Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors W J Aron, J R Hicks, and L Wootten.

Apologies were also received from Mrs G Wright (Church Representative -Added Member) and Dr E van der Zee (Parent Governor Representative – Added Member).

No declarations of Members' interests were made at this stage of proceedings.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on 29 November 2013 be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee for approval.

(To receive a report from Tony Warnock, Head of Finance, Children's and Specialist Services, which invites the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee to consider a report on Children's Services budgets for 2013/14 and 2014/15.  The views of the Scrutiny Committee will be reported to the Executive prior to finalisation of the 2014/15 budget proposals for the full Council's consideration in February 2014)

Consideration was given to a report by the Executive Director of Children's Services, which invited the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider a report on Children's Services budgets for 2013/14 and 2014/15.

The views of the Scrutiny Committee would then be reported to the Executive prior to the finalisation of the 2014/15 budget proposal for full Council consideration in February 2014.

The Executive Director advised that overall, Children's Services remained on course to deliver £27.5m of savings in full and on time, despite the continued growing pressures around children's social care. In the fourth year of the Comprehensive Review, the savings target for 2013/14 was £5.113m and although there was a degree of uncertainty around the budgets for social care and home to school/college transport, the Departmental Management Team remained confident that this year's savings would be delivered in full.

It was reported also that the savings target for 2013/14 had been increased from the original Comprehensive Review saving target of £1.782m to help respond to the reduction in the Early Intervention Grant and the conversion of schools to academy status.  It was noted that in recent years, Children's Services had managed to carry forward an underspending of 1% which had provided a welcomed degree of flexibility to respond to a number of small, one-off budget pressures that tend to emerge.  Despite all the uncertainty Children's Services remained confident that an underspending would arise at the end of the financial year.

The significant budget pressures for 2014/15 were:

·         Insurance costs – As a result of high value claims, insurance costs had risen steeply over the last few years.  Despite re-aligning other budgets, a shortfall of £0.197m was still expected next year;

·         Budget pressure relating to frontline social care.  It was highlighted that Children's Services was experiencing a greater demand on child protection services.   Caseloads had increased by over 30% from 2,842 in 2008 to 3,802 in 2013.  As a result of work pressures, it had been proposed to increase the number of social workers and that the Council had been requested to make available additional funds to address this.  The estimated cost for this would be £0.403m; and

·         That the Council had been requested to fund the additional part-year transport costs of £0.1m which was expected to arise when the Lincoln's new University Technology College opened in September 2014.

Other unquantified budget pressures for 2014/15 included:-

·         Out of County residential care – Due to identified pressures, budgets had been re-aligned and £0.193m had been added to the budget in July 2013. It was noted that there had been an increase in the number and complexity of out of county placements;

·         Special Guardianship Orders – Due to changes in legislation there had been an increase in the number of orders which required placements with friends and relatives to come 'under looked after' status. 2012/13 saw an increase of 30 orders and in the current year there had been a further 12;

·         Social Care Regulated Services -  There had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

(To receive a report from David McWilliams, Head of Service - Children's Services, which invites the Committee to consider a report on the Lincolnshire Strategic Partnership, Children and Young People's Plan 2013-16 which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Health Services, Children's Services on 27 January 2014)

The Head of Performance Assurance presented a report, which provided the Committee with an opportunity to consider the latest version of the Lincolnshire and Young People's Plan for 2013/16, which was detailed at Appendix A to the report presented.  This was for pre-decision scrutiny prior to an Executive Councillor decision on 27 January 2014.

The plan was the strategic plan for services which supported children and young people in the county of Lincolnshire.  The Partnership's vision was "That every child in every part of the County should achieve their potential" and identified how the local authority and its relevant partners would work collaboratively and in partnership to improve the outcomes for every child, young person and family in Lincolnshire.  Data contained within the plan had been taken from past performance, needs assessments, consultation with local children and families and agreed priorities between partners.

It was noted that the statutory duty to produce a Children and Young People's Plan had been revoked in October 2010, but that local partnerships were free to publish their own strategic plan as they saw fit.  A list of the relevant partners involved in the plan was shown on page 18 of the report.  The relevant partners listed were not under any formal duty to 'have regard' to any voluntary plan.  However, the Children's Trusts' duty to cooperate remained in force and the Local Children's Trust arrangements were still underpinned by the 'duty to cooperate' under Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 and that currently there were no plans to repeal that duty.

In April 2013, the Strategic Partnership had come together to agree the four strategic outcomes, which corresponded to the Childs journey and transition into adulthood.  Full details were contained in Appendix A.

Note: Councillor Mrs L Rollings wished it recorded that she was a teacher at an Academy, and as Head of Support she was involved in combatting obesity. 

During consideration of the plan, the Committee expressed overall support for the plan and raised the following comments:-

·         Some members of the Committee found the vision of the plan not to be dynamic enough.  Officers welcomed any suggestions that members might have;

·         That troubled families needed to be monitored and that there should be an aspiration of zero exclusions.  Reassurance was given that work around risk assessments would be done and it was noted that the introduction of a programme 'Signs of Safety' would support risk assessments of children at risk of harm.  It was highlighted that Signs of Safety was already being used in the authority and considered to have wider application;

·         The inclusion of cyber bullying – Officers were happy to include this in the plan;

·         The need to ensure that the gap was being narrowed in relation to key stage 2, 3 and 4;

·         The inclusion of sexual exploitation – The Committee was advised that this matter would be dealt with by the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board;

·         Health Visitor investment and reducing childhood obesity – It was highlighted that obesity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

(To receive a report from Stuart Carlton, Assistant Director for Children's Services, which provides the Committee with a progress report on the development of the Lincolnshire Youth offer and will update on current service delivery, plans to identify gaps in delivery and the action plan to address any gaps)

Consideration was given to a report from the Head of Service – Families Working Together, which provided the Committee with information relating to the progress made on the development of the Lincolnshire Youth Offer and provided an update on current service delivery, plans to identify gaps in delivery and advice of the action plan to address any gaps.

It was reported that a number of actions had been undertaken to try and establish the level of participation and engagement by young people in positive activities, but that securing accurate data on this was a challenge.  It was highlighted that there was an estimated 72,000 young people aged between 11 and 19 in Lincolnshire and that 80,000 young people had registered to take part in activities such as sports based activities, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, National Citizenship Service, Scouts, Cadets etc.

In September 2013 a positive activity survey for young people had been launched, which had received 242 responses.  From the responses, it was hoped to identify what positive activities young people were involved in; the type of activities and also identify what young people thought was missing from their localities.

Other areas highlighted included the creation of the development hub; Positive Futures; and the real bus – mobile units.

A summary of Youth Centre provision was detailed on pages 109/110 of the agenda which totalled 40 centres.  It was highlighted that the Youth and Community Development workers were engaged with 17 new locations being explored for the delivery of positive activities.

Full details of the integrated youth offer were detailed in the report.

In conclusion, it was reported that there was significant evidence to suggest that large numbers of young people were accessing a range of positive activities and that by working with a range of providers, Children's Services could ensure that the activities that young people wanted were delivered in Lincolnshire, that the gaps in service were minimised, ensure the best deployment of the mobile units, and ensure Positive Futures continue to be responsive to emerging needs.

During discussion, particular reference was made for the need to include provision for all in the community; involve the views of young people in all that was planned; and make youth activities available to young people who needed it most, i.e. young people in rural communities, immigrants and young carers.  Reference was also made to ensuring that members of the Youth Cabinet were involved in getting the message out to other young people in the county.  Another issue raised was that some of the activities required uniforms/kit, which some of the young people were unable to afford.  It was highlighted that there were some grants available for groups to apply for which might help in this type of situation.

It was also highlighted that reference to Healthwatch 'status unknown' needed removing from the Draft Priority Action Plan: Delivering Positive for Youth (DfE, Dec 2011) attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  It was highlighted that when the action plan was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

(To receive a verbal update from Stuart Carlton, Assistant Director for Children's Services and Members' in relation to Children's Centres Visits)

The Committee received updates from various Councillors and Added Members regarding their visits to Children's Centres.  The overall feedback from all members was that the visits had been very informative and that the staff had been very welcoming.  It was reported that there was a lot of good work going on at the centres and that they were very well used by the community.  Members had been very impressed with the services that were being provided from some rather small spaces.

It was highlighted that the St Giles Children's Centre was finding it difficult to keep up with pressure of accommodating the needs of the community.

RESOLVED

          That the feedback provided by members from their visits to Children's           Centres be noted.

(To receive a report by Matt Clayton, School Organisation Planning Manager, which examines the sufficiency of school places in Lincolnshire in more detail and outlined the process and criteria involved in addressing those pressures when deciding how to increase capacity)

The Committee received a report from the School Organisation Manager, which looked at the sufficiency of school places in Lincolnshire in detail and outlined the process and criteria involved in addressing the pressure of the County when deciding on how to increase capacity.

It was reported as a large rural county the pressures on school places in some urban areas were hidden by the surplus capacity across some of the more rural areas.  The report compared the national picture against the local Lincolnshire picture when broken down to smaller geographic areas.  The report highlighted that there were local areas of pressure on primary places which would eventually lead onto pressures on secondary places.

In conclusion, the national picture suggested that Lincolnshire did not have an issue regarding pressure on school places at a county level.  It was more evident at a local level that there were pockets of primary pressure around the county, mostly concentrated around urban areas.  The sufficiency of secondary places was not anticipated to become a pressure until 2018 for the majority of the county, although it might be slightly sooner in some parts.  This would be monitored and planned for to ensure that the required capacity was made available for when it was needed.

It was highlighted that basic need funding was carefully prioritised to ensure that resources were efficiently used to address all requirements within budget whilst meeting the needs of the local community.  If a formal proposal to expand a school or build a new one was put forward, then all necessary statutory processes were followed and then a final decision would be taken to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, prior to any Executive Councillor decision.

Some members felt that the sustainability of smaller rural schools was very important as most were a key component in a rural community.  Reassurance was given that the funding formula by Lincolnshire County Council was supportive of smaller local schools.  Without many of the Council's small rural schools some pupils would have significant distances to travel. 

Another area of concern was whether Ofsted reports affected the popularity of schools.  It was reported that popularity could have an effect when looking at expansion, but this was a short term variable and one of many factors taken into consideration.  At the end of the day the Council needed to create places where children lived.  Further comments were raised in relation to capacity issues bringing rural children into urban schools.  Members were advised that only extra capacity would be added within a pressure point area and it was not the intention to enable children to travel from a rural area to an urban one.  If the pressure point related to a rural area then it would be the rural area that would be considered for additional capacity.  The Local Authority always tried to add capacity in the areas where the pupils live, closest to the communities that need them.  This then avoids excessive transportation requirements which was another factor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

(To receive a report by Andrew McLean, Commissioning Manager – Children's Services, which provides a background to the duties of the Child Poverty Act 2010 on local authorities, and provides an overview of the latest HMRC 2011 data release, identifying how Lincolnshire compares to statistical neighbours, regional authorities and nationally against the 'Children in Low-Income Families Local Measure')

RESOLVED

          That the item be deferred to a future meeting.

(To receive a report by Stuart Carlton, Assistant Director for Children's Services, which describe the arrangements for providing early help to children and families in Lincolnshire and the areas for development to improve on the current position)

RESOLVED

          That the item be deferred to a future meeting.

(To receive a report by Tracy Johnson, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with an opportunity to consider its' Work Programme)

A report by the Scrutiny Officer was considered, which provided the Committee with an opportunity to consider its work programme for the coming year.

The Scrutiny Officer advised that there were no amendments to the work programme presented at Appendix A to the report and that the reports on the Child Poverty Strategy and Action Plan Update and the Early Help Offer and Strategy would be added onto a future agenda.

Members were also reminded to sign up to the programme of member visits to Solutions 4 providers if they had not already done so.

RESOLVED

That the work programme, as set out in Appendix A to the report presented be noted.

1.    That the Children's Services Forward Plan, as detailed at Appendix B to the report presented be noted. 

2.    That the Children's Services Forward Plan, as detailed at Appendix B to the report presented be noted.