Agenda and minutes

To receive disclosures of personal interest from Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct

Note:

1.    Members are requested to identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest: and

2.  Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when they leave.

In Accordance withthe Councils Code, there were no declarations of interest made, pertaining to the agenda.

To approve as an accurate record, the minutes of the meeting of the Central South Consortium Joint Education Service Joint Committee held on 28^th March 2023.

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 28^th March 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.

To consider the proposed calendar of meetings for 2023-2024.

It was RESOLVED to agree the proposed dates for the Calendar of Meetings of the Central South Consortium Joint Education Service Joint Committee for the 2023/2024 Municipal Year.

To receive a presentation from CSC Lead for Leadership.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC, provided Members with a presentation on the proposed new support plan for governors in the region, and in particular noted the GAP programme, which was a new programme, which had just been launched, ready to start in September. She then took Members through the presentation, which she advised built on the previous report around regional recommendations on support for governors, which had been developed as part of the package for governors.

A Member raised concern that there was not enough financial training for governors to be able to adequately question a school budget.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC explained that what had been built on was the core mandatory modules, although she recognised it worked differently in each local authority. There wasn’t financial management as such, but what had been weaved through a number of modules, were the roles and responsibilities of governors, which did include where they were involved in financial management, school improvement planning, etc.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC advised that the individual financial management, and the expectations of the finance teams, were different across each local authority, but there was something that could be taken onboard in terms of the generic ability to be able to question and interrogate budgets, and this was maybe something that could be picked up with the other Directors at the next Management Board meeting.

The Member asked if it was possible to do a comparison of training that Education authorities provided for their governors, to see examples of best practice, that could be shared. 

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC explained that they worked with different local authorities on this and worked quite differently in every local authority, but they did try and ensure they didn’t duplicate, and they did bespoke sessions, for individual local authority’s or governor associations, so what had been talked about today, was the suite of professional learning that they were responsible for.

The Corporate Director for Education and Family Support (Bridgend) was happy to support the suggestion and take this to the next Director’s meeting. He felt that all local authorities, were in different positions, with some having dedicated governor support teams, and some not, so the position was that they relied heavily on CSC for a lot of the professional development training, but he agreed in terms of scrutiny of finances and certainly from a Welsh Government (WG) perspective, the scrutiny and making best use of grant funding in particular e.g., PDG, the more governing bodies could be armed with those skills, the better.

It was RESOLVED to note the proposed new process for support to Governors at CSC, having considered the benefits to Governors; and approved the plan for inclusion in operational planning for 2023/24.

To receive a presentation from CSC Area Lead for Curriculum Reform.

The Area Lead for Curriculum Reform, CSC began by introducing herself, before taking Members through the presentation on Curriculum for Wales, and how Schools were being supported. This included equity and excellence, what was meant by curriculum, implementation, how CSC supported schools, including Improvement Partners (IP’s), the Central South Wales Challenge (CSWC), professional learning (PL), bespoke support, the CfW website and Communications.

A Member asked how long the roll-out was going to take?

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC advised that primary, special and a number of Secondary schools, from Year 7, would be rolled-out from September, so there was the continuation of that now until Year 11, had rolled-out. This year, it would become mandatory for Year’s 7 & 8 to roll-out from this September, and would become a year on year, roll-out. As part of one of the elements of CfW there was a mandatory duty that schools kept their curriculum, under review, so in essence CfW was never done, because if you are in the ethos of CfW, you are ensuring your curriculum, teaching, and assessment, always meets the needs of learners e.g., some years small tweaks, some years whole scale change.

A Member asked, in terms of the careers advice, whether schools were signposted to things, going on within the local areas, as well as what the consortium provided, as there maybe different opportunities, depending on location.

The Area Lead for Curriculum Reform, CSC advised she led on careers work related experiences within her role and met regularly with The Cardiff Commitment and also with those in RCT as well and had looked at developing links with the other areas as well. She confirmed that information was shared across the system, and she was regularly in contact with Careers Wales, and all information that was gathered, through conversations with local authorities and Careers Wales, was communicated through newsletters and school bulletins.

A Member asked how much encouragement there was, because each school was developing its own curriculum, in response to the needs of pupils, and was there room in the system, for sharing good practice.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC noted that the Area Lead for Curriculum Reform, CSC, had provided some examples of this, with some schools very willing to share emerging practice, and some school more reticent to do that because of the stage of development, they were in. There were a wealth of practitioners and school leaders, in schools, either supporting the writing and delivery of the programme, actually leading some programmes, videos or live sharing of some of their practice, but it looked slightly different in every school. There was plenty of sharing going on, but more needed in the system.

The Corporate Director for Education and Family Support (Bridgend) then provided Members with some examples, acknowledging there was a very healthy system, across the region.

A Member asked how much encouragement was given to try and foster a closer relationship between the primary and secondary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive an update from the Deputy Managing Director of the Central South Consortium.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC advised Members that she would be presenting the Internal Audit report and began by taking Members through the background information at section 3, before advising that the Internal Audit report for the general ledger, had concluded that there was substantial assurance with regards to the work of the CSC, before providing Members with a definition of ‘substantial assurance’. The Deputy Managing Director, CSC then highlighted a few items from the report itself, including on page 24 of the report, a number of strengths identified and areas for improvement, of which there were none identified in the report.

It was RESOLVED that Members had reviewed the regional Internal Audit Report, issued during 2022/23 and determined there were no matters of governance or an internal control nature that required further action or attention.

To consider the report of the Treasurer - To approve the Annual Governance Statement.

The Service Director, Finance Services presented Members with the Draft, unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 that incorporated the outturn for the previous financial year and also the Annual Governance Statement. She continued that the Statement of Accounts were at appendix 1 and required certification by the host Section 151 officer following presentation at this joint committee. She advised that Accounts and Audit regulations required accounts to be certified by 31^st May following financial year end and she was pleased to inform Members this challenging timescale would be met, before noting paragraphs 3.2 to 3.5 of the report, in respect of Audit Wales and the timing of the audit of the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts.

The Service Director, Finance Services continued that it was recommended that the Joint Committee approve the Annual Governance Statement, which started on page 42 on Appendix 1, in the Statement of Accounts, with the document prepared in accordance with ‘Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework 2016’ and had been subject to review and challenge by the Consortium’s Senior Management Team. She then drew Members attention to Section 6 of the Annual Governance Statement, which concluded that the overall assessment of the arrangements within the consortium remained effective, providing assurance to Members, before advising of the 4 proposals for improvement, outlined in Section 7 and advising Joint Committee would be updated with progress on these recommendations. She then advised that Appendix A of the AGS, from page 67, provided updates on the 21/22 recommendations, 2 of which were now completed and 2 continuing to be in progress and were picked up in the recommendations at section 7.

The Service Director, Finance Services advised  that  the unaudited Financial outturn position for 2022/23, was an underspend of £409k and has been transferred to the Service Remodelling earmarked reserve as approved at the meeting of 13^th Dec 2022. This resulted in General Fund balances remaining at £174k and the Service remodelling earmarked reserve being £609k. She then provided further detail on the reasons for the underspend of £409k, which were detailed from p5 of the accounts at Appendix 1.

A Member noted that the Supplies and Transport costs were small, but asked whether those budget items would recur, year on year, or whether they would come to an end, as a result of changing working practices.

The Service Director, Finance Services advised that in respect of the transport budget, this had increased for 2023/24, with the base reset back to ‘business as usual’ with more face-to-face meetings taking place.

The Member asked for clarification around the underspend on employment.

The Service Director, Finance Services advised that the underspend had arisen because of temporary vacancies and from maximisation of the grant.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC explained that as well as maximisation of the grant, there had been a number of vacancies that arisen, and the recruitment process was a lot longer than the 30-day notice period.

The Managing Director, CSC acknowledged that recruitment was becoming more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive a summary report from the Managing Director of the Central South Consortium.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC advised Members that she would be taking Members through the report, which was in regard to the updated terms of reference for the governance structure of CSC. The Deputy Managing Director, CSC then took Members through the background information at section 3, before explaining that the Terms of Reference (TOR) were outlined in section 4, advising of only minor changes, since the report to Members in September 2020, with these changes predominantly to do with increased Membership of groups to ensure groups were quorate and to have the opportunity to have all local authorities represented e.g., governor stakeholder group.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC advised that the TOR for these particular governance groups, did not align, currently, with the legal agreement, but as the Minister had announced a review of middle tier organisations, it was felt appropriate to wait for the outcome of this, before reverting back to reviewing the legal agreement.

It was RESOLVED, following review, to accept the terms of reference for the various governance groups within CSC.  

To receive a report from the Managing Director of the Central South Consortium.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC began by advising that in line with the request from Members, at the meeting held on 28 March 2023, the CSC risk register would become a standing item on the agenda and reviewed and discussed at all meetings. The Deputy Managing Director, CSC then took Members through the background information at section 3, noting that the risk register presented to Members today, only had some slight changes, with regards to the extending of dates to the new financial year, but if there were any areas that Members wished to have as a specific agenda item at a subsequent meeting, please advise.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC then took Members through the 12 items on the risk register.

The Chair felt there were several items that needed to be monitored on a regular basis, particularly items 1 and 5.

A Member, in reference to succession planning for headteachers, asked how much take up there was for deputy headteachers to go on the NPQH courses.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC, advised there were approximately 60 on the current Aspiring Headteacher course, who would look to be part of the NPQH assessment in February, but there was not absolute clarity on where it goes from there, other than there would be a pilot and some interim measures, potentially.

The Member also asked, what the success rate was of passing the course, and how many just had the NPQH and did nothing with it and how many actually utilised it.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC acknowledged that they had been doing some work around this recently, looking at people in the system who had attended and gained NPQH, in the last 5 years and looking at how many of those had taken up headship, and although it was a lower number that anticipated, there were substantially more acting headteachers at the moment. She advised that historically, they usually had an 80% – 85% pass rate, although she didn’t have the exact figures, but could provide the accreditation rate figures, assessment centre figures, and a flavour of some of the work being done.

The Member asked if the number going through the system e.g., 60, was in line with other years.

The Assistant Director for Curriculum and Professional Learning, CSC acknowledged she was satisfied, but would have to look at this years, as Aspire had been put on hold.

The Corporate Director for Education and Family Support (Bridgend) agreed this was an important question, because what was being seen was a number of deputy headteachers that weren’t progressing to headteacher, acknowledging that it was a significant responsibility being a headteacher, above a deputy headteacher, with a small pay difference, so it was an important one for the group to look at and monitor.

The Deputy Managing Director, CSC reminded Members that she had presented a sub report on leadership support and development, at the last meeting, and this provided a detailed breakdown  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To consider any items, which the Chairman, by reason of special circumstances, is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

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