Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 April 2023 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 25 April 2023 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 of business on the agenda that required the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.

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

There were no questions from members of the public or press.

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

There were no items of communications.

To consider any updates from the Corporate Parenting Panel.

The next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel was to be held on Tuesday 20^th June 2023 and an update from this meeting would be provided at the next Improving Lives Select Commission meeting in July. The following items were on the agenda for discussion:

·       An update from the Looked After Children’s Council, which included an overview of its activities, including preparations for the summer festival.

·       An update on the Corporate Parenting Panel Strategy.

·       An update on the regulation of sixteen plus and dispersed accomodation.

·       An update on the House Project.

·       An update on grant funding.

·       A Performance Monitoring report which would include trend data and graphical analysis.

To receive a presentation from Julie Warren-Sykes on the work of the Samantha Sykes Foundation Trust.

The Chairty helps young people who are at high risk of, or who are victims, of child sexual exploitation. It also help children and young people who are looked after by the local authority and care leavers up to the age of 25 years.

This item was deferred until the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission in July.

To receive a presentation from the Head of Community Safety and Regulatory Services on safeguarding children from radicalisation.

The presentation will cover the following issues:

·       Legal framework

·       Partnership work and governance

·       Referral pathways

·       Channel programme

·       Awareness raising and training

·       Prevent Duty performance review and quality assurance

·       Harms of Hate work with schools

The presentation gave an insight into safeguarding children from radicalisation. This issue was included on the Improving Lives Select Commission Work Programme in 2022/2023. The purpose of the presentation was to facilitate the scrutiny of the work that councils do with their partners, to safeguard children from radicalisation in line with the statutory duties under Prevent.

The Chair invited Emma Ellis, Head of Community Safety and Regulatory Services and Carol Adamson,Community Safety Service Manager to give the presentation.

The presentation gave an overview the following content:

·       Legal frameworks.

·       Partnership work and governance.

·       Referral pathways.

·       Channel programme.

·       Awareness raising and training.

·       Prevent Duty performance review and quality assurance.

·       Harms of Hate work with school.

·       Prevent was different to other counter terrorism topics, as it focused on the non-criminal space aimed at safeguarding individuals before they entered any criminality.

·       The requirements of the Prevent Duty were a result of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 which required local authorities to lead on prevention work and co-operate in partnership working. The duty applied to public bodies including schools, education, and childcare providers. It also stated that public bodies must have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

·       An important part of the duty was providing adequate training to staff to enable them to spot any associated risks and provide the required support.

·       For schools, the duty ensured a focus on safeguarding and protecting students from extremist ideas and building resilience by ensuring a strong school ethos, strong values and by providing a safe space for debate in schools so that young people could develop critical thinking skills.

·       In relation to governance structures for counter terrorism duties, there was the Safer Rotherham Partnership Board, which had three subgroups underneath. These subgroups were the Prevent Partners Group, the Channel Panel and the Protect and Prepare Group. All groups had links to the South Yorkshire Contest Board, the Safeguarding Adults Board and Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership.

·       There was an annual counter terrorism local profile that set key areas of risk and a quarterly counter terrorism policing briefing which identified risks, threats and referrals.

·       There was a local prevent risk assessment based on the counter terrorism local profile, which was completed every year with partners at the Prevent Partners Group. This risk assessment was based on what structures, safeguards and mitigations were in place and analysed any potential gaps. The results of the local prevent risk- assessment directly informed the Partnership Prevent Plan.

·       Quarterly performance reports were also provided to The Safer Rotherham Partnership Board and annual updates were reported to the Children and Adults Safeguarding Boards.

·       The Channel Duty formed a key part of Prevent and was a multi-agency approach in the non-criminal space, which aimed to identify and provide support to individuals who were at risk of being drawn into terrorism. The referral pathways adopted a check and share model, which trained the relevant employees to understand signs of vulnerabilities and susceptibility to radicalisation. The model encouraged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

To consider and approve the Commission’s Work Programme.

The Committee considered its Work Programme. It was advised that the finalised Work Programme would be provided to the Commission in July.

It was advised that items included on the agenda for July’s meeting included:

·       The Annual Performance Outturn Report from Children’s and Young Peoples Services. This would provide an opportunity to understand the key areas of performance across Safeguarding, Education and Early Help. Members were advised that the Performance Outturn Report had already been circulated.

·       The Samantha Sykes Foundation Trust would be an agenda item at the next meeting in July.

Resolved: - That the update be noted.

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.

There were no updates provided.

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

The Chair advised that there was no urgent business.

The next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 25 July 2023 commencing at 10.00am in Rotherham Town Hall.

The next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on 25^th July 2023 commencing at 10am in Rotherham Town Hall.

Resolved:- That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on 25^th July 2023 commencing at 10am in Rotherham Town Hall.