Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R Hunter-Clarke, Mrs S Ransome and Mrs L A Rollings.

An apology for absence was also received from Mr P Thompson (Church Representative Added Member).

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

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on 29 November 2013 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on 10 January 2014 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a report from Tim Culpin, Head of School Improvement, which invites the Committee to discuss and accept the continued support to the collaborative partnerships project)

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Children's Services, which invited the Committee to consider and comment on supporting the Collaborative Partnerships Project.

The Committee was advised by the Head of School Improvement that in 2011, Lincolnshire County Council had launched the Small Schools Collaborative Partnership Project, which was aimed at encouraging primary schools with less than 200 pupils to work together.  The partnership was to help support small rural schools.

In January 2012, Lincolnshire County Council had proposed a collaborative partnership scheme.  Details of the scheme were shown on page 22 of the agenda.

It was reported that research had shown that school partnerships helped increase educational standards and encouraged the best use of resources through sharing best practice and improving efficiencies through economies of scale.

Schools had been receptive to the aims of the proposal but argued that the scheme was too rigid.  Also, the Department for Education's (DfE) changes to the rules concerning Local Authority funding formulae made it impossible for the Council to target funding for partnerships.  As a result of the concerns raised the scheme was revised.  Full details of the revised scheme were shown on page 23 of the agenda.

By January 2014, it was reported that there were 40 active partnerships across Lincolnshire and that was generally considered to be successful.  The schools involved in the Collaborative Partnership Project had made good progress.  The Committee was advised that the results of a survey sent to all partnerships had been very positive. 62% of local partnerships responded with 96% reporting improvement as a result of partnership working, and with 90% seeing financial benefits, particularly via joint Continuing Professional Development (CPD). 

Some of the activities which partnerships had found most beneficial were:-

·         Head teachers sharing their schools data with other schools;

·         Joint learning walks, 'drop – ins' and lesson observations in each other's schools;

·         Joint professional development;

·         Monitoring and moderation across schools;

·         Schools within a partnership scheduling and running shared INSETs and common training days;

·         SENCOs undertaking joint training and coordinating their work;

·         Special events; and

·         School business management, procurement etc.

It was highlighted that head teachers had commented that they were feeling less isolated and were now able to share their concerns and problems with other head teachers.  Detailed within the report were specific comments from head teachers.

It was reported although the project had been successful there were still a number of challenges to overcome.  At the moment there was several projects being undertaken to help more things forward.  One of these was 'Delivering Effective Feedback through Digital Technology", which aimed to improve outcomes for pupils, particularly those eligible for Pupil Premium and to enhance the skills of teachers to use digital technology to support the giving of feedback and providing opportunities for peer review.  The Committee noted that as part of this project, there had been liaison with Professor Steve Higgins from Durham University, who had a particular interest in this type of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

(To receive a report from Stuart Carlton, Assistant Director of Children's Services, which describes the arrangements for providing early help to children and families in Lincolnshire and areas for development and improvement)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from the Executive Director of Children's Services, which provided information on providing early help to children and families in Lincolnshire and highlighted areas for development to improve on the current position.

It was reported that the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership had agreed to introduce a system to improve the process of working together to meet the needs of children and families through the Common Assessment Framework and Team Around the Child in 2006.  Working Together to Safeguard Children was introduced in April 2013, and this guidance placed an emphasis on the importance of early help in promoting the welfare of children, together with clear arrangements for collaboration. 

It was highlighted that Lincolnshire's Early Help Offer identified that there was a need for help for children and families as soon as problems started to emerge, or when there was a strong likelihood that problems would emerge in the future.  The Offer was not just for very young children, but included universal and targeted services and was designed to reduce, or prevent specific problems from escalating or becoming entrenched.

The critical features of an effective early help offer included a multi-disciplinary approach that brought together a range of professionals; a relationship with a trusted Lead Professional who could engage with the child and the family; provide families with support so that they could develop their own capacity to deal with issues, and look at things with a more holistic approach to address the child in the wider family, and to provide a more streamlined and simple assessment process.

Attached to the report at Appendix A was a copy of Lincolnshire Children's Services Early Help Offer, and at Appendix B was a copy of the Lincolnshire Children's Services Early Strategy, which outlined Lincolnshire's current Early Help Offer for the Committee to consider.

The Early Help Strategy outlined the areas of work partners were committed to, to improve Early Help arrangements in Lincolnshire.

During discussion, some concern was raised as to whether all the relevant organisations involved in the Early Help Strategy had the capacity to deliver the help needed to troubled families.  The Committee was advised that although the budgets available were reducing, there was a need to look further into what was being done; ensuring that there was no duplication and making sure that what was being done was being done in the most effective manner.  The Strategy, as part of the modernised working would ensure that enough help was provided to enable troubled families to help themselves.

Some concern was also raised with regard to referrals on page 38 of the Early Help Offer document that in order for an early assessment to be effective when the family/child did not consent, then the Lead Professional would make a judgement as to whether, without help, the needs of the child would escalate.  If that was the case then a referral to the local authority children's social care might be necessary.  The Committee was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

(To receive a report from Andrew McLean, Head of Service – Children's Commissioning, which invites the Committee to endorse the Child Poverty Action Plan and the governance arrangements to monitor and review progress against the action plan)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from the Executive Director of Children's Services, which provided the Committee with a background to the duties of the Child Poverty Act 2010 on local authorities, and provided an overview of the latest HMRC 2011 data released, which identified how Lincolnshire compared to its statistical neighbours, regional authorities and nationally against the 'Children in Low-Income Families Local Measure'.

It was noted that the Council's Executive had agreed that the monitoring of the Child Poverty Strategy was to be governed through the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership (CYPSP), in line with the requirement for Partner co-operation in mitigating the effects of Child Poverty.

The report focussed on the progress, content and governance arrangements of the Child Poverty Action Plan and outlined the development of a (CYPSP) Child Poverty Sub-Group, which was chaired by Dr Tony Hill, Director of Public Health.

Appended to the report were the following documents:-

Appendix A – A copy of the Child Poverty Strategy;

Appendix B – A copy of the Child Poverty Action Plan;

Appendix C - The CYPSP Child Poverty Governance Map; and

Appendix D – A copy of the CYPSP Child Poverty Scorecard.

The Committee received a joint presentation of the report from the Head of Service – Children's Commissioning and the Commissioning Officer.

It was highlighted that the CYPSP monitored and reviewed progress against the Action Plan, which identified key resource activity areas, which were to be focussed on for review for the next 12 months.  Due to the extensive scope of the Action Plan, it had been agreed that a Child Poverty Sub-Group was to be established and would be chaired by the Director of Public Health.  The membership of the group would include key partners involved in the delivery of the Action Plan and the Committee was advised that a workshop had been arranged for early 2014, to assist sub-group members in understanding the wider implications of child poverty and the impact their own project had in tackling it.

Full details of the consultation undertaken were detailed in the report presented.

Discussion ensued, from which reference was made to the following issues:-

·         Page 115 – Reference was made to the fact that the strategy was not just a Children's Services Strategy, it was a joint strategy which required all stakeholders to work together in an integrated way to target shared priorities and eliminate duplication of effort;

·         Page 118  - It was noted that worklessness not only put a strain on resources because of direct costs relating to benefit payments, but that there was also considerable loss of revenue from the lack of tax and National Insurance contributions;

·         Page 125 -  Economic poverty - Reference was made to the fact that if people were paid the living wage, this would help them move out of the poverty trap;

·         Page 144 Lincolnshire Community Assistance Scheme – It was reported that arrangements were in place to manage the Social Fund and levels  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

(To receive a report from 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.

A revised copy of the work programme was circulated to members at the meeting.  The revised programme had been amended to allow for a maximum number of six items per agenda in the future.  A list had also been created which identified 'items to be scheduled', and that these items would be discussed at each pre-meeting to identify which items should be brought forward.

The Scrutiny Officer highlighted that there were already two potential pre-decision scrutiny reports which would have to be presented to the July meeting.

Members were also reminded that visits to the Families Working Together teams were currently being arranged, and that dates would be brought to the Committee in March as part of the Families Working Together report.

Other items suggested by the Committee for the inclusion in future agendas were an update on the newly appointed eight Regional Commissioners and an update on the Ofsted Improvement Inspection.  It was reported that the Ofsted Improvement Inspection was already listed for the 25 April 2014 meeting.

RESOLVED

1.    That the revised work programme as set out at Appendix A be agreed subject to an update on the newly appointed eight Regional Commissioners being  added to the Items to be Scheduled list.

2.    That the contents of the Children's Services Forward Plan, as set out in Appendix B to the report be noted.