During a debate at the County Council meeting on 25 July, Liberal Democrat Councillors condemned the Council’s performance on supporting the education of young people being looked after by the Council.

The Council’s Corporate Plan aimed to increase the percentage of West Sussex Looked After Children gaining at least one GCSE from 60% to 68%. The target was not reached.

Lib Dem group leader, Morwen Millson, said, “The Council has been concerned about the educational achievement of this group of children for almost eight years and yet has still not achieved just 68% of all Looked After Children attaining just one GCSE. As Corporate Parents we continue to fail our most vulnerable young people.

Deputy Leader Dr James Walsh said : ” The Council is failing disgracefully to support this most vulnerable group of children. Their life-chances are being taken away from them, as they will be virtually unemployable without even single a low-grade GCSE to show from their education. Many are truanting, and little action is taken. We must not let this go on, and urgent action is needed now”

I also spoke on this matter and said, “As a corporate parent visitor to one of the Council’s Children’s Homes, it is clear to me that there needs to be much greater co-ordination between those responsible for the care of each child and school staff if the educational achievement by our looked after children is to be improved.”

The Government’s ‘one size fits all’ approach to schools was accused on Monday of failing thousands of pupils by not providing a personalised education by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg.

In a speech on 16 June, Nick Clegg set out plans to give schools greater freedoms, allowing them to tailor education to the needs of their pupils. He proposed:

· Scrapping mandatory national tests for seven and 14 year olds, with the money saved put into early assessment at age five and a huge expansion of one-to-one reading and numeracy tuition.
· Abolishing the overly prescriptive national curriculum and replacing it with a shorter document, and allowing all schools the curriculum freedoms currently enjoyed by Academies.
· Taking the politics out of the day-to-day management of schools by establishing an independent Education Standards Authority and slashing the size of the central government department by half.
· Changing targets so that schools are incentivised to address the needs of all pupils, not just those ‘borderline’ pupils.

Contact me for a full copy of the speech.

The consultation period will be from May to July 2008.

The County Policy & Resources Select Committee on Wednesday (7th) at County Hall will be considering the methods used in preparing the draft Strategy, whether additional groups might be engaged in the preparation of the Strategy work and how to promote the consultation in local communities.

The Strategy will be for all the population, not just those who have been traditionally been supported because they have been seen to have the highest needs. It should: -

aim to build strong and cohesive communities where individuals feel included and recognise their responsibilities;

assist individuals and communities to access services and opportunities with minimal intervention; and

encourage service providers to work as partners in focusing needs and aspirations of people, ensuring that there are high quality affordable services, and improving information provision from a variety of sources including through the web, so people can identify, and take, opportunities and choices.

I will be suggesting that Parish Councils should be included in the consultation, and will be reporting on this the Upper Beeding and Bramber Parish Council meetings this week.

A summary of the Framework document is available from the County Council at:

www.westsussex.gov.uk/scs

Please read the Framework, consider the information it presents, and then respond to the questions at the end of the document.

County staff are continuing to work with the School to reach travel mark level two (TML2).

Once the school achieve this Level consideration will be given to completing the path between Pound Lane and Monks Walk as a minor scheme. However it appears that there are currently many schools on the county list, so the work is unlikely to be done within the next year or two. Being at TML2 will put the School in a better position to have the footpath completed.

Lib Dems on West Sussex County Council have yet again been dismayed by the ruling Tory administration’s refusal to allow proper scrutiny of decisions made by the Cabinet. 

Morwen Millson, Lib Dem group leader on WSCC, has criticised the Tory council for once again rejecting a request to scrutinise spending of £1 million of taxpayers’ money. 

“There do not seem to be any criteria that determine how one-off, windfall revenue is spent or what consultation should be undertaken. The total amount is just under £1 million, which is a large sum. The public have a right to expect the Opposition to analyse this sort of spending, but as usual the Tories don’t want to be held accountable to voters. Simply putting a decision paper on the county council’s web site is not good enough.” says Morwen. 

“We need to know what other items were considered to use this money and the business cases for these items, when there are families desperate for more help with their disabled children whose plight is ignored, public transport routes that are being axed due to the county’s failure to invest in modern technology to keep buses moving in our towns and buildings that are not fit for purpose in which our children are being taught.” 

This is the second time in less than a year that a request to call-in a decision has been turned down by the scrutiny chairman. Haywards Heath councillor Brian Hall says, “It is a grave departure from what is ethically and morally correct, to permit such a distortion of the scrutiny process. This is especially scandalous when the Tories have a built in majority on the committee in any case!”

Deputy Group leader Dr James Walsh from Littlehampton adds, “It is not as though we abuse the system at all. We are very selective and sparing in our call-in requests!”

The Liberal Democrats Spring Conference at Liverpool last weekend backed measures to improve support for children with special educational needs (SEN).

The motion passed by conference delegates also stressed the importance of support during transition from school to adult services, whilst an amendment proposing the funding of dedicated pools of specialist teachers available to schools where the school doesn’t have the capacity to cope with a child with special needs, was only narrowly defeated.

The Lib Dem plans also include proposals to:

· Ensure the inclusion in teacher training courses of training in all types of special educational needs

· Work towards achieving and then reducing the six month target for assessment of SEN

· Ensure the needs of SEN students are included within plans to raise the education leaving age.

West Sussex Lib Dems support such a policy and want to see much more money allocated towards special needs education in the County. A move to do this and for more respite care for those with autistic children was defeated by the Conservatives at the 2008/09 Budget Council meeting last month. The Lib Dem Opposition on the Council will continue to fight for more money for this badly underfunded service.

Due to the resignation of one of the local education authority representatives on the Governing Body there is a vacancy to be filled.

If you live in the Upper Beeding/Bramber/Steyning/Small Dole area, have an interest in primary school education and feel you could make a contribution to the community as a governor, please contact Derek Deedman for a discussion about the role and application form.

Derek Deedman has asked the Safe Routes to School Officer to consider the provision of a pelican crossing on the A283 Steyning Bypass at the Castle Lane crossing.

After a campaign by Derek Deedman a few years ago, the County Council provided a joint pathway/cycleway alongside the A283 Steyning Bypass from the Bramber roundabout to the Castle Lane crossing point of the Bypass.

The new route is well used by both walkers and cyclists for leisure activities and by students attending the Grammar School. The problem is that having reached the end of the pathway/cycleway users are presented with the option of making the hazardous crossing of the A283 with traffic travelling up to (and over!) 60 mph, or turning into De Braose Way, at the top of which cyclists have to dismount as the Twittens from there and over the Bypass are not for use by cyclists. In the circumstances the easiest and preferred option for many is to cross the Bypass. Many parents are, therefore, unwilling to allow their children to travel by bike to school when their child could end up killed or seriously injured and continue to drive them to school instead.

Derek believes that a pelican crossing at this location would lead to a considerable increase in children being able to cycle to the Grammar School from the Upper Beeding and Bramber area.

Towards the end of the last Parliamentary term, the government put out for consultation a proposal to take away 5% of the surplus cash left in each school’s budget and to redistribute it to local authorities. This money, £225 million in total, falls within the delegated budgets under which schools pay for their running costs. Many schools build up reserves to pay for forthcoming projects or to cover them for a “rainy day”. Many have foreseen that growth in school budgets will be halved over the next three years and are looking to use their reserves to cushion the effect of this.

LIBERAL Democrats in Arundel & South Downs have warned that a proposal by the government to take away cash reserves that local schools have built up will damage children’s education.

The government have put out for consultation a proposal to siphon off 5% of the cash held in reserve in school budgets. Many schools build up reserves to invest in new equipment or as cover for a rainy day.

Derek Deedman, Chairman of Arundel & South Downs Liberal Democrats said, “Frankly, I am appalled that the government can even think of doing this. Taking money from school budgets in this way is little more than a smash and grab on careful schools that have planned for the future. The effect could be felt by many school children in Arundel & South Downs.

“The government claims the money will be given back to councils to spend on education. My fear is that all they want to do is claim they are spending lots of new money on education when the reality is the government is spending the same money twice.

“This proposal by the government should be dropped immediately. The money built up by schools in Arundel & South Downs should stay with the schools for the benefit of children.”

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws MP said:

“The Government’s plan to raid £225m from over 20,000 schools throughout the Country is outrageous and must be scrapped.

“This dotty idea will hit the most prudent schools, including those who have saved up money for a special project, such as a new school building.

“Most bizarrely of all, ministers say that they will take money from schools based on their balances almost 18 months ago, even if they have since spent that money.

“This is the economics of the madhouse, and takes us back 10 or 20 years to the ridiculous rules that used to force Government departments into blowing their money on almost any old scheme at the end of the financial year.

“At a time when the growth of the schools budget is set to be cut in half, it is absurd to be penalising schools who manage their budgets prudently.

“The Liberal Democrats will oppose these regulations when they are brought before Parliament. The Government already has powers in relation to uncommitted balances - there is no need for any further draconian steps.”

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About Mr David Laws