REDCAR AND CLEVELAND BOROUGH COUNCIL

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN That a meeting of the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will be held on THURSDAY, 30 July 2015 at 2:00pm in the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart, Ridley Street, Redcar and all and several Members of the said Council are hereby summoned to attend. ORDER OF BUSINESS Prayers. Elect a person to preside if the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are not present. 1. Apologies for absence.

2. To receive Declarations of Interest.

3. To confirm the accuracy of the Minutes of the previous meeting held on

30 April 2015.

4. To receive any Announcements from the Mayor, the Leader of the Council or

Cabinet Members.

5. To receive any Announcements from the Chief Executive.

6. To consider Questions from the Public for which Notice has been given.

Question 1: “Why do the residents of Boosbeck still need to complain about the same issue after 2 1/2 years, about BHM Slaughter House in Boosbeck on the High Street?”

Question from: Marlene Brown, The Birches, 2a Oxford Street, Boosbeck

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Question 2: “Why has the option regarding the use of the section 102 discontinuance notice, not been pursued properly? How can the council say this is the final decision when this option has not even been considered at a planning committee? It may well be that, if it was judged on its planning merits and given a proper hearing at planning, the 102 may not even be an option. Residents were told it would be considered at planning committee, so our concerns/complaint would be heard following correct procedure. It is now obvious that the council has passed this motion from pillar to post to avoid facing it. Why?”

Question from: Mr Neville Brown, The Birches, 2a Oxford Street, Boosbeck

Question 3: “The Environment Act 1990 states that "if Statutory Nuisance has happened or will happen in the future Councils must issue an abatement notice". It further states “If the nuisance is caused by a structural defect on the premises, the abatement notice must be served on the premises owner".

3 separate notices have already been served on the business and an independent report commissioned by the council concluded that "external site surfaces are surprisingly poor, particularly in areas where offal and waste is collected, they consider in a modern facility it might be assumed that this area would be boxed in"

Therefore with the existence of both historical evidence of statutory nuisance present and expert analysis of poor and unsuitable conditions on site it is clear that statutory nuisance will happen again, why then have the council not issued an abatement notice as required by law?”

Question from: Paul Reed, 25 Greenside View, Boosbeck

7. To receive petitions in accordance with the approved Petitions Scheme. A) relating to Boosbeck Abattoir B) relating to the sale of land at Swans Corner

8. To consider and agree any Reports from the Cabinet and the Council’s Committees.

Date Committee Minute No

Report Title

A) 07.07.15 Cabinet 1 Boosbeck Abattoir

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B) 07.07.15 Cabinet 12 The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

C) 30.07.15 Council Looked After Children Unit

9. To receive Reports.

A) Report of the Cabinet Member for Children (HEREWITH)

(A period of 10 minutes, or such longer period at the discretion of the Mayor, will be set aside for questions which must be succinct and relate directly to matters within the report).

10. To reply to Questions from Members of the Council. - Questions to Members of the Cabinet and Chairs of Committees and

Forums, for which notice has been given. - Questions to the appropriate Members on Police and Crime Panel and the

Fire Authority, for which notice has been given.

11. To consider Motions. Moved by Councillor Davies and duly seconded by Councillor Findley that :– “This Council recognises that the current legal framework means it cannot set its annual Members Allowance Scheme without due regard to the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel. However, subject to consideration of that report, Council expresses its intention to make no provision for the payment of any Special Responsibility Allowances when it comes to set its Members Allowance Scheme for 2016/17”.

12. To appoint Members. Where there are vacancies or changes in appointment:

• To appoint Members of Council Bodies and Representatives to serve on other bodies to which Members are appointed by the Council.

• To approve any changes to committee membership and to appoint Chairs and Vice Chairs where appropriate.

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AMANDA SKELTON Chief Executive Redcar and Cleveland House Kirkleatham Street Redcar Yorkshire TS10 1RT 22 July 2015

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BOROUGH COUNCIL A Meeting of the Borough Council was held on 30 April 2015 at the

Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart.

PRESENT Her Worshipful The Mayor (Councillor Simms), Councillors Abbott, Ayre, Briggs, Carling, Mrs Clarke, Mrs Cooney, Crawford, Curr, Dunlop, Dunning, Mrs Forster, Goddard, Goldswain, Guy, Halton, Harrison, Helm, Hogg, Howden, Hunt, Jackson, I Jeffrey, S Jeffrey, V Jeffries, Kay, Lanigan, Learoyd, Mason, Massey, McLuckie, Moses, G Nightingale, I Nightingale, Peters, Pickthall, Reyer, Rudland, Smith, Spencer, Szintai, P Thomson, Mrs Wall, Walsh, Williams and Wilson.

OFFICIALS G Brough, L Donaghue, S Newton, P Rice, J Sampson, A Skelton and M Sykes.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bunn, Fitzpatrick, Keenan, Ovens, Pallister, Pickthall, Pryce, Quigley, Suthers, and S Thompson.

MINUTES SILENCE AND TRIBUTES The Mayor announced the sad death of employee Alan Smith. The Mayor, Members and all in attendance stood for one minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Councillor Mrs Cooney declared a non-pecuniary interest in all matters relating to Saltburn, Marske and New Marske as the Chair of Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council, the President of New Marske Harriers and a Governor of New Marske Primary School. Councillor Mrs Forster declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 7A, the Looked After Children Report as a family member was a foster carer for the Authority. Councillor Goldswain declared a non-pecuniary interest in all items relating to the Whale Hill Association as a board member of the Whale Hill Association. Councillor McLuckie declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 7A, the Looked After Children Report as a family member was a social worker within the Authority.

AGENDA ITEM 3

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Councillor Jackson declared a non-pecuniary interest in all matters relating to Loftus Town Council as a member of Loftus Town Council. Councillor Peters declared a non-pecuniary interest in all matters relating to the Whale Hill Community Association as the Chair of the Whale Hill Community Association. Councillor Spencer declared a non-pecuniary interest in all matters relating to Guisborough Town Council as a Member of Guisborough Town Council, as a Member of the Executive Committee of the North York Moors, Coast and Hills, LEADER Programme and as Chairman of the Tees Valley Rural Community Council. He also declared a non-pecuniary interest in Prior Pursglove College as a Governor.

MINUTES RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 26 March 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

93. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mayor’s Charity Ball The Mayor thanked everybody who had supported her Charity Ball at Gisborough Hall on 16th April. It had been an enjoyable evening and over £4200 was raised for the Mayor’s two charities, the MS Society and Headway.

Elected Members The Mayor thanked all Councillors for their hard work and efforts on behalf of their residents and communities, and wished those who were not seeking re-election her very best wishes for whatever they did next.

NCIS Community Heart Award The Leader of the Council announced that the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart had won the ‘Regeneration’ category at the Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors’ North East Awards. The Heart had now been entered into the national RCIS awards in the ‘Regeneration’ category, which would be held in London in October.

NE Business Award The Leader of the Council announced that Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council was a finalist in the Apprenticeship Award category at the North East Business Awards 2015.

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The apprenticeship scheme had been set up to create jobs and opportunities for young people in the Borough, and had seen over 350 apprentices employed during this time. The Leader presented the award to the Mayor.

Prior Pursglove & South Bank School Ofsted Inspections The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education announced that Prior Pursglove’s recent Ofsted Inspection had taken place from the 3rd to the 6th March 2015. This had seen an improvement from the “inadequate” category to “good with a particular note of the student’s progression to higher education which was particularly good.” South Bank Primary, which was inspected from the 15th to the 16th April 2015, improved from the "requires improvement" category to “good with outstanding features in leadership and management, behaviour and safety.”

94. QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

94.1 Question 1: Question from Marlene Brown to Councillor Kay, the Cabinet Member for Highways, Planning and Transport :- (As part of the question a short audio recording was played which demonstrated the sounds from the abattoir). “Do you agree that the planning permission for Boosbeck slaughterhouse is improper and totally inappropriate?”

Councillor Kay replied as follows:- “Both the Court of Appeal and the High Court have concluded that the planning permission under which the current business operates is legal. In the High Court on the 22 June 2012 His Honour, Judge Jeremy Richardson said that the 1990 planning consent was lawful and he went on to say ‘let there be no doubt that Mr Banaras is perfectly entitled to conduct the business of an abattoir at the site’. In the Court of Appeal on the 23 January 2013 Lord Justice Richards said that the site had the benefit of an extant and valid planning permission granted in 1990, and he went on to say that the validity of that permission cannot be disputed. I am not a lawyer so I must accept the courts’ conclusions that the planning permission under which this business is operating is legal and proper. However, whether the use of this site as a slaughterhouse is appropriate is a different matter. I had the honour to be Councillor for Boosbeck from 1979 to 2003 and throughout that time I took up many

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justified complaints about the smell, noise and nocturnal disturbances emanating from the slaughterhouse. Of course Mr Banaras was not operating it at the time. I opposed planning permission in 1990 when I wanted the business to be moved to an industrial estate. Since 2003 I have not been Boosbeck’s Councillor and therefore I have less knowledge of the more recent alleged problems caused by the slaughterhouse. Nevertheless, I do not believe that the slaughterhouse should be in this location in amongst peoples’ homes. Therefore we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation. Although the slaughterhouse has a valid planning permission, the slaughtering of animals on this site is, in my opinion, and the opinion of many others, inappropriate.”

Supplementary question from Mrs Brown:- “I would like to thank you for acknowledging that the location of the slaughterhouse is inappropriate. This is consistent with the view taken by the officers in the Cabinet Business Papers dated the 16 September 2014. In their report the officers recommended that the Council serve a section 102 discontinuation notice and pursue compulsory purchase. The long preamble about the existing planning permission being legal and proper is a red herring which should not distract us from the real issue here. If the existing planning permission was not legal then none of us would be here today, and the officers would not have had to recommend that a section 102 be used. The officers confirmed in the report that the owners have confirmed their intention to negotiate a solution within a two month period, which was stated in paragraph 12.2. The officers recommended that a section 102 notice be issued and compulsory purchase be made on the site if negotiations were not completed within two months. Six months later and no action has been taken. Why not?”

Councillor Kay replied as follows:- “I have looked at the cabinet papers and the subsequent debate from the Borough Council meeting in October and I believe that the Council’s decision does not bind Council to the same extent as the previous Cabinet decision. It is a very fine line and I can understand why the people of Boosbeck are upset, and it may even be possible to challenge this, but again as I stated earlier I am not a lawyer. I spoke to one of your residents via email, we have the election next week and the whole Council make up might change. I believe that the best thing to do is wait until the election is over, wait until we find out who will be running the Local Authority, then have a review of the whole situation including the various

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decisions which have been taken by the Cabinet and the Council. I believe, and this is my personal belief, not the belief of the Council, that the resolutions that have been passed over the past year or so, have not left us in a very clear situation. Whatever happens, I have been briefed, despite what people in Boosbeck are saying, that it is still going to cost the Council an awful lot of money - perhaps more than it can - afford to re-locate the slaughterhouse.”

94.2 Question 2: Question from Marlene Brown to Councillor Hunt, the Cabinet Member for Environment & Rural Affairs:- “Do you agree that the sights, sounds, and smells that residents in Boosbeck are living with are totally unacceptable, and what are you going to do about it?”

Councillor Hunt replied as follows:- “Well the first part of the question is quite easy. The answer is yes. I have stood with you side by side from the beginning of this. No matter what happens, whether I’m elected again in the future, I will still stand by you as I do think that it’s wrong. In response to the second part of the question, I could read out all these papers but I don’t want to as I believe that you have heard it all before. I have asked and I have read over the last couple of weeks all the complaints and everything that have come through, I don’t believe that we have done everything we could do on the enforcement side, I can’t answer for the financial reasons, but I can tell you that Mr Banaras has been taken to court by us, and will appear for his first court hearing on the 10 June 2015. Taking him to court for the first time is a big step. I hope that this can be carried through with the next administration. “

Supplementary question from Mrs Brown:- “The question is not aimed at Councillor Hunt, but just generally. I would like to ask if anybody - any Councillor or any Council officer - disagrees with us? Is there anyone who thinks that it is ok to have a slaughterhouse in the middle of a community?”

Councillor Hunt replied as follows:- “I can’t see anyone that has ever been against you. There have always been circumstances, but I think that deep in everybody’s heart in this Council Chamber we all stand with you. Me personally, no matter what happens, I will still be stood with you and will support you right through.”

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94.3 Question 3: Question from Marlene Brown to Councillor Lanigan,

Leader of the Council:- “Residents were told at the Borough Council Meeting on 9th October 2014 that negotiations with the owners of Boosbeck slaughterhouse ended on 30th of September 2014, and Councillor Pickthall said when asked by you if he expected a resolution on or before 1st of March 2015, that he expected it to be resolved before then. As leader of the Council can you now tell the residents when this nightmare is going to end?”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I’d like to start by saying that I have placed on record my full support for the residents of the village and that the situation reported by them is unacceptable. I think that the whole Council has extreme sympathy for what is going on in the village. I can’t answer for Councillor Pickthall on this matter. I can say that both officers and Councillors are continuing to try and reach a solution. I have to say that this is something that all Councillors have to be involved in. I have asked that a full report on these matters be brought back to the newly elected Council as soon as possible after the election, so that the new Council can consider all of the options. In the meantime we will try and reach a negotiated agreement to end the situation once and for all.”

Supplementary question from Mrs Brown:- “If negotiations are still ongoing after 10 months, is it not now time to say that negotiations have failed, and either a Compulsory Purchase Order or a section 102 notice should be served with immediate effect to end the misery of the Boosbeck residents.”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I think that what is going to happen is, due to the ongoing situation that we have got, and because of the report that I have asked for, this will come back to the newly elected Council and a decision will have to be made. Thank you for your questions.”

95. LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN UNIT

The Council received and considered a report presented by Councillor Mason, the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education, which gave an update on the functions of the Children in Care Team. RESOLVED that on the successful motion of Councillor Mason and duly seconded by Councillor Lanigan the Children in Care Team report be approved.

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96. REVIEW OF THE CONTRACT PROCEDURE RULES

The Council received and considered a report presented by Councillor G Nightingale, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, which sought approval of the Contract Procedure Rules. RESOLVED that on the successful motion of Councillor G Nightingale and duly seconded by Councillor Lanigan the Contract Procedure Rules be approved.

97. REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL AFFAIRS The Cabinet Member for Environment & Rural Affairs presented a report which gave an update on his portfolio and he answered Members’ questions in relation to it – NOTED.

98. TO REPLY TO QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

98.1 Question 1: Question from Councillor Dunning to Councillor Harrison, Cabinet Member for Economic Development:- “I am grateful to the Cabinet Member for Economic Development for updating the Council as best he could at the last Council meeting on the issues relating to the SITA Wilton 11 site regarding local jobs and equal pay problems. Will the Cabinet Member look to support his Group Leader by looking to include conditions on “local jobs for local people” in the Council’s planning policies?”

Councillor Harrison replied as follows:- “The short answer Councillor Dunning is where possible yes. The Council already includes a condition in the planning policies for major applications that the developer must use best endeavours to provide local employment opportunities. This usually forms part of the s106 legal agreement. It must be noted that this only applies where planning permission is needed, which is not the case at the SITA development at Wilton. We must also be careful, as always, not to contravene equal opportunities legislation. I have a question for Councillor Dunning. If you ran a company in this area and developed your own team of skilled people, and you won a contract elsewhere, perhaps Newcastle, would you take your team of workers with you who you trusted and had employed or would you lay them all off to employ the local people who lived in Newcastle? I don’t think that is feasible, but I will be interested to hear what you have to say on that one.

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The real answer to this problem is twofold, firstly to encourage and facilitate business start-ups in our area to employ our people, and secondly to identify the skills these businesses require from the workforce and train our people so that they have those skills. I am happy to say that the Routes to Employment team are doing their best to do this.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Dunning:- “I think probably we would like to keep the workforce close to their families and close to home to answer your question. I do appreciate that we may not have an update in relation to the Enterprise team on their jobs front, but would it be possible to have an update on that? It’s the end of June 2015, I believe, before they have their employment terminated, and I know that we are looking to Europe to bail us out till September.”

Councillor Harrison replied as follows:- “The situation with the Enterprise team is that yes, their contracts were due to be terminated in June, but we have now had that extended to September 2015. A review has already started, as agreed at the Cabinet, when I believe you were present Councillor Dunning. A review has started on all our business advice teams including the Enterprise Team, the Strategic Growth Team and the Town Team and that will come back to Council in due course.”

Question 2: Question from Councillor Dunning to Councillor Lanigan, Leader of the Council:- "Today we have had three questions on the Boosbeck Abattoir. Whilst Redcar and Cleveland Council could not stop the Boosbeck Abattoir reopening due to planning law, does the current Leader of the Council agree that if true localism had been delegated by central government to local Councils then the reopening of the Boosbeck Abattoir could have been stopped?"

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I am extremely disappointed with Councillor Dunning. I don’t think it is possible or appropriate to try and respond to a theoretical question, which seems to have been aimed at making some sort of political point. This is not a political issue. It is a situation that is affecting the residents of Boosbeck, and that ultimately all 59 Councillors will need to consider after the election. We can only deal with the laws and I am sure that Councillor Dunning is aware of that and that is why we are in the position we are at the moment.”

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30 April 2015 Supplementary question from Councillor Dunning:-

“Contrary to the heckles from above, there is no way that I am a hypocrite, as I believe the abattoir should never have re-opened and that’s why the question was put. The question I would like to put to this administration, that is the Lib-Dem/Independent administration who have had almost 3 months in power, is this - how long does it take to close this down? I think that 3 months is long enough if they had the heart to close the abattoir, the law of the land is against us, there is no doubt that the legislation should have been changed in theHouse of Commons and I have to say that can only be down to Members of Parliament doing that.”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “Councillor Dunning, I don’t know how you dare point at this administration that has been in place for 12 weeks. You have heard from the Cabinet Member that we have legal action going to court. We have moved everything we can to resolve the position that we are in. We have not sat on this for two and a half years, and I absolutely resent the implication that you are pointing at the Independent Group and the Liberal Democrat Group. It’s disgraceful. You shouldn’t be allowed to play party politics in this Chamber. This is about the people of Boosbeck. We are trying every day to get a solution, along with the officers, the Cabinet and this administration. We have moved a great deal within 10 weeks - not the two and half years that you have sat on this.”

Question 3: Question from Councillor Goldswain to Councillor Hunt, Cabinet Member for the Environment and Rural Affairs:- “Following recent stories in the local media, Eston Residents Association has given up its “in bloom” efforts due to alleged apathy by the Council. Can the Cabinet Member please outline what help and support the group has received from the Council since 2011?”

Councillor Hunt replied as follows:- “As part of the “in bloom” competition the judges are looking for joint working from both community groups and the Council. The high standard of awards that has been achieved in the past in the Borough is recognition of the hard work put in by both the community groups and the Council. Being involved in the in bloom I can do nothing but praise the efforts of the Council. I’m sure that over the years Eston has had a lot of work and support offered and I am very disappointed that it has come to this.

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Maybe if they had shared the judges report we might have been able to know what we had done wrong, but to get accused of only trying to help I think is sad. It’s about working together. For all the years of good work that we have put in we have been crucified for a statement. I think that Eston looks great. The community groups have done a great job and I think that the Council has given them plenty of support, they have done a good job and I commend them for it.”

Question 4: Question from Councillor Dunning to Councillor

Lanigan, Leader of the Council:- “BBC Tees were in TunedIn! on the Redcar seafront praising what a great place TunedIn! is on St George's Day just gone. Would the Leader of the Council dismiss any rumours that the Council has any intention to close TunedIn!?”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I would like to offer my assurance to Councillor Dunning that the Council has absolutely no intention of closing TunedIn! youth facility. We are all aware that it is a fantastic venue. However, it is a sad fact that under the last administration the centre has been failing on key targets set by the Department of Education when funding was granted for this development. These targets were specifically around the provision of services for engagement with 13-19 year olds. This Council administration is taking a proactive approach to engage with the target group ensuring that the facility is fit for purpose and delivers the high quality of service that the young people need and deserve.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Dunning:- “I am glad of those assurances because a lot of people have been concerned that those rumours have been flying around, not least Mr Chris Nixon, who we all know does a fantastic job for Topline Performance, so I am sure that he will be reassured by that answer Madam Mayor, thank you.”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I understand that Mr Nixon works out of TunedIn!, and I have had a conversation with him. The most important thing with this is to make sure that we are doing what we said we would do, and that’s why perhaps people thought that there was something going on at TunedIn!. Yes there was, and I

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wanted to make absolutely sure that we were fulfilling the criteria that we were given. It turned out that we weren’t, but things are now in place to have a look at this. I was also extremely concerned, that we have young people in this Borough who were being charged £10 and £15 to go and attend courses there on a Saturday. Now it may be that some of these young people have a great deal of money, but I can absolutely assure you that the people I represent in East Cleveland do not, so these young people were missing out. I am quite sure that the next administration, because this report will be coming to them, will have a closer look.”

Question 5: Question from Councillor Pickthall to Councillor G Nightingale, Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources:- “Concerned residents have asked me to elaborate on the £3.5M black hole comment they have seen in the local media. When I resigned from the Cabinet in February, not only were the books balanced, Redcar & Cleveland Council were fortunate enough to have had a Council Tax collection rate higher than that originally estimated. Can the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources tell me if this black hole is real and if so what has gone wrong in the last two months while he was in charge?”

Councillor Nightingale replied as follows:- “I think it would be a good idea for Councillor Pickthall to have a look at the Council minutes, and refer to the answer that I gave to him at the meeting on the 26 March 2015, which is printed on pages 15-16 of your Council minute book. This gives you the answer to the question that you are asking. And you should also be aware of the differences between the current budget which balances expenditure and income and the difference from the medium term financial plan which goes up to 2020. There is nothing that has recently gone wrong with the current budget. It is in line to balance, as it must. The potential hole in the Council’s finances would arise from implementing Labour’s alternative budget which was proposed at the budget setting meeting on the 3 March 2015. This saw a freeze in the Council Tax instead of the 1% cut that was actually implemented. Labour wanted to increase the “across the board” Council tax support scheme from 80% to 100% and take £4.9 million out of the reserves. Councillor Pickthall will be aware that over half a million pounds was included in the budget to target help using the government welfare support needs grant and projecting forward the medium term financial plan to 2020, this would mean that Labour would have had to find £3.5

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million pounds additional money, and that’s where their black hole is. Nothing to do with what Councillor Pickthall is asking about.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Pickthall:- “I will apologise to Councillor Nightingale. I didn’t read these papers because I have been busy electioneering and I did not read them until after I had submitted my question. At the beginning of March we had a Council meeting where the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources proposed the council Tax cut of 1% for the coming year, and at that time he made no mention of the £3.5 million pound black hole, and he made no mention of the threats to big service cuts. Was it prudent to sell to Members of this chamber a 1% Council Tax cut or was it - as I suspect - a piece of blatant electioneering designed to overcome his political party’s unpopularity?”

Councillor Nightingale replied as follows:- “I don’t wish to respond Madam Mayor.”

Question 6: Question from Councillor Dunning to Councillor Lanigan, Cabinet Leader of the Council:- “Many congratulations to Redcar & Cleveland Council and all involved for winning the top building award the North East Renaissance Award better known as the region's 'Property Oscars.' This win, with 57 entrants, is a tremendous achievement. Does the current leader not agree that special thanks should go to the previous Director of Regeneration Ian Wardle and his team, along with former Redcar & Cleveland Cabinet Members Councillor Mark Hannon (Economic Development), Councillor Olwyn Peters (Culture Tourism & Leisure) Councillor Steven Goldswain (Community Safety) Councillor Norman Pickthall (Corporate Resources) Councillor Sheelagh Clarke (Health & Deputy Leader) and Councillor George Dunning (Leader)? They all made the big political decisions during difficult times and will leave a lasting legacy for everyone in the borough and much further afield.”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “Of course it is a marvellous award but I actually think that we had 100 officers working on this. Redcar and Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart was started as part of the Regeneration Masterplan project, and as such it was approved through normal Council procedures. Following its approval, it was delivered by many officers and was

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managed by the previous and current directors as you said, with the support of the Chief Executive and other senior directors and Council Members. I don’t actually feel that we need to single people out; the Cabinet was doing its job in order to bring this to Council. We all work together in this Chamber for the good of the Borough, and I was actually quite shocked by the question, that you want me to praise just a few Members of your Cabinet when you had several other Members of your Cabinet who all worked together on this.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Dunning:- “If the Leader of the Council had read the first line, she would see that the word “all” appeared in inverted commas, and I think that covers “all” including the 100 officers.”

Councillor Lanigan replied as follows:- “I did actually read that. I just thought that it was disingenuous of Councillor Dunning to name so many of his Cabinet, and leave the others out. I have nothing else to say Madam Mayor.”

The Mayor thanked the Members for their attendance and declared the

meeting closed.

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PROCEDURE TO BE USED IN CONSIDERING A PETITION AT FULL COUNCIL

Petition Details – Reference number PE 15 03 Date Received: 10/07/2015 Date of Meeting: 30/07/2015

This online petition appeals to the Council ‘do not use public money for improvements of Banaras Halal Meats Slaughterhouse in Boosbeck’. The associated narrative on the website states:

‘Redcar council wants to give £100,000 of public money to this family owned business and source another £400,000 in grants for development. The slaughterhouse is situated on Boosbeck village High Street adjacent to the children’s park and overlooked by at least 60 family homes, some just 20 feet away. The Council has received hundreds of complaints about the noise, smell and pollution from residents in our small village. Children walking past the site on their way to the primary school witness the bloody carcasses and body parts in skips outside. Families have been driven out of their homes by the smell of rotting guts. Neighbours can't sleep at night due to deliveries of bleating sheep and crying lambs. Public money should not be used to develop this business for its private owners. Planning permission should be discontinued to cease the torture and suffering this business creates.’

The petition currently contains 757 signatures from people who live, work or study in the Borough and therefore exceeds the threshold of 500 signatures required for petitions to be debated at Council where the petition relates to a local issue affecting no more than 2 electoral wards. Meeting arrangements The lead petitioner has been made aware of the proposed date for Council to consider the matter and will be in attendance at the meeting. The lead petitioner is Mrs Marlene Brown and she has indicated that there will be other petition supporters in attendance. She has also indicated that she has organised a paper petition about the same issue. The Council’s web site has been updated to indicate that Council will be considering the petition at it meeting to be held on 30 July 2015. Members have seen a background report from the Corporate Director of Regeneration and the Corporate Director of Corporate Resources. The report appears at pp 2 -56 of the Cabinet Workbook for the Cabinet meeting held Tuesday 7th July 2015, and is also available at http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcweb.nsf/homepage?ReadForm (The Council - Decision Making - Cabinet and Committee Papers - Cabinet - Papers of Meeting 7/7/15). Meeting Procedure

AGENDA ITEM 7A

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PROCEDURE TO BE USED IN CONSIDERING A PETITION AT FULL COUNCIL

• At the appropriate item on the Council agenda, the lead petitioner (or their nominated representative) will be invited, by the Mayor, to address the meeting and speak for a maximum of 5 minutes on the petition.

• The Mayor will invite the relevant Cabinet Member, Councillor Dale Quigley, to

respond.

• The Mayor will invite Members to debate the petition. The debate may continue for a period of time at the discretion of the Mayor, but will not usually exceed 30 minutes.

• At the end of the debate, the Mayor will conclude by thanking all for their

contributions.

• Formal written notification of any response the Council may wish to make to the petition will be sent to the lead petitioner following the meeting, and details will be posted on the Council’s website. The lead petitioner will be also advised of her rights, should she be dissatisfied with the Council’s response, to request that a review be undertaken by the Council’s Scrutiny Board.

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PROCEDURE TO BE USED IN CONSIDERING A PETITION AT FULL COUNCIL

Petition Details – Reference number PE 15 04 Date Received: 15/07/2015 Date of Meeting: 30/07/2015

This online and paper petition appeals to the Council to “stop the sale of the field at Swan’s Corner…..” The associated narrative on the paper petition and the website states:

“No to the sale of Swan’s Corner field for even more houses” “We, the undersigned, call upon Redcar and Cleveland Council to stop the sale of the field at Swan’s Corner for housing and maintain the green space to be developed as a local public amenity”

The petition currently contains 730 signatures from people who live, work or study in the Borough and therefore exceeds the threshold of 500 signatures required for petitions to be debated at Council where the petition relates to a local issue affecting no more than 2 electoral wards. Meeting arrangements The lead petitioner has been made aware of the proposed date for Council to consider the matter and will be in attendance at the meeting. The lead petitioner is Mr Ian Hart and he has indicated that he will be present at the Council meeting. The Council’s web site has been updated to indicate that Council will be considering the petition at it meeting to be held on 30 July 2015. Members will be provided with a background report to the petition. The report will also be made available on the Council’s web site. Meeting Procedure

• At the appropriate item on the Council agenda, the lead petitioner (or their nominated representative) will be invited, by the Mayor, to address the meeting and speak for a maximum of 5 minutes on the petition.

• The Mayor will invite the relevant Cabinet Member to respond.

• The Mayor will invite Members to debate the petition. The debate may continue

for a period of time at the discretion of the Mayor, but will not usually exceed 30 minutes.

• At the end of the debate, the Mayor will conclude by thanking all for their

contributions.

• Formal written notification of any response the Council may wish to make to the petition will be sent to the lead petitioner following the meeting, and details will be posted on the Council’s website. The lead petitioner will be also advised of his

AGENDA ITEM 7B

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PROCEDURE TO BE USED IN CONSIDERING A PETITION AT FULL COUNCIL

rights, should he be dissatisfied with the Council’s response, to request that a review be undertaken by the Council’s Scrutiny Board.

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CORPORATE RESOURCES DEPARTMENT DEMOCRATIC SERVICES Cabinet Minute Number :- 1

Report Title :- Boosbeck Abattoir

The Council is asked to agree the following Cabinet

recommendation in relation to the report to the Cabinet meeting held on 7 July 2015.

Minute Details:- This report updated Cabinet in relation to recent developments connected to the Boosbeck Abattoir and sought confirmation of Cabinet’s recommendations to the Borough Council in respect of future actions. Option 1 – Continue to monitor complaints and take enforcement action where required and where evidence permits; Option 2 – Set aside a budget of £4,000,000 to acquire the Property either by way of agreement or pursuant to a Compulsory Purchase Order; Option 3 – Service of a Section 102 Discontinuance Notice to cease operations at the site; Option 4 – Attempt to engage with the business and directly assist it to improve the premises and environmental impact of the abattoir, including agreement for more restrictive hours of operation; and Option 5 – Service of a s102 discontinuance notice in order to restrict the operating hours of the abattoir

Recommendations from Cabinet :- RESOLVED that Cabinet recommended to the Borough Council that:

1. Option 4 be approved; 2. The Corporate Director of Regeneration and the Corporate Director of

Corporate Resources be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, to finalise and implement a scheme for improvement of the site/premises in collaboration with the site owners, subject to:

a. The Council contributed no more than £100,000 of the total cost of any improvement scheme in accordance with the Council’s normal capital project approval process;

b. Appropriate protections for Council contributions being established;

AGENDA ITEM 8A

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and, c. Relevant planning and/or other consents being obtained.

3. In the event of it not being possible, for whatever reason, to proceed with option 4, that option 1 be pursued;

4. In the event of there being no agreement with Banaras Halal Meats Ltd for the proposed restrictions on the hours of operation, that the Corporate Director of Regeneration, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, be authorised to proceed with Option 5, subject to the Chief Finance Officer being satisfied that the potential compensation arising from such action was affordable from within existing resource.

5. That enforcement action continued as appropriate in any event.

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CORPORATE RESOURCES DEPARTMENT DEMOCRATIC SERVICES Cabinet Minute Number :- 12

Report Title :- The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

The Council is asked to agree the following Cabinet

recommendation in relation to the report to the Cabinet meeting held on 7 July 2015.

Minute Details:- This report sought approval for required changes to the Council’s Constitution in order to implement the provisions of the new Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”), which came in to force on 11 May 2015. There was no option but to modify the Constitution in recognition of the 2015 Regulations given their mandatory nature. In theory, there was some scope to modify the model wording set out within the regulations but, in practice, there seems little point in doing so given that any modification must still give effect to the legal requirements.

Recommendations from Cabinet :- RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommended to the Borough Council that the Assistant Director – Governance and Monitoring Officer be authorised to make the relevant changes to the Council’s constitution as set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

AGENDA ITEM 8B

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To:

Borough Council Date: 30 July 2015

Portfolio: Children’s Services and Education

Ref:

From:

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education

1.0 Purpose

To update elected members of the work undertaken by the Council’s Looked After

Children Unit.

2.0 Summary At the end of June 2015, there were 198 looked after children. Of these children, 156 are placed in foster care; 91 with in-house foster carers and 65 with independent and voluntary providers. 20 children are in residential care, 15 are at home with support, two are in independent living and five are in their adoptive placements. Since 1st April 2015, 83% of children becoming looked after have been placed with our in-house foster carers. We had three vacancies within the fostering team, one of our supervising social workers increased her hours to full time and we appointed two new supervising social workers, one internally from one of our safeguarding teams and one from another local authority. The two new workers will bring a wealth of experience to the team. We are currently assessing seven family and friends carers for looked after children. Placing children with family and friends is usually a better outcome for the children as they often already have an attachment to these carers. We have recently had a number of people enquiring about becoming foster carers and currently have 15 potential applicants. We are currently undertaking initial visits to discuss the process and will be presenting our next Skills To Foster training course this September. Our annual foster care achievement event the ‘FOSCARS’ are to take place on Friday 24th July in which we recognise the long service and dedication of our foster carers. All in house foster carers, their families and the children in their care are invited. We continue to work with the other local authorities in the Tees Valley with regard to recruitment of foster carers. We are in the process of working with a media company on a television advert which will go live this September.

The Looked After Children Team has appointed a newly qualified social worker who will be registered to practice in August. This social worker brings a good range of transferrable skills and knowledge from her previous work in a secure residential establishment for challenging young people. We have three children booked into permanency panel to agree a long term match with their current foster carers. There have also been a number of letters from the Assistant Director to agree a long term match with carers for those young people aged 14 and over who do not need to go to panel. Four children have been transferred to the looked after children team from the field social work teams and there are a further two to be transferred

Member Report Looked After Children Unit

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this month. Since the move to Seafield House there has been improved communication between the teams including early discussions and responses which have benefitted the children, young people, their families and carers. The looked after children unit welcomed the appointment of a new Accommodation and Development Officer who brings a wide range of skills and experiences from his previous role as the Youth Offer Development Officer. Amongst other duties he will be the lead officer for Corporate Parenting and ‘Staying Put’ for care leavers. The Staying Put scheme encourages foster carers to continue to support young people in their home after they leave care post 18 years; the local authority have a duty to consider this. The first Corporate Parenting Board meeting of the new cabinet was held on the 29th June at the Community Heart building in Redcar. Lead Member for Children and Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board Councillor Craig Hannaway highlighted the significant role the Board plays in ensuring young people who are looked after or leaving care have every opportunity to thrive. The next Corporate Parenting Board will be held on Tuesday 22nd September. Two Corporate Parenting rota visits have been organised for July, the first being to an in-house foster placement where three young people aged between 11 and 16 are being cared for, and the second being a visit to a residential placement outside of the borough. With a number of newly elected members expressing an interest in taking part in rota visits two rota visit awareness sessions have been organised to take place before the summer recess. In the permanency team, a further three couples were approved as adopters in May and June. One child was matched with adopters and has moved into his placement after a planned period of introductions in which the team provide support to the adopters and foster carers to ensure this process is a positive experience for all parties. There are currently eight adopters waiting to be matched with a child or children. The adopter’s details are placed on the Adoption Register which is a national directory of adopters and children so all adoption agencies have access to adopter’s details when planning for an appropriate match for children. The permanency panel has recruited two new members who are adopters and were recruited, assessed and approved by Redcar’s permanency team. The team organised an annual ‘Summer Get Together’ on 4th July 2015 at Guisborough Forest. It is a social event for adopters and their children to have the opportunity to meet other adopters and children who have experienced the adoption process. The Adoption Support Fund was launched by the government in May 2015 and up to now the team have identified two families who would benefit from therapeutic support services. The post adoption support workers have completed assessments and applications have been completed to send to the relevant agency commissioned by the Department for Education to manage the fund. Information regarding the fund has been sent to adopters, included in our adoption information packs and placed on the Council’s adoption website. The permanency team have developed an Adopter Focus group and the first meeting was held in May 2015. The group currently consist of six adopters who were recruited, assessed and approved by Redcar’s permanency team. The initial meeting focussed on adoption support services and what they would like the team to provide, information about the adoption support fund, adoption support group coffee mornings and post adoption support training. The next meeting is to be held in September. The adoption service undertakes an annual survey when adopters are given an opportunity to feedback on all aspects of the service. This has recently been completed

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and further information will follow in a future report. The leaving care service currently works with 91 young people; 35 in care aged 15-17 and 56 who have left care, aged 16 – 25. We have 11 applications so far for our Teenagers2Work programme which gives 16+ looked after children and care leavers the opportunity to complete a one or two week work experience. The young people are paid and also receive a certificate of completion. Further updates will follow later in the year as our young people complete their work experience opportunities. So far, six young people have signed up for the National Citizenship Award and various work opportunities are being sought in the subject area the young person has chosen. This is a four week activity based programme which develops young people’s social skills and confidence. The aim of the programme is to prepare young people for post 16 education and training. There have been numerous achievements this month by our care leavers. One young person has received a 1st in her Dissertation in Childhood Studies at Teesside University. She is awaiting her final mark in completing her Degree. One young person has secured a place at a University in Australia for a year. One young person has secured an apprenticeship at Skelton Car Valeting Centre through his own efforts. Two young people have secured employment and one has completed a Level One certificate in his construction apprenticeship. We are currently looking at holiday activities for our young people. The summer trips enable our young people to build upon their confidence and social skills whilst developing positive relationships with each other and their personal advisers. Our young people are always consulted and meet to decide where to go. Attendance at the young people’s groups is steadily increasing and currently five young people attend the cookery group to learn how to cook good value, nutritious meals in preparation for adulthood. In relation to the education of looked after children, the virtual school head has reported that as we are coming towards the end of the 2014 - 2015 school year, the new system for tracking the attendance and educational progress of our looked after children (known as ‘Looked After Call’) has already proved to be a very valuable tool. This system provides us with real time data for attendance, exclusions and attainments, which helps us to provide more timely support and intervention should concerns emerge. For example, it has been possible to avert two potential permanent exclusions as a result of early alerts, by being able to work alongside the schools to find an alternative course of action.

3.0

Conclusions/recommendations

Recommended that the Council notes and accepts the content of the report.

4.0 Further information sources

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To:

Borough Council Date: 30 July 2015

From:

Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services and Education

Ref: Children’s Services & Education Annual Report

1.0 Purpose

To provide Borough Council with developments within the Children’s Services and

Education Portfolio. The portfolio consists of the following themes:

• Children’s Services • Education

2.0 Summary

2.1 CHILDREN’S SERVICES ‘making it better where need is greatest’ This section of the report outlines the developments within Children’s Services under the following headings:

• Early Help • Social Work and Safeguarding • Looked After Children and Care Leavers

3.0 EARLY HELP

3.1 Children’s Centres Redcar and Cleveland Children’s Centres work to a clear core purpose to reduce inequalities in child development and school readiness. An average of 80% of 0-5 year olds are registered with Children’s Centres across the Borough and accessed reach is good at over 65%. Our Children’s Centre team includes highly skilled practitioners delivering quality early years education activities, targeted to those children with additional needs in terms of their social, emotional and educational development. All of our Children’s Centres are judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good.’ Our most recent Ofsted Group Inspections were conducted in November 2014 in our Central and East Localities. The outcome was extremely positive, achieving ‘Good’ in all 4 judgement areas. The inspection team was particularly impressed with the high quality of our case files and how we track families’ progress. We also received excellent feedback on our early years quality, training and employment, partnerships, children with disabilities, Two Year Offer and evidence-based parenting programmes.

Member Report Children’s Services and Education

AGENDA ITEM 9

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Children’s Centre key workers deliver targeted, family support that includes an outreach and home visiting service and evidence-based parenting programmes, such as Mellow Parenting, Family Links, Infant Massage and the Freedom Programme for women dealing with issues of domestic abuse. Health Visiting Clinical Leads and Early Help Centre Managers have developed joint Health Priority Improvement Plans. They have set objectives and targets to improve health outcomes for children and their families across the Borough, including breastfeeding, weaning, and child and maternal obesity. They have also developed an integrated early help pathway which maps all health and local authority services.

3.2 Early Help Assessment and Planning We have transformed the way in which we assess needs and plan support at level 2 of the child wellbeing model. The CAF process and documentation has been reviewed and developed into a more holistic, family focussed Early Help Assessment. This is an assessment based around the needs of the whole family. Outcomes are agreed and action plans put in place with a Team around the Family (TAF) approach and families are allocated key workers where appropriate. Regular review meetings monitor progress and ensure outcomes are being met and processes have been established to quality assure Early Help Assessments and Plans. In April 2015 a new electronic management system, known as the Early Help Module, (or EHM) was introduced to support the referral, assessment, planning and review process for all early help cases. Prior to the implementation of the system, it was difficult to produce effective management information to drive performance. Although it is early days, we are starting to see improved performance management to better understand the impact of early help on outcomes for children and young people.

3.3 Free two year old childcare places Since September 2013, we have been working with schools, childcare settings and childminders to develop sufficient provision to offer free childcare places for eligible 2 year olds. To be eligible for a free childcare place for up to 15 hours per week, parents must be on one of a range of out of work benefits, or be in receipt of working tax credits and earn less than £16,190. Two year olds who are in the care of the local authority, adopted or in receipt of DLA in their own right are also eligible. To date, nine Primary Schools have established a separate two year old provision with our support, as well as us working in partnership with existing day nurseries to expand as well as with Ofsted registered childminders. There are two further settings opening this year, but our main focus now is to promote the free childcare places through practitioners and also through our children’s centre staff who are engaging with eligible families. At the end of March 2015 (Spring term) 81% of eligible two year olds were taking up their free childcare place. Figures for the Summer term 2015 will be available at the end of August.

3.4 The Families’ Information Service This service is an information hub for the public and offers a comprehensive range of impartial information, advice and guidance to families about the wide range of services available to them for their children and young people. The team is also responsible for the local authority’s on-line directory of services which meets Duty 12 of the Childcare Act 2006. The website is called the People’s Information Network (PIN) and since April 2013 has also included information on Adult Services, including those to support older

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people. This area of the website is the foundation for the Council’s Information Advice and Guidance strategy to meet the new Care Act regulations. In August 2014 the PIN website was also further developed to include the statutory ‘Local Offer’ of services available for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, aged 0-25 years. This new area of the website was built in conjunction with parents and professionals and continues to be reviewed, updated and refined. As well as managing the PIN, the FIS offer includes a broad range of information, advice and guidance including support to find childcare and short breaks. The School Choice Advisor is on hand to provide information about the school options available and to support admission appeals, and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Officer helps parents and young people through the new Education, Health and Care planning process. This is provided through home-visits (where appropriate), advice over the telephone, mail-shots, the FIS Facebook page and a texting service.

3.5 Whole Family Key Working: Building on the Success of Troubled Families Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has been identified by Louise Casey, Director-General of the Troubled Families Team, as being one of the highest performing Troubled Families Programmes in the country. In September 2014 we became one of the first authorities to start delivering the expanded troubled families programme. Our target was to bring a minimum of 189 troubled families into the programme between 1st Oct 2014 and end of March 2015. We exceeded this target by 104 additional families, supporting 293 families by end of March 2015. We are building on this success by embedding the key worker approach throughout the Early Help Workforce. We are now supporting more families with a dedicated key worker whose role it is to provide, broker and coordinate effective and appropriate support for families. The overarching objective is to build resilience within families, helping them to learn to do things for themselves so that eventually their needs can be met through universal and community provision. As at July 2015, 272 families were open to the keyworkers and being actively supported.

3.6 Our Youth Offer The move of the Youth and Community Service into Early Help in April 2014 signalled a clear intent to bring together areas of expertise and resources to meet the needs of young people. In March 2015 the Targeted Youth Service became part of the Universal Youth and Community Service, with a remit to tackle anti-social behaviour and support young people who are engaging in risk taking behaviours. They provide a range of services for vulnerable young people, including the delivery of risk-taking roadshows about drugs, alcohol, underage sex and smoking cessation in schools, contraception clinics and one-to-one support for those young people identified by schools as being in need of additional support around behaviours. This has resulted in a reduction in risk taking behaviours by young people across the borough. We recognise the important role that our local schools, voluntary and community groups play in supporting young people within the Borough. The YOYO small grants scheme was introduced in April 2014 to provide ‘grass routes’ funding of up to £2000 to groups or organisations who either work with, or would like to work with, children and young people. Children and young people were actively involved in the decision to award a grant. Applications that met the basic criteria were scored by groups of young people, with qualitative and quantitative feedback collated and presented to the

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final panel. By April 2015 the YOYO Small Grants Scheme had funded 22 individual organisations to deliver extra-curricular positive activities, projects and initiatives to over 2,000 young people across the Borough. As a consequence of these changes, what was a standalone Universal Youth Service now includes an extensive targeted provision and significantly improved partnership working. This has preserved universal provision and enabled us to develop a more flexible and responsive approach, offering activities at the times and in places where they are most needed. The aim has been to harness our resources around young people, engage them in positive activities, raise their self-esteem and provide support where necessary. There is still centre based work across 16 Youth Centres some of which are run in partnership with other agencies or schools and the service still coordinates the Duke of Edinburgh Award alongside other informal accreditation for young people who are not achieving formal qualifications at school

3.7 Parenting Programmes The range of parenting programmes available across the borough has been developed since January 2015 to include Parenting Puzzle Group and one to one training which is a new evidence-based universal programme suitable for parents with children aged from birth to 11 years old who want to know how best to support their child’s development and learn effective parenting strategies. Parents attend either a 10 weekly group session or are supported on a one to one basis in their own home. They are taught to respond to their child more empathetically and effectively manage unwanted child behaviour. This is in addition to the Mellow Parenting group course which is aimed at parents of pre-school age children who have complex emotional needs (such as severe depression, anxiety disorders and experience of domestic violence) and would benefit from support to identify how their past experiences have shaped their parenting style. This course helps them reflect and improve their parenting skills. An ambitious staff training programme has resulted in 116 workers from across the early help workforce undertaking parenting training from April 2014 to July 2015 including key-workers, children’s centre staff and colleagues from the Education Welfare Service and Social Work teams. Since January 2015, 40 parents have completed the 10 week Parenting Puzzle programme across the borough, in addition to 17 quite vulnerable mums who have completed Mellow Parenting.

4.0 SOCIAL WORK & SAFEGUARDING

4.1 First Contact A comprehensive evaluation of our ‘front door’ (the way the public contact us), arrangements was undertaken during the last year as part of the Best Start in Life review. This resulted in a new ‘First Contact Team’ being established in Autumn 2014 to provide a single, clear pathway into the Children and Families Service. The First Contact Team has robust mechanisms in place to respond to all concerns and requests for help for children and their families within Redcar and Cleveland, providing an effective interface between the Children and Families Service, the public and other professionals. Our responses are timely and proportionate, and ensure that risk is managed effectively. Early Help specialists are co-located in the team to work alongside experienced social workers and fully participate in the decision making process. This ensures that where appropriate, children are referred into Early Help services, providing a proportionate response to their needs. The benefit of this approach to date

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has been a reduction in the number of referrals into statutory social work services and a corresponding increase in demand for Early Help Services. We are proactively exploring opportunities to further develop a multi-agency approach to First Contact arrangements. There is a Multi-Agency Children’s Hub (MACH) working group involving Hartlepool and Stockton who are developing a North Tees MACH. Redcar & Cleveland is observing the progress being made by the group with a view to potentially rolling this out into the South Tees area, which would include both Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough. A Barnardo’s SECOS (Sexual Exploitation of Children On the Streets) worker has been commissioned to work in the First Contact Team to provide direct case work with children and young people who are at risk of sexual exploitation, as well as providing advice to staff and training through the Redcar and Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board. It is the intention that this will embed the specialism and result in an up-skilling of the existing workforce to deal with child exploitation.

4.2 Use of Thresholds The Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board Threshold Criteria: Continuum of Need (2014) ensures consistent decision making and management of risk. A clearer understanding of the definition of Section 17 (Children in Need) and Section 47 (Child Protection) thresholds among all partners has resulted in the consistent application of the Criteria when making decisions about children.

4.3 Social Work Services Children and Families Social Work Services are based within Seafield House and cover each of the three localities namely the East, Central and West areas of the borough. The Children and Families Management Team meet on a monthly basis to sample and evaluate performance within the Children and Families Social Work Services. The Local Authority has a general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in need within their area. Redcar and Cleveland Children and Families Social Work Services must, so far as is consistent with their duty, promote the upbringing of children in need by their families through provision of a range and level of service appropriate to the child's needs. The Local Authority has a statutory duty to safeguard children in need of protection. It is the responsibility of the Children and Families Social Work Services, in partnership with other statutory agencies, to undertake child protection enquiries into whether the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm; and to assess whether action is required to safeguard and promote the child's welfare. Social Workers are responsible for assessing the needs of all children known to Children and Families Social Work Services, planning appropriate support and interventions for a child and his/her family to improve the child’s outcomes. When the outcomes for children within their family do not improve despite support provided and the child is continuing to suffer significant harm the Local Authority may consider child protection planning or legal action to secure a child’s welfare and plan for their long term care. When improved outcomes for children have been sustained within their family and there is no enduring need for specialist intervention from Social Work Services, a ‘step down’ meeting will be held to transfer the family to Early Help for continued support at a lower level.

4.4 Private Fostering A child or young person is genuinely privately fostered if all of the following apply: he or she is under the age of 16, or disabled and under 18, he or she is cared for and

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provided with accommodation by an extended family member, other than a close relative, family friend, and the person caring for and providing accommodation for the child has done so or intends to do so for a period of 28 days or more. We do awareness raising in a number of ways including social media and facilitate multi agency training. During the Private Fostering week on the 8th July this year there was a strategy in place designed to profile the issue of privately fostered children. Currently we have 2 private fostering arrangements. In May 2012, the planned Ofsted inspection graded Private Fostering as good.

4.5 Specialist Support Services We have a dedicated Specialist Support team to deliver specialist support to children and young people receiving statutory social care interventions. They work alongside social workers to prevent an escalation of needs and ultimately to reduce the number of children and young people entering the care system. The Specialist Support Team is a group of highly trained professionals with extensive experience of family support work. Their skills enable them to deliver intensive interventions to the most vulnerable children and young people living in the Borough. The scope of this service area includes:

• short breaks and out of school provision for children and young people with disabilities;

• a young person’s drug and alcohol service; • a teenage pregnancy service; • targeted support for homeless 16 and 17 year olds; • an outreach and crisis response service for those children and young people

assessed to be on the ‘edge of care’; • parenting support service • a supervised contact service;

Each member of the team has their own specialism and we have good evidence to support the level of skills, knowledge and experience within the workforce.

4.6 All Age Disabilities This is a new service area comprising of the Special Education Needs Service, Children with Disabilities social work team and Adults with Learning Disabilities Social work team. Our Vision is to work in partnership with families and professionals to transform the way in which children, young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities are supported to reach their full potential. The All Age Disability Service provides an assessment and care management service to individuals with special educational needs and disabilities from the age of 0 to 25 years. It joins up the Children’s Disability Social Work team with the Special Educational Needs team (that used to sit within the Education department), in order to coordinate services more effectively for families with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. At 25 years of age, young adults with physical disabilities will transfer to the adults’ locality social work teams through the transitions process. Young adults with a learning disability will remain with the disability social work team. In order to find out if an individual needs a Disability Social Worker, each individual and their carer will be offered an ‘Assessment of Need’ and/or ‘Carers Assessment’, to ensure they meet certain criteria and that appropriate levels of support to meet their needs are provided. These Social Work Assessments will be evidence based, so it is

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essential that assessments or reviews completed by other professionals involved with the family also contribute towards the Social Work ‘Assessment of Need’.

4.7 Redcar and Cleveland Safeguarding Children’s Board (RCSCB) The Redcar and Cleveland Safeguarding Children’s Board is the statutory mechanism to coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area, and ensures the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes. While Local Safeguarding Children Board do not have the power to direct other organisations they do have a role in making clear where improvement is needed. Each Board partner retains their own existing line of accountability for safeguarding. The statutory members of the Local Safeguarding Children Board include at least one representative of the Local Authority, Cleveland Police, NHS England, South Tees and Hartlepool and Stockton Clinical Commissioning Groups, South Tees NHS Foundation Trust, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, National Probation Service, Durham Tees Valley Probation CRC, South Tees Youth Offending Service, Schools, Redcar and Cleveland Voluntary Development Agency, Cafcass, Cleveland Fire Service. The Board also has two lay members representing the local community, one of which is a former member of Safe4Us the junior Local Safeguarding Children Board. There is an independent Chair. Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board has key functions which are outlined within its constitution, with some of the responsibilities delegated to an Executive. The work of the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board is undertaken by the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board support staff and the multi-agency task groups, which are supported by the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board staff. There is an ongoing commitment to work collaboratively with neighbouring Local Safeguarding Children Board’s across the Tees area which has brought increased opportunities to minimise duplication and maximise effort. Key Tees Wide Initiatives include;

• Development of a Tees Wide E Safety Strategy • Development of Tees Wide safeguarding procedures • Establishment of Tees Child Sexual Exploitation Group • Continuation and Development of the South Tees Local Safeguarding Children

Board Training Task group • Tees Child Death Overview Panel

There is close liaison and joint working with the Redcar and Cleveland Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Committee, to ensure the interface between adult and children’s services is strengthened. This work includes attendance at respective Boards, and a joint action plan regarding shared initiatives and an interface procedure is currently being developed. More than 16,000 staff have accessed Local Safeguarding Children Board e-learning courses on basic awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect, with more than 70% completing the training, which compares favourably to national completion rates for e-learning. Child Death Overview Panel The Local Safeguarding Children Board is responsible for ensuring that a review of

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each death of a child normally resident in the Local Safeguarding Children Board area is undertaken by a Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP). This procedure includes review of all deaths of all children in Redcar & Cleveland aged 0 up to 18 years for all reasons or causes. Redcar and Cleveland currently host the Child Death Service on behalf of the four Tees authorities to ensure that all child deaths across Tees are responded to. The Panel has a fixed core membership drawn from organisations represented on the Local Safeguarding Children Board with flexibility to co-opt other relevant professionals to discuss certain types of death as and when appropriate. During 2014-15 Tees CDOP reviewed 28 child deaths making a total of 259 reviewed over the 7 years of operation. Between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2015 there were 7 child deaths in Redcar & Cleveland, 3 of which were unexpected. Any lessons learned in Tees which may be of benefit to other areas are circulated through the CDOP national network and other areas also share important messages this way. An example of this is the recommendation that a First Aider should always be present in school dining halls after a local schoolchild died after a choking episode. It is important that families are offered appropriate support around the death of their child and CDOP regularly updates the list of resources available locally and publishes this on its’ website: http://www.tees-cdrp.org.uk. Junior Local Safeguarding Children Board The Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board has worked with children and young people to establish a Junior Local Safeguarding Children Board called “Safe4Us”. This is a Board of young people who are directly accountable to the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board. This group of young people is supported by Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board support staff and officers from the statutory and voluntary sector. It establishes safeguarding priorities and has its own dedicated work-plan. Training has been developed to enhance the skills of the Safe4Us members to enable them to be ready to take on tasks/projects when needed. Each young person has their own file and learns communication, observation, feedback, research, inspection and many more skills. The training plan is designed to allow the group to be able to take on projects/topics in between training when needed. In 2014-15 Safe4Us took part in Child Sexual Exploitation and Grooming awareness training. Following this training Safe4Us has been exploring if Redcar & Cleveland’s young people are aware of what Child Sexual Exploitation and Grooming means and the dangers involved. Chelsea’s Choice performance was commissioned by Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board in 2014-15 to perform to pupils in Redcar and Cleveland Schools. Safe4Us designed pre presentation questionnaires on Child Sexual Exploitation and grooming, these were circulated to young people in Redcar and Cleveland Schools to test their knowledge on the subject. Safe4Us presented the findings at the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding Children Board Conference in February 2015. Post-performance questionnaires have also been circulated and Safe4Us are evaluating the success of the performance.

4.8

Review and Inspection The Review and Inspection Unit consists of Independent Reviewing Officers, a Practice and Inspection Officer, a Practice Support Officer, a Local Authority

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Designated Officer (LADO)/Inspection and Quality Assurance Officer, Principal Social Worker for Adult and Children, a Safeguarding Business Support Manager together with Child Protection Conference Minute Takers and administrative support for Child Protection, Looked After Children and foster-care review processes. The Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) have a number of responsibilities but principally their statutory function is regarding care planning for Looked After Children. This is very much their core business and the role is to ensure a measure of independent oversight in these processes. It is the key role for the IRO to improve outcomes for Looked After Children by reviewing each child’s care plan, making sure it is effective and to ensure the child’s wishes and feelings are taken into account. In addition to the above functions IRO’s will undertake the chairing role at Child Protection Conferences, Foster-Care reviews and carry out stage two complaints where service users have indicated that they are not satisfied with the outcome of the less formal, first stage of a complaint.

4.9 Vulnerable Exploited Missing Trafficked (VEMT) The early identification of child sexual exploitation is critical in implementing effective and timely interventions. Redcar and Cleveland and three other Children's Safeguarding Boards (Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, and Stockton-On-Tees) operate a Tees wide approach to tackling Child Sexual Exploitation and have in place a Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Procedure. This means that across the Tees Valley a high priority is given to ensuring we have in place a multi-agency understanding and commitment to safeguarding children from child ssexual exploitation. The Tees Strategic Group provides a forum for sharing good practice and intelligence across the four local authorities. The group has been created to provide strategic operational commissioning direction from across Cleveland Police force and is chaired by a Detective Superintendent of Cleveland Police. The group has developed action plans to improve co-ordinated multi agency activity. The Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Sub Group has been in operation since February 2013 and is now well-established and is attended by a number of partner agencies. The remit of the group is to ensure that all children deemed as vulnerable, missing, trafficked and/or subject to child sexual exploitation are identified early and that interventions to safeguard the child are delivered timely. The Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Sub Group has clear lines of governance and is accountable to the Teeswide Strategic Group and the Local Safeguarding Children Board’s. The Tees Strategic Group provide a forum for the sharing of good practice across four of the ‘Tees' Local Safeguarding Children Board sub groups. An example is the development of a project to raise awareness with small businesses about the importance of being vigilant with regards to the exploitation of children and young people. A Tees wide media campaign ‘In The Wrong Hands’ was launched in May 2015. Chelsea’s Choice, a theatre play was commissioned, which centred around child sexual exploitation and proved to be effective in promoting internet safety and healthy relationships. The Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Sub Group have developed a pathway and evidenced based risk management tool which feeds into the Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Practitioners Group, where children are referred to for information / intelligence sharing and risk management plans when appropriate, are developed and

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reviewed. The sub group have a number of task and finish groups which have developed terms of reference, benchmarked against practice, undertaken data mapping and this has resulted in a Data Sharing and Information Group, which will ensure that all agencies data is collated in a central point, the child’s electronic file, which will allow better analysis of information. An assessment tool is used to identify the level of risk, and if deemed appropriate the case will then be discussed in the Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing or Trafficked Practitioners Group (VPG), who will share information regarding the child and family and initiate an intervention plan with timescales and outcomes to be achieved. Any young person exiting the VPG will have an up to date risk assessment completed around the level of risk. In circumstances where young people are subject to, or at risk of, child sexual exploitation we have in place appropriate intervention and investigations, that are integral to the support planning for the individual. There are specialised therapeutic services commissioned to support young people who are at risk, where it is assessed appropriate and the need identified.

5.0 LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN & CARE LEAVERS

5.1 Looked after Children Team The Looked After Children Team provides social work support to children in care aged from birth up to 18 years of age for whom the plan is a long-term arrangement of living apart from their parents. The plan for the child or young person may be adoption, long term fostering, residential care or independent living. The main aim of the team is to ensure stability of placement, and ensure that children and young people access health, education, specialist, and other services to promote positive outcomes and enable a successful transition to adulthood. Life Story work is completed as part of all social workers role to ensure that children and young people are aware of their life history and the reasons why they came into are. As at 30th June 2015, the looked after unit were supporting 126 children and young people of the 198 in care. There are 91 in the looked after team and 35 supported by the social workers in the leaving care team, (who support young people as they approach 16 years as part of their transition to adulthood). The remaining children are supported by social workers in the locality and children with disability teams, (who hold these cases until care proceedings are concluded and a plan of long term care has been approved). Strong links continue with the Fostering and Permanency teams, TARGET Leaving Care Team, Education, Health, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Youth Offending Service and other agencies for the benefit of the children and young people within all placements. The Looked After Children and Care Leavers Achievement Awards took place in October 2014. It recognised the outstanding achievements of children and young people across several different categories, including: Outstanding Determination; Most Improved Learner and Overcoming Barriers Award. The Corporate Director of People Services award went to two well-deserved care leavers. One visited Sri Lanka to help out at a dental practice and one travelled to Malaysia to help out at a school for children with disabilities. The next event is currently being planned and will be held in November 2015.

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5.2 Fostering The Fostering Team recruit, assess, train, develop and support foster carers. There are currently 63 approved fostering households who provide a range of placements for looked after children. The Council’s Fostering Service provide a range of placements including: • Long-term and short-term • Short Break Care and Support/Respite Care • Family & Friends Care The relationship between the team, foster carers and the child’s social worker is pivotal in ensuring placements are stable. Their work must always be compliant with the Fostering Service Regulations (2014) and National Minimum Standards. During 2014/2015 the fostering service designed and delivered 21 courses in a range of topics relevant to the fostering role; overall 130 people attended. Many of these courses were co-facilitated by experts in the area – e.g. Neo-natal nurses, police officers with experience of Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked children, and children and adolescent mental health workers. Additionally many courses were attended not only by foster carers but by other staff who make up ‘the team around the child’. This multi-disciplinary approach has supported both foster carers and staff to recognise different roles, understand each other’s perspective and acknowledge the part they play in a child’s life. The carers have also gained skills and knowledge. Foster carers have also accessed training and development from our own workforce development and from the local safeguarding board. Other resources are made available to foster carers including books, DVD’s and e- learning. These are invaluable to those foster carers who find it more difficult to attend specific training sessions, and again contributes to their feeling valued and part of the team, essential to foster care retention. Follow up on the impact of training on foster carers practice is important and foster carers are asked to reflect on what they have learnt and how they have put this into practice. This helps reinforce the value that we place on foster carers’ experience, opinion, skills and knowledge. Redcar and Cleveland made a successful application (one of only eight authorities nationally) to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) to become a pilot authority for the KEEP training programme. This programme has been developed from a successful programme in the United States and provides training to improve the skills and confidence of foster carers working with children aged 5 to 12, so placements are less likely to break down. Up to now, 10 foster carers have completed the sixteen week programme which was facilitated by staff from BAAF and the fostering team. These carers continue to meet regularly to support each other with the sessions being co-ordinated by the fostering team. Feedback about the course was very positive, in particular the opportunity to talk through real situations and get advice from their peers. Our foster carers report that they have successfully used KEEP strategies to manage difficult situations. This has helped to maintain a positive home environment for them and our looked after children. The children of foster carers have their own support group, which continues to develop and increase in numbers. Children of foster carers are often the key to having stable placements and this group ensures foster carers children have an opportunity to meet with others in similar circumstances. Recruiting more local, in-house foster carers continues to be a priority for the team and

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the Placement & Recruitment officer has a range of advertising and marketing campaigns ongoing for 2015. This includes working alongside the other Tees Valley authorities; they are currently working on a fostering television advert due out in September 2015. In July 2014 we held our Annual FOSCARS award ceremony to celebrate the achievement of our Foster Carers and their families and to thank them for doing an extraordinary job in sharing their lives, family and homes with our children and young people. Our next event is planned for 24th July 2015. From April 2014, to date, Fostering Panel has recommended approval for ten Fostering households, providing 15 placements for children and young people on a short term and long term basis. Currently 12 potential foster carers are being assessed, which includes family and friends carers. We also have a further 15 interested applicants and initial visits are taking place to discuss the fostering process and take some potential carers through to the next Skills to Foster training in September.

5.3 Permanency The Permanency Team works towards all aspects of permanency for children and young people in care. Social workers recruit and assess prospective adopters, match children with adoptive carers and co-ordinate support for carers who have secured Special Guardianship Orders and Adoption Orders. From May 1st 2015 the Department for Education has made £19.3 million available to Local Authorities to help fund adoption support services. Ten authorities were pilots for the Adoption Support Fund in 2014 ahead of the national implementation in May. The Fund will be available to provide specialist therapeutic services to help children settle into their adoptive placements. Following the completion of adoption support assessments the Permanency Team have identified families who would benefit from this support and applications have been submitted. The Department for Education have recently issued guidance regarding the regionalising of adoption agencies. The aim is to increase the timeliness of matches, improve adopter recruitment and adoption support. It is hoped regional adoption agencies will be able to deliver services on a greater scale and have more innovative approaches to practice. Redcar and Cleveland are collaborating with neighbouring authorities regarding the viability of a Tees Valley adoption service. 25 Adoption Orders have been made from 1st April 2014 to date and five children are currently in their adoptive placements awaiting their Adoption Orders being made. From 1st April 2014 to date, 21 adopters have been approved and a further six are currently being assessed. The post adoption support worker continues to manage the letter box service for our Agency and also organises direct contact for siblings where it is felt to be appropriate. This enables appropriate links between birth families and children and adopters, where it is deemed in the child’s best interests. Adult adoptees who wish to trace their birth family or want information about their birth are also supported. We receive referrals via other Adoption Agencies or directly from the General Registrar. The post adoption social worker also offers direct support to families facing difficulties. We continue to have a contractual arrangement with After Adoption services where social workers can refer birth family members whose children are being, or have been adopted to enable them to receive further support.

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The team have delivered Life Story work training to social care staff. This emphasises the importance of capturing memories for children and explains the importance of Child Appreciation days for children as part of their adoption introductions. These days allow the adopters to meet all those individuals involved with their child. Those attending can give information and anecdotes about the child.

5.4 Leaving Care TARGET Leaving Care Team provides a statutory service under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. The aim is to improve life chances and provide a personal adviser for young people in and from care aged 16 to 21 years (up to 25 years if in education, employment or training) and provide support and guidance during their transition through adulthood. Currently the leaving care service is working with 35 young people in care and 56 care leavers aged 16 – 25. TARGET has two qualified social workers in the team working alongside the young people’s personal advisers. The leaving care team works closely with the looked after children team, particularly in relation to transferring relevant young people to the service. Pathway planning ensures the social workers undertakes an assessment of need and identifies actions to support young people in the following areas: health and development, self-care skills, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation, financial support, accommodation, education, employment, training, and emotional and behavioural development. TARGET Resource Centre provides a drop-in whereby young people can see their personal adviser for information, advice and guidance and have access to computers and the internet. TARGET continues to work in partnership with internal and external training providers where young people can access a range of opportunities. A Personal, Education, Employment and Training plan (PEET) is completed with young people aged 16 -19 involving Routes to Employment, colleges and training providers to ensure young people are reaching their full potential. Financial incentives are paid to young people who are engaged in education, employment or training and all young people are supported to apply for grants or entitlements. Other financial and accommodation support packages are available for young people in higher education and training. TARGET facilitate the Teenagers to Work scheme whereby young people aged 16- 21 are able to access a work placement in order for them to gain knowledge, skills and an understanding of the benefits of the world of work. It is hoped that this experience will contribute to increasing the employability of our young people and this year’s scheme is currently being planned for 11 young people. The young people are paid and also receive a certificate of completion. TARGET support young people in foster care to remain in their placement when they turn 18, under the Staying Put scheme. Young people can continue to receive support that will enable them to make a successful transition to adulthood. There are currently 11 young people in these placements and the numbers will vary as young people reach 18 and others leave care. Young people can access a number of groups and other activities and social events throughout the year in TARGET and in the community. Personal advisors are trained to provide sexual health advice and information and TARGET is a registered C-Card (contraception) centre and all care leavers have access to a health assessment.

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5.5 Corporate Parenting Board Corporate Parenting awareness is an integral part of all corporate induction road shows for new employees. It raises awareness of our looked after children and care leavers and explains to new employees their role as a Corporate Parent. Level 1 Corporate Parenting training is available to all employees through the Workforce Development training programme and has been adapted to be delivered at a variety of forums including team meetings. These sessions will be held on an annual basis or more often if required. Corporate parenting training was delivered to 31 Members of the new Cabinet in May 2015. Level 2 Corporate Parenting training has been updated following guidance from the National Children’s Bureau and will be made available to Members, Senior Managers who have specific responsibility for Looked After Children, and appropriate partner agencies in November 2015. Currently 14 Members of the new cabinet have expressed an interest in taking part, with Officers, in rota visits of looked after children in their placements. Two rota visit awareness sessions have been scheduled for Elected Members in July 2015.

5.6 Looked after Children Council (LACC) Looked after children and care leavers are invited to be involved in the Looked after Children Council, (LACC). The LACC is made up of two groups: 'Speak Up, Be Heard' for children aged 11 and under and 'Have Your Say' for young people aged 16 – 21. The group represents looked after children and care leavers of Redcar and Cleveland and takes part in National and Regional consultations and forums. Two young people attended a regional event with other looked after children and care leavers in Newcastle, looking at good practice and benchmarking, hosted by the National Children’s Bureau. This event takes place again this November and is attended by young people, Lead Members and senior officers. Planning is underway for a party from Redcar and Cleveland to attend.

5.7 Looked After Children Education As at 12.07.15, there are 133 children who are looked after by the local authority and of compulsory school age, and attend a range of schools and academies both within Redcar & Cleveland, and outside the Borough, including a small number of young people in residential schools. The local authority, as corporate parents, has a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of all their looked after children wherever they are placed. The Virtual School Head takes a lead role, in partnership with schools, foster carers, social workers and other professionals, to assist the authority to fulfil this statutory responsibility and to ensure all its looked after children achieve the very best they can in their education. All schools and academies in Redcar & Cleveland have a named Designated Teacher, whose role it is to ensure looked after children in their schools have their educational needs identified and have the necessary support to help raise their attainment and reach their potential. Training continues to be provided each year for Designated Teachers and school governors to assist them in their understanding of the particular needs of looked after children.

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There is a statutory requirement for all looked after children to have a Personal Education Plan (PEP) to support their educational progress. The PEP is an integral part of the child’s care plan, and is a record of their progress, and what needs to happen to help them fulfil their potential. However, it is recognised that the current PEP format needs to be reviewed and updated to reflect recent changes in the curriculum and performance measures to ensure it is fit for purpose. To this end, alternative options are being considered with a view to a revised PEP being implemented in the Autumn Term 2015. The educational progress of all our looked after children, including their school attendance is closely tracked and monitored as if they are part of a single school, known as the “Virtual School”. The Virtual School is an organisational structure to better enable the effective tracking of progress and coordination of educational services. All looked after children of school age are registered at the Virtual School, although they remain the responsibility of the schools at which they are enrolled. The Virtual School is led by the Virtual School Head, and the progress of the school and looked after children are monitored and reviewed each half term by the Virtual School Monitoring Group. In order to improve the effective tracking of the educational progress of our looked after children, the local authority has commissioned Contact Group – ‘Looked After Call’, to collect data on our behalf. This new system provides real time data on attainment, progress, attendance and exclusions, and allows us to act on information in a more timely fashion and to provide early intervention or support where needed. The DfE increased the Pupil Premium Grant for looked after children of compulsory school age, in the 2014 – 2015 financial year from £900 to £1,900, to support and promote their educational achievement. The cohort of children who attract this grant has increased to include children from the first day of care, rather than as previously, only those who had been looked after for six months or more. The majority of this funding is passed on to the schools where our looked after children attend so they can provide additional strategies and resources to raise their attainment. The use and benefits of the Pupil Premium Grant is recorded in the child’s PEP. An Education, Employment & Training Monitoring Group has been established in order to have greater oversight of the progress of our post 16 young people in care and care leavers. As part of the work of the group, the Children in Care Council were consulted about the content of a post 16 PEP. The purpose of a post 16 PEP is to provide greater continuity and support for young people making the transition from school into further education, training and employment and to promote their engagement in continued learning. At the request of the Children in Care Council, this plan is known as the ‘Personal Education, Employment and Training’ Plan (PEET Plan).

5.8 Commissioning The current financial climate makes effective commissioning even more important to both secure efficient and effective services, and also reduce demand for intensive and more costly care interventions. There is recognition that effective strategic commissioning can drive the transformation that is required to deliver our vision for Children, as it will:

• Enable strategic investment • Focus on achieving outcomes • Drive up quality

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• Enable the design of more effective services • Facilitate collaboration with providers

To this end, children’s commissioning is now part of the broader commissioning unit in our Adult’s and Commissioning Team, working together with public health and adults commissioners to deliver the best outcomes in all areas. The Commissioning Unit is currently working on of the production of integrated commissioning plans focussing on themes rather than purely service areas, to drive forward efficiency and effectiveness by;

• Identifying areas of potential integrated commissioning with public health, adult social care, partner authorities and health services

• Targeting resources to families more effectively based on their likelihood of requiring statutory services

• Looking at early intervention and universal provision holistically across adult, children and public health services to ensure that support is provided to the whole family in a timely way

The updated commissioning plans are being developed in 4 main themes;

1. All Age Health and Wellbeing, Prevention and Early Intervention 2. Children’s Services 3. All Age Mental Health 4. All Age Dementia, Disability & Frailty

All Age Health and Wellbeing, Prevention and Early Intervention This plan will identify commissioning intentions to secure universal and early intervention services within the borough to support residents to make positive lifestyle changes that will impact on the future health, wellbeing and resilience. The children’s element of this ensures that children, young people and their families receive support as early as possible, before issues become more acute and require more specialist intervention. The Early Help Commissioning Plan that precedes this will be embedded into this plan, and will look to tie into intergenerational links and support for all members of a family so that children and young people are supported early and families become less reliant or less likely to need more targeted services. Children’s Services Plan This plan will draw together targeted, specialist and statutory support to develop co-ordinated services that meet the needs of our most vulnerable families. The routes by which this will be implemented are;

• Clear, integrated pathways for children with disabilities, children with mental health issues, children in need of protection and Looked After Children

• Clear funding agreements with health and other commissioners to enable swift decision-making and ensure resources get to those who need it in a timely way

• Joint commissioning of mental health and emotional well-being services, Special Educational Needs services, Fostering placements, residential care and Independent Education with other local Authorities in the north east and Health partners to affect more influence over the current market

• Stimulating the North East market for high cost provision, driving up quality and

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improving sufficiency closer to home • Exploring new ways of tackling family problems, including the What Works

model and how and which resources can be deployed to make key working even more effective

All Age Mental Health The aim of this plan is to understand the current market and growing need for mental health services, and ensuring that there is a sufficient range and volume of services for those who need them. For children’s services this will include;

• Implementation of an emotional health and wellbeing framework. This framework will quality assure suitable providers offering counselling and other therapies for children and young people in Redcar and Cleveland. The Framework will support schools locally to be confident in identifying emotional support and wellbeing services in their community to provide good quality interventions to develop children’s resilience and readiness to learn. The providers on the framework will be supported by CAMHS to ensure that children and young people get the right support at the right time, and develop a “step up/down” system to ensure that where a more complex need is identified, this is picked up by the appropriate agency.

• Development of mental health and emotional wellbeing services for looked after children. The service will be developed to embed support within the Looked After Children’s team, with Mental Health Workers on hand within the team to provide support and advice to social workers, and provide intervention where this is needed. This aims to build capacity within our Social Work teams for identifying and supporting children and young people with emotional needs swiftly and robustly. There will also be a focus on developing the CAMHS contract that the Clinical Commissioning Group has to ensure that resources are deployed affectively and in a timely way and that all of our vulnerable children and young people get support and intervention when they need it.

• Development of pathways between mental health services to ensure a smooth transition into adult services.

All Age Dementia. Disability & Frailty There is very much a focus on developing resources for children and young people up to the age of 25 years in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2014. The All Age Dementia. Disability & Frailty Commissioning Plan will be looking to;

• Identify potential areas of integrated children and adult commissioning • Identify potential areas of joint commissioning with the local CCG and how to

get the most from our money • Grow the market of providers for children and young people with disabilities who

need overnight, care at home and independent school places. • Ensure services have clear outcomes and that transition into adult services is

improved for all young people.

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6.0 EDUCATION SERVICES “Inspire excellence in learning for all through open partnership built on equality, integrity, respect and ambition”

6.1 The Education Service has two discrete elements;

• Strategic Development and School Improvement • Support Services to Schools

The first element is responsible for the strategic development of education services across the Borough, including Post 16 provision, whilst ensuring school improvement. It encompasses responsibilities such as place planning, capital projects, local funding formula, high needs funding and Governor Support. Support Services to Schools comprises statutory services together with their traded counterparts which ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall service offer which comprises amongst others:

• Tuned In @ My Place • Initial Teacher Training • Educational Psychology Service • Specialist Teaching Service • Education Welfare Service • Pupil Services, (admissions, children missing from education, inclusion) • Safeguarding • Multi-cultural Service • Inspire2Learn

The SEND Service has amalgamated with the Children with Disabilities Team and the Adults with Learning Disabilities Team to form an all age Special Educational Needs and Disability Service. The status of our schools continues to change, two Catholic multi-academy trusts have been established and Bydales School is now sponsored by Outwood Grange Academies Trust. The schools in Redcar and Cleveland continue to collaborate well together to secure the best outcomes possible for all children in the borough.

6.2 STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT The introduction of the “Framework for School Improvement” has established four self-improving school systems in the Borough supported by Local Authority School Improvement Advisers; it has been welcomed by schools, Ofsted and the DfE. In line with the framework the service categorises schools three times a year into three categories, School Causing Concern, Not Yet Good and Good, this information is passed to school leadership teams and governing bodies. To challenge and support schools the service has also initiated the following projects;

• Independent review of accountability in secondary schools, the interim report has just been published and an action plan is being developed.

• School and College Improvement Partnership (SCIP), working with the secondary heads a restructure and refocus of the group has been undertaken, this includes some external support and challenge.

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• With the support of SCIP, School Improvement Advisers have directly intervened in two secondary schools that were particularly vulnerable; GCSE results this year will identify the impact of the intervention.

• Secondary schools were challenged to improve transition arrangements by accepting Y6 students on the 1st July, although this initiative was not implemented by the schools this year it has been accepted for 2016.

IMPROVING ATTAINMENT Post 16 Attainment Students and colleges are notified of this year’s results on Thursday 13th August 2015. An un validated analysis will be available shortly afterwards. Key Stage 4 Attainment (GCSE results) Schools will be in receipt of this year’s results on Thursday 20th August 2015. An un validated analysis will be available shortly afterwards. Key Stage 2 Attainment (SATS) Provisional results at Key Stage 2 in 2015 show continued improvement in all measures, by over 6% points from the national averages of 2014 in all but reading where the improvement was by 3%. It is therefore anticipated that when national results become available we will again be recognised as a very high performing authority.

Percentage achieving Level 4 and above England figures are in brackets (England)

2012 2013 2014 2015 Provisional

Reading 87% (87%)

89% (86%)

89.3% (89%)

92.3%

Writing 83% (81%)

86% (83%)

87.3% (85%)

91.3%

Mathematics 87% (84%)

89% (85%)

90.7% (86%)

92.3%

GPS 75% (74%)

78.7% (76%)

84.3%

Reading / Writing / Maths

76% (74%)

79.9% (75%)

82.6% (79%)

86.4%

Key Stage 1 – National Curriculum Year 2 Pupils are teacher assessed at Key Stage 1 in Speaking & Listening, Reading, Writing, Maths and Science. The national expectation at KS1 is Level 2B and above.

Pupils Achieving Level 2b+ - Subject

2012 2013 2014 2015 Provisional

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England figures are in brackets (England) Reading 73%

(76%) 76.6% (89%)

77.9% (81%)

82.9%

Writing 64% (64%)

65.6% (85%)

66.7% (70%)

72.9%

Maths 74% (76%)

75.5% (89%)

78.9% (80%)

82.0%

Over the last 4yrs performance within the borough has continued to improve although not achieving above national averages, however this year’s results will all eclipse last year’s national averages. The greatest improvement has come in Writing where an improvement of over 6% has taken performance to nearly 3% above the 2014 national average. Phonics – National Curriculum Year 1 and 2 2012 saw the introduction of the statutory phonics screening check for all children in Year 1. The purpose of the check was to confirm whether each child has learnt phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard. The check comprises a list of 40 words and a teacher known to the child is required to use their professional judgement about which responses are correct.

Phonics – Year 1 % achieving the required standard of phonic de coding

RCBC 2012

RCBC 2013

RCBC 2014

RCBC 2015

Provisional

All Students 55% (58%)

65.6% (69%)

73.8% (74%)

77.3%

There has been a sustained improvement in Year 1 phonics scores despite a persistent gender imbalance. The 2015 provisional data shows a pass rate that compares favourably to previous national and regional averages.

Figures in brackets are % of just Year 2 entrants, only recorded locally. Year 2 phonics scores continue in line with national averages. Key Stage 1 - Early Years Foundation Stage Since 2013 children are defined as having reached a good level of development at the end of the EYFS if they achieve at least the expected level in:

• the early learning goals in the prime areas of learning (personal, social and emotional development; physical development; and communication and language) and;

• the early learning goals in the specific areas of mathematics and literacy.

Phonics – Year 2 % achieving the required standard of phonic de coding

RCBC 2013

RCBC 2014

RCBC 2015

Provisional

England 2013

England 2014

All Students 85% (69.8%)

88% (65.5%)

n/a (64.0%)

85% 88%

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The Good Level of Development (GLD) measure is supported by a measure of the average of the cohort’s total point score across all the early learning goals in order to also help to promote the attainment of all children across all the early learning goals.

Measures (National Performance)

RCBC 2013 RCBC 2014

RCBC 2015

Provisional GLD* 50.6%

(52%) 53.6% (60%)

65.8%

Prime Goals 61.1% 65.4% 74.3% Specific Goals 48.8% 53.1% 62.9% Average Total Points Score**

30.3% (32.8%)

31.1% (33.8%)

32.1

The percentage of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception has increased year on year to 66% in 2015 (provisional data). It is expected to be at least in line with regional and national attainment of five year olds.

6.3 OFSTED INSPECTIONS The following table summarises the present Ofsted grading of schools.

Ofsted Outcomes To Date

Primary

Outstanding: 7 out of 43 schools

Good: 29 out of 43 schools

Satisfactory/requires improvement 7 out of 43 schools

Inadequate 0 schools

Secondary Outstanding: 2 out of 10 schools

Good: 4 out of 10 schools

Satisfactory/requires improvement 2 out of 10 schools

Inadequate 0 schools

Alternative Education

Outstanding: 1 out of 4 schools

Good: 3 out of 4 schools

Satisfactory/requires improvement 0 out of 4 schools

0 schools

Secondary school numbers do not tally as Hillsview Academy and Outwood Academy Bydales have yet to be inspected since they were established. Most notably Hummersea Primary School achieved an “Outstanding” judgement. Freebrough, Dormanstown and South Bank schools were all graded “Good with Outstanding features” and have achieved these grades under considerable challenges. This means that the percentage of children with access to a good or better school has increased in primary schools by 4% and secondary schools by 25% since August 2014, the secondary figure is distorted by the two schools yet to be inspected.

Percentage of children with access to a good or better

school

Primary Secondary

01/07/2015 84% 77% 31/8/2014 80% 52%

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6.4 POST 16 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS, PLANNING AND PROVISION Post 16 education has been under considerable funding pressure for a number of years and this is expected to increase in the next year, as such the viability of smaller institutions will be brought into question. Ofsted inspections of post 16 provision has identified that;

• Prior Pursglove Sixth Form College has made rapid progress from its inadequate grade in December 2013 and was graded as “Good” in March 2015. This represents a significant achievement in a short time scale; the college is now looking strategically to secure a long term, sustainable future.

• Redcar & Cleveland College received a second “Requires Improvement” grade in June 2014. The college has implemented a restructure and some improvements have been realised however the college will have a Structure and Prospects Assessment by the Further Education Commissioner in the next three months which will identify a number of options for the college in the future.

Nunthorpe Academy, Kilton Thorpe Special Academy and Kirkleatham Hall Special School have well established and successful sixth form provision. Freebrough Academy and Hillsview Academy both have small but effective provision which will need to be developed in the coming years if it is to provide a genuine alternative for young people. The strategic development of the 16 -19 learning offer in Redcar and Cleveland also includes placements for young people with a learning difficulty and or disability into appropriate local learning and skills provision or placement into an out-of-area Independent Specialist Provider. From February 2016 the council will be implementing a new framework to ensure that each setting will provide a core offer of service alongside individual support which will meet the student’s need at a realistic cost. New systems will allow monitoring of the quality of services provided and where things need improving we will work with schools and colleges to secure that improvement

6.5 INVESTMENT IN SCHOOL ESTATE In 2014/15 the Department of Education allocated £1,530,449 of grant monies to fund basic need and maintenance of schools in Redcar and Cleveland a further reduction to £1,228,865 has been announced for 2015/16. Some of this reduction is off set by the requirement for academies to undertake and fund their own repairs and maintenance. The funds have been used to fund essential maintenance programmes such as boiler replacement and rewiring. The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) has almost completed the new build of Handale Primary School which is expected to be handed over in time for a September 2015 opening. The Lawrence Jackson project has progressed well with the new school taking shape and is presently running to programme and should open in September 2016. A further application for the PSBP 2 was made on behalf of ten schools, with the team supporting some applications by academies. Two schools were successful, these being Pathways Special School and EOTAS our pupil referral unit. Discussions are underway with the schools and the Education Funding Agency in regard to a new build that would combine the schools, they are presently both led by the same executive

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headteacher. A request for £1.3million Section 106 monies to extend Galley Hill Primary school due to the new housing development which will increase the numbers at the school was successful. Construction will take place over the summer and should be completed by October 2015. Hillsview Academy, the amalgamated Gillbrook Academy and Eston Park Academy is to receive an extension to accommodate all students in the main building, at present some pre 16 students are taught in the sixth form building. The extension design has been agreed by the PFI owners, the Academies Enterprise Trust (academy sponsor) and the council work is due to start this summer and complete in September 2016. The works to rectify the serious defect discovered at South Bank Primary School commenced in November 2014. Carillion have undertaken to rectify the defect at their own cost. This includes all associated expenses such as transport to the temporary school site at Teesville Infants. It was anticipated that the works to rectify the defect would be completed in December 2015 and allow the school to re-open at the South Bank site in January 2016. At the end of March 2015 it was reported to us that Carillion had discovered a major issue with the remedial works which meant that work essentially stopped on site on April 2nd 2015. In July 2015 they delivered a proposal which was to demolish the present building and to rebuild on the same footprint. They have indicated that this would allow the school to move back into the building in March 2017. At present parents, staff and governors views on the proposal have been sought. The council and the owners of the building are committed to considering options around the proposal and to making a decision as soon as possible so as to not delay the process.

6.6 GOVERNOR SUPPORT This service leads and supports the Local Authority’s role in developing school governing bodies, including Primary, Secondary, Special Schools and Academies. It undertakes a number of statutory duties, including:

• Arrangements for the appointment of local authority governors • Processing instruments of government • Acting as the “appropriate authority” for parent and staff governor elections in

maintained schools • Ensuring school governors are provided with the training and information they

need to carry out their roles • Supporting the process of appointing Parent Governor Representatives to

Scrutiny Board In addition, governing bodies are supported and developed through the provision of a range of traded services:

• A comprehensive clerking service is available for governing board meetings. There are 57 schools within the Borough, with 56 governing boards as Huntcliff and Saltburn Primary Schools have a federated governing board. The School Governor Support Service provides a clerking service to 48 schools, as well as to a local multi-academy trust set up between Catholic schools in the west of the Borough and an academy in the administrative boundary of Middlesbrough

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Borough Council. Approximately 40% of schools buying into the service have a package which provides clerking for committees as well as the main governing board. Demand for this element of the service has increased in recent years and other schools may opt for a similar package in future years. The service also has a contract with Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) to provide a regional clerking service for its academies in the Northern and Midlands regions. This involves a member of staff from the service working one day per week, funded by AET, to develop information, training materials and common templates for AET academy clerks and ensure consistency in their practice.

• Over and above the clerking SLA, governing bodies have the option of using the

School Governor Support Service to advise on procedures for managing complaints, exclusions and staffing matters when governors are required to meet and hear representations and/or appeals. In the 2014/2015 the service supported 9 governing bodies in such processes.

• All 48 governing bodies buying into the clerking service also buy into a governor

training package which offers unlimited attendance for their governors at induction training and centrally run development courses. The basic annual training programme normally includes 15 induction sessions for new governors and around 20 development sessions on specific topics. For the present financial year 22 governing bodies have signed up for an in-house session. In the 2014/15 financial year 15 governing bodies benefited from a whole governing body training session. With the continued focus on the importance of governance Inspecting Governance, Ofsted Inspection, Evaluating Effectiveness and the Role of Link Governors continue to be popular themes for in-house training. More recently there has been an interest in looking at developing a school vision.

• 28 of the schools that the School Governor Support Service provides services to

have been inspected under the Ofsted Framework. Schools are given a grade for Leadership and Management which includes governance. Four of the 28 schools were graded 1 (Outstanding) for Leadership and Management, 18 were graded 2 (Good) and 6 were graded 3 (Requires Improvement). Under the Ofsted Inspection framework and where leadership and management has been judged as to be “requiring improvement” or “inadequate” inspectors may recommend in the published report that an External Review of Governance be undertaken. The Manager of Governor Services has undertaken such reviews for 3 of the 6 schools in the Borough where leadership and management was judged to be “requiring improvement”.

• The School Governor Support Service also provides a clerking service for a

number of other bodies, including the Education Other Than At School Service (EOTAS) Management Committee, the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), the Schools Forum, Landmark Teaching Alliance and the Local Governors’ Association.

6.7 SUPPORT SERVICES TO SCHOOLS

Multicultural Service Of the 250 English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in Redcar, the Service works directly with 102, providing lessons for up to two hours a week individuals and established EAL groups. Work is focussed in 21 primary and 5 secondary schools. Of

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18 EAL students with no English language, 11 are now working at an age appropriate level and the remainder will do so by the end of the summer term 2015.

6.8 Pupil Services Pupil Services deliver statutory local authority duties in respect of School Admissions, Home to School Travel, Exclusions, Children Missing Education (CME) and Elective Home Education (EHE) as well as providing a Pupil Inclusion Service which assists schools to work in partnership and to implement effective alternatives to school exclusion. Achievements include:

• The Admissions Service has exceeded the national average of parental first preference schools allocated in annual admission rounds (98% first preferences allocated at secondary and 96% at primary).

• Pupil Services has reported regularly to the Redcar & Cleveland Safeguarding

Children Board with evidence of falling trends in days lost to fixed-term exclusion, numbers of Children Missing Education and those receiving Elective Home Education. Monitoring processes for CME are robust and well-publicised; identified cases are investigated and resolved effectively with excellent links to the LA’s working group to safeguard children vulnerable to missing / sexual exploitation (VEMT) and the Reducing Domestic Abuse Partnership.

• The Pupil Inclusion Team has supported schools to maintain a zero permanent

exclusion rate. Schools have worked in partnership and with the LA to avoid the need to exclude by using alternative provision and other interventions. This year the team has brokered 31 managed moves as alternatives to permanent exclusion. The total number of days lost from education due to fixed-term exclusion has fallen year on year; the total for the 2013/14 academic year was only 79% of the 2012/13 total.

6.9 Specialist Teaching Service

The specialist teaching service is a service of teachers and learning support assistants, specialist in the areas of learning, behaviour and autism. Support is provided to pupils, schools, parents/carers and relevant partners. The service has improved the percentage of schools trading with them each quarter. Feedback on the evaluation of the service provided to schools is rated as 100% good or excellent. To reintegrate more children into their mainstream schools the service is now working closely with Pathways and EOTAS. The Specialist teaching service runs an Intensive Reading Classes for pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties, primarily in reading. The focus is on year 5 pupils, to give them a boost prior to Year 6, their final year of primary school. Average pupil progress in 6 months was an improved ‘reading age’ of 25months. The greatest achievement was a boy who made 3yrs 11months progress- he had a ‘reading age’ of 7yrs on entry to the class and 10yrs 11months on leaving. All pupils rated themselves as having far more confidence in reading and class teachers and parents noticed raised self-esteem and confidence in other areas of the curriculum.

6.10 Redcar and Cleveland Teacher Training Partnership (RCTTP) RCTTP is now in the second year of operating as a SCITT. During 2014/15 we also worked with Sacred Heart RC Secondary School to deliver training places on the School Direct Programme. We have continued to work with the University of Hull so

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trainees have also had the opportunity to study for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) alongside the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). 22 primary trainees completed the programme. The grades at the end of training period are the best to date with 95.5% being graded as good or better in final reviews. 95.5% of primary trainees have secured employment for September (64% will be employed in R&C schools) 14 secondary trainees completed the programme and 93% were graded as good or better in the final review. 100% of secondary trainees have secured employment (64% will be employed by R&C schools in September) This year we have worked in partnership with 20 primary schools and 6 Secondary schools in R&C this supports schools in a number of ways:

• National Speakers – as part of the training programme we invite speakers with a national reputation in the field of education to deliver sessions for the students.

• Mentor Training – teachers work with trainees providing support and giving feedback providing excellent CPD for school colleagues.

• NQT support - an informal programme of support for NQTs has been developed. • Work Force Development - the vast majority of our trainees are resident in the

local area and subsequently find employment within the LA. It is very clear that we are enabling local people to further their career development and are making a significant contribution to recruitment and retention within the LA and to the wider Tees Valley. The service is proud to offer local people the opportunity to develop their careers and for schools to ‘grow their own’ workforce.

• Teacher Retention – 5% of teachers who train with the service leave the classroom after 3 years of teaching compared to a national figure of 42%. Many of our ex trainees are now in promoted posts, including heads of department, deputy heads and for the first time one of our ex trainees has been appointed as Head Teacher.

Next year 25 primary trainees have been recruited, the biggest cohort yet but only 12 of the 22 secondary places available have been filled, however we have been successful in recruiting shortage subjects and will have trainees in chemistry, maths and geography on the 2015/16 programme.

6.11 Child Protection and Safeguarding The Child Protection and Safeguarding Officer provides training, support, advice, guidance to all schools and academies within the LA on any aspects relating to safeguarding issues. Safeguarding training has been extended to include school crossing patrol staff, independent childminders, school support and administrative staff together with teaching staff in schools. The Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP) has delivered in a number of schools and will be delivered in all schools during the coming year.

6.12 Attendance and Welfare Service During the 2014/15 academic year the service has received 1280 referrals from schools and academies across the LA, 380 penalty notices have been issued to parents, the majority for unauthorised leave. This is a significant rise on previous years, mainly due to the introduction of new legislation in September 2014.

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Further legislative change is in place for September 2015 with a rise in the persistent absence rate from 85% to 90%. Consultation with schools in June 2015 will ensure that processes are in line with the change in September 2015 together with new Service Level Agreements. The service is also working with the Early Help team to deliver a collaborative offer.

6.13 Educational Psychology The Educational Psychology Service includes Educational Psychologists, Counsellors and a Play Therapist. We work across the Borough with children and young people of all ages. All of Redcar & Cleveland’s mainstream schools have a Service Level Agreement with the Service. The service also works with pre-school children and as part of multi-agency teams. The Educational Psychologists also contribute to the statutory process which leads to a child/young person having an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). EHC Plans replace Statements. The Service has worked with 432 young people from September 2014 to the end of July 2015 and has contributed psychological reports to the statutory assessments of 154 children and young people. This school year has involved the roll out of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Reforms. Staff from the service have contributed to the development of systems compliant with the Children & Families Act 2014. The assessments undertaken contribute to the system which aims to ensure that young people’s educational needs are met. In addition the counselling and play therapy arm of the service has provided interventions specifically to promote the emotional wellbeing of children and young people. The service also contributes to the autism diagnostic pathway and to the follow-up post diagnostic support for parents and schools. Referrals are mostly received from schools, however close liaison with colleagues from Social Care, Early Years staff, CAMHS, paediatricians and therapy staff ensure a multi-disciplinary approach.

6.14 School Crossing Patrol There are 68 School Crossing Patrol sites across the Borough. The service ensure that staff are appropriately trained and that regular risk assessments of sites take place to ensure the safety of children and young people as they cross the roads of our Borough.

6.15 Inspire to Learn Inspire2Learn has continued to promote best practice across our schools through innovative projects, engaging speakers and forming meaningful partnerships.

The service continues to ensure that the most relevant and influential speakers that schools want to engage with are brought to our local venue. The collegiate approach to brokering support ensures that not only the needs of R&C schools are met but that the

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service takes a lead in the Tees Valley with schools from across the region attending our events.

Through partnership with STEMnet and an increasing engagement with local business and industry groups, the number of students and teachers participating in hands on events at the centre or workshops in schools has increased dramatically. This is the beginning of a continued programme that is already set to grow exponentially next year with a plan for a skills ladder of 'employability skills' being developed from the youngest learners to our school leavers. It is based on the premise that industry and business is clear what they want our schools leavers to have as a skill and aptitude set. From that aspiration a ladder of skills can be created (both through school practice and involvement in events) for each year group. This is already in pilot phase through planning with the local Aspire Trust.

Inspire2Learn has also been proactive in supporting awareness and appreciation of local heritage through direct project work with schools and liaison with the local museums group. This has spawned several further areas of work that will result in greater engagement between museums and schools.

Our support for technology in the classroom continues to be World Class with requests for our time from across the UK and beyond. More importantly we have developed strong links with Newcastle University through the Centre for Learning and Teaching who recognise our work as internationally important.

The centre continues to support the moderation process in all statutory tests across the primary phase and Early Years Foundation Stage and a rapidly developing role as the main provider of support for the NQT program.

6.16 Tuned In! Tuned In! is one of sixty-two national ‘myplace’ centres which provides state-of-the-art facilities that have been designed by young people for young people. Tuned In! has a focus on arts, media and performing arts and is a place where young people can be creative, energetic, inspired and most importantly a place where they can be safe. Tuned In! is open seven days a week and provides a range of activities during evenings and weekends for 11-19 years olds and for younger age groups on Saturdays. Current activities include movie making, dance, drama, singing, Manga art, music including instrumental tuition and performing arts. The centre also offers a varied holiday programme during school holidays for children and young people from Reception to Year 11. The centre is open 7 days per week and offers activities for young people during evenings, weekends and school holidays. Working in partnership with a number of local and regional organisations Tuned in! has been able to offer young people a wide range of activities which have included:

• Workshops in dance, drama, IT, sound recording, song writing, making

music, instrumental lessons, digital media, technician skills, radio broadcasting, fashion, hairdressing and arts and crafts.

• Open youth sessions which offer a mix of arts, crafts, games and music activities.

• Holiday activities including week long themed activities focussing on performance skills with professional arts companies,, fashion design, radio broadcasting, outdoor and beach activities, digital media and kinetic art.

• Volunteering – young people are volunteering as play leaders, sound technicians, events team members and undertaking promotional and

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marketing activities and fundraising. On average 400 young people per week now attend Tuned In! Since opening 6,025 young people have accessed the facilities. Tuned In! is also available to hire when not in use by young people and plays host to a number of conferences and events which are open to the wider public.

6.17 Children’s University On the 1st July 2015 39 children aged 8 to 11 gathered at Redcar and Cleveland College with their parents, friends and siblings for their Children's University graduation. The graduation ceremony rewards children who have collected between 100 hours and a massive 1000 hours of extra activities in a year. This year 5 children achieved the highest award of 1000 and received their Fellowship Certificate and a Children’s University trophy.

7.0 Conclusions/recommendations

This report has outlined to Borough Council the developments within the Children’s Services and Education. It is for information and comment.

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