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.

Councillor TH Beedle declared a personal interest in Agenda item 4 due to his grandchild being a Looked After Child.

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 of 20 July 2017

RESOLVED:              That the Minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 meeting dated 20 July 2017 be approved as a true and accurate record.

Invitees

Cllr Phil White, Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help

Susan Cooper, Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing
Lindsay Harvey, Interim Corporate Director - Education and Family Support
Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Early Help
Laura Kinsey, Head of Children’s Social Care
Mark Lewis, Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support
Natalie Silcox, Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report on the above topic, which updated Members on how the Early Help and Children’s Social Care teams are working together within the Authority to improve outcomes for looked after children, and to share with Members the analysis of the looked after children population which informs the approach being taken.

The Chairperson welcomed the Invitees to the meeting, and following a brief introduction of the report by the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing, a joint power point Presentation was given by the Head of Children’s Social Care and the Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support, entitled Early Help and Children’s Social Care update.

During the course of and following the conclusion of the Presentation, Members asked a number of questions of the Invitees as follows.

A Member asked what agencies were involved in the support of Early Help and Social Services, and what level of compliance there was from a non-statutory perspective, that was not under regulation.

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support, advised that Early Help was a consent based approach rather than a statutory type model. He confirmed that the team supporting families in this area of work, could involve a number of different agencies and these could be internal based, ie from the Social Services and Wellbeing and Education and Family Support Directorates, or external providers including an element of commissioned services. All these different categories and areas of support, usually emanated from meetings being held involving the various different bodies and partners, arising from which individual Support Plans were established and put in place, and each of these varied, dependent upon the type and level of support that was required for each young person. This category of support was recognised as the ‘Team Around Family Support.’

A Member recognised the very positive approach being taken by ‘Team Around Families’ and the One Model Assessment. He asked what the key drivers were in knowing when early help was required for an individual. He was conscious of the fact that children changed as they developed and became older, and that they often started to change around the age of 10-11 where they could become more challenging due to starting to confront different things in their lives. He was also aware that children then experienced a different set of challenges from this, as they were entering early adulthood. He asked what approach was taken by the Responsible Authorities in recognising problems that young people and their families may be experiencing, and when they needed to intervene in an attempt to resolve these.

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support, advised that the work of the Early Help Unit involved carrying out Family Assessments in order to prevent or intervene in children and family problems arising. Each case would be subject to an appropriate referral where children and/or families were signposted to the appropriate type of support that was required for them, with this based on the type of problems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services submitted a report, that:

a)    Presented the items prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee including the next item delegated to this Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

b)    Presented a list of responses to comments, recommendations and requests for additional information from the previous meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2.

c)    Present the Committee with a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation.

d)    Asked the Committee to identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form

Attached to the report at Appendix A was the overall FWP which included the topics prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee (COSC) for the next set of Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s in Table 1, as well as a list of topics that were deemed important for future prioritisation at Table 2.

The Scrutiny Officer advised that the Committee were being firstly asked to consider the next topic they have been allocated by the COSC in Table 1, and determine what further detail they would like the report to contain, what questions they wish officers to address, and if there are any further Invitees they wish to attend for this meeting, in order to assist Members in their investigation.

The Committee were also being asked to then prioritise up to six items from the list in Table 2 to present to the COSC for formal prioritisation and designation to each Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the next set of meetings. As part of this, Members were asked to consider the feedback and responses from their previous Committee meeting attached at Appendix B to the report, and determine whether they were satisfied with the outcome and what to propose to the COSC on the item.

The report also alluded to Overview and Scrutiny Members roles in terms of Corporate Parenting, and whether any further items Members wished to identify for the FWP.

Following consideration of the report by Members, it was resolved:

 1.       Subsequent to the Committee’s discussion Members determined the following in relation to the Overview and Scrutiny Forward Work Programme:

1.1          Following the responses received from Officers in relation to the item ‘Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) Inspection of Children’s Services’ on Members have requested that they receive an information report at a future meeting in response to the comments made below:

•          Members have requested that they receive an update on the progress of the plan at an appropriate time, to enable the Committee to monitor whether the actions have addressed the issues raised by the Inspectorate.

•          With reference to the issues raised in the CSSIW report regarding staff morale, the Committee recommend that steps be put in place to monitor staff and their job satisfaction by means of a Corporate employee survey.

1.2      In relation to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) report scheduled for 9 October 2017, Members have requested that we look to invite representation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

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.

None.