CHILDREN SUB-COMMITTEE
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the Children
Sub-Committee is to support the Council and its partners in
delivering Wirral’s Strategy for children, young people and
families to ensure:
- Children are ready for school;
- Young
people are ready for work and adulthood
- Vulnerable children thrive and reach their full
potential
- Children and young people feel safe and are safe
- Children and young people’s views and voices are evidenced
in and integral to all of the above objectives.
WIRRAL PLAN PLEDGES
The work of the Children
Sub-Committee will focus in particular on the delivery of the
following Wirral Plan Pledges:
- Children are ready for school;
- Young
people are ready for work and adulthood;
- Vulnerable children reach their full potential
·
Reduce child and family poverty
TERMS
OF REFERENCE
The Children Sub-Committee will provide oversight, support and challenge to the
activities of Wirral Council and its
partners in relation to the following
areas:
- Children’s attainment in school, focusing in particular on
the attainment of the most vulnerable children, evidenced by the
gap in attainment narrowing;
- The
quality and performance of educational provision overall in Wirral,
as judged by Ofsted;
- The
quality and effectiveness of pre-birth to five year old support and
provision for children and parents, leading to children having the
best start in life, evidenced by their readiness for
school;
- The
quality and effectiveness of specialist children social care and
partner provision to support the most vulnerable children, leading
to children being safe and achieving their full
potential;
- Targeted early help effectively supports more children to thrive
and live safely in their families and communities
- Monitoring Local Authority performance against its statutory
duties
PROPOSED WORKING PRACTICES OF THE
CHILDREN SUB-COMMITTEE
Sub Committee meetings
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Chair
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The Chair and Vice-Chair will be
appointed at the first meeting of the Sub-Committee in the
municipal year
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Membership
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The
membership of the Sub-Committee will be politically proportional.
(On the current political balance, this translates into 4 Labour; 2
Conservative; 1 Liberal Democrat).
In
addition, the 4 statutory education co-optees will be members of the
Sub-Committee.
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Deputies
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A maximum of 8 Elected Members
per political group may be nominated to sit on the Sub-Committee as
Deputies The appointment of Deputies
shall take effect upon the Group Leaders of each political group
notifying the Head of Legal & Member Services of their deputy
nominations.
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Frequency
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To
meet a minimum of three times per year.
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Work
programme
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The
Sub-Committee will identify a work programme for the year, to
include:
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Task & Finish Groups
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Standing Items
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Specific Officer reports / presentations
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Reporting
Requirements
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The minutes of the
Sub-Committee meetings will be reported to the next available
People Overview & Scrutiny Committee.
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Communication & Transparency
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Meetings will be held in public
with agendas being published prior to the meeting and formal
minutes being produced. Therefore, support from Committee services
will be required
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