Agenda and minutes

Education and Children's Services Committee - Thursday, 5th December, 2024 10.15 am

Venue: Council Chamber - Woodhill House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen, AB16 5GB. View directions

Contact: Paige Donovan 

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Sederunt and Declaration of Members' Interests.

Minutes:

The Chair asked Members if they had any interests to declare, in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

 

Cllr J Nicol made a transparency statement to Item 6 by virtue of being a parent facing the closure of a nursery for her child. Having applied the objective test, she had concluded she had no interest to declare.

 

Mrs L Lyall made a transparency statement to Item 8 by virtue of being an Additional Support for Learning (ASL) teacher at Westfield School. Having applied the objective test, she had concluded she had no interest to declare.

 

Cllr G Crowson made a transparency statement to Item 10 by virtue of being an Aberdeenshire Council foster parent. Having applied the objective test, he had concluded he had no interest to declare.

 

Cllr M James made a transparency statement to Item 8 by virtue of his spouse receiving a self directed support (SDS) package on behalf of their daughter. Having applied the objective test, he had concluded he had no interest to declare.

 

Cllr A Ross made a transparency statement to Item 5 by virtue of previously raising awareness for the need to have school crossing patrollers. Having applied the objective test, she had concluded she had no interest to declare.

2.

Public Sector Equality Duty. pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Consider, and if so desired, adopt the following resolution:-

 

(1)       to have due regard to the need to:-

 

(a)               eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation;

(b)              advance equality of opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and

(c)               foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

 

(2)       where an Integrated Impact Assessment is provided, to consider its contents and take those into account when reaching a decision.

Minutes:

In taking decisions on the undernoted items of business, the Committee agreed, in terms of Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010:-

 

(1)      To have due regard to the need to:-

 

(a)  eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation;

 

(b)  advance equality and opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and

 

(c)  foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it, and

 

(2)      to consider, where an Integrated Impact Assessment has been provided, its contents and to take those into consideration when reaching a decision.

 

 

3.

Minutes of the Meeting of 10 October 2024 pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Minutes:

On consideration of the circulated Minute of Meeting of the Committee of 10 October 2024, Members agreed to approve it as a correct record, subject to correcting the name of Councillor J Mathews on Item 15.

 

4.

Statement of Outstanding Business. pdf icon PDF 81 KB

Minutes:

The Director of Education and Children’s Services introduced the report and provided the Committee with an update on each of the outstanding actions and confirmed that (1) Items 5, 7 and 12 were completed and, if agreed could be removed from the list, and (2) the rest of the Items were still on target and would remain on the list.

 

The Committee agreed:-

 

(1)        to note the current position in respect of actions arising from previous

             meetings; and

 

(2)        that those actions which had been completed should be removed from the  outstanding actions list.

 

5.

Education & Children's Services Financial Performance Report 2024/25 pdf icon PDF 223 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was circulated a report dated 22 November 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided an update on the budget pertaining to the services which fall under the remit of the Education & Children’s Services Committee reflecting updates to the financial forecast for the financial year 2024/25 at the end of September 2024.

 

Members heard from the Director of Education and Children’s Services and the officers who responded to questions and comments regarding how services would be affected due to the financial savings; how government grants were allocated; the number of received government grants and how they were spent. Officers advised that Members would receive a briefing note with this information.

 

The Committee agreed to note the:-

 

(1)       forecast out of balance position pertaining to this Committee for 2024/25;

 

(2)       progress of Budget Savings associated with these budgets;

 

(3)       earmarked Reserves associated with this Committee and their use; and

 

(4)       Committee budget virements as detailed in Appendix 4.

 

6.

Aberdeenshire Guidance for Deactivating an Early Learning and Childcare Setting pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Minutes:

There was circulated a report dated 24 November 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which set out the Aberdeenshire guidance for mothballing/deactivating an Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) setting

 

Members heard from the Head of Resources & Performance and the officers who responded to questions and comments regarding whether agreed figures should be established for mothballing ELC settings, as well as exploring potential reasons for the declining numbers at ELC settings.

 

Councillor Keating moved, seconded by Councillor Simpson to support the officers’ recommendation and approve the guidance for mothballing/deactivating an Early Learning and Childcare setting.

 

As an amendment Councillor McAllister moved, seconded by Councillor Nicol, that the mothballing of an early learning and childcare setting should be a strategic decision and not an operational one, and that the Committee remove the operational power and that mothballing decisions should lie with Education and Children’s Services Committee and the protocol would need to be revised should the decision maker be altered.

 

Members of the Committee voted:

 

for the motion

            (11)

Councillors Bell, Brown, Gifford, Hassan, James, Keating, Knight, Simpson, Smith; Ms Lyall and Mrs Paterson

 

 

 

for the amendment

              (5)

Councillors Crowson, McAllister, Nicol, Ross and Victor

 

 

 

no vote

              (1)

Reverend Irvine

 

 

The motion was carried and the Committee agreed to approve the guidance (as set out in Section 3) for mothballing/deactivating an Early Learning and Childcare setting. 

7.

Education & Children's Services Mid-Year Performance Monitoring Report - April to September 2024 pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

There was circulated a report dated 25 October 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services, which provided an update to Committee on how the directorate was actively contributing to the Council’s overarching strategic priorities (Council Plan 2024-2029), through a combination of performance indicators selected from the Head of Services’ Business Plans 2024/25.

 

Members heard from the Business Support and Performance Manager and the officers who responded to questions and comments regarding post school opportunities and apprenticeships; development of a new primary school at Chapelton and ensuring equitable access to learning.

 

The Committee agreed to:-

 

(1)       note on the progress made during April to September 2024 toward achieving the Council Plan Priorities 2024- 2029 as represented through the directorate Head of Service business plans 2024/25 updates provided in Appendix 1; and

 

(2)       instruct the Director of Education & Children’s Services to continue to present performance reports to the Committee on a six-monthly basis, evidencing progress and performance with delivery of the directorate business plans.

 

 

8.

Scrutiny Referral from Audit Committee - Internal Audit Report 2432 - Children with Disabilities pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was circulated a report dated 22 November 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services, which requested the Committee to consider a referral from the Audit Committee that the Committee Review Process be applied in respect of areas of service improvement on the matter of Children with Disabilities, as detailed in Internal Audit report 2432 (July 2024).

 

Members heard from the Head of Children’s Services and the officers who responded to questions regarding the enhancement of existing processes.

 

 

The Committee agreed to:-

 

(1)          determine the request from the Audit Committee to conduct the Committee Review Process in respect of the matter of service delivery identified by the Audit Committee for improvement;

 

(2)         the Committee Review Process being conducted and that the head of Children’s Service report to Committee with the Stage 1 Report on 30 January 2025; and

 

(3)         instruct the Head of Children’s Services to report to Audit Committee on 18 December 2024 with the Committee’s decision.

 

9.

National Improvement Framework pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was circulated a report dated 22 October 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services that produced an annual report which requested Members to review the 2024/25 plan.

 

Members heard from the Head of Education and the officers who responded to questions and comments regarding the composition of the 150 school leaders and the flexibility of the National Improvement Framework (NIF) targets in cases where officers faced challenges in meeting the set objectives.

 

The Committee agreed to:-

 

(1)          note the Aberdeenshire National Improvement Framework (NIF) Plan 2024/2025 at Appendix 1; and 

 

(2)         approve the Aberdeenshire National Improvement Framework Plan 2024/2025 at Appendix 1. 

 

 

10.

Fostering pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was circulated a report dated 6 November 2024 by the Director of Education and Children’s Services providing Members with a contribution to the Children’s Services’ self-evaluation and improvement planning process.

 

Members heard from the Social Work Manager and the officers who responded to questions and comments regarding the accessibility of Skills Level 4 for fostering, to which officers advised that this option was no longer available and would be removed from the Aberdeenshire Council website. Members also enquired about staffing numbers and requested that this information be presented in a flowchart and distributed to Members.

 

The Committee agreed to:-

 

(1)       note the Fostering Annual Report 2023-24; and

 

(2)       continue to support the Fostering Service’s recruitment campaigns