Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs P A Bradwell (LCC), Jill Hodges (CfBT), Martyn Taylor (Thomas Crowley High School), Richard Cumbers (LCC), Tracey Blackwell (SKDC), Andy Payne and Karen Parsons.

It was commented that health colleagues still needed to be encouraged to attend the meetings.  The LSCB Chair commented that he had recently attended a Health Steering group and it was hoped that this situation would be reviewed.

David McWilliams, Head of Service (Children's Services) provided the Partnership with an update of the action points of the Strategic Partnership's Development Day which had been held on 7 October 2013.

Some of the points raised included the following:

·         The Children's Poverty Action Plan would be going to the County Council's Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee and the Health and Wellbeing Board for approval.  It was noted that there was already a lot of work taking place through other processes, in order that it would help people to realise how other work could impact on child poverty.  A workshop had been held in March 2013 and all relevant leads in this area had been invited;

·         There was a need to agree some indicators that demonstrated progress was being made, which could then be scrutinised by this Partnership;

·         It was highlighted that ELDC had not been copied into any of the correspondence regarding the Child Poverty work.  For information, members were advised that Rebecca Allen was the Lead Officer on this area of work for LCC.  District councils should be linked into this work through this Partnership.  It was noted that Lincoln City and Boston Borough had commissioned a task and finish group to look into this issue;

·         The Strategy had gone through the County Council's democratic processes, and so districts and other partners could decide whether they wanted to take it though their own democratic processes;

·         It was felt that development days had not been as well attended as they could be, which was disappointing as members who did attend found them very useful;

·         Additional resources had been allocated to increase the website presence and to ensure that more information was available online;

There were no CYPSP Chair comments, as this was the first meeting attended by the new Independent Chair, David Ashcroft.  However, it was requested that this item stay on the agenda in the future.

The Partnership received an update from Chris Cook, Chair of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board:-

·         Lincolnshire was anticipating an inspection by Ofsted in mid-January 2014.  Five authorities were currently being inspected and it was hoped that some feedback would be received prior to Lincolnshire's inspection;

·         An extraordinary meeting of the LSCB was being held the following day, where the budget would be set;

·         The Police had increased their resources for dealing with cases of child sexual exploitation, and new groups were being formed nationally to deal with this issue.  This was a big issue for the government and they were responding positively and it was high on the political agenda;

·         The Chair of the LSCB had met with the Chair of the Child Death Overview Panel the previous day.  It was reported that there had been 4 child suicides, and possibly a fifth, in the previous 18 months.  A national database was being formed to help identify trends;

·         A serious case review would be published in January 2014, and some media attention was expected in relation to this, a media strategy would be planned;

·         An information sharing protocol was in the process of being developed to aid the several groups which were in existence to look at children's and adults issues;

·         The development of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) was taking some time, as there were several different models in use around the country, and partners were trying to find one which would be most suitable for Lincolnshire;

·         Work was taking place regarding the trafficking of children and adults.  DS Rick Hatton was leading a group in this area of work;

·         It was queried whether there were any further details regarding the conference regarding legal highs which had been mentioned in the minutes of the previous meeting.  Dave Wood  and Sara Barry were working on putting together a day on this for a multi-agency group;

·         In relation to information sharing, the Chair of the Families Working Together group expressed frustration that they were not able to share information with health colleagues.  It was noted that issues around information governance were already being looked into;

Consideration was given to the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board's Business Plan.  A copy of the Business Plan had been circulated to members of the Partnership prior to the meeting.

Chris Cook, Chair of the LSCB guided members through the Business Plan and highlighted that e-safety was becoming more of an issue and education and prevention in this areas was also becoming more important.

It was also noted that the sub-group structure was being reviewed as it was thought that there were too many, and there was a need to streamline this structure.

Members of the Partnership were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the document and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         The report was very good and very clear and understandable;

·         There was a need for the LSCB to develop its audit capabilities, and it was hoped that the new business manager, who was due to start in post in the new year would help to achieve this;

·         There was a continuing dialogue between the CYPSP and the LSCB;

·         Implementation would be driven by this Partnership and would be held to account;

·         E-safety was an issue for young people, but also for vulnerable adults as well as those adults who work with young people.  Those that either ignored the issue or did not understand it were the 'hard to reach' groups for e-safety'.  There was a need to think about how parental awareness of this issue could be increased;

·         In relation to child deaths, was it known what they were accessing online, or could that be looked into?  It was noted that there were limited resources for work into this area, with only one member of staff for the whole of the county dedicated to this issue;

·         It was suggested that an effective use of the education network could be used to access parents through school staff, possibly through parent evenings;

·         There could be an opportunity to obtain money from the Police & Crime Commissioner's budget which could be used to increase the relationship between communities and PCSO's;

·         Some children were reporting that they were feeling more vulnerable about their online accounts being hacked;

·         It was commented that e-safety was an issue which should be highlighted as a Partnership concern;

·         It was requested whether a copy of the draft minutes could be made available prior to the meeting of the Lincolnshire Schools' Forum being held on January 2014;

RESOLVED

            That the LSCB Business Plan presented be noted, and that the       comments raised be noted.

Debbie Barnes, Executive Director Children's Services provided an outline to the Partnership of Phase One (Blueprint) of the Lincolnshire Sustainable Services Review. 

There were two significant drivers for the review of health services which were Lincolnshire was one of the 14 areas highlighted in the Keogh review as having unacceptable mortality rates.  There would be arrangements put in place to monitor clinical safety.  Also, if nothing changed, in five years there would be a deficit of £100million;

It was noted that there were four main theme areas in the Review, which were as follows:

1.    Proactive Care – this was primary care, and care and support across the health and social care sector;

2.    Reactive Care – this included accident and emergency services;

3.    Elective Care – hospital interventions;

4.    Women's and children's care

The document contained strategic messages to enable the existing model of care to be reshaped in order to provide better services.  The blueprint queried whether community hospitals could play a bigger role to prevent people having to travel for specialist care.  It was also noted that there was a need for a rationalisation of specialist services.

In terms of Women's and Children's Services a consolidation of obstetrics, midwifery, paediatrics and neonatal care was proposed, with an introduction of neighbourhood teams and more integrated working.

The Review proposed clear governance arrangements towards the commissioning of these services.  It would require a significant and radical change.

The Blueprint had been considered by various organisational boards including the Health and Wellbeing Board and the County Council's Executive and it had been agreed to move to Stage 2 – the detailed planning of the model.  It was planned that this would start in January 2014, and a range of options would be produced which would then go out to formal consultation.

It was queried that as there would be a major change to the number of services, what impact would there be to safeguarding? It was noted that this review would be added to the risk register to monitor.

It was also suggested that this should be a standard item on the agenda to enable the Partnership to monitor the progress of the Review.

RESOLVED

            That the update and comments made be noted.

No update was received in respect of this item.

The Partnership received an update from Lynn Smith with regard to the 14-19 Partnership (RPA), which made reference to the following issues:

·         Over the last two years, the focus had been on raising the participation age, and this had been implemented in September 2013.  Officers had been working closely with schools to identify those children who are risk of not participating;

·         Young people now had a duty to participate in learning until the age of 17;

·         2013 saw an increase of 1.5% in young people participating in learning, and a reduction of those who were NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training);

·         The Careers Service was working to engage with those young people classed as NEET to identify any barriers which prevented them from learning;

·         It was early days, but it was thought that an improvement in those participating in education would be seen.  However, on-going work was taking place;

·         It was being considered whether a change of focus was required as the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) had improving skills and training on its agenda.  A discussion would take place in January 2014 on whether the Group needed to refocus;

·         Whilst a small success was being seen it was important to continue to work with those young people who did not engage and to understand why they were not engaging, and what could be done to encourage them to engage and to support them;

·         It was noted that there were resourcing issues around young people who did not engage as they required significant amounts of help and support and staff did not always have the capacity to help them as much as they wanted to;

·         It was noted that the 'unknowns' had reduced from 6.19% to 4.93%, and the NEETs had reduced from 2.71% to 2.65%;

·         Lincolnshire did have a very good participation rate for 16 and 17 year olds, and from an RPA point of view the situation was looking better;

·         A significant amount of funding for training and skills would be channelled through the LEP;

·         There was a need to engage with the LEP around skills priorities;

·         It was suggested that this might also be an issue that the Partnership wanted to keep on its agenda;

·         It was queried what impact the proposed welfare reforms would have on this as it was noted that young people without English and maths qualifications would be required to gain these qualifications or risk losing their benefits.  It was suggested that this could be a substantive item on a future agenda;

RESOLVED

            That the update and comments made be noted.

Consideration was given to the Housing Strategy, a copy of which had been circulated to the Partnership prior to the meeting.

The Partnership received a presentation from Phil Taylor, Youth Housing Co-ordinator, which provided members with further information in relation to the following areas;

·         December Update

·         Lincolnshire Youth Housing Strategy 2013-2018

·         Objectives and Action Plans

·         Update to CYPSP

·         Key actions already underway

Members of the Partnership were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information circulated and some of the points raised during discussions included the following:

·         Officers would be keen to get access to all schools, and were due to attend the next Head Teachers briefing;

·         There may be an opportunity to tie in legal highs into the work with schools;

·         It was queried why young people presenting themselves as homeless were recorded as an 'unknown' reason.  It was noted that SHDC had 182 young people recorded as 'unknown'.  It was acknowledged that it was important to have accurate data capture;

·         The aspiration was to not have any 'unknowns' listed.  When a person presents it was important to have a clear idea of why they were at risk of becoming homeless;

·         There was a budget of £1.3m in relation to young people's housing and homelessness.  This budget would be managed through Public Health;

·         Housing providers were happy to change the accommodation which was provided as long as the funding was in place;

RESOLVED

            That the Housing Strategy and the comments made be noted.

Consideration was given to the Early Help Offer, Strategy and Impact Assessment, a copy of which had been circulated to the Partnership prior to the meeting. 

Stuart Carlton, Assistant Director Children's Services, presented the Early Help Offer, Strategy and Impact Assessment, and some of the points highlighted to the Partnership included the following:

·         This was a live document and would be continually updated if there was any service that it was felt that was missing;

·         Families working together was still an objective that needed to be filled out;

·         An Early Help Steering Group which would be responsible for reviewing and implementing the new system of assessment which been set up.  The group had so far met 1 ½ times and Stuart Carlton had been elected as Chair of this group;

·         A project manager and practice supervisor had been appointed and a joint paper with the Schools' Forum was being worked on;

·         A template had been agreed which would mean that information could be received from other areas;

·         The membership was always open to the CYPSP, and more engagement from the schools sector was requested.  It was requested that members took this request back to their own organisations, and a response as soon as possible would be appreciated;

·         The next phase of the Families Working Together scheme would take place between 2015-2020 and would involve 400,000 additional families nationally;

·         It was noted that in relation to families working together, it would be nice if those families which had made significant progress were recognised even if they had not made the progress required for the government to provide the reward  money;

RESOLVED

            That the information presented and the comments made be noted.

(Note: Mr M Follows left the meeting at 3.55pm)

Consideration was given to the Children and Young People's Plan, a copy of which had been circulated to members of the Partnership prior to the meeting.

The partnership was provided with an update on the Children and Young People's Plan, and it was reported that a final version would be circulated in the New Year so partners could share it within their own organisations.  It was also noted that it would be going through the Council's internal scrutiny processes.

Members of the Partnership were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the Children and Young People's Plan and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         The Children and Young People's Voluntary Service was funded by a grant from LCC and it was important  that it was included in the commissioning process;

·         It was requested that if there were any comments on the Plan to e-mail them to either David McWilliams or Zania Stevens;

·         It was queried whether the rise in referrals in terms of safeguarding   mentioned on page 27 of the plan was positive or negative, and it was thought that this needed to be made clearer;

RESOLVED

            That the Children and Young People's Plan and the comments raised       be noted.

The Partnership received a copy of the CYPSP Terms of Reference for information.

It was noted that the Chairman would liaise with David McWilliams regarding the future meeting dates.