NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
19 JULY 2023
STATEMENT OF CHAIR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Feedback from Executive (Performance Monitoring) Committee on 30 May 2023
I informed Members of the matters that I had raised at the above meeting and the responses to these from the Executive Members and the Corporate Director.
Young People’s Champion – Annual Report
Councillor Alyson Baker presented her report which summarised her work as Young People’s Champion in the last year. Some examples from her report are provided below:-
Service Children’s Remembrance Day - This commemorated the late Monarch, HM Queen Elizabeth II, recognising her service during the Second World War and her involvement and commitment to our serving personnel and families during her 70 years as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. The children’s artwork and contributions to the service reflecting this was on display.
Virtual School Graduation – A wonderful event held in the Council Chamber at County Hall. A celebration of triumph over adversity. Each of the 18 young people had a video message from important people, such as foster carers, teachers, social workers and leaving care workers.
School Safeguarding Conference – Councillor Baker was most interested and concerned about the exploitation of young people due to County Lines. Although North Yorkshire is a beautiful area, there is a risk of our young being targeted by these gangs as they are deemed to be “clean “and not an obvious target for police intervention.
Early Years
We considered a presentation by the Corporate Director, Stuart Carlton.
The key elements of the presentation, which is available here, outlined:-
- The Grow and Learn initiative
- Early years Strategy/Transformation Work
- Support for families from Ukraine with early years children
- Safeguarding
- Information on the number of providers, broken down by category
The Corporate Director responded to a number of questions from Members including:-
· The support offered to any providers who are rated by OFSTED as Inadequate
· How we go about engaging with parents, some of whom may not realise they/their children require assistance
· Whether there is a risk that, due to resource issues, Schools will have difficulty linking up with providers to ensure wraparound care, from September 2025, for School age children (part of the roll out of the extended childcare offer)
Growing up in North Yorkshire Survey (GUNY)
Louise Wilson, Head of School Improvement and Clare Barrowman, Senior Education Adviser, made a presentation, which is available here
It provided a comprehensive summary of the 2022 GUNY Survey. The Survey is undertaken bi-annually and is the ninth since its inception.
Some 17,000 pupils completed the Survey.
The presentation covered:-
- Key findings
- Trends/changes over time
- How the results of the Survey have been used
Officers responded to a number of questions from Members including:-
· How the Directorate is supporting Schools in terms of the pressure caused by the number of wellbeing incidents
· What is being done to warn about the dangers of vaping, which is seen, by some, as a good alternative to smoking
· How the drop off, at a secondary level, in the percentage of girls who are confident in doing sport might be reversed
Scrutiny Task and Finish Group - Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in the Scarborough and Whitby area
Janet Crawford, Assistant Director for Inclusion, presented this report which advised the Committee of the establishment of this SEND Task and Finish Group and its proposed Terms of Reference.
The Assistant Director commented that the review had the potential to be extremely wide-ranging. Therefore, Members who had met to consider the scope of the review felt that the focus needed to be quite tight.
The Committee approved the Terms of Reference with the exception that the Membership be amended by Councillor David Jeffels being on the Task and Finish Group, rather than myself. I will attend any meetings as an observer.
Looking ahead
Items currently scheduled for our next meeting, on 1 September 2023, are:-
· Children’s Mental Health
· School Closures/Governors
· Child Death Overview Panel – Annual Report 2022/2023
COUNCILLOR BARBARA BRODIGAN
5 JULY 2023