Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 July 2020 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 28 July 2020, be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were no items requiring the exclusion of the public or press.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

Mr Liam Harron asked:

“How do you as the Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission ensure the accuracy of the information that is included in the reports submitted to the committee?” Mr Harron noted that he had particular concerns regarding the accurate recording of safeguarding issues detailed in reports.

In response the Chair provided information of the thorough processes that all reports went through before being published on a committee agenda, with reports being signed off at Strategic Director and Assistant Director level. The Chair noted the robust challenge that the Improving Lives Select Commission and the other scrutiny committees carried out regarding service delivery across council services.

As a supplementary question Mr Harron asked:

“If you received a report that contained errors regarding safeguarding issues that was subsequently considered by Cabinet or Council, what would be the implications for the committee?”

In response the Chair noted the remit of the committee and advised that any issues with the commissioning process would be picked up through other channels and challenged elsewhere in the Council, and not by the Improving Lives Select Commission.  The Chair advised that with regard to the errors in the draft needs analysis that had been highlighted at the March 2020 meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission that these had been amended before the report proceeded to Cabinet, and that other than that issue she was not aware of any further errors in the draft needs analysis.

To receive communications from the Chair in respect of matters within the Commission’s remit and work programme.

The Chair advised that an update on the recent meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel would be circulated to members.

The Interim Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care attend the meeting to present a report that provided an update regarding the provision of the Children’s Social Care Service in the light of Covid19 pandemic. It was noted that report provided an update on the current position following a briefing paper that had been presented to the members of the commission in June 2020. The briefing paper considered in June was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

The report provided information on the number of social work visits that had been carried out since 23 March in person and remotely. The Assistant Director noted that during August the huge majority of visits had had been conducted in person, with appropriate risk assessment and safety measure in place and advised that all social work visits were now carried out in person. The Assistant Director advised that while virtual visits had now ceased, they had enabled essential contact to be maintained with families during the pandemic and that the use of technology would continue to be used to interact with families in the future in between visits.

The Assistant Director advised that face-to-face family time (contact) for looked after children and their birth families had been successfully recommenced, but that due to limitations on the building not currently possible to facilitate as many sessions as previously as the risk assessment of the building has meant that some rooms are not useable and the number of people that can use the building in a day has also been reduced. Therefore, physical family time was being complemented with virtual family time through phone call or video call.

The Assistant Director noted that close multi-agency partnership working had continued with a weekly meeting bringing senior staff from across the partnership together with a focus on problem identification and resolution and that these meetings had successfully facilitated by remote technology.

The report noted that the service had continued to progress work in key areas, and that this had meant that some significant legal decisions for children had been able to be made during the pandemic. It was noted that some legal decisions had been delayed due to lack of court time to hold these hearings, but that work had taken place in order to enable these hearings to be scheduled in order to ensure that the children impacted had the right legal permanency in place.

The Assistant Director advised that on 3 August we a pilot programme had commenced to enable more social workers to be able to have some office-based time, with case holding social workers from First Response, Locality/Disability and the Looked after Children’s service having been able to been able an office-based environment at Riverside House on a rota basis. The Assistant Director noted that while successful team and wider service networking had been enabled by the use of technology during the pandemic that social workers, due to the nature of their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 95.

The Assistant Director - Early Help, Family Engagement and Business Support and the Service Manager – Youth Offending and Evidence Based Hub attended the meeting to present a report that provided information on the changing demand for Youth Offending Services, the increase in numbers of complex cases in the current cohort of young offenders and current re-offending rates.

The Service Manager noted that as the overall number of young offenders being supported by the service had decreased it had meant that a much higher proportion of current caseloads were comprised of complex cases than had been the case in the past when caseloads were higher. The report provided a breakdown of the characteristics demonstrated in the current cohort of cases based on factors including substance misuse, being a “looked after child” and having identified physical needs, amongst other factors.

The Service Manager advised that every young person with the Youth Offending Team (YOT) received an individual support plan, based around their specific needs that would support them not to reoffend. The Service Manager advised that the YOT always looked to utilise existing services to address the identified risks and needs of the young people it was working with, for example DIVERT would support young people with substance misuse.

The Service Manager provided information on the current cohort of young people that the YOT were working with and advised that the most common offence in this cohort of young people was violence against the person, with nine young people receiving a conviction for this plus a further three young people being recorded with a robbery offence.

The Service Manager provided information on levels of reoffending and noted that the most up to date data showed levels of reoffending, in both the overall number of offences committed and in the number of individuals committing these offences reducing. The Service Manager assured members that reducing levels of reoffending was a key area of focus for the team but noted that as the current cohort of young people being worked with were the more complex cases, reoffending was more likely to occur. The Service Manager advised however that in the current cohort of young people who were being worked with, all of those who had reoffended had committed a less serious crime subsequently than their initial offence. The Service Manager assured members that Rotherham YOT continued to monitor re-offending via the YOT Management Board, and that information was sent on a monthly basis to case managers in the YOT so that this data could be used to inform intervention and risk management plans.

The Assistant Director commended the Service Manager for how the Youth Offending Service was being managed and how by attending several meetings of the Improving Lives Select Commission the Service Manager had opened up the service to members by providing information on how the service operated and on the challenges that it faced. The Assistant Director also thanked the Service Manager for all the work that she and her team had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

To consider and approve the Commission’s Work Programme.

The Committee considered its Work Programme for 2020/21.

Resolved: -

1)    That the Work Programme be updated as discussed.

2)    That the Work Programme for 2020/21 be approved.

To monitor the progress of recommendations made by the Improving Lives Select Commission.

The Committee considered the outstanding actions on the Monitoring Report.

Resolved: -

That the Governance Advisor makes the required follow up activity as required for the outstanding actions.

For the Chair/project group leads to provide an update on the activity regarding sub and project groups of the he Improving Lives Select Commission.

The Chair provided a progress report on sub and project group activity.

Resolved: -

That the update be noted

To consider any item(s) the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 27 October commencing at 5:30pm as a Microsoft Teams meeting.

Resolved: -

That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 27 October 2020 at 5:30pm as a Microsoft Teams meeting.