Issue - meetings

CEF Portfolio Plan Q2 2022-23

Meeting: 17/11/2022 - Children, Education and Families Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee (Item 40)

40 Children, Education and Families Portfolio Plan - 2022/23 Q2 Update pdf icon PDF 295 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report cef22073

 

The report presented the Children, Education and Families Portfolio Plan Quarter 2 update for the 2022/23 financial year.

 

In considering the Portfolio Plan, a Member suggested an Executive Summary be added to future versions.  Another Member noted a workstream under Ambition 1 of Making Bromley Even Better 2021-31 to provide careers advice and offer work experience and apprenticeships to young people together with support in education, training and employment.  The Assistant Director: Strategy, Performance and Corporate Transformation advised that work experience and careers advice was offered via a range of settings to support all children and young people to achieve their potential and had helped ensure that the proportion of young people identified as being Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) was one of the lowest in London.  With regard to foster carers, a Member observed that a union had recently been established and the Head of Service for Permanency confirmed that this had been a subject of discussion in the Fostering Advisory Partnership and between Bromley foster carers.  In response to a query from a Member on sexual health matters for young people, the Assistant Director: Strategy, Performance and Corporate Transformation clarified that this came under the remit of the Health and Wellbeing Board, but that additional information would be provided to Members following the meeting.

 

A Member asked about the proportion of eligible children accessing 2-year-old funded Early Years places and the Head of Schools, Early Years and Adult Education explained that some families chose not to take up Early Years places and the benchmark for this would be circulated following the meeting alongside inspection ratings of Bromley’s Early Years settings.  A Co-opted Member suggested functionality be introduced to the Bromley Council website that allowed families to search for local schools by postcode and the Director of Education would follow this up and provide an update to the next meeting of the Committee.

 

RESOLVED: The progress on actions associated with the Children, Education and Families Portfolio Plan be noted.