Agenda and draft 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.

.

The minutes of the People Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 24 March 2025 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Recommendation: That the Panel considers the content of the draft Final Report and agrees recommendations for inclusion in the report.

A copy of the Draft Final Report on Children Missing Education (CME) had been circulated with the agenda.

Members discussed the information provided and provided recommendations for inclusion in the Final Report.

AGREED as follows that:

1.      The following recommendations were included in the Final Report:

That Council should:

A.     Ensure that CME forms an integral part of Middlesbrough Council’s Draft Poverty Strategy. CME, and its impact, should be explicitly referenced and included in any performance regime underpinning the strategy.   Members of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel should be briefed on how CME will feature within the Poverty Strategy no later than January 2026, or sooner if the strategy is available.

B.     Ensure that Education & Partnerships are fully prepared for the Children’s Wellbeing in Schools Bill, in particular the monitoring of Elective Home Education and the implementation of a single unique identifier (SUI) for children. The Children’s Scrutiny Panel should be briefed on the preparations, no later than December 2025.

C.    Establish a Working Group between Primary Schools in the Central areas of Middlesbrough, Education and Partnerships, Stronger Communities and local Councillors to explore if further assistance can be provided in respect of the large transient community and the issues of school roll turnover. The Working Group should report back on its progress by March 2026.

D.    Establish a Working Group between Education & Partnerships and Stronger Communities to understand the nature of the higher rate of CME in the Romanian community. The Working Group should produce an action plan to help reduce this number against the baseline average of 22, at the time of the review.  The Working Group should provide a progress update against their action plan to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel by March 2026.

E.     An update be provided to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel that provides assurance to the on the ongoing work of assisting children at risk of permanent exclusion.  This should happen no later than October 2026.

F.     An update be provided to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel on the new Alternative Provision and the restructure of the Inclusion and Outreach Model.  This should happen no later than April 2026.

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 9 April 2025.

The Chair provided an update on items discussed at the recent Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 9 April 2025, as follows:

·        Executive Member Update – Adult Social Care and Public Health

·        Transformation Programme Update

·        Final Report of the Place Scrutiny Panel – Home to School Transport

·        Executive Forward Work Programme.

The Chair expressed their acknowledgement and thanks to the People Scrutiny Panel, for their efforts in the municipal year.

The Chair advised that the scrutiny investigation into ‘Homelessness’ would be passed to the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel, for consideration within the work programme.