Agenda and minutes

No Declarations of Interest were made. 

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

Nothing was raised under this item. 

·       Councillor Simon Currie has made an expression of interest in joining the CPP. 

Resolved: -  That Councillor S. Ahmed be the second Improving Lives Select Commission representative to the Corporate Parenting Panel. 

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission held on 22^nd July, 2015, were considered.

On page 8, the minutes recorded that a scorecard was being developed in respect of creating a CSE profile and would allow progress tracking.  The scorecard had not been forwarded to the Improving Lives Select Commission and it was hoped that it would soon be available for consideration. 

On page 10 of the minutes covering the conclusions and next steps for the Improving Lives Select Commission, the areas that the Commission had highlighted were noted.  Councillor Hoddinott emphasised the need for recommendations to be made following consideration of the Delivery Plan. 

Resolved: -  That the minutes from the previous meeting held on 22^nd July, 2015, be approved as a correct record. 

Councillor Hamilton, Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission, welcomed the Officers in attendance to present the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board’s Child Sexual Exploitation Delivery Plan (2015-2018). 

In attendance were: -

·       Gary Ridgeway, Assistant Director for CSE Investigations and Chair of the Child Sexual Exploitation Sub-Group of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board  (GR);

·       Phil Morris, Business Manager of the RLSCB;

·       Sue Cassin, Chief Nurse, Clinical Commissioning Group;

·       Linda Harper, Interim Director for Commissioning and Performance, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate;

·       Jo Smith, Post-Abuse Co-ordinator, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate.  

Consideration of this item formed part of the Improving Lives Select Commission’s focus on the work to tackle Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), including the strategic plans and documents agencies had created.  The previous meeting held on 22^nd July, 2015, had considered the overarching work to tackle CSE (Minute Number 12: - ‘Child Sexual Exploitation – The Way Forward for Rotherham).  The CSE Delivery Plan was referred to at that meeting and had now been submitted for consideration. 

Councillor Hamilton invited members of the Improving Lives Select Commission to ask questions on each section of the Delivery Plan document.

1. Prevent – prevent children and young people from becoming sexually exploited through effective leadership, governance and a wider culture embedded within organisations that recognise the root causes of CSE, the signs and risk indicators and do all they can to tackle them (pages 20- 23): -

Councillor Jones referred to the intention to produce a problem profile and annually update it.  Surely this needed to be more regular at the present time.  – Gary Ridgeway agreed that the document would need to be more regularly refreshed in the short term and confirmed that it was being refreshed in ‘real time’ whilst all of the strategy work was underway. 

Councillor Beaumont referred to 1.2 and how it related to engaging a PR/marketing company to ensure that messaging was well constructed and targeted.  – GR confirmed that it was an action to consider the feasibility/appropriateness of using a PR/marketing company, and this included exploring how this would be funded and the sustainability of the option. 

Councillor M. Vines asked whether schools were taking part in CSE training. – GR explained that the levels of influence varied.  Some schools were completely engaged, whilst others were determining their position.  All headteachers would be brought together in the Autumn to discuss the curriculum work needed and the resources that were available.  Gary confirmed that a school connected to live operations had responded well to working with the Council.   

Councillor Hoddinott spoke about relationship education.  Was the priority to engage with all primary schools as well as secondary schools?  -  GR confirmed that it was an aspiration and would be coupled with early help planning.

Councillor Beaumont – referred to the pilot awareness campaign and how it intended to engage one school from each phase. – GR confirmed that this had not happened yet and would form part of the discussion with schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Deborah Fellowes, Scrutiny Manager, introduced this item by outlining the history of the Scrutiny Review into Domestic Abuse.  The scrutiny review had most recently been considered by the Improving Lives Select Commission on 5^th November, 2014 (Improving Lives Select Commission's Scrutiny Review of Domestic Abuse - Update to Response Presented in November, 2013, Minute Number 33). 

It was important to consider the length of time since the fieldwork was undertaken, and since that time there had been austerity measures and changes within Rotherham’s social care and the overall Domestic Abuse sector. 

Domestic Abuse had been a key priority within the Improving Lives Select Commission’s work programmes in the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 municipal years.   

The Scrutiny Review into Domestic Abuse had been very thorough and considered a lot of evidence. Following completion of the review it had been subject to a six month monitoring report and then an annual review.  By the eighteen month mark, most reviews were signed-off.

Submitted to the Improving Lives Select Commission was the recommendations made by the Scrutiny Review, the Cabinet decisions on each recommendation, and the updates on progress at November, 2014, and August, 2015. 

Councillor Clark explained that she was on the review group; the work on the review had been long and complex, but very good.  Also on the group were Councillors Russell, Ahmed, Burton and Lelliott, supported by Caroline Webb.  Councillor Clark felt that it would be more effective to send the update to original Members for their feedback, given their greater knowledge of the process the review had taken. 

Councillor Clark asked for an update on recommendation one.  She felt that this was a key recommendation as it related to the Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs) being funded through mainstream budgets, rather than twelve monthly fixed-term contracts. 

Jan Bean, Domestic Abuse Manager, confirmed that this recommendation had been achieved in November, 2014, through the retention of current service capacity.  Two permanent IDVAs had been secured.  She thanked the Improving Lives Select Commission on behalf of her team; it was much appreciated that the review had identified this as an issue.  Additional temporary funding had been received from the Police and Crime Commissioner for a further two IDVAs for one year. 

Councillor Clark referred to recommendation 5 that related to the creation of a golden number and/or a one stop shop for domestic abuse support, as in neighbouring authorities.  She was aware of issues preventing this, including different risk assessments being used by different agencies.  The review group felt strongly about the importance of this recommendation.  

Councillor Clark also referred to the importance of dentists being engaged and understanding how and when they should refer patients as the review group heard that patients presenting with tooth loss and jaw problems could be due to domestic violence.  It was found that dentists were not regularly referring in the same way that GPs did. 

Councillor Clark was happy that the two IDVAs were not worried about losing their jobs every twelve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

·       Wednesday 4^th November, 2015, 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 4^th November, 2015, to start at 1.30 p.m. in the Rotherham Town Hall.