Agenda and minutes

A Member must declare any disclosable pecuniary interest where it relates to any matter being considered at the meeting. A declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest should indicate the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. A Member is not permitted to participate in this agenda item by law and should immediately leave the meeting before the start of any debate.

If the Member leaves the Chamber in respect of a declaration, he or she should ensure that the Chairperson is aware of this before he or she leaves to enable their exit from the meeting to be recorded in the minutes in accordance with Standing Order 37.

None.

Minutes of the meeting of 19 September 2024, to approve as a correct record.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting of 19 September 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Assistant Director, Children's Support & Safeguarding.

The Assistant Director – Children’s Services presented the recurring performance monitoring report which presented an overview of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Children’s Services. It highlighted performance across the key priorities of the Children’s Safeguarding and Support delivery plan and across Education Partnerships.

Members then discussed the following topics:

·       That there were allocated dentists specifically for children in care, and that this provision was being extended to care-experienced young people.

·       That the number of children in unregistered care arrangements was down to four individuals.

·       That access to dentistry was a problem nationally, not just in North Somerset, but that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) had committed to making more slots available to children in care.

·       Whether the idea of introducing school medical or dental checks could be discussed with the ICB.

·       That it was the responsibility of schools to inform Children’s Services when a child had moved to another provision, and that this was sometimes reflected in the proportion of children where their educational destination was not known.

·       That sometimes families made their own private fostering arrangements and had no obligation to inform Children’s Services.

·       That the Public Law Outline informed the list of actions needed to prevent children stepping into care proceedings.

·       That changes had been made to make pre-proceeding letters for parents of children at risk of entering care proceedings more comprehensible and easier to understand.

·       The general comprehensibility of the language used for all documents produced by Children’s Services.

Concluded: that the Panel receive the report and that Members’ feedback be provided to officers in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Executive Member for Children’s Services, Families and Lifelong Learning.

The report, delivered by the Virtual School Headteacher, provided an overview of the make-up of the Virtual School and contextual information in terms of the children in care to North Somerset as well as their Special Educational Needs and disabilities. It also provided an overview of how schools were being supported to undertake their responsibilities for children in care including: training; completion of personal education plans; and use of the funding available to support children in care attending their school.

In discussion, Members raised the following points:

·       The need for schools to be proactive around managing behaviour of children in care to prevent unnecessary suspensions.

·       The importance of sharing good practice across head teacher (and the Chief Executives of Multi-Academy Trusts) networks.

·       That part-time timetables were no longer used outside of an initial fixed period as there was an expectation that children were in education provision for a full 25 hours per week.

·       That there was an opportunity available for a member of the Panel to attend the Trauma Informed Training course being held from January 2025, and a request that interested Members let the Chairperson know.

Concluded: that the Panel receive the report and that Members’ feedback be provided to officers in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Assistant Director, Children’s Safeguarding and Support.

The report, presented by the Assistant Director – Children’s Services, outlined the challenges and improvements in responding to children who go missing, focusing on timely and quality Return Home Interviews (RHIs). Key issues identified with performance and quality included a lack of coordination and inconsistent responses due to split responsibilities, reliance on volunteers without electronic case recording system access, and staff vacancies.

Recent structural changes had centralised missing children services within the Adolescent Safety Framework, creating dedicated roles, including a full-time manager and planned Family Support Workers for RHIs.

Members made the following comments and requests for clarification:

·       That the reasons children could go missing were because of a struggle with trauma and loss, feeling less of a sense of belonging as well as stronger pulls from outside.

·       That the partners being worked with included the police, heath colleagues, social workers, schools and community partners.

·       That there was an emphasis on Trusted Relationships to ensure that children had a contact for someone to talk to.

·       That there needed to be a space outside of schools for children to bond with others, and that community spaces needed to be more welcoming for children and young people. Drop-in spaces with unstructured activities – could these be funded from public health as a measure to prevent the costs of police / social worker interventions?

·       That Junction 21 would be moving to a stronger focus on peer-based work, mentoring, and place-based work as they were no longer responsible for RHIs.

Concluded: that the Panel receive the report and that Members’ feedback be provided to officers in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Director of Children’s Services.

The Director, Children’s Services presented the report which gave an introduction to the duties of the council in relation to securing the right amount and types of homes for children in care and care leavers. It offered members of the panel the opportunity to comment on the draft Sufficiency Strategy prior to recommending it to the Executive for adoption and implementation.

Members discussed the funding for the programme, how the plans were advancing, what the options for ownership would be (buying on the open market or through a social finance company) and that the first phase would involve two homes being set up with the capacity of three children each, while the second phase was planned to focus on children with a disability.

Concluded: that the Panel receive the report and that Members’ feedback be provided to officers in the form of the minutes.

Report of the Policy and Scrutiny Senior Officer.

The Scrutiny and Policy Senior Officer presented the Work Plan for September and invited any amendments or additions from the Panel.

Members suggested an informal session on the implications of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as well as a briefing on encouraging young people to work in North Somerset.

Concluded: that the work plan be received and updated to capture outcomes agreed during the meeting.