Agenda and minutes

Apologies of absence were received from County Borough Councillors Ashford, Cook and Hickman and Co-opted Members, Mr Patterson, Mr Thomas, and Mr Veale.

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 with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the following declarations were made pertaining to the agenda:

Agenda Item 2 – Estyn’s Report on Education Services RCTCBC

Ø  County Borough Councillor S Evans – Personal – ‘My children attend two schools in RCT, which would have been assessed as part of this report, and I am also a vice-chair of governors of one of the schools in RCT, which also would have been included as part of this inspection’

Ø  County Borough Councillor C Lisles – Personal – ‘I am chair of governors at a school in RCT and also chair of the Our Children First, action group’

Ø  County Borough Councillor D Wood – Personal – ‘I am one of the governors for a local primary school’

Ø  County Borough Councillor J Smith – Personal – ‘I am a governor at schools included in the report, but also in my full-time employment, I am a senior trade union official, that negotiates for Estyn’

Ø  County Borough Councillor M Maohoub – Personal – ‘I am a governor of one of the schools mentioned in the report and, I am also a Member of the Governance and Audit Committee’

Ø  County Borough Councillor C Preedy – Personal – ‘I am a governor at a primary school, and I was recently a student of one of the secondary schools inspected, so know students that still attend’

Ø  County Borough Councillor S Emanuel – Personal – ‘Both of my children attend a school, mentioned in the report, and I’m a governor on two schools, also’

Ø  County Borough Councillor J Brencher – Personal – ‘I am a governor of school that was mentioned in the report, that was associated with the special measures comment’

Ø  County Borough Councillor J Elliott – Personal – ‘I am a governor Cwmbach Primary School’

Pre-Scrutiny – For Members to scrutinise and make any recommendations to the report before presenting to Cabinet.

The Director of Education and Inclusion Services explained that the purpose of the report was to provide an overview of the inspection process and the outcomes of the Estyn inspection of the Education Services in Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (RCTCBC), which took place in January 2023. The detailed report could be found in Appendix A and in the main, the report provided a positive picture of Estyn’s view of Education Services in RCT. Section 4 provided some background information, with the Inspection process detailed in Section 5, noting the LGES Inspection Framework was underpinned by three inspection areas, which were detailed. Members were advised that Inspectors did not inspect or evaluate all education services during a core inspection. The Inspection Report was clearly detailed, so the Director of Education and Inclusion Services would not go through that in full, but highlighted the high-level summary of Estyn’s findings, which were detailed in Section 6.2, and the lengthy report in Appendix A. Estyn identified 3 key recommendations, which were detailed in Section 8, and clearly these recommendations would be the focus of improvement in 2023, and beyond and, and was already reflected in the delivery plans and improvement actions, for the forthcoming financial year. The Director of Education and Inclusion Services concluded that the report would be considered by the Council’s Governance and Audit Committee and Cabinet, in future meetings. The overall inspection of Education Services in RCT was very positive and the feedback provided by stakeholders was also very positive as well with Estyn finding many areas of strength in the Directorate as well as some key areas for improvement. These areas for improvement had already been taken on board and were the focus of improvement planning and delivery.

The Chair thanked the Director of Education and Inclusion and acknowledged that the Committee felt it was a very robust report, and offered the Committees congratulations, noting there were several areas of good practice identified and the Directorate needed to be commended, for that and also the fact that Estyn had requested the 2 case studies, which was something to be proud of. The Chair felt that the recommendations Estyn had posed, were fair and very much actionable.

A Member referred to page 2, paragraph 4 of the Inspection report, in respect of ‘Overall, the quality of support and the information provided by the CSC is too variable’ and asked for clarification. The Member also asked if the same data was available to the Committee, as was presented to Estyn. The Member also referred to page 15, paragraph 3 of the inspection report, in relation to ‘the impact of poverty’ and asked if Estyn could have strengthened that statement.

The Director of Education and Inclusion Services explained that in terms of the variability, the interpretation of that feedback, was in relation to some of the reporting. Estyn had taken a cross section of SIPL reports which detailed the work of Improvement Partners and Strategic Teams and felt there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To reflect on the meeting and actions to be taken forward.

The Chair thanked Officers in attendance for their contributions and also to Members for their contributions and questions that had been posed. The Chair reminded Members about Scrutiny Training on Monday 26^th June 2023, at 4.30pm, which was a good opportunity to have some training and some of the elements that Members of the Committee, needed to be aware of. In addition, prior to the next meeting of the Committee on the 19^th July 2023, at 5pm, there would be a Joint Committee with the Community Services Scrutiny Committee at 4pm, to examine the notice of motion in respect of Child Poverty. An alternative date would be sought, in resect of the 19^th July, pre-meeting.

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.

None.