Agenda item

To consider a report of the Corporate Director of People and Integration.

The Quarter 3 Update Portfolio Performance and Resource Report (PPRR) for the Children, Families and Education Portfolio is presented for consideration by the Committee.

The Portfolio Report is based on the 2022/23 Portfolio Performance and Resource Agreement (PPRA), which was considered by the committee on 7 September and approved by Cabinet on 28 September 2022.

The Quarter 3 update focuses on highlights and exceptions in relation to delivering the portfolio priorities since the Mid-Year Report presented to the committee on 23 November 2022. It includes forecast performance and financial data (where this is available) for the portfolio, along with an update on the portfolio savings programme.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

(a)  Consider the Quarter 3 Update Portfolio Performance and Resource Report;

(b)  Review the progress against delivering key projects, priority outcomes, targets and budgets for 2022/23;

(c)  Highlight key areas of and responsibility for taking forward corrective action to address any performance or resource issues;

(d)  Highlight any significant issues or changes to be fed back to the Cabinet alongside the Corporate Performance and Resource Report;

(e)  Identify how areas of strong performance and good practice can be shared in other services.

Officer contact: Gaynor Ward on 0161 474 3186 or email: gaynor.ward@stockport.gov.uk, Gill Dixon on 0161 474 3886 or email: gill.dixon@stockport.gov.uk or Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or email: peter.hughes@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director of People and Integration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing the Quarter 3 Update Portfolio Performance and Resource Report (PPRR) for the Children, Families and Education Portfolio. The Quarter 3 update focussed on highlights and exceptions in relation to delivering the portfolio priorities since the Mid-Year Report presented to the committee on 23 November 2022 and included forecast performance and financial data (where this was available) for the portfolio, along with an update on the portfolio savings programme.

The Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education (Councillor Wendy Meikle) attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Scrutiny Committee.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         In relation to the increase in exclusion rates, it was queried how the rates would be impacted by the plans for resource bases.

·         In response it was acknowledged that the rates were too high and had been impacted by the pandemic as needs had escalated and linked to the key challenges relating to suspensions and absence rates from school. It was noted that this was a national trend and necessitated that need was identified by professionals at the earliest opportunity. In relation to the resource base places, the service was mindful not to too closely link the two issues as whilst placements were important so was the quality of the practice.

·         It was noted that suspensions and exclusions exposed young people to a plethora of issues such as crime, substance misuse and marginalisation.

·         It was commented that the data was caveated by the impact of Covid.

·         In response, it was commented that the impact of the focus on the issues could be seen in the data as the outcomes were more resilient in Stockport through the pandemic than observed in other areas which was a testament to the quality of school leadership in Stockport and quality of work that had been done.

·         Welcomed a focus in relation to the performance of disadvantaged pupils. 

·         In relation to the mental health in schools programme, Members requested additional information around the Stockport Asset-Based Assessment and queried whether the mental health in schools programme would be expanded to all schools in Stockport.

·         In relation to the Safer Streets programme and Targeted Youth Support, Members requested additional information around the number of young people that had benefitted from the programmes.

·         Welcomed the recruitment of the staffing vacancies in Adoption Support and queried whether the staffing issues were linked to the low number of looked after children adopted.

·         In response, Members were advised that the two issues were not linked and whilst the numbers were low, the figures were inline with the national picture. It was commented that all efforts were made keep children with their immediate or extended family.

·         In response to a comment relating to the increase in the number of Special Guardianship Orders, it was stated that this was linked to the work to identify all available options for children where they were unable to remain in the care of their parents and it was considered a good option for ensuring that the child was not in the looked after system.

·         It was queried when comparative data would be available. In response, it was commented that it would be easy to compare next years data with this years, whereas comparing 2022 data to 2019 was difficult. It was noted that there was a delay in the availability of national data sets and the impact of Covid would be seen throughout children’s educational lives.

·         Congratulated officers for their successful bid to be a ‘Staying Close’ pilot to support children leaving residential care and moving to independent living.

·         Concerns were raised in relation to the number of 5-16 year olds in Stockport that were not achieving the minimum levels of activity and welcomed the focus within the Active Lives Implementation Plan to increase levels of physical activity

·         In relation to the SEND Transport budget, it was queried why there had been an increase in SEN pupils requiring SEN transport.

·         In response it was noted that the increase in and need of the SEN pupils had been accelerated by Covid and the increase observed in Stockport was inline with national trends. The transport requirements were also impacted by sufficiency and appropriate local placements would be beneficial for the young people and have the added benefit of reducing the transport costs.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.