Agenda item - Chair's Communications

27.1    The Chair gave the following communications:

I’d like to inform those present that this meeting will be webcast live and will be capable of repeated viewing.  Can I remind everyone that the use of Mobile Communication Devices in the chamber is allowed as long as they remain in silent mode.  I am also aware that anyone present is able to film, photograph or take sound recordings of today’s meeting provided it is done in a way that does not interfere with the proceedings and that flash photography is not used.

I would like to start by mentioning home to school transport which continues to be a priority issue for us all. Cllr. Clare suggested to me that it would be useful to bring an update on Home to School Transport to this committee.  This was a helpful suggestion and I was keen that the report was as up to

date and informative for members as possible covering a range of relevant factors.  As Chair I have agreed to accept this as a late report titled: ‘Progress with Home to School Transport’, which can be found on page 7 of the addendum.

I intend to take this late report (which was circulated on Friday) along with all other items regarding Home to School Transport together just after the call over. I would like to thank all stakeholders for their ongoing contributions to this work.  We’ll cover this in much more detail when we come to the item.

I am also aware that following the announcement of the General Election and guidance issued to councillors by the Monitoring Officer in regard to matters that should not be considered during the election period, Councillors Nield and Hills have agreed to the withdrawal of their items listed on the agenda.  These being:

Item 31(b)(ii) Councillor Nield’s letter relating to Government Funding for Schools and

Item 31(c)(i) Councillor Hills’ Notice of Motion relating to ‘Sixth Form College Strikes’

As colleagues may have heard, Pinaki Ghoshal has been appointed as the council’s interim Executive Director for Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities. He started in the role this week, but we are pleased that he is here today. He is expected to be within Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities until Spring 2020 when he will return to Families, Children & Learning. I am pleased to confirm that Deb Austin has been appointed as the interim Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning and we all look forward to working with her in that role. Welcome to Deb.

I’d also like to welcome Rhian Hughes to the city as our new Head of Statutory SEN Services here at the Council.

Good news from Stonewall

In July, evidence was submitted to Stonewall’s Children and Young People’s Champion Award.  A range of evidence of work done to prevent homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans inclusion was required from teams within Families, Children and Learning. We also submitted information from schools about training, working groups, strategic leadership which included support from Members.

We heard last week that Brighton & Hove City Council scored very highly, with 126 out of a maximum of 130 marks and we’ve been awarded the Gold Children and Young People’s Champion Award. This is a testament to the hard work of staff in schools and the local authority and it is important to celebrate this. This also could not have been achieved without our close partnership working with Allsorts Youth Project who provide a range of support including training, LGBT Peer educator sessions in school and the support for parents and carers of LGBT young people. We would like to record our thanks to everyone at Allsorts.

We know there is more work to do to improve our approaches across all areas of equality practice within the council. The Children, Young People & Skills Committee will continue to advocate for this work which supports the wellbeing and achievement of the children and young people of Brighton & Hove.

27.1    AGREED – that special thanks to Allsorts Group be recorded.