Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Kate Griffiths, Committee Officer 

Items
No. Item

106.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mark Baylis, Ellen Footman and Fran Oborski.

Jeremy Newell attended for Ellen Footman.

 

The Chairman mentioned that attendance had not always been consistent from some of the District Councils. He requested that if Members were finding it difficult to attend that the representation move to someone who had more availability.

 

Nina Warrington explained that attendance by representatives from the district housing authorities would cycle round the different authorities at each meeting. Feedback would then be given at their monthly meetings.

 

Lucy Hodgson gave a declaration of interest because she was on the Corporation of the Heart of Worcester College.

107.

Confirmation of the Minutes pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Of the meeting on 5 October 2017.

 

Minutes:

The minutes were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman.

108.

Review of previous Action Points

Chairman.

 

Minutes:

Action points from the last agenda had either been dealt with or would be during the course of the meeting.

109.

Quarterly Data Set pdf icon PDF 1 MB

-        Looked After Children, Care Leavers and Placements

-        District Data – Looked After Children and Care Leavers

Jake Shaw and Tina Russell

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Headline data was provided and then more detail provided for each district. It was proposed that the headline figures would be brought to each meeting and the detailed information would be presented quarterly.

 

In the discussion the following points were clarified:

 

·       The different terms were explained as; Looked after children were in the care of the Local Authority; Care Leavers had previously been in the care of the Local Authority; Child Protection referred to children at risk and who were in need of a Social Work intervention and Children in Need were all the categories together, but the local definition was those children open for a Child in Need assessment and who have a Child in Need Plan

·       25% of Looked after Children were in placements outside Worcestershire and a number of children were placed in Worcestershire by other Authorities. Worcestershire only had a statutory duty for children from other authorities in an emergency. Some Local Authorities had more children from other authorities than Worcestershire. Work would be done to verify the figures of children placed in Worcestershire from other local authorities and this would be brought back to the Board

·       It was agreed that the information was very useful and Board Members asked if the relevant information could be sent to other County Council and District Councillors

·       The numbers for children missing showed the number of incidents, however short term. The only children missing long term were unaccompanied asylum seekers. There were plans for 3 full time Child Missing Officers to be appointed who would ensure children were supported to have return interviews and to find out why the child may have gone missing. A report would be brought to a future meeting

·       The number of up to date health assessments was at 60% due to staff vacancies but new Health and Well-being nurses were now in post and the numbers of up to date health assessments was increasing. An update on health assessments would be brought to a future meeting.

 

ACTIONS

1.     The format and content of the data was agreed to be useful with the headline information available for each meeting and the in depth data for each district brought quarterly;

2.     The data would be made available to other County and District Councillors with all enquiries brought to the Board by the representatives; and

3.     Reports on children missing and an update on health assessments would be brought to future meetings.

110.

Virtual School pdf icon PDF 2 MB

-        Annual Virtual School Report

-        Worcestershire Virtual Self-evaluation Summary 2016/17

-        Virtual School Improvement plan 2017/18

Gwen Fennell

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Gwen Fennell introduced the Virtual School's Annual Report which gave details of the Governing Body. The Governing Board would continue to monitor the implementation and impact of the Virtual School Improvement Plan and Self-Evaluation, holding both the Virtual School and Babcock Prime to account and being a critical friend, in order to deliver the best outcomes for our young people.

 

Brief details were given of the Attachment Aware Schools programme, a yearlong partnership with 10 schools across Worcestershire. Participants would develop an understanding of the impact of unmet attachment needs and trauma on education throughout childhood. The programme consisted of one full day and three half days training for 2 staff members. The schools agreed to lead a supported action research project in their school and share the findings with the Virtual School and the whole Worcestershire learning community.

 

Every school in Worcestershire had received funding to organise their own Attachment training by a qualified and suitable trainer for all staff. The training was mandatory and would be overseen by the Virtual School.

 

The West Midlands Virtual Heads group worked collaboratively on projects to allow all children residing in each county to have the opportunity to participate in any programmes organised by Virtual Schools.

 

Data had yet to be validated so there may be some changes;

 

·        KS1 -There has been a significant increase in our pupils achieving expected standard in RWM at Key Stage 1 from 16.7% in 2016 (60% of this cohort are SEN) to 44% in 2017 (32% of this cohort are SEN)

 

·        KS2 - There has been an increase in our pupils achieving expected standard in R, W & M at KS2 from 15% in 2016 to 20% in 2017 in comparison to their peers of 57%.

·        The gap is beginning to slightly narrow.  

 

·        KS4   - The percentage of Looked After Children achieving Grade C+/4+ in English and Maths has increased from 10% in 2016 (52% of this cohort was SEN) to 29% in 2017 (61% of this cohort was SEN).

 

·        NEET -  The proportion of CiC that are NEET has decreased from 28.6% (2016) to 13.9% (2017)

 

·        University - 19 of our Care Leavers are attending University

 

During the discussion a number of points were made:

 

·       The schools taking part in the Attachment Awareness training were pre-selected. All other schools were funded to organise Attachment Training to all their staff. Virtual Head is overseeing this and funding will be clawed back if not used

·       Most schools were now using HLTAs to cover teachers who required training/professional development so cost was minimised for schools

·       When children move placement, ideally the education should be organised and a school place finalised before the move happens, to limit disruption

·       The good Key Stage 4 results could be due to actions taken by the school making good use of the pupil premium or alongside a stronger cohort. Ofsted were now beginning to focus on Broader progress (Resilience, confidence, self-esteem of our young people) alongside academic outcomes

·       Each school should provide details  ...  view the full minutes text for item 110.

111.

Draft Joint Housing Protocol pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Rhys Davies.

Protocol available on-line

 

Minutes:

Rhys Davies and James McDonald brought the Joint Social Care and Housing Protocol for Care Leavers to the Board and explained that it was the responsibility of District Councils to sign off the protocol. Staff were already working towards the aims of the draft protocol and it was hoped that the Corporate Parenting Board would endorse the protocol and support its aims.

 

Various points were considered by members:

 

·       Members discussed whether the term 'homeless' should be applied to Care Leavers. Individuals may find it a shock to be referred to as homeless as they would not necessarily see themselves in those terms; they would feel that they were progressing to suitable accommodation rather than homeless

·       The grant given for transition to suitable accommodation could be given at various times dependent on the situation of the young person as some may be encouraged to stay with foster parents

·       Housing providers were not statutory bodies so were not required to sign up to the protocol but the District Councils worked closely with them

·       The evidence showed that young people did better with phased moves so training flats were a good idea. If a young person was successful in the training flat they would be able to stay there and a new training flat would be made available for use in the future

·       Pre tenancy training was made available for young people before they moved to their own property.

 

ACTIONS

1.     The Corporate Parenting Board was happy to endorse the Joint Social Care and Housing Protocol for Care Leavers;

2.     The Board supported the key aims of the protocol

·       To develop jointly commissioned training flats

·       To jointly commission emergency temporary accommodation for care leavers aged over 18 as a direct alternative to the use of B&Bs

·       To agree a robust 'Prevention of Eviction' process for Care Leavers, which would apply across Strategic Housing, Housing Providers and Children, Families and Communities; and

3.     Would welcome a further update on housing and transitions at a future meeting.

 

 

 

 

112.

Care Leaver Wish List pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Stuart Watkins

 

Minutes:

James McDonald, the new Care Leavers Team Manager asked the Corporate Parenting Board to adopt the 'wish list' which was presented to the Board by Care Leavers at the previous meeting.

 

The list consisted of the following points:

 

·       To progress the work around subsidising Council Tax for care leavers: This required buy in from all the District Councils. The Chairman agreed to ask the Chief Executive and Leader to discuss this at their Leaders meeting

·       To extend training flats county wide: There was already a training flat in Redditch as they had their own housing stock. Other districts were looking at how this scheme could be introduced in their areas. It had already been agreed that an update on housing would be considered at a future meeting

·       To jointly commission with housing services for those young people with the most complex needs

·       Having the will and commitment to have a joined up Prevention of Eviction policy: The Homeless Prevention Act would be coming into force next year so some actions would become statutory

·       To consider the Pathway Plan as the core document in a young person's Looked After Review: This should help different agencies to work together to identify red flags and address problems to prevent crisis. If a Looked After Child on a Care Order was under 18 they legally needed a Care Plan but they needed their Pathway plan completed by 16

·       That IROs ensure completion and quality of pathway plans within the Review process: Plans were put in place but further work would be done to assure the quality.

 

ACTIONS

 

1.     The Board agreed to adopt the Care Leaver's wish list where possible;

2.     Ensure that items on the wish list were progressed if full adoption was not possible;

3.     Receive regular updates from the Care Leavers Service; and

4.     Send a letter to the Young People who presented the Wish List to let them know that the Board has discussed and considered the list.

 

113.

Vice Chairman's events for Looked after Children and Care Leavers pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Minutes:

These events were organised by the Chairman's cross party group. Events were organised across all districts and were led by County Councillors in their role as Corporate Parents.

 

ACTIONS – This report was noted.

114.

Draft Work Plan pdf icon PDF 208 KB

Jake Shaw

 

Minutes:

It was explained that the in touch visits would be individual events rather than a meeting, when Board Members would be able to visit various settings and speak to young people.  Young People would only take part if they had given their agreement first.

 

ACTIONS - The work plan was noted and would be updated following the meeting with the reports requested by Board Members.

115.

Future Meeting Dates

2018

 

8 February 2018

22 March 2018

7 June 2018

12 July 2018

11 October 2018

29 November 2018

 

Minutes:

Future Meeting Dates for 2018 were:

 

8 February 2018

22 March 2018

7 June 2018

12 July 2018

11 October 2018

29 November 2018

 

At 2pm at County Hall unless otherwise specified