Liberal Democrats in Education: what we are doing in Cambridgeshire (Liberal Democrat Education Association)

Liberal Democrat Education Association <info@libdemeducationassociation.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats in Education: what we are doing in Cambridgeshire

January 11, 2008 11:32 PM
By Anne Kent in ANNE KENT is a County Councillor in Cambridgeshire and the Liberal Democrat Children's Spokesman on Cambridgeshire County Council

Cambridgeshire is a varied, largely rural and rapidly growing county covering Huntingdonshire and Fenland as well as the Cambridge area. Liberal Democrats are in opposition to the Conservatives with 22 of 69 seats. Labour have 4 and struggle to take part. It is the lowest funded Local Authority, with a wide variation in education achievement, the highest traveller population in England and a good, mature relationship with schools, (local financial management was pioneered here during a LD led council). Many secondary schools are village colleges, making extended schools evolution not revolution, none are religious and we have no academies - yet. The major issues are funding and growth. The new Children's Service was created 2 years ago by merging a very highly rated education service with a poor social services one.

Liberal Democrat councillors have two main areas of operation. One is through the 'spokes' system develop to manage the business during a period of no-overall-control which gives the opposition spokes a place along side the Lead Member for Children at practically every event - school forum, union and heads groups, BSF and Early Years and Childcare boards, appointments, school consultations etc. The result is a public platform and visibility for the party. The spokes have a monthly briefing with the directors to share child protection issues, policy developments etc, agree governor appointments together, receive monthly financial accounts. The degree of information provided and advice sought from an opposition bemuses officers from other LAs, but it suits a service with a high level of delegation to officers, much government prescription and sensitive, non-political social services issues. It gives us an opportunity to make a major contribution to policy, such as the review of special needs funding and special school places (we retained the number of places, delegated more funds and built two replacement special schools). The 'spokes' fronted the changes together, the system was improved quickly and with increased resources, one price for our co-operation, and the professionals and families involved appreciated this being tackled as a non-party issue. The level of information and early discussion also gives us a chance to develop our own position in time for committees and council and to use the scrutiny system more effectively. We guard against the danger of selling our souls!

The second area is scrutiny of children and young people's services where the Liberal Democrats have taken a leading role. Our members of the committee can initiate and chair member-led reviews. The report on 'Life After School'- the transition into the adult world for young people with disabilities- was well received by the Council and an Action Plan accepted by Cabinet. The report on the Youth Service, highly critical of the low level of funding, was less well received, perceived to be too critical, but provided good campaigning material. The next report, to be published in October, looks at out-of-county placements for young people with special needs and examines the options for making quality provision at a lower cost. We have also used the corporate scrutiny process to highlight the financial risks, as opposed to the educational benefits, attached to the Building Schools for the Future programme. One call-in of the project means that pre-scrutiny has been included the planning.