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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from: County Councillors: Lucy Roberts, Jackie Charlton, Cabinet Member for a Greener Powys and Sandra Davies, Cabinet Member for Youth Services Officers: Lynette Lovell, Director of Education and Children Jane Thomas, Head of Finance
There were no declarations of interest from Members relating to items for consideration on the agenda.
The Committee did not receive any disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.
Documents Considered: · Minutes 31.05.2023 and 21.06.2023 Minutes agreed by Committee members present as a true and accurate reflection of the meetings and ratified accordingly by the Chair.
Background Presentation delivered by Helen Quarrell, Inclusion Manager, Youth Services. The Strategy will strengthen the youth work offer across Powys through: · Emphasising the voice of the young person. · Developing relationships. · Provide information. · Improved planning, monitoring, and evaluation. · Equity and sufficiency of youth work support. · A needs led menu of provision. Current delivery: · Open Access / Universal youth club · Open Access / Universal school youth worker · Youth Intervention Service (YIS) · Detached Youth Work Team – 16+, NEETS and homelessness · Commissioned Services – Urdd and YFC · Youth Homelessness Coordinator The Vision: · Inspiring young people of Powys, through outstanding youth work to reach their full potential and make a positive transition into adulthood. Challenges: · Resources · Rural Isolation and opportunities in Powys · Post-COVID young people presenting with more complex issues. · Recruitment and retention · Limited data · Communication between services. Next Steps: · To unify the service · To engage on the draft strategy · Strengthen self-evaluation. · Improve data collection, reporting mechanisms and feedback. · Promotion and marketing · Recruit to key posts in the structure · Improve the sustainability of the service. · Support voluntary sector service provision. Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. Chair commented that the draft strategy was a very aspirational document. Was there enough resource within the service to achieve and implement the strategy, were there measures in place to demonstrate progress with the linked funding. Self-assessment is vital, there are many stakeholders who need opinions heard to progress the service, the young person, parents and other youth groups and organisations were plans in place to capture this information. The service receives feedback from the professionally qualifies Youth Workers. It is acknowledged that the current data is limited in respect of NEETS as Powys does not have a high national percentage. The strategy is ambitious and would be reviewing data from the community schools model as well as the new National Youth strategy. The Quality and Engagement Officer role would be to reach out to stakeholders, seek feedback, and inform data. Were there any issues recruiting staff to key posts, is the service following the Grow Our Own strategy of other service areas. There have been issues with recruitment, locally and nationally, the Principal Officer Group are reviewing how to make youth worker roles more attractive. With regard to the Grow our Own, many of the staff within the Community Open Access team began as 6hrs / week volunteers and have become employees and undertaken their Level 2 & 3 or degrees and are qualified youth workers. What links have been made with the other youth groups i.e., the Urdd, YFC, Scouts and Guide organisations or the Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) award scheme. We are limited in terms of the uniformed groups (Scouts and Guides) however this would be an area to develop. The DoE scheme is supported through schools and youth clubs, many DoE participants undertake their voluntary work through Youth Clubs. To achieve the strategy will take considerable resource was pleasing to note that staffing cuts are not anticipated. Would it be correct that the Urdd no longer receive funding from Powys. The YFC is a well-established movement with a membership in Powys of between 1800-2000, which has struggled to maintain the level of support and education, Committee would urge Youth Services to further develop existing links, particularly around grant funding to ensure these groups continue to be successful. Both the Urdd and the YFC receive substantial grant contributions. The YFC receive funds for emotional health and wellbeing through Youth Support Grant, and the Urdd receive funds from the Welsh Language provision in a Rural Area, both movements provide data which is forwarded to the Welsh Government, as well as local quarterly reporting and compliance meetings. The service has worked hard to ensure that the structure is in place to realise the strategy within the budget. In addition, a position to support with administration of grants, the application and monitoring working with other communities to further support the team and progress. On a positive note, Llanfair Caereinion Community Town Council has recently established a Youth Club with a grant from Awards Wales of £10k over 2 years, information on applicable grant funding etc. should be shared with other towns and villages throughout Powys looking to set up youth groups and clubs. Chair asked if Youth Services were aware of this and other grant opportunities. The service were successful with the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) with an amount under the criteria ringfenced for Voluntary clubs. The service will be reaching out to existing clubs, and those who are commencing the journey requesting support. What criterion is set against the SPF, as all aware of the difficulties with the rurality of Powys The SPF is for set up and delivery. The service will disseminate information, including to Members. Within the market towns that currently have PCC led youth clubs, what were numbers of young people attending. Conversely in towns without a youth club how many children were the Youth Services engaging with. We have 5 market town with youth clubs, with numbers ranged for 50-100 over the 2 nights per week. Post Covid the numbers were slow to start off with, links can be shared with members of social media posts that show the activities undertaken. Provision for young people in areas where there are not youth clubs are supported in a variety of ways: - · Open access youth workers work within schools who works with young people in groups. · Youth Intervention Workers who attend schools on a referral basis for 1:1 support to a young person. · The 16+ detached team, work with young people in the community. Were timescales included for the future work programmed. Where would the service hope to be this time next year, delivering the Strategy or still preparing. What access is there for young people in the more rural areas, as they would have huge distances to travel to existing clubs. The use of grants for the setup of new clubs is great, however, could there be a focus on the smaller existing groups that are struggling, who would benefit from additional revenue funding. The Committee requested to have an indication of the Youth Services budgets, listing elements of delivery. Request for an indication of the total Shared Prosperity Fund and how much potential work could be undertaken utilising these funds. Continual funding via Grants limits long term sustainability and planning. In respect of timescales, there would be a period of consultation on the strategy, establish the agreed structure to progress work. The expectation is all the above would be completed, posts filled, and work being delivered to support young people. Youth Services had run a pilot in Hay on Wye for those young people unable to access one of the 5 main towns Youth centres, the Service has worked with a voluntary group along with PAVO, there are some qualified youth workers and the offer of training in level 2 and 3 youth work qualifications will be continued to the voluntary groups. In terms of the SPF and voluntary groups, this would be reviewed in more detail the set up and delivery, to understand if this could be separated to assist and sustain those established groups. Funding is quite a complex picture between baseline and grants which have different T&C’s. The Service is working closely with the Accountants regarding all these elements. The budgets could be shared with Committee in due course and would include figures within each zone. PCC Youth Services, use the YFC data provide to inform WG statistics. Some of Powys’ YFC’s are run by voluntary leaders, with the Chair appointed via an AGM, and an Advisory Committee. How would a Powys youth worker engage with the YFC clubs and assist committee members deal with complex issues as sexual or mental health issues, for which they are not trained. PCC could use the YFC, Urdd movements and Uniformed Groups to reach many young people in rural areas and develop expertise within these youth groups in such issues as those mentioned. The Youth Services Equalities and Engagement Officer has reached out to each of the YFC Federations and arranged meetings with the Coordinators, to develop a programme of engagement and training which would include workshops on sexual health, emotional health, and well-being. Looking at rolling out the C-card by PTHB with the YFC. Post covid young people do have more MH issues, suicides are higher, are youth services reaching out to other stakeholders and MH Charities i.e., DPJ which works a lot with the 16-26years old cohort. DPJ have been working very closely with the YFC and this is an area that PCC Youth Services needs to develop the relationship further which will moving forward form part of the Strategy. Question raised to the Portfolio Holders present for the introduction of a Youth Champion, a Councillor dedicated to highlight youth services and carry the banner for the service within the Council Membership. The Service will also engage with the Junior Start-Well Board to look at the possibility of a Youth Services Champion. Actions: - · The Youth Service will disseminate information on the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF), including to Members. · Links to be shared with Committee Members of social media posts that show the activities undertaken. · The Youth Service will also engage with the Junior Start-Well Board to look at the possibility of a Youth Services Champion Scrutiny made the following observations: · The Committee welcomed: o That Youth Services will share the Shared Prosperity Funding criteria with the Committee as the funding is open to communities to apply, to assist set-up and delivery for youth projects and clubs. o That Youth Services are reaching out to YFC coordinators to develop training in sexual health and C-card via PTHB. · The Committee noted: o That the draft Youth Services Strategy was a very aspirational document, however Committee remain unsure how this would be progressed and fully implemented. · The Committee requested that: o As self-assessment is vital, the various stakeholders need a voice into the process to capture opinion and enhance progress. o Youth Services extend links with and to other youth groups, YFC, the Urdd, the DPJ Foundation, etc., and the uniformed groups (Scouts Guides etc.) o As mental health issues and suicide in young people have increased post Covid 19 Pandemic, links to be made by Youth Services to groups, in Powys, who deal with these particular issues for example DPJ Foundation. o A Youth Services Champion be appointed, as per other service areas within the Council, to help highlight issues and drive progress. · The Committee remained unconvinced about: o The resource within Youth Services being sufficient to meet the aspirations of the strategy. · The Committee expressed concern: o That continued grant funding into Youth Services, clubs, and projects rather than baseline funding, limits long-term development and growth. Scrutiny’s Recommendations to Cabinet 1. A Youth Services Champion be appointed, as per other service areas within the Council, to help highlight issues and drive progress. 2. The resource within Youth Services to be sufficient to meet the aspirations of the strategy.
Background Presentation delivered by Simon Anderson and Karen Jenkins, Inclusion Managers. Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 - ALNET Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales 2021 Implementation Timeline – Extension · SEN to ALN · A Unified plan · Increased participation of children and young people · Avoiding disagreements and earlier disagreement resolution · Increased Collaboration · Clear and consistent Rights of Appeal · A Mandatory ALN Code · Welsh Language · 0-25 age range Challenge · Converting the Statutory and Non-Statutory documentation over to the new system · Under the new Act all Statements must be converted into the new LA Individual Development Plan (IDP) where appropriate. · Those younger children who had Early Year Action/ Action Plus plans must now have a LA IDP where appropriate. · Previously Non-Statutory – School Action Plus IEP / School Action IEP, under the New Act these must be converted to School IDP’s and are Statutory, with Governing Bodies responsibility to ensure that the School IDP is delivered. · Universal Learning Provision (ULP) is for those children who, do not meet the threshold for a school IDP, but require some form of support. These children will not have a statutory document as under the Act they are not determined to have an additional learning need. Statutory Posts Under the ALNET Act 2018 · ALNCO – Schools must have a named responsible individual; they must be a qualified teacher and have completed their NQT year. · Early Years Additional Learning Needs Officer – Responsibility of the LA to look after all non-statutory school age children, keeping provision under review and having their needs met. · Designated Clinical Lead Officer (DECLO) – Health Board role, to ensure links between Health Board and Education remain open and provision reviewed. Self-Evaluation – Recognised Strengths Feedback · Drop-in sessions. · Tyfu system and quick responses from Tyfu. · Termly ALNCO Forums · Training and consultations · School Guides / information on the HWB/bulletins · Cluster ALNCO champions · CLA (Children Looked After) virtual school. · Secondary nurture funding · Support for vulnerable groups Self-Evaluation – Areas for Development · Visiting schools to see children rather than rely of documentation. · Reduce bureaucracy related to Tyfu and referrals. · Funding Formula · ALNCO time · Support with Transition · Neuro Divergent (ND) waiting time is a Health Board (HB) issue, schools pass this information now to the Schools Service who enter details onto the Tyfu system and pass to the HB. Forward Work Plan - 8 priorities for 2023-24 1. Extend Satellite provision, improve provision for learners with most complex needs. 2. Review and improve the provision to support leaners who are ND. 3. Improve the monitoring, evaluation, and support for children with ALN aged 0-5yrs. 4. Review and extend the EOTAS provision offer in Powys. 5. Improve the processes for monitoring and evaluating progress and outcomes. 6. Improve communication and partnership working with stakeholders. 7. Improve the consistency of provision for learners with ALN across Powys. 8. Provide a Robust local offer for learners with ALN aged 14-25yrs. Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. Chair acknowledged the challenge of the transition from SEN to ALNET, adhering to the Act to be fully operational by 2024. Quite a sobering report, given the worrying position the service was in, however Committee were reassured that problems within schools have been identified. Having spoken with schools, ALN was seen as a high-level concern. The noted theme was of a “them and us” culture, where schools felt isolated, with information difficult to access. The transition under the new Act has to happen at pace, further ALNCO staff cannot leave posts citing lack of support from the Schools Service. In terms of training, are teaching staff given training on the use of restraint, aware that some schools are still waiting for this and seek assurance that this will be addressed for sake of both teacher and pupil. Schools feel pushed into the only way forward would be permanent expulsion. No one wants to restrain a learner, however for safety of the children and staff, in certain circumstances and isolated events, it is the only course of action. We acknowledge the incredibly difficult time and have not sought to minimise the pressure felt by ALNCO’s. The new system has forced a statutory position onto them, with no direct additional funding from Welsh Government for the role within schools, therefore used grant funding to support ALNCO’s. The Service does respond as quickly as possible and provide the Committee with the assurance that issues raised by schools would be reviewed and responded to as urgently as possible. The encouraged and preferred method would be to use de-escalation techniques rather than restrain. Restraint should only be used as a last resort for the safety of children and staff. The LA have funded and provided Team Teach training. PCC have invested in a train the trainer course for the Executive Head of the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), to deliver the Team Teach training through our schools. The Team Teach training is a 2-day course, and there are issues in arranging appropriate times for staff to attend. For reference other LA’s have schools tender and contract courses at their own cost. Our schools, if finding course times difficult to suit, they do have the option to contract as per other LA’s. Some schools have not encountered such instances previously, the Schools Service role would be to provide the appropriate support once aware, to a school struggling with an issue, The Service is aware of the risk of one Team Teach trained professional within the LA and have begun discussions to review and possibly extend access to training. The service would reemphasise the focus onto de-escalation and ensuring resilience within the service to deliver the training. How do we build on the expertise and knowledge present within schools to deal with challenging behaviours. How do we capture impact of the training, that it has the desired effect and outcomes, modelling those elements as move forward. In terms of Team Teach it would be fair to state that there is a backlog, there is a limit to the numbers that course can be provided on any given course. We would have gaps when schools cancel places which cannot be filled at short notice. In relation to Brynbach would the Governing Body have feedback, as this is a satellite centre. Governing Body may have update as there are aspects of the satellite provision that the school can hopefully utilise. Will discuss with the relevant headteacher. How many ALNCO’s are there within Powys. Every school has to have an ALNCO. There was one ALNCO shared between two schools, every other school has their own ALNCO. There is an option explored for a Cluster ALNCO with smaller schools There remains a reliance on other services and agencies i.e., speech therapy, how many children are waiting for adequate Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) in schools and would require monitoring very closely with the PTHB. It would be difficult to monitor from a LA perspective as have no control over therapies. We will relay urgency of messages, as all services PTHB are stretched. We have appointed a SAL specialist teacher, not a therapist, who would work with schools on strategies for learning with speech and language as the focus. The DECLO is a Health Board position, whose remit covers Powys, Swansea Bay, and Hywel Dda Health Boards. Schools Service meet the DECLO regularly to update on all concerns and those within Powys schools. Cabinet Member, The DECLO is a member of the Inclusion Board, agreement reached for a special two item meeting in September: - 1. Youth Strategy 2. Reviewing waiting times for assessments and support across a variety of ND, Psychology, behavioural issues where PTHB involved. Expected outcomes would be certainty for schools on waiting times for assessments. Discussions have been held at Cabinet level in regard to the strategic relationship with PTHB, making sure that all these points of discussion are also raised at Director level. There is a significant amount of time for an assessment window, which is a challenge for schools to be able to capture evidence, but also the variability of ALNCO’s may mean the information on Tyfu is not as detailed as required. The are ongoing conversations with Headteachers to look at more bespoke tailored support to teachers for the PIP Panels and Y-PIPS. Scrutiny requires an update on the Special School Satellite at Crossgates, to review the level of expertise and ensure this is of the highest level for our learners. How do parents raise issues or concerns in respect of their children having possible Dyslexia or an ALN and have been advised they would be required to undergo a private assessment, which not all parents can afford, which places those pupils at a major disadvantage. The additional workload placed onto ALNCO’s under the new Act is tremendous, in an area of high turnover of staff, which has a detrimental impact on children. What structures are in place to provide further assistance to ALNCO’s to give time to focus on, develop on and learn in the role away from teaching. Are support staff given training with ELSA (Emotional, Literacy Support). In terms of Dyslexia, in particular, the LA emphasise that the work or reports to be completed are needs led, rather than diagnosis led. Diagnoses are not required to provide the relevant support for a young person. The promoted message would be that teaching strategies for ALN are good for all children regardless of having a diagnosis. We acknowledge that a diagnosis does open certain doors for young people and families, however in terms of the support from schools this would remain needs led. Dyslexia falls into the field of Persistent Literacy Difficulty (PLD). The LA’s Educational Psychologists (EP’S) deliver training to schools on how to work with children and young people who have PLD. More than 12 months ago we appointed a specialist teacher to work with schools and look at how they can support pupils who have PLD. The Code states that and ALNCO must have an adequate amount of time released from work to undertake ALNCO. It is an area that is very difficult to manage, especially within small schools, where a head teacher may be the ALNCO, Safeguarding and designated lead for CLA (Children Looked After) etc., and therefore we have petitioned WG to look at the role of the ALNCO in detail, the level of anxiety and pressure, which the Minister has agreed to do. We offer and EP’s provide ELSA and MELSA training to all LSA’s who are available to undertake training. Under the new ALN code if a parent believes their child has ALN, the school has a certain timeframe to formally respond including a reasoning rationale. The specialist teacher will go into schools, where there are exceptional circumstances to assist and support school staff and their ALNCO. Discussions are ongoing within the Service in terms of ALN funding and the current funding formula, there is a national directive around the role of the ALNCO. Workload and pressures would look different from school to school, there are nuances throughout the system and there is not a one size fits all model and will have to work on a more bespoke formula. We have ALNCO champions, work to be completed on how we envisage support to ALNCO’s and what outcome do we require. Within the reports to Scrutiny Committee, 46% of children had come forward requesting ALN support and 46% were refused. Acknowledge the processes would have been followed, however it remains those children have a need of some kind. What happens to those children, post-Covid behaviours in schools have increased, we have higher expulsion numbers, and an increase in home educated children, is there a correlation for both increases to the 46%, are those children supported or would we be reliant on schools to notice issues. We have a more multi agency holistic team brought together within the Service to make sure learners do not slip through the net. We are aware of and reviewing the increased exclusions, are they an escalation of behaviours or one-off cases. More EWO’s (Education Welfare Officers) have been recruited to assist with behaviour and attendance elements. HE (Home Education) service, falls under the EWO team, why not in school, are they predominantly ALN, what support is provided. Secured additional transformation funding, to support case workers and IDP conversions. School governors have mentioned terms such as crisis point, system broken or not working within schools. The policy is great, but implementation and delivery is not there. It is noted that the Service has recognised some of these issues, therefore to the Portfolio Holder, is there enough resource and budget to cope with the transformation. Cabinet Member at this stage the genuine answer is unknown. Additional funding set aside to support the transition, with migration into the development plans. Increases in behavioural and /or developmental problems post pandemic. Challenges of completed assessments with very significant support required 5 or 6 figure sums for any particular case. Officers have been challenged to roll expertise recognised by Estyn away from the centre and into the schools. Until completed, difficult to state if quantum of money is correct or ALN. Upon reviewing the Integrated Business Plans, funding bids can be developed at the appropriate time. Actions · Update on Satellite schools to be brought as part of the next scheduled ALN agenda item to Scrutiny. Observations: Scrutiny made the following observations: · The Committee welcomed: o The opening of Bryn Bach as a satellite service linked to Brynllawarch Hall. o That every school in Powys should have an ALNCO, with an option available for smaller schools to have a cluster ALNCO. o That ELSA/MELSA training was offered to LSA’s. · The Committee noted: o The challenge to the Schools Service to be fully operational by 2024 with the transition from SEN to ALN Code for Wales. · The Committee remained unconvinced about: o The resource within the budget to support the new ALN Code and Transformation, the planned implementation recognises some of the issues raised, however School Governors are reporting they are at crisis point, with the ALN system in its current format not working. · The Committee expressed concern: o That ALN remains a high concern within schools, with re-occurring themes of isolation, lack of pace for required information from the Schools Service. o That some schools are awaiting training for restraint (Team -Teach via PRU Head Teacher), aware that de-escalation resilience was re-emphasised within the service and restraint was a last resort. o Of the workload and pressure on members of staff who are ALNCO, as well as teaching staff. Pleased to note that the Welsh Government has been petitioned to review the added pressure and anxiety levels of ALNCO to teaching staff. Scrutiny’s Recommendations to Cabinet 1. That the resource within the budget was sufficient to support the new ALN Code and Transformation. Whilst the planned implementation recognises some of the issues raised, School Governors are reporting they are at crisis point, with the ALN system in its current format not working. 2. That the Cabinet back the petition to WG to review in respect of the added pressure and anxiety onto teaching staff who are also ALNCO’s.
Background: Discussion held whether the Committee would find visits, be they virtual or in person, or working groups, following specific criteria for reason and purpose, beneficial to the Committee in understanding issues faced by School staff and learners. Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. Comment made that visits would prove more beneficial than working groups There is merit in visiting schools, however as a Service have to remain conscious of the well-being and workload on teaching staff and would not want any visits to add further pressures. Any visits would have to be managed, well-planned and with clearly set parameters for the particular school(s) involved. Health and Care Scrutiny Committee have taken a similar approach which has been helpful for the development of the Committee Membership. Links could be made through Scrutiny training, to enable Head Teachers, Business Managers etc. to attend Scrutiny Committee, for areas they require further information. Chair noted that all Members’ were in favour of school visits and would liaise with the Schools Service to implement over the next academic year. Actions • Chair to link with Head of Schools Service on a programme of in person and virtual visits by Committee with Schools over the 2023/24 academic year.
Comments: Items to be added – Transformation and Schools Transport.
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