Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Members of the Board to the meeting.  They noted that Item 5, the Young People’s Perception Survey – Focus Groups Feedback would be taken first.  This was to support the Young Members who were due to arrive later for the My Say Matters item.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2022 be agreed as a correct record.

Apologies were received from Jess Baines-Holmes who was substituted by Victoria Wicks on behalf of North Central London Integrate Care Board.

Apologies were received from Janet Matthewson from Young Barnet Foundation.

Apologies were received from Rebecca Morris who was substituted by Liz Shaw supporting the young members present.  Apologies had been given for some young members, including for lateness, in advance of the meeting.

Apologies were given by Councillor Tony Vorou, who had to leave partway through the meeting.

Apologies were given by Martin Serrao due to school matters.

The Officers noted that the main report on the Young People’s Perception Survey had been presented to the last meeting.  Working with these results they had undertaken a series of workshops to unpack the areas where people with specific charactererstics such as disabled young people or carers were less satisfied and to better understand the differences in their experiences. This had included looking at drivers and causes with targeted demographic samples.  Overall they felt that it was a positive area to live, but had identified areas which needed to be built on.  For example a concern had been raised by young people who felt that sometimes schools were unfair to victims in how they dealt with some issues, in particular around the reporting of hate crimes.

Recommendations arising from this work were around how the partners could deepen their understanding of the issues and take a holistic approach.  Officers would be using this information with other insights and data sets to improve outcomes.  This had already highlighted the need to look at the support given to schools on sensitive issues, for example racism and homophobia, the support for those with disabilities and mental health and to improve awareness of the support that the Council already provides.  Officers were looking to build on the “My Say Matters” brand to help engage and build relationships with young people.

Board Members felt that it was important that this be referred for consideration to the SEND Partnership Board and other partners.  The Chair noted that there was work around children and adults with disabilities as well as with their carers in the form of new ethnographic research.  There was a project in the “Meeting the Gaps Workstream” to collect information and also undertake a number of case studies following individuals to get a better insight.  This would be starting in the New Year and a project board was in place.

The Board noted that the Officers hoped to continue their engagement with the young people who had taken part and it was noted that the Parent and Carers Forum could be a valuable partner.

ACTION:

1. Officers to make direct contact with the Parent and Carers Forum to look at future links.
2. Young People’s Perception Survey results to be referred to the SEND Partnership Board.

The Chair welcomed the Youth Ambassadors and the Members of the UK Youth Parliament to the Barnet Children’s Partnership Board.  The young people provided a brief report on their attendance at the annual sitting of the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) in the House of Commons.  This was used by UKYP to help set the priorities for the year with a decision being made to focus on health and wellbeing and in particular the impact of the cost of living on health.

One of the Members of the Youth Parliament (MYP) talked about their work to support minority groups in schools and how they hoped to speak at the Education directors Board.  They had also championed this at a young peoples conference in Hull.

The other MYP reported that their focus continued to be on knife crime, mental health and climate change.  They had been working with the Metropolitan Police and engaging schools about how these issues could be addressed.

One of the Youth Ambassadors was also looking at mental health issues and raised concerns that young people sometimes felt unable to speak to teachers.  There was additional pressure around exam stress.  It was noted that there were issues around accessibility and the perception that resources were only made available in extreme situations, this had led to some failing to engage.

The Chair queried Members of the Board where these priorities sat with regards to current work streams.  In response it was noted that although cost of living was being considered, there was no specific paper related to the concerns and impact on young people.  Work was being done through the Healthy Schools and Resilient Schools frameworks but could be reviewed.  It was noted that the feeling from young people of not being listened to had been picked up in Ofsted reports and would be explored.  The Young people were invited to present to the Secondary School Heads Forum to help improve their reach.  The Police noted that the were also looking to improve their work diverting young people and three officers assigned to this in Barnet and were keen to look at ways of engaging.

ACTION:

1. The Barnet Children Partnership Board to recommend to the Health and Wellbeing Board to review the Cost of Living and its impact on young people.
2. The youth people to liaise with the Secondary School Heads Forum around presenting to a future session.

Schools and Settings Improvement Strategy and SEND and Inclusion Strategy plus an update on the Special Educational Places Plan.

The Head of School Improvement and the Director of SEND and Inclusion presented the update to the education strategies.  The work was monitored by the Schools and Settings Partnership Board with priorities coming from a range of sources such as Ofsted, research data, Department for Education Guidance and the Barnet Partnership Board for example.  These were then used to help focus how they provided support to schools.

Potential areas for consideration included early year settings where phonics which had dipped in Barnet and also how vulnerable children, including those with SEND and other needs, were supported.  The strategies were considered to be dynamic documents which met local needs and would be presented to a number of forums including the BELS Board.  This helped them to engage with school governors, the leadership teams and schools as a whole. 

The recent inspection of SEND services locally had highlighted a number of positives and strengths.  There was a need to improve access to therapy and this was being reviewed at a North Central London level due to inequalities across the boroughs.  This would be considered as part of a longer-term plan around the universal offer.

The response time for EHCP request and assessments were above both the London and national average but Officers were keen to do more.  There were a high level of SEND Tribunal Appeals, however many were resolved before a formal tribunal was held and they were looking at how to provide better support earlier to help resolve issues earlier in the process.  There were also looking at how to provide more good quality services that could be delivered closer to home with high quality local placements.  A SEND Green Paper was also being prepared which would influence how the service was delivered.

Members of the Board commented that the partnerships in Barnet added real strength locally.  It was noted that the issue of mental health and exam mental health that had been raised earlier in the meeting by young people should be considered.  The representatives from the Parent Carer Forum were keen to look at the issues around SEND Tribunal appeals.

ACTION:

1. To consider how mental health and exam mental health are incorporated into the strategies.
2. Parent Carers Forum to be engaged in the work around SEND Tribunal Appeals.

Officers from North Central London provided a presentation that gave an overview of the research being undertaken for the NCL Start Well Programme for Children and Young People.  The research had focused on hospital based children and young people.  The first stage was about making the case for change through establishing a research and evidence base.  They were had then moved through engagement and developing best practice care models and were now looking to finalise recommendations prior to any changes being implemented.

The engagement work with stakeholders had included making use of local forums, youth summits as well as statutory, voluntary and third sector partners in the area.  This had highlighted the need for safe and supportive care with access to specialists.  Participants had highlighted the need to be seen quickly with supportive and understanding communication made with them.  There was a high level of support for the opportunities for improvement that had been identified through the process and the aim was to continue engagement during the implementation as part of an ongoing conversation.  They had identified three categories for change opportunities and were working towards the adoption of a recommendation decision for change.

The Board queried the geographical area covered by the research and whether this would lead to changes in the services at the Royal Free and in High Barnet.  The Officers responded that their research had covered all services in North Central London.  The specific changes were still being identified and no recommendation for changes to the current configuration had been made.

A Member of the Board noted that it would be useful to look at how the residents and respondents were reached and the possible links which could be used as they were currently in the process of creating a Residents’ Panel.

The Chair thanked the Officers for their presentation and requested that they come back to the Board once they had recommendations so that they could look at how it would impact young people in Barnet.

ACTION:

NCL Start Well Programme for Children and Young People to come back to the Barnet Children’s Partnership Board to present recommendations.

The Commissioning Strategy & Policy Advisor provided an update to the Board.  Good progress had been made since the last report against the four priorities:

1.    Strengthening families and early years

2.    Developing resilience and improving education

3.    Developing equal opportunities

4.    Targeting support

The Chair noted that this would be good to share with the Senior Leadership Team to help identify areas for improvement and change across the authority.

ACTION:

Life Chances Strategy to be presented to the Barnet Council Senior Leadership Team meeting.

The list of abbreviations was noted.

The Board were invited to send suggestions for inclusion in the Work Programme at any time to the Chair.

The Forward Work Programme was noted.

There was none.