Meeting documents

 

 

Draft Minutes

of the Meeting of the

Children & Young People Services Policy & Scrutiny Panel

Thursday, 21st June 2018

held at the Town Hall, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

 

Meeting Commenced: 10am Meeting Concluded: 11.55am

 

Councillors:

 

P Ann Harley (Chairman)

P David Oyns (Vice-Chairman)

 

Karen Barclay	P Michael Bell
Ericka Blades	P Mary Blatchford
P Donald Davies	A Bob Garner
A Judith Hadley	David Hitchins
P Denise Hunt	P Kate Stowey
P Liz Wells	Martin Williams
P Roz Willis	P Deborah Yamanaka

 

 

P: Present

A: Apologies for absence submitted

 

Also in attendance: Councillors Jan Barber, Lisa Pilgrim. Kenton Mee (North Somerset Parent Carers Working Together)

 

Officers in attendance: Amanda Braund (People & Communities), Alun Davies (People & Communities), Hannah Gillett (People & Communities), Gerald Hunt (People & Communities), Philippa Penney (Corporate Services), Heather Sanders (Corporate Services), Katherine Sokol (People & Communities)

 

CAY 1

Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (Agenda item 3)

None.

 

CAY 2

Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 March 2018 (Agenda item 4)

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting be approved as a correct record.

 

CAY 3

Childrens Services Social Impact Bond (Agenda item 6)

The Service Leader Resource Service presented her report on progress of the Social Impact Bond during its first year of implementation and provided an analysis of the impact of edge of care services, funded under these arrangements, on the safe reduction of the children in care population.

The Service Leader Resource Service then responded to members questions regarding outcome payments, key changes to the original operating structure, quantifying savings and means of monitoring the impact of interventions. The Service Leader Resource Service undertook to circulate key figures to panel members once these were available. The lower than anticipated demand in areas of higher deprivation was also discussed.

 

Concluded: that progress of the Social Impact Bond be noted and that this be added to the Panels work plan for monitoring on an annual basis.

 

CAY 4

16+ Leaving Care Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) (Agenda item 7)

The Head of Commissioning presented his report which invited the Panel to comment on the new collaborative arrangements for the delivery of leaving care/independent living settings. The Head of Commissioning then responded to members questions regarding the relative immaturity of the market, the number North Somerset children placed by the service, and the focus on quality assurance.

 

Members requested regular monitoring of the financial detail as provided in the cost and volume analysis, and also the detail of cost projections.

 

Concluded: that the Panel received and commented on the detail of the report, and requested the further financial detail above.

 

CAY 5

Performance & Financial Monitoring (Agenda item 8)

The Panel received a report of the Assistant Director Childrens Support and Safeguarding providing a summary of recent Ofsted inspections, details of safeguarding audits, an analysis of performance against key corporate indicators, and financial monitoring commentary for the People and Communities Directorate. Additional data was provided on trends in the numbers of families receiving Early Help, Children in Need, children on a Child Protection Plan and Children Looked After.

 

Members requested that officers review the way that some of the KCPI information was presented in the report as was not always clear. A further request was for future reports to identify which schools are academies.

 

In the absence of the Director People and Communities who had a prior commitment and the Assistant Director Childrens Support and Safeguarding, who was unwell, Panel Members agreed that a further session was required in order to provide opportunities for comment and to seek clarification of the issues contained within the report.

 

Concluded: that this item be considered at a further session to be arranged to address budget and performance matters.

 

 

CAY 6

Month 12 Childrens Services Budget Monitor (Agenda item 9)

The Finance Business Partner presented her report outlining the spend against budget for childrens services. The report summarised the 2017/18 spend against budget highlighting key variances, movements and contextual information, along with reference to the principles and processes for setting the 2018/19 budget and the associated risks. Panel members noted efforts being undertaken to mitigate against further budgetary overspend and sought re-assurances that there was sufficient flexibility and capacity to deliver given existing service pressures.

 

Member requested clarification on the proposed approach for member engagement with the budget setting process.

 

Concluded: that the 2017/18 spend against budget for childrens services be received.

 

CAY 7

North Somerset Parent Carers Working Together Work Plan 2018-19 (Agenda item 11)

As the arrival of the Assistant Executive Member had been delayed due to a previous commitment the Chairman agreed to vary the order of the agenda and invited the Policy and Strategy Development Officer to present his report to the Panel next. Referring to the development of North Somerset Parent and Carers Working Together as the forum for carers and parents of disabled children and young people and those with SEN in North Somerset, the Policy and Strategy Development Officer introduced Kenton Mee, Vice-Chair of the forum, who told the panel about the work of the forum and its priorities for the future. Members of the Panel welcomed the development of the carer parent forum and its role in challenging existing policies and practices.

 

Concluded: that development of the carers and parents forum be welcomed and its workplan be noted.

 

CAY 8

Foster Carer Recruitment (Agenda item 10)

Presenting the report, the Assistant Executive Member told the Panel that an increasingly positive picture was emerging regarding the support, recruitment and retention of North Somerset Foster Carers.

 

The Assistant Executive Member and Service Leader Resource Service then responded to members questions. Thanking the Assistant Executive Member for her report, the Chairman referred to the work undertaken by the In-House Foster Carers Working Group and encouraged the Assistant Executive Member to keep the Panel informed in order to mitigate against duplication.

 

Members asked for further information on the work being undertaken to plan ahead, and detail of the data that was available to assist this process.

 

Members discussed the importance of making the package of support and training available to in-house Foster Carers sufficiently attractive to overcome the considerably higher rates paid by the independent sector. Members also discussed the importance of ensuring that recruitment resources were targeted effectively.

 

Concluded: that progress with the recruitment of Foster Carers be received.

 

CAY 9

The Panels Work Plan (Agenda item 12)

The Specialist Scrutiny Practitioner presented the work plan for discussion, and highlighted progress with each of the work areas, as follows:

 

The School Organisation Steering Group had recently considered the Education Provision in North Somerset Commissioning Strategy, and agreed: that written representation should be made to the Executive Member and the Leader highlighting the adverse impact of being unable to obtain pupil projection data in a timely manner, and; that further consideration should be given to engagement with the Department for Education and the Regional Schools Commissioner [Deputy] regarding central funding government arrangements, particularly given the high level of proposed residential growth and development.

 

The In-house Foster Carers Working Group continued to focus on recruitment and retention and also on the strategy review. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman had both taken part at the recent conference;

 

The Child Sexual Exploitation Steering Group was hosting a meeting to review progress against the Local Children Safeguarding Board Ofsted Action Plan, to which all Members of the Council had been invited;

 

The Young People in North Somerset Democracy Project remained on the Panels work plan although progress had unfortunately been delayed for this year;

 

The SEND Working Group was due to meet again in July to include member engagement with the Specialist and Alternative Provision Strategy review, and also any early findings from the recent inspection of services for children with special needs and/or disabilities. The group was also reviewing the transition to EHCPs in view of concerning pressures on service delivery due to service demand and financial pressures;

 

A session for was being arranged to review progress with the High Impact Families programme and with the self-assessment action plan, to which all Councillors would be invited.

 

A review of the first six months of the new joint Adoption West arrangements were to be reported to the Panel meeting in October;

 

 

Concluded: that the Panel discussed and updated the Work Plan accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chairman

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