Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and allowed everyone to introduce themselves.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th April 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

Apologies for absence were received from Neil Marlow (BELS), Rebecca Morris, 1 member of the Youth Parliament and 2 Youth Ambassadors.

The list of abbreviations was noted.

Liz Shaw, Practice Standards Manager - Children's Services, updated the board on behalf of the Young People who were unable to attend and noted the progress of the young people’s campaigns. It was noted that the past years achievements would be documented and presented in a video, in which both youth parliament members and Youth Ambassadors would be involved. It was reported to the board that one of the Young Persons had met with three police officers to discuss their campaign regarding knife crime in schools and would continue to explore ways to progress their campaign. It was noted that one of the young persons had focused their campaign on extracurricular activities, with particular focus being placed on girls in sport. This campaign topic has been debated with teachers and as a result headteachers had positively engaged and offered their support in working on the campaign. The success of several of the young people’s campaigns was noted and were congratulated on their achievements.

The Practice Standards Manager - Children's Services was thanked for her update.

The Board noted that further information relating to the Children and Young People’s participation was available at the link below:

 https://barnetyouth.uk/Children-and-Young-People-Participation-across-Barnet

Janet Matthewson, The Chief Executive Officer, Young Barnet Foundation, updated the board on the State of Barnet Voluntary Sector. It was noted that Barnet Together was a partnership established in 2018 between YBF, Volunteering Barnet, and Inclusion Barnet. Barnet Together that offered free capacity building support service for the borough’s Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector. It was outlined that Membership Renewal Data helped contribute to a better understanding of the sector, resulting in better cross-sector partnership working. Through strong partnerships, it was anticipated that they could attract the funding needed to sustain delivery. The Chief Executive Officer, Young Barnet Foundation explained that there are a diverse group of 22 supplementary schools that work with the voluntary sector, further noting that is it is important to collate data so there can be a picture of the borough to view and evaluate. It was reported that, in terms of organisations, there are 68% growing, 31 surviving and 1% declining in terms of income. Therefore, support needs to be given to the 32% of organisations struggling.

The following information was noted:

·         As of 27 June 2023, there were 203 Members

·         Of those organisations

o   68% are Growing (137)

o   31% are Surviving (62)

o   1% are Declining (2)

·         Data from 189 members – reported their most recent annual turnover as being:

o   Under £10k (25)

o   £10k-£50k (35)

o   £50k-£100k (27)

o   £100k-£250k (34)

o   £250k-£500k (25)

o   £500k+ (42)

It was outlined to the board that the Young Barnet Foundation acted as a business development arm for the voluntary sector; 42% or organisations did not have full time employees and 22% of groups are of London Youth groups.

There were overall challenges across the board including staff wellbeing, which meant that extra support was needed to be given to staff to prevent the possibility of burn out and other associated issues. The overall aspirations were to acquire larger sums of funding.

In response to questions raised by the Board, it was explained that there was no dedicated Safeguarding Lead, but that members were signposted to the Barnet Safeguarding Partnership as the importance of this was well recognised. It was further explained that anybody in receipt of funding would be required to carry out due diligence with regards to safeguarding and joining members would be required to undertake training delivered by Barnet Partnership Board. In response to a further question asked relating to specialist cohorts, it was explained that a wrap-around service was provided although there was no specific focus on SEN or SEND provision.

The Chair thanked the representative from Young Barnet Foundation for the report and presentation.

DolyannaMordochai presented the report of Autistic led research in Newham. It was an NHS funded report which looks at where autism and race meet, looking at autism through an intersectional lens. The aim of the report was to understand the barriers people face accessing services when they are from certain cultures as it was reported that families from ethnically diverse backgrounds experienced a high level of challenge following a diagnosis of autism of a family member. This included lack of understanding and support from the community, schools and peers with limited access to support structures and services in conjunction with increased financial pressures. 

6 key research findings were evidenced as follows:

1)    There is a widespread lack of awareness pre-diagnosis and lack of understanding post-diagnosis about autism in ethnically diverse communities.

2)    Stigma and lack of acceptance can lead to a sense of isolation for a family with an autistic member, whether by their own family, friends or community.

3)    Lack of support from cultural and religious leaders can reduce a family’s participation in communal or religious activity and structures.

4)    Connection with, and support from, professionals is challenging to obtain.

5)    Language and communication barriers and a lack of understanding of the ‘system’ can influence support obtained for an autistic family member.

6)    Assimilation into, or equal treatment from, the wider community can be impacted through having an autistic family member.

In response to a question raised by the Chair with regards to what Newham were doing with the findings of the report it was explained that some additional funding had been released to reduce inequalities with a multitude of work being undertaken both pre and post diagnosis. In response to a further question raised, it was confirmed that there was work was being carried out with inter-faith groups to increase capacity and dialogue; positively, it was noted that a faith-related forum was already in place and attempts were being made to engage with them to increase awareness. 

The Chair and thanked DolyannaMordochai for her report and presentation

Karen Flanagan, Director SEND and Inclusion, explained that following widespread concerns at a national level, the DfE published a Green Paper in March 2022 ‘SEND Review: Right Support, Right Place, Right Time’. A year later in March 2023 the DfE published its SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan. This included a set of key proposals which would be piloted on a national basis across the 9 DfE regions and within each region there would be a Regional Expert Partnership (REP) led by a lead Local Authority. High performing Local Authorities in each area were asked to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) and following Barnet’s EOI submission it was noted that they had been selected to be the Lead Local Authority for the London Regional Expert Partnership (REP)

Other London partners have been invited to be part of the London REP and they include Enfield, Camden and Islington with the national launch event being scheduled for the 19 September 2023.

It was reported that the DfE was investing £70m nationally for selected areas to test and trial the proposals for reform as set out in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan. As part of the pilot for this, it was explained that one of the main advantages was the opportunity to influence the outcome and the longer-term proposal by assisting in the development of longer-term proposals.

The Board were thanked for the involvement and specific thanks was given to those who had assisted in compiling the expression of interest submission document. The Chair thanked the Director SEND and Inclusion, for the report and asked the Board Members for their continued involvement and engagement.

Anna Stewart, Programme Director North Central London (NCL) delivered a presentation to the Board and noted the following:

Since November 2021, the partner organisations in NCL have been working together on the initial phase of Start Well: a long-term programme looking at children and young people, maternity, and neonatal services across NCL.

Partners from across the integrated care system have been working together to understand if we are:

a)    delivering the best services to meet the needs of children, young people, pregnant people, and babies.

b)    learning from, and responding to, national and international best practice, clinical standards, and guidelines

c)    reducing inequalities in provision and health outcomes.

It was noted that an integrated impact assessment would be undertaken and would provide information relating to the research undertaken which would highlight the potential impacts of proposed changes to services.

•      Work is continuing on the options appraisal, and there are a number of assurance steps that need to be completed before the outcome of it will be shared.

•      There is further work needed on the integrated impact assessment, which includes some workshops which will support with developing mitigations for any proposals.

•      Depending on the outcome of the options appraisal there may be a need for further public engagement or a consultation. This will be subject to ICB approval.

•      It is likely that any further engagement required would take place in Autumn 23 / Winter 24

The Chair supported the notion of board member involvement as well as any parents in the Borough who may also wish to be involved.

Collette McCarthy expressed concerns of discharge summaries which was having an impact on the quality of care that health visitors were able to deliver. In response the Programme Director (NCL) stated she would contact the heads of maternity and urge them to get in touch with the health visitors to resolve the matter.

The Chair thanked Anna Stewart, Programme Director (NCL) for the update and invited her team back to the board in 6 months’ time.

The Chair gave a verbal update and noted that a full update would be provided at the next meeting. The Chair explained there is lots of collaborative work commencing in the background specifically on the provision of EHCP and waiting times with additional funding of £450k being injected into therapy serviced.

The chair further updated the board that there is an additional funding from Karen Flanagan, Director SEND and Inclusion, which have come from DSG reserves specifically for OT, speech, and language therapy. This will include more work with parents and carers, with a key focus on upskilling schools and staff. It was explained to the board that there is also a further 1.8M across the North Central London (NCL) Boroughs, which is held by Barnet. The Chair highlighted that all updates on work were a positive step in the right direction.

Jessany Wooding updated the board. It was explained that vacancy rates have dropped in line with the NHS, areas which have the longest waiting times have decreased, the wait is 32 weeks instead of 36 weeks for speech and language therapy and overall average wait rimes are lower.

The Executive Director for Children’s Services, looking forward to seeing the developed final model and thanked Jessany Wooding for the update.

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

There was none.

The meeting finished at 18:06