LIVERPOOL GOVERNANCE FORUM

Minutes of Committee Meeting held at 10:00 on Tuesday 21st January 2020 at:
Mosspits Lane Primary School, Mosspits Lane, Wavertree, Liverpool L15 6UN.  

1.0 STANDARD ITEMS:

1.1	Welcome and Apologies

Present: Kathy Desmond (Chair), Frank McFarlane (Vice Chair) David Blythe (Honorary Secretary), Dave Cadwallader, Dave Owens, Cliff Barton, Cynthia Carmichael, Marlene Taylor and Howard Harris 

Apologies:, Mary Donohue, Pauline Warrington, Michael Morris, Avril O’Brian, Barbara Murray, Amanda Patmore, Maureen McDaid, John Thornhill and Andy Chadwick
                           
        Visitors: Erini Cheliotis and Joyce Smith (Chair & Vice Chair, Mosspits Lane Primary)
         
1.2	 Declaration of Pecuniary Interest
No change. 

        1.3 Minutes of the September Meeting       
The minutes of the meeting held on 10th December 2019 had already been agreed by email and posted on the LGF website. 

1.4	 Matter Arising

There were 2 items arising and all had been actioned as follows: 

Topic	
(1) Investigate suitable alternative venues for holding our half yearly conferences with cost comparisons with P4L DC
DC had obtained some comprehensive information, including costings from a number of suitable organisation: LACE (£716), Foresight Centre (£1200), The Reader (£777), Toxteth Annexe (£660), Gateacre (£490) and P4L (£516 or £636 depending on room used).  

After some discussion it was agreed to hold the next conference at Gateacre on “Saturday 16th May”. 
 	
(2) Forward the minutes of the SEND JCB meeting when available to DFB for circulation to committee members 
Information subsequently circulated to committee and action therefore closed

2.0 LGF Matters and Events

     2.1 Finance
At the end of December, the account balance was £ 3,406:62 with one cheque for £20 still to be debited from the account. 

Apart from the initial acknowledgment of our complaint with HSBC, we have not had a response. To add to the difficulties currently being experienced, we do not have any cheques left. A request was made on 12th December 2019 and a further request was made on 15th January 2020. 

Since raising the formal complaint, further issues have arisen with incorrect details of contacts and are not providing a satisfactory or secure service.  DB to investigate the possibility of moving to another bank – convenient for him. 

 2.2 Feedback from Events 
No events to report.

    2.3 Future Events

The next committee meeting will be held on Tuesday 3rd March at Gateacre School. However, we still require venues for: 28th April, 9th May, 2nd June and 14th July.

The representatives from Mosspits, Belle Vale and Archbishop Blanch kindly offered their facilities once again.  FM said he would also investigate the possible use of St Paul’s Catholic Junior School.  
 
An interesting and healthy discussion took place on speakers for committee meetings and future conferences, which included the following:

•	Parental engagement (KD to Jonathan Nichols)
•	School non-exclusion policy (DFB to speak to Rohit Naik and also Terry Brown re the process of exclusion)
•	Prevent duty (FM to follow up with his contact)
•	Persistent absenteeism 
•	Conference Saturday 16th May (Suggested topics included Provision for Autism and ASD in the mainstream setting – both primary and secondary.  KD to contact possible speakers)  

      2.4 Website

There have been 101 hits since our December meeting making a total of 1947 hits for this year to date. 
The new website is being developed and following advice from Peter Hartley the number of pages has been reduced from 16 down to 11. Some pages have been combined, for example, under the heading ‘Meetings’ there are two sub headings: Schedule of meetings and Minutes of meetings. 

      2.5 Twitter Account
The account remains active, but actual details were not available at the meeting. 

      2.6 Others  
There were no other matters arising for discussion.

3.0 Feedback from Representatives
			
3.1 Liverpool Schools Forum
CB, DO, MT & DFB attended the meeting held on 13th January 2020 when the key discussion was on the 2020/21 budget which had to be agreed and submitted to the DfE by 17th January 2020. CB advised most schools in Liverpool would generally benefit during the 2020/21 financial year. A further benefit for schools would be the pensions’ contribution for non-teaching staff which were being reduced. 

An update on the SEND4Change project was provided by Gail Porter, Project Lead. The target is to complete the project by the year end.  

3.2 LLP Executive Board
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 11th February 2020. 

3.3 LLP All Learners 
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period. The next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow Wednesday 22nd January 2020.

3.4 LLP LWNM
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period. The next meeting is scheduled for next week Wednesday 29th January 2020. 

3.5 LLP Maths Group
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 11th February 2020. 

3.6 Liverpool Safeguarding Partnership Forum
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period and the date for the next meeting has not been confirmed. 

3.7 SEND Joint Commissioning Board (JCB)
MT advised she had attended a meeting recently to discuss the group’s Terms of reference, Quality assurance, the overall strategy and effective communication to ensure interested parties were kept informed and up-to-date with developments.

Specific mention was made of an event to be held at Lace on 24th February to discuss increased participation aimed at improving services for children, young people and adults with SEND. MT to forward details to DFB for circulation to committee members. 

3.8 School Admissions Forum
No meetings have taken place during the reporting period and the date for the next meeting has not been confirmed. 

     3.9 Other
 There were no further items to feedback.

     4.0 Other Items for Mention

      4.1 NGA 
          CC advised there was nothing specific to highlight or report.            

         4.2 Other
HH raised a query regarding ‘subject link governors’ and should governors have specific knowledge of the subject they had responsibility for. The general consensus of the members present was that in-depth subject knowledge was not necessary. It was felt that being able to question and challenge subject data was key to check that pupils were learning and making progress. 

The majority present did not have ‘subject link governors’ and generally most schools have specific link governors for: Safeguarding, SEND, Finance, Curricular etc. It was also agreed how important it was to carry out a skills audit to ensure Board of Governors had the appropriate people with the necessary skills in order to be to be an effective board. 

There being no further business, the Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and contribution and closed the meeting at 11:10 am. 

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS FROM TODAY’S MEETING	
No	TOPIC	ACTION BY	
1	Speakers for future events (Both Committee meetings & May Conference)	KD, DFB & FM	
2	Details of SEND event at LACE on 24th February 	MT & DFB	

Next meeting: 

(1) The next committee meeting will be at 10am on Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at Gateacre School, Hedgefield Road, Liverpool L25 2RW