To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Cllr Sean Aspey

Cllr Mike Clarke

Cllr Sorrel Dendy

Cllr Jane Gebbie

Cllr Mike Kearn

Cllr Kay Rowlands

Cllr Stephen Smith

Cllr Gary Thomas

Cllr David White

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 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

None

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 of the 05/06/2019 and 03/07/2019

That the minutes of the meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 of 5 June 2019 be approved as a true and accurate record of the meeting subject to the following amendments:

Cllr Cheryl Green to be shown as Chairperson.

That the minutes of the meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 of 3 July 2019 be approved as a true and accurate record.

Invitees:

Mark Shephard, Chief Executive;

Lindsay Harvey, Corporate Director - Education and Family Support;

Cllr Charles Smith, Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration;

Susan Cooper, Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Early Help;

Mark Lewis, Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support;

Cllr Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Future Generations and Wellbeing

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support presented a summary of the main points in the report entitled update on Bridgend Youth Justice Service Improvement Plan.  He outlined the background of the report including the statutory duty to prevent offending, and further explained the decision to migrate health services for Bridgend from ABMU to Cwm Taf, which took effect from 1 April 2019.  An inspection by HMIP in December 2018 of the Western Bay Youth Justice Intervention Services (WBYJEIS), published in March 2019 concluded that the WBYJEIS receive an overall rating of inadequate. The service is now subject to monitoring and a significant level of scrutiny from a variety of sources. 

He continued to explain the current situation in that in April 2019, the Cabinet had agreed to the disaggregation of the WBYJEIS and that the new arrangement would be for Bridgend’s Youth Justice Service to sit within the portfolio of an existing Group Manager with the Education and Family Support Directorate.  To progress the recommendations from the HMIP, senior managers from within the local authority now meet YJB colleagues on a fortnightly basis to monitor progress against the improvement priorities.  A new management board was formed, and is jointly chaired by the Chief Executive of BCBC and the Cabinet Member for Communities and will oversee the delivery of the 14 recommendations within the inspection report.

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support advised members that a consultation to review the current structure had closed at the end of August and an advertisement for 2 lead practitioners, that were social work qualified, had already been placed. It was felt strongly the need to be social work qualified to progress. He added that to progress the 14 recommendations within the inspection report, a Management Board had been set up which meets on a monthly basis.

In summary The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support advised that BCBC has disaggregated and Bridgend Youth Justice Service created. They have progressed with a restructure of the service that will provide a robust governance arrangement and meet regularly with health colleagues to ensure the recommendations within the improvement plan are progressed.

The Head of Education and Early Help confirmed that Cwm Taf has an existing service with Swansea and NPTCBC having a stand-alone service. BCBC took the decision at the time to ensure our service was in a good position before any new collaboration was considered.

The Chairperson noted that Bridgend had previously had a good service and that it appeared problems had occurred when the service was part of the WBYJEIS.  The Head of Education and Early Help acknowledged that Bridgend was classed as having a good Youth Offending Service (YOS), when compared to other families of YOS’s, when measured. However, key performance indications (KPI’s) are quite limited and one of the pieces of working being undertaken is to look at a new framework to interrogate the service.

A member asked if we could learn from the ‘outstanding’ rating given as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report to Members which provided feedback from the previous meetings of SOSC2 for discussion and approval.

Members accepted the feedback received on the Post 16 ALN Review but asked for more detail on the case studies to provide a user centred focus perspective. The Scrutiny Officer agreed to feed this back to officers with a view to bring it back to the Committee for information.   

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report to members on the items prioritised by the COSC, which included the next item delegated to the Committee. 

Members asked to receive more information on the item scheduled for the next meeting entitled Prevention and Wellbeing”

Members also requested that in future, where possible that Monday meetings are avoided as a lot of members have work commitments and Monday Committees were often poorly attended. 

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