Agenda item

Councillor Joe Caluori, Executive Member for Children and Families, provided an update to the Committee on his recent work. The Committee questioned the Executive Member on the following topics:

·         Councillor Wayne queried if the recent inspection of the youth offending service represented a fair evaluation of the service and what the council would be doing to make the required improvements identified by the inspector. In response, it was advised that the conclusions of the report were fair and the council would be working to improve its relationship with the police as a result. In particular, the council and police needed to be more direct with each other about local issues. The co-location of the police and youth offending service would contribute to this, as would greater information sharing. It was hoped that a better relationship with the police would lead to more comprehensive intelligence on youth offenders.

·         Councillor Wayne asked a supplementary question on the council’s relationship with the new Borough Commander. Councillor Caluori advised that the Borough Commander had been in post for around six months and was willing to work with the council on youth offending. Councillor Caluori also emphasised the importance of working with schools, as they had regular contact with pupils and parents and were a good source of information.

·         The Chair commented on the great work of Cathy Blair, the Director of Targeted and Specialist Children’s Services, who was to retire at the end of February. In response to a query about the recruitment of a new director, it was advised that further information would be circulated outside of the meeting. The Committee resolved that their thanks to Cathy Blair be noted.

·         The Chair asked for further information on the council’s selection by the government as a ‘Practice Leader’ for child protection social work. Councillor Caluori advised that the council was considered to be a pioneering authority and had been granted £2million to make further social work innovations. This was intended to set a path for other authorities to follow. Officers would be presenting their work to other local authorities.

·         A member of the public asked about the impact of individual elector registration on young people. It was queried how many 16 to 19 year olds had dropped off the electoral register and what the council was doing to encourage registration. Councillor Caluori advised that he did not have information to hand however a response could be provided outside of the meeting.

·         A member of the public asked about school class sizes and if there was a school places crisis in Islington. In response, it was advised that one new school was due to open in future, the City of London Primary Academy, however there were no current plans to open other new schools and any population increase was expected to be counteracted by expanding existing good and outstanding schools. Councillor Caluori further explained that Islington did not have a school places crisis; however there was some uneven distribution of schools in the borough, with some schools over capacity and others with over-supply. As a result the council had changed its geographic planning areas so developers would need to give greater consideration to local school provision when planning new developments. Councillor Caluori appreciated that the GLA predicted a future shortfall in school places in Islington, however it was explained that these figures were partially based on the number of new properties and it was known that up to 40% of new properties in the south of the borough were vacant. In addition, it was thought that the changing wealth profile of residents living in new developments may mean that future borough residents have a lesser demand for state education. 

RESOLVED:

That the Committee’s thanks to Cathy Blair for her contribution to the council’s children’s services be noted.