Agenda and minutes

No Declarations of Interest were made. 

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Cabinet Member for Communities and Cohesion held on 24^th February, 2014, were considered.  The Cabinet Member received matters arising updates relating to the decisions made. 

Resolved: -  That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24^th February, 2014, be agreed as an accurate record. 

·         Officer to present.

Consideration was given to the update presented by the Community Engagement Manager (Housing and Neighbourhood Services, Neighbourhood and Adult Services Directorate) on behalf of the Prevent Local Lead, South Yorkshire Police, who had given her apologies. 

The update covered: -

·         Prevent Silver meetings were being chaired by Superintendent Paul McCurry;

·         The Silver meetings were directing work that was taking place to highlight and engage vulnerable groups including work with Local Authority Partners and training and awareness raising sessions;

·         Using local demographic information to help plan and commission activity;

·         Project Shanaz was a thread of the Prevent work stream.  This included the provision of a platform and voice for women in the areas relating to Prevent work.  Rotherham was due to host a strategic meeting on project Shanaz for delegates from across the UK;

·         The Rotherham policing district had formed a new Independent Advisory Group that would meet bi-monthly and be chaired by Chief Superintendent Harwin.  Membership of the group consisted of community representatives.  The remit of the group was to provide a transparent consultation process, to encourage dialogue and a platform for developing areas of work, including the Policing Protests Matrix.

Discussion ensued and the following areas were raised: -

·         The Cabinet Member would welcome sight of the evaluation that had taken place on the programmes in place for working with individuals who posed a risk under the Prevent agenda;

·         Further information was required by the Cabinet Member in order for him to have a complete picture about the level of need in Rotherham relating to the Prevent agenda.

The Cabinet Member requested on-going updates from the Silver meeting and to be kept informed about the work of Prevent on a regular basis. 

Resolved: -  (1)  That the information shared be noted. 

(2)  That regular updates on the Prevent agenda be brought to the Cabinet Member for Community and Cohesion’s meetings. 

·         Officer to report. 

Consideration was given to the update provided by the Head of the Rotherham Integrated Youth Support Service (Schools and Lifelong Learning, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate). 

The Head of Service reported on the activities of the Service over the past month since the previous report: -

·         Re-alignment Processes – The process was continuing to be on target to meet the required timescales and achieve the required savings.  Expressions of interest for posts at risk were currently being submitted and interviews would start from 31^st March, 2014.  From 1^st April, 2014, the Service would provide open access two nights per week in every local centre.  Detached provision would remain at four nights per week in each local area;

·         The Integrated Youth Support Service’s consultation document was shared.  It was noted that the number of full-time equivalent posts that would be lost was now 17.09, which was a reduction from 22.  This was a result of successful applications for voluntary severance; 

·         The Service was facilitating interview technique courses for all staff members who expressed an interest;

·         There would be some movement of staff members into different posts and areas, but every effort would be made to preserve relationships between young people and workers.

·         Quality Assurance – The Service was developing a straightforward performance information dashboard.  This document would be set within the Service’s Specification and Quality Standards document.  The dashboard aimed to provide an ‘at a glance’ description of the Service’s activities.  Work was continuing to capture the voice of young people in the dashboard, as well as the total number worked with, the Service’s reach and the outcomes for young people. 

·         Integrated Youth Support Service Quality Mark – Before the second re-alignment process commenced, the Service had commissioned work to be assessed for a Quality Mark.  A decision was taken to continue with this during the current economic climate as the Service expected to continue to deliver a quality service despite the reductions.  The Quality Mark included undertaking a detailed self-assessment, and a visit from an inspector over three-days to test the evidence delivered through the self-assessment.  The bid had been made in conjunction with the Voluntary and Community Service Partners GROW, Rotherham United and Refuge.  If the process was successful, the Partners would also be able to use the Integrated Youth Support Service’s Quality Mark. 

·         The Service was undertaking the National Citizenship Service Scheme in partnership with Rotherham United.  A total of 105 places would be available for Rotherham’s young people. 

The Cabinet Member thanked the Head of Service for her update and placed on record his recognition of the continuing positive work of the Service. 

Resolved: -  That the information shared be noted. 

Consideration was given to the report presented by the Head of the Youth Offending Service (Integrated Youth Support Service, Schools and Lifelong Learning, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate).  The report gave a quarterly update on the Service’s direction of travel and, where necessary, outlined the details of actions to maintain and/or improve performance across the Service. 

The performance indicators that were used within the Youth Offending Service were outlined (YOS1 to YOS9), along with any ‘related measure’, such as a National Indicator, the ‘target’, ‘performance’, ‘definition/comments’ and the current RAG status. 

Exception reporting was used for the 9 performance indicators when performance was rated as amber or red.  Exception reporting had been used in this Quarter’s report for YOS1 (First Time Entrants) and, although not currently judged to be amber or red, YOS7 (Quality of Cases). 

This was the first Quarter since the inception of the YOS1 target in 2007/2008 that Rotherham had experienced an increase in the rate of first time entrants compared to the previous period.  Rotherham’s performance had outpaced national and regional trends but the gap was beginning to narrow.  Rotherham’s performance was now more aligned to national trends but better than regional average.  This area had been judged to be amber based on local judgement, but remained on-line to meet the national target.   

Cases were continuing to be subject to management audit (YOS7).  There were examples of very good case management but some cases were not updated soon enough.  Some assessments remained descriptive rather than analytical.  This would be addressed in future training provision. 

Information about the 12 new referrals (between October, 2013 – December, 2013) to the Service of under-18s who were misusing substances was also considered. 

Other factors for the Youth Offending Service: -

·         Service reductions due to Central Government funding reductions and the likely impact on staffing;

·         The role of ‘continual provision’ within the Integrated Youth Support Service where young people would work with the same worker as far as possible;

·         The contribution of the Youth Justice Grant for 2014-2015 had been announced as the same amount as the previous year’s funding;

·         The timetable for full joint inspections would be announced on 25^th April, 2014;

·         The Annual Youth Justice Plan would be submitted to a future meeting of the Youth Offending Service Management Board;

·         The Police and Crime Commissioner had opened the Integrated Youth Support Services Conference held on 8^th February, 2014, and he had promoted the ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign;

·         The Youth Justice and Restorative Justice Workshop was successful and over 40 delegates had signed-up;

·         The Youth Justice Board had asked Rotherham’s Youth Offending Service to take on additional responsibilities around the use of unsupervised unpaid work as a restorative measure for young people who had committed a crime.  Historically Rotherham had not used these placements for 16 and 17 year olds.  Magistrates did have the option of this measure.  Further information from the Youth Justice Board regarding specification and available funding was awaited. 

Resolved: -  That the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

·         Report to follow. 

The Community Engagement Manager (Housing and Neighbourhood Services, Neighbourhood and Adult Services Directorate) provided an update on ICIB.

He reported that a report would be submitted to the next meeting seeking approval for the funding advice, advocacy, and information services from the local voluntary sector for the 2014/15 financial year. This would be those projects out of scope of the ongoing commissioning exercise for generalist  advice due to be completed by September, 2014.

Discussion ensued and the following area was raised: -

• The Cabinet Member requested an update on the discussions that took place following the last meeting on the Single Infrastructure Grant, finance, and a delivery output framework.

Resolved: -  That an update meeting on the briefing meeting around the Single Infrastructure Grant be arranged.

·         Monday 28^th April, 2014, to start at 12.00 noon in the Rotherham Town Hall. 

Resolved: -  That the next meeting of the Cabinet Member for Communities and Cohesion take place on Monday 28^th April, 2014, to start at 12.00 noon in the Rotherham Town Hall.