The Education and Young People Overview & Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to meet on 21 November 2025 to discuss attainment, the Virtual School annual report, and fostering services. The committee was also expected to discuss co-optee recruitment and review its forward work plan. Additionally, responses to previous scrutiny recommendations were scheduled to be noted.

Fostering Service Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to consider the Fostering Service Annual Report 2024-25. The report highlighted recruitment challenges, with placement losses exceeding new approvals, resulting in a net decrease in placements over the last two financial years. There were also reported to be insufficient in-house provisions for adolescents, sibling groups, parent and child arrangements, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and children with disabilities.

To address these issues, the fostering service outlined the following planned actions for 2025/26:

• Targeted recruitment of carers for single placements or older children.
• Flexible approvals for all foster carers, approving them for 0-18 year olds, short-term, emergency, and relief care.
• A review to identify underused capacity.
• Tailored support to encourage carers on hold to reactivate.

The report also detailed the development of Fostering Community Hubs, intended to provide a more sustainable and inclusive support network for Oxfordshire foster carers, replacing the Mockingbird model¹. The committee was also scheduled to discuss a Carer Home Loan Policy designed to support retention of foster carers and increase placement sufficiency, as well as a Fostering Friendly HR policy.

Attainment and Attainment Gaps

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on attainment, including attainment gaps in Oxfordshire. Councillor Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, Lisa Lyons, the Director of Children's Services, Annette Perrington, Interim Deputy Director: Education, and Kim Wilson, Assistant Director: Schools and Settings – Standards, Effectiveness, and Performance, were invited to present the report.

Virtual School Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the Virtual School. Councillor Sean Gaul, Lisa Lyons, Annette Perrington, and Clare Pike, Head of the Virtual School, were invited to present the report.

Co-optee Recruitment Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on co-opted membership. The report recommended that the committee note the update on activity undertaken to fill the vacant co-optee post for a parent governor.

The report also recommended that the committee agree to terminate Hana G's appointment as a co-opted young person member, and begin a recruitment process for the vacant post. The report noted that two candidates were interviewed in November 2024, and the committee agreed to their appointment from February 2025 for two years. However, a change of circumstances meant that Hana G was no longer able to attend the committee's meetings.

The report stated that the use of the word 'shall' in reference to the membership of the committee means that the committee does not have discretion to do otherwise, and must seek to fill these vacancies.

Responses to Scrutiny Recommendations

The committee was scheduled to note the cabinet responses to the Education and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee reports on School Catering Services and Corporate Cleaning Services, and the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children's Partnership Annual Report.

The cabinet response to EYP recommendations - catering cleaning stated that the council would be sourcing providers with values and a proven track record of supporting diverse school communities, and had included requirements for contingency planning to ensure continuity of service. It also stated that the council would protect staff rights by ensuring all affected employees transferred under TUPE regulations, maintaining their pay and conditions, and that trade unions would be consulted from the outset and throughout the process.

The cabinet response to EYP recommendations - OSCP annual report stated that the council would progress work through the Child Exploitation/Harm Outside the Home subgroup, within the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, as part of the revised strategy and action plan. The plan would include an educational campaign to support carers in understanding online threats and adopting best practices to keep children safe.

Committee Forward Work Plan

The committee was scheduled to agree its work programme for forthcoming meetings, taking into account the Cabinet Forward Plan and the Budget Management Monitoring Report. The EYP work programme November 2025 listed the following topics for future meetings:

• Early Years
• Educational Data (validated)
• s.19 Monitoring Report
• Harm Outside the Home
• EOTAS Policy Review

Committee Action and Recommendation Tracker

The committee was scheduled to note the progress of previous recommendations and actions arising from previous meetings, having raised any questions on the contents. The EYP recommendation tracker 21.11.25 included updates on the following:

• Local Area Partnership SEND Update
• Update of Children's Homes
• EOTAS Policy
• s.19 of Education Act
• Home to School Transport