Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Hannah McKerchar, Cllr Tanisha Bramwell and Councillor Ashleigh Robinson.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 28^th April 2025.

That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 28^th April 2025 be deferred for approval at the next meeting.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Committee.

All agenda items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were received.

The Cabinet Members for Children’s Services and Education will give a verbal update on their priorities for the 2025/26 municipal year.

Contact:         Councillor Viv Kendrick, Cabinet Member for Children

                        Councillor Jane Rylah, Cabinet Member for Education

The Cabinet Members for Children’s Services and Education gave a verbal update on their priorities for the 2025/26 municipal year.

Councillor Viv Kendrick, Cabinet Member for Children and Families and statutory responsibility for children, outlined her cabinet priorities for 25/26 –

·         Sufficiency of places in homes - for looked-after children and young people (fostering, special guardianship orders and residential care) was a constant challenge and the Service was looking to develop and increase places.

·         Homes for care leavers – a recent partnership with Homes and Neighbourhoods had provided some homes specifically for care leavers and this would be developed further.

·         Sufficiencyof staff - including recruitment and development of social workers and monitoring of caseloads for Personal Advisors in the care leaving service.

·         Early support and intervention - to provide the right support and prevention early in order to reduce disruption to families by not having to take children into care.

·         Support to Care Leavers - trying to provide more support to our young people whether its work opportunities and finding ways to reduce financial challenges

·         Voice of young people – continuing to develop the voice of young people particularly through the Kirklees Parenting Board

·         Implementation of social care reforms

Councillor Jane Rylah, Cabinet Member for Education outlined her cabinet priorities for 25/26 –

·         Securing sufficient learning places with a priority focus on SEND pupils.

·         Rebuilds of Special Schools at Joseph Norton Academy and Woodley School and College and ensuring sufficient additionally resourced provision places were available for primary and secondary aged learners and ensure sufficiency of alternative pathways to support those children with more complex needs.

·         Post-16 - review and planfor opportunities post 16 including education, employment, and training.

·         Cluster working within schools – continue to embed and develop in order to support greater inclusion and improve the pathways for young people in preparation for Adulthood

·         EHCPs – continue to improve the quality of the EHCP Plans and the timeliness of the annual reviews.

·         SEND White Paper - Preparing for the anticipated White Paper in the autumn regarding SEND reforms and consideration of this will be a priority

TheChair of the Panel confirmed that a number of the Cabinet priorities listed above were on the work programme for 25/26 for scrutiny and consideration by the Panel, in particular the CQC and Ofsted SEND Inspection and the Local Authority Action Plan.  The Panel also noted that visits were planned to the Joseph Norton Academy and Woodley School and College when they were ready to view. 

RESOLVED -

That the Cabinet Members be thanked for the updates on their priorities for the year ahead and noted that a number of key areas had already formed part of the Panel’s areas of focus on the Work Programme for 2025/26.

The Panel will consider a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending June 2025.

Contact:         Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director

Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director for Learning and Early Support, and Joel Hanna, Head of Corporate Parenting and Looked After Children, presented highlights from the Performance Data covering the period ending June 2025.

Jo-Anne Sanders highlighted the following key points:-

·         Number of EHCPs had increased by 495 in June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. 

·         EHCPs statutory compliance Statutory compliance had been low in 2024 at 23% but had improved in June 2025 (as published in the SEN2); in the first 6 months of 2025 (measured at a cumulative rate) statutory compliance for initial EHCPs was at 47.2% which was in line with the national average; June 2025 data showed that 65.9% of EHCPs were compliant within 20 weeks and in July 72.7% of the plans issued were within the 20 week compliance, which was significantly better than the national average. 

·         Suspensions and exclusions – there had been a reduction in the numbers of suspensions and exclusions.

·         Inclusion Multi-Agency Panel – had been in place for 12 months and the  work of the Panel was having a positive impact and the Service had seen 500 referrals for access to one of the commissioned or additionally resourced places.  Schools had been using this pathway to access this provision, for example for children with a medical need. 

·         Cluster model was embedded and had been in place for 12 months, a review had shown that the model was having a positive impact in supporting the child’s needs at their local school.

·         Elective Home Education (EHE) – there had been a rise in the number of children being educated at home this year and officers welcomed the planned visit by the Panel to meet with the EHE Team and there would be future opportunities to look at the types and reasons for families deciding to home educate.

·         Children Missing Education – the number of children missing in education had been steady in June 2025 at 179 and the Service had not seen any significant increase or decrease since the same time in 2024.  There was usually a spike at the start of the new school year in September, and the Team would be following up to make sure that all children were accounted for.

Jo-Anne Sanders informed the Panel that the Service had invested in EHCP’s and were making improvements but were aware that there was further work to do particularly in respect of EHCP Annual Reviews, but the Service was now sustaining a good turnaround in terms of compliancy and quality.

The Panel were informed that analysis of the suspensions and exclusions data would be undertaken to assess the main reasons for the reduction in numbers.  Inclusion Managers were working closely with schools when notifications were received to explore opportunities for an alternative outcome and as a result of this several notifications had been withdrawn, for example, providing education at an alternative site for a cooling off period or where the child had an EHCP an earlier review would be arranged so  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider any potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions relating to children and young people which are on the horizon and receive updates from senior officers in Children’s Services.

Contact:          Service Directors (Children’s Services)

The Panel considered potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions which were on the horizon and related to children and young people. 

Tom Brailsford, Director for Children and Families, advised the Panel that Jo-Anne Sanders would bring the Action Plan following the CQC and Ofsted SEND Inspection to the Panel in October 2025 and would welcome comments and contributions from the Panel in terms of pre-decision scrutiny. 

RESOLVED -

That the Panel would consider the Action Plan following the CQC and Ofsted SEND Inspection at their next meeting in October 2025.

Panel Members who attend the Kirklees Parenting Board, will feedback on key areas of focus considered by the Board, which will be of interest to the Panel.

Panel Members who attended the last meeting of the Kirklees Parenting Board gave feedback on key areas considered which were of interest to the Panel.

The Chair of the Panel advised that a young person had attended the last meeting of the Board and she had been very impressed by how engaged they were and how useful and constructive it had been to the work of the Board. The Panel was informed that the Board would be welcoming more young people to attend by holding some meetings later in the afternoon to enable Care Experience representatives to attend and contribute. 

Councillor Kendrick, Cabinet Member for Children, gave a summary of the key areas discussed at the last meeting of the Board –

·         Priority One - Supporting engagement and achievement in lifelong learning training and employment - the Board received a presentation from the Virtual School Headteacher, Louise Hallas, on the work of the virtual school which was responsible for overseeing the learning of young people aged from 2 to 18 who were in care or a care leaver. 

·         Kirklees Family Business - Louise Hallas also gave an update on the development of a sustainable model for the Kirklees family business, the aim of which was to improve the aspiration of children in care and care leavers from the age of 13.  Board Members asked how they could support the delivery of a family business. Tom Brailsford agreed to liaise with Human Resources (HR) to ascertain if the Family Business Model could be embedded into the HR procedures. 

·         Feedback from a Care Experience representative - the young person who attended the Board raised the following –

-       Pre-Covid Apprenticeship Programme - asked if this could be restarted

-       Job Fairs for Care Leavers – suggested that these could be held at No 11 and No 12 hubs focussed on young people

-       Travel assistance – asked if this could be offered to Care Experience young people

·         Communication with children in care and care leavers - improvements were needed in communication with children in care and care leavers

RESOLVED -

That the updates from the Kirklees Parenting Board be noted.

The Panel will consider the proposed areas of focus and activity for the 2025/26 municipal year and discuss the method and means to be used to continue the Panel’s work going forward.

Contact:         Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

The Panel discussed the progress of the work programme and agenda plan for 2025-26 municipal year.

The Chair of the Panel confirmed that the Work Programme had now been finalised and asked if Panel Members could feedback with any comments, particularly those who had been unable to contribute at the workshop in June.  The Chair thanked officers for their contributions and advised that the Panel valued the opportunity to undertake visits, which allowed them to engage first hand with those who provided services to children and young people.

Tom Brailsford advised that officers agreed that the Work Programme covered the key priorities for the Service and welcomed the contributions and input from the Scrutiny Panel in these important areas of work, which included scrutiny later in the year on the DfE White Paper proposals for SEND Reforms and the focus on care leavers.

RESOLVED -

1.    That the progress on the Work Programme and Agenda Plan for 2025-26 and agreed schedule of visits be noted.

2.    That Panel Members provide feedback and comments on the areas of focus included within the Work Programme for 2025-26.