Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular Members of the Adult Care and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Panel who had been invited to attend to consider all age strategies which cut across services for children and adults.

Members were informed that there had been a change in the Panel Membership since the last meeting with Cllr Mel Allcott replacing Cllr Dan Boatright-Greene.  The Chairman thanked Cllr Boatright-Greene for his service to the Panel and welcomed Cllr Allcott.

Apologies were received from Panel members Councillors Mel Allcott, David Chambers and Tony Muir, and Tim Reid (Church Representative). 

Apologies were also received from Councillors Lynn Denham, Adrian Kriss and James Stanley (Members of Adult Care and Well-being O&S Panel), Councillor Karen May (Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Health and Well-being), Tina Russell (Director of Children’s Services) and Liz Altay (Public Health Consultant).

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 5 July 2023).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 May 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

With reference to the Minutes of 24 May (Item 6 Update on the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Accelerated Progress Plan and Worcestershire Strategy for Children and Young People with SEND 2023-26), the Chairman confirmed that the Member who had suggested that complaints were not being dealt with in a timely manner (page 7 of the minutes) had been invited to give further details of specific cases.  These further details had not yet been received.

(Indicative timing: 3.05 – 3.35pm)

In order to accommodate Officer availability, the Chairman agreed to take Item 7 first.

Attending for this item:

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

·       Director for All Age Disability, Worcestershire Children First (WCF)

·       Director for Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning, WCF

·       Managing Director, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board

·       Programme Lead for Learning Disability and Autism, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire

·       Director, Strategy and Partnerships, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The Panel received an update and presentation on the draft Worcestershire Strategy for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) 2023-26.

By way of introduction, the Director for All Age Disability made the following main points:

·       Members were reminded about the strategy’s Vision statement.

·       The strategy’s four principles were outlined to the Panel, one of which related to recovery from the pandemic and understanding the impact on children and young people.  The Panel was informed that the impact of the pandemic was still being seen and would continue to be felt for some years to come. Ensuring a seamless transition between children’s and adult services was an area of focus within the strategy.

·       Members were reminded of the importance of supporting early intervention to prevent escalation of need.

·       In developing the six priorities for the strategy, the aim had been to keep things as simple as possible.  The development of the priorities had been informed by a well-attended workshop with multi-agency partners and the priorities were reflected in the Accelerated Progress Plan.

·       The implementation of the strategy would be overseen by the SEND and All Age Disability Partnership Board including the regular monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  The delivery plan included reference to other relevant strategies and their outcome measures and to the lead person for each associated strategy.  The importance of sharing information across partners was recognised.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·       Members were reminded that the Early Help Strategy included a government-funded holiday activity and food (HAF) programme for children and young people who were eligible for free school meals.  The offer was also open to children and young people with SEND and was complementary to the SEND strategy.

·       Figures for the number of young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) would be provided to the Panel after the meeting.

·       Further information on WCF’s attendance strategy was requested and would be provided following the meeting.

·       The impact of poor mental health on children and young people was highlighted.  It was confirmed that the findings of the scrutiny task group report on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) would be used to inform service development going forward.

·       A question was asked about the aspirations behind the priority to ensure that ‘identification and assessment of SEND is timely and effective’ when compared to the current situation.  It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 586.

(Indicative timing: 2.05 – 2.35pm)

Attending for this item:

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

·       Strategic Director, People Directorate, Worcestershire County Council (the Council)

·       Lead Commissioner, People Directorate

·       Director for All Age Disability, Worcestershire Children First (WCF)

·       Director for Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning, WCF

·       Programme Lead for Learning Disability and Autism, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire

·       Director, Strategy and Partnerships, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The item was introduced by the Lead Commissioner who made the following main points:

·       The strategy was still under development and the agenda report detailed work undertaken so far.  The aim was to co-produce the strategy across the Integrated Care System footprint.

·       The strategy would be broadly in line with the new National Autism Strategy, including the six priorities of the national strategy plus an additional priority of ‘Keeping safe’.  Each priority had been allocated a lead organisation/officer with relevant experience.

·       The development of the strategy would be done in conjunction with autistic people and carers at each stage.

·       With reference to the priority of ‘Supporting more autistic people into employment’, suggestions for a more appropriate expert lead were welcomed.

·       An engagement questionnaire had been created and circulated.  However, recognising that not everyone would want to complete a questionnaire, face to face opportunities for feedback had also been arranged.  Data from the questionnaire and other feedback was now being analysed.

·       The next steps would be further co-production to look at the key actions for each priority including work related to housing, advocacy support, keeping safe and suicide prevention.

·       The aim was to have the strategy ready for sign off by October with a final strategy available in January 2024.  A first ‘you said, we did’ newsletter to feed back to respondents would be produced in April 2024.

Members were invited to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·       The Chairman of the Adult Care and Wellbeing O&S Panel asked a question about place planning and how far ahead plans were made given that children were now being diagnosed at a younger age.  She referred to a recent example where a child had been unable to attend an autism base at high school due to a lack of spaces despite this being stated on their EHCP.  The Director for All Age Disability informed Members that early diagnosis was welcomed and reminded the Panel that many children with autism did not need an EHCP as they were able to manage well without.  Data had been analysed as part of the bid for the new free school, and one of the reasons that the bid had been successful was that it had been able to evidence need.  Mainstream autism bases provided extra provision but the challenge on places was recognised.  The free school would accommodate those who needed a different environment.  NB: Immediately following the meeting, the Director for Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Place Planning confirmed that there had been 47 additional places  ...  view the full minutes text for item 587.

(Indicative timing: 2.35 – 3.05pm)

Attending for this item:

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

·       Lead Commissioner, Learning Disability, People Directorate

·       Director for All Age Disability, Worcestershire Children First (WCF)

·       Programme Lead for Learning Disability and Autism, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire

·       Director, Strategy and Partnerships, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The Panel received an update on the new Worcestershire Learning Disability Strategy 2023-2028.  By way of introduction, the Lead Commissioner (who was also co-chair of Worcestershire’s Learning Disability Partnership Board alongside an expert by experience co-chair) made the following main points:

·       The strategy had been co-produced by the Worcestershire Learning Disability Partnership Board on behalf of people with a learning disability and their families.  The strategy would be used by partner organisations to inform their own specific organisational strategies.

·       The Board had a wide membership of partners across Worcestershire including a number of expert members by experience, family carers, providers of services and professionals from across health and social care.

·       The strategy had been developed through a variety of engagement with people with learning disabilities and family carers, including coffee mornings, self-advocacy groups and a survey, in order to ensure the widest possible opportunity to hear as many voices as possible.

·       The strategy was a very local document, rooted in Worcestershire, and all photos, case studies and quotes were of local people.

·       The strategy covered all ages with a specific theme of Life Changes (Theme 5) including transition to adulthood and also to older adulthood.

·       In total the strategy had seven themes and all themes had an all-age approach and linked to other strategies as appropriate.

Members were invited to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·       The Chairman recognised that the strategy was ambitious and aspirational and asked what was in place to manage expectations.  In response, it was confirmed that the Partnership Board had been keen to make the strategy ambitious and had included examples of what ‘good’ would look like drawing on work that was already taking place.  However, it was ambition embedded in realism with KPIs setting out plans for specific changes.

·       The strategy was still at the launch stage having been signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board in May 2023.  It was confirmed that the reference to voluntary organisations included charities.  There were approximately 35 to 40 locally based charities supporting people with learning disabilities to engage in the community.

·       The Chairman of the Adult Care and Wellbeing O&S Panel confirmed that she was also a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board.  She welcomed the involvement of carers when the strategy had been presented to the Board as she felt this had brought the strategy to life.

·       The Partnership Board met every two months and implementation of the strategy would be monitored at each of these meetings.  In addition, focused Partnership Board meetings would be held to look at achievements in relation to particular themes.

It was agreed that a further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 588.

(Indicative timing: 3.35 – 4.05pm)

Attending for this item:

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families

·       Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

·       Strategic Director, People Directorate

·       Assistant Director, People and Commissioning, People Directorate

·       Commissioning Manager, People Directorate

·       Lead Commissioner, People Directorate

·       Director for All Age Disability, Worcestershire Children First (WCF)

·       Programme Lead for Learning Disability and Autism, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire

·       Director, Strategy and Partnerships, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The Panel received an update on the delivery of the All-Age Carers Strategy for Worcestershire.  By way of introduction, the Assistant Director (People and Commissioning) made the following main points:

·       The strategy had been approved in February 2022 and had been co-produced via engagement with carers (including parent carers and young carers) and other key stakeholders to consider what worked well and what did not work so well and identify opportunities for improvement.

·       Key partners included the Council’s Public Health team, WCF, carer organisations, the Integrated Care System and the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust.

·       The aim was to minimise the gap between services for adults and children and to have the same vision for all carers.

·       A key aspect to note was the production of an annual plan and a review of achievement against that plan.  The first annual report had been well received by the Health and Wellbeing Board in May 2023.  The annual report included actions which were steered by the Carers Partnership and shaped the priorities for year two.

·       It was important to remember that there were a number of carers who were employed by the Council.  As part of end of year reviews, staff had been asked whether they were a carer and currently approximately 25% of staff self-identified as carers (680 members of staff).

Members were invited to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·       A Member requested further information on ‘carers feeling recognised and valued’ (one of the four key outcomes identified in the strategy) and further details of ‘John’s Campaign’ (which supports carers of people with dementia to have the same visiting rights in health settings as parents of children).  It was agreed that this would be provided following the meeting.

·       In response to a question about how progress against the strategy was measured, it was confirmed that the Council’s statutory duty to support carers had been contracted to Your Support Services (for young people) and Worcestershire Association of Carers (for adults).  What was being done and what was making a difference was monitored through contract monitoring arrangements and analysis of carer feedback (‘I statements’).  Data was monitored with individual carers and also at different levels right up to the strategic level.  It was agreed that a high-level summary of activity and data relating to monitoring the effectiveness of the strategy would be provided to Members following the meeting.

·       A question was asked about what substitute care was available to allow carers to have a life of their own (one of the four key outcomes identified in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 589.