Welcome
"The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee is the place where local people come together to influence learning initiatives in the Town and to hold the Council's Cabinet and Officers to account on decisions taken. The Committee team includes teachers, parents, governors, head teachers, representatives from the community, local colleges, Learning Skills Council, churches and Councillors.
We have done extensive work on a review of primary education in the Borough which included holding a series for meetings throughout the town and sending a questionnaire to every household with primary school age children. By listening to people, like you, who care about education in our Town, we were able to offer sensible recommendations to the Cabinet for consideration.
We hope that this web page will tell you a little bit more about the work we do your behalf. We welcome suggestions for our future work and hope that you will feel able to contact us with your ideas. If there are any areas you are particularly interested in, or if you would like to attend a meeting or take part in one of our current reviews please contact democraticservices@darlington.gov.uk"
Councillor Eleanor Lister
Chair of Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.
Terms of Reference
The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee’s terms of reference are to consider cross-functional issues relating to Education, Children's Social Services, Youth Service, Libraries and Adult Learning. To monitor and challenge performance of the agreed targets for the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Local Area Agreement for those targets within its remit. To consider relevant issues which may come under the Collective Cabinet Portfolio and the portfolios of the Leader/Deputy Leader and Education. This does not exclude the possibility of the other Cabinet portfolios being relevant if the issue under consideration is of relevance to that portfolio.
Membership of Scrutiny Committee
The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee consists of 11 members of the Council and is politically balanced to include 7 Labour Group Members, 3 Conservative Group Members and 1 Liberal Democrat Group Member. In addition, the Committee has 5 statutory co-opted representatives with voting rights and 11 non-statutory co-opted representatives without voting rights. Details of the membership is shown in table below:
Statutory Co-opted Representatives (Voting)
- Mr. M. Frank (Roman Catholic Church)
- Jeremy Fitt (Church of England)
- Mrs. V. Mitchell (Primary School Parent Governor)
- Special School Parent Governor (1 vacancy)
- Secondary School Parent Governor (1 vacancy)
Non -Statutory Co-opted Representatives
- Mr. T. Grant, Darlington College of Technology
- Secondary Classroom Teacher (1 vacancy)
- Mr. T. R. Fisher, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College
- Mr. D. Moyes, Community Representative
- Secondary School Head Teacher (1 vacancy)
- Darlington Association of Governors (1 vacancy)
- Mr. R. Egan, Community Representative
- Primary School Classroom Teacher (1 vacancy)
- Primary School Head Teacher (1 vacancy)
- Darlington Partnership (2 vacancies)
Meetings of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee
Ordinary meetings of the Scrutiny Committee take place every two months and are generally open to the public to attend, except where an item is of a confidential nature. Below is a list of Committee meeting dates for the Municipal Year 2010/11.
| DATE |
TIME |
VENUE |
PAPERS |
| 20th June, 2011 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (20/06/2011) |
| 5th September, 2011 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (5/09/11) |
| 31st October, 2011 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (31/10/11) |
| 9th January 2012 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (09/01/12) |
| 27th February, 2012 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (27/02/12) |
| 23rd April, 2012 |
4.00 p.m. |
Committee Room 1, Town Hall |
View the agenda and papers (23/04/12) |
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Special Meetings
Municipal Years 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11
To view the work of this Committee for the previous Municipal Years 2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 click the link below.
Previous years agendas and reports
Review Groups
As part of the Committee's ongoing work and as a result of its Reviews and recommendations to Cabinet, there have been a number of positive outcomes and improvements made to both service delivery and facilities available to the people of Darlington.
Past Reviews of this Scrutiny Committee
Relevant Legislation and Guidance
In consideration of reports submitted to the Committee, Members refer to appropriate legislation and guidance. Links to some of the appropriate paperwork are attached below:
Darlington's Children and Young People's Plan 2011-2014
Childcare Act 2006 [external link, pdf document]
Education and Inspections Act 2006 [external link, pdf document]