Agenda item

The Chair of Council, Councillor David Nevett, made the following announcement:-

“I would like to make the following announcement.  On behalf of the Council, I would like to offer our congratulations to the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, who has been honoured with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her service to Local Government by HRH The Queen, in her New Year Honours List and also to Mrs Esther Mathews, who receives the British Empire Medal for services to Canoeing.

Mrs Mathews founded the Green Star Canoe Club in 1993 and it has grown to become one of the largest and most active clubs of its type in the country.

Congratulations to you both.”

The Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, made the following announcements:-

“Colleagues

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on Regional Devolution.

Earlier this month, local Leaders of the Combined Authority considered the recent high court judgement, following a Judicial Review brought by Derbyshire County Council, and its implications for the Sheffield City Region’s Devolution Deal.

On the advice of the Combined Authority’s Managing Director and Legal Officer, it has been agreed that it is now not possible to hold a Mayoral election in May 2017.  As a result, the election of a regional Mayor has been deferred until 2018.

As you know, this month, Sheffield City Region Leaders also received an outline proposal from West Yorkshire Combined Authority, for a potential Yorkshire wide devolution option. A copy of that proposal was circulated to all of our Councillors, MPs, and the Chamber of Commerce.

Contrary to reports, some of which have been rather misleading regarding both the model and the position of Doncaster and Barnsley, the Yorkshire-wide proposal would retain the existing Sheffield City Region Combined Authority as the basis for devolution. However, it would see one Mayor for Yorkshire, rather than a Mayor for the Sheffield City Region.

My position is clear.

Firstly, Doncaster is not walking away from the Sheffield City Region or regional devolution. We have worked hard to deliver a devolution opportunity for local people which would deliver new funding to the region to support job creation, economic growth, new housing and skills development.

Secondly, we are determined to deliver devolution for Doncaster and as we have discussed in this Chamber before, we need the best devolution deal for Doncaster.

Thirdly, given that the legal process has resulted in the requirement for further consultation on the Sheffield City Region Devolution Deal and a delay in the election of a regional Mayor, my view is that we should also take this opportunity to explore the Yorkshire-wide devolution option put forward by West Yorkshire.

In my experience, it is best to properly consider a proposal before dismissing it out of hand. Similarly, we do not know what the outcome of the additional Sheffield City Region consultation will be, and we cannot pre-judge that consultation or ignore it.

This is the position of both Barnsley and Doncaster, and is a rational, sensible and reasonable approach to progressing devolution in our region. We are not ruling in or out either option, but giving ourselves the best chance to deliver devolution for Doncaster, and secure the best deal possible. I hope you agree with me that this is the most appropriate course of action.

We will of course wish to discuss further and I will ensure you are kept involved in the process, and should a proposal come forward, consultation would be held.

Thank you.”

Councillor Nuala Fennelly, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools, made the following announcement:-

“Colleagues,

All our young people deserve the very best start in life and we have been working hard, with our partners in Team Doncaster, to try and provide this in the borough.

Therefore, we welcome the Government’s announcement last week on 19th January that Doncaster had been chosen as one of six Social Mobility Opportunity Areas to share £72 million in Social Mobility Opportunity Funding.

This additional funding is intended to close the gap for those from disadvantaged areas, as well as prioritising existing DfE programmes such as Teachfirst, the National Citizens Service, the National Careers and Enterprise Company etc.

The introduction of a £3.5 million research school funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, will be a welcome addition to Doncaster. These ‘what works’ schools will focus on the development of evidence-based practice to spread expertise across the borough’s schools. 

We believe that it will work well with the current partnership we have established with the ‘Partners in Learning’, our Teaching School Alliance, who are already doing some of this research work, also funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.

It was also pleasing to see that the Government has seen, and taken notice of our One Doncaster (Education Commission) report that was published in October 2016. This report highlights areas that need to be considered if we are to support all young people in the borough.

We need to ensure that we can attract and retain a high calibre of teachers, providing vocational as well as academic routes and increasing attainment levels.

The report has been thoroughly consulted upon and as the Chair of Team Doncaster, the Mayor will be launching their response at the Doncaster Ambassador’s Event on 1st February.

The good news is that we have had some great educational successes recently in Doncaster, particularly in our GCSE and A-Level results.

Last week saw the release of the confirmed GCSE results, which showed that we were the 5th most improved Local Authority area in the country for the number of young people receiving 5 or more A* to C grades, including English and Maths.

This is heartening to see and has been contributed to by the Mayor’s ‘Move-on, Move Up’ initiative, which provided additional weekend revision tuition in core subjects.

The Borough was also the 13th most improved in the new Attainment 8 measure. The improved partnership working with secondary academies and the work of the Teaching School Alliance, has played an important role in bringing about this achievement, which bodes well for the future.

More and more young people across the Borough are choosing to take apprenticeships and with the opening of the National College of High Speed Rail in September, this number will certainly increase.

We are now calling on the Government to show their further commitment to Doncaster by announcing the funding for a new University Technical College, which will further support our vision of a brighter future for the young people of Doncaster in ensuring that they are equipped with the necessary qualifications and skills to benefit from the increasing employment opportunities that our local businesses are creating.”