Agenda item

Attending for this item were:

Hannah Needham, Assistant Director – Families, Communities and Partnerships

Allie Webster, Operational Manager – Partnerships, Families, Communities and Partnerships

Copies of the Draft Children and Young People's Plan 2017-21 and Presentation Notes were circulated at the Meeting.

The Panel was asked to:

•      Consider and comment on the draft Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) 2017-21;

•      Determine whether it would wish to carry out any further scrutiny, and

•      Agree whether it would wish to make any comments to the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families and the Health and Well-Being Board.

In accordance with the Council's constitution, the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board (OSPB) would receive, comment and advise on the draft CYPP as part of the Council's policy framework.  However, in previous years, consideration of the draft CYPP had been undertaken by the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel (or its predecessor body).  Accordingly, at its meeting on 19 June the OSPB agreed to formally delegate consideration of the draft CYPP to the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel. 

By way of introduction, the Panel received a presentation and were advised that the new Plan would be owned by all partner agencies working with children, young people and families and would

·        Set expectations around the way we work in Worcestershire

·        Clarify the collective ambition and aspirations for all children and young people in Worcestershire

·        Identify key priorities and success measures

·        Build on and add value to existing plans

·        Would change over time to respond to need

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

• The lateness of the draft Plan being circulated to the Panel didn't allow sufficient opportunity for preparation - the Assistant Director acknowledged and apologised for the tight timescales
• Although the Plan was good, the Panel would like to see the detail about implementation, how the outcomes would be measured and how it fitted with issues raised in the Ofsted Inspection Report published 24 January 2017. The Panel were advised that that the Plan was a 5 year Strategic Plan and the detail had yet to be worked through, but there would be definite links to the safeguarding issues identified by Ofsted and performance measures put in place
• The Panel were keen to see a gap analysis early on in the process to establish whether  improvements relating to some of the key issues such as obesity, mental health, child poverty were showing  significant improvements early on in the process
• Although there were links to the safeguarding work, it was important to remember that the Plan was about all children and young people not just the vulnerable
• A returning Member expressed concern at the pace of change in that she was hearing the same things that she had heard 4 years ago
• Working with partners was a key theme underpinning the Plan;  it would be important when working out the detail for the County Council not to assume too  sole responsibility for delivery given that this was being shared with partners and therefore, a mutual responsibility
• It was suggested that in order to ensure a commitment to mutual partnership working and responsibility, consideration should be given to formalising the agreement to the responsibilities.  It was however, felt that as there was no formal legislation, the County Council could only try to influence not insist on formalising the responsibility
• Jill Gramann, Non-executive Director, Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust (WHACT) observing the Meeting was invited to contribute to the discussion and made the point that WHACT were 100% committed to partnership working with the County Council – this was acknowledged by the Officers at the Meeting.  Additionally, the Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager agreed to advise the Health and Well-being Board that the Panel endorsed the partnership approach but was concerned Partners delivered on their respective actions
• Partners pledging to be brave enough to always do the right thing for children and young people was a very good value to have in the Plan
• Derek Benson, Independent Chairman of the Worcestershire Children Safeguarding Board (WSCB) confirmed that the WSCB had had sight of the Plan and that partners pledging to be brave enough to always do the right thing for children and young people was to be applauded.

It was agreed that a summary of the comments made by the Panel would be sent to the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families.