Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Salar Rida 020 8359 7113 Email: Salar.Rida@Barnet.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Committee, Councillor David Longstaff welcomed all attendees to the meeting, including members of the Barnet Youth Parliament, as well as returning and newly elected Councillors.

 

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 7th March 2018 be agreed as a correct record.

2.

ABSENCE OF MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from:

 

·         Councillor Reuben Thompstone who was substituted by Councillor Stephen Sowerby

·         Councillor Val Duschinsky who was substituted by Councillor Saira Don

·         Councillor Linda Freedman

 

 

 

3.

DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND NON-PECUNIARY INTERESTS

Minutes:

The following declarations were made at the meeting:

 

Councillor

Agenda Item(s)

Declaration

Anne Hutton

7-10

Declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of being a Trustee of Barnfield Children’s Centre and a member of the West Locality Board.

 

4.

REPORT OF THE MONITORING OFFICER (IF ANY)

Minutes:

None.

5.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS (IF ANY) pdf icon PDF 47 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the responses to the Public Questions which were published prior to the meeting and tabled for information. There were no further supplementary questions.

6.

MEMBERS' ITEMS (IF ANY) pdf icon PDF 231 KB

Minutes:

6A) Member’s Item in the name of Councillor Nagus Narenthira

 

Councillor Narenthira introduced the item in her name. The Committee noted the information set out in the Member’s item. Chris Munday, the Strategic Director for Children and Young People noted the importance of the issue raised and informed the Committee that it has previously been reported to the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee as part of the Suicide Prevention Strategy report.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED that Officers would circulate the data relating to the issues raised in the Member’s Item to the Committee. (Action) 

 

6B) Member’s Item in the name of Councillor Pauline Coakley Webb

 

Councillor Coakley Webb introduced the item in her name and the Committee noted the information set out in the cover report. Mr Munday briefed the Committee about the range of support services on offer for young people.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED that Officers invite a representative from Exposure to speak at a future meeting and report to the Committee what LB of Barnet is doing to tackle loneliness among young people. (Action: Forward Work Programme)

 

 

7.

UPDATE REPORT ON PROGRESS OF BARNET CHILDREN'S SERVICES IMPROVEMENT ACTION PLAN pdf icon PDF 575 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report and invited the Strategic Director for Children and Young People, Chris Munday to present the report. The Committee received the fifth report on the progress of the Improvement Action Plan, following the third Ofsted Monitoring visit.

 

Mr Munday spoke about the Monitoring visit letter at Appendix 1 of the report and the progress seen. He noted that further work is needed to drive and make consistent changes across the service.

 

The Monitoring Visit focused on the progress made in the area of vulnerable adolescents, including Children in Need, children subject to Child Protection Plans and Looked After Children. 

 

The Committee asked about the work being done in respect of vulnerable young people who are at high risk of gang affiliation or criminal exploitation.

 

Tina McElligott, Operational Director Early Help, Children in Need of Help and Protection noted that in order to meet the challenges in this area, services have been working closely with the Improvement Partner and partner agencies. 

 

She briefed the Committee about steps taken around vulnerable adolescents to ensure that young people are safe and the need to tackle challenges on a long term basis. The focus on improvement and the challenges ahead were recognised as part of the Monitoring visit and set out in Appendix 1.

 

The Committee noted the correction on page 24 of the Agenda to read

·         The establishment of a Tash Task and Finish Group

 

In response to a query about the Task and Finish Group, Brigitte Jordaan Operational Director, Corporate Parenting and Disability informed the Committee that a Group has been established consisting of Officers who will work towards a clear protocol and a review of savings for children in care.

 

The Committee asked about the arrangements of the multi-agency strategy meetings. Ms McElligott noted that continued efforts are being made to achieve improvements, this is yielding result in the level of partnership engagement between statutory partners and social care service; systems have been put in place such as a conference calling room to support continued engagement.

 

Mr Munday noted the importance of effective partnership engagement and informed the Committee that this issue is due for review by the Care Quality Commission. The Committee commended the engagement with partners from Health and Police which has been positive.

 

The Committee asked a query in reference to the information within the Data Dashboard – Ms McElligott spoke about the improvements made in relation to timeliness of assessments and decision making. This is reflected in the data which shows that timeliness has improved.

In respect of Independent Return Home Interviews, Officers explained the factors that affect this are young person take up and some delay in referrals for RHI’s reaching providers.

 

The Chairman thanked the Committee for the discussion.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the Committee noted the progress of the Barnet Children's Services Improvement Action Plan as set out in paragraphs 1.4 to 1.56.

2.    That the Committee noted details of Ofsted’s monitoring visit set out in paragraphs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

END OF YEAR 2017/18 COMMISSIONING PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT pdf icon PDF 404 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the item and Mr Munday presented the EOY 2017/18 Commissioning Plan Performance report. The Chairman invited Ian Harrison, Education and Skills Director Barnet with Cambridge Education to join the meeting.

 

In response to a query about the progress in English Writing, Mr Harrison noted the efforts towards improvements which has seen an average performance improvement from and an improved ranking for Barnet from 71 to 54.

 

Referring to the budget and demand pressures, Mr Munday spoke about the priorities taken on board by the management team towards driving sustainable improvements in children’s social care.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED that:

 

The Committee reviewed the finance, performance and risk information in relation to the Theme Committee’s Commissioning Plan.

 

9.

VOICE OF THE CHILD pdf icon PDF 516 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman invited Collette McCarthy, Head of Children’s Joint Commissioning Barnet CCG-LBB to present on Youth Parliament.  

 

The Committee heard from three Barnet Youth Parliament members who spoke about each of their projects.

 

Richard spoke in detail about his ideas to raise awareness among young people around mental health and to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools. He also noted the need to tackle the stigma associated with mental health. Mr Munday spoke about the services available such as;

 

-       partnership working with schools to raise awareness of mental health services,

-       resilience schools programme,

-       mental health first aid training,

-       mental health training and

-       KOOTH online mental health support and counselling services.

 

Officers welcomed the initiative and agreed to work closely with Richard to explore avenues and share ideas in order to help raise awareness of the support services available to young people. (Action)

 

The Committee heard from Savan, who spoke about his campaign to develop an online platform and raise awareness of mental health distress and the support that is available to young people. Savan also informed the Committee about his plans to raise awareness of CAMHS services and to work with the Communications Team to design a leaflet for his campaign.

 

Lara spoke about her project which centred around the issue of repayment and funding towards higher education and universities. She informed Members about the survey which is being developed to record the views of young people which will also be rolled out to graduates, interns and apprentices as well as school leavers. Lara stated that she also wishes to raise a petition to be discussed in Parliament and that she would develop an information booklet to address any lack of information on this topic.

 

The Chairman welcomed the representations from the Youth Parliament members and the Committee commended their work and expressed interest in hearing about their progress in the future. (Action: Forward Work Programme)

 

The Chairman invited Abi Lewis, Governance Officer who presented the third annual Youth Assembly report to the Committee. The Committee noted the motions which were debated during 2017-18. In response of the motion on p. 101 on study areas in libraries, it was also agreed that further information would be provided on study areas to promote its use.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the Committee noted the report on the progression of the existing UK Youth Parliament members and recognise the campaigns of the new UK Youth Parliament members as laid out within the report.

2.    That the Committee agreed the actions that the Council is going to take to meet the manifesto commitments outlined by Barnet’s UK Youth Parliament members.

3.    That the Committee commented on, and endorsed, the successful motions raised by the 2017-18 Youth Assembly, as outlined in Appendix 1.

4.    That the Committee noted and commented on where applicable – the officers’ response to the successful motions of the Youth Assembly.

5.    That the Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILY HUBS 0-19 PROGRAMME - FULL BUSINESS CASE pdf icon PDF 361 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Munday and Ms McElligott presented and informed the Committee about the contents of the report.

 

In reference to proposed management savings, the Committee queried how the risks and concerns were being managed and addressed.

 

Officers informed the Committee about the consultation timeline and the proposed changes which do not impact frontline staff and is focused on effective and sustainable children’s social care.    

 

It was RESOLVED:

 

That the Committee approved the reorganisation of the Council’s Early Help Services. Specifically:

 

1.    Formalise arrangements trialled in the pilot phase establishing multi-agency panels in each locality to review complex cases for Early Help and taking a partnership based approach to the delivery of a package of interventions

2.    Reconfiguration of Council staff into hub teams with no reduction in front line staffing

3.    Change use of Children’s Centre and Youth Centre buildings to deliver an integrated 0-19 offer in local communities

4.    Commission school led Children’s Centres to deliver universal and universal plus services to support continued early engagement antenatally/postnatally and the provision of structured outreach programmes of activity to ensure access to early education and health services. To deliver the Family Support element of Children’s Centre services by the local Early Help Service teams to ensure a unified and consistent approach to delivery.

5.    Deliver traded non-statutory services at full cost recovery

 

  Votes were recorded as follows:

 

For

6

Against

4

Abstentions

0

 

11.

CHILDREN, EDUCATION, LIBRARIES & SAFEGUARDING COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 205 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the standing item on the agenda which lists the business of the Committee for the current municipal year.

 

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the Forward Work Programme for 2018-2019.

12.

ANY OTHER ITEM(S) THAT THE CHAIRMAN DECIDES ARE URGENT

Minutes:

None.