Reviewing success

The Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Board at their meeting on Monday 19th March will look at the Strategic Plan for Children and Young People 2011–2014 in order to review the success indicators as at March 2012.

The focus of this report is on the 22 success indicators within the plan which were devised to measure progress against the 6 high level outcomes for children and young people as outlined within the plan. The development of the success indicators were informed by Results Based Accountability and the well being of the whole or sub populations of children and young people in Swansea, which occurs when more than one organisation is collectively responsible for an outcome and supporting indicators (and is thus not a performance measure of a single organisation or service). These success indicators were selected on the basis of being measurable, representative and meaningful in terms of communicating performance to a wide audience.

Some of the key headline messages which have emerged are as follows;

• The average score for All Wales Reading Tests for 7 year olds (Year 2) is showing improvement and part of an upward trend, however additional analysis of the reading progress is required for specific groups including; gender, deprivation, children with additional learning needs and special educational needs.
• Although the proportion of children living within workless households in Swansea has fallen, it is still the highest in Wales. The proportion of children living in workless households in the Townhill and Penderry wards is double the average for Swansea.
• The number of young people as first time offenders and re-offenders has significantly fallen since 2005. The number of first time entrants to the criminal justice system has fallen by 80%  since 2005/06. 
• The number of children and young people who are either seriously injured or killed as pedestrians in Swansea has remained fairly static at 50 per annum, although is more than a third of the total for Wales.  
• The average rate of attendance in both primary and secondary schools in Swansea have improved and are part of an upwards trend. However, additional analysis is needed in relation to specific need groups including gender, pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds, deprivation, additional learning needs and special educational needs.

The Board will review this information and will make comments to the Cabinet member via a letter from the Chairman.