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. 

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Lives Select Panel held on 6^th April, 2016, were considered. 

It was requested that the ‘Next Steps’ section listed within Minute Number 50 (Scrutiny of the ‘Prevent’ Element of the Child Sexual Exploitation Delivery Plan 2015-2018), be kept at the forefront of the Improving Lives Select Commission’s work programme throughout the 2016/2017 Municipal Year. 

The ‘Next Steps’ list contained a number of actions required of Agencies working within Rotherham.  It was requested that these Agencies be asked to respond in writing to the Improving Lives Select Commission outlining their work on progressing the actions required. 

Resolved: -  (1)  That the minutes from the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record. 

(2)  That the ‘Next Steps’ section within Minute No. 50 be progressed and Agencies’ responses be reported to future meetings of the Improving Lives Select Commission. 

·       Health, Welfare and Safety Panel: -

One member and one substitute member of the Improving Lives Select Commission required. 

Time commitment: - quarterly meetings on a Friday afternoon, and quarterly visits of inspection on a Friday afternoon. 

·       Young Person’s Moving on Panel: -

One member of the Improving Lives Select Commission required. 

Time commitment: -meeting monthly on the first Thursday of each month at 2.00 pm at My Place, Rotherham.

·       (for information)  Corporate Parenting Panel: -

Councillors Clark and Cusworth have been appointed to the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Resolved: -  (1)  That the following representatives of the Improving Lives Select Commission be appointed to the Panels/Committees below for the 2016/2017 Municipal Year: -

·       Health, Welfare and Safety Panel: -

Lead Representative: - Councillor V. Cusworth;

Substitute Representative: - Councillor C. Beaumont. 

·       Young People’s Moving On Panel: -

Representative: - Councillor W. Cooksey. 

(2)  That the appointment by the Deputy Leader of the following Improving Lives Select Commission Representatives to the Corporate Parenting Panel be noted: -

Councillor M. Clark and Councillor V. Cusworth. 

Ian Thomas, Strategic Director, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate, gave a presentation on Rotherham’s Improvement Journey. 

Ian’s presentation covered the following areas: -

·           There were 56,000 young people under the age of 18 in Rotherham;

·           The Children and Young People’s Services Directorate Senior Leadership Teams structure and functions were shared.  There was a permanent Strategic Director, Deputy Strategic Director and four Assistant Director level posts within the Directorate;

·           Statistics as of June, 2016, were shared;

·           Implementation of a new IT system;

·           There was a new, more robust, Quality Assurance Framework;

·           Establishment and embedding of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) within the Directorate and childrens’ workforce;

·           2014 Ofsted inspection and the improvement journey since;

·           At the time of the 2014 inspection the response within 24 hours of referral was at 37%.  This was due to lack of performance management, weak governance, leadership and social work capacity.  Rotherham had the people, what was needed was that they be freed up to do great work;

·           Excellent management information support was continuing to improve with a Head of Service appointment and the appointment of a Critical Friend;

·           Evolve Child Sexual Exploitation Team – multi-agency – was due to launch later in the month;

·           CSE practice was consistently rated as Good;

·           Operation Clover had demonstrated the strength and power of wrapping support around victims and survivors of CSE;

·           There were ongoing and linked cases relating to recent/current and historic CSE;

·           Chelsea’s Choice – high numbers of children and young people reported being better prepared to deal with potential CSE after viewing the play;

·           Intensive work required in CSE cases necessitated low caseloads;

·           Any Social Worker with a caseload of over 22 was monitored weekly to ensure that their cases were appropriately allocated;

·           Rotherham was ensuring that the working conditions and pay and benefits for Social Workers were as supportive and competitive as possible;

·           Quantitative statistics;

·           Qualitative feedback was also important – Jessica’s quote about working with the Local Authority showed the victims and survivors were viewing the Local Authority as a more supportive presence;

·           Workforce development was a continuing priority. 

Councillor Clark thanked Ian for his very comprehensive introduction to the areas covered within the improvement journey theme. 

Councillor Short asked about numbers of Rotherham’s children and young people being sent to out-of-authority provision. 

Ian responded that this was around 35%, which was too high.  Of this number, 65% were placed within 20 miles.  Just over 100 children were placed within 50 miles.  8 children were placed over 100 miles away. 

Ian outlined the potential issues with children being placed at a distance from the Borough.  These included a potential to lose line of sight of the child and cost implications of the specialist placement and resources required to visit the child as required.  The Service’s ambition, supported by the Cabinet Member, was to have 100% placed within 20 miles and a developing strategic commissioning strategy would support this.   

Councillor Jarvis asked what the reasons for delays in assessment were. 

Ian explained that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

·       Appendix 1 and 2.

Ian Thomas spoke about the creation of a Child-Centred Borough as an important aspiration for Rotherham. 

The idea had been inspired by Leeds City Council who had gone one step further and placed children at the heart of their growth strategy in recognition of the future contribution of children to the local economy and prosperity when they were older and started to work. 

Central to the idea was Nelson Mandela’s assertion that it takes a community to raise a child. 

Ian referred to Rotherham’s potential and resources.  It had the Advanced Manufacturing Park, a world recognised centre for sciences and technology.  The Child-Centred Borough looked to harness the resources of communities and community assets and create partnership to empower communities and strengthen the sense of pride in the local area. 

Rotherham’s ambition had been covered up by the national press.  The next steps would involve the establishment of a member-led working group that would cut across all agencies, public and private, and community groups. 

Key to supporting and developing Rotherham’s Child Centred Borough would be considering and acting on the ‘Voice of the Child Lifestyle Survey Report’.  Ian was grateful to Schools in helping to capture the voices of 8,000 children on a wide-range of issues impacting on their lives.  There had been many good news stories resulting from the Survey outcomes which had not been reported. 

Members of the Improving Lives Select Commission asked questions relating to the aspiration: -

Councillor Cusworth asked what was being done to get the message out to children and young people about the resources available to children and young people who had concerns about their mental health (as shown on page 38 of the submitted report)?

Ian outlined the role of awareness raising.  Rotherham had a brilliant and proactive Healthy Schools Co-ordinator.  This was a priority of the Youth Cabinet, so CYPS shared this priority. 

Councillor Elliot was concerned that there were 22% of young people not using any method of contraception.  There was a similar outcome in the previous year’s survey. 

Ian felt that a comparison with adults would be useful; adults do not always model the behaviour they expected young people to!  The majority of young people knew where to get contraception from and had received sex education.  Ian believed that it was relationship education that was was key.  This sat within the Public Health Directorate, but was clearly a priority for both CYPS and Public Health.  Ian felt that raising aspirations was key for young people choosing to access contraception. 

Councillor Jarvis referred to a factor within abusive relationships where pressure was placed on young women not to use contraception as a form of manipulation.

Ian agreed to consider the factors with the Director of Public Health. 

Councillor Allcock asked about the support to children providing 8 or more hours of care a day. 

Ian referred to the Care Act provisions. 

Councillor Cusworth asked about the United Nation’s Article 3 and 12 of the Convention.  How far did agencies go  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

·       Appendix A and B.

Ian Thomas introduced the annual version of the Children and Young People’s Services Performance report, for the year 2015/2016.  Overall it provided a positive picture.  This was especially the case in relation to dental checks for the Borough’s looked after children, Personal Education Plans for the Borough’s looked after children and 100% performance in relation to visits in response to CSE cases. 

Areas for improvement included the re-referral rate to Social Care.  This meant that the issues for the original referral had not been dealt with  appropriately the first time around as they had re-surfaced. 

The Service knew what was working well and what needed to be improved: -

·           LAC Reviews had dipped and Ian was concerned;

·           Placement stability - to have less LAC moving;

·           Educational progress of children in care was poor.  Nationally performance was poor, but Rotherham was below this and needed to improve.  The success on PEPs was a step in the right direction. 

Resolved: - That the report on Children and Young People's Services Performance during 2015/2016 be received. 

·       Senior Adviser (Scrutiny and Member Development) to update. 

Caroline Webb, Senior Adviser (Scrutiny And Member Development), provided a verbal update on  the work programme of scrutiny.

Pre-scrutiny process – this was a process through which the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) would formally scrutinise the Cabinet agenda prior to decisions being taken. OSMB comments and recommendations would be submitted to Cabinet at its decision making meeting.

Forward Plan of Key Decisions – The revised forward plan of decisions would also be considered by OSMB and each of the Select Commissions. This would also allow scrutiny to consider proposals at an earlier stage in their development prior to a decision being made. The Forward Plan would be reported on a regular basis to inform - the Commission’s work programme, so that Members could select their priorities. 

The following topics were suggested as being important areas to include on the Improving Lives Select Commission’s work programme in the 2016/2017 Municipal Year: -

·           Missing from Home – focus on vulnerability;

·           Focus on prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation;

·           Performance information – key indicator on whether assurances were correct;

·           Apprenticeships for young people with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities;

·           Education – performance at Key Stages (incorporate into Outturn report);

·           Domestic Abuse and Sexual Abuse – Progress post Jay and Casey Reports;

·           Outcomes for children in care;

·           Children missing from School – autism and transformation around SEND;

·           Forced Marriage. 

At the next meeting in July, 2016, it was expected that an update on CSE would be provided.  It was hoped that the Improving Lives Select Commissioner would add-value to Services in their improvement journey. 

Councillor Jarvis asked that the impact of domestic abuse/violence on children be prioritised.  Particularly impact of role modelling on boys.  

Resolved: -  That the information shared be noted. 

·       Wednesday 27^th July, 2016, to start at 1.30 pm in the Rotherham Town Hall. 

Councillor Clark explained that consideration was being given to alternating meeting times to have some later afternoon/early evening meetings to support Elected Members who worked during the day.  Discussion/consultation would take place with members of the Improving Lives Select Commission in the near future.