Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Street, Rotherham. S60 2TH

Contact: Dawn Mitchell, Senior Democratic Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

220.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 22nd May, 2013 pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 22nd May, 2013, were considered and approved as a correct record.

 

Further to Minute No. 208 (Sexual Exploitation), it was reported that Barnardos will soon be part of the multi-agency team.

 

Further to Minute No. 209 (Eleven Million Take Over Day), Jason Harwin reported that he had attended the last Youth Cabinet meeting.  There was a joint project with the Police around safety issues at the Transport Interchange.

 

Further to Minute No. 212 (‘Once upon a School’ Project), work was ongoing in trying to find town centre premises for the Project.

 

Further to Minute No. 216 (Disabled Children’s Charter), the Parent and Carers Forum had its own Charter which was recommended as national good practice.  It was felt not to be necessary to sign another Charter at this stage.

221.

Issues and Concerns

·        Looked After Children Council

·        Youth Cabinet

·        Parent and Carers Forum

Minutes:

Looked after Children’s Council

-          They had conducted a survey, to which 40 responses had been received, as to what the children thought was good about being in care, what was not so good and any other comments.  The 40 had said they loved being in care

 

-          Launch of DVD on 24th July produced by 1 of the care leavers

 

Youth Cabinet

-          Had received an update on the Anti-Bullying Scrutiny Review at its last meeting.  The recommendations would go to school leaders etc. and feed back to the Youth Cabinet

 

-          Discussed the Eleven Million Take Over Day.  Some young people had visited the Transport Interchange and met with staff to look behind the scenes.  They felt it had made a difference in terms of their relationship with the Interchange and the Police

 

-          An invitation had been extended to take part in the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Planning Event in August.  Unfortunately it was the same day as GCSEs results were issued but hopefully some would be able to attend

 

-          Invitation to the official opening of Eric Manns Building on 24th July where the Integrated Youth Service were based

 

-          Attendance at a regional transport summit in Sheffield

 

Resolved:-  That an invitation to the launch of the Integrated Youth Service be extended to the Partnership.

 

Parent and Carers Forum

-          Sitwell Infant School was the first school to be awarded the Gold Standard for the Charter

 

-          The Chair of the Forum had been personally invited and attended a seminar held in London to represent the region

222.

Annual LCSB Report and Business Plan

-       Alan Hazell to report

Minutes:

Alan Hazell, Independent Safeguarding Board Chairman, presented the draft Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board’s annual report 2012-13.  He asked for any comments to be submitted to him by the end of July so that it could be published by 1st September, 2013.

 

The report contained sections relating to:-

 

-          Rotherham Children and Young People in context

-          Governance and Partnership arrangements

-          Progress on Board priority areas and the Business Plan

-          Performance and Quality Assurance Sub-Group

-          Serious Case Review Sub-Group

-          Child Death Overview Panel

-          Policy and Procedures Sub-Group

-          Exploitation Sub-Group

-          Learning and Development Sub-Group

-          Lay Members’ Report

-          Rotherham’s Challenges and Priorities for 2013-16

 

Discussion ensued the report with the following issues particularly highlighted:-

 

·           Multi-agency audit of Serious Neglect Cases

·           Section 11 Assessment and Assurance

·           Serious Case Reviews

·           Home Affairs Select Committee recommendations

·           New Inspection regime

 

Resolved:-  That any comments be conveyed to Alan Hazell by the end of July, 2013, for inclusion in the final document.

223.

Memorandum of Understanding between LSCB, Health and Wellbeing Board and CYP&F Partnership) pdf icon PDF 130 KB

-       Joyce Thacker to report

Minutes:

Joyce Thacker presented a draft protocol between the Local Safeguarding Children Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board, including the Partnership, outlining and confirming the functions and responsibilities of Rotherham’s key children’s strategic partnership, planning/commissioning forms and the relationships between them.

 

Discussion ensued on the draft protocol with the following issues raised:-

 

·           Although it clarified the relationship between the Safeguarding Board and the Partnership there was confusion with the Health and Wellbeing Board

·           Need to explicitly state where the highest levels of priority were and where they belonged

·           Governance and the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Terms of Reference

·           What it meant for people on the ground

·           Clarity on accountability

·           No Police representation on the Health and Wellbeing Board

·           Health and Wellbeing Board was responsible for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy not operational delivery

 

Resolved:-  That a further report be submitted to the September meeting.

224.

Commissioning/delivery of Emergency Hormonal Contraception to young girls aged 14-16 years pdf icon PDF 40 KB

-       Gill Harrison to report

Minutes:

Dr. John Radford presented a report on the above provision.

 

The current Public Health Service’s contract in relation to Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) with Pharmacists operating in Rotherham specified that they provide the service free of charge to females over the age of 16 years.  This was an alternative choice of provision to that offered by GPs etc.

 

Females under the age of 16 years were not able to obtain EHC at pharmacies under the contract at present due to the lack of a robust care pathway in relation to safeguarding issues.  This meant that a vulnerable group of young people were denied a valuable service choice based in the community.  However, it was acknowledged that by extending the service to the younger age group, the service providers needed to be especially vigilant in relation to any safeguarding issues which may arise.

 

It was proposed in the report that the contract be renegotiated to allow for an extended service to females over the age of 14 years and that a care pathway be introduced for females between 14 and 16 years of age to address any safeguarding issues which may arise.

 

Discussion ensued on the proposal with the following issues raised:-

 

-          Should not assume that any child under the age of 13 years having/had sexual intercourse was being sexually exploited – Safeguarding Team should be involved initially

-          If children thought they were going to be referred through to Social Services would it deter them from seeking contraception? Increase in teenage pregnancies?

-          The referral would be to the Integrated Youth Support Service which had a nurse working in partnership with Youth Workers who would make an assessment as to whether it was a child abuse issue

-          Needs careful contract monitoring to ascertain what issues were emerging and appropriate support available

-          What was happening elsewhere in the country?

-          More work to be done looking at the pathways and support/referral mechanisms

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be received and welcomed.

 

(2)  That further work take place on the pathways and support and taking into consideration what was taking place in other areas of the country and a further report brought back in November.

225.

Children and Young People's Services Action Plan pdf icon PDF 581 KB

-       Sue Wilson to report

Minutes:

In accordance with Minute No. 211, Sue Wilson (Performance and Quality manager) and Tracy Blakemore (Corporate Improvement Officer), presented the latest version of the Action Plan which incorporated comments received since the last meeting.

 

It was noted that the final version of the Plan would include a “monitoring” column to enable to see if the actions had been achieved.

 

Comment was made that under Priority 2  “we will engage with parents and families), there should be reference to the Health and Wellbeing Board and what its role was.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That, subject to the comments above, the action plan be approved.

 

(2)  That the action plan be updated twice a year, the first update being submitted to the November meeting of the Partnership.

226.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

A.      Child Sexual Exploitation

Governance – The Safeguarding Board had discussed sub-structures.  There were already Gold and Silver and it had now been agreed that the Gold Group be sub-group for CSE for the Safeguarding Board but there would still be that tactical group underneath it.  The support at sub-group level was very good and challenging and had wide/appropriate representation able to respond to what was happening locally and nationally.

 

There were still some issues around performance management – the “so what” question. 

 

Ongoing Investigations – There were 34 ongoing investigations ultimately relating to a small number of individuals.  There were currently 8 people on bail from Court for over 40 offences.  At the tactical group information was shared with regard to the location of individuals paying attention to the requirement for confidentiality. 

 

Home Affairs Select Committee Report – The report had been considered as a Partnership and commissioning action plan.  The action plan for CSE was a living document and would change.  Work was being undertaken around training/induction of staff.

 

Away Day – Discussion had taken place with regard to E-learning which was being developed and looked to be Gold Standard.  Officers were currently exploring the e-learning package.  It had been a recommendation of the Home Affairs Select Commission that all Council  and health frontline staff should be trained.

 

B.     CAMHS

The organisation was changing its method of working and improving their service.  A meeting with the CCG had been held and agreed to share the Improvement Plan.  The Council was now involved and a joint improvement plan would be produced around the issues that come forward. 

 

C. Self-Harm and Suicide

Officers had been involved in looking at the above in a school setting and a template produced for a community action plan which could be used by other school/areas if something similar occured.  A ‘lessons learned’ review would be undertaken by an independent author.

 

D.            Welfare Reform (and the impact on children and families)

Resolved:-  That this issue be included on the November Partnership meeting agenda.

 

E.    Crime Figures

There had been an 11% increase in demand for Police in Rotherham.  Some of the calls were linked to domestic violence, people in crisis but there was a need to understand it.  Was it linked to Welfare Reform or other issues?

 

F.     Fostering Inspection

The inspection took place at the beginning of July and lasted 4 days.  The outcome was expected very shortly.

 

G.    Section 11

The Consortium had held a couple of workshops organised to support Members.  There was a safeguarding toolkit which was a condition of membership for the Consortium.

 

H.  Terminology – Use “learning providers” rather than “schools” ” in the CYPP action plan.

 

I. Service Transformation Work

The transformation work would have implications for services going forward.  The whole of the public service had massive budget restrictions and a number of officers were engaged in looking at service transformation.

 

Feedback on the consultation carried out with user groups was due back shortly.  There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 226.

227.

Date and Time of Next Meeting.

All meetings begin at 2.00 pm at Rotherham Town Hall:-

 

·        Wednesday 18th September, 2013

·        Wednesday 20th November, 2013

·        Wednesday 22nd January, 2014

·        Wednesday 19th March, 2014

·        Wednesday 21st May, 2014

·        Wednesday 16th July, 2014

Minutes:

Resolved:-  That a further meeting be held on Wednesday, 18th September, 2013, commencing at 2.00 p.m.