Meeting documents

To consider a report by the Corporate Director for Environment and Economy.

The Committee considered the fourth and final monitoring report against the 2017-18 corporate plan which also included the most up to date available data on the population indicators within the ‘Prosperous’ outcome.

The Senior Assurance Manager highlighted to members that the rate of start-up of local business was showing a marginally improving trend. He also advised of the opening of the Dorset Innovation Enterprise Zone on 26 January 2018 which supported business start-ups and growth.

An issue of concern was the percentage of children achieving the ‘Basics’ measures at Key Stage 4.  There had been a decline over the last 2 years in educational attainment.  It was noted that the People and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also focused on this and it was suggested that it would be sensible to let the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board decide where this area was best scrutinised in order to avoid any duplication.

The Advisor from Children’s Services highlighted that whilst some schools in Dorset had declined, around half had either stayed the same or improved. There were specific concerns around the 4 schools in the Weymouth and Portland area. Two of these were Academies (The Wey Valley Sports College and the Atlantic Academy) and two were still maintained by the Local Authority (Budmouth College and All Saints School). Different levels of support had been offered to the schools but there was a wider issue around social mobility.  The social mobility index covered the whole life span of people and not just those in school.  The Director added that across the County 4 out of the 6 district council areas had gone down in the indices with particular hot spots in Weymouth and Portland but in essence it was an issue for most of the County to consider.

One member highlighted the substantial drop in funding being experienced by schools in Weymouth and Portland but was pleased to hear that additional funding was trying to be secured to support school improvement.

Following a question from the Vice-Chairman about the length of time the Local Authority had been involved with these particular schools, the Advisor noted that the Wey Valley Sports College and Atlantic Academy had been a concern for some time, although the Wey Valley Sports College was showing signs of improvement. All Saints School required improvement and their decline had been more recent.  This year’s results had impacted on Budmouth College quite significantly.  With both of these schools, there was clearly an issue around their leadership management going forward and officers had been working closely with both of them.

Following a discussion about Ofsted and their reputation for increasing the bar over time, officers did not feel these schools were necessarily victims of this, it was more about changes due to policy change impacting on curriculum planning.

Members discussed apprenticeships and noted the need for young people to have a good Maths and English base.  The Service Director for Economy, the Natural and Built Environment advised members of a recent meeting he had attended about a Skills Academy for Dorset and that discussions were ongoing about how to move forward with this. He and the Director had been asked to lead on apprenticeships for the Authority.  Members noted the importance of having young people work ready and felt it was the responsibility of schools to ensure they were ready for work at the appropriate time.  The Director advised members that the 4 schools in Weymouth and Portland all now had a Careers and Enterprise Company Enterprise Advisor in place.

The Chairman commented that one year in a child’s education life was crucial and the Committee needed to do all they could to help improve the situation.

The Senior Assurance Manager also highlighted the ratio of lower quartile house prices to lower quartile earnings. This had been increasing over a number of years and he drew members’ attention to the area of modular housing, which the Cabinet had discussed at their meeting on 7 March 2018. The proposal referenced prefabricated modular housing which could meet the needs of people with an Adult Social Care need.  Following discussion on this, the Director noted that the County Council had significant land assets and suggested looking at the model that Dorchester Town Council had used. He suggested that members might wish to consider hosting an Enquiry Day event on housing in order to get all the relevant people together to think about it further.

Noted