Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Committee Room 'C' - The Duke of Lancaster Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Samantha Parker  Tel: 01772 538221, Email  sam.parker@lancashire.gov.uk

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Items
No. Item

County Councillors Tony Martin, David O'Toole and Lorraine Beavers replaced County Councillors Munsif Dad, Stephen Clarke, and Jenny Molineux respectively for this meeting.

 

The Committee was informed of the tragic death of Claire Lucas, Headteacher of Bradley Nursery School on Friday 24 January 2020. The Committee passed on their condolences to her family, friends and loved ones and held a one minute silence in her memory.

 

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from County Councillor John Potter, and Mr Simon Smith, Dr Sam Johnson and Mrs Janet Hamid.

 

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

County Councillor Peter Steen disclosed a Non-Pecuniary interest as he and his wife are Governors at Bacup Nursery School.

 

3.

Call In Request: The Future of Maintained Nursery Schools pdf icon PDF 130 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

It was reported that on 16 January 2020, Cabinet considered and approved the recommendations contained in the Future of Maintained Nursery Schools report.

 

Following requests from 11 County Councillors in accordance with the “Call In” procedures, the Chair of the Education Scrutiny Committee has called a meeting to consider calling in the decision.

 

The Committee welcomed County Councillors Azhar Ali, Lizzi Collinge, Sobia Malik, Nikki Hennessey, Tony Martin, and Angela Towers, Head teacher of Woodfield Primary School to present their reasons for why the decision should be reconsidered by Cabinet.

 

County Councillor Philippa Williamson, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools, Geoff Driver, The Leader of the County Council and Keith Iddon, Deputy Leader of the County Council and Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, along with Sarah Callaghan, Director of Education and Skills and Andrew Good, Head of Service for Financial Management (Development and School) spoke in response.

 

The Committee carefully considered all of the information presented as part of the case for Call-In including further representation on behalf of the maintained nursery schools as well as responses from Cabinet Members and officers.

It was proposed and seconded that the Cabinet decision on 16 January 2020 in relation to the Future of Maintained Nursery Schools should not be called in. A friendly amendment to the motion was proposed for the outcome of the consultation to be reported to the Education Scrutiny Committee prior to Cabinet was accepted. On being put to the vote, the motion was carried and it was therefore:

 

Resolved: That;

i.  the Cabinet decision on 16 January 2020 in relation to the Future of Maintained Nursery Schools should not be called in; and

ii.  The outcome of the consultation on maintained nursery schools be reviewed at a future meeting of the Education Scrutiny Committee.

 

4.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There were no items of Urgent Business.

 

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled ordinary meeting of the Committee is due to be held at 10.30am on Wednesday 5 February 2020 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next ordinary meeting of the Committee is due to be held at 10.30am on Wednesday 5 February 2020 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.