Issue - meetings

The attached report is for members to note.

The report concerning the Learning and Achievement Service was before the Committee.  The Chairman asked members if they had considered the report and whether they had any questions to put.  There were none, but the report containing complaints information for Learning & Achievement had been difficult to determine because the majority of complaints received had been referred back to schools to be taken through their own complaints procedure although this had been recognised as an omission and it was appreciated that there ought to be some mechanism for obtaining this information - particularly around maintained schools.  In exploring this it was clear that local authorities had a limited role and that information would either need to be obtained through governing body minutes or through the Ofsted Parent View which detailed parents views on each school.

What had also been highlighted was the need for improved information to ensure that parents/carers were aware of where they needed to be directed for complaints in relation to schools/education and the complaints the local authority would be responsible for i.e. curriculum/collective worship and safeguarding. The Complaints, Information & Communication Team would liaise with Learning & Achievement about ensuring the relevant information was given in the right way for the service.

It was notable that Learning & Achievement had been very impressive in terms of their response times and it was good to see such a high achievement in this area and it was expected that this would continue.

As with any service, with the continued increase in demands and pressures, along with the reduction in budgets, the forthcoming changes around education - in particular Special Educational Needs (SEN) – might impact on the service. With any change, this sometimes leads to an increase in complaints and it would be even more important to ensure that the information captured was reflective of what the service needed in identifying the areas requiring improvement.

The Committee noted the report which had already been considered and approved by Overview and Scrutiny.

Report attached.

The report before the Committee evidenced that there was one Ombudsman complaint in 2013-14. This was a joint investigation with the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman.

Within 2013/14 Learning and Achievement incurred compensation totalling £480.00 compared to £300.00 within the financial year 2012/13.

Within section 2, the total number of complaints showed on the table as totalling 27. This included some ‘misfiling’ of complaints which were wrongly assigned to Learning and Achievement.

Schools investigated and responded to their own complaints. Any complaints received by the service were recorded and forwarded to the schools. The complaint outcomes were not centrally recorded. Letters were sent to the complainants advising that if they were not completely satisfied then they should have written back to the central Council service to deal with the issue. Beyond that, if the complainant were still not happy, then OFSTED would be the next port-of-call.

Most complaints of this type were resolved at very early stages.

In August 2014, the Department of Education sent guidance to schools to deal with complaints. The guidance was of high quality and was proving successful. Compliments were also being encouraged.

The report highlighted the need for better information around outcomes; however results of complaints that involved schools within the borough, were difficult for the Local Authority to obtain. Discussions of how complaints were recorded needed to take place to improve the recorded information.