Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

The Youth Cabinet had contributed to the scrutiny review of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (Minute No. 79 below refers).

The Scrutiny Panel discussed the following items:-

(1) The report of the recent re-inspection of the Authority’s Children’s Services had indicated that the Services were now performing adequately. A report about this issue will be submitted to the next meeting of this Scrutiny Panel, to be held on 21^st January, 2010, including the implications for the Notice to Improve affecting Children’s Services;

(2) The report about the scrutiny review of school closures due to extreme weather had been submitted to Cabinet. A response is expected early in 2011, which will be reported to this Scrutiny Panel in due course.

Further to Minutes No. 85 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 27^th November, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by Mike Brown (Rotherham PCT), which described the progress being made with the Rotherham Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. A copy of the Strategy’s annual report 2009 was provided for the Scrutiny Panel Members.

The current priorities of the strategy are:-

-          targeted interventions with high risk young people;

-          increasing the role of parents in improving outcomes for young people, particularly around talking to them about sex and relationships;

-          a more systematic approach to comprehensive contraceptive provision.

The Scrutiny Panel’s discussion of this item included the following salient issues:-

-          the successes of the strategy (eg: project in Maltby; publication of information in the ‘InControl’ magazine; opening of new youth clinics);

-          areas for development (eg: long term sustainability and development of targeted prevention projects; improving attendance at youth clincs); and the risks attached, given the pressures on funding;

-          references to sexual in the Government’s White Paper ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’;

-          family planning / outreach work (CASH project);

-          the implications of the responsibility for some public health services transferring to local authorities;

-          the comparative costs of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and the costs to public health services of teenage pregnancies;

-          the uncertainty of future funding for teenage pregnancy services.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the progress of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy during 2009, as identified in the annual report, be noted.

(3) That the progress of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy continue to be reported to future meetings of this Scrutiny Panel.

Further to Minute No. 137 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 9th April, 2010 and Minute No. 119 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 8^th December, 2010, consideration was given to a report, presented by Review Group Chairman Councillor Tom Fenoughty and Kay Denton-Tarn (Healthy Schools Consultant) concerning the scrutiny review of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEe) was conducted by this Scrutiny Panel in conjunction with the Youth Cabinet.  The report of this Scrutiny Review had been considered by the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team, whose comments on the findings and recommendations were included with the submitted report. 

The review made sixteen recommendations in total and these have been discussed by relevant officers and comments provided on each one. All of the recommendations were listed with a response showing whether they were to be accepted (including any caveats), either wholly or in part and showing the reasons for any non-acceptance. The implications of the change of Government upon the outcome of this Scrutiny Review were also discussed. It was noted that the Cabinet had agreed with the Strategic Leadership Team’s position on each recommendation.

The Scrutiny Panel expressed the view that there ought to be further consideration of the need for school governing bodies to receive an annual report on the PSHE curriculum.

Resolved:- (1) That the Report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the Strategic Leadership Team’s commentary on the Scrutiny Review into PSHE in Schools and the Cabinet’s response be noted.

(3) That, with the exception of recommendation 14 (annual report on PSHE curriculum), the recommended actions of the Scrutiny Review be supported.

(4) That an update report on the implementation of the agreed recommendations be submitted to a meeting of this Scrutiny Panel in twelve months’ time.

Further to Minute No. 124 of the meeting of the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel held on 5th March, 2010, consideration was given to a report presented by the Strategic Lead Officer for Attendance and Parenting and the Strategic Lead Officer for Prevention and Early Intervention, describing the progress made in the drive to prevent and intervene early to deal with risk factors for families and thereby improve the wellbeing of children. The report also presented some initial thinking around the co-ordination of parenting and family support.

Through the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), Children’s Services professionals are being encouraged and supported to take ownership of issues and reject the notion that vulnerable children and young people are somebody else’s responsibility.

Services are being challenged not automatically to refer vulnerable children and young people to other agencies, but to take on responsibility for supporting families by engaging with the appropriate professionals and working collaboratively to provide solutions which address needs. They do this by carrying out common assessments, establishing teams around the child/family, identifying lead workers, agreeing joint actions and regularly reviewing progress towards achieving agreed outcomes.

The progress made since January 2010 is now having an impact on improving the life chances of children, young people and families. The submitted report included case studies to evidence this impact, with a ‘Family Savings Calculator’, devised by the Government to measure the financial impact of prevention.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the progress being made in the full integration and implementation of the Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy be welcomed.

(3) That the progress of the Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy continue to be reported to future meetings of this Scrutiny Panel.

(Councillor Kaye declared a personal interest in the above item and did not vote)

Further to Minute No. 69 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 30^th October, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Policy Officer (Chief Executive’s Office) stating that the Child Poverty Act 2010 placed a duty on local authorities to undertake a local assessment of need and develop a partnership strategy to reduce child poverty locally.

The report stated that during the period from October 2009, much work has been undertaken across the Council, in partnership with other stakeholders, to ensure this duty is fulfilled.  A local needs assessment has been produced, which has informed the development of the draft strategy (appended to the submitted report).

The Scrutiny Panel’s discussion of this item included the following salient issues:-

-           contents of the draft strategy (the final document would be published during April 2011);

-           details of the local needs assessment;

-           housing accommodation in the Borough area and the difficulties of impoverished families;

-           employment prospects and life chances;

-           financial issues and credit unions.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the local needs assessment be noted and the priorities outlined in the draft child poverty strategy be supported.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel held on 19^th November, 2010, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Trust Board held on 17^th November, 2010, be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Safeguarding and Developing Learning Opportunities for Children held on 1^st December, 2010, be noted.

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meeting of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 12^th November, 2010 be noted.