MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON THURSDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2006 COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

 

Present :

 

Cllrs Geoff Lumley (Chairman), Anne Bishop, William Burt, Deborah Gardiner, Brian Mosdell

 

Co-opted Members (voting):

 

Mr Anthony Marvin, Mrs Sue Poston

 

Apologies:

 

Cllr Heather Humby, Mr Bob Blezzard

 

Also Present (non-voting):

 

Cllrs George Cameron, Patrick Joyce, Melanie Swan, Jilly Wood

 

 


Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Committee offered their best wishes to the Island’s MP who had recently been taken ill.

 

46.             MINUTES

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2006 be confirmed.

 

47.             DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

Cllr Brian Mosdell declared a personal interest in Minute 50, the call-in of the delegated decision relating to Constructionline, as his daughter was employed by a company registered with Constructionline.

 

Cllr Deborah Gardiner declared a personal interest in Minute 49, Improving School Attainment, as her daughter attended Sandham Middle School.

 

48.             PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

 

There were no public questions.

 

49.             IMPROVING SCHOOL ATTAINMENT (SC12/06)

 

The Committee received evidence from Councillor Patrick Joyce, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Learning.

 

The Cabinet Member stressed the importance of having a School Improvement Strategy and presented figures regarding current performance and trends in education.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that the Isle of Wight was achieving well at Key Stage 1 achieving 11th out of 150 Authorities in England for reading and 3rd for writing and maths.

 

The Island was also achieving 84th out of 150 Authorities for English at Key Stage 2,   91st for Maths, and 21st for Science.

 

The figures showed that the problem areas for the Island were at Key Stage 3, GCSE level and A Levels.

 

The Island had high levels of absence coupled with low exclusion rates. The Local Authority was looking into a number of informal exclusions which were not believed to have been recorded. The Cabinet Member also indicated that many parents had expressed a frustration with the education system.

 

The Cabinet Member identified key areas to be addressed, which included tackling Key Stage 3 and 4, removing the Key Stage 3 split between Years 8 and 9, listening to parents and their complaints, assisting school Governors and challenging Head Teachers, and reducing surplus places through

 linking or federating schools.

 

The Cabinet Member outlined developments in the Directorate of Children’s Services during the past year. Following the Annual Performance Assessment Mouchel Parkman had been appointed to assist the Authority with the Joint Area Review (JAR). Following the JAR the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) believed the Authority could improve by itself and granted £25 million for a one school pathfinder scheme and £750,000 of additional money for school improvement. The Cabinet Member explained that there had been problems related to the Authority’s school inspection team in 2004. Additional staff had been appointed and six secondary school improvement partners had now joined the Authority. Primary school improvement partners were expected to join the Authority in 2007. The new Director of Children’s Services was in post and a Head of School Improvement would join the Authority in January 2007. Members were informed that the last four Ofsted inspections had been good.

 

The Cabinet Member circulated a summary of the School Improvement Strategy for information.

 

The Committee asked for an explanation as to how the money from the DfES would be spent for the current year and the following year. The Head of Learning Effectiveness indicated that the Authority was still in negotiation with the DfES; however, the money would be spent in the following three key areas:

 

1)     the development of leadership, particularly in secondary schools;

2)     raising the quality and standard of governance and the ability of governance to challenge the leadership of the schools; and

3)     supporting and developing the School Improvement Strategy and the capacity of the Authority’s Officers to carry out school improvement.

 

A Project Board Leader would be responsible for ensuring that the Authority achieved value for money. It had originally been a stipulation by the DfES that the Leader of the Project Board be external to the Council, be independent, and report directly to the DfES.

 

The Head of Learning Effectiveness informed the Committee that the Authority had met the LPSA2 targets one year ahead. The DfES would review the targets at the end of 2007. It was expected that by 2008/09 the Authority would be achieving at level 4 in Key Stage 2 English and Maths.

 

The Cabinet Member acknowledged the problems associated with the Key Stage 3 split between Year 8 in Middle Schools and Year 9 in High Schools and explained that the gap would be addressed by the new management team. The Head of Learning Effectiveness explained that problems associated with the long summer break could also be looked into. The Cabinet Member believed that Key Stage 3 in Middle Schools could help to address the problems associated with the summer break.

 

The Head of Learning Effectiveness explained that while attendance levels were poor, the Island was out of step with the mainland education system and therefore the figures appeared worse than they actually were. Years 10 and 11 on the Island were the weakest years for attendance.

 

The Committee would make recommendations to the Cabinet Member in the New Year when it had completed gathering evidence from key witnesses.

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the evidence provided by the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Learning be noted.

 

50.             CALL-IN OF DELEGATED DECISION 53/06 - CONSTRUCTIONLINE

 

The Committee considered information from the Cabinet Member for Resources and Town/Parish Council Empowerment in relation to Decision 53/06, Transfer of In-House Selective Tender Lists to Constructionline, which was taken on 4 December 2006 under delegated powers.

 

The Committee were concerned that the consultation leading up to the decision had not been wide enough and that the services offered through Constructionline did not fit with all of the Council’s requirements. The Committee expressed further concern that the larger companies registered with Constructionline were already involved with the Council on a partner basis and that small businesses on the Island would be deterred by the large application form to register with Constructionline. Members were concerned that the consultation had focussed largely on customers and only a limited amount of suppliers had been involved. The Committee requested a list of consultees.

 

The Cabinet Member reported that 24 stakeholders had been consulted and that Constructionline provided training on how to complete the application form. Members were informed that some specialist work had to be done by people off Island as the skills were not available on the Island.  The Cabinet Member stated that suppliers had been consulted through the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry and the Federation of Small Businesses.

 

Members informed the Cabinet Member that the Chamber of Commerce Tourism and Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership had expressed concerns relating to Constructionline and would be pleased to hold further discussions with the Cabinet Member before the decision was finally implemented.

 

The Cabinet Member stated that there was a one off cost for the Council and there were savings to be made in line with Gershon savings.

The Cabinet Member considered the concerns of the Committee but declined to defer the decision. The Committee agreed to make the following recommendation to the Cabinet Member:

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Cabinet Member for Resources and Town/Parish Council Empowerment be recommended to defer the decision so that she could meet with representatives of the National Builders Federation, IW Chamber of Commerce and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership to ascertain their views on the transfer to Constructionline, and clarification as to the standards for health and safety involved in the scheme and to investigate the reasons why four authorities have withdrawn from Constructionline.

 

51.             PLANNING GAINS AND OBLIGATIONS ENQUIRY SC03/06

 

Members received the final report on the planning gains and obligations enquiry.

 

Cllr Mosdell, the lead Member for the enquiry, reported that everyone spoken to as part of the enquiry was very helpful and honest.

 

There were two amendments to the report. Paragraph 2.8 insert ‘and allocations’ after ‘seeking contributions’ and paragraph 4.10 line 7 deletion of ‘infrastructure’ and insertion of ‘future planning strategies’.

 

The Director of Regeneration and Development commented on the report and updated the Committee on progress that had been made since the report had been finalised. The first recommendation related to the appointment of a Section 106 Officer had already been implemented. An Officer had been appointed on a spend to save basis. A new Cabinet Member for Assets, Planning and Housing would now be responsible for this area. The Director commented that with regard to planning gains the Council should be cautious about the planning gain supplement proposals. The Council should be making representations to the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) to argue that the Island is different to the rest of the region, and the benefits of implementing roof tax should be investigated.

 

The Committee agreed the report as amended and it was

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the report be agreed as amended and the recommendations, as set out in the report, be forwarded to the relevant Cabinet Member.

 

52.             PROGRESS REPORT ON CURRENT ENQUIRIES

 

(i)                 Use of Consultants (SC 10/06)

 

The lead Member updated the Committee on the enquiry. It was reported that some Directors had still not filled in and returned their questionnaires.


(ii)               Members Allowances

 

The Members allowances enquiry was underway. Members had met with the Chairman of the Independent Remuneration Panel and three senior officers. More meetings would take place in January 2007.

 

53.             FORWARD PLAN

 

Members considered the Forward Plan for January 2007 to June 2007.  The Committee agreed that the Forward Plan was a now a good document for the Committee to use. There had been a number of new entries since the last meeting. The Chairman stated that he was not aware that any consultation with regard to the Council’s budget for 2007/08 was taking place. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the Forward Plan be noted.

 

 

Prior to closing the meeting the Chairman thanked Mr Tony Marvin for his contribution to the Committee as this would be his last meeting. Mr Marvin had been a valuable co-opted Member of the Committee for the last 15 months and would be missed.

 

 

The meeting closed at 7.40 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAIRMAN