was a good way to improve reporting concerns of pupils within schools. Her team would step in if social care deemed that they did not need to be involved with a family but the school wanted involvement. Regarding home education, Councillor Murphy queried what was in place to ensure that a child withdrawn from school was still being educated and how communication with the family was kept. The Safeguarding in Education Manager said that any child put into home education needed to have a form filled out by the school they were leaving; this would include any needs or concerns. The form is sent to the Business Support Unit for processing and passed onto the Parent Partnership to offer support to the family and see why they opted for home education. She continued that the feedback received from families is shared with the Elective Home Advisory Team which had increased. This team had a strong relationship with home educating parents. [Councillor Anji Tinley left the meeting at this juncture at 11:50] Councillor Bowen noted that false allegations on teachers put a lot of stress on them but there would be no repercussions on those who made the false allegations. The Director of Education stated that the Council needed to follow the national safeguarding procedures for allegations and they could not use their own. With regards to governor training, Mr Parkin queried if the Council could enforce school governors to carry out the mandatory training. The Director of Education noted that Governor Services monitored all training done and would send out training reminders. There were processes in place to remove governors from governing bodies if they did not carry out mandatory training. Councillor Michael Stoddart requested that the audit results be available as a range as well as the average. The Director of Education agreed to this. Regarding misinformation, Councillor Tierney highlighted that younger pupils were seeing misinformation online and there would be other online incidents that would happen outside school but teachers needed to deal with it. He questioned what support was given to them to deal with this. In response, the Director of Education noted that the Safeguarding Governor was mentioned in the report and there was guidance for schools highlighting their role. There were courses teachers could undertake online regarding safeguarding. In terms of social media, he said that there was a robust social media policy developed with schools; concerns would be picked up the police and Prevent. The Director of Education added that there was a firewall in schools which would flag up concerns e.g. mentions of suicide and this would be reported to the schools. The Safeguarding in Education Manager added that they were looking at advice for when the image of a child was shared without their consent, including nude images. Councillor Tierney reiterated that support was needed for parents when their children demanded wider access to social media. In response, the Safeguarding in Education Manager highlighted that there was a lot of information on Hwb and the newsletter which included all the information on apps including their use and age restrictions. Information was shared regularly with schools and they could pass this onto parents. The Chair suggested that the newsletter is shared by the Council on its social media pages. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor David Howlett; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Infrastructure & Environment on the School Transport Overview. The Chair welcomed the Integrated Transport Unit Manager and the Head of Infrastructure & Environment to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: The Chair praised the work done by the officers and noted that they would get complaints from parents on pupils losing their bus route. Before his ward boundary changed, Councillor Howlett noted that pupils in the north of his ward would go to Welsh medium schools and pupils in the south would go to English medium schools. He continued that now someone in his ward, out of the catchment area, could get transport to a Welsh medium school but this rule would not be applied for someone wanting to go to a faith school. He questioned why different sectors had different rules as it was not equitable. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager clarified that the Welsh medium school transport policy was based on catchment and in terms of faith schools, they adopted a pre-Dyfed policy which states that there is no requirement to provide transport to faith schools but they could look at changing this into catchment areas but this would mean that they would need to provide transport for a lot more pupils and additional resources would be needed for this. Councillor Howlett noted that some schools may have low pupil numbers because of the lack of transport. In response to a question from Councillor Tierney on alerting parents on the transport policy, the Director of Education stated that they had a transport eligibility checker on the school admissions page but there was an issue with parents ignoring this, applying for schools outside their catchment area and then requesting transport to the school. As well as the checker, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager said that annual correspondence was sent to parents regarding school places and this would include any eligibility to transport. Regarding reduced pupil numbers affecting transport, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager said that with the providers, there was a contract in place so they would change the bus size depending on how many pupils needed transport. The Head of Infrastructure & Environment added that it was difficult to get pupils to use trains to get to school because they often did not align with school closing times. Regarding the Regional Infrastructure Plan, he stated that this will go out for consultation and suggested that this query be fed into it. Regarding LRCs (learning resource centres) locations, Councillor Murphy queried what could be done to get ALN pupils to their nearest LRC as the taxis transporting the ALN pupils would cost a lot of money. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager noted that ALN pupils have often settled into the LRC that are placed in when a local place to them opens up and moving them would be disruptive for them. Work was being done to try and improve the efficiency with this. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Huw Murphy; Seconded by Councillor Marc Tierney. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED a) That Councillor Mel Philips replaces Councillor Iwan Ward as a member of the Panel That the Terms of Reference be amended to include the members of the Committee as reserves for the Panel
The Committee considered a report by the Schools Scrutiny Panel on the Appointment to School Scrutiny Panel. The Chair noted that there had been a decline in members of the Panel attending the visits which were embarrassing as schools would put a lot of effort into the visits. He highlighted the importance of members needing to be able to commit to the visits and said that he was in favour of other members of the Committee attending the visits if reserves could not. Councillor Murphy said that Councillor Ward would leave the Panel and be replaced by Councillor Mel Philips. He added that he would like to be on the Panel or be a reserve. Councillors Skyrme-Blackhall and Cameron stated that they would like to stay on the Panel. Councillor Michael Stoddart suggested that the whole Committee be reserves for the Panel. The Chair and Councillor Tierney concurred with this. Moved by Councillor Marc Tierney; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That Councillor Mel Philips replaces Councillor Iwan Ward as a member of the Panel That the Terms of Reference be amended to include the members of the Committee as reserves for the Panel
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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