Apologies were received from the following Members:

        Councillor R L Thomas        -           Work Commitments

        Mr K Pascoe                                    -           Work Commitments

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 01 September 2008. (Including whipping declarations)

Councillor Townsend declared a personal interest under Agenda Item 5 – Youth Service Review, as her sister is employed by the Youth Service.

To receive for approval, the minutes of the meetings of Children & Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the 17^th March and 28^th April 2014.

RESOLVED:    That the minutes of a meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the 17^th March 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record.

That the minutes of a meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the 28^th April 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record subject to Councillor Townsend being added to those Members who had submitted their apologies for absence at that meeting.

The Chairperson welcomed the invitees to the meeting.

Appendix A:  Youth Offending Service

In attendance for this item:

Cllr Huw David, Cabinet Member - Children & Young People;

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Children;

Colin Turner, Head of Safeguarding and Family Support;

Caroline Dyer, YOT Manager;

The Youth Offending Team Manager presented a report to inform the Committee on the findings of some research commissioned by the Youth Offending Service (YOS) in response to concerns regarding a succession of serious incidents throughout 2012 involving some young people who had taken overdoses, and had either admitted trying to end their own lives, or stated that they did not care if they lived or died.  She informed Members that many of those youngsters viewed their lives with little value and although their intention was not to commit suicide, they often took risks with scant regard for the consequences.  She explained that Officers were concerned that there was possibly an area of work they were missing where they could be more proactive to prevent those youngsters taking such risks. 

Initially the Youth Justice Board (YJB) was approached regarding possible research and further behavioural analysis, and on advice from the YJB an independent researcher was commissioned, with the aim of producing a short report identifying any themes or patterns that may emerge to assist the YOS in developing practise to respond to the findings.  Three main themes were identified: domestic violence in the family home; experience of bereavement of a close friend or family member and a young person’s involvement in substance misuse.  The observations made by the researcher are detailed under paragraph 4 of the report.

One Member commented that the major concern was the reduction in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) input, with one nurse off sick and the decision to reduce the number of nurses.

The Youth Offending Team Manager advised that the Leader had written to the Chief Executive of the Local Health Board expressing his concern, and since preparing the report the CAHMS input was now under review, which would take into account the amalgamation of services into Western Bay.  She advised that there was the possibility of sharing two nurses across the three organisations, which could be backed up with a general nurse or sexual health nurse in order to meet the more diverse needs of some of these young people.

Another Member referred to the lack of CAHMS facilities in Wales, which would not be resolved without additional resources.  She added that 50% of young people were referred out of the area and they were not accessing mental health services as they should.

The Youth Offending Team Manager explained that consultation on mental health services for young people was currently taking place and the results would be passed to the Committee on its completion in July.  In response to a question from a Member, she explained that young people are referred to services across Bridgend according to their needs and the suitability of a particular service.  She advised that the Team were mindful not to have a “scattergun” approach and referrals are carefully managed in order to avoid confusion. 

          A Member asked how the identified potential areas detailed under paragraph 3.4, are disseminated to the wider community, such as the Police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Appendix A: Youth Service Review

In attendance for this item:

Cllr Huw David, Cabinet Member Children & Young People;

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Children;

Nicola Echanis, Head of Strategy, Partnerships and Commissioning;

Melonie Davies, Principal Youth Officer

The Corporate Director - Children presented a report to provide the Committee with relevant information and a current overview in relation to the consultation regarding the Youth Service Review (YSR).  The Council’s Youth Service made temporary operational decisions resulting in the transitory closure of 16 open access youth provisions across the Borough, pending the outcome of the consultation.  Through the Medium Term financial Strategy (MTFS) funding for young people’s services has been reduced and the consultation process will ensure statistically relevant data is analysed and collated to provide the basis of the youth review.  The Youth Service in Bridgend has initiated a service mapping exercise of provision within local communities to ensure all current provision is captured.  The service works with a range of individuals, including substance misuse, sexual health, involvement in crime and homelessness, as well as those young people with emotional and physical needs. 

          She welcomed the Committee’s scrutiny of both the Youth Service and the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework, which she advised were interlinked, as there would be transformation of all children’s services and changing the way they are operated.  She informed Members that the Children’s Directorate is required to make savings of £8.8m out of a budget of £40m, which amounts to a 39% cut in the Youth Service and 44% cut in the Inclusion Service.  Overall this April, a total of 70 posts across the Directorate had been deleted.

          The Corporate Director – Children advised that the priority was to improve outcomes in Bridgend for children, young people and their families, and follow the Welsh Government policy which stipulates that those services should be delivered in a different way.  At a later date this would inevitably result in changes to the Social Services and Wellbeing Act.  The new national model of regional working guidelines for delivering school improvement and the way in which Youth Services are delivered has also changed in that the Welsh Government stipulates that the Youth Service should work more closely with the third sector and concentrate more as an Authority on increasingly targeting resources towards the most vulnerable children and young people.

          She informed Members that the reason for the YSR was to identify ways of developing new techniques for delivering the services through engagement with local communities, the Town and Community Councils, the third sector and the voluntary sector to help deliver that universal provision and ensure integrated working.  She advised that it was important those sectors did not take on work without the support of the Authority, whose role was likely to change in the future.  The scheduled timeline for the consultation process is detailed at paragraph 4 of the report and the Corporate Director – Children advised that Cabinet had authorised a 40 day formal consultation, and on its completion would make a decision in January 2015 on progressing the model.

          The Corporate Director – Children introduced the newly appointed Principal Youth Officer to her first meeting of the Committee.

          The Principal Youth Officer explained that it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Appendix A: Youth Engagement and Progression Framework

Appendix 1: Youth Engagement and Progression Framework Implemention Plan – Action Plan 2013 – 15

Appendix 2: Youth Engagement and Progression Model.

In attendance for this item:

Cllr Huw David, Cabinet Member Children & Young People;

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Children;

Nicola Echanis, Head of Strategy, Partnerships and Commissioning;

Mark Lewis, Group Manager – Integrated Working

The Corporate Director - Children presented a report to inform the Committee of the progress being made regarding the implementation of the Youth Engagement and Progression (YE&P) Framework, which has superseded the Not in Education Employment or Training Strategy (NEET).  The overarching aim of the Framework is to prevent young people becoming NEET in the first instance, and to re-engage them with education, training or work.  This new Framework offers those young people most at risk the allocation of a single point of contact to ensure support is delivered in a coordinated way.  It also offers the development of a Youth Guarantee to ensure every young person post-16 has access to a suitable place in learning.

          All local authorities throughout Wales have been allocated £50,000 each by the Welsh Government to implement the Framework and have been requested to complete an action plan by March 2014, outlining how each intends to take forward implementation of the Framework.  The action plan for Bridgend, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, was developed by a multi-agency task and finish group.  Appendix 2 to the report outlines the basis of the Youth Engagement and Progression model, and the full version of the Welsh Government’s guidance is available at www.wales.gov.uk/educationandskills.  Further work to develop a more focussed implementation plan will continue via a strategic multi-agency group, as ongoing work continues to reduce the number of those young people who are NEET.  The more recent performance linked with NEET in Bridgend is outlined in two graphs under paragraph 4 of the report and the Corporate Director - Children advised that the Framework had already had an impact in terms of NEET. 

She then introduced to the Committee the newly appointed Group Manager - Integrated Working and explained that although there had been a reduction in the number of Group Managers, this new post was necessary for this new Framework.  She stressed that the Group Manager would have a great deal of work to do in bringing together all the services in order to meet children’s needs to prevent the need for them to access further services, and ultimately to prevent youngsters becoming NEET in the first place.  She advised that the Group Manager had led the workshop to review the NEET strategy and would oversee, amongst others, Flying Start; the Youth Service; NEETs; Family Support across levels of need and the Education Welfare Service, developing them to become integrated, which she stated is the key to transformation, and is a major priority for all partner agencies.  The work in terms of governance will be overseen by the Families and Learning Group, who in turn will be overseen by the Children and Young People’s Partnership which is monitored by the Local Service Board.

          One Member asked what the outcomes from the workshop were and how it had informed and impacted on the Framework.

          The Group Manager – Integrated Working explained that the workshop was a review of where the service is now.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented a report outlining the suggested topics for consideration in the development of the Committee’s Forward Work Programme for 2014/15.  Following the development of the long list, Scrutiny Chairs and Officers took part in a work planning exercise in order to develop a shortlist of items and provisionally allocate each item to a meeting date.

Conclusions:    

The Committee agreed the following topics for inclusion on its Forward Work Programme:

·         Directorate Performance

·         Business Plans

·         Corporate Plan

·         Budget Setting Process

·         Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETS)

·         Youth Offending Service

·         Youth Service Review

·         Looked After Children Strategy

·         Looked After Children Budget Overspend

·         Social Services Workforce Plan

·         Serious Case Review and Regionalisation of the Safeguarding Children Board

·         Statements of Special Educational Needs

·         Annual School Performance Report 2013-14

The Senior Scrutiny Officer informed Members that at a recent meeting of the Scrutiny Chairs, possible budget savings within Scrutiny were discussed, and particularly the workload around the number of Research and Evaluation Panels.  One of the proposals was for the five Scrutiny Committees to meet as one on a specified day in order to discuss all future Business Plans and Corporate Plans which are provided to the Scrutiny Committees.  Members agreed that there was a need to look at those Plans together as part of internal collaboration. 

Conclusions:

The Committee noted that discussions were ongoing regarding the means by which scrutiny of Directorate Performance, the Directorate Business Plan and the Corporate Plan could be revised in order to make more efficient use of the meetings available to the Committee.

The Committee agreed to add the following items to the FWP, subject to capacity being freed up by the implementation of revised arrangements as described above:

·  CAMHS

·  Youth Service Review – Results of Consultation

·  Youth Engagement and Progression Framework Action Plan

The Committee noted that the FWP as it stood was heavily weighted towards Social Services issues with very few Education items.  It was agreed that the Scrutiny Officer will facilitate further discussion of how this issue could be addressed and will provide the criteria used for long-listing items for inclusion, to enable Members to make an informed decision.

It was also noted that due to the number of policy and service changes being implemented as a result of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, it may be necessary to arrange special meetings in order to accommodate pre-decision scrutiny.

The Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Regulatory Services submitted an update from the Committee’s Corporate Parenting Champion on the work being undertaken by the Cabinet Committee - Corporate Parenting.

          Councillor White, in his role as Corporate Parenting Champion, gave a brief update to Members and advised that Swansea City Council would be the host authority for the Adoption Service within Western Bay.

          He took Members through the report and reported that the Children’s Commissioner’s review on independent and professional advocacy services for looked after children (LAC) and young people, care leavers and children in need, which was published in March 2012, had set out 29 key recommendations of which 11 were directed to the Welsh Government.  The remaining 18 were directed to local authorities, as the review had concluded that local authorities in Wales were failing in their duties in relation to independent professional advocacy for the vulnerable groups.

          An audit was carried out by the Authority which had identified a number of gaps in the current service at the time.  In light of this, a procurement exercise for a new contract commenced in December 2013 resulting in a two year contract for independent professional advocacy and independent visiting being awarded to Tros Gynnal Plant, a leading Welsh children’s charity who work with some of the country’s most vulnerable children and young people, offering them and their families independent and confidential support.

          Councillor White further reported that in his role as Corporate Parenting Champion, he had recently attended the LAC Awards Ceremony and the One Year Celebration of the Integrated Family Support Services (IFSS).  He described how it had been a pleasure to be invited to the Awards Ceremony, which recognises the skills, talent and hard work of LAC and young people, giving them the opportunity to have their achievements recognised.  The One Year Celebration of the IFSS provided the opportunity to meet with the families involved, hear of their experiences and the positive difference the service had made in their lives.

          Councillor White then presented a short DVD which had been made by the IFSS team and some of the families who had been referred to the service.  The DVD informed Members of how much the service had meant to those families and how it had already succeeded in reducing the LAC population and children on the child protection register.

          The Chairperson thanked Councillor White for the quality of his report.

Conclusions:          The Committee noted the Corporate Parenting Champion’s update.

The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented a report to request the Committee to nominate one Member as its Corporate Parenting Champion to represent the Committee as an invitee to meetings of the Cabinet Committee – Corporate Parenting.

RESOLVED:         That the Committee nominated Councillor D B F White as its Corporate Parenting Champion to represent the Committee at meetings of the Cabinet Committee – Corporate Parenting and noted the appointment of the Chairperson of the Children and Young people Overview and Scrutiny Committee as an additional invitee.

The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented a report to seek nominations for the Budget Research and Evaluation Panel in line with the Corporate Resources and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations made as part of the 2014-15 budget setting process.

RESOLVED:         That the Committee appointed the Chairperson and Councillor M Jones to sit on the Standing Budget Research and Evaluation Panel

          The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented a report to propose the re-appointment of Mr Kevin Pascoe as a co-opted Member on the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.            

At its meeting on the 5^th August 2013, the Committee agreed to recommend to Council that Mr Pascoe be appointed as a non-voting co-opted Member of the Committee until May 2014, due to his long standing as a Member of the Committee as a registered representative, as well as his knowledge of and contribution to the work of the Committee.  This was agreed by Council in September 2013, and as part of the original decision, it was agreed that the arrangement would be reconsidered after May 2014.  It was proposed that this arrangement should continue until the next Local Government elections, after which the appointment would be reviewed.

RESOLVED:         That the Committee recommended to Council the appointment of Mr Kevin Pascoe as a co-opted Member on the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report outlining the items due to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee on the 2^nd September 2014, and further sought confirmation of the invitees to attend the subsequent scheduled meeting to be held on the 13^th October 2014.

Conclusions:

The Committee noted the topics due to be considered at the meeting of the Committee scheduled for the 2^nd September 2014 and acknowledged the invitees to attend the subsequent meeting on the 13^th October 2014.

       The Chairperson thanked Rachel Harries for her sterling work in covering the Committee whilst Rachel Keepins’ was on maternity leave.  Rachel Keepins is due back in August and will be in attendance at the next Committee meeting.

The meeting closed at 5.30pm. 

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.