STEPS are being taken to make improvements to the way trips and visits run by Newport schools are organised and managed, a committee has been assured.

Newport City Council’s chief education officer Sarah Morgan was called to the authority's audit committee on Thursday, October 17, to address concerns following two consecutive 'unsatisfactory' reports from auditors.

Steps have already been taken to improve school trip risk assessments, but Mrs Morgan said it was hard to find people suitably qualified for the role.

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She said: “Those that can do this require a lot of specific qualifications and no one has met our needs until now.

“We plan to consider an alternative contract from January 1.

“A new service contract would meet audit requirements.”

The committee’s chairman John Baker asked what improvements had been made.

Mrs Morgan said improvements have been made to the Evolve system, which is used to log and approve educational trips.

Concerns had been raised in the review over the number of unauthorised people on the system.

Mrs Morgan said: “We had found that there was a large number of people on that system who could approve trips that shouldn’t have been on there.

“We now check every school’s nominated trips coordinator and if we see someone different, we chase schools to remove that person.”

Another concern raised in the audit review was schools not providing adequate notice of trips or visits.

However, Mrs Morgan said work was being done to tighten up the process.

She said: “We see school trips come through on a weekly basis.

“Those that are not authorised because they are late come in red.

“The last sample provided saw two come in late, which shows we have tightened up the process.

“Both times the issues were escalated to the head teacher.”

Mr Baker said he was reassured by the actions taken by Mrs Morgan and her team.

Further follow-up work will be carried out by the end of 2019-20.