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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Online Meeting

Contact: Kieran Elliott  01225 718504

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Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies were provided by the Chief Executive, Terence Herbert.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meetings held on 10 March 2020 and 16 June 2020.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meetings held on 10 March 2020 and 16 June 2020 were presented for consideration. It was also noted than an informal meeting had been held on 22 September 2020 and 25 November 2020.

 

It was therefore,

 

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign the minutes of the 10 March 2020 and 16 June 2020 as a true and correct record.

 

3.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

4.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chairman.

Minutes:

Through the Chairman details were provided on the Final Report of the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Task Group which was received by the Health Select Committee on 12 January 2021. The contents of the Final Report were endorsed for provision to Cabinet Member and the Clinical Commissioning Group. The Executive Response was received at the same meeting, and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman attended the Health Select Committee meeting. It was also resolved to reconvene the Task Group to consider the impact of Covid-19 on CAMHS and the link between CAMHS and the private and voluntary sector.

 

The Chairman stated it was disappointing more work had not previously been done on support outside of the CAMHS network and the private and voluntary network as requested by Children’s Select Committee. The matter would be discussed under the Forward Work Programme item, as the Chairman considered there needed to be more leading work by the Committee on the impact on young people.

 

 

5.

Public Participation

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public. During the ongoing Covid-19 situation the Council is operating revised procedures and the public are able participate in meetings online after registering with the officer named on this agenda, and in accordance with the deadlines below.

Guidance on how to participate in this meeting online.

Statements
Members of the public who wish to submit a statement in relation to an item on this agenda should submit this is electronically to the officer named on this agenda no later than 5pm on Friday 15 January 2021.

State whom the statement is from (including if representing another person or organisation), state points clearly and be readable aloud in approximately 3 minutes. Up to three speakers are allowed for each item on the agenda.

Questions

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions electronically to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on 12 January 2021 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on 14 January 2021.

 
Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent. Details of any questions received will be circulated to members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website; they will be taken as read at the meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no questions and statements submitted.

6.

Overview and Scrutiny during COVID-19

Since April, the council has been operating streamlined Overview and Scrutiny (OS) arrangements comprising formal, public meetings of the Wiltshire COVID-19 Response Task Group and OS Management Committee. This was to enable efficient and effective scrutiny to be undertaken, while allowing council resources to be focused on the response to COVID-19 and supporting and protecting Wiltshire communities.

 

To support wider engagement, the select committees held informal meetings where members could raise issues and questions, which their chairmen then pursued at the formal forums above. The notes of Children’s Select Committee’s informal meetings on 22 September and 25 November 2020 are attached.

 

In December, following discussion with the Leader and Chief Executive, the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee agreed that the full select committee structure would resume formal, public meetings from January 2021. It was agreed that the OS forward work programme would focus on COVID-19 and other priority issues with an emphasis on efficient and effective scrutiny engagement. 

 

Under these arrangements, each select committee will undertake scrutiny engagement on those aspects of the COVID-19 response that fall within its particular remit. To assist, a document setting out which Wiltshire Council Recovery Plan themes fall within this Committee’s remit is attached.

 

Notes of each select committees’ discussions of COVID-19 will be presented for information to OS Management Committee (which next meets on 26 January 2021), allowing it to oversee overall scrutiny engagement on the topic.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A report was received in the agenda setting out details of Overview and Scrutiny Arrangements during the Covid-19 pandemic, with streamlined arrangements with fewer formal committee meetings and a Wiltshire Covid-19 Response Task Group meeting throughout 2020.

 

It was,

 

Resolved:

 

To note the report.

7.

Safeguarding (performance monitoring)

To receive information on how the council assesses the robustness and efficiency of its safeguarding processes (report to follow).

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A presentation and briefing for Members of the Committee was held before the meeting.

 

Under the ILACS (Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services) inspection framework Ofsted arrange an annual conversation with every local authority in the country. In Wiltshire the annual conversation was held in November 2020. In preparation for the meeting the latest self-assessment and performance data for children’s social care was shared. A report was presented summarising the Ofsted report following the annual conversation.

 

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Laura Mayes, was in attendance to provide further information along with Martin Davis, Director, Families and Children, Helean Hughes, Director of Education, and Lucy Townsend, Interim Corporate Director for People.

 

The Committee discussed the report and comments made by Ofsted, including particularly their interest in the new or developing work being undertaken with family led review of child protection processes and work with fathers, with a view to sharing learning on this on a regional basis. The stable nature of the workforce was noted along with other points as detailed in the Agenda Supplement.

 

It was stated that it was important that the positive work which had taken place within Children’s Services in the past 10 years was maintained, and that it was essential robust scrutiny of performance continue to take place to ensure this.

 

In respect of education it was noted that the meeting took place during a previous lockdown and some of the information would be out of date with the present situation. Details were provided of weekly attendance surveys, complications with Early Years funding, and the impact of a rise in cases among young people and large cohorts self-isolating and creating Covid bubble arrangements. Plans were being drawn up for a predicted baby boom in the next year.

 

In response to queries details were provided in an increase of referrals for elective home education (EHE), which referred to expressions of interest rather than that every referral led to the parents in question undertaking home education. Such referrals did increase during periods of lockdown, and all those cases were followed up. It was requested and agreed that a more detailed report on EHE would be produced for a future meeting.

 

There were also questions on definitionsof key workers, suggestion of rating systems for specific topics to assist the Committee in focusing on key areas, and potential task group looking at a roadmap for the Families and Children Transformation (FACT) programme.

 

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

 

Resolved:

1)    That, in future reports to this committee, the table presenting data include an explanation of acronyms used and also a rag-rating system showing whether figures and changes are good or not, showing trends, comparison to statistical neighbours (if possible using the Safeguarding task group’s way of presenting the data), as well as comparison to “high performers” (whether they are statistical neighbours or not).

 

2)    That the committee includes in its legacy report a recommendation for the new committee to receive a 3 to 5 year plan or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

COVID-19 update

A report from the Chief Executive is attached providing a summary of activity to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus in Wiltshire since the last update to Cabinet in October. The report provided here was published on 23 December 2020 and considered by Cabinet on 5 January 2021. The draft minutes of the Cabinet meeting are also included.

 

All four of the council’s select committees will receive the report and, to avoid duplication, members are invited to focus their questions and debate within this select committees’ remit only.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report from the council’s Chief Executive providing a summary of activity to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus in Wiltshire, which was received by Cabinet on 5 January 2021. Ad noted at that meeting the imposition of further national restrictions on 4 January 2021 meant that many parts of the update had been overtaken by events and would therefore be out of date.

 

Members of the Committee had submitted questions in advance of the meeting, with written responses to be attached to these minutes. These included questions in relation to free school meals, accessing learning, pressures on nurseries and schools, mental health, seeking the views of young people during Covid and fostering.

 

The Select Committee sought details on the monitoring of school attendance and the reasons for non-attendance, as well as the procuring of digital devices for use in schools, mental health provision and other subjects.

 

In relation to the fostering campaign it was stated the council was looking at approximately 50 additional placements through 35 foster carers following the campaign, above the 12-15 that would be average for previous years.

 

In relation to free school meals it was stated that vouchers were being prepared for half term as were provided at Christmas. For digital devices schools had been putting in orders using the £1.1m grant to acquire new equipment, and the Department for Education was working with Secondary Schools.

 

On mental health, some members raised concerns that there had been a greater impact on the mental health of young people during the latest lockdowns. Self-referrals to support services including on substance abuse had increased as other referrals decreased as a result of national lockdown, and there had been an increase in demand for the domestic abuse helpline. Meetings with stakeholders took place regularly to monitor capacity.

 

Following discussion, it was agreed to include further responses in an attachment to the minutes and it was,

 

Resolved:

 

1)    To note the Covid-19 update as presented to Cabinet on 5 January 2021 and the minutes of the Cabinet meeting.

 

2)    To thank officers and note the verbal update provided today on the council’s ongoing response to the pandemic with regards to Children’s Services.

 

3)    To include the questions submitted in advance and responses with the minutes of this meeting.

 

9.

Youth Voice update

To consider the results of the survey undertaken by the Families and Children’s Commissioning team in the summer, the outcomes of meetings held with young people in the autumn and service changes.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

A report was received on the results of a survey undertaken by the Families and Children’s Commissioning team in the Summer 2020 and the outcomes of meetings held with young people in the autumn. Further updates were provided by Gary Binstead, Head of Commissioning, Families and Children, and Sara James, Senior Manager, Quality Outcomes, Children and Families.

 

A report was presented as detailed in the Agenda Supplement. It was also stated that a new team was being set up to be responsible for engagement with young people in the future, though the existing forums and others.

 

The Committee discussed the update, recognising the difficulty of surveying the opinions of young people. They noted that the survey had been provided to only 24 young people who were representatives of groups such as the Children in Care Council, Youth Parliament and Wiltshire Youth Union and therefore to an extent might be unrepresentative, though officers stated the findings were similar to those of a wider Oxford University study across several regions.


Members welcomed the update on a new team being set up to lead on engagement, though some noted that similar efforts in the past had not been as successful as hoped, and the Committee requested a more detailed update including an action plan and a review of the impact of the youth consultant role.

 

At the conclusion of debate, it was,


 

Resolved:

 

To note the update provided and ask for a further update for the March 2021 meeting, including:

 

·   impact (both positive and negative) of this current lockdown;

·   impact from the implementation of the new Youth Voice team (including team structure and roles);

·   the Youth Voice team’s action plan;

·   evaluation of the impact of the youth consultant role.

 

10.

Forward Work Programme

The Committee is asked to note the attached documents showing the relevant items from the overview and scrutiny forward work programme and the latest version of the strategy list for the Children, Education and Skills directorate.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The draft Forward Work Programme was presented for consideration.

 

It was noted that there was one further scheduled meeting ahead of the May 2021 local elections, should they go ahead, and the Committee would be preparing a legacy report for the new Council.

 

Members were requested to reflect on the work that had taken place in the last 4 years and what had worked well and what hadn’t, as well suggestions for future priorities.

11.

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next scheduled meeting is due to be held on Tuesday 2 March 2021, starting at 2.00pm.

Minutes:

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 2 March 2021.

12.

Urgent Items

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.