Agenda and minutes

Councillor David Benson declared a general non-pecuniary interest as he was a Governor of Uxbridge High School. He remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Councillor Lindsay Bliss declared a general non-pecuniary interest as she was a Governor of Brookside Primary School. She remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Councillor Judith Cooper declared a general non-pecuniary interest as she was a Governor of Charville, St Andrews and St Mary’s Schools. She remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Councillor Catherine Dann declared a general non-pecuniary interest as she was a Governor of Newham Junior School and Bishop Ramsay C of E School. She remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Tony Little declared a general non-pecuniary interest as he was a Governor at Pinkwell Primary School. He remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Councillor Susan O’Brien declared a general non-pecuniary interest as she was a Governor at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School and was working at Ruislip High School. She remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

Councillor John Riley declared a general non-pecuniary interest as he was a Governor at Field End Infants School. He remained in the room during the meeting and took part in the discussions.

It was confirmed that all items marked in Part I would be heard in public and those marked Part II would be held in private.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2012 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members were provided with a report which provided information on the current leaving care grant process for care leavers when exiting public care, together with details on the amount of the grant.

The purpose of the review was to look at the current leaving care grant process and to examine whether the current grant met the needs of Hillingdon’s leaving care population.

Key Issues

The Council’s Corporate Parenting Manager provided Members with the key issues to the review which were:-

• Care leavers generally left the security of their care establishment /placement at a younger age than their peers, usually at the age from 16-18. This was in stark contrast to their peers, who in a family setting would still have the option to return when they left home. Care leavers had no such safety net.

·          Care leavers have to cope with the emotional and practical factors of living independently at a much younger age. They were expected to undertake their journey to adulthood, far younger and in far less time than their peers.

• Care leavers were expected to manage the transition into adulthood whilst maintaining their education /seeking employment and managing their tenancy/accommodation. They were also not yet established in employment and had no or little access to disposable income which would enable them to take full responsibility for equipping their own homes.

·        The government had not made any specific requirements in relation to the amount of leaving care grant, allowing local authorities to make this decision. There was no agreement across the country about how much money a young person should receive as a setting up home grant when they were allocated their first tenancy.

Hillingdon Judgement and Southwark Judgement

Reference was made to the Hillingdon Judgement in 2003, which set the grant at £1,000. This judgement had resulted in an increased demand on the Council’s resources, both financially and on its social care workforce. Unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people were now deemed to be considered Looked After Children under this judgement.

Reference was also made to the Southwark Judgement which had fundamentally realigned the housing responsibilities for homeless 16 and 17 year olds. In effect 16 or 17 year olds who had become homeless were now classified as Looked After Children with costs transferred to Children’s Services.

Witnesses

To help Members with their review two Care Leavers, a Foster Carer and the Council’s Team Manager of the 16+ Leaving Care Team attended the meeting and provided their views on the Leaving Care procedure and grant.

Issues raised included:-

·        Care leavers when moving into their first tenancy found that the existing Leaving Care Grant was not sufficient in some cases to cover the costs of buying essential items

·        In some cases the grant did not cover costs such as removal costs, needed repairs for the tenancy they were moving into (flooring, repairs to walls, decorating etc)

·        Care leavers wanted to make their new tenancies homely and be able to do this independently, but the grant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Group Finance Manager for Education introduced the report and informed Members that the report set out the main financial issues which faced Education & Children’s Services and the work being undertaken to responds to those issues.

Reference was made to the following uncertainties within the budget for next year:

• The responsibility of public health being transferred to local government in April 2013;
• The abolishing of Council Tax benefit from April 2013  which was to be replaced with a new local support scheme with an immediate 10% cut in funding;
• The reform of education funding was in progress and due to be implemented from April 2013 and
• The business rates retention scheme which would reform the allocation of local government funding

Members were informed that Education & Children Services budget savings for 2012/13 equated to £6.1m. These had included efficiency savings from reviews of the Music Service, the Youth Service, the Early Years Service, the Education Management Structure, the Educational Psychological Services and an ongoing review of non ring fenced grants. In addition further savings were required to address the impact of schools converting to Academy status.

Reference was made to the significant consultations which the service had responded to relating to schools funding and the Dedicated Schools Grant, which would have implications on funding.

The Committee expressed their appreciation at the work of the Hillingdon Music Service Working Group during the review of the Music Service.

In relation to Children’s Services, major challenges included a significant increase in demand in relation to Child Protection issues as a result of the Baby P case which had resulted in the use of agency staff.  The Committee asked that a report be submitted to the Committee at their November meeting on the financial implications of this.

RESOLVED –

1.      That the development of the financial planning process undertaken to date together with the responses to the issues being developed by the Group be noted.     

2.      That a report be submitted to this Committee’s November meeting on the impact that increased Child Protection work has had on staff resources.

Consideration was given to a draft scoping report on Safeguarding Children who are Reported Missing from Care, which had been requested by Members at the last meeting of the Committee.

In addition, the Committee was provided with an update report on the Green Paper on Special Educational Needs. Members were informed that it would be premature for the Committee to review this area pending the legislation.

RESOLVED –

1.  That approval be given to this Committee undertaking a major review at its next meeting on the Safeguarding Children who are Reported Missing from Care.

2. That the update report on the Green Paper on Special Educational Needs be noted and officers be asked to provide progress reports on the timetable for implementation for the proposals.

Noted.

Noted.

The Interim Chief Education Officer informed the Committee that he would write to Members providing an update on the position relation to primary school places in the Borough.