412 REVENUE BUDGET 1998/99 - MONITORING REPORT 412

SUBMITTED: Report dated 12 April 1999 by the Executive Director Resource Services on the position of the Revenue Budget 1998/99 as at 3 March 1999.

NOTED

413 CAPITAL PROGRAMME 1998/99 - TECHNICAL PROGRESS 413

SUBMITTED: Report dated 19 March 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services on the technical progress of the Capital Programme 1998/99.

NOTED

414 CAPITAL PROGRAMME 1998/99 - FINANCIAL POSITION 414

SUBMITTED: Report dated 24 March 1999 by the Executive Director Resource Services on the financial position of the Capital Programme 1998/99.

NOTED

415 CONTRACTING FOR SPEECH THERAPY SERVICES 415

SUBMITTED: Report dated 2 March 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services advising that Inverclyde Council's Education Services were obliged by statute to provide speech therapy to children who require such services and seeking approval to re-negotiate an agreement between the Council and Renfrewshire Healthcare NHS Trust to ensure the delivery of a sufficient level of provision to Inverclyde children.

DECIDED

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That authority be granted to the Executive Director Education Services to re-negotiate a Minute of Agreement with Renfrewshire Healthcare NHS Trust in respect of the enhanced provision of speech and language therapy services on the basis detailed in the report.

416 PRE-FIVE CURRICULAR FRAMEWORK 416

SUBMITTED: Report dated 25 February 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services advising of the publication by the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department of the draft document "A Curriculum Framework for Children 3-5" and setting out the implications for Inverclyde Council.

DECIDED: That the publication by the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department of the draft document "A Curriculum Framework for Children 3-5" and the resource implications for Education Services with regard to implementation of the guidelines be noted.

417 INVERCLYDE CHILDCARE INFORMATION SERVICE DEVELOPMENT 417

SUBMITTED: Report by the Executive Director Education Services advising of the progress made in developing an Inverclyde Childcare Information Service and requesting the Committee to approve the participation of Education Services in the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department's Childcare Information Systems Development Project.

DECIDED:

(a) That approval be granted for the participation of Education Services in the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department's Childcare Information Systems Development Project; and

(b) That approval be also granted for the development of an appropriately resourced Inverclyde Childcare Information Service funded from the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department childcare strategy allocation.

418 INTERIM CHILDCARE STRATEGY AND PRE-FIVE EDUCATION PLAN 418

SUBMITTED: Report dated 29 March 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services appending a proposed Interim Childcare Strategy and Pre-School Education Plan for Inverclyde which requires to be submitted to the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department in outline form in April 1999 with the revised final version being submitted later in the year.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted;

(b) That the interim Childcare Strategy and Pre-School Education Plan for Inverclyde appended to the report be approved and that it be noted that the Executive Director Education Services will report to the next meeting of the Committee following further consultation on pre-school education places; and

(c) That it be noted that the Executive Director Education Services will report further to the Committee in due course on more specific childcare targets.

419 NEW OPPORTUNITIES FUND: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 419

TECHNOLOGY TRAINING FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOOL LIBRARIANS

SUBMITTED: Report by the Executive Director Education Services on the New Opportunities Fund, a new lottery distribution body created by the National Lottery Act 1998, one of whose first three initiatives was the distribution of £23,000,000 in Scotland to provide training for teachers and school librarians in the effective use of information and communications technology in their subject teaching or library work. The report advised that distribution of funding would take place after April 1999 for a three year period until 2002 and would be in accordance with a national formula based on the number of full-time equivalent teachers and school librarians employed by each Authority and the Committee was requested to approve Inverclyde Council's participation in the proposed training programme.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Committee note the New Opportunities Fund's proposals for the distribution of monies for information and communications technology training for teachers and school librarians; and

(b) That approval be given to Inverclyde Council's participation in the training programme.

420 THE EXCELLENCE FUND FOR SCHOOLS: SPECIAL PROGRAMME - 420

EDUCATION ACTION PLANS

SUBMITTED: Report dated 29 March 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services advising that up to £100,000 was available in 1999/2000 for work in two secondary schools in Inverclyde under the Excellence Fund for Schools: Special Programme - Education Action Plans which will focus on teaching and learning in schools and build on current initiatives in raising attainment.

DECIDED:

(a) That the additional money for schools made available by the Government through the Excellence Fund: Special Programme - Education Action Plans be noted;

(b) That approval be given for the inclusion in the Authority's application of the various proposals outlined in the report, namely action plans to focus on teaching and learning, differentiation in the curriculum, effective use of staff, improving attendance, reducing exclusion, and identifying innovative approaches in raising attainment; and

(c) That it be noted that a further report will be submitted to the Committee on the use of these additional resources in due course.

421 REQUESTS FOR LOANS OF WORKS FROM PERMANENT COLLECTIONS 421

SUBMITTED: Report dated 1 April 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services advising of a request for the loan of nine paintings from the collections of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery which had been received from the organisers of an exhibition entitled "Scotland's Art" to be held in the City Arts Centre, Edinburgh during 1999 and a request for the loan of a single painting "Footballers" by Ian McLeod for an exhibition to be held in Aberdeen Art Gallery in June 1999.

DECIDED: That approval be given to the loan of the paintings detailed in the report subject to all matters of transport, security and insurance cover being arranged to the satisfaction of the Council.

422 RESOLUTION: EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS 422

On the motion of the Convener, it was agreed unanimously that, in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as amended, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the undernoted item of business on the grounds that consideration of the item involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 6 & 8 of Part I of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

423 Gourock Primary School - Report on Tenders 423

There was submitted a report by the Executive Director Education Services on six tenders

received for the construction of a new primary school with associated external works within Darroch Park, Gourock. The Committee agreed, following a vote, that, subject to approval of additional funding by the Policy and Strategy Committee, delegated authority be granted in the usual manner to accept an offer from the lowest tenderer up to a maximum

C amount following agreement of a Bill of Reductions, all as detailed in the Appendix.