Agenda and minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting and explained the fire evacuation procedures.

Following the recent sad passing of Councillor Jeanette Walker, the Chair invited Members to join him in a minute’s silence, as a mark of respect.

The minutes of the People Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 15 July 2024 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Further to discussion held at the 15 July 2024 meeting, the Scrutiny Panel will be asked to agree its work programme for the 2024/2025 Municipal Year.

The Democratic Services Officers submitted a report, the purpose of which was to assist Members in considering and agreeing the panel’s work programme for the 2024/2025 Municipal Year.

At the initial meeting of the People Scrutiny Panel held on 15 July 2024, Members were asked to consider a number of topics suggested by various stakeholders for the panel’s 2024-2025 Work Programme. During discussion at the meeting, Members shortlisted several potential items for topics (full reviews) and updates. These were as follows:

Topics:

·        Children Missing from Education

·        Homelessness

·        Obesity

·        The Education of Children in the Care of the Local Authority.

Updates:

·        Budget and Transformation Programme

·        Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Framework/ Programme

·        Integrated Care Board (ICB) Health Matters (including: Special Allocation Scheme; Dental Recovery; Speech and Language Children and Young People’s Services; and Children’s Mental Health)

·        Residential and Supported Accommodation for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

A discussion took place and it was agreed that one topic with a health agenda and one topic from an education agenda should be considered as Scrutiny topics.  The Panel agreed that the topics would therefore be confirmed as ‘Children Missing from Education’ and ‘Homelessness’.   

Agreed that:

1.     the Scrutiny topics were confirmed as ‘Children Missing from Education’ and ‘Homelessness’, and

2.     an update would be provided from the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust in respect of mental health services.

The Head of Access to Education and Alternative Provision will be in attendance to provide an overview on Children Missing from Education (CME).

The Head of Access to Education and Alternative Provision presented an overview of Children Missing from Education.

Children Missing Education (CME) is a term used by the Department for Education to identify a particular subset of children who were at increased risk and were not attending school. To be classified as CME, children must have satisfied all three of the following criteria:

·        be of compulsory school age

·        not be registered at a school

·        not be receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.

Local Authorities had a duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children missing education, and return them to full time education. Where there was concern for a child’s welfare, this should be referred to the Local Authority’s Childrens Social Care Team. If there was reason to suspect a crime had been committed, the police should also be involved. In Middlesbrough the CME Officer would initiate and pursue appropriate enquiries to trace the pupil and regularly review the case until the pupil was re-engaged in education, or was found to be resident in and known to another Local Authority.

In addition, Local Authorities had a range of other duties, which included:

·        Arranging suitable full-time education for permanently excluded pupils from the sixth school day of exclusion.

·        Serving notice on parents requiring them to satisfy the Local Authority that the child was receiving suitable education, when it was brought to the Local Authority’s attention that a child might not be receiving such education.

·        Issuing School Attendance Orders (SAOs) to parents who failed to satisfy the Local Authority that their child was receiving suitable education, if the Local Authority deemed it was appropriate that the child should attend school.

·        Prosecuting or issuing penalty notices to parents who failed to ensure their school-registered child attended school regularly.

The various categories of CME were as follows;

1.     Children who were referred by schools to the Authority as missing.

The number of referrals that Middlesbrough Council received each month varied, but on average it was around 25. The Council had a dedicated CME Officer who managed these referrals and conducted extensive searches across the local community, other local authorities, the Child Health Information Service, the Child Benefits Agency and Border Force in an attempt to trace the children. In the majority of cases, the children were believed to have left the UK and returned to their country of origin. Roughly half of the referrals were for Romanian children with the rest being made up of Asian, British and other European.

2. Children who were electively home educated, but the Authority had deemed were not receiving an adequate education.

The Elective Home Education team (EHE) reviewed the quality of education that parents were providing for their children. Where this was deemed to be inadequate, the team would make arrangements for the child to return to school.  This may have involved use of our statutory powers by way of a School Attendance Order.

3. Children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/18

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 26 June 2024 and 31 July 2024.

The Chair provided an update on items discussed at the last Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting, which included the Local Government Boundary Commission Review 2024 and the Scrutiny Work Programme 2024/2025.

The next meeting of the People Scrutiny Panel had been scheduled for Monday, 14 October 2024 at 4.30 p.m. in the Mandela Room, Town Hall.

None.