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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Jonathan Moore  0207 527 3308

Items
No. Item

67.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Nick Ward.

68.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)  Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Minutes:

None.

69.

Declaration of Substitute Members

Minutes:

None.

70.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 146 KB

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

71.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

The Chair advised that the Executive had noted the Committee’s recommendations made through the Early Help review and would be making a full response later in the year.

 

 

 

72.

Items for Call In (if any)

Minutes:

None.

73.

Public Questions

Minutes:

The Chair outlined the procedure for public questions and the filming and recording of meetings.

74.

Update on the Youth Crime Strategy pdf icon PDF 146 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received an update from Councillors Paul Convery, Executive Member for Community Safety, and Joe Caluori, Executive Member for Children and Families, on the Youth Crime Strategy, agreed by the Executive in July 2015.

 

A discussion was had during which the following main points were made:

 

·         The Strategy was prepared in the context of increased youth offending in the borough; it was commented that there had been growing concerns about violent offences, snatch thefts and drug-related crime. In particular, the Committee noted the shock and concern of local people at the two murders that occurred in Islington over the summer of 2015.

·         It was explained that there were three strands to the Strategy: enforcement, deterrence, and community response. The Executive was keen to implement the strategy as soon as possible. The Strategy was to be supplemented by an implementation plan, which the Leader was overseeing the preparation of. It was advised that the implementation plan would be circulated to members in due course. 

·         It was too early to say if the Strategy was effective, however following firm police enforcement the number of knife offences in the borough had decreased, from three in July, to none in August and none in September to date. It was commented that this was partially due to prolific offenders being in police custody; however these individuals were expected to be released in the near future. The need to work with young people to reduce offending was emphasised.

·         The Committee was advised of positive work being carried out with St Giles Trust, a charity which worked with ex-offenders and disadvantaged people to break the cycle of offending. 180 young people in the borough had been identified as associated with gang violence, 50 of those had been targeted to work with the charity, and half of those had responded positively.

·         The Executive Members were hopeful that the Council had command of the immediate problem, however advised that further work was needed from the Council, its partners, schools, the Police and the community to significantly reduce levels of youth crime in the borough.

·         It was commented that the generation currently committing youth crime were born between 1996-99, typically did not have a strong family support network, were from families where adults were not working, and grew up at a time when the Council did not prioritise early help initiatives and there was a general reluctance to take children into care. It was commented that this demonstrated the importance of investing in early help services, to intervene early in life to stop problems becoming entrenched.    

·         Councillor Caluori advised of his recent visit to Leeds to learn more about best practice in restorative justice programmes. The importance of listening to young people was emphasised, especially those who had experience of the criminal justice system. It was suggested that the Youth Council could also contribute to this work.

·         It was queried how success against the strategy would be measured. It was advised that key performance indicators had been identified, however  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

75.

Alternative Provision: Scrutiny Initiation Document and Introductory Report pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Gabby Grodentz, Head of Alternative Provision, and Mark Taylor, Director of Learning and Schools, made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved, about Alternative Provision in Islington. The Committee also considered an introductory report and a draft Scrutiny Initiation Document. 

 

A discussion was had during which the following main points were made:

 

·         The Committee noted the context of Alternative Provision in the borough. Alternative Provision was for pupils in Years 10 and 11 who were unable to receive a suitable education in a traditional school setting due to exclusion, illness, behavioural issues, or other reasons.

·         Islington currently had 105 pupils in Alternative Provision who attended various settings across North London. Of these, at least 90 had previously received some form of targeted intervention from local agencies. Wraparound support was provided alongside Alternative Provision to support pupils. It was noted that those in Alternative Provision were often vulnerable, had been excluded from school, or were young offenders.

·         Officers explained that the Council had improved the quality of its data in recent years. Since 2010 the Council had recorded the outcomes of those leaving Alternative Provision, which helped to evaluate the effectiveness of services. 

·         Due to an increased focus on finding further education or training for those leaving Alternative Provision at the end of Year 11, the number of young people leaving Alternative Provision classified as NEET by November had reduced year on year. However, it was noted that the number classified as NEET increased during Year 12 each year as pupils dropped off their courses. It was speculated that this was due to the pupils no longer receiving wraparound support alongside their studies.

·         There were no more than 12 pupils to each Alternative Provision class and each pupil was required to opt for 25 hours of education each week. Pupils were only able to opt for fewer than 25 hours of education in exceptional circumstances, such as medical reasons.

·         Although pupils were required to receive 25 hours of education each week, it was noted that poor attendance was commonplace and as a result the majority did not receive the full 25 hours. The national expectation for attendance was 95%, however only 12.9% of pupils in Alternative Provision achieved this level in Islington. Officers commented that for some pupils, attendance of between 50-80% was considered an achievement given their historic level of absence. It was explained that these pupils did not necessarily truant and their absence may be caused by other factors, such as domestic violence or bereavement.

·         A member commented on the benefits of counselling for vulnerable young people.

·         Officers advised of recent improvements to quality assurance processes. It was explained that many local authorities in North London used the same providers and as a result providers previously received three or four inspections each year. This was considered to be onerous and disruptive, and as a result North London boroughs had agreed to a single quality assurance framework which required one inspection each year, the results of which were shared  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

76.

Work Programme 2015/16 pdf icon PDF 119 KB

Minutes:

The Committee considered its work programme for 2015/16. It was noted that the Executive Member for Children and Families would be available at each meeting to answer questions submitted in advance. In addition, the Committee requested that the Executive Member submit a short briefing note to each meeting updating the Committee on his work and related issues.

 

It was advised that Councillor Nick Ward was seeking a date for an informal member workshop on child sexual exploitation in the near future.

 

It was advised that a press release would be issued on the work programmes of all of the Council’s scrutiny committees to raise awareness of their work and how the public can attend meetings.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the work programme be agreed, subject to the addition of an update on the Youth Crime Strategy in April 2016.