Agenda for Children's Partnership Board on Monday, 31st October, 2016, 4.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: LH 2.13 - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Phil Wye  Email: phil.wye@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

14.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Phyllis Brackenbury

Julie Burton

Scott Mason

Jackie Newton

Sally Seeley

John Yarham

15.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

16.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 315 KB

Last meeting held on 13 July 2016 (for confirmation)

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2016 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

17.

Education and Roma Communities pdf icon PDF 222 KB

Report of the Joint Directors for Education

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Jane Daffe, Senior Achievement Consultant, introduced the report, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the Council used to have a dedicated Traveller Team, but the remit now falls under Jane’s area of Vulnerable Groups;

(b)  there are a number of particular issues that apply particularly to Roma communities. They have often had experience of persecution and discrimination, and so commonly do not identify themselves as Roma but as Polish or Other White background;

(c)  the highest number of Roma children are in the Forest Fields, Hyson Green and Sneinton areas, with Forest Fields primary being the school with the largest on roll at 49. Due to the problem with ascription it is difficult to get accurate data;

(d)  it is difficult to engage the Roma community with education. In primary school, it is more common in Eastern Europe for children to srart school at the age of 7 and so Roma parents are reluctant to allow their children to attend school at an earlier age. At secondary age, some children drop out as family and carer responsibilities take priority. Thera are also problems with accessing the school admissions process due to language and literacy problems;

(e)  Roma children in Nottingham underachieve at school, particularly in writing. This is in contrast to other children with English as an additional language who are generally higher attainers in Nottingham;

(f)  Teenage pregnancy is prevalent in the Roma community, with 21% of all school-age pregnancies in Nottingham in 2015-16 being Roma girls even though they only make up 0.4% of the school population. The age of consent in Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic is lower, and there are very traditional attitudes to sex and gender roles;

(g)  Roma children are 7 times as likely to be permanently excluded from school, and 6 times as likely to be excluded fixed-term. These high levels are similar to previous high levels of black Caribbean boys being excluded, so lessons that were learnt then could be applied here;

(h)  possible interventions to improve the education and opportunities of Roma children in Nottingham include events for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month (June), Schools guidance documents, transition to secondary Roma initiatives, a home/school Roma liaison worker, and Family Information Service outreach for pre-school children.

 

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(i)  there are some voluntary sector organisations working in the city which work with Roma communities and could have a role in any planned projects;

(j)  in Nottingham there is a lack of understanding of the community, with people referring to them as  Romanians. People see them as causing antisocial behaviour, but this is often just down to their way of life with large family groups coming together. It can be difficult to identify a leader for the community to engage with;

(k)  a single point of contact has been established in the Duty Team to ensure a consistent response to the Roma community. They may not always have had access previously to good sexual health  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

18.

Reducing youth crime in Nottingham pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Minutes:

Shelley Nicholls, Youth Offending Team, gave a presentation, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the Nottingham Youth Offending Team (YOT) aims to reduce offending by young people through partnerships to address all their needs such as health and education. This is underpinned by local and national funding;

(b)  the three main key performance indicators for YOTs nationally, as set by the Youth Justice Board, are set as reducing reoffending, reducing use of custodial sentences and reducing the number of first time entrants into the criminal justice system;

(c)  reoffending rates by young people have fallen in Nottingham from 31.8% in 2013/14 to 26.9% in 2014/15, which is favourable in comparison to comparative areas. Nationally there are challenges around more young people in the system presenting challenging behaviour;

(d)  the use of custodial sentences in Nottingham is higher than average but partners such as the police and the judiciary have reported that this is the correct usage of these sentences;

(e)  there has been a significant reduction in the number of first time entrants into the criminal justice system in Nottingham, with a reduction from 1800 to 820 from 2011 to 2015. However, this is still high nationally but acknowledged to be as a result of Nottingham’s demographics;

(f)  a further local measure used as an indicator locally is the attainment of young people and the number of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs). Performance has been maintained in this area at around 70% not NEET;

(g)  the YOT was awarded the RJC’s Restorative Service Quality Mark in February 2016, remarking that the needs of victims are the focus of service delivery. There is an aim for conflicts to be resolved without criminalisation, for example e amongst Children in Care where there has been a reduction in criminality from 19% to under 6%;

(h)  in June the YOT was assessed as high-performing, with recognition of the removal of barriers to engagement from hard to reach children, strong management oversight and a focus on outcomes;

(i)  the Youth Justice Review is on hold but this will shape the future of YOTs and any changes that will be made to them;

(j)  a new focus has been early intervention , with the YOT identifying young people children most at risk of crime and antisocial behaviour through young people’s panels. Another focus is reduction of knife crime through interventions;

(k)  the Priority Families approach is being embedded into the YOT in services dealing with serious organised crime and gang-related violence, looking at a whole-family approach to reduce further offending within families;

 

The following points were made during the discussion which followed:

(l)  the Youth Justice Review outcomes are likely to be presented at a convention in November and any legislative change will happen in January. It will be unfortunate if the YOT loses its legislative status and loses funding;

(m)the reduction in Police Officers and PCSOs is concerning, but the YOT and targeted youth services are also there to help prevent crime.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

19.

Youth Cabinet quarterly update pdf icon PDF 245 KB

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Lead Officer, introduced the report updating the Board on activities of the Youth Cabinet and associated work under the Participation in Governance programme, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  a calendar is produced every year that covers the main events and groups that allow the Local Authority to engage with young people. Many partners use these forums to engage in themes and involve them in decision making;

(b)  meetings and groups that currently operate include the Youth Council, Primary Parliament, Youth Cabinet, Children in Care Council and Action for Young Carers;

(c)  Youth Council is a monthly meeting for young people aged 11-19. The meetings are themed, for example the last meeting was on Learning and Earning. Primary Parliament is for year 5 and 6 pupils and is extremely popular with 34 primary schools signed up;

(d)  Youth Cabinet is a meeting for more senior members of youth groups, school councils and voluntary participation projects. The Children in Care Council is a similar participation group for Children in Care and Care Leavers aged between 13 and 18;

(e)  the Council tries to engage with around 1000 young people each year and hold 60 events (15 per quarter). They are successful due to the willingness of partners to engage;

(f)  in November the Youth Cabinet are hosting a special conference for secondary school students to explore views and experiences around the theme of transition from primary to secondary school;

(g)  Youth Cabinet are currently working with the Council’s HR team to look at how to attract more young people into the Council workforce, and help develop and retain those already in Council employment;

(h)  a group of young people attended the Nottingham in Parliament day, to help make MPs aware of Nottingham children and young people, reaching out to decision makers;

 

The following pointes were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(i)  there is still no participation group for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). There have been problems with tendering a contract for this, so this will be run in-house by the Council in the new year. Children with SEN do also engage in some of the other engagement groups;

(j)  the groups are already very diverse, but if there are any groups that members feel are under-represented they should let Jon know so that he can inform providers. The intention is to represent the diversity of the city.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  recognise the work done by the Youth Cabinet and associated participation forums in enabling and empowering children and young people to have a voice in decision making processes;

(2)  use the Participation in Governance programme to engage with children and young people in order to involve them in decision making.

20.

CDP commissioning intentions for young people’s substance misuse treatment service pdf icon PDF 270 KB

Report of the Director of Procurement and Commissioning

Minutes:

Christine Oliver, Head of Commissioning, introduced the report on the Crime and Drugs Partnership’s intentions for commissioning the specialist young people’s substance misuse treatment service and cementing of pathways. Christine highlighted the following:

 

(a)  the contract for young people’s substance misuse treatment services in Nottingham is being retendered as the current contract is due to end on 30th April 2017. The current service is satisfactory but a tender is required because the contract period is ending;

(b)  approval to tender has already been agreed by the Commissioning and Procurement Sub-Committee and so just any issues or queries are being sought from the Board;

(c)  the number of young people coming into the service could be increased, and so referrals and communication could be made stronger, particularly between social care and the service;

(d)  the service should be more flexible with the age limits that it deals with, and ther is a recommendation for the age limit to be increased to 21 to those with learning disabilities and social care involvement;

 

RESOLVED to note the information in the report

 

21.

Child Development Strategic Commissioning Review pdf icon PDF 326 KB

Report of the Director of Commissioning and Procurement

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Chris Wallbanks, Strategic Commissioning Manager, introduced the report highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the review is being delivered in response to the transfer of commissioning responsibilities for Health Visitors and the Family Nurse Partnership to the City Council in October 2015;

(b)  the review will ensure a consistency of approach across the city , create a mechanism for the Small Steps, Big Changes programme to influence system change and increase integrated working to support Nottingham’s status as an Early Intervention City;

(c)  the outcome of the review has been defined as ‘a defined universal and early help pathway  for pregnant women, babies, children and young people; delivered in an integrated way, through a consistent evidence-based approach by a competent and confident workforce’;

(d)  the review agrees a set of shared outcomes from 0-19, identifies success indicators, identifies gaps in delivery, researches the evidence of best practice and makes recommendations for future delivery;

(e)  this will be achieved by negotiating with existing services, agreeing a phased approach, developing monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and developing an integrated specification for future delivery;

(f)  the first phase of the review focuses on 0-5 year olds with older children and young people in later phases. The next step is tendering for an integrated contract, and shaping the delivery model with potential providers for a delivery model starting in April 2017.

 

Maria Ward said that the voluntary sector will be more involved with later phases as not many voluntary organisations work with 0-5 year olds.

RESOLVED to note the progress made on the Child Development Review to date

22.

DWP: Partner update pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Minutes:

Gaynor Rossiter, Jobcentre Leader, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), gave a presentation giving an update on the Jobcentre service in Nottingham, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the DWP has recently reorganised and now has two main city centre sites at Loxley House and Nottingham Central on Parliament Street. Nottingham Central is one of the largest Jobcentres in the country, with approximately 12,000 claimants of  Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), 3800 claimants of Income Support, 5000 claimants of Jobseekers Allowance and 1050 claimants of Universal Credit;

(b)  there are 1295 young people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in Nottingham. These are supported by the following initiative:

·  Movement to Work, a collaboration of UK employers that provides training, new skills and experience to help unemployed 16-24 year olds into work;

·  Get in Go Far, a new government campaign designed to inspire young people to consider apprenticeships, traineeships and work experience as a route to a rewarding career;

·  Access to Work and Remploy – Supporting Apprentices: Mental Health Support Service, which provides targeted support to apprentices with a mental health condition , helping them to remain in work and continue with their apprenticeship;

·  Step into Work, an initiative delivered by Community Partnership Providers in Nottingham and aimed at 18-29 year olds;

 

(c)  additional support includes specialist support for those who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), and promoting traineeships and apprenticeships. DWP are recruiting a member of staff who will work with schools in Nottingham focussing on those students who are at risk of becoming NEET, or who may be disadvantaged in the labour market.

 

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(d)  there are a number of young people who are eligible to claim benefits but do not due to social stigmas. The Jobcentre has changed a lot but people still have a negative image of it. Priority Families and other partners may help to identify and direct young people to the support services they need;

(e)  moving the Jobcentre into modern premises like Loxley House has helped to improve its image. It is now more digitally driven which is good to engage young people.

 

RESOLVED to thank Gaynor for the presentation

23.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED to note the forward plan