Agenda and minutes

Police Superintendent Mathew Healey

Carolyn Tomlinson

Celine Carling

Nicky Bridges.

None

Of the meeting held on 6 January 2021 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 05 January 2021 were confirmed as a true record and were signed by the Chair.

Sophie Russel, Head of Children’s Strategy and Improvement to provide a verbal update.

Sophie Russell, Head of Children’s Strategy and Improvement, delivered a brief presentation updating the Partnership on the Children’s Improvement Plan. The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  three of the key priorities the partnership has had were being retained in the Plan and in recognition of increased awareness of structural racism and disproportionality, including the impact of Covid a fourth priority was to be included to ensure that children and young families be heard, which was welcomed by the Board.

b)  additional consultation with partner’s activities regarding the Plan needed to be undertaken prior to submission to the Board and further exploration of the Governance arrangements was needed to ensure that they were streamlined and simplified, without losing the current benefits.

c)  as such, the Plan would be brought back to the Board in June 2021 once there had been the opportunity to complete the consultation.

d)  the Participation Strategy would also be presented in June alongside the Plan which would be a fluid document with overarching principles but with the flexibility to encompass new initiatives.

Resolved that the update on the Children and Young People’s Plan 2020-25 be noted.

Presentation by Rachel Clark, Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead, Nottinghamshire County Council Public Health and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG and Bassetlaw CCG

Rachel Clark, Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead, delivered a brief presentation updating the Partnership on the Local Transformation Plan for Children and Young People's Mental Health. The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  the last refresh was due to be published in January but was delayed to Covid, but will be published in September 2021.

b)  worked with NHS England and reviewed all aspects of our children and young people mental health service. Areas of improvement will be included in the Transformation Plan.

c)  Mental Health support Teams in schools roll out had been accelerated. MHCT are in place to deliver evidence based early intervention and to identify those needing additional support for severe needs.

d)  at the beginning of the Covid crisis in April 2020 and Urgent and Crisis Care helpline went live and was an all age helpline manned 24 hours a day.

e)  efforts have been made to ensure that children and young people do not experience digital exclusion – screening is being done carried out check what level of access is required to reduce those unable to access internet.

f)  the Optimisation report identified areas of improvement which included examining strategy and governance to ensure it is not solely NHS driven and there is cross partnership working. Focus also on data collection and how it can be used to improve services.

g)  current work is being undertaken to ensure the national target on Eating Disorders is being met and examining if additional resource is needed to reach the target.

h)  a more inclusive approach is underway that includes not just children but that it extends to those aged up to 25, extending to care-leavers who face mental health problems.

Resolved that the contents of the presentation be noted.

Donna Stenton-Groves, Multisystemic Therapy Team Supervisor to provide a presentation.

Donna Stenton-Groves, Multisystemic Therapy Team Supervisor delivered a brief presentation updating the Partnership on the Trauma Informed Practice. The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  a two day training package done in collaboration with Partners including the Youth Justice Service. There is a need to be conscious that trauma affects everyone and not just the people being supported but also staff who have subsequently suffered trauma whilst supporting families.

b)  different types of trauma were identified, both in families and the work place. These included experiences of trauma specifically relating to  racial, religious and LGBTQ communities

c)  a more trauma - informed approach was necessary in order to recognise how best to support those who have experienced it.

d)  Additional work is being undertaken to bridge the gap between adults and child trauma to explore a more inclusive, holistic approach,

e)  there has been a minimisation of victims (and families) of trauma having to re-tell their experiences to different agencies; it was anticipated that this will reduce repetition and re-traumatisation.

f)  live story work is being used for children, specifically ‘looked after children’ and ‘children in care’ which can be done in a trauma informed way. There has been emphasis on the use of age appropriate language and picture story-boarding to build communication and assessment of children’s tolerance for talking.

g)  more trauma informed practices are being embedded into Special and Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) programme and in a number of the educational settings.

h)  trauma informed approaches of behaviours in children and young people could lead to reduction in the number of exclusions in schools

i)  children’s integrated services have worked with the therapy team and it was recognised that as a partnership, more could be achieved in educating people about trauma informed practices though the provision of training.

The Chair thanked Donna for her presentation and for the update provided.

Resolved to note the updated information and the presentation.

Presentation by Paul Crookendale, Community Partnerships & Projects Manager

Paul Crookendale, Community Partnership Project Development Manager, Nottingham City Council, provided a verbal update of the establishment of Youth Hubs across the City.

The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  6 youth hubs were being established across the City, each one being different to suit the local areas and would be flexible to the type pf support needed to each area. This would allow for young people to access more services from one area and provide a one stop holistic approach.

b)  Some services provided by the DWP such as Job Centre Plus had been placed into Youth Hubs. It was anticipated that this would increase the number of people who could access a wide range of services without having to navigate various services across the city.

c)  There had been some delay in the delivery of youth hubs due to Covid but work was ongoing to support young people through collaborative working with Second Chance Training ‘Equip to Succeed Programme’ , designed to empower, enable and equip young people with a variety of skills.

d)  Many young people had been affected by job losses as a result of Covid (in part due to their types of employment) and the hubs would offer various types of support.

e)  Part of the core offer was to provide skills training through Nottingham College, both vocational and soft training which would help to identify transferable skills.

f)  By engaging with young people , it was anticipated that there would be a reduction in the number of NEETS (not in education, employment or training)

g)  The youth hubs would specifically be targeting young people aged 17-25 year olds. ‘Youth Ambassadors’ would also be employed to promote  the services and to engage with youths and assist them through and triage them through services

h)  Collaborative work was needed to engage with family hubs. Specific focus would also be placed on assisting care leavers

Resolved to note the verbal update given.

Update from Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People (Children and Adults)

Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People (Children and Adults) gave a presentation to the Board on the developments of making Nottingham a ‘Child Friendly City’ (CFC).

The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  there was a drive to improve the rights and listen to the voices of children creating a network of stakeholders across the City; the primary role of this would be to ensure that children were aware of their rights, their voices heard and a commitment to ensure that children be able to thrive in the local community.

b)  recruitment was underway for a Child Friendly City Programme Lead and a light touch Governance structure had already been put in place.

c)  work had been completed alongside UNICEF and the City Council had been able to benefit from their extensive knowledge and expertise.

d)  a high profile launch of the imitative would be done once the consultation process had been delivered and considered.

e)  there would be engagement with local schools to allow them understand the mechanisms to be used in the creation of the CFC and to ensure that children were integrated into the initiative to ensure a strong and vibrant link between children of school age and the CFC.

Resolved to note the progress of the Child Friendly Citystatus.

Verbal Update by Amanda Payne, Operations Manager (Young people's services) Futures

Amanda Payne, Operations Manager (Young people's services) Futures, gave a verbal update on young people Not in Education, Employment of Training (NEETs), Post 16/ supporting re-engagement of young people post-lockdown.

The following points were highlighted and questions responded to;

a)  there were numerous NEET categories defined by the Department for Education (DfE)

b)  alongside NEET, there was also focus placed on those people who were defined as ‘not engaging. As of the 16^th March 2021, 5.5% of young people were defined as NEET with the ‘Not knowns’ making up just 0.5% of those figures, equating to 34 young people in total.

c)  there was engagement with schools to identify priority groups, the main agenda being to raise aspirations and improve employability.

d)  those SEND were statistically more likely to join the NEET category and additional support was being offered to them.

e)  there was a blended approach for assisting NEETs at a time when there had been a number of lost available placements and a lack of engagement in part due to Covid.

f)  there had not been a marked increase in the numbers of NEETs across the core cities, but the record of those ‘Not Known’ had, on average, fluctuated above the figures for Nottingham City, which had seen the overall numbers of Not Knowns’ decrease.

Resolved to note the updated information.

Verbal update by Phil Briscoe, Principle of Nottingham College.

Having sent his apologies, Phil Briscoe, Principle of Nottingham College was unable to give an update and as such the item was deferred.

Maria Ward (Maintained Primary School Governor) noted her thanks to all of the school governors who had, with local authorities, offered their support to staff and pupils of the City Schools specifically during the pandemic.

The Chair echoed her thanks and noted the important role that they played.

Having been deferred from the agenda, the Nottingham College update would be heard at a future meeting.

To note that the next meeting date is proposed as 29 June 2021 at 4pm, but that dates cannot be confirmed until the new municipal year.

The next meeting was confirmed as the 29 July 2021 at 4pm