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.

Fire alarm tests take place in Municipal Buildings at 10.30am on Tuesday mornings. In the event the fire alarm sounds at this time for more than 10 seconds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

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.

It was raised that Cllr Uddin was incorrectly listed as Vice-Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel in the minutes. Cllr Jackson had been appointed as Vice-Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel at the Full Council meeting that took place on 9 July 2025. It was agreed that this would be amended and the minutes of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 15 July 2025 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Interim Executive Director of Children’s Services and Director of Children’s Care will be in attendance to provide an introduction to the Panel’s new scrutiny topic.

Following the presentation, Members will be asked to consider the next steps for the review.

The Head of Inclusion, Assessment and Review provided a presentation on Out of Area Specialist Placements.

Out of Area Specialist Placement by definition was a residential or education placement that was located outside of a child’s home local authority boundary and provided education provision for children that required a more tailored service, for example young people with complex or special educational needs and disabilities.

There were two types of out of area specialist provision that Middlesbrough children could access. The first was Other Local Authority Special schools which were schools maintained by the local authority where they were based or were part of the state school system. The second type was Independent Provision which were organisations run privately and not maintained by the local authority or part of the state school system. It was confirmed that some independent specialist provision offered day placements and others also provided residential options.

There were several reasons why a child would be placed in an out of area specialist provision, these included:

• Gaps in local provision
• Individual needs of a child
• Provider specialism
• The child was in the care of the local authority, lived outside of the Middlesbrough area and was in education placement close to where they live.

• The child had moved into Middlesbrough from a neighbouring local authority and for consistency it was appropriate to continue to commission the placement.
• Parental preference (for children with an EHCP, the local authority must consider parent’s first choice even if out of area)

The majority of children in out of area specialist provision had an Education, Health and Care Plan and it was highlighted to Members that local placements for children were always considered first before a placement out of area was agreed.

The type of special educational needs of children in out of area specialist provision varied, with Autism Spectrum Condition and Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs being the most common. The majority of children in out of area specialist provision were secondary school age and regarding placements and their geographical location; 55% were Tees Valley, 21% were North East, 8% were North Yorkshire and 15% were National.

The average cost of an out of area local authority specialist provision placement was broadly comparable to the cost of a placement in a Middlesbrough special school at around £16,000 and was funded through the High Needs Budget of the Dedicated Schools Grant. There were currently 53 children who received their education in another local authority special school outside of the Middlesbrough boundary and the total budget outturn for the 24/25 financial year for other local authority specialist provision was £1.176m. Many of these children were eligible for transport assistance and transport costs were often inflated; Middlesbrough Council worked with neighbouring local authorities to ensure good value and economies of scale and avoid creating an unreasonable cost to the transport team. The average per pupil cost of transport to other local authority schools was £4,000 per annum.

Independent provision was more costly than maintained or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/16

The Chair provided an update on items discussed at the recent Overview and Scrutiny Board meetings held on 30 July and 17 September 2025 which included:

·        Executive Member Update – The Mayor

·        Delivery against the Continuous Improvement Plan - Progress update

·        Overview and Scrutiny Board - Work Programme 2025/26

·        Scrutiny - Work Planning 2025/26

·        Pre-Decision Scrutiny Protocol

·        Executive Member Update - Education and Culture

·        Executive Forward Work Programme

·        Forward Plan Actions Progress

·        Draft Terms of Reference - Poverty, its impact, and efforts to tackle it.

·        Scrutiny Chairs Update

The next meeting of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel had been scheduled for Monday, 27 October 2025 at 4:30 pm in the Mandela Room, Town Hall.

Any other urgent items which in the opinion of the Chair, may be considered.

None.