Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mathers and Sweeting. Councillors Dhillon and Eginton were present as their respective substitutes.

Councillor Eginton declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 6, as he was a Governor at two maintained primary schools within the Borough.

It was confirmed that all items were marked as Part I and would therefore be considered in public.

The clerk provided an update on some of the actions remaining from previous meetings. It was confirmed that:

·         Regarding the Emergency Response item considered at the 18 July meeting, details of the major incident exercises held in October and November would be forwarded to the Committee following the completion of the exercise in November.

·         Regarding Enforcement of Parking Schemes, considered at the meeting on 4 September, the Committee’s suggestion that number plate recognition be considered as a way to combat stop-and-shop parking infringements had been put to the Council’s Parking Manager, Roy Clark. Mr Clark had subsequently confirmed that legislation prohibited local authorities from using automatic number plate recognition for enforcement purposes.

·         Following the witness session on Littering and Fly Tipping held on 4 September, officers were drafting a letter that Councillors and residents could pass to those people known to be persistent offenders, as requested. A draft would be passed to Members once available.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2019 be approved as a correct record.

The Committee received a presentation from Rose Tehan, Research and Innovation Development Manager for Keep Britain Tidy (KBT).

An evidence led approach

Ms Tehan first set out KBT’s framework, which was developed by the charity’s Centre for Social Innovation which conducted research to understand litter, waste and local environmental issues, before using the insights from this research to design and pilot interventions to change behaviour.

An example of the Centre’s work was to address dog fouling was cited, which found the following:

•      Dog walkers knew they should pick up dog litter

•      Dog fouling was worse at night/in winter and in areas not overlooked

•      Some people did not pick up when they felt they were safe from being watched

As a result of these findings, the Centre attempted to make dog walkers feel that were being watched. This resulted in the ‘We’re Watching You’ campaign, which involved 17 local government / land manager partners across England installing glow in the dark posters, showing images of eyes, at 128 target sites. Each poster was tested in isolation, at a range of land use types, e.g. housing areas, parks, alleyways, retail areas, etc. Dog refuse was then monitored, with the result that dog fouling was found to have reduced at the sites by 46% overall.

National campaigns were then launched in November 2014 and March 2015, with 219 partners across England taking part. The campaigns subsequently won a number of awards, including Silver Nudge Award, the Guardian Best Ads of 2015, Charity Awards 2016.

Litter

Following research conducted, the charity had found that litter was often a result of a lack of personal obligation towards putting extra time and effort into finding a bin, an unwillingness to deal with ‘messy’ rubbish, and a lack of understanding of the broader consequences of littering.

It had been found that litter bred litter, with the public adding to existing piles of refuse at litter hotspots. There was a perception that someone else would ‘deal with it’, exacerbated by a culture of single-use packaging, and bad packaging design. It had also been found that the presence of litter bins could act as magnets for more litter.

KBT’s interventions included the ‘It’s Still Littering’ campaign, which aimed to address the issue of people littering by placing or leaving their rubbish behind, such as on a bench where they have been sitting or on a surface they are walking past, like a window sill.  It was believed that people littered in this way as it was seen as a more ‘acceptable’ way to do so. The campaign aimed to address this perception and highlight that ‘leaving it is littering it’.

The ‘Walk This Way’ campaign aimed to address the issue of people littering bagged dog refuse in parks and green spaces. Following a national survey (with 2,000 respondents), it was found that 13% (260) admitted to the behaviour. Of those, just over half (54%) said that they had done so because there were no bins nearby.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

Chris Fallon, Education Strategy and Quality Assurance Manager, provided the Committee with an update on the implementation of recommendations that resulted from the previous review into the Council’s current and future relationship with Academies and Free Schools.

Mr Fallon confirmed that, of the six recommendations that had resulted from the review, five had been completed. The sixth, which recommended that the Council work to review the school improvement framework, was in progress, with a draft School Improvement Strategy currently under consideration with Lead Members. Once approved, formal consultation would follow.

As part of the review, a number of meetings had been held with schools and head teachers. These meetings had shown that schools were eager to understand Hillingdon’s position in respect of school improvements and future relationships. However, it was noted that some schools wanted to engage with the Council on different levels, and that work was required to promote a level of trust between the Council and the schools.

The framework would provide clarity on how the Council was to provide support to schools within three categories:

1.    Schools that were receiving positive Ofsted results and were performing well did not need a high level off support;

2.    ‘Targeted’ schools who needed additional support, or support within certain areas; and

3.    Schools who were not providing their pupils a good quality of education and who therefore needed intensive support.

The Committee sought clarity on a number of points, including:

Officers were visiting maintained schools, and some Academies. Had any Academies refused to engage?

No school ahd refused to engage with the local authroity. All schools had been written to, and an intensive schedule of meetings was ongoing.

How could the Council further support Academies?

Training for school governors was scheduled for 26 November, which would provide detail on how the Council could support all schools, including Academies.

What support could the Council give to small colleges who were facing severe financial challenges?

There was a wider multi-academy Trust, with reserves, who allocated finances based on a needs assessment of pupils. Budgets were ring-fenced within the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

When would the new School Improvement Strategy be available for the Committee to review?

The draft was currently under consideration by lead Members. Once approved, the strategy would be available for all Committees and Schools to review and provide comment. An information item on the strategy could be brought this Committee in January 2020.

The report referred to the creation of a Governance Action Plan. When would the Plan be ready?

It was expected that work would continue through January 2020. A platform would provide schools with the ability to share training courses and professional development opportunities through an active online platform. As the platform evolved, it would grow to include development opportunities for school governors.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the report be noted; and

2.    That a report on the new School Improvement Strategy be added to the Work Programme for consideration at the January 2020 meeting.

Vikram Hansrani, Assistant Director of SEND and Inclusion, and Dan Kennedy, Director of Housing, Environment, Education, Performance, Health and  Wellbeing, provided the Committee with information on the Council’s provision of Special Educational Need and Disability Services to schools.

The Committee was informed that, to address the need for specialist provision within the Borough, the updated SEND Provision Capital Plan set out a number of expansions, including:

-       An expansion of Hedgewood Special School totalling 25 places;

-       An expansion of Moorcroft Special School totalling 10 places for September 2020;

-       The creation of two Special Resource Based Provision at Ruislip High School (Autism Spectrum Disorder and Physical Disabilities);

-       An expansion of 30 places at Uxbridge College for post-16 children;

-       The creation of a Satellite Special School hub to meet the needs of children with complex needs, using two different sites accommodating 30 children at each site.

Eden Academy Trust had applied to develop two new free schools within the Borough for children with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), at the grand Union Village site (approximately 80 primary places age 3-11) and at Pinn River (180 places age 3-19). As a result, Grangewood Primary School was to be closed. The programme had been agreed by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), and officers were in discussion with Eden Academy and the ESFA to review proposed timetable and delivery options.

With regard to support for mainstream schools, the Service had been newly transformed, which had resulted in a revised SEND strategy which helped to support these schools through a three tiered approach:

1.    The SEND Advisory Service was a multidisciplinary pre-statutory service designed to meet the needs of children and young people at a much earlier stage, as opposed to the process of an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) assessment.

2.    The Educational Pyschology service, which performed statutory functions (i.e. Reports and assessments for EHCPs), as well as extending trade offers to schools; and

3.    The SEND Casework team, who supported the pupils and schools through actioning of casework.

Members sought further information on a number of points, including:

Could the Committee be provided with a copy of the new SEND Strategy?

Detail of the SEN Strategy, and the Additional Needs Strategy, could be provided to Members following the meeting.

Was the £5m SEN grant providing value for money?

The £5m available to Hillingdon was broadly commensurate to the figures available to neighbouring authorities. Historically, it had been challenging to assess value for money and outcomes for young people, areas which would be addressed through the use of the SEND Advisory Service.

Hillingdon had circa 2,400 young people with EHCPs within the Borough. Use of the grant was expected to result in a more children accessing SEN support, though this would likely result in an increased number of requests for assessments. The new SEND Advisory Service was to be responsible for supporting these requests for early support fuding and sharing best  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

Consideration was given to the work programme.

It was confirmed that the previously requested update on the Council’s position regarding school places for September 2020 had been scheduled for the January 2020 meeting. In addition, this meeting would also receive the item on the new School Improvement Strategy, as requested during discussion on item 6.

The previously suggested item on the enforcement of parking management schemes would be considered for inclusion on the work programme for municipal year 2020-21.

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme be noted.