Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ahmad and Councillor Haque.

Councillor Byrne declared a personal interest at Items 9 and 10 by virtue her role as a Governor at Saddleworth School.

Councillor Phythian declared a personal interest at Items 9 and 10 by virtue of his role as a Governor at St. Paul’s Primary School, Royton.

Councillor Stretton declared a personal interest at Items 9 and 10 by virtue of her role as a Governor at Limehurst Primary School.

Councillor Shuttleworth declared a personal interest at Items 9 and 10 by virtue of his role as a Governor at Limehurst Primary School.

There were no public questions received.

The Minutes of the PVFM Select Committee held on 25^th June 2020 are attached for approval.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Performance and Value for Money Select Committee held on 25^th June 2020 be approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the GMCA Corporate Issues and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 16^th June 2020 are attached for noting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the GMCA Corporate Issus and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 16^th June 2020 be noted.

The minutes of the GMCA Economy, Business Growth and Skills Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12^th June 2020 are attached for noting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the GMCA Economy, Business Growth and Skills Committee meeting held on 12^th June 2020 be noted.

The minutes of the GMCA Housing, Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings held on 11^th June 2020 and 9^th July 2020 are attached for noting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the GMCA Housing, Planning and Environment Committee meetings held on 11^th June 2020 and 9^th July 2020 be noted.

The Select Committee gave consideration to a report which provided information and an update on the delivery of additional school places and admissions.

The report provided an update on the delivery of additional school place and the work of the Admissions team which included the following:

·         Pupil Numbers;

·         Allocation of school places by preference;

·         The percentage of residents who were offered a school place of choice (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd preferences);

·         The number of parents who missed the school places application deadline;

·         An overview of schemes and initiatives designed to assist parents when applying for a school place;

·         Overview of the current school place plans; and

·         Future plans to increase parental choice.

The demand for school places in Oldham had increased significantly, in 2019 there were around 42,000 school age children, by 2024 this will have increased to 45,000 and by 2028 to almost 47,000 pupils. The Council had a statutory role to ensure that every child in the borough had a school place.  The Council had an Education Provision Strategy for 2020 to 2024 which outlined the approach to school places.

The report detailed School Allocation Data for both primary and secondary schools.    In 2019, 91% of parents had been allocated a place in their referred first choice of primary school.  In 2020, 75% of parent had been allocated a place in their preferred first choice of secondary schools.  There had been increasing pressure on place in the secondary sector in recent years due to an increasing population and the rapid expansion on a number of primary schools and the closure of two secondary schools. Further works was being undertaken to provide additional places in Oldham which were outlined in the report.

Members were informed that late applications would run to the end of August, to the year’s final total was not yet know.  However, when compared to the secondary late applications from the previous year’s figures, it was very encouraging.  The Admissions Teams had worked to chase up partly completed applications, increased market and reintroduced their attendance at open evenings.   Constant communications also took place between the team and primary schools to increase focus on families who had not applied for school places.  The school admissions website contained comprehensive information and advised parents of ‘help’ sessions that were available.  Support had halted when national lockdown measures had been introduced.  The admissions team call parents pack who need to speak whilst the working from home arrangements were in place which was running well.

Members were informed about the number of underperforming secondary schools which was having an impact on preferences, two new secondary schools were in the pipeline. 

Members sought and received clarification on ward preferences.  Members referenced the information regarding the closure to two secondary schools and recommended that clarification be provided that two should were not maintained but were free schools over which the local authority did not have control.

Members commented favourably on the out of borough places which had reduced by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Select Committee were provided an update on progress to date which addressed the two remaining recommendations from the Written Statement of Action (WSOA) that had formed the priorities identified in the Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) being monitored by the Department for Education (DfE). 

Following the reinspection in September 2019 and the identification of two remaining areas which required improvement, the APP was developed to ensure significant improvement continued to be made in relation to Area 3 (Education, Health & Social Care) (EHC) process and quality of plans) and Area 5 (Achievement of children and young people with SEND, including the high rates of fixed term exclusion and persistent absenteeism).  The final draft of the APP was submitted to the DfE in March 2020 including 6 and 12 month milestones due to the rapidly escalating Coronavirus situation.

Due to the closure of all schools in England on 18^th March 2020, the cancellation of national performance tables and national examinations for all key stages, it was not possible to review progress against the impact measures and milestones for Area 5 this academic year.  It was recommended to the DfE Advisor in June 2020 that the actions identified in Area 5 should be amended and updated to reflect the changes and significant challenges presented by the Coronavirus situation ahead of schools returning in the Autumn term.  This update was completed and shared with the DfE.  The meeting on 31^st July 2020 was positive and demonstrated the progress made to address the two remaining areas.  A follow up meeting was arranged with the DfE Advisor to discuss and confirm the formal approval process for the APP and agreed access to DfE funded training for members of the partnership.

Despite the challenges of the Coronavirus situation, actions related to Area 3 had proceeded at pace through creative approaches, with the clear message of ‘business as usual’.  The fixed term additional team which delivered the annual review recovery plan had now been trained, inducted and were producing high quality EHC plans following annual reviews.  The main education, health and care plan team continued to work effectively.  Co-productive work continued across the partnership to provide challenging but constructive feedback to improve working practices and the quality of information included in the EHC plans.  The quality assurance visit from the DfE SEND Advisory Team on 31^st July 2020 confirmed this view.

The Select Committee were provided an example of the transformation journey taking place which was the national timeliness indicator.  The number of EHC plans issued within 20 weeks based upon the DfE published data for the 2019 calendar year.  The following improvement was shown:

·         Excluding Exceptions – 43^rd of 151 nationally, compared to 140^th last year.  Higher than 8 of the authority’s statistical neighbours.

·         Inclusion Exceptions – 47^th of 151 nationally, compared to 139^th last year.  Higher than 8 of the authority’s 10 statistical neighbours.

It was anticipated that due to the disruption caused by the Coronavirus situation, the SEND  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Consideration was given to the Unity Partnership Limited Annual Report for 2019/20. 

Unity Partnership (the Company) was a separately legal entity that was governed under the regulations laid down in the Companies Act and within the Articles of Association for the Company.  There were regular updates on service delivery, financial reporting and performance provided to the directors of the company at Board meetings and periodically to the Shareholder Committee, which also considered matters and decision that were reserved to the Shareholders.

There was a requirement to deliver a summary of Company key activity and performance to Shareholders following the end of the year.  This was separate to the formal Annual Return and Full Company Accounts for a Limited Company which was required to be sent to Companies House as directed under the Companies Act 2006.

A consolidated End of Year Annual Report has now been produced for the full 2019/20 period which had been considered and approved by the  Board of Directors and shared with the Shareholder Committee. 

The following was highlighted to members:

·         2019/20 had been a successful year with a change in culture from profit driven to service delivery;

·         In financial terms, a dividend of £1.35m had been generated; in addition to a saving of £250k;

·         Highways Design, Engineering and Traffic Network had a very large capital programme;

·         Response to service requests had fallen due to the impact of COVID but was now back up to 90%;

·         Property management were designing strategy to rationalise assets and delivery major schemes;

·         Council tax and business rate collection was below target, extra resources had been brought in.  COVID had made collection more challenging and would be a major focus;

·         A new payroll system was due to come int services, the implementation had been delayed due to COVID but should be in place in November;

·         IT had been delivered and included deployment of new pcs and Office 365 which had enabled home working; and

·         Unity had employed 19 apprentices and 17 work experience placements which had been successful.

COVID-19 had impacted on a few projects which had been put on hold and affected income.  The year had set a strong foundation for future delivery with most performance objectives achieved with exceptions.

Members asked about the implementation of the new payroll system and the costs incurred in terms of the previous A1 system.  The information was not available.  The biggest issue was the transfer of data between systems. There would be two parallel runs before going live in November.  If the run in October did not work, this would be re-evaluated.  Until there was a successful run, the new system would not go live.  Members questioned if all payroll would be transferred at the same time and it was clarified that the Council and teaching payroll would go live together.  MioCare and Unity may be postponed.

Members asked about the significant rise in sickness due to mental health and stress and the possible cause.  Members were informed that health and wellbeing was promoted.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Select Committee gave consideration to a report of the Director of Finance which provided an update on the deployment of additional revenue and capital grants received in 2020/21 and advised of the financial challenge for the Council arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Select Committee were also provided with an update on the Council’s 2020/21 forecast revenue budget position and the financial position of the capital programme as at 30 June 2020 (Quarter 1) together with the revised capital programme 2020/25.  The reports had been included on the Cabinet agenda on 24^th August 2020.

The report was presented with two appendices which enabled the review of the financial position of the Council. 

The Financial Update – Budget 2020/21 and 21/22 were attached at Appendix 1 of the report and provided detail of the additional grant funding which had been received since the Cabinet meeting of 23 April 2020 that included the range of significant grants to provide support related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Details was also provided on the financial information that the Council provided to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on a monthly basis and the on-going impact of COVID-19 on the financial position of the Council in 2020/21 and future years. 

The Revenue Monitor and Capital Investment Programme 2020/21 Quarter 1 report attached at Appendix B of the report presented the current forecast outturn position for 2020/21.  Information on the Quarter 1 position of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the Collection Fund was also outlined in the report.  The report also outlined the most up-to-date capital spending position for 2020/25 for approved schemes.

The reports enabled the Select Committee to review how the Council was dealing with the financial challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, how the various additional grants had been applied and how that translated to the forecast revenue budget position for 2020/21 and future years.

Cabinet at its meeting on 23 April 2020 considered and approved a report which provided a financial update and an outline of a range of grants that had ben received from Central Government.  The report attached at Appendix A provided an update on the information and details of the most recent:

·         COVID related unringfenced revenue grants received

·         COVID related ringfenced revenue grants received

·         Other ringfenced revenue grants

·         Other unringfenced revenue grants

·         Capital grants including those received since April

The report advised on the impact of COVID-19 on the financial position of the Council.  The July return to MHCLG highlighted an in-year pressure of £17.112m in excess of funding currently available.  There was also the requirement to increase the budget reduction target for 2021/22 and the measure that were being taken in 2020/21 to control expenditure given the financial pressure in year presented by the response to the pandemic. 

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Green introduced the report and included information related to the grants which had been received, the allocation of the grants and the projected deficit of £30m  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The PVFM Select Committee gave consideration to the Committee’s work programme.

RESOLVED that the PVFM Select Work Programme be noted.

The PVFM Select Committee gave consideration to the latest published Key Decision Document.

RESOLVED that the Key Decision Document be noted.

The date and time of the next Performance and Value for Money Select Committee will be held on 1^st October 2020 at 6.00 p.m.

RESOLVED that the date and time of the next Performance and Value for Money Select Committee to be held on Thursday, 1^st October 2020 at 6.00 p.m. be noted.