Agenda and minutes

No Declarations of Interest were made. 

There were no members of the public or the press in attendance. 

·         Award – Domestic Abuse Team. 

On behalf of Councillor Clark, the Senior Scrutiny Adviser and Member Development (Scrutiny Services, Legal and Democratic Services, Chief Executive’s Office) reported that the District Commander of South Yorkshire Police had issued a commendation for the work of Council Officers and Partners in the delivery of a proactive approach to managing Domestic Abuse Services  The Improving Lives Select Commission’s Scrutiny Review into Domestic Abuse Services had reported on 21^st February, 2014, the progress against the recommendations to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (Minute No. 102 refers). 

The Improving Lives Select Commission wished to record their congratulations to the Domestic Abuse Team and Partners for the work. 

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission held on 22^nd January, 2014, were considered.

Resolved: -  That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an accurate record. 

·         Appendix 1: - Rotherham LAC Strategy 2013-2015;

·         Appendix 2 and 2a: - LAC Sufficiency Statement;

·         Appendix 3: - 2013/14 Quarter 2 Report: Key Performance Information;

·         Appendix 4: - Rotherham MBC Corporate Parenting Report.

Councillor G. A. Russell introduced Officers who had come to present information on the outcomes for Looked After Children. 

In attendance were: -

Background papers had been distributed in addition to Rotherham’s draft Looked After Children Strategy and draft Sufficiency Strategy for Looked After Children, along with recent performance information.  Members of the Improving Lives Select Commission were also referred to the ‘Ten questions to ask yourself if you’re scrutinising services for Looked After Children’ published by the Centre for Public Scrutiny.

The Service Manager for Family Placements and Residential Services introduced himself and outlined his role and how he was working with a range of professionals across all sectors to produce an ‘agreed vision’ for all Looked After Children in Rotherham.  The agreed vision included: -

·         Services had high aspirations for Looked After Children and young people; 

·         Meet the requirements of the new Ofsted inspection framework;

·         Ensure cost efficient services that achieved the most with limited resources;

·         Promote strong and inspiring leaders so that the professional workforce had high aspirations;

·         Confirm a clear and consistent focus on education;

·         The Strategy would ensure that looked after children enjoyed stable, safe and permanent relationships;

·         The voice of Looked After Children would inform the content;

·         Learning would be evidenced from the best local authorities, along with research findings and learning from new things;

·         Contribute to the provision of care and support for Looked After Children that was good enough for our own children.

The Service Manager for Family Placements and Residential Services was asked to outline each Priority objective and members of the Improving Lives Select Commission asked questions about each one. 

·         Priority Objective One - To ensure the degree and timeliness of placement stability and permanence and ensure children are able to enjoy continuity of relationships: -

The Service Manager described actions that were taking place in the Authority to ensure that this Priority could be achieved.  These included ensuring that there were sufficient local care placements, working with the Voluntary Sector, service changes to ensure that young people did not have to change their social worker at key points in their lives, changes to ensure that the Local Authority was less dependent on the independent sector, development of in-house fostering placements and the Fostering Plus initiative.  During 2012/2013, 25% of Rotherham’s looked after children left care to be adopted.  The national average was at 14%.   Extra resources and therapeutic in-put had been secured to reduce placement breakdown following adoption. 

Rotherham expected performance on long-term placement stability against the relevant National Performance Indicator to be at least in line with the national average; it was currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Councillor G. A. Russell introduced Bev Pepperdine, Service Improvement Officer (Performance and Quality, Neighbourhood and Adult Services Directorate).  Bev had submitted a report on the Lifestyle Survey, 2013, that outlined the findings and also updated on the actions taken as a result of the 2012 Lifestyle Survey. 

Minute No. C159 (Lifestyle Survey 2013) of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 15^th January, 2014, noted when the outcomes of the 2013 Survey were accepted by the Cabinet. 

The Service Improvement Officer reported on the results of the 2013 Lifestyle Survey. 

·         Background and history: -

o   Surveys had been taking place since 2006;

o   Pupils took part in Years 7 and 10;

o   Participation was not mandatory;

o   All findings were shared with stakeholders;

o   Actions and activities were devised by stakeholders to address the outcomes of the survey.

·         Increased participation in 2013: -

o   All 16 of Rotherham’s secondary schools had taken part in 2013 (in 2012 8 secondary schools had participated);

o   In 2013, 3,474 young people had responded;

o   The Local Authority provided regular updates to schools following the survey concluding;

o   The window for completion had been extended to 7 weeks to aid participation rates.

·         Positive improvements since 2012: -

o   More young people felt that they were a healthy weight;

o   More young people reported taking regular exercise;

o   More young people were aspiring to attend university;

o   Reports of community cohesion had improved;

o   Teenage pregnancy was at its lowest ever recorded rate in the area.

·         Improvement actions since 2012: -

o   Obesity Steering Group – had, in the past 4 years, supported 1,721 children to access weight management services;

o   Joint working between DC Leisure and the Rotherham Institute for Obesity;

o   The More4Life programme took place at the Rotherham Leisure Complex, Maltby Leisure Centre and the Aston-cum-Aughton Leisure Centre;

o   The Healthy Schools Programme was working with 98% of schools;

o   Smoking remained a priority measure in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

·         Areas for attention: -

o   More young carers were identified;

o   Safety issues reported with regards to the Town Centre and public transport.  Similar reports to those in 2012, young people did not feel safe;

o   Bullying rates remained similar to 2012, but less pupils were reporting when they had been bullied;

o   Local shops were identified as one of the places where young people were buying cigarettes and alcohol, and parents supplying their children with cigarettes and alcohol was also reported;

o   Pupils feeling good about themselves had reduced;

o   Other stakeholders may highlight different areas for attention.

·         Actions: -

o   Personal safety – 12% reported feeling safe in the town centre and 18% reported feeling safe using public transport (compared to 14% and 17% respectively in 2012);

o   However, the young people who regularly used the Town Centre did report feeling safe;

o   Bullying – 38% of young people reported that they had been bullied, the same as 2012;

o   Smoking, drinking and drugs – family was the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

·         9^th April, 2014, to start at 1.30 p.m. in the Rotherham Town Hall. 

Resolved: -  That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Wednesday 30^th April, 2014, to start at 1.30 p.m. in the Rotherham Town Hall.