Agenda for Children & Young People's Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 10th November, 2010, 5.00pm
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Agenda and minutes
PDF 197 KBVenue: Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall. View directions
Contact: Sharmini Williams, Scrutiny Support Officer
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(Copy attached). Minutes: 25a. Declarations of Substitutes 25.1 There were none.
25b. Declarations of Interest 25.2 Joanna Martindale declared a personal interest in Item 33, as she was member of the Disabled Children’s Partnership.
Councillor Juliet McCaffrey declared a personal interest in Item 35 as she was a member of the Adoption & Permanance Panel.
25c. Declaration of Party Whip 25.3 There were none.
25d. Exclusion from the Press and Public 25.4 In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it was considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the likelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or exempt information as defined in section 100I (1) of the said Act.
25.5 RESOLVED- That the press and public not be excluded from the meeting. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting Minutes of the previous meeting held on the 15 September 2010. (Copy attached). Minutes: 26.1In reference to item 13.2, it was confirmed that the CYPT would seek the views of the Parent Carers’ Council when looking at issues where there was significant parent carer interest.
Members requested that the letter be circulated to the Committee.
26.2 RESOLVED - The minutes of the 15 September and the 21 October- Call-In meeting were approved. |
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Chair's communications Minutes: 27.1 The Chair told members that a CYPOSC working group had met following Councillor Hawkes’ letter on school performance and the report had been e-mailed to all the Members.
27.2 Rohan Lowe (Youth Council Representative) asked why the achievement of black children was lower compared to other groups. Officers offered to circulate an answer to this question. |
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Public Questions No public questions had been received. Minutes: 28.1 There were none. |
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Questions and Letters from councillors No letters had been received from Councillors. Minutes: 29.1 The Chair accepted a question from Joanna Martindale (Community Voluntary Sector Forum co-optee) around the allocation of funding and the decision-making process for the Playbuilder programme.
Members agreed to request a written response to this question. |
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The Strategic Director of People Invitation for the Strategic Director of People to speak to the Committee. Minutes: 30.1 The Strategic Director for People, Terry Parkin, introduced himself to the Committee and answered questions.
30.2 Mr. Parkin informed the Committee how the role was around engaging with all organisations in the city, inclusive of Adult Social Care health and wellbeing.
30.3 In answer to a question on what his key priorities were, Mr Parkin told members that his main priority was to further strengthen partnerships across the city, particularly in terms of developing working arrangements with the city’s thriving community and voluntary sector.
30.4 The Committee thanked Strategic Director for People for his comments. |
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Youth Council 3-in-1 Campaign Presentation from the Youth Council. Minutes: 31.1 Item 31 Youth 3-in-1 Campaign was heard after Item 33.
31.2 Azdean Boulaich, Rohan Lowe (Youth Council representatives) and Rob Scoble (Youth Participation Worker) presented the 3:1 campaign and answered questions.
31.3 The Committee heard how the card was being proposed as a discount card for retail stores, libraries, cinemas and buses within the City and how the Youth Council were meeting up with organisations to promote the card and have their agreement.
31.4 RESOLVED –
(1) CYPOSC thanked the representatives for their presentation, supported the campaign and wished them good luck.
(2) CYPOSC agreed to have an update on the progress of the campaign. |
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Youth Services Commissioning Review - update Report of the Strategic Director for People. Minutes: 32.1 Item no. 32 Draft Youth Services review was heard after Item 30.
32.2 Kerry Clarke Strategic Commissioner CYPT presented the report and answered questions.
32.3 In answer to question on why Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT), Black Minority Ethnic (BME) groups and Traveller young people struggled to attend existing youth services, members were told that reasons for low attendance by particular sections of the community are varied and complex. What is important is to recognise which groups are underrepresented in ‘traditional’ services and to design services that engage these groups – for example, some groups are relatively unlikely to use building-based services such as youth clubs, but may respond more positively to ‘outreach’ services.
32.4 Ms Clarke confirmed that faith groups were included in the consultation and mapping process.
32.5 Councillor Melanie Davis informed the Committee that she was the Chair of the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel and that some of the recommendations in the Scrutiny report dove-tailed the findings of the review.
Councillor Davis therefore proposed that the report recommendations should be amended to include the following wording: “That in re-designing the commissioning strategy for youth services, children’s services should consider the recommendations made within the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel report”.
32.6 Members were told that aspects of central Government funding for children’s services in 2011-2012 were currently unclear and would not be finalised until January 2011. The council recognised that this posed major problems for the voluntary sector providers unsure whether their contracts would be renewed, and everything possible would be done to share information with the organisations concerned.
32.7 Azdean Boulaich (Youth Council representative) asked whether there was a reason why young women accessed fewer youth services than young men. Members were told that this was a complex issue, although it was likely that more provision via outreach as opposed to building-based services (youth clubs) would improve uptake.
32.8 Members discussed provision of careers advice for young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in light of the reduction in funding to the local Connexions service. Officers advised that this was still an area under review.
32.9 Rohan Lowe (Youth Council representative) asked where the centres mentioned in the report would be located. A final decision on this has not yet been taken.
32.10 RESOLVED- that the committee:
(1) Noted the report on the revision of Youth Services Commissioning Strategy;
(2) Recommended that the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel report (and particularly its recommendations for service changes) should be considered by officers when they revise the Youth Services Commissioning Strategy |
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Commissioning review of services for disabled children Report of the Strategic Director of People. Minutes: 33.1 Alison Nuttall, Strategic Commissioner presented the report and answered questions.
33.2It was noted that the draft disability report came to CYPOSC in January and March 2010.
33.3It was noted that that the Strategic Group for children with Disabilities had strong partnership working at its core. The review was set challenging financial targets and was developing an outcomes based approach to commissioning services into the future, taking particular account of the personalisation agenda. There was no clarification of what the budgets would be for 2011-12, which created anxiety in community and voluntary sector providers about whether their contracts would be renewed.
33.4Azdean Boulaich (Youth Council representative) asked for clarification as to why the numbers of disabled children was expected to increase over the coming years. Members were advised that this was due both to improved diagnosis and assessment, which meant that more children with certain conditions were being diagnosed (e.g. children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions); and to improved neo-natal care, which meant that children who might formerly have died at birth were surviving, but often with severe physical and/or learning disabilities.
33.5RESOLVED - that the Committee:
(1) Noted the report on the review of services for disabled children;
(2) Agreed to receive an update on the disability service in 2011. |
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Next steps of Academies Presentation from Gil Sweetenham - Schools Futures Project Director. Minutes: 34.1 Gil Sweetenham, School Futures Project Director, introduced the powerpoint handout and answered questions.
34.2 In answer to a question on the independence of academies from the local education authority (LEA), members were told that, although academies were independent of the LEA, the Council was committed to working as closely as possible with aspirant academies.
34.3 Members raised concerns that the governing bodies of academies might be disproportionately drawn from people with business backgrounds, rather than people with educational knowledge. The Committee was advised that the Department for Education (DfE) had protocols in place to ensure that the governing bodies of academies had the right balance of skills and their focus was on learning. If this wasn’t the case then the DfE would intervene.
34.4 RESOLVED- That the information within the handout was noted by the Committee. |
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Report of the Strategic Director of People. Additional documents: Minutes: 35. James Dougan – Head of Service Children & Families presented the report and answered questions.
35.1 Azdean Boulaich (Youth Council representative) asked whether unannounced inspections were effective as data collection figures may not be up to date, Members were informed that the systems should be robust within services and all data should be accurate and available at anytime.
35.2 It was noted that there was a high regard and respect for Children’s Services, however the inspection had raised areas of concern that had been noted before. Additionally Children’s Services had challenging budget savings to make which could affect high risk cases in the future.
The Committee heard how Children’s Services were in the process of having a Child Protection Improvement Programme that would detail risk issues and how to ensure quality by encompassing managers and social workers to have time to reflect on cases.
Members were informed that due to having pressurised caseloads the Council ensured that each case was dealt with morally to make certain the best outcomes for the child.
35.3 RESOLVED (1) CYPOSC noted the findings of the annual unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements.
(2) CYPOSC agreed to have a report on the Child Protection Improvement Programme. |
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Minutes: 36.1 Members noted that the next meeting was the Children’s Services Budget proposals and that this was the only item on the agenda due to the details within the report.
36.2 RESOLVED- Members agreed the work programme. |