Agenda Document Pack - Learning and Families Committee - 03/05/2023
Perth and Kinross Council · 3 May 2023
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 3 May 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Securing the future… • Improving services • Enhancing quality of life • Making the best use of public resources Council Building 2 High Street Perth PH1 5PH 26/04/2023 A hybrid Meeting of the Learning and Families Committee will be held in the Council Chamber on Wednesday, 03 May 2023 at 14:00. If you have any queries please contact Committee Services on (01738) 475000 or email Committee@pkc.gov.uk. THOMAS GLEN Chief Executive Those attending the meeting are requested to ensure that all notifications are silent on their device and other devices are in silent mode. Please note that the meeting will be broadcast online and recorded. The recording will be publicly available on the Council’s website following the meeting. Members: Councillor John Rebbeck (Convener) Councillor Steven Carr (Vice-Convener) Councillor Michelle Frampton (Vice-Convener) Bailie Chris Ahern Councillor Liz Barrett Councillor Neil Freshwater Councillor Noah Khogali Councillor Brian Leishman Councillor Iain MacPherson Councillor Ian Massie Provost Xander McDade Councillor Crawford Reid Councillor Caroline Shiers Councillor Colin Stewart Councillor Jack Welch Mr Andy Charlton Mrs M Conroy Mr Adrian Ferguson Mr Martin Gowrie Mrs Audrey McAuley Miss Teresa Moran Ms Carolyn Weston Page 1 of 80
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Learning and Families Committee Wednesday, 03 May 2023 AGENDA MEMBERS ARE REMINDED OF THEIR OBLIGATION TO DECLARE ANY FINANCIAL OR NON-FINANCIAL INTEREST WHICH THEY MAY HAVE IN ANY ITEM ON THIS AGENDA IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCILLORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT. 1 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES/SUBSTITUTES 2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 3 MINUTES 3(i) MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE OF 15 MARCH 2023 FOR APPROVAL (copy herewith) 5 - 8 3(ii) MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE OF 29 AUGUST 2022 FOR NOTING (copy herewith) 9 - 12 3(iii) MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE JOINT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR TEACHING STAFF OF 13 DECEMBER 2022 FOR NOTING (copy herewith) 13 - 16 4 OUTSTANDING BUSINESS STATEMENT (copy herewith 23/84) 17 - 18 5 APPOINTMENT OF NON-COUNCIL MEMBERS OF THE LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE 5(i) APPOINTMENT OF THIRD RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIVE ON LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE Report by Head of Legal and Governance Services (copy herewith 23/127) 19 - 26 5(ii) TEACHER REPRESENTATIVES Following a ballot administered by Democratic Services of all teaching staff in schools in Perth and Kinross Council, Committee is asked to ratify the appointments of Miranda Powell as Primary Page 3 of 80
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School Teacher Representative and Tim Kearns as Secondary School Representative on the Committee. 5(iii) PARENT COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES Committee is asked to note that an extension has been given to Parent Councils for the nomination of both primary and secondary parent representative members of the Committee with a view to proposals being presented to the next meeting of the Committee on 23 August 2023. 5(iv) YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES Committee is asked to note that discussions are continuing between staff in Education and Children's Services and the Perth and Kinross Youth Forum regarding the nomination of representatives of children and young people to be members of the Committee. 6 REVIEW OF THE SCHOOL ESTATE UPDATE Verbal Update by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) 7 EDUCATION REFORM IN SCOTLAND UPDATE Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 23/128) 27 - 38 8 VIRTUAL CAMPUS (SECONDARY EDUCATION) Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 23/129) 39 - 52 9 SUICIDE PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH WORK Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 23/130) 53 - 68 10 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 23/131) 69 - 80 Page 4 of 80
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LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE Minute of hybrid meeting of the Learning and Families Committee held in the Council Chambers, 2 High Street, Perth on Wednesday 15 March 2023 at 2.00pm. Present: Councillors J Rebbeck, S Carr, Bailie C Ahern, Councillors L Barrett, M Frampton, N Freshwater, N Khogali, B Leishman, I MacPherson, I Massie, Provost X McDade, Councillors C Reid, C Shiers, and J Welch. In attendance: S Devlin, Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services); G Boland, P Davison, G Doogan, S Johnston, D Macluskey, H Robertson, B Martin- Scott, F MacKay, L Richards and K Robertson (all Education and Children’s Services); D Williams, A Brown and M Pasternak (all Corporate and Democratic Services). Apologies for absence: Councillor C Stewart Councillor J Rebbeck, Convener, Presiding. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES The Convener welcomed all those present to the meeting. Apology for absence was noted as above. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. MINUTES (i) Learning and Families Committee The minute of meeting of the Learning and Families Committee of 2 November 2022 was submitted, approved as a correct record and authorised for signature. (ii) Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 14 June 2022 The minute of meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 14 June 2022 was submitted and noted. (iii) Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 20 September 2022 The minute of meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 20 September 2022 was submitted and noted. 3(i) Page 5 of 80
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(iv) Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 30 September 2022 The minute of meeting of the meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 30 September 2022 was submitted and noted. (v) Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 2 December 2022 The minute of meeting of the meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 2 December 2022 was submitted and noted. 4. OUTSTANDING BUSINESS STATEMENT The Outstanding Business Statement (23/84) was noted. 5. RESERVED PLACES IN SCHOOLS 2023/2024 AND MAXIMISING CAPACITIES UPDATE There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (23/85) (1) proposing the number of reserved places for session 2023/2024, within primary and secondary schools, in accordance with Section 28A of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended. This allows places to be protected for local children to attend their catchment school. The report is also (2) informing Committee where primary class capacities have been maximised during school session 2022/2023. Resolved: (i) The number of reserved places, within schools which have classes with a limited number of spaces at specific stages, for session 2023/2024 as shown in Appendix 1 of Report 23/85, be approved. (ii) The Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) be requested to revise these numbers each year to reflect historical or anticipated patterns of migration, information about known movements of families in to (or out of) an area, and any current residential development. (iii) Responsibility be delegated to the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) to keep under review the reserved places for all schools in light of any building work in schools and in light of residential development; (iv) The primary schools where class capacities have been maximised during session 2022/2023, be noted. 6. POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSIONS TO NURSERY CLASSES AND EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTRES There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (23/86) outline for Elected Members the requirement for changes to the current Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Early Learning and Page 6 of 80
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Childcare Policy and Guidelines for Admission to Nursery Classes and Early Childhood Centres 2022-23. Resolved: The changes required to the current Early Learning and Childcare Policy and Guidelines for Admission to Nursery Classes and Early Childhood Centres 2022-23, as set out within Report 23/96, be noted. THE VICE -CONVENER S CARR LED ON THE FOLLOWING ITEM 7. PERTH AND KINROSS EDUCATION AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN 2022 – 2025 There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (23/87) requesting approval of the Accessibility Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2025, which delivers on a duty of the Education Authority in relation to the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils’ Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002. Resolved: (i) The Accessibility Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2025, be approved; (ii) It be agreed that the approved Strategy and Action Plan is submitted to Perth & Kinross Council for noting. (iii) The Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) be requested to review the implementation of the Action Plan annually and provide a progress report to Committee by October 2025. THE VICE-CONVENER M FRAMPTON LED ON FOLLOWING ITEM 8. CORPORATE PARENTING UPDATE There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (23/88) providing an update to Committee regarding the progress of the actions contained within the Corporate Parenting Plan 2021-2024. The Corporate Parenting Plan (Appendix 1) and the Action Plan Update 2021- 2024 (Appendix 2) were included as agreed at Full Council on 9 March 2022. Resolved: (i) The progress made in relation to the Corporate Parenting Plan actions, be noted. (ii) A further update be submitted in one year’s time. THE CONVENER LED ON FOLLOWING ITEM 9. SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT HEALTH AND WELLBEING CENSUS There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (23/89) presenting key findings from the Health and Wellbeing Census developed by the Scottish Government and undertaken in Perth and Kinross schools during academic year 2021/22. Page 7 of 80
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Resolved: (i) The background to, and results of, the Health and Wellbeing Census, and that the Scottish Government published figures for all local authorities on 28 February 2023, be noted. (ii) The planned actions for use of the collated census results, be noted. (iii) The plans for revisiting certain topics/questions with surveys in schools, be noted. Page 8 of 80
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EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE Minute of Meeting of the Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee held virtually on Monday 29 August 2022 at 10.00am. Present: Councillors J Rebbeck, S Carr, M Frampton, L Barrett, N Khogali, B Leishman (substituting for Provost X McDade) and C Shiers. In Attendance: S Johnston, Head of Education and Learning, A Carr, P Davidson, P Edwards, N Helm, B Martin-Scott, D Millar and L Richards (all Education and Children’s Services) and D Williams, A Brown and M Pasternak (Corporate and Democratic Services). Apologies: Provost X McDade Councillor J Rebbeck, Convener, Presiding. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES The Convener welcomed all those present to the meeting. An apology for absence was noted above. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. MINUTE OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minute of meeting of the Executive Sub-Committee of the Lifelong Learning Committee of 1 November 2021 was submitted, approved as a correct record and authorised for signature. 4. STANDARDS AND QUALITY IN SCHOOLS, LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTRES/DAY CARE OF CHILDREN There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (22/194) setting out the key findings following inspections and evaluations of early learning and childcare settings undertaken by the Care Inspectorate on the day care of children since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022. There were no Education Scotland/Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education inspections of schools or learning communities to report at this time. Resolved: Having heard from the relevant officers on the key findings of the inspection reports and following consideration and questions from the sub-committee, the reports as appended to Report 22/194 be noted as follows: (a) Balhousie and North Muirton ELC (Appendix 1) 3(ii) Page 9 of 80
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(b) Summary of Care Inspectorate Day Care of Children’s Inspections (Appendix 2) S DEVLIN ENTERED THE MEETING AT THIS POINT 5. PRESENTATION BY CARE INSPECTORATE F Murray and D Watson, both Care Inspectorate, delivered a slide-based presentation to members regarding the quality framework of children, childminding and school-aged children and inspections. The Convener thanked F Murray and D Watson for their presentation, and they both left the meeting at this point. S DEVLIN LEFT THE MEETING AT THIS POINT 6. SUMMARY REPORT ON CARE INSPECTORATE AND EDUCATION SCOTLAND INSPECTIONS There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (22/195) providing an overview of the performance of Education and Children’s Services inspected and reported over the past two years by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland, since the previous report of this type in 2020, and sets out the Service’s approach to implementing improvement actions arising out of inspection. A report was not prepared in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which led to a pause in inspection activity. Resolved: The contents of Report 22/195 and its appendices, be noted. 7. INSPECTIONS OF SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BY THE CARE INSPECTORATE There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (22/196) setting out the key findings following inspections and evaluations of Services for Children and Young People undertaken by the Care Inspectorate, namely the Fostering Service, the Adoption Service and the Adult Placement Scheme. Resolved: Having heard from the relevant officers on the key findings of the inspection reports and following consideration and questions from the sub-committee, the reports as appended to Report 22/58 be noted as follows: (a) Perth and Kinross Council - Fostering Services (Appendix 1) (b) Adoption Service (Appendix 2) (c) Supported Lodgings (Appendix 3) 8. COLLABORATIVE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (22/197) (1) providing the Committee with the key findings of the Page 10 of 80
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Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Collaborative Improvement Programme, (2) setting out the new approach to securing improvement within Education Services, through shared work involving staff from the local authority, Education Scotland and Association of Directors of Education Services (ADES), and (3) seeking to to describe the process of collaborative improvement, to summarise the key findings for the PKC Education Service, and to outline the next steps to be taken as a result of this. Resolved: (i) The contents of Report 22/195 and its appendices, be noted. (ii) The Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) be requested to report on the impact of the actions detailed through the Education Report and Plan in August 2023. Page 11 of 80
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JOINT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR TEACHING STAFF Minute of hybrid meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff (JNCT) held via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 13 December 2022 at 2.30pm. Present: Representing Perth and Kinross Council Councillors J Rebbeck and C Shiers; S Devlin, S Johnston, L Gordon, J Donnelly, G Doogan and D Macluskey (all Education and Children’s Services); P Johnstone (Corporate and Democratic Services). Representing Teachers’ Associations L Gibb, L.J. Grant, M Laurie, J Leslie, C Rose, M Taylor and C Weston (all EIS); M Mackie (SSTA). In Attendance: F Mackay and D Macluskey (Education & Children’s Services); A McAuley, Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side); D Williams for Joint Secretary (Management Side). Apologies: Councillor S Carr; S Dowling; S Topen-Cooper. M Laurie, Convener, Presiding. 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were submitted and noted as above. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (ELECTED MEMBERS ONLY) There were no declarations of interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. MINUTES (i) The minute of meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 14 June 2022 was submitted and approved as a correct record. (ii) The minute of meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 20 September 2022 was submitted and approved as a correct record. 4. MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising from the previous minutes. 5. BUDGET UPDATE The committee received a verbal update from S Devlin regarding the Budget. In her update, S Devlin advised that this meeting of the Committee preceded the Scottish Budget Allocation but informed the Committee that the Council’s Budget Review Group Process was underway. S Devlin further advised that it 3(iii) Page 13 of 80
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was the intention that a meeting regarding the Budget would take place with S Hope (Unison) and C Weston (EIS), as had been the case in previous years. 6. STAFFING REPORTING INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE/AGGRESSION AND INCIDENTS OF DISTRESSED/CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR IN EDUCATION SETTINGS. There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (G/22/202) providing a summary of the information gathered in relation to incidents in schools and other educational settings which result in an emotional or physical impact on a member of staff. The report informs scrutiny of Education Service performance in managing and reducing incidents of violence and aggression or distressed and challenging behaviour that has impacted staff in the workplace. This report has also been considered by the Employees Joint Consultative Committee. F MacKay advised that there was a review of the reporting of violence/aggression and incidents of distressed/challenging behaviour in education settings, and that cognisance had been taken that, moving forward, it would be more appropriate for this report to be presented to the Employees Joint Consultative Committee, in a change to present arrangements (Item 7 refers further). However, it has been agreed that the schedule of committees would be organised so that the Teacher’s side would be able to see and make comment on the report before it goes to the Joint Consultative committee. F Mackay added that, moving forward, the style of reporting would be less focused on one term, and also added that less staff were reporting incidents. C Weston commented that she was pleased that the view was for teachers to see the reporting of violence/aggression and incidents of distressed/challenging behaviour in education settings first and added that she welcomed the continuation of the Violence and Aggression Working Group. The Committee noted the contents of Report 22/202. 7. UPDATE ON 2023 DATES FOR JOINT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR TEACHING STAFF The Committee received a verbal update from D Williams regarding dates for the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff for 2023. D Williams advised members that the dates agreed by Council on 9 November 2022 were as follows: 27 March 2023 12 June 2023 11 September 2023 20 November 2023 Page 14 of 80
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D Williams advised that it was to be proposed to Council on 21 December 2022 that the dates for the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff for 2023 should be changed to the following: 20 March 2023 19 June 2023 4 September 2023 27 November 2023 The Committee were advised that these proposed changes were to ensure that the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff met before the Employees Joint Consultative Committee. S Johnson stated that should Council not approve the changes then the report would continue to come to JNC. 8. KING’S CORONATION The Committee received a verbal update from P Johnstone regarding school public holiday arrangements around the King’s Coronation. P Johnstone advised members that the matter would be for Council to decide, but the proposal to Council would include moving the existing school public holiday scheduled for 1 May 2023 to 8 May 2023. The Teachers’ Side requested that the existing school public holiday scheduled for 1 May 2023 not be moved, given that there will be staff who have already made holiday arrangements, however they would be happy to accept an additional day. 9. ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS There was no other competent business. POST-MEETING NOTE With reference to Item 7, the proposed dates for the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff were not considered by Council at its meeting of 21 December 2022 and, to date, have yet to be considered by Council. Page 15 of 80
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NAME OF COMMITTEE / SUB-COMMITTEE: LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE OUTSTANDING BUSINESS STATEMENT (OBS) (Report No. 23/84) Please note that this statement sets out outstanding decisions of Council / this committee / sub-committee along with an update and estimated completion date. Actions which are overdue are shaded for ease of reference. Where an update reflects that an action is complete then agreement will be sought to its removal from the OBS. No Date / Minute Reference / Report Number Subject Title Outstanding Action Update Lead Officer /Service Action Due/completed Action Expected 6. Briefing regarding Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census. A briefing to be held for members regarding the results of the Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census. With the results of the Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census being published in February 2023, a briefing will be held for all elected members on 9 May 2023. S Devlin, Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) DUE 9 May 2023 7. Appointment of non-elected members of the Learning and Families Committee. Elections to take place as soon as possible for relevant non- elected members on Committees. Work ongoing and appointments to be reported to the Learning and Families Committee in May 2023. NOTE: This subject is also part of the Council Outstanding Business Statement. Democratic Services Manager DUE 3 May 2023 4 Page 17 of 80
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL LEARNING & FAMILIES COMMITTEE 3 MAY 2023 APPOINTMENT OF THIRD RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIVE ON LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE Report by Head of Legal and Governance Services (Report No. 23/127) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report advises of the process to be undertaken to appoint a third Religious Representative to fill the vacancy on the Learning and Families Committee. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Endorses the process for the appointment of a third Religious Representative on the Learning and Families Committee. • Confirms the name of the two members of the Committee to take part in the individual discussions. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background/Main Issues • Section 5: Process to be Undertaken • Section 6: Conclusion • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND/MAIN ISSUES 4.1 Section 124 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 provides that where an education authority appoints a committee whose purposes include advising the authority on any matter relating to the discharge of their functions as education authority on their behalf, three of the members to be appointed (who shall not be members of the education authority) shall be church or other denominational body representatives. Two of the three places require to be filled in accordance with the Act by a nomination from the Church of Scotland and one by the Roman Catholic Church. 4.2 In the selection of the third person, the Act specifies that the authority must have regard to the comparative strength within the area of the various churches and denominational bodies with a presence in the area. 5(i) Page 19 of 80
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4.3 Whilst the results of the 2022 census are not available yet, the 2011 census and Scottish Household survey of 2016 identified the religious beliefs within the Perth and Kinross population as follows: Count Percentage Church of Scotland 56461 38.5 Roman Catholic 13052 8.9 Other Christian 10266 7.0 Muslim 733 0.5 Other religions 1173 0.8 No religion 54555 37.2 Not stated 10412 7.1 Total Population 146652 Source: 2011 Census Households (%) Church of Scotland 29.5 Roman Catholic 5.8 Other Christian 14.5 Muslim 0.4 Buddhist 0.8 Sikh - Jewish - Hindu - Pagan - None 47.8 Another religion, please write in 1.1 Base 220 Source: Scottish Household Survey 2016 5. SELECTION PROCESS 5.1 In accordance with the requirements of the Act, nominations will be sought through a public notice, to be placed on the Council’s website and shared on social media, for a third religious representative on the Committee. A copy of the intended public notice is attached as Appendix 1. 5.2 It is proposed that public notice is published on Tuesday 9 May 2023, with nominations being accepted immediately, and remains live for a period of 6 weeks until Tuesday 20 June 2023, which will also serve as the deadline for nominations. 5.3 Once nominations have been received, nominees will be invited for an individual discussion with two members of the Committee (custom and practice has been the Convener and Opposition Spokesperson), supported by a Committee Officer from within Legal and Governance Services. Page 20 of 80
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5.4 Following the conclusion of these individual discussions (and having regard to the requirements of section 124 set out in paragraph 4.2 above), a preferred candidate will be identified, and this nomination will be presented to Committee for approval as part of a subsequent report at the meeting of the Learning and Families Committee of 23 August 2023. 6. CONCLUSION 6.1 This procedure allows the authority a means of appointing a suitable individual to act as a third Religious Representative to the Committee, which considers education matters, in accordance with the Act. Author Name Designation Contact Details Danny Williams Committee Officer Committee@pkc.gov.uk Approved Name Designation Date Lisa Simpson Head of Legal and Governance Services 21 April 2023 Page 21 of 80
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial No Workforce No Asset Management (land, property, IST) No Assessments Equality Impact Assessment No Strategic Environmental Assessment No Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) No Legal and Governance Yes Risk No Consultation Internal Yes External No Communication Communications Plan Yes 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 The proposals in this report support delivery of the Council’s objectives within the Corporate Plan and the Community Plan. 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 N/A Workforce 2.2 N/A Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 N/A Page 22 of 80
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Sustainability 3.3 N/A Legal and Governance 3.4 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Council to appoint three church or other denomination representatives to the Committee which considers education matters. The process described within the report will ensure that this requirement is complied with. Risk 3.5 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Consultation has taken place with the Convener of the Learning and Families Committee and Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services). External 4.2 N/A 5. Communication 5.1 N/A 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS N/A 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 – Proposed Public Notice Page 23 of 80
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APPOINTMENT OF RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIVE TO THE LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE OF PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL The Learning and Families of the Council committee comprises Elected Members of Perth and Kinross Council, Teacher representatives, Parent representatives and youth representatives. In terms of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the committee also comprises three persons representative of church interests when dealing with educational matters. The non-Council members are entitled to participate on business being considered by the Committee, in a non-voting capacity, in line with other non-Elected Members of the Committee. In accordance with legislation, there is currently a representative of both the Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic Church on the Committee. In the selection of the third person, the legislation specifies that the local authority shall have regard (taking account of the representation of the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Scotland) to the comparative strength within the area of all the churches and denominational bodies having duly constituted charges or other appointed places of worship therein. The Committee and its Executive Sub-Committee each meet four times per annum. All meetings are held in public in the Council Chamber, 2 High Street, Perth, and there is also facility to join the meeting virtually. The meetings are recorded and a copy of the recording is available to view on the Council’s YouTube page following the meeting. Please click on the hyperlink to view a previous meeting of the Committee for information: Learning and Families Committee - 15 March 2023 - YouTube. Further information is also available at www.pkc.gov.uk/committee. The Committee is currently seeking nominations for the vacant third religious representative. Any nomination should be emailed to CommitteeElections@pkc.gov.uk and must contain the full name and address of the nominee, a statement by the church or denominational body as to why their nominee is being nominated, a note of the number of persons who are members of the church or denominational body within the Perth and Kinross area, the number of charges or places of worship there, and any further information as that church or denominational body wishes to provide. The closing date for nominations is Tuesday 20 June 2023. If you require any further information please contact Danny Williams at CommitteeElections@pkc.gov.uk. 5(i) Page 25 of 80
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE 3 MAY 2023 EDUCATION REFORM IN SCOTLAND UPDATE Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No. 23/128) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide the Learning and Families Committee with an update on the progress of the education reform which is currently underway within the Scottish education system. It also provides some detail of how education officers, children and young people, parents and school staff are engaging with the consultations and activities which are being undertaken to provide feedback on the reform agenda. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that committee: • Notes the content of this report and requests that Education and Children’s Services (ECS) continues to actively engage in the reform programmes and ensure that all education stakeholders and relevant partners have the opportunity to provide their views on future policy. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Update • Section 6: Further Considerations • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 The Scottish Government commissioned the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) to undertake a review of education policy as part of its drive to improve the educational outcomes for all children and young people across Scotland. The policy review ‘Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective’ was published in 2015 and provided an independent review of the direction of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), focusing mainly on the impacts within the Broad General Education (BGE), which covers the curriculum up to S3. 4.2 The report provided some recommendations which would help to “move the CfE and the Scottish system to be among those leading the world.” 7 Page 27 of 80
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The report set out some key recommendations eg, such as ensuring that all relevant stakeholders get the opportunity to be involved in the on-going curriculum review. The Scottish Government accepted the recommendations within the OECD report and this informed national policy drivers including the National Improvement Framework (NIF). 4.3 In 2020, the Scottish Government invited a further review from the OECD to assess the implementation of CfE in primary and secondary schools, and to analyse the progress made since the initial report in 2015. Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future was published in June 2021 and provided the following key findings: • CfE continues to be bold, widely supported, and has the flexibility to further develop to meet the changing contexts of schools and communities. • Stakeholder engagement is at the heart of CfE and needs a better structure to develop shared ownership and effective leadership. • Continued efforts are needed to enhance the coherence of the policy environment. • The approach to CfE has lacked structure and long term perspective. 4.4 Overall, the OECD report found that schools in Scotland have been successful in implementing CfE and are willing to make changes where challenges remain. Some of the evidence, which reported successful outcomes, were the positive results in global competencies of 15-year-old Scottish students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 and the progress shown on a number of indicators within the NIF. However, the OECD report of 2021 made some recommendations to the Scottish Government to make continued improvements through the following broad themes: • Balance CfE to provide a coherent learning experience from aged 3 to 18. • Combine effective collaboration with clear roles and responsibilities. • Simplify policies and institutions for clarity and coherence for effective change. • Lead the next steps for CfE with a long term view. 4.5 The Scottish Government accepted all of the recommendations sitting beneath the four broad themes of the report, and the actions agreed, as a result, form the basis of the current education reform programmes under way. 4.6 Current Education Reform Programmes 4.6.1 In June 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills commissioned Professor Ken Muir to provide independent advice on aspects of education Page 28 of 80
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reform, specifically related to designing the implementation of the recommendations for change within the OECD report. Professor Muir consulted widely with a range of stakeholders before publishing his report Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education in March 2022. 4.6.2 An extensive programme of education reform is now underway in Scotland following the acceptance of the recommendations from the independent reports. The three areas of reform are: • A national discussion on education. • An independent review of qualifications and assessments. • Creation of three new national education bodies. 4.6.3 Each of these areas of reform will be phased to ensure that consultation feedback from stakeholders on the National Discussion Scottish Education (referred to as the National Discussion) will inform the next two phases, and subsequently, the review of qualifications and assessment will then inform the creation of the three new national education bodies. 5. UPDATE 5.1 National Discussion 5.1.1 In his report, Professor Muir recommended that the Scottish Government should initiate a National Discussion on establishing a “compelling and consensual vision for the future of Scottish education”. He stated that the vision for CfE should be part of this discussion, and that consideration be given to how the education system seeks to address the purposes described in both Section 2 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Act 2000 and Article 29 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). 5.1.2 Both Section 2 and Article 29 stated that children and young people have the right to education which is ‘directed the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.’. Article 29 further states that education should develop respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for parents, cultural identity, language and values, preparation for responsibility of life in a free society and the development of respect for the natural environment. 5.1.3 The National Discussion has been convened by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) and is being led by Professor Carol Campbell and Professor Alma Harris. The “Let’s Talk Scottish Education” consultation phase took place between 21 September and 5 December 2022. It invited young people, parents and educators to give their views about what the education system should look like for the next 20 years. Events took place across Scotland, led by schools, community groups and third sector Page 29 of 80
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organisations. A series of online national events also took place, and the organisers reported a good response to the consultation part of the process. 5.1.4 All schools within Perth and Kinross were invited to take part in the consultation and education officers contributed to the response developed by the Association of Directors of Education (ADES). Headteachers in Perth and Kinross engaged in a session to consider their response in November 2022. 5.2 National Discussion - Next Steps 5.2.1 Consultation and analysis of the responses received nationally is now underway. It is planned that a ‘Call to Action’ will be published in Spring 2023, alongside a vision for the future with short, medium and long term aims. 5.2.2 The National Discussion will inform the other key areas of education reform, including the review of qualifications and assessment, and the creation of the three new education bodies. 5.3 Review of Qualifications and Assessment 5.3.1 The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills announced in October 2021 the intention to reform qualifications and assessments to ensure learners achievements are fairly recognised. ‘Let’s Talk Qualification and Assessment’ was launched and Professor Louise Hayward, Emerita Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation at Glasgow University, was appointed to lead the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment. 5.3.2 The aim of this work is to reform the qualifications and assessment system to ensure that all senior phase learners have an enhanced and equal opportunity to demonstrate the breadth, depth and relevance of their learning. It has been determined that externally assessed examinations will remain part of any new system. Professor Hayward has set up an Independent Review Group, membership of which is drawn from: • Those for whom qualifications matter most: learners, parents and carers. • Those who design develop and deliver qualifications: teachers, Headteachers, examinations boards, regulators, local policy makers and communities. • Those who use qualifications: schools, colleges, employers and universities. 5.3.3 Each member from the Independent Review Group has been tasked with bringing together representatives from across their communities to form Collaborative Community Groups, with the aim of ensuring that the range of voices from diverse backgrounds are heard. Page 30 of 80
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5.3.4 In addition, Professor Hayward planned a series of phased stakeholder engagement opportunities across the education system as part of this consultation period and schools had been invited to participate directly in this with their school communities. The Scottish Youth Parliament and the Children’s Parliament had the opportunity to share their vision for the future of qualifications and assessment in Scotland. ECS contributed a response to the consultation in partnership with secondary Headteachers. 5.3.5 Phase One took place from August to September 2022 and focused on the development of a set of Vision and Principles. Phase Two took place between October 2022 to January 2023 and asked more detailed questions of stakeholder groups designed to lead to a preferred Qualifications and Assessment model. Phase Three commenced in March 2023 and took into account the findings from Phases One and Two. Phase Three sought views on a proposed approach and the practical steps that are needed for the model to be successful. Phase Three also took into account relevant findings from the National Discussion. 5.4 Review of Qualifications and Assessment - Next Steps 5.4.1 Professor Hayward has now completed Phase One and Phase 2 of the review has now provided an interim report (Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment in Scotland: interim report) to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills which was published on 3 March 2023. 5.4.2 The interim report describes the structure of the review process, and the findings from the first and second phases are detailed and analysed. It is focused on young people aged 15-18 in all educational settings. It sets out the draft Vision and Principles for a Scottish Qualification and Assessment system and identifies the broad themes coming from the feedback. Professor Hayward noted in her interim report that many of the issues raised in Phase Two of the consultation mirror the ideas reflected in the original intentions of CfE. There was broad agreement that the system should reflect the broad range of achievements of children and young people, a desire to reduce the number of examinations, and a need to ensure a wide range of approaches is used to gather evidence of achievement. 5.4.3 Phase Three of the consultation commenced in March 2023 and is inviting views on a possible model. Based on the evidence received in the previous phases of engagement, Professor Hayward’s interim report sets out the following proposals as part of a possible new approach: • Significant reduction in external assessment, including examinations in the senior phase. • More clearly defined integration of academic and vocational qualifications. Page 31 of 80
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• Collation of a broader evidence base of achievements in the senior phase, which will include skills and other competencies. • Development of an enhanced digital infrastructure. • A senior phase leaving certificate. 5.4.4 The key areas above are some of the areas for consideration during Phase Three of this review. The final report will be submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills by the end of May 2023. 5.5 Creation of New National Education Agencies 5.5.1 In accepting the OECD’s recommendations, the Scottish Government noted the OECD’s view that having the inspectorate as part of an organisation that is also responsible for supporting school leaders, curriculum design, teacher professional learning and a range of other initiatives is an “unusual configuration”. 5.5.2 It was decided that the Scottish Government would: • Move the role of inspection out of Education Scotland in a way that maximises impact and helps to balance the dual need for local flexibility of provision alongside national consistency in outcomes. • Consider replacing the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) with a new, specialist agency responsible for both curriculum and assessment to ensure alignment in these functions. • Create a new national agency for Scottish education. 5.5.3 It is recognised that this will be a multi-phase programme of reform, with the new national bodies going live from 2024. This work will be informed by the two previous reviews, and will go through formal processes of design, delivery and transition activity before the establishment of the new national bodies and the policy and legislative changes are completed. Throughout the reform process, both SQA and Education Scotland will continue to deliver support for children and young people, teachers and professionals. 5.6 Governance Arrangements and Aims for the New National Bodies 5.6.1 A strategic board and three delivery boards have been established to oversee this work. The Education Reform Board is accountable for the delivery of all of the elements of the programme. The three other boards are: • Inspectorate and Agency Delivery Boards (boards meeting together). • Qualifications Body Delivery Board. • Policy and Legislation Delivery Board. Page 32 of 80
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5.7 Aims for the New Inspection Body 5.7.1 Professor Ken Muir recommended that the new Inspection body should be established with its independent role enshrined in legislation. Its role should be to support improvement, evaluate major changes in the education system and report annually and over longer periods on the performance of Scottish education. Crucially, it is also recommended that the new independent inspectorate should re-engage, as a matter of urgency, with the Care Inspectorate to agree a shared inspection framework to reduce the burden on early learning and childcare settings. 5.8 Aims for the National Agency for Scottish Education 5.8.1 The new national agency for Scottish Education will become an executive agency of the Scottish Government which will encompass the current support and improvement functions of Education Scotland, SQA’s Accreditation/Regulation Directorate, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Partnership and some elements of the Curriculum, Qualifications and Gaelic Division. 5.8.2 It has been agreed that the new agency should take responsibility for the SQA’s current accrediting and regulatory functions, to ensure that robust safeguards are put in place that this important function remains at arm’s length from Scottish Ministers, and that the integrity of the regulatory role is secure. 5.8.3 The main focus of the new agency is to advise the Scottish Government on curriculum and assessment policy, and to provide responsive, bespoke support and professional learning at regional and local levels. The Community Learning and Development (CLD) Standards Council will also remain part of the agency’s responsibility. 5.8.4 In terms of governance, the new national agency will be expected to adopt a participative approach, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders. It will gather views from national bodies, existing think tanks, research and practice, when developing and enhancing key policies. It is recommended that the new agency should create and sustain a forum for ongoing and proactive discussion about curriculum, assessment, learning and teaching, professional learning and leadership in Scotland. 5.9 Aims for the Qualifications and Assessment Body 5.9.1 It has been accepted that a new body, Qualifications Scotland, should be established. It is required to take on board SQA’s current awarding functions, specifically the responsibility for the design and delivery of qualifications, the operation and certification of examinations and the awarding of certificates. It should also continue to provide the services currently contracted by organisations, governments and businesses, and including SQA’s current international work. The governance structure of the new qualifications body will be revised to include more representation from learners, teachers, practitioners and stakeholders. Page 33 of 80
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5.10 Role of the Policy and Legislative Delivery Board 5.10.1 Professor Ken Muir’s report was clear in advice to the Scottish Government that national bodies should collaborate more effectively to ensure that policies align well with each other and with the renewed vision for Scottish Education. Arrangements require to be put in place to ensure the active monitoring of the volume of policy expectations on local authorities, schools and senior leaders so that they are realistic, manageable and well understood. 5.10.2 A clear transition programme is to be put in place to oversee the changes and reforms which are being carried out. Staff affected by these reforms must be kept effectively engaged and informed of progress across the reform agenda. 6. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS 6.1 Scottish Education is undergoing major changes across all of its functions at a national level, and these will impact on the vision, design, delivery and quality assurance of the education of children and young people for the future. Each of the reform programmes will be phased and inform each other, and will have short, medium and long term goals. Systems and processes are being built in to ensure as wide an engagement as possible with all stakeholders, and particularly with children, young people, parents and carers, and education professionals who will be most impacted by these reforms. 6.2 The education Service management team, senior leaders and school communities in Perth and Kinross are actively engaging with this reform programme whilst continuing to deliver the current national priorities for education in Scotland, excellence and equity for all. The Service is well placed to undertake a change programme in line with the reforms required. Author Name Designation Contact Details Sharon Johnston Head of Education and Learning ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 31 March 2023 Page 34 of 80
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement None Corporate Plan none Resource Implications Financial none Workforce none Asset Management (land, property, IST) none Assessments Equality Impact Assessment N/A Strategic Environmental Assessment Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) Legal and Governance Risk Consultation Internal yes External yes Communication Communications Plan yes 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life. (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens. (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy. (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life. (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens. (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy. (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii). Page 35 of 80
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Learning and Achievement 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 There are no financial implications for Perth and Kinross Council in this report. Workforce 2.2 There are no workforce implications in this report. Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. 3.2.1 The proposals have been considered under the Act; however, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt, or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change Page 36 of 80
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(Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • In the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. • In the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaption programmes. • In a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.3.1 N/A Legal and Governance 3.4 There are no legal implications arising from this report. 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 The reform agenda for education, the details of which are contained within this report, are the subject of ongoing consultation by the national agencies and consultants who are discharged with carrying them out. Consultees within ECS include education officers, school leaders, parents and carers and young people. The Head of Legal and Governance Services has also been consulted on the contents of this report. External 4.2 Extensive consultation is taking place across all local authority areas with all stakeholders within education on all of the reform areas contained within this report. The results of these consultations have yet to be published. 5. Communication 5.1 A communication plan will be developed as each of the consultation findings, and subsequent reforms are decided upon at national level. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 The following background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report: • Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective • Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future Page 37 of 80
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• National Improvement Framework (NIF) • National improvement framework and improvement plan • Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 • Children's rights - Human rights • Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 • Putting learners at the centre: towards a future vision for Scottish education • National Discussion Scottish Education • Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment • Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment in Scotland: interim report 3. APPENDICES 3.1 There are no appendices to this report. Page 38 of 80
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE 3 MAY 2023 VIRTUAL CAMPUS (SECONDARY EDUCATION) Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No. 23/129) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report sets out the key features of the Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Virtual Campus in secondary schools; including the purpose, delivery mechanism and audience for this method of learning. The Virtual Campus is part of a wider Tayside offer to which teachers and children and young people are key contributors and participants. The Virtual Campus is one strand of the broader digital learning approach delivered across secondary schools in Perth and Kinross. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Notes the contents of the report; and • Agrees the following recommendations: ➢ The PKC Virtual Campus is planned to grow proportionately to create and widen opportunities for all young people; ➢ The PKC Virtual Campus continues to sit within the wider PKC Digital Framework and evolves and adapts in line with, and taking account of, wider Tayside Regional Improvement Collaborative (TRIC) and National developments; ➢ PKC to continue to explore virtual delivery models to create more opportunities for children and young people; and ➢ An update on the continued development of the PKC Virtual Campus be provided to all elected members by way of an Elected Member Briefing in March 2024. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Proposals • Appendices 8 Page 39 of 80
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4. BACKGROUND 4.1 The PKC Virtual Campus is a part of the Senior Phase curriculum at Higher and Advanced Higher in certain subject areas. The Higher and Advanced Higher offer is targeted at S5 and S6 learners. It also provides a range of resources at National 3 level which allows young people to be supported in their learning across eight subject areas. The National 3 offer is targeted at S4 learners and is widening the offer for all pupils but particularly benefitting those who require the most support with their learning. 4.2 PKC Virtual Campus courses are a key part of each school`s option programme in Perth and Kinross together with TRIC virtual campus courses delivered through the school college partnership by University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) (which includes their own virtual offer); SCHOLAR virtual learning; e-Sgoil and courses from other providers such as the Open University. The current PKC Virtual Campus offer is Higher Politics and Business Administration; Advanced Higher Physical Education and National 3 level qualifications across eight subject areas. At Higher and Advanced Higher, these courses are designed for young people who have developed the sophisticated skills necessary to manage their own learning with appropriate support. However, at National 3 level, these courses are designed to be delivered to young people by teachers who may not have in- depth subject knowledge; for example, support for learning teachers. 4.3 The virtual learning programme is carefully managed to ensure that young people are well supported to achieve success, in what is a style of learning very different to that previously experienced, and one that is not always appropriate for every young person. 4.4 The virtual learning programme is accessed by young people in school within a designated classroom, equipped with the necessary IT equipment. It can also be accessed at home, and this has benefitted those young people who are experiencing barriers to attendance. The National 3 virtual learning programme has been particularly successful in supporting those learners. 4.5 In late October each year, a planning group, which includes all school timetablers, Education and Children’s Services Officers as well as representatives from UHI Perth, meet to carry out a needs analysis for the following year’s timetable and virtual learning offer. The views of young people are collated on desired programmes of study, as well as consultation with staff undertaken, regarding suitability of a virtual learning environment for individual subjects. All of this information is considered, and the following year’s programme is then determined and advertised to all young people as part of the Senior Phase course choice process across all PKC secondary schools. 4.6 Recurring funding of £136,000 was allocated through the Council budget setting process from financial year 2021/22 for the delivery of the PKC Virtual Campus. This has been used to create Virtual Learning Co-ordinators in each secondary school who have time devoted to the promotion and support of virtual learning in each school. Page 40 of 80
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Individual teachers who create and deliver courses have the equivalent of one day a week to do so and the programme is supported centrally by Education and Children’s Services Officers. 4.7 An additional £61,000 of recurring funding was allocated through the Council budget setting process from financial year 2023/24. This will enable the further, considered, expansion of the subjects able to be offered for the next again academic session ie, 2024-2025. 5. PROPOSALS 5.1 The proposals are designed to ensure that the PKC Virtual Campus grows and develops proportionately to broaden the full curricular offer within PKC secondary schools. 5.2 Careful and regular monitoring of progress is a key component of the ongoing success of the virtual campus learning offer to match or outperform the comparator face to face learning offer in each subject offered. 5.3 The virtual offer at PKC is matched to meet the learning needs of young people and ensure that the offer has the skilled and experienced practitioners to deliver effectively and fully complements the TRIC and UHI offer. 5.4 The key objective is to use the additional funding granted to grow the PKC Virtual Campus offer by five subjects for session 2024/2025 with participation in all secondary schools. It is intended to grow this area through alternative qualification routes, in particular, using the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework to explore National Progression Awards - these are non-traditional courses allowing young people to attain qualifications which are at an equivalent level to National 5 or Higher but are not assessed through a traditional examination. These courses have been chosen as they are more relevant for many of our young people and prepare them better for transition into the workplace or further training opportunities. 5.5 It is proposed that: • The PKC Virtual Campus is planned to grow proportionately to create and widen opportunities for all young people; • The PKC Virtual Campus continues to sit within the wider PKC Digital Framework and evolves and adapts in line with, and taking account of, wider TRIC and national developments; • PKC to continue to explore virtual delivery models to create more opportunities for children and young people; and • An update on the continued development of the PKC Virtual Campus be provided to all elected members by way of an Elected Member Briefing in March 2024. Page 41 of 80
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Author Name Designation Contact Details David Macluskey Service Manager (Secondary) ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 24 April 2023 Page 42 of 80
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial None Workforce Yes Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) None Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal None External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No (ii). Page 43 of 80
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Learning and Achievement 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 There are no direct financial implications arising from this report other than those reported within the body of the main report. Workforce 2.2 There are no direct workforce implications arising from this report other than those reported within the body of the main report. Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. 3.2.1 The proposals have been considered under the Act and pre-screening has identified that the PPS will have no or minimal environmental effects, it is therefore exempt, and the SEA Gateway has been notified. The reason(s) for concluding that the PPS will have no or minimal environmental effects is that there are no activities associated with this proposal that have a potential environmental impact. Page 44 of 80
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Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • In the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. • In the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaption programmes. • In a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.3.1 N/A Legal and Governance 3.4 N/A 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 N/A External 4.2 N/A 5. Communication 5.1 The proposals are being communicated to young people, parents, carers and teachers through the existing school networks. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report: 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 – Virtual Campus 2023 Page 45 of 80
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VIRTUAL 2023 PERTH & KINROSSCOUNCIL CAMPUS 8 Page 47 of 80
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ABOUT INTRODUCTION OUR PKC VIRTUAL CAMPUS At its inception the PKC Virtual Campus brought together a number of nationally based Virtual Learning offers and approaches for the benefit of learners in our secondary schools - foremost amongst these was the work of e-Sgoil Digital learning from Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar (www.e-sgoil.com); Scholar SCHOLAR (www.hw.ac.uk) and West OS West OS – The West Partnership (www.westpartnership.co.uk) to which our teachers contributed resources. Locally we used these resources in all of our schools as part of our Perth City Campus, Highland Perthshire Learning Partnership and more widely as part of the journey towards Digital Schools Awards. During the pandemic related period of school closure teachers at Bertha Park High School supplemented this suite of resources with locally created and tailored resources for use in the Broad General Education. Enhancing this work which is still central to the totality of our Virtual Learning offer our discrete PKC Virtual Campus was launched 2021/22 session with just four Advanced Highers: Spanish, French, Physical Education and Computing Science. Teachers and school and service leaders had engaged fully with the possibilities of curricular and learning enhancement afforded by technology for some years, but it was the rapid change to working and learning created by school closure during the pandemic, and the leaps in technology, that created fertile ground for rapid change. PKC created this online experience for learners and initiated cross authority collaboration with our neighbouring authorities in Dundee and Angus. This year, the PKC Virtual Campus is piloting the delivery of two courses at Higher Level: Higher Politics and Higher Administration and IT. In addition, learners within PKC can also access the wider Tayside Regional Improvement Collaborative Virtual Campus online offer which consists of 6 Advanced Highers: Spanish, French, Physical Education, Computing, Modern Studies and Business Education. This offer has been shaped and delivered in part by staff right across all Perth and Kinross schools. Page 48 of 80
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VIRTUAL CAMPUS KEY FEATURES An asynchronous offer (meaning young people can access their learning anytime and are not restricted by school timetables) Wider opportunities to undertake qualifications not offered by the pupils' own schools Online platform which enables all resources to be accessed anytime Scheduled time with a teacher to discuss learning, next steps and any concerns Live and recorded lessons In addition to the Higher and Advanced Higher offering, the discrete PKC online learning offer also provides a National 3 Teachers Resource Hub. This currently provides learning and teaching materials at National 3 level in 8 subjects: Administration, Biology, Computing, Creative Industries, French, Geography, Science and Spanish. These resources have been created so that learning can be delivered and accessed to younger pupils (S4) and is helping young people overcome barriers to their learning - including school attendance and engagement. This National 3; Higher and Advanced Higher offer for our young people has been further enhanced by effective partnership with colleagues at University of the Highlands and Islands (Perth). We have incorporated their online offer - developed in partnership with our school teams - into our Online Learning prospectus - now when young people receive their course choice information, it is in one coherent and accessible communication. All young people engaged in the Virtual Campus attend an initial in person induction event hosted in partnership with the University of Dundee. This enables them to meet their teacher in person as well as learn about the tools and platforms they will be using across the course of the year. Our PKC Digital Education team support learners and staff throughout the year to ensure regular updates regarding pupil progress and interaction are communicated home. In session 2021-22 we had 14 PKC learners engaged in our Virtual Campus and this session this has grown to 32 young people undertaking a Virtual Campus course. Additionally, the PKC National 3 Resource Hub has been accessed by over 800 teachers and it is estimated that this is being used to support over 300 learners across our schools. ‘ I HAVE ENJOYED THE VIRTUAL CAMPUS COURSE AS IT HAS GIVEN ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE A SUBJECT THAT WASN’T AVAILABLE IN MY OWN SCHOOL. GETTING ALL THE CHOICES I WANTED HAS MADE THIS YEAR MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE ’ OLIVIA (S6 PUPIL) Page 49 of 80
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THE FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS WHAT'S NEXT? Our online learning offer continues to widen and ensure an equity of offer for all young people. In the past, less popular subjects may not have been delivered where uptake was low. However, the creation of a central online offer which young people can engage in means that more courses can be delivered effectively in every school in Perth and Kinross, providing wider access of opportunity. Some of our Virtual Campus courses - in addition to the in person induction days- have also held in person immersion days when all learners have come together in a central school to undertake some face to face learning. This has been challenging to organise due to different school timetables: however, learners and staff have spoken positively about the way these immersion days have helped complement and consolidate learning and this will now be a feature of all PKC Virtual Campus courses. Currently, most courses offered through our Virtual Campus are our more traditional Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications. Going forward, and in partnership with other providers, we are exploring how we can expand our offer to include more vocational courses, again in a bid to widen the opportunities for our young people. While our Virtual Campus and Online offering is not designed as a replacement for the in-person face to face learning that takes place in our schools it is an offering that complements the fantastic learning and teaching taking place across our schools and widens the opportunities available to all of our young people. Judicious management of our Virtual Campus allows us to make a significant difference to the learner pathways of a small but significant group of learners across Perth and Kinross. The PKC Virtual Campus is planned to grow proportionately to create and widen opportunities for all young people; The PKC Virtual Campus continues to sit within the wider PKC Digital Framework and evolves and adapts in line with and taking account of wider, TRIC and National developments; and PKC to continue to explore virtual delivery models to create more opportunities for children and young people. Page 50 of 80
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@pkceducation @digilearnpkc @taysidevirtual Check out our 2023-24 offer: https://sway.office.com/1l4NEyE0eCiiMv2x?ref=Link&loc=play Page 51 of 80
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE 3 MAY 2023 SUICIDE PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH WORK Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No. 23/130) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report describes the current context and activity in relation to suicide prevention in Education and Children’s Services (ECS). Through the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, ECS has supported mental health improvement actions and has worked on a Tayside framework to set up the Scottish Government funded programme of Counselling Schools. To supplement this work, the Community Mental Health Fund programme is funding a Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator post within Perth and Kinross Council (PKC). 1.2 The report draws on work with school staff, over perceptions of suicide ideation, in April and May 2022. The report details the actions taken to date, since the survey, detailing the work of the Mental Health Delivery Group and liaison with partner agencies. The report lays out some of the inherent challenges and describes the onward plans. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Notes the contents of the report and requests that the Executive Director brings back an update report on implementation of the actions. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Current Actions • Section 6: Next Steps • Section 7: Conclusion • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 The report, ‘ECS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Work’, (Appendix 1), has been written to give an overview of current suicide prevention and mental health work within PKC. ECS has historically supported mental health in 9 Page 53 of 80
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schools through programmes such as Bounce Back and Community Link Workers group work. There is now a clear focus on supporting relational approaches in schools through the Nurturing Relationships framework. During the pandemic, the focus turned to supporting responses of staff, parents and children and young people in areas such as anxiety management, self-harm and suicide prevention. Consultations with young people and adjusting plans accordingly has included work carried out through the ‘Connected Tayside Emotional Wellbeing Strategy’. In late 2020, the Counselling in Schools programme was set up and one to one counselling for children and young people, over the age of 10 years old, began in January 2021. 4.2 To support this work, funding was agreed through the Scottish Government Community Mental Health Fund programme in 2021 to appoint an ECS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator post within PKC, who was appointed in early 2022. 4.3 The post holder reports into the Community Mental Health Fund Programme Board and works with the Principal Educational Psychologist to agree strategic actions and priorities. Mental health strategy for ECS is overseen by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Overview group, a sub-group of the Children, Young People and Families Planning Partnership. 4.4 The post holder works closely with the Suicide Prevention Co-ordinator for Adult Services, and a structure for the overall strategic direction of suicide prevention work within PKC, is being taken forward through the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). Further to this, both of the Suicide Prevention Co-ordinators will support, where possible, the implementation of the Scottish Government’s Creating Hope Together: Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032 and the Creating Hope Together: Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2022-2025. 4.5 On commencing, the post-holder worked with the Educational Psychology Service and undertook a survey with staff in PKC schools to gauge the extent of suicide concerns from their perspective. 4.6 The survey data was analysed alongside service level information and actions were drawn up. An understanding of the context to inform action planning for suicide prevention has been further supplemented by reviewing the circumstances around particularly high tariff situations for young people. 5. CURRENT ACTIONS 5.1 The survey and contextual review is set alongside the wider mental health context, with on-going work and actions by ECS, including the increase in Guidance teachers, the funding of crisis supports in schools through the Counselling in Schools programme and multi-agency work to enhance self- harm management and support in schools. Page 54 of 80
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5.2 In respect of actions for suicide prevention following the survey, detailed guidance and training for staff within a risk management framework have been part of supporting a sense of safety and containment within the context of schools. As described fully in Appendix 1, this has been led by the Mental Health Delivery Group to work with partners to identify and address areas of need in respect of mental health and suicide prevention for children and young people. 5.3 Work is underway to ensure that child protection procedures appropriately address the issue of suicide ideation and to link with multi-agency partners. The aim is to ensure that appropriate information sharing and collaboration over safety plans for young people occurs. 6. NEXT STEPS 6.1 The Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator will continue to work closely with Public Health Scotland to enhance the systems level work on multi-agency information sharing. 6.2 The Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator and Educational Psychology Service will continue to work together to support schools with further development of the risk management framework. Together, they will take forward professional learning that encompasses the multi-agency self-harm management work, in partnership with The Light House, a local non-profit service offering crisis support to young people at risk of self-harm or suicide, and a professional learning plan that brings together suicide prevention, mental health and trauma informed practice alongside the development of the Nurturing Relationships framework. 6.3 The Mental Health Delivery Group, led by the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator, will continue to lead guidance and training development work, in detail, with school communities to further inform relevant actions. 6.4 The work of this group will further develop to review the continuum of mental and emotional wellbeing support in schools. The agenda of this work can usefully be steered towards a renewed focus on supporting universal resilience and coping skills. 7. CONCLUSION 7.1 The work on mental health in ECS has benefited from the establishment of the role of Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator. The focus and pace of the work has led to a better understanding of the needs within schools and supported the development of a risk management framework and enabled support for enhanced confidence in this area. Partnership working is critical and has led to some sector leading work, further strategic level work on joint identification of need and information sharing around situations of high risk is required. Page 55 of 80
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Author Name Designation Contact Details Susie Turner Principal Educational Psychologist/Inclusion Manager ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 6 April 2023 Page 56 of 80
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial N/A Workforce Yes Asset Management (land, property, IST) N/A Assessments Equality Impact Assessment N/A Strategic Environmental Assessment N/A Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) N/A Legal and Governance N/A Risk Consultation Internal Yes External Yes Communication Communications Plan N/A 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii) and (iv). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii) and (iv). Page 57 of 80
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Health and wellbeing 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 Funding is provided for the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator post through the Scottish Government Community Mental Health Fund, until March 2024. Workforce 2.2 Appendix 1 provides information on staff perceptions of suicide risk and improvement actions. It details professional learning plans for education and partner staff. Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 Not applicable 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. 3.2.1 The proposals have been considered under the Act; however, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Page 58 of 80
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Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • In the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. • In the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaption programmes. • In a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.3.1 N/A Legal and Governance 3.4 The Head of Legal and Governance Services has been consulted in relation to the content of this report. There are no legal implications arising from this report. 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 Risks related to the content of this report are being addressed through the actions outlined in Appendix 1. 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 The Mental Health Delivery Group includes representation from schools, Educational Psychology and the Inclusion Service. External 4.2 The Mental Health Delivery Group includes representation from the Children Young People and Families Service, Police Scotland, NHS Scotland and the third sector. 5. Communication 5.1 N/A 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report. Page 59 of 80
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3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 – ECS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Work Page 60 of 80
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Education & Children’ Improving Lives Together Ambition Compassion Integrity Education & Children’s Services 1. Introduction This report describes the current activity and plans for mental health work and suicide prevention activity for Education and Children’s Services. Mental health activity within ECS, which incorporates all schools and social work, is guided by the Health and Wellbeing strategy and the ‘Connected Tayside’ Emotional Wellbeing strategy. Recent activity has focussed on the development of a ‘Nurturing Relationships’ framework to best support evidenced based practice in schools. Work over time has included the embedding of the whole school resilience programme ‘Bounce Back’, work on a local mental health pathway and the setting up, through a Tayside framework of the Scottish Government ‘Counselling in Schools’ programme. During the Covid-19 pandemic the work shifted necessarily to a more dynamic phase of responding to presenting need. As this happened it was agreed by the Steering Group of the Community Mental Health Fund, to fund a Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator post, dedicated to ECS. The post holder links with the Adult Suicide Prevention Co-ordinator with a steering group for joint pieces of work being set up through the Health and Social Care Partnership. Work is currently underway to draw up an ECS mental health action plan, from the Health and Wellbeing strategy, Connected Tayside strategy and current activities, including the Nurturing Relationships drive. This work aims to identify gaps requiring multi-agency liaison and is being undertaken by the Mental Health and Wellbeing group, a sub-group of the Children Young People and Families Planning Partnership. Suicide prevention commences with a smile and stopping to check-in with someone in a corridor. Within ECS we embed suicide prevention therefore in our wider relationships and mental health work. The introduction of the new post has provided ECS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Work Appendix 1 9 Page 61 of 80
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a particular focus on suicide prevention activity and this report focuses on the specific area of suicide prevention. The work has taken place alongside and in collaboration with, a two-year multi-agency project looking at best practice, guidance and training concerning children & young people who self-harm. This work is led by the Educational Psychology Service. A summary of activity in three categories is given, outlining the actions and outcomes to date, followed by a summary of next steps. 2. Suicide Prevention and Mental Health activity 2.1 Understanding and analysing our context. Gathering information on the general mental health needs of children and young people, is identified through quality assurance work with schools, school level self- evaluation work, analysis by the Inclusion Service and Educational Psychology and has been augmented this session by the national Health and Wellbeing census. For the specific area of suicide prevention, this knowledge has been enhanced through the conducting of a survey of school staff and reviewing some high tariff cases. A survey was devised for school guidance staff to complete based upon their knowledge of children and young people where there was a concern around suicide ideation. The survey was distributed to all schools in Perth and Kinross in May 2022. It was based on staff judgement and therefore their subjective judgements and so requires to be treated with caution. It did however provide a useful analysis of the issues. The aim of the survey was to ascertain the situation in respect of children and young people experiencing suicide ideation who staff were aware of, as well as those who required a medical intervention as a result of suicide related behaviour. The survey found that there are numbers of children and young people whose suicidal ideation behaviours require support and robust systems around them. It found that a sub-set of these young people had experienced medical intervention. The feedback around medical interventions and what source the school were informed that such an event occurred (parent/carers, children and young people, peers, Health, Police, Social Work) indicated more work is required to understand and establish clearer protocols for information sharing. Staff considered that suicide prevention in our schools could benefit from work on clear processes, support for risk analysis and management, further training and support for staff to feel that others are ‘alongside’ them. They also wished to see greater support for young people at a ‘tier 3’ level, that is, at the level just below the need for clinical intervention. With a baseline understanding established, a response has been mobilised to provide staff in schools with tools and a framework to apply a system of risk management in relation to suicide prevention. The system requires that staff apply a greater level of analysis to the information and circumstances of the child or young person which then informs identifying an appropriate staged level of intervention. The survey has identified that the risk inherent within the system requires closer multi- agency collaboration, to ensure joint risk management and appropriate information sharing around medical intervention and safety plans for young people. Relevant actions are underway and described in sections 3 and 4. Page 62 of 80
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Reviewing circumstances around some particularly high tariff cases, from the education perspective, further supported the above work. It highlighted the need for shared risk management and information sharing along with multi-agency child/young person’s planning, coordination and recording. In addition, it demonstrated that attention needs to be given to the availability and effectiveness of skilled support, beneath the clinical level, for young people in the community for the prevention of escalation. 2.2 Recent and on-going actions for mental health 2.2.1 Universal Approaches • Considerable development work is currently going into to the development of the PKC Nurturing Relationships framework for schools to promote and develop skills in relationships across a school and support evidenced based relational approaches such as the use of nurture principles. The framework includes an intensive whole school programme, a universal foundational professional learning programme for 2023/24 and guidance on school-based policy development. All relationships work is presented as being an integral part of supporting mental health in children and young people. • The Educational Psychology Service continue to support the whole school resilience programme Bounce Back across our Primary Schools and are working with four Secondary Schools to pilot Secondary materials. • The Educational Psychology Service has also led on a staged approach to emotionally based absence from school, the professional learning materials for this include anxiety management and graded exposure inputs, developed during the covid 19 pandemic. • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are rolling out ‘Decider Skills’ training across Tayside. The training is available for both staff, and groups of parents on a rolling 4 week programme. The training is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to support skills that help recognition, understanding and management of emotions and mental health. 2.2.2 National programmes • Since the full launch of the Scottish Government’s ‘Counselling in Schools’ programme, 1,072 PKC children and young people have accessed one to one counselling between January 2021 to Dec 2022. Themes have included anxiety, self-esteem and family-based concerns. • Through the Counselling in Schools programme ECS has been able to provide funding for crisis support work in our schools, which, following a full procurement exercise, was awarded to The Light House organisation, a local non-profit service for young people at risk of self-harm or suicide. This is also enabling the support to be further embedded within school systems and helping to support the roll out of the Mental Health Ambassadors programme. Page 63 of 80
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• To enhance accessibility of counselling there is a further pilot to trial group- based counselling. • Support for staff through Counselling in Schools provider sessions is currently going through procurement processes. • The Scottish Government Community Mental Health fund has committed to ensuring that ‘Every child and young person (5-24 or 26 for young people with care experience) in Scotland will be able to access local community services which support and improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing’. This funding has been used in PKC to procure several supports and services which help promote positive mental wellbeing. One such example is the recruitment of three Mental Wellbeing Support Workers. These workers are embedded within Youth Services and Child Protection Duty Team. The workers have a range of skills and can help children and young people identify, understand and regulate their emotions. 2.2.3. Targeted ECS led actions • Work across Secondary Schools has created five more Guidance Teacher posts and therefore capped the case load for any one Guidance Teacher. • A short life working group is being set up to create good practice guidance for support and supervision of key support staff. • The critical incident guidance for staff was reviewed with Headteachers and adaptations were made. Further work to develop the guidance is being planned for in collaboration with the Child Protection Committee learning review guidance. • A two-year multi-agency project led by Educational Psychology on supporting school staff to manage children and young people who self-harm, has developed focus groups with young people to support developments in training, professional inputs developed between Educational Psychology and The Light House, the clarification of referral pathways delineating who to turn to when and the writing of clear guidance for schools. • Work with Tayside NHS Public Health colleagues on suicide prevention systems and needs, with the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co- ordinator leading a sub-group to look at information sharing processes. • The Community Link Worker service, with consultation from Educational Psychology, has piloted a ‘Wellbeing Workshop’ for P7 pupils with parents, targeting anxiety prevention and management. The materials were adapted following feedback and the workshops are being rolled out this session. 2.2.4 Youth Services • Youth Services are currently developing a wellbeing offer to schools. This involves offering a safe place to meet and engage with a Youth worker in school, one to one work with identified young people around risk taking Page 64 of 80
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behaviours and some thematic group work as identified by the schools and the youth worker. • The service has secured funding to continue with a mental wellbeing worker, a post developed through Covid 19 pandemic funding. Working alongside services for young people the post-holder is offering supports to young people with low mood, high anxiety and at times some crisis support. There is also development of groups in Wellbank for care experienced young people along with targeted one to one work. • Scott Street offers a drop in for young people on a Monday and Friday where they can access support from youth services and partners. From this, identified young people requiring additional support around their mental wellbeing can be supported through one-to-ones or thematic groupwork such as the young girl’s group with Youth Services and Willowgate. The self-harm work, and the suicide prevention work with Public Health and The Light House, has received national and Scottish Government interest and is viewed as sector leading. 2.3 Suicide prevention - supporting staff - containment and confidence Following on from the survey, each Secondary School and impacted Primary Schools have been approached to review the needs in their school. In addition to this, and the above work outlined from 2.2, a Mental Health Delivery Group was set up with full representation from multi-agency partners. The group operates as a sub-group of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Overview group, which sits under the Children, Young People and families Planning Partnership. The aim of the work undertaken by the group has been to analyse the situation, agree actions and to ensure that any gaps are addressed. This has included undertaking action research with two school communities, to best understand the details around suicide prevention and mental health promotion at a school level. This work will inform actions for all schools. Two specific areas of activity to date have been the production of guidance and devising training inputs to provide the structures to give staff a sense of safety and containment, as the basis for greater confidence and capacity in this area. Guidance Activity has focused on giving clarity of understanding around processes and roles and specific supports. This has included being clear over who is available to support education staff in their decision making, and at what point. Page 65 of 80
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The outcomes to date are draft guidance out for consultation with all high school guidance teams which includes: • A flow chart for decision making about suicide risk, what steps to take and who to contact when for advice and support, • A risk categorisation format to support staff to prioritise levels of need, • A risk management framework that details the likely presentation, the expectations for action and the supports available. Training The aim for a training framework is to support guidance and pupil support teams to feel confident about what to do when in this area. At the same time, feedback from this work has supported planning for meeting needs going forward. Outcomes are that schools involved in the action research have had significant support assigned to their guidance teams to build capacity and confidence and ways of working in the area of suicide prevention. A professional learning plan has been devised for 2023-2024 containing both universal (all staff) inputs and targeted inputs for support staff through a framework that brings together mental health, suicide prevention and trauma informed practice, providing opportunities for whole team reflective practice facilitated sessions. These inputs are promoted alongside of the Nurturing Relationships framework. 2.4 Suicide Prevention -systems change Child protection On 21 September 2021, the Scottish Government published their refreshed National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, which they asked Child Protection Committees to fully implement by 21 September 2023. This work is well underway via the CPC and at present the CPC’s existing Child Protection Inter-Agency Guidelines 2017 are being similarly refreshed, in compliance with the national guidance. The refreshed national guidance continues to include self-harm and suicide as a child protection concern, and this will be highlighted in the refreshed local guidelines. The CPC Lead Officer and the ECS Wellbeing and Inclusion Officer are working closely together on the refresh the CPC Child Protection Inter-Agency Guidelines and the ECS Child Protection Procedures respectively; to ensure the necessary synergy and once both are refreshed, will be rolled out to key staff in Education; supported by learning and development opportunities. In addition, the national guidance advises that support and supervision should be considered for all relevant staff. As noted above, a Short Life Working Group on this matter, led by the Principal Educational Psychologist and Inclusion and Wellbeing Officer, who represents PKC on a national working group on this topic, is planned to be undertaken during term 4. Page 66 of 80
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Multi-agency processes for medical interventions and safety plans There is currently no agreed multi-agency protocol of how and by whom schools will be informed when pupils have required a medical intervention after suicide related behaviour. This can lead to heightened concern about the safety and wellbeing of pupils returning to school when there has been no contact with health colleagues, and therefore also no consultation, advice, or involvement in safety planning. It also makes it more challenging for a school to manage any related peer issues, if they are not being informed, by parents or professionals, of incidents. Neither is there clarity of processes around a shared ownership of risk and safety planning for the young person in situations of suicide ideation with intent. These issues have been reviewed by the Tayside Suicide Prevention Young People’s group and the partnership agreed to assign multi-agency strategic leads to progress this work, which will remain led by Public Health. A whole systems approach to identifying and meeting need There is not yet an effective, strategic forum that is working to bring data from across partners together to identify gaps jointly and then collaboratively plan to meet need. Currently services meet to discuss activity and work is underway, commenced through a workshop in December ‘22, to try to identify need that can be jointly agreed. More joint and collaborative strategic planning with health however would ensure greater cohesion for staff along with more sustainability and effectiveness of interventions and training. The approach and continuum of mental health support in schools As the action research progresses thorough the Mental Health Delivery Group and guidance teams become more confident in the area of suicide prevention the focus will turn to reviewing the continuum of mental health support in schools. As The Light House crisis work becomes embedded within systems in schools’, attention will turn to the theme mentioned above arising from the need for more skilled support in schools beneath the clinical or crisis level. The Mental Health Delivery Group will work on refining an analysis of need and possible interventions at this level. Schools in PKC have long had a focus on the promotion of resilience and coping skills. The need to augment and further promote this work this clear. Adopting a whole school approach to a system that doesn’t just respond effectively to poor health but can teach and bolster good mental health has never been more important. The Mental Health Delivery Group and Educational Psychology Service will work together and alongside the Quality Improvement Officer (QIO) teams, utilising the Scottish Government resources such as the whole-school self-evaluation materials have been disseminated and publicised. Doing this will be part of bringing together the ‘Nurturing Relationships’ and mental health agenda into a coherent whole. 3. Summary and on-going actions Work has been undertaken to best understand the current mental health context as it pertains to suicide risk for children and young people. The analysis has been informed by a survey undertaken with school staff and reviewing the circumstances around Page 67 of 80
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particularly high tariff situations for young people. From this analysis it was clear that there has been a need to provide a sense of safety within the school system and enhance confidence of staff. Systems have been set up to provide a risk management framework for ECS staff, to listen to guidance teams and devise appropriate training plans. This work is iterative and on-going and led by the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator through the multi-agency Mental Health Delivery Group. Work across the system has included supporting the community around schools through the Community Mental Health programme, augmenting the supports to schools through increasing Guidance Teacher numbers and training and through the Counselling in Schools programme funding the piloting of crisis supports and group- based counselling. Work is underway to enhance support to staff, critical incident guidance has been reviewed, multi-agency work on managing self-harm is now being developed for roll out and the wider ‘Nurturing Relationships’ agenda is expanding the whole school programme and developing a foundational professional learning input. In addition, systems level work is underway to: • update child protection guidance giving more prominence to guidance for staff on responding to suicide ideation, • continue to work with health colleagues and other partners to review agency information sharing guidance to ensure timely information is given to support planning where there have been medical interventions and where coherence around a young person’s led safety plan is in their best interests, • consider how best to engage partners in coming together to identify gaps and agree appropriate plans, and • adopt a whole school approach to support resilience and coping skills. 4. Conclusion The instatement of a Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Co-ordinator has augmented and increased significantly the pace of ECS work in respect of suicide prevention. The survey undertaken with school staff has increased understanding of the issues and clarified where to focus improvement actions. As a result, schools are now better informed and supported and work in reducing the risks within the system and increasing confidence of staff continues to be implemented. There is a plan to work towards better, appropriate information sharing from and with health that will improve multi-agency responses and the sharing of risk. Work with Public Health and the third sector on this and on actions to address self-harm has been nationally recognised as sector leading. ECS will continue to work closely with Public Health and health colleagues to further this by completing multiagency work to best enhance safety structures for our most vulnerable young people. Page 68 of 80
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL LEARNING AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE 3 MAY 2023 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No. 23/131) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 On 31 January 2023, a report was presented to the Perth and Kinross Council’s Extended Leadership Team (ELT) which highlighted significant financial pressures within Services for Children, Young People and Families (SCYPF), brought about as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report outlined those circumstances and sought approval to request the creation of an earmarked reserve to provide additional financial support to manage the impact of COVID-19 on children and their families and to help reduce the need for residential care placements. This request was approved at Council on 1 March 2023 (Report No. 23/72 refers). This report provides the context for the financial pressures, describes how funds will be utilised throughout 2023-2025 and outlines the anticipated outcomes. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Notes the content of this report and supports the process to achieve the proposed outcomes; and • Approves that progress on the position of the Residential Care Budget and wider (SCYPF) Budget continues to be reported to the Finance & Resources Committee within the Revenue Monitoring Report. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Proposals • Section 6: Expected Outcomes • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a notable increase in the numbers of young people demonstrating extremely high levels of risk-taking 10 Page 69 of 80
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behaviours, emotional harm, drug and alcohol use and expression of suicidal ideation. The risks presented by many of these young people was so high that they could not have been placed, safely, within a Kinship or Foster Care placement and a residential placement was the only option. Between November 2021 and January 2022, a series of unplanned residential placements pushed the costs above that of the allocated 2021-22 budget and this has continued throughout 2022 and into 2023. This situation is replicated across Scotland and was raised as an issue with the Scottish Government at the Chief Social Work Officers’ meeting on 12 January 2023, and in subsequent meetings with members of Social Work Scotland at which, all local authorities are represented. 4.2 The financial pressures identified at this time were specifically within the Residential Care Budget, the funding for the REACH (Resilient, Engaged, Achieving, Confident, Healthy) Team and from the creation of temporary posts within SCYPF. Inflation on the costs of residential care placements has also impacted negatively on the budget (the additional inflation costs charged to Perth and Kinross Council for residential care totalled £127k in 2022-23). Projections for the Residential Care Budget indicate that it will take a number of years to recover from the impact of COVID-19, and as such, there was a projected overspend of £1.502m in 2022/23, £1.152m in 2023/24 and £167k in 2024/25. 4.3 The staffing challenges within the REACH Team have also compounded the capacity to respond to the needs of young people aged 12-16 years of age and who are ‘on the edge of care’, eg from January 2022, long term sickness absence of a number of social workers and being unable to fill a maternity cover post (no applicants) resulted in the social work resource in the REACH Team being depleted by 50%. This ultimately resulted in two permanent vacancies and this situation was only alleviated in April 2023 when staff finally started in the posts which had been vacant. 4.4 The complexity of case work for social work staff across the whole service, and the priority to respond to child protection concerns, prevented any internal moves of appropriately qualified staff during this time. In addition, there were few options to refer on to other specialists or to third sector partners for support because of a lack of capacity across the statutory and voluntary sector. This was further compounded by staff turnover which also left teams across SCYPF under pressure and impacted their ability to support the needs of vulnerable children and young people. This is, in part, due to temporary contracts being offered as permanent funding has not been made available for additional posts and this has taken place at a time when there is a simultaneous, national recruitment challenge for qualified Social Workers. 4.5 The REACH Team budget of £1.536m has been funded, partly, by a £380k annual contribution from the REACH reserve for the last four years as agreed by Council in 2017 (Report No. 17/262 refers). In 2016-17, the Residential Page 70 of 80
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Care Budget overspend totalled £850,710 and following the creation of the REACH Team in 2017, alongside supports from other services, resulted in sequential reduction in overspends each year, delivering an underspend of £499,218 in 2020-21. From April 2023, it had been anticipated that the £380k required to maintain the REACH Team would be funded from the Residential Care Budget. However, as noted previously, this reduction has not materialised. The Finance & Resources Committee will be provided with updates on the position of the Residential Care Budget and wider SCYPF Budget within the Revenue Budget Update report. 4.6 In September 2020, additional temporary funding approved by Council (Report No. 20/173 refers) from the REACH Reserve was used to backfill posts in Social Work Fieldwork Teams so that permanent funding could be transferred to create the COPE Team (Children and young people who are Open cases to social work and need Planned interventions at Evening). The COPE Team provides weekend and evening support services to vulnerable families helping avoid crises. During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Perth and Kinross Council’s Gold Command also approved the recruitment of two additional temporary social workers to provide additional capacity to meet the increasing demand on services. A temporary Child Protection Case Conference Co-ordinator had also been recruited to ensure a consistent response to the management of child protection. To retain these essential posts for 2023/24, funding was also requested. 5. PROPOSALS Action Taken 5.1 The Chief Social Work Officer Report 2022 (Report No. 23/40 refers) considered the impact of COVID-19 and noted that recovery and renewal had not been possible to achieve due to complex needs and exceptionally high demand, which has not abated during 2022-23. It has been acknowledged that there has been no national funding specifically allocated, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to recruit staff to SCYPF. Consequently, to meet the longer-term staffing issues to enable the needs of children and young people to be appropriately supported, a request to seek additional funding was considered at the ELT and subsequently ratified at Council on 1 March 2023. 5.2 The total funding requested and approved is detailed in Table 1 below: Table 1 23/24 24/25 TOTAL Resource Requirments: £'000 £'000 £'000 Residential Care Budget Projected Overspend in 2023/24 & 2024/25 1,152 167 1,319 Shortfall in running costs for the REACH TEAM 380 380 Funding for SW Post and back fill of COPE Team Posts from 1/4/23 to 31/3/24 232 232 Funding for temp SW Posts & CPCC Post from 1/10/23 to 31/3/24 94 94 1,858 167 2,025 Page 71 of 80
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6. EXPECTED OUTCOMES 6.1 The approval of additional funding to provide the costs of residential care in 2023-24 ensures that we are fully supported to bring costs within budget. The requirement for residential care remains unpredictable with many decisions regarding the appropriate use of residential care being made by the Children’s Hearing or Court with which we must comply. However, with key resources once again in place, noted in the organisational chart (Appendix 1) which outlines the interface of child protection social workers, the COPE Team and the REACH Team working in collaboration with other services, efforts can be made to improve the resilience of families and maintain young people within their communities, for as long as this remains safe and secure. 6.2 A third of young people from Perth and Kinross, who are currently in residential care, are scheduled to return home or move to independence over the summer of 2023 with appropriate support from the REACH Team and our Throughcare/Aftercare Team. This work is monitored very closely and will not only provide improved outcomes for the young people but will reduce the overall costs of residential care. 6.3 The provision of additional funding to secure fixed term posts to help manage the demand for support are scheduled to cease in March 2024. This will mean the reduction of one Child Protection Case Conference Co-ordinator, two Social Workers and four Senior Social Care Officers. The management team within Services for Children, Young People and Families are actively reviewing staffing levels and scrutinising every vacancy to ensure that this meets essential need before it is advertised. In addition, a revised service structure has enhanced the provision of an immediate response to maximise opportunities for earlier support. 6.4 The legacy of COVID-19, and the associated staffing concerns, makes it complex to predict future need. Every effort will continue to be made to support children and young people to remain with their families, this will not always be possible to achieve. The fixed term posts have been established to help manage demand and improve capacity to respond to need which has risen exponentially over the last two years. The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund also provides opportunities to help mitigate demand and to expand early help from the commissioning of third sector resources and to enhance preventative services. It is anticipated that high levels of need will not be abated within a year. However, the availability of the additional staffing will support efforts to moderate demand and stabilise service provision over the forthcoming year. The situation will be kept under continual review with the budgetary position being reported, as it has been, to Finance and Resources Committee. Page 72 of 80
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Author Name Designation Contact Details Hazel Robertson Head of Service for Services for Children ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 24 April 2023 Page 73 of 80
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement None Corporate Plan None Resource Implications Financial Yes Workforce Yes Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment N/A Strategic Environmental Assessment N/A Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) N/A Legal and Governance N/A Risk N/A Consultation Internal Yes External None Communication Communications Plan N/A 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens. (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy. (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i) and (iv). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens. (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy. (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i) and (iv). Page 74 of 80
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Best Start 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 Perth and Kinross Council approved the creation of an earmarked reserve to support the work of Children, Young People and Families Service in managing the impact of COVID-19 on higher levels of need and to reduce the number of residential care placements (Report No. 23/72 refers). This reserve will be used over financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25 as per the table below: The Finance & Resources Committee will be provided with updates on the position of the Residential Care Budget and wider Services for Children, Young People and Families Budget within the Revenue Budget Update report. Workforce 2.2 N/A Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. 23/24 24/25 TOTAL Resource Requirments: £'000 £'000 £'000 Residential Care Budget Projected Overspend in 2023/24 & 2024/25 1,152 167 1,319 Shortfall in running costs for the REACH TEAM 380 380 Funding for SW Post and back fill of COPE Team Posts from 1/4/23 to 31/3/24 232 232 Funding for temp SW Posts & CPCC Post from 1/10/23 to 31/3/24 94 94 1,858 167 2,025 Page 75 of 80
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Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. The proposals have been considered under the Act; however, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • In the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. • In the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaption programmes. • In a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.3.1 Not applicable. Legal and Governance 3.4 N/A 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Consultation has taken place with ECS Finance colleagues and Education & Children’s Services Senior Management Team. The context for this report has been reviewed at the Extended Leadership Team. External 4.2 N/A. Page 76 of 80
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5. Communication 5.1 N/A 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report. 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 – Services for Children, Young People and Families Organisational Chart Page 77 of 80
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SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE & FAMILIES Support to help Children and Young People remain within the Community LOOKED AFTER SERVICES FOSTERING/KINSHIP/ADOPTION • Family Based Care – provides support to carers and children/ young people in placement (this includes provision of foster care and kinship care) • Adoption Team supports children/young people from birth to 18; the team also recruits and supports adoptive parents to provide families for those children who cannot live with their birth parents or extended families • Family Change – work with children aged 4-18 who have experienced trauma which is impacting on their development and capacity to function • Review Team- circumstances of all looked after children are reviewed at 6 monthly intervals. INTENSIVE SUPPORT SERVICES • REACH (Resilient, Engaged, Achieving, Confident, Health) REACH is multi-disciplinary team that provides intensive support (24/7) to families with multiple and complex needs, where there is a significant likelihood of the young person (aged 12-18) becoming accommodated away from home i.e. on the edge of care • CREST - Connecting Relationships Empowering Supporting Together) offering Family Group Decision Making and Lifelong Links to identify families to provide care and support. • SHINE Outreach - collaborative working to Support families of children with a disability to help maintain Healthy lifestyles and routines to promote Independence skills, using a Nurturing and Empowering approach SERVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE • Throughcare/After Care/UASC – supporting young people to prepare for life when they leave care; including supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children & young people • Families Empowering Communities – supporting families within their communities through the provision of universal supports and bespoke 1:1 family support (Letham & Crieff) • Youth Services – provides support to young people who need: access to employment and training; support on a 1:1 basis or through group work); support if they are deemed as having high vulnerability and are causing concern within their community; support when presenting sexually harmful behaviours; participation in young person’s plans • Corporate Parenting – supporting care experienced young people to develop positive relationships with their family, friends, professionals and other trusted adults FIELDWORK SERVICES FIELDWORK TEAMS EARLY HELP/FIRST POINT OF CONTACT • Child Protection & Duty – first point of contact for those in need of child protection or welfare response • COPE - Children and young people who are Open cases to social work and need Planned interventions at Evening (until 10pm) and weekends) to prevent escalation of need • Family Focus – early help for families experiencing difficulties • CAD (Children and Disabilities) work with children/young people and their families where disabilities is the main issue • Change Is A Must offers intensive family support and assessment of young children (pre-birth-3 years) FIELDWORK TEAMS LONGER TERM SUPPORT • Perth City & Highland • Perth City • Perth City & South • Strathearn & Kinross • Blairgowrie Fieldwork Teams provide assessment and longer-term support to children and families which could be at times of stress; ongoing concerns about a child’s welfare or when a child has been referred to the Children’s Reporter LOOKED AFTER SERVICES OUT OF HOURS SERVICE REGISTERED CARE SERVICES • Wellbank House, Young People’s Housing Support – providing proactive residential work supporting a move to independence for homeless young people between ages of 16 and 24 (including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children) • Woodlea Cottage, Care Home Service for children with severe, complex and enduring needs arising from physical and learning disabilities for children aged 7-18 years Evenings and weekend support for all concerns Appendix 1 10 Page 79 of 80
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