Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Suna Hurman and Cllr Doris Jiagge.

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda

There were no declarations of interest received regarding any item on the agenda.

To agree the minutes of the Children, Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel held on 11 March 2024.

AGREED the minutes of the meeting of the Children, Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel held on 11 March 2024.

To receive the Safeguarding Children's Partnership Annual report 2023/24.

Bharat Ayer, Head of Safeguarding Partnerships introduced the Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual report for 2023/24 which is being presented to the Panel for noting. Members were advised that there had been some recent changes to the statutory guidance, one of them being that the Annual Reports had to be published online but also sent back to the Department for Education by 30 September 2024. This had been successfully achieved and the report has now been finalised by the Partnership and published.

Mellissa Morland, Children’s Safeguarding Partnerships Manager highlighted key areas of the report which outlined the proactive measures taken by the Enfield Safeguarding Partnership to prevent neglect, abuse, and exploitation of children and families. The report also highlights data and information showcasing the impact of these initiatives and additionally sets out the Partnership’s priorities for the 2024/25 period.

Questions were invited from Members.

In response to a question regarding the Enfield Inclusion Charter and its future ambition and direction of travel, Peter Nathan, Director of Education advised that this was an education initiative which started approximately two years ago and had, to date, been very successful in terms of sign-up. The focus of the Charter initially was around inclusion in terms of Special Needs to ensure that children with additional needs are welcomed in schools and their needs met. It is however broader than this and includes other protected characteristics. There are schools in the borough that act as Inclusion Champions which has resulted from audits of schools and settings who have then been identified as having very good practice which in turn is shared with other schools in the borough at various forums and events. The initiative is ongoing with more work to be done but on a positive note it was noted that there is very little cost involved as the work around the initiative is done internally.

Reference was made to the data shown on page 25 of the report and Members asked for more detail regarding the 36 new allegations meeting LADO threshold and how this compared to previous years. Officers AGREED to circulate this information.

Action: Bharat Ayer

In response to members’ questions regarding the 10 unexpected deaths in Enfield and what measures are being taken to learn from this, Officers advised that the Child Death Review Partners made up of the North Central London Integrated Care Board and the Public Health Local Authority teams continue to work closely to ensure processes are followed when responding to, investigating, and reviewing the death of any child, from any cause. The two main reasons for this are to improve the experience of bereaved families, as well as professionals, after the death of a child; and to ensure that information from the child death review process is systematically captured to enable local learning and, through the planned National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), to identify learning at the national level, and inform changes in policy and practice. Updates in learning from national thematic reports published by the NCMD along  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive the Annual Children’s Statutory Complaints for 2023/24 report.

Will Wraxall, Complaints, MEQs & Corporate Functions Manager introduced the report which provided an overview of the performance and learning for the Council in regard to statutory children’s social care complaints and compliments in the year 2023-24. Between 1^st April 2023 and 31^st March 2024, Enfield Council supported 420 looked after children and 284 care leavers. During that period the organisation received 18 stage 1 complaints for Children’s Social Care. Two of which were investigated at Stage 2. No Stage 3 panel took place. Five Ombudsman referrals were made during this period; one was investigated. The Council received more compliments than complaints, with complaints decreasing from the previous year figure of 29 stage 1 complaints. The Council also made notable improvements in the timelines of stage 2 investigations. However, opportunities do still exist to improve timeliness of response more broadly, as identified within the report

Questions were invited from Members:

Members questioned what the main reasons for Stage 1 complaints were and Will Wraxall advised that the main theme for Stage 1 complaints was social worker interactions and quality of service delivered.

Following further questioning from Members, information was provided on the complaints process for each of the three stages. The number of complaints resolved at Stage 1 remained a majority, although the proportion decreased due to there being less complaints overall. This reflects the time and effort put in at this stage to address the complaint without the need for escalation to Stage 2. The emphasis of the complaints process is to reach a resolution. Efforts made to resolve complaints at Stage 1 focus on ensuring the complainant understands the response they have received and what outcome can be realistically achieved. The trend in decreasing complaints overall also represent the result of increased focus on avoiding complaints by maintain excellent service at the first point of service contact and engagement.

In response to Members’ question regarding learning and actions, Will advised that the Council has improved the resource allocated to statutory complaints and has done work to expand its list of prospective investigators; however, this will be further developed to continue improvement. In regard to improving Stage 1 timelines, quarterly reports to senior management take place, where learning and quality issues can be addressed. Training sessions have taken place on responses in the year, and the Complaints team will arrange further training in the coming year. Feedback is disseminated through team managers and reported in senior leadership meetings to emphasise where service quality improvements can be made, and complaints avoided.

The Panel agreed:

(i)            To note the report.

To receive anupdate onpupil places inthe borough.

Neil Best, Head of Education, Strategic Resourcing & Partnerships introduced the report which provided an update on pupil places in the borough and the financial impact on schools of falling roles.

The live birth rate in Enfield has fallen by 21% since 2008 and the Borough has seen a high percentage change in its general fertility rate, resulting in a lower number of live births that the London and National Average, which combined with other factors such as outward migration and insufficient affordable family homes among others, has had a knock-on impact on school rolls.

The drop in the pupil population continues to create challenges for many schools with a number reporting a deficit budget position due to fewer children on roll. In London approximately a quarter of all Local Authority maintained schools are in deficit or have less than 8% surplus budgets. Enfield has experienced a drop in the number of pupils by 2274 (4%) between 2018 and 2024.

All Schools are currently being consulted on a Draft Pupil Places Strategy “Strengthening Education Provision in Enfield” which sets out proposed actions to manage the decline in pupil numbers, further support schools to manage finances, address deficit school budgets and the overspending of the Designated Schools Grant budget.  The proposed actions within the strategy are based on data collected by the Education Service and recommendations from the Director of Education to protect and strengthen the delivery of quality education for all pupils across the Borough. The overall objective is to provide all pupils with the opportunity of receiving good quality education along with maintaining parental choice in a local school whilst ensuring schools are financially sustainable in the medium and long term. This can only be achieved through a process that ensures Enfield has the right number of school places in the right places. This strategy proposes to implement changes in a series of phases to minimise disruption to children and families, communities and staff. A reduction to Enfield’s overall PAN is required to manage the decline in pupil numbers and address the budget challenges this brings. Implementation will require the cooperation of all community schools, academy trusts and the diocesan boards and there should be wide consultation with all parties relating to decisions that will need to be made.

Questions were invited from Members.

In response to questions regarding the proposals for Primary and Secondary School provisions, Officers took Members through the future plans which are detailed in the report. With regards to Secondary provision, Officers advise that as of 16^th September 2024, there were 3846 Year 7 pupils on roll in Enfield schools for 4066 available places. Of the 220 vacancies 93% are held by three schools. However, as with reception places the number of pupils will vary during the academic year. Although GLA forecasts predict a further decline in the Year 7 cohort for September 2025, following the applications deadline on November 1^st the Education Service will be able to assess the actual number of (on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the Thriving Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel Work Programme 2024/25.

NOTED the Thriving Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel Work Programme 2024/25.

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

Wednesday 4 December 2024

Monday 3 February 2025

Monday 17 March 2025

All meetings will commence at 7:00pm and will be held in the Conference Room at the Civic Centre.

NOTED the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Wednesday 4 December 2024, 7:00pm in the Conference Room at the Civic Centre.

The Chair thanked Members and Officers for their time and contributions and the meeting ended at 8:25pm.