Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs J Brockway and Mrs L Rollings.

Apologies for absence were also received from added members Mrs P J Barnett and Dr E van der Zee, Parent Governor Representatives.

The Chief Executive reported that, under Local Government (Committee and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, Councillor P J O'Connor had been appointed to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to the replace Councillor Mrs J Brockway for this meeting only.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

It was reported that both Mr S Rudman and Mrs P J Barnett were in attendance at the meeting but had not been shown on the minutes.

Apologies from Councillor Mrs H N J Powell for this meeting were also noted.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 May 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to the above being noted.

(To receive a report which invites the Committee to consider the proposal for the Council to enter into a voluntary arrangement relating to the dispersal of unaccompanied asylum seeking children across the country prior to consideration by the Executive)

Consideration was given to a report which invited the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children – National UASC Transfer Protocol 2016/17 which was due to be considered by the Executive on 6 September 2016.

It was reported that there had been a significant increase in the number of people seeking asylum within the United Kingdom, and within this cohort there had been increases in the number of children who were unaccompanied and seeking safety.

Members were advised that the large number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children had resulted in the government requesting all local authorities to sign up for a voluntary agreement whereby unaccompanied asylum seeking children were dispersed around the country with all local authorities contributing to the welfare and maintenance of the children.  This had been particularly important given the high numbers of children who had presented as unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Kent.

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Lincolnshire had always taken its responsibilities towards unaccompanied asylum seeking children seriously.

·         It was queried how the extra money would be would be allocated, and if foster carers and schools would receive some of this extra money.  In terms of the UASC already in the care of the authority, this would continue to be funded by grants from government which paid the foster carers.  The local authority must submit accounts to government to receive this funding.  It was reported that there were also grants available if the children required additional resources, such as CAMHS.

·         In Lincolnshire, the approach was taken that a child which had gone through trauma to get here, and who required additional resources, it was the authority's legal and moral responsibility to provide that service to the child.

·         It was queried whether the people allocating the young people take into account the fact that Lincolnshire already had 65 unaccompanied asylum seeking children and ensure that there was an even distribution of children between authorities.  Members were advised that the government was aware of how many children each local authority had in its care, and a list containing these numbers was produced, and authorities were requested to notify government if the figure was wrong.  On a regional level, there was a Strategic Migration Board which also kept a record of how many children were in the region.

·         It was commented that very careful supervision would be needed for those young people where it was difficult to prove their age.

·         Members were advised that as soon as a young person presented as an unaccompanied asylum seeking child (UASC) the police would be notified, who would then notify Children's Services.  The appointed social worker must be trained to age assess.  In cases where there were disparities between the age the child claimed to be and the age that authorities believed the child to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

(To receive a report which informs the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee of the development of a common approach to the recovery of costs where schools, academies and other education organisations in Lincolnshire access services delivered by Lincolnshire County Council (LCC))

Consideration was given to a report which informed the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee of the development of a common approach to the recovery of costs, academies and other education organisations in Lincolnshire access services delivered by Lincolnshire County Council (LCC).

It was reported that this approach would also involve exploring opportunities to provide a single comprehensive source of information and access for schools, academies and other organisations to receive all of the services they need.  The LCC services in scope of cost recovery would be reviewed periodically to ensure each offer was comprehensive, with clear benefits and an agreed cost structure for each support package.  To support the process by which schools, academies and other education organisations were able to learn about and access the support available it was aimed to translate the services offered into a digital form similar to an 'e-commerce' environment.

The Committee was advised that at its meeting on 5 July 2016, the Executive approved the recommendations as detailed in the report.  As the proposals related to a range of council services, the Executive report was considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee at its meeting  on 30 June 2016, where it supported the recommendations in principle but requested a further report on the charges for individual services.

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

·         This proposal was an opportunity to review the terms and conditions and the way in which departments costed their services.  It was reported that some departments charged a fixed amount as that was what they had always charged; some recovered the costs of the officer dealing with the request, and some included back office costs.  The proposal was for a cost recovery model, which would look at the full costs to the authority, and the true cost of what it took to deliver that service.  A lot of the services provided were classed as discretionary.

·         Comments submitted by Mr Anthony Partington, Head Teacher of Stamford Welland Academy were circulated to the Committee as he had been unable to attend as scheduled.

·         The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee was in attendance at this meeting as a replacement member, and advised the Committee that he had attended the meeting of the Executive where this had been approved.  The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee came to the view that it was difficult to fully support this when the exact costs were not known.  It was felt that a business plan was needed and the Committee wanted more detailed information in relation to the charges, and requested detailed figures at a later date.

·         One of the concerns was that most schools had very tight budgets and some of the services which were currently provided for free were going to be charged for, but it was felt that some of these were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

(To receive a report which updates the Committee on the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel)

Members were advised that the Corporate Parenting Panel had last met on the 9 June 2016 and received a report from Legal Services which provided an update on care proceedings issued in 2014/15.  It was highlighted that cases were now taking longer to process due to changes to the judges and also due to a large number of cases, about 40%, having an international element.  The Panel had requested training on the legal processes for care proceedings to help them understand the procedure better.

The Panel had also received a report on the performance indicators relating to looked after children.  The Panel had specific concerns in relation to key stage 4 attainment of looked after children (LAC) and the stability of placements for looked after children and suggested that this Committee should consider establishing two working groups to look into this issue.

However, following, discussions with officers after the meeting, it was now planned to incorporate the key stage 4 attainment of LAC into the ongoing School Performance Working Group.  In relation to the Stability of Placements, a meeting had been arranged with relevant officers and Councillors D Brailsford, J D Hough and Mrs P A Bradwell on 5 October 2016 to discuss what could be done to improve placement stability and a report on this would be brought back to the December meeting of the Panel.

It was reported that the next meeting was scheduled for 8 September 2016 where the Panel would receive the annual leaving care report from Barnardo's, and the annual reports on fostering, adoption and private fostering.

RESOLVED

            That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee note the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

(To receive a report which invites the Committee to consider a report on the Early Years' Service Model and Commissioning Plan and Contractual Arrangements for Children's Health Services which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor responsible for Children's Services on 29 July 2016)

Consideration was given to a report which outlined the early years' service model and commissioning plan and contractual arrangements for Children's Health Services.  It was reported that the Children's Strategic Commissioning Service was reviewing early years and children's health services which were currently outsourced.  The findings of the report to date, and options for future service models had been presented to a variety of Boards and Groups, and a preferred model for new services was provisionally agreed.

Members were advised that further public engagement, via an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) questionnaire was taking place to understand any positive or negative impacts the preferred model may have and following this, due consideration would be given to any further changes that may be needed.  As well as the final service model, the commissioning route for new services would also need to be agreed.

It was reported that early years and children's health services were currently commissioned separately and the preferred model would continue to uphold this.  Changes to the preferred early years' service model were not significant but the existing contractual arrangements were due to cease on 31 March 2017, with few options to extend.  In order to establish the new early years' service by 1 April 2017 and consequently meet the savings target in 2017/18, a decision was sought from the Executive Councillor responsible for Children's Services to agree the final service model and preferred commissioning route.

Members were advised that four Early Years Locality Leads were in attendance at the meeting, in order to represent parents.  It was noted that they had recently completed peer reviews across the county and worked with parents in their locality so they would be able to give some up to date parent feedback on early years services.  Some of the comments made to the Committee included the following:

·         The paper had been shared with the locality leads fairly recently, and the model fitted with what parents were saying.

·         There was a need for a very strong team ethos, and this model would help to bring this back.

·         There were 28 different contracts for children's centres, and it was suspected that services users would not notice any change.

·         A peer review was recently carried out at the Grantham centre, and some of the comments from parents included – staff were very supportive; there was an opportunity to talk to other parents; children were growing in confidence.

·         It was commented that parents seemed to be very happy with the services being provided, but they valued consistency in terms of members of staff.  This was particularly important with the most vulnerable families.

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

·         Clarification was sought regarding the relationship with the health side of these arrangements, and members were advised that the health aspects of these arrangements would be due for decision in November 2016.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

(To receive a report which enables the Committee to have an overview of the activities of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group, in particular the Sub-Group's consideration of child safeguarding matters)

It was reported that at the meeting on 6 April 2016, the Scrutiny Sub-Group received an update on the new Ofsted Inspection Framework which would introduce joint targeted area inspections of frontline practice and multi-agency arrangements.  The Sub Group raised concerns about information sharing between the different agencies, but was reassured that this was being addressed.

The Sub Group also received an update on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and the successful launch of the STOP CSE Campaign in March.  A dedicated website had been set up (www.couldbeanyone.org.uk ) which had further information on CSE and links to resources.

Members were advised that the Scrutiny Sub-Group had since met on 6 July but unfortunately had to be held informally due to being inquorate.  The Sub Group had asked officers to look into the possibility of finding new police and health representatives for the Sub Group to fill the vacancies that existed.  There had been previous attempts to fill these vacancies but without any success.  However, there were no new people in post so officers would try again to see if they could be filled.

The minutes from the July meeting were due to be presented to the next meeting of this Committee on 9 September, but this item would now need to be a verbal update as there would be no formal minutes from that meeting to report back to the Committee.

Members expressed their disappointment that the meeting was not quorate, particularly as at that meeting, the Sub Group was due to consider a serious case review.  It was suggested that it was important that the notes were informally reported at this meeting.

It was suggested that as this was a joint sub-group, also looking at adult safeguarding issues, the chief whip should be formally asked to follow up the attendance issues.  It was also suggested, that if it was not likely that a full attendance would be achieved, could the membership be re-examined and the numbers reduced accordingly which would then reduce the quorum.

RESOLVED

1.    That the minutes of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group held on 6 April 2016 be noted.

2.    That the comments raised be noted.

(To receive a report which enables the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider its own work programme for the coming year)

Consideration was given to a report which enabled the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider its own work programme for the coming year.

Members were advised that there were two amendments to the work programme, the report on Open Select List for Placements would be deferred from the September meeting to the October meeting to allow for further work.  The Scrutiny Sub Group update on the September agenda would also be a verbal update as there would be no formal minutes from the last meeting on 6 July to report back to the Committee.

The Committee was also reminded about the Safeguarding Focus Group on 18 October at 2.00pm and whether they could attend.  It was reported that so far 5 members had confirmed their availability.  The Post 16 Priorities and Area Based Review Working Group would now be held on Monday 25 July 2016, with Councillors J D Hough, Mrs J Brockway and Mrs L A Rollings.

It was also commented that the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee had requested a Budget Briefing for all councillors which was due to be held at the end of July, and it was requested whether this Committee could receive a report in September on the Children's Services budgets, to enable the Committee to have early involvement in the budget setting process.

Concerns were raised regarding the increased numbers of young people who were accessing foodbanks and it was queried whether this was something which this Committee should look into.  Members were advised that this could fall under the Child Poverty Strategy, which now sat with Public Health.  Officers advised that they would ask Public Health colleagues to look further into this issue.

RESOLVED

1.    That the content of the work programme, as set out in Appendix A to the report, and the amendments highlighted above be noted.

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