Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S Blackburn and J Tyrell.

There were no interests declared at this point in proceedings.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the last meeting held on 3 March 2023 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman attended the Lincolnshire Music Service’s Showcase Concert at Lincoln Cathedral on Friday 14 April 2023 with the Vice Chairman and other Committee members, and praised the musical talent of young people across Lincolnshire.

The Executive Councillor for Children’s Services, Community Safety, Procurement and Migration also attended the Concert and echoed sentiments expressed by the Chairman. She also informed the Committee that the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) were inspecting Children’s Services for two weeks and thanked all officers involved with the inspection.

The Executive Director – Children’s Services added that some officers were absent due to the inspection.

(To receive a report from Charlotte Gray, Head of Service – Strategic Commissioning, which provides an update on community responses to high level mental health needs of children and young people (CYP) across Lincolnshire).

The Committee considered a report by Charlotte Gray, Head of Service – Children’s Strategic Commissioning, which provided an update on mental health (MH) services for children and young people (CYP) across Lincolnshire, with a particular focus on the community crisis response to high level MH needs that was introduced in 2020 following the closure of Lincolnshire’s CYP inpatient unit, Ash Villa, in 2019. Amy Butler, Head of Children and Young People Services from the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) was also in attendance for this item. The following matters were reported:

·       MH services for CYP were mostly provided by LPFT and were commissioned by Children’s Services on behalf of Lincolnshire’s Integrated Care Board (ICB).

·       LPFT assessed and referred CYP to the East Midlands ‘Provider Collaborative’ who sought an inpatient unit within the region.

·       Currently there was no inpatient unit in Lincolnshire, The East Midland’s Provider Collaborative partly funded the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Crisis and Enhanced Treatment Team (CCETT) which aimed to prevent CYP being admitted to inpatient units. The CCETT also offered community-based support for CYP after leaving inpatient care.

·       97% of complex MH referrals avoided a hospital admission in 2021 due to the support offered by the CCETT.

·       An increase in YP accessing inpatient provision since the pandemic in Lincolnshire was observed, although the county benchmarked lower than regional and national averages.

·       Lincolnshire’s urgent and emergency response rate benchmarked above the national average during the pandemic.

·       Challenges to MH services were experienced locally and nationally due to increased demand following the Covid-19 pandemic; referrals to the CCETT had increased by 24% and across all services CYP were also requiring support for longer which contributed towards a reduced rate of discharge.

·       The ICB had directly responded to cited pressures by increasing investment and consequently, waiting times had reduced by 36% from May 2022 to February 2023. Additionally, there was a 42% reduction of CYP waiting over 12 weeks from referral to treatment.

·       Some Lincolnshire CYP had to travel outside of the county to access specialised inpatient services even when Ash Villa was operational, and Ash Villa also provided services to CYP from other areas.

·       The region had increased inpatient beds for CYP with eating disorders due to heightened referrals following the pandemic.

·       The CYP Mental Health Transformation Programme was underway and had a broad scope which included enhancing Lincolnshire’s crisis offer and providing support to CYP within their communities.

During consideration of the report, the following comments were noted:

·       Approximately 300 additional CYP in Lincolnshire required MH support at any one time following the pandemic, however referrals were gradually decreasing.

·       There were increased access targets from NHSE.

·       The potential impact of the closure of Ash Villa on vulnerable CYP and their families could be exacerbated by having to travel to receive inpatient treatment. The Head of CYP Services from the LPFT assured that the NHSE ‘Provider Collaborative’ model ensured that CYP were discussed as part of the Collaborative and sought to allocate a bed within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

(To receive a report from Carolyn Knight, Head of Service – Quality and Standards and Principal Social Worker, providing an overview of the Government’s response to the care review and to highlight the three associated consultations that are currently live, as well as providing some commentary on Lincolnshire’s current position in relation to the proposals).

The Committee received a report from Heather Sandy, Executive Director – Children’s Services which provided an overview of the Government’s response to the Care Review published in May 2022, and highlighted the three associated consultations that were currently live, as well as providing commentary on Lincolnshire’s current position in relation to the proposals. It was reported that:

·       The governments implementation Strategy and Consultation – Stable Homes, Built on Love responded to three significant reviews – The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, the National Review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) study into Children’s Social Care Placements.

·       The strategy sought to shift away from formal interventions with families towards effective multi-agency support and early help.

·       Changes would be implemented through a series of pillars over the next few years by a small proportion of selected local authorities before the strategy extended to the whole country:

o   Pillar 1 ensured the right support at the right time so children could thrive with their families.

o   Pillar 2 implemented a decisive multi-agency child protection system which included the education sector.

o   Pillar 3 strived to unlock the potential of family networks and provide relevant support.

o   Pillar 4 focused on putting love, relationships, and a stable home at the heart of being a child in care (CiC).

o   Pillar 5 provided a valued, supported and highly-skilled social worker for every child who required one.

o   Pillar 6 sought to ensure the system continuously evolved and improved and made better use of evidence and data.

·       The first four pillars would form part of the Family First for Children Pathfinder Programme that would see three pre-selected local authorities put on, and a further nine would be selected through a formal bidding process.

·       It was assured that a lot of the government’s recommendations were already implemented in Lincolnshire.

·       Three consultations were being ran as part of the strategy – Stable Homes, Built on Love, Children’s Social Care National Framework and Dashboard and Agency social workers.

During consideration of the report, the following was noted:

·       Assurance was provided that the principles and values adopted in Lincolnshire towards CYP consistently aligned with the government’s recommendations, although their implementation would require some legislative change and a different way of working with partners and funding.

·       LCC and Children’s Services were attempting to influence proposals through the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ACDS).

·       Members suggested the mandating of the education sector into the multi-agency child protection system (Pillar 2) could prevent vulnerable children exposed to abuse from falling through the gaps. It was assured that schools in Lincolnshire adhered to and exceeded statutory safeguarding responsibilities. Operation Encompass already involved schools as a partner in instances where a child was present in domestic violence, and schools provided good informal responses to support the child.

·       Following the tragic deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, Children’s Services saw the involvement of schools as beneficial in preventing vulnerable children from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

(To receive a report from Andy Cook, Head of Service – Future4Me/Youth Offending, on the outcome and findings from the recent youth inspection of youth justice services in Lincolnshire undertaken by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) in January 2023).

The Committee received a report from Andy Cook, Head of Service – Future4Me and Youth Offending, on the outcome and findings from the recent inspection of youth justice services in Lincolnshire undertaken by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) in January 2023. Tracey Evans and Amy Lawson, Team Managers for the Youth Offending Service (YOS), were also in attendance for this item. The following matters were reported:

·       The inspection commenced on 9 January 2023 and involved sending information to inspectorates in advance and focused on assessing partnership arrangements and the strategic management board; the inspection also included organising focus groups with key partners to demonstrate the multi-agency approach undertaken in Lincolnshire.

·       The national approach to inspecting YOS by HMIP currently consisted of four domains that were assessed: organisational delivery, court disposals, out-of-court disposals, and resettlement.

·       The Head of Service – Future4Me Youth Offending announced that Lincolnshire YOS achieved an overall ‘outstanding’ judgement. It was highlighted there were approximately 150 YOS nationally, with only 10% achieving an ‘Outstanding’ classification. The Joint Diversionary Panel had also received an ‘Outstanding’ judgement. The Head of Service – Future4Me and Youth Offending thanked all staff and partners involved for their hard work.

·       Lincolnshire YOS had submitted an improvement plan to HMIP in response to four recommendations set out in the inspection report. Recommendations pertained to the consistency of safety and wellbeing in cases in out of court disposals, and ensuring effective management oversight in those cases, of which there was a small amount. Additionally, it was recommended to increase the number of children in education, employment, and training, which was already a clear focus of the service. The final recommendation related to ensuring the ethnicity profile of staff and volunteers in the service better reflected the cohort of children. It was assured recommendations were integrated in service action plans and were firmly embedded in the strategic management board as strategies.

During consideration of the report, the following comments were noted:

·       The Executive Director – Children’s Services highlighted her appreciation on behalf of the whole service, as well as on behalf of the Executive Councillor for Children’s Services, Community Safety, Procurement and Migration.

·       The Committee also congratulated the YOS and expressed thanks for all involved.

·       The Head of Service – Future4Me and Youth Offending was confident the YOS were adequately supported to fulfil recommendations, and highlighted they were previously aware of all issues highlighted in the recommendations.

·       The Chairman agreed to endorse a formal thanks to the YOS on behalf of the Committee.

RESOLVED

1.     That the Committee has reviewed the findings and judgements from the inspection report.

2.     That the Committee’s congratulations to the Youth Offending Service for the ‘Outstanding’ judgement be recorded.

3.     That the Committee receives a monitoring report in six months’ time to provide assurance on the progress made with implementing the four recommendations contained within the inspection report.

(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. There were no amendments made to the published work programme, although it was highlighted that given developments with OFSTED inspecting Children’s Services, there was a report expected to be published by the next meeting, to be considered by the Committee in the future.

Members questioned when the Children in Care Transformation programme would be programmed; the Senior Scrutiny Officer informed the Committee that further information was anticipated on the two new children’s home before this could be programmed.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Committee’s Work Programme be reviewed and agreed upon.

In accordance with Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the following agenda item has not been circulated to the press and public on the grounds that it is considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. The press and public may be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this item of business.

RESOLVED

That in accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that if they were present there could be a disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.

(To receive an exempt report from David Pennington, Head of Property Development, and Alison Toyne, Project Manager, Corporate Property, which invites the Committee to consider a report prior to a decision taken by the Leader of Lincolnshire County Council between 2-5 May 2023).

Consideration was given to the exemptreport. The Committee raised a number of questions which were answered by the Officers present.

 RESOLVED

1.      That the Committee support the recommendations to the Leader of the Council as set out in the report.

2.    That the Committee’s comments be passed on to the Leader of the Council in relation to this item.