Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S A J Blackburn, K H Cooke, The Reverend Philip Johnson (Church Representative) and Mrs M R Machin (Parent Governor Representative).

It was noted that the Chief Executive, having received notice under Regulation 13 of the Local Government (Committee and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, had appointed Councillor G J Taylor to replace Councillor K H Cooke for this meeting only.

No declarations of members' interest were made at this stage of the proceedings.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 3 September 2021 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman advised the Committee that he was planning to have a 10-minute break prior to Item 6 on the agenda.

The Chairman invited Councillor Mrs P A Bradwell OBE, Executive Councillor Children Services, Community Safety and Procurement, to provide any announcements to the Committee.

The Executive Councillor advised that Children's Services continued to be busy with planning the opening of special schools.  The Executive Councillor advised further that she was a member of the Local Government Association Children's Board (which met four times a year).  It was noted that the meetings were very informative and provided an opportunity for each council to see how they were performing post Covid-19; and to see how each council was dealing with the large number of unaccompanied asylum seekers.  The Committee noted that the good news was that Lincolnshire was in-line with other colleagues from the East Midlands and was performing well.

Thanks were extended to officers for all their hard work post pandemic.

The Chairman invited Heather Sandy, Executive Director – Children's Services to advise the Committee of any announcements.  The Executive Director – Children's Services advised the Committee that as part of the regional work, she had taken over the lead for the regional improvement and innovation work.  The Committee was advised further that a £2.1 million bid had been won for the region, which would allow for some collaborative work to be done around different aspects of children's services.

It was noted that once work on the project had started to develop, a report would be presented to the Committee.

It was reported that the region had done so well in bringing in the extra funding; and that was testament to the work across the region to make sure that the bid was evidence based and that it could be demonstrated that it could be delivered.

The Chairman on behalf of the Committee extended his congratulations to the region on their success and for the extra funding to help children's services.

(To receive a report from Eileen McMorrow, Programme Manager, Special School Strategy, Sheridan Dodsworth, Head of Special Educational Needs and Disability and Dave Pennington, Head of Property, which provides the Committee with an update on the implementation of the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy, approved by the Executive on 6 November 2018)

The Committee gave consideration to a report which set out the progress made in Year Three of the strategic implementation of the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy.

The Chairman invited Eileen McMorrow, Programme Manager – Special School Strategy, and Dave Pennington, Head of Property Development, to present the item to the Committee.  It was noted that Sheridan Dodsworth, Head of SEND, was in also attendance for this item.

The Committee was advised that the strategy would make significant changes to the existing special school education provision, creating an integrated and sustainable school system where pupils would be able to attend their nearest school, confident that their education and health needs would be fully met.

It was reported that the Building Schools of Specialist Provision Strategy had commenced implementation in 2019 and that it was a five-year strategy with the final all needs schools due to be ready to meet all needs in 2024.

The Committee was advised that implementation was well underway, but it was highlighted that at the moment, there were a number of factors that were making things difficult for the construction industry as well as the economy as a whole.  It was highlighted that it was difficult to get material onto sites either from abroad or the UK.  Details relating to supply chain issues were shown on pages 16 and 17 of the report in paragraphs 1.1 to 1.9.

It was highlighted that the Programme Team continued to monitor the risks associated with the volatility in the construction supply chain and that this was reported through governance structures on a monthly basis.

The Committee received an update on all the capital schemes.  Progress made on each scheme was detailed in the report presented; and the update was complimented by a series of photographs depicting the progress being made on each of the sites.

In summary, the Committee was advised that:

·       The Boston Endeavour Academy was now completed and had been handed over to the Community Inclusive Trust who had welcomed its first pupils on 6 September 2021;

·       The Bourne Willoughby new block had been completed and had been handed over to the Priory Trust in readiness to welcome its first pupils in September 2021; and that remodelling aspects of the scheme had now started to parts of the original building.  The Committee noted that this had been a modular build and was an example of successful innovation with the supply chain working in a different way to give the best result.  The modular build in this instance was the right construction for the tight site conditions, which made a traditional build difficult and expensive to deliver;

·       Work at the Eresby School, Spilsby was now completed and had been handed over to the David Ross Education Trust, who had welcomed the return of pupils at the start of the September 2021 term; and that contractors were now on the remodelling of the original building.  It was highlighted that this had also been a modular build;

·       At Louth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

(To receive a report and presentation from Andrew Morris, Corporate Parenting Manager, which provides the Committee with an overview of the Council's Corporate Parenting responsibilities)  

Consideration was given to a report from Andy Morris, Corporate Parenting Manager, which outlined what the Council's corporate parenting responsibilities were and how good corporate parenting could greatly improve the lives and outcomes for young people.

Attached at Appendix A to the report was a copy of the Department for Education guidance document for local authorities entitled 'Applying Corporate Parenting Principles to Looked-After Children and Care Leavers' for the Committee's consideration.

The Chairman invited the Corporate Parenting Manager to present the report and provide the Committee with a presentation.

The presentation referred to:

·       The definition of a corporate parent as defined in the Children and Social Work Act 2017;

·       The seven legal principles as defined in the Act which define the corporate parenting role;

·       The number of young children in care;

·       The Council's approach shown to children in care and the aspirations for them;

·       Placements;

·       Who are care leavers;

·       The national position;

·       The local position; and

·       What more could be done by the Council to meet the needs of its young people.

During consideration of the report and the presentation the Committee raised the following comments: -

·       The Committee extended its thanks to the Corporate Parenting Manager for a very passionate and comprehensive presentation;

·       The need to ensure that all members of the Council were aware of their corporate parenting role; and to help them understand their role a Corporate Parenting training session had been arranged for 5 November 2021; and that all members should be encouraged to attend the training;

·       Whether there was any data relating to care leavers over the age of 25.  The Committee was advised that some of the care leavers continued to maintain contact with their children's home or foster home; and some examples were provided to the Committee.  The Committee noted that data was only available up to the age of 25 as the young people were left to enjoy their lives; but again, it was highlighted some care leavers still kept in contact with staff for that family support network;

·       Whether Children's Services had looked to implement good practice from other councils.  The Committee noted that the young people were engaged in all sorts of activities; and that this work was led by the Participation Team;

·       How the North Somerset offer as detailed on page 101 compared to the Lincolnshire offer.  The Committee noted that in Lincolnshire there was Council Tax relief (up to the age of 21) for all care leavers across all seven district councils and that most district councils were moving the age range to 25.  It was reported that every young person received a new homes grant of £2,000, which they could access.  Also, if a young person had a baby, they would also get an extra £500 to help them get set up, which was then matched by the district council in the area they lived.  The Council would also pay for things like clothes for interviews and provide help to them if they needed it;

·       District councils  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

(To receive a report from Jo Kavanagh, Assistant Director – Early Help, which provides the Committee with the Annual Complaints Report for Children's Services)

Consideration was given to a report, which provided information concerning complaints relating to Children’s Social Care in line with statutory requirements.  It was noted that the report did not contain any data relating to complaints about the wider Children’s Services area.

The Chairman invited Carolyn Knight, Head of Service – Quality and Standards and Principal Social Worker to present the item to the Committee.

Appendix A to the report provided the Committee with information on the number of complaints received by Children’s Social Care for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.  It was highlighted that a total of 136 contacts had been received in 2020/21 from individuals wishing to complain about the service.  With the implementation of a more restorative approach to complaints, 45 complaints had been resolved informally, outside of the complaints process, which accounted for 33% of all contacts received. 

It was highlighted that for 2020/21 there had been an overall decrease in the number of complaints entering the formal process of 18%.  It was highlighted further that a total of 91 complaints had formally entered the system; and that this was the lowest number of complaints received in the last 10 years, which was excellent news, especially in a year where services had adapted to manage Covid-19, which could have potentially seen an increase in customer dissatisfaction.

The Committee was advised that only 10 complaints had been fully upheld, four of these had been the result of a lack of communication, four had been due to staff conduct and attitude; and two had been as a result to a delay in service. It was also highlighted that 18 complaints had been partially upheld: eight due to a delay in service; seven due to assessment errors; and three due to the lack of communication.  The Committee was advised that any learning from the complaints had been addressed by managers with the staff concerned.

Overall, it was highlighted that the process of early resolution was appearing to be making a difference in reducing the number of complaints that entered the formal system; and it was hoped that this would be maintained.

During consideration of the report, the Committee raised the following comments: -

·       A request was made for further clarity around the graphs and the higher number of complaints received in Lincoln.  The Committee noted that there were three areas with higher number of complaints, they were Lincoln and two of the East Lindsey teams.  Reassurance was given that team managers reviewed all the complaints received to see what could be learnt from them.  It was noted that for some of the East Lindsey complaints there had been some issues with children moving over the borders, as there had been a change in the way Lincolnshire managed cases compared to north and north east Lincolnshire;

·       One member agreed that early resolution was a good thing to do but, actually should those contacted for early resolution still be classed as complaints; as someone had felt aggrieved enough  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

(To receive a report from Tracy Johnson, Senior Scrutiny Officer, which enables the Committee to consider and comment on the contents of its work programme to ensure that its scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit)

The Committee considered a report from Tracy Johnson, Senior Scrutiny Officer, which invited members to consider and comment on the content of its work programme, to ensure that scrutiny activity was focused where it could be of greatest benefit.

The Committee was advised of the following amendments to the November agenda:

·The pre-decision scrutiny item on the expansion of St Lawrence School, Horncastle, had been deferred to the meeting on 14 January 2022 to allow for further work on the scheme;

·The Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) Update had been removed from the agenda and the next update from the LSCP would now be on 22 April 2022; and

·There were two additional pre-decision scrutiny items in relation to the Spalding Academy Basic Need project and the Stamford Welland Academy Basic Need Project, prior to a decision by the Executive Councillor for People Management, Legal and Corporate Property between 22 and 30 November 2021.

One suggestion put forward for consideration at a future meeting was the independent report by Chris Witty, Chief Medical Officer on the health and wellbeing of England’s coastal communities and how this impacted Children’s Services.

RESOLVED

That the work programme presented be agreed subject to the inclusion of the amendments/suggestion mentioned above.