The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture will be attendance to provide an overview of her portfolio.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed the Executive Member for Education and Culture and invited her to make her presentations.
The Executive Member identified that, within the Education and Partnerships element of her portfolio, there were several opportunities that could be capitalised on. These included working with schools whereby a constructive dialogue could be created to understand local need. This principle also applied to working with special schools to address SEND needs.
There was also a need to support and challenge schools on their exclusion policies to promote inclusion as well as improving outcomes for young people in the town.
There was also an opportunity to maximise Family Hubs which could engage with families and work with them to break down access barriers. The Hubs could also be useful in actin as a link between Health and Education priorities.
Youth Just was another important opportunity within the Education and Partnerships element of the Executive Member’s portfolio. This included driving the delivery of the Youth Justice Plan and strengthening partnerships that could support delivery of shared agendas.
The Executive Member proceeded to outline the priorities within her portfolio area. These included supporting schools to improve the attendance of all children particularly the most vulnerable. There was also a priority to increase the number of SEND children and young people in mainstream settings as well as improving parenting support and the home learning experience to support children’s learning and development.
A key priority was the establishment of the permeant Outwood Riverside School.
The Executive Member invited questions from the Board.
A Member queried how the Council would ensure a permeant school for Outwood Riverside. It was clarified this would be achieved, primarily, by working with the Department for Education (DfE). When questioned about the timescale required the Executive Member confirmed it was important that the Secretary of State expedited the process as the confirmed start date for the permeant school was to be 2026.
A Member commented the Council was not directly responsible for all Primary and Secondary schools in Middlesbrough. The Member queried how the Council could contribute to improved Ofsted ratings. The Executive Member responded that reducing the number of exclusions was a high priority as this would help young people but the schools themselves.
Members queried how many students were currently occupying the temporary Outwood Riverside site, currently located on Russell Street. It was confirmed 445 students were on the current site. The Chair commented that despite the difficult circumstances the school received positive Ofsted ratings and the teaching staff at Outwood Riverside should be congratulated for this.
Regarding how the increase in SEND provision would work in practice the Executive Member advised there was a need for mainstream schools to offer SEND provision. The rationale behind this lay in the number of children excluded with who had additional needs. Therefore, by encouraging mainstream schools to increase their SEND provision it was hoped the number of exclusions could be reduced. It was also confirmed there was some funding available for young people with additional needs, but as more young people were being diagnosed with additional needs than there was provision for those needs a bottleneck was being experienced. Analysis in Middlesbrough had shown the best solution was to meet additional needs in the classroom, complemented by a SEND base which would remain within the mainstream setting and then ultimately a special school.
A Member raised the matter of Music Education but was advised that would be covered in a later presentation.
A Member queried how the Council was dealing with high exclusion rates. It was commented that the number of exclusion rates remained high and that a conference for all Chief Executive’s of local School Trusts was due to be held in October 2023. It was commented that the Inclusion Strategy was making an impact in certain places but exclusions remained too high. It was also confirmed the Council had bid for approximately £1 million for workforce development funding to help support schools on this matter.
It was noted that existing special schools were working collaboratively with mainstream schools to provided expertise where possible.
The Chair commented he was pleased to see working with the Family Hubs as one of the worst elements of the austerity agenda was the closure of SureStart centres that provided a wraparound service. It was queried what the Family Hubs would offer and if any distinction could be made between them and SureStart. The Executive Member clarified the Family Hubs would adopt a similar approach to what was offered by SureStart but they would also act as a first step for families requiring early intervention.
The Chair thanked the Executive Member for the information to that point and invited her to continue with her presentation.
The Executive Member proceeded to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with the cultural element of her portfolio. OSB was advised Cultural Services comprised several elements. It provided sector leadership in the sense it led on cultural partnerships, cultural funding bids and liaison with the Arts Council. The Council had several venues within the remit of the cultural service including the Town Hall, Middlesbrough Theatre, Newham Grange and the Dorman Museum. This was in addition to Stewart and Albert parks.
Cultural Services were also responsible for several high profile events and important functions including the Orange Pip Market, Mela, Teesside Archives as well as various arts and music projects.
The priorities for the Executive Member included extended uses of the Town Hall, to create and independent quarter and to make Middlesbrough the heart of artistic and community creativity.
It was queried if there were specific plans to improve the safety of all parks as some, including Pallister Park seemed to have been neglected when compared to other parks in the town. It was recognised that extra funding was needed to ensure all open spaces in the town were fit fir purpose and safe for all ages.
It was queried how the use of the Town Hall could be extended and if the Town Hall was well used and what the cost implications could be. The Executive Member confirmed that ideally the Town Hall should be used all the time and was currently being used by music groups It was discussed that while there was an events schedule for the Town Hall it may be beneficial for a day-time schedule that could be shared with Councillors.
A Member commented there were approximately 600 students were learning classical instruments during the school day for no charge. The arrangements were put in place following financial contributions from the Council, Schools and charities. When asked if this arrangement would continue the Executive Member confirmed she was in discussions with relevant stakeholders, including Teesside Music Service, to try and secure a long-term future for this provision.
The Chair queried if there was any scope to expand the use of the Fire Station and Court Room venue, which had been the recipient of lottery heritage funding. It was confirmed those areas were used but improvements could be made to improve their popularity. The Executive Member agreed to provide attendance figures for the Court Room and Fire Station venues.
The Chair also suggested that the Carriageway Café could be operated as bar as it was currently not being used. It was confirmed this was being considered which could potentially include a mobile bar that could be taken to events such as the Orange Pip market.
From an inclusion perspective, it was queried if there was a plan to increase participation by people from BAME backgrounds in cultural events. While there were prospective plans in place these were subject to funding. The Director of Regeneration commented the Town Hall had set up a steering group as part of the national portfolio organisation and relationship with the Arts Council. It was agreed that inclusion was a strand of activity that needed a plan as the Arts Council challenged the Council on this issue.
The Director was also keen to seek suggestions from OSB about how the Town Hall could be used to attract as wide a range of customer as possible.
After the query was raised, it was confirmed that tours of the Town Hall still took place. A discussion took place regarding the good quality of the Town Hall as venue as how it should be utilised a lot more.
The Chair then invited the Executive Member to present the final part of her presentation.
The Executive Member advised OSB that part of her portfolio also included developing an anti-poverty strategy. Developing the strategy involved a multi-departmental approach including Public Health, Education and Environment. Each department was able to contribute to the anti-poverty strategy via the Live Well Health and Wellbeing Strategy as well as Family Hubs and Locality Working.
The Executive Member’s Priorities for this strategy included continued work with the Middlesbrough Truth Poverty Commission, to give Middlesbrough a voice on the Northeast Child Poverty Commission and to work the Institute on Public Policy Research on their Poverty analysis.
A Member queried how Middlesbrough compared concerned poverty. It was clarified that the Town and certain wards such as North Ormesby and Central, were deeply affected by poverty particularly child poverty. It was also clarified that the Anti-Poverty strategy was at an early stage with lots of information gathering taking place.
The commented there was a link between austerity and poverty and the Chair queried what joined up work was taking place to combat poverty in Middlesbrough. It was clarified that key stakeholders were being contacted, including the MVDA, to understand what work needed to be carried out. It was also commented that other Councils were in a similar position to Middlesbrough and their approach was to anti-poverty strategy creation was of a similar nature.
The Executive Member also clarified the Middlesbrough Poverty Truth Commission was part of LocalMotion, a new organisation that would act as the voice for the poorest in the town. When fully structured the organisation would include a range of stakeholders including representatives from the Council and the charity sector.
Given that poverty is a cross cutting issue, the Chair suggested that all Council report templates be updated to demonstrate how decisions have an impact on poverty in the town.
ORDERED that:
1. Visitor statistics for the Fire Station and Court Room in the Town Hall be provided to OSB;
2. All Council reports include how decisions impact poverty in Middlesbrough;
3.
The presentations delivered be circulated to OSB;
and
4. The information presented be noted.