Agenda

Minutes of Meeting of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee held in Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 25 January 2007 at 10.30 a.m.

Present:

Mr A Anderson, Mr A M Millar, Mr R Saxon, Mr T Jackson, Mr W Mowat, Mrs A L Magee, Mr D Allan, Mrs J Urquhart, Mr R Durham, Mrs A MacLean, Mrs I McCallum, Mrs I Campbell, Mr H Fraser, Mr R A C Balfour, Mrs M C Davidson , Mr W J Smith, Mr A Milne, Mr D M Henderson, Mr A J Dick, Mr J Gray, Mrs J N Home, Mr L Fraser, Mrs S Slimon, Mr G Rimell, Mr T MacLennan, Dr M E M Foxley, Mr N M Clark, Rev A Sinclair, Rev A Glass

 
Non Members also present:

Mr D Mackay, Mr J H Green, Mr G M Smith, Mr W J Ross, Mrs R Finlayson, Mr J Connell, Mrs V MacIver, Mr D W Briggs, Dr D Alston, Mr I MacDonald, Mr J Laing, Mrs H Carmicheal, Mr J T MacDonald, Mr C King, Mrs O J Macdonald, Mr B J Murphy, Mr B Clark

In Attendance:

Mr B Robertson, Director of Education, Culture and Sport
Mr H Fraser, Head of Support Services, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr D MacDonald, Head of Education Service, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr I Murray, Head of Community Learning and Leisure, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr R Mackenzie, Finance Manager, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr C Phillips, Lifelong Learning Manager, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr B Hemming, Schools Estate Strategy Manager, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr B Alexander, Head of Children, Young People and Families
Ms E Johnston, Policy Officer, Education, Culture and Sport
Ms M McCarrell, Quality Development Officer (Strategic Initiatives), Education, Culture and Sport
Mrs F Hampton, Project Director, Highland 2007
Mrs J MacKenzie, Administrative Officer, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr J Allison, Principal Administrator, Corporate Services
Miss V Rushton, Administrative Assistant , Corporate Services

Mr A Anderson in the Chair

Business

An asterisk in the margin demotes a recommendation to the Council.  All decisions with no marking in the margin are delegated to the Committee.

Preliminaries

Rev A Sinclair opened the meeting with prayer.

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Ms K MacNab, Mr P Corbett, Mr J N Matheson and Mr J McDonald.

The Chairman welcomed Graham Mackenzie a fourth year pupil from Culloden Academy who was preparing for an audition with the National Youth Orchestra as a violinist. He played a selection of pieces for the Committee and they were informed that, amongst his achievements in music, he had received an ‘A’ grade in Advanced Higher Music while in S2 and had received numerous awards from various musical events in recognition of his talent.

2. Successes

The Committee NOTED a list of recent successes and AGREED that their congratulations be conveyed to those concerned:-

• Rachel Tolworthy, Thurso High School who had gained 9 Standard Grades at Level one in all three elements in the last sessions SQA exams was presented with a Bronze Award for Academic Achievement at the SQA Awards Ceremony held in Edinburgh in late November;
• at the Inverness College Construction Department prize giving, Ewan Cameron, former pupil of Dornoch Academy had won the CITB award for the most promising student on the Vocational Pathways Construction Course for Secondary Schools;
• Murdo Graham, Ardnamurchan High School PT English teacher and Football coach had reached the final three in the School Sport Teacher of the Year Category;
• a cash boost for Highland schools had been announced in late November 2006, with an additional £896,000 for capital projects and £1.852 million for extra education resources;
• Alex Cooper, Fortrose Academy had been elected for the Scottish Under 16 football team that had played in this season’s Victoria Shield competition;
• Dingwall Academy sixth year pupils Tessa Campbell and Kenneth MacKenzie had won the finals of the BT Gaelic Schools debate which had taken place at the end of November in the Scottish Parliament;
• Inverness Leisure had become the first sports and leisure facility in Britain to gain the prestigious Hospitality Assured Award for service and business excellence;
• Reay Primary School P4 pupil Steven Grant had won the National photograph competition PhotArch 2006 run by the Historic Scotland and Scottish Civic Trust with a photograph of Reay Church. He had been invited to the Scottish Parliament to receive his prize. Courtney MacIver P5 also received a “Highly Commended”;
• Denise May, Health Promotion Nurse and part of the Inverness School Nursing Team had co-ordinated a “No Smoking Campaign” at seven Secondary schools in and around Inverness in 2006. The campaign had won awards in all three categories in the National ‘No Smoking Day 2006 Organiser of the Year’ awards; and
• two Highland projects had been short listed for the COSLA Excellence Awards 2007. These being the Sky and Lochalsh Community Toolkit in the ‘Advanced Community Wellbeing’ category and Skye and Lochalsh M-Learning Project in the ‘Innovative Use of Technology’ category.

Valedictory

The Chairman and members of the Committee conveyed their appreciation to the Director of Education, Culture and Sport for all his hard work to advance the Committee’s strategy for developing Education, Culture and Sport along with acknowledgment of the developments at both Highland and Scottish levels achieved while working with the Council.

It was AGREED to extend an invitation to him to the opening of PPP2 schools, as appropriate, in recognition of his major contribution to the development of the 21st Century School Programme.

3. Highland 2007 Progress Update

There had been circulated Report No ECS1/07 dated 10 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which provided an update on the launch of Highland 2007 and its future programme of events. Mrs Fiona Hampton, Project Director of Highland 2007 gave a presentation to Members on the successful launch on 12 January and the Lifescan Monster Street Party. A DVD highlighting the key aspects of the evening’s entertainment was shown, and a summary was given of the positive feedback that had been received. A copy of the highlights would be available through the website and on a DVD.

The Committee NOTED the report and AGREED the Committee’s appreciation be conveyed to the Highland 2007 team for their work towards a successful launch event with best wishes for continued success in the programme of events for Highland 2007.

4. Revenue Budget 2006/07 - Monitoring

There had been circulated Report No ECS2/07 dated 16 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on Revenue Expenditure in the Education, Culture and Sport Service for the period 1 April to 30 November 2006 and the projected year end position.

Details of the projected overspend were presented to Members and it was explained that many budget pressures were demand led. However, it was emphasised that the Council had an excellent policy for secondary education and flexibility was the key.  A number of measures were being taken to manage the situation including a memorandum to senior members of staff highlighting that there was no allowance for discretionary expenditure.

The Committee:-

(i) NOTED the extent of the budget pressures facing the Education, Culture
    and Sport Service entering the final quarter of the financial year;

(ii) AGREED to support the actions outlined in the report to address these
     pressures; and

(iii) NOTED that some of the budget pressures identified would have an impact
     on the current projections being utilised in the preparation of the 2007/08
     Education, Culture and Sport Revenue budget.

5. Capital Expenditure 2006/07 - Monitoring

There had been circulated Report No ECS3/07 dated 12 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing capital monitoring information on the Education, Culture and Sport Service for the period 1 April to 30 November 2006 together with information on the status of the PPP1 and progress on the PPP2 programmes.

Details of the amendments to the capital programme that had arisen from the Corporate Capital Financial Management requirements were given and a report would be submitted to the March meeting of the Committee regarding the revision of the Capital Programme. The PPP2 project was performing well with completion dates ahead of schedule.

In response to questions on the hostel facilities at Mallaig, the Director of ECS responded that planning permission was being sought as soon as possible, and following comments on individual schools Members were asked to raise these at local level. It was also explained that the Science/Home Economics classroom refurbishments were part of a rolling programme of school upgrades bringing together as many funding streams as possible in each improvement project.

The Committee NOTED the report and HOMOLOGATED the decision to award the contract for demountable units at Gergask and Broadford Primary Schools.

6. Education, Culture and Sport Service Structure Beyond April 2007

There had been circulated Report No ECS4/07 dated 16 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport building on the new management structures agreed in November 2006 and proposing changes in management arrangements for the Quality Development Team, the Support for Learning Team, the Community Learning and Leisure Team, the Support Services Team and for Gaelic.

The proposals were explained to Members and it was stressed that the changes would influence the management structure, not front-line staffing arrangements or service delivery. Interviews were being conducted with those staff involved in the changes. Some staffing arrangements would be based around school clusters, would be practicable, and local links for community learning and development would be retained. Members indicated that the details of the Gaelic Development Officer post, should be included in the Gaelic Plan, which was being developed by the Council.

In response to questions, it was explained that details of salary arrangements and other specific issues were still to be agreed by the Resources Committee. A further report would be submitted to the Committee in March.

The Committee NOTED that a further report on the Education, Culture and Sport Management Structures and Services for Children and Young People be submitted to the Committee’s meeting on 8 March 2007, and APPROVED the Education, Culture and Sport Management Structures as detailed in the report from April 2007.

7. Highland Archive Strategy

There had been circulated Report No ECS5/07 dated 11 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport outlining progress in implementing the Highland Archive Strategy.  It informed Members of the submission of a Stage 2 bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the hub Highland Archive Centre and identified the next steps required.

Members were updated on the relationship between the hub, spokes and ‘spokelets’, and of the experience Highland had in operating Archive centres in this manner.

During discussion it was felt to be essential that the public knew how to access and where to deposit information relating to local heritage; many documents were lost as people did not know how best to preserve them. Comment was also made that the arrangements set out in the appendix to the Heritage Lottery Fund application which outlined the hub and spokes strategy, needed to be expanded to provide more dynamic detailed information for Council Members and the public.

The Committee:-

(i) NOTED current progress towards the implementation of the Highland
    Archive Strategy;

(ii) NOTED the submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund of a Stage 2 
    application for the Highland Archive Centre; and

(iii) APPROVED the early appointment of Records Manager and Education and
     Outreach Officer;

(iv) HOMOLOGATED the action taken to include further detail on the 
     principles behind and the working of the hub and spokes strategy for
     archives as set out in Appendix A to the report as part of the Stage 2

     application, and the statement be expanded in light of members
     comments.

8. Education, Culture and Sport Statutory Performance Indicators - Comparison with other Councils 2005/06

There had been circulated Report No ECS6/07 dated 11 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing information on comparison of Education, Culture and Sport Service Statutory Performance Indicators with other Scottish Councils for financial year 2005/06.  It also identified areas where the Service performed well and those where performance needed to be improved.

Members expressed concern over the Library stock indicator, which had been affected by a rise in book prices and cut backs in budgets.

The Committee NOTED the Service’s Statutory Performance Indicator national benchmark outcomes for 2005/06.

9. Lifelong Learning Strategy Consultation – A Highland Response

There had been circulated Report No ECS7/07 dated 11 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport giving details of the current Scottish Executive consultation on its Lifelong Learning Strategy, the deadline for responses was 12 February 2007.  The report described the process being used to formulate a response and secure its approval.

Members welcomed the response but indicated that there was a need for more vocational training opportunities across both the Council’s area and Scotland generally.

The Committee:

(i) NOTED the outcomes of the Lifelong Learning Consultation event; and

(ii) AGREED that the final response, incorporating Members’ comments, be
     agreed by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport in consultation with

     the Chairman and Vice Chairman.

10. Outcome of Consultation on a Site for a New Aviemore Primary School

There had been circulated Report No ECS8/07 dated 16 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport detailing the outcome of the statutory consultation undertaken in connection to the identification of a site for a new primary school for Aviemore.

*  The Committee:-

(i) NOTED the outcome of the formal consultation process as detailed in the
    report; and

(ii) AGREED to recommend to the Council that the new primary school with
    community facilities be constructed on the Grampian Road site provided a
    satisfactory legal agreement with regard to the ownership of the site could
    be concluded between the Council and the Aviemore Community Company.

11. School Transport Re-tendering

There had been circulated Report No ECS9/07 dated 16 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport setting out the final position on the school transport re-tendering exercise for the period January 2007-December 2011.  The report also proposed that discussions take place with the Director of Transport, Environmental and Community Services about the establishment of the monitoring of standards in school transport and public service transport provision.

Members were informed that the completed exercise resulted in an increase in cost of 6.94% against a national average of 11%. While Members welcomed the proposal for monitoring of school and public service transport provision, the view was expressed that parents and pupils using the buses could provide valuable information and each year a questionnaire should be issued welcoming feedback on the local school transport provision.

In response to questions regarding some local routes, it was confirmed that buses were inspected before starting a contract, but a further monitoring role would help to ensure standards were being maintained.

The Committee:-

(i) NOTED the final position in regard to the outcome of school transport re-
    tendering for the period January 2007 – December 2011;
(ii) AGREED that discussion commence between  the Education, Culture and 
    Sport and Transport, Environmental and Community Services in order to
    identify a way of establishing a performance monitoring function; and
(iii) AGREED that parental and pupil assessment of school transport provision 
     by questionnaire be taken into account when monitoring school transport.

12. National Priorities Progress Report 2005/06

There had been circulated Report No ECS10/07 dated 16 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing an overview of the progress which Highland Schools were making in improving the Standards and Quality of Education Provision during school session 2005/06 in relation to the National Priorities for Education and to identify points for future action. Overall Highland had performed well and variations in figures for secondary schools were due to a higher level of differentiation between the  comparative measures used. In response to Members it was emphasised that there was no proven correlation between the spend per pupil and attainment levels.

Members welcomed the efforts being made within schools on issues such as climate change and sustainability, as young people were highly motivated and enthusiastic and were taking good practices on these issues back to their homes.

The Committee NOTED the National Priorities Progress Report 2005/06 and AGREED:-

(i) the action proposed by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport to
    seek further improvement in key identified areas of the Report; and

(ii) copies of the report be distributed to School Boards, schools and libraries 
    and placed on the Council’s website for information.

13. Consultation on Home Education

There had been circulated Report No ECS11/07 dated 12 January 2007 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport advising Members of the current consultation relating to guidance on the circumstances in which parents may choose to educate their children at home and the Council’s proposed response to the consultation process. It was anticipated that the consultation would enable discussion on the issue and allow clear guidance which would hopefully influence a future Parliamentary Bill on the issue.

Members were informed that the key aim to the guidance was establishing a positive working relationship with parents to ensure the interests of the child were maintained. At present, the Service was aware of approximately 100 pupils in home educated within the Highland area. When the Council became aware of a child who was home educated, initial contact was made through the Support for Learning Team with the aim of building a successful, trusting relationship. However, in several circumstances parents were not required to seek the consent of the local authority to home educators their child and therefore there could be a significant number who were not currently known to the Council.

Members discussed the issues surrounding home education and it was indicated that the rights of the child should prevail where necessary and appropriate over the rights of the parents to ensure a child received a suitable education. Comment was made on the consultation response, and that further information should be included stressing the importance of an extended support network for families, especially where children were educated at home and that the provisions of the Scottish Executive’s ‘Safe and Well’ document should be made applicable to home educators.

The Committee AGREED:

(i) the Council’s response to the consultation and

(ii) to include the following points within the response:

• the rights of the child should prevail where necessary and appropriate over the rights of the parents and the importance of an extended support network under question 20; and
• the provisions of the Scottish Executive’s document Safe and Well be made applicable to home educators.

14. Parental Involvement - Head Teacher and Depute Head Teacher
      Appointments Procedures

There had been circulated Report No ECS12/07 dated 21 December 2006 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport advising Members on the Scottish Executive consultation paper “The Draft Parental Involvement in Head Teacher and Depute Head Teacher Appointments Regulations 2007”.  It sought comment on the draft response to the consultation and suggested that draft Highland Appointments Procedures be discussed with parent bodies.

The report proposed that the appointment procedures be progressed through the Local Negotiation Committee for Teachers, before seeking the approval of the Committee at a future meeting. It was hoped that the consultation would be followed by a Highland Appointments team for Head Teacher and Depute Head Teacher Appointments within the area.

The Committee AGREED:-

(i) the Director of Education, Culture and Sport submit the response to the
    Scottish Executive on behalf of the Highland Council;

(ii) that further consultation with parents on the Head Teacher and Depute 
    Head Teacher appointments procedures process take place at a series of
    meetings between January and March; and

(iii) that draft proposals on new appointment procedures for Head Teacher
     and Depute Head Teacher posts be progressed through the Local
     Negotiating Committee for Teachers and be brought back to the
     Education, Culture and Sport Committee for approval.

The meeting ended at 13:40 p.m.