Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Interim Corporate Director for Education which was presented to provide Members with an opportunity to scrutinise the Education Directorate’s response to the COVID-19 situation, particularly supporting the schools during the emergency period.

The Interim Corporate Director for Education spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.  A verbal update had been delivered to September’s Committee, however, this report provided more background context and a current view of the response.

In response to a Member’s question regarding testing of school staff, the Education Transformation Manager said there were three testing methods:-

1.      Aneurin Bevan University Health Board portal for access to testing.

2.      Staff testing protocol within the local authority whereby schools and individual staff members were able to self-refer for tests on a daily basis.  With priority access to testing centres including Rodney Parade in Newport.

3.      Incident Management Team option with representation from Public Health Wales to look at significant clusters or potential outbreaks as a result of school based transmissions.

Effective processes were in place to ensure that staff could access testing within a timely manner.  The staff testing protocol which was delivered via Civil Contingencies ensured that access to tests was on the same day as referral.  The process had been fast and highly effective to date.  The Education Transformation Manager reassured Members that as part of health and safety considerations all schools had Covid secure risk assessments, which were regularly reviewed when positive cases were identified within schools.

A Member enquired regarding the high transmission rates within the community and what measures were in place to combat transmission at school start and finish times. The Education Transformation Manager said that all schools had stringent measures in place including a visitor’s protocol.  Engagement with parents was ongoing either virtually or via the telephone and access to schools was restricted unless absolutely necessary.  Handbooks and guidance had been issued to parents and staggered start times and one way systems at some sites had been introduced.  Effective measures were in place to limit parent engagement on site and to ensure that parents moved offsite in a timely manner when collecting and dropping off pupils.  The Council’s Communications team supported schools with regular key messages to parents and raising awareness.

In response to a Member’s question regarding an update on PPE, the Education Transformation Manager assured Members that there were no issues with shortages of PPE at any settings.  There had been a national shortage in production and distribution of gloves in the early stages of the Pandemic but the Directorate had effectively planned and managed the allocation and distribution of PPE for all school sites and no school had been negatively affected.

The Interim Director of Education added that some funding from the Welsh Government for face coverings for pupils had been received, however, the funding was not sufficient to cover the cost of two face coverings per pupil and had been complemented by the Directorate.

The Education Transformation Manager informed Members that distribution of face coverings was based on availability.  A second delivery was expected soon and all secondary pupils should have at least two face coverings for the remainder of the autumn term with an additional two face coverings being distributed early within the spring term.

A Member enquired regarding transport providers maintaining daily records of pupils’ journeys to ensure they comply with the test, trace and protect strategy.  The Education Transformation Manager said this was continuing and all data logged from the transport providers.  This data was used as part of the contact tracing process for positive cases in schools, there were spot checks and quality assurance checks around that information to look at improvements to the recording of data and information within the transport provision.

A Member raised concerns regarding staff testing as they were on the frontline and felt that staff should be given the opportunity to be tested at least once a month.  The Education Transformation Manager said that regular testing would go against Public Health Wales policy.  Tests should only be accessed if staff were symptomatic.  However, from a staffing perspective if there were significant concerns with regard to potential outbreaks the Directorate could instigate an Incident Management Team response and look at an approach via that means.  But at this point in time the Directorate could not offer regular testing unless staff were symptomatic or there were potential public health implications.

The Chair enquired with the increase of home tuition, if that impacted on domestic abuse incidents. The Interim Director of Education said that in the summer term EHE numbers stood at 54, since September that had increased by 28 learners and this was being monitored closely.  With regard to domestic abuse, he assured Members that Operation Encompass had continued throughout the emergency period.  

The Strategic Education Improvement Manager said there had been an increase in the number and frequency of incidents involving individual pupils and they had continued to monitor the situation during lockdown arrangements.  She confirmed that as part of the performance report an update would be provided at the next Joint Safeguarding Committee.

Councillor Wayne Hodgins left the meeting at this juncture.

A Member commented that with increased transmission rates, there were a number of youngsters who had been told to self-isolate who were not abiding by the guidance and enquired if the Education Directorate were liaising with Social Services and the Police regarding these issues.  The Interim Director of Education had drafted correspondence to all parents across the county borough to highlight the current situation in terms of COVID-19. The correspondence covered a request for parents to consider compliance with the regulations around COVID-19, if there was a lack of compliance in a non-school setting, especially where learners were self-isolating, that would have an impact upon school settings.   The Directorate had reinforced the importance of compliance with national lockdown firebreak regulations particularly in non-school settings.

The Education Transformation Manager said that where issues of non-compliance had been identified in relation to self-isolation, the Directorate worked closely with Environmental Health colleagues, the Youth Service and the Police to follow up and address any particular issues to limit the impact on schools.  Documentation had been strengthened to highlight the self-isolation periods and to give clarity regarding potential implications for non-compliance.

Councillor Bob Summers left the meeting at this juncture.

The Youth Services Manager informed Members that the usual Youth Workers had been deployed to work as Detached Teams in the towns working closely with the police.  She reported that in the main young people were adhering to the lockdown and had an understanding of the consequences if rules were broken.  She asked that Members contact her directly if there were any issues in a particular area.

The Strategic Education Improvement Manager said that in relation to pupil safety regarding groups congregating and having a negative impact upon the running of the school, the Directorate could hold a Safer Schools meeting which could be called under the Crime and Disorder Act with a view to putting in place an appropriate plan for that particular setting.

The Chair raised concerns regarding transmission rates in relation to youths congregating whilst awaiting test results, he said a virtual meeting with Police had been held in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour.

Another Member reiterated concerns regarding parents not following the Council’s and school advice in relation to their children self-isolating.  There were instances of inside gatherings and he felt that parents needed to be responsible to avoid the spread of infection into schools.  The Interim Director of Education said these issues had been discussed at Gold Command but they had little or no direct influence over parental and community based non compliancy issues.  Where services were aware of non-compliance issues such as group gatherings or lack of social distancing, these issues could be reported to Environmental Health and where there were contraventions these would also be reported to the Police.

The Youth Services Manager reassured the Member that Youth teams were out in the community advising young people of what was expected of them and were working closely with the police in communities.

The Chair commented that several incidents had been reported to the Police, the fire brigade had been called out twice and a class for autistic children at Bedwellty Park had been disrupted, but accepted that the Council were doing everything they could to address these issues.

The Education Transformation Manager said they were working closely with Environmental Health Officers, Community Safety and the Police and when issues were reported this was followed up by an Environmental Health visit with parents.  Environmental Health were also looking at potential enforcement action where there were significant public health risks as a result of people not abiding by the self-isolation requirements.  The Directorate was doing all it could to ensure public compliance with guidelines.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 2; namely that Members scrutinised the information detailed within the report and recommend to the Executive Committee that the Directorate continues to work closely with all organisations, schools and the police in combating COVID-19.