Agenda for Children's Partnership Board on Wednesday, 20th March, 2019, 4.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: LB 31-32 - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: James Lavender  Email: james.lavender@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

31.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Helen Blackman

Zoe Butler

Sarah Fielding

Derek Hobbs

Nick Lee

Stephen McLaren

Alison Michalska

Sophie Russell

David Stewart

Maria Ward

32.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

None

33.

Minutes and Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 296 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2018.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2018 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

34.

Membership Update

Update from the Support Assistant, Children and Adults Directorate.

Minutes:

Emily Humphreys, Support Assistant Children and Adults Directorate, provided an update on changes in membership of the Children’s Partnership Board.

 

RESOLVED to note that Sue Fielding has replaced Eva Barrett as the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Representative.

35.

An update on children and young people’s health and wellbeing in the context of Nottingham City’s Children and Young People Plan 2016-20 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Helene Denness, Public Health Consultant for Nottingham City Council, delivered a presentation and report updating the Board on children and young people’s health and wellbeing in the context of the Nottingham City Council’s Children and Young People Plan 2016-20, with particular emphasis on smoking in pregnancy, obesity and emotional health and wellbeing.

 

The following points were highlighted:

 

Smoking whilst pregnant

 

(a)  Smoking whilst pregnant is dangerous for mother and child as it doubles the risk of still births, babies being born smaller, babies being malformed with cleft lips or squints, and other long-term health problems such as diabetes and obesity; 

 

(b)  The ‘Love Bump’ campaign was launched in March 2019 to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking whilst pregnant as well as the benefits to mother and child of giving up smoking;

 

(c)  ‘Conversation Cards’ have been developed for GPs and midwives to hand to pregnant women if they need them;

 

(d)  The reasons why people smoke in pregnancy are complex, and it’s hard to address the dangers of smoking to mothers when pregnant as they have so much else going on for them. It may also be dependent on if the mother’s family smoke;

 

(e)  17.2% of mothers in Nottingham smoke whilst pregnant, but this data doesn’t capture those who smoke at other points in pregnancy. This is the fifth highest rate amongst Nottingham’s statistical neighbours and significantly higher than the average for England;

 

(f)  NHS England funding has gone into two dedicated smoking in pregnancy posts, both on a fixed-term contract for 18 months;

 

(g)  A social media campaign for ‘Love Bump’ has been launched;

 

(h)  Community engagement has been taking place in the Aspley and Bulwell wards;

 

(i)  Packs for midwives and health visitors have been distributed;

 

(j)  The campaign is part of a wider ‘healthy pregnancies’ initiative to encourage healthy weight through a balanced diet, a strong support network, exercise and a healthy environment;

 

Children’s obesity

 

(k)  In 2017/18, 26.7% of reception-aged children in Nottingham were classed as overweight or obese. This increases to 40.8% by Year 6;

 

(l)  Factors such as emotional issues and stress contribute to obesity;

 

(m)Actions taken nationally to tackle childhood obesity include the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), mandatory calorie labelling and ensuring new takeaways aren’t opened near schools;

 

(n)  Locally, the 0-19 service is providing a Healthy Child Programme, a Healthy Weight Support Programme and targeted interventions with breastfeeding peer support, Healthy Start Vouchers, healthy weaning programme and Cook & Eat sessions;

 

Emotional health and wellbeing

 

(o)  Free Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training has been provided to schools in Nottingham with:

·  38 members of school staff attending the 2-day Youth MHFA;

·  13 school staff trained on the 1-day Youth MHFA Champions course;

·  37 schools now have at least 1 member of staff trained on one of the courses;

 

(p)  250 members of the Children’s Workforce, which includes youth workers, school nurses and social workers have been trained;

 

(q)  The Emotional Health and Resilience Charter was setup last  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

36.

Partner Update – Nottingham CityCare: Giving Nottingham children the best start in life pdf icon PDF 315 KB

Presentation from the representative of Nottingham CityCare Partnership.

Minutes:

Shelley Nicholls, Head of Early Help Services, and Tracy Tyrell, Nottingham CityCare Partnership Representative, provided an update to the Board on the CityCare Partnership. 

 

The following points were highlighted: 

 

(a)  Commissioning responsibilities were transferred from NHS England (NHSE) to the Local Authority in 2015;

 

(b)  The new integrated service delivery model is delivered jointly by Nottingham CityCare Partnership, Children’s Public Health Nursing Service and Nottingham City Council’s Early Help Team;

 

(c)  Universal and Early Help services for children 0-5 years are being integrated;

 

(d)  Local area teams have been created to align with the Local Area Committees and 8 Care Delivery Groups;

 

(e)  A shared outcomes framework helps to deliver evidenced based programmes;

 

(f)  The Joint Operational Group (JOG) is developing an Operational Change Programme Plan to ensure delivery of a fully integrated service by 2020. JOG reports to the Strategic System Change Board;

 

(g)  The People Workstream aims to create a unified 0-5s workforce to work with families, listening to parents and maintaining a whole family approach towards a child’s development;

 

(h)  The Places Workstream identifies venues that are crucial to city-based services. This includes the mapping of venues to increase collaboration with Early Help and CityCare colleagues. The first phase of co-location has been undertaken and there is parental involvement in improving the quality of venues through satisfaction questionnaires in Early Help and CityCare venues;

 

(i)  The Practice Workstream delivers integrated, evidenced-based programmes such as Right Help at the Right Time Screening Meetings and the Family Support and Healthy Weight Pathways.

 

Questions from the Board were responded to as follows:

 

(j)  Satisfaction surveys with parents using the service have shown that it is accessible, welcoming and reflective of family needs;

 

(k)  This service could be a future template for other health and council services, for example, elderly people and schools;

 

(l)  It is important to make sure lessons are learnt and shared with other areas. 

 

RESOVLED to note the update from Nottingham CityCare. 

37.

Youth Cabinet and Participation Strategy pdf icon PDF 275 KB

Report of the Engagement and Participation Lead.

Minutes:

Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Lead Officer, and the Representative of the Youth Cabinet presented a report to the Board on the activities of children and young people’s participation groups as part of the Children and Young People (CYP) Participation Strategy.

 

The following points were highlighted:

 

(a)  The Participation in Governance programme fulfils the requirements of the Corporate Plan to involve children and young people in the Council’s decision-making;

 

(b)  Decision-making has been focused around three areas; Learning and Earning (Autumn Term); Safe Lives, Positive Neighbourhoods, Smart City (Spring); and Healthy, Creative You (Summer);

 

(c)  61 events have been organised this year and 1239 children and young people have participated, both above target;

 

(d)  The Youth Council meets once a term to discuss a theme, for example, work readiness and apprenticeships, with engagement from partners. It is aimed at 11-18 year olds and they come up with ideas for positive change;

 

(e)  The Children in Care Council is a monthly forum for children in care or who are care leavers aged 13-18. They work with colleagues on particular issues relating to them;

 

(f)  Primary Parliament, aimed at 8–13 year olds, meet twice per term to look at a theme and take ideas back to their classes for further development. A discussion on technology challenges of the future led to a range of green-themed projects to take back to schools. These included an air pollution-monitoring project supported by the Council’s Clean Air team and Ignite! The results from this project were showcased at the Real Science in Schools Symposium during the Festival of Science and Curiosity 2019 (FOSAC19);

 

(g)  The Youth Cabinet is made up of 14 people aged 16-21 representing schools, colleges, universities, apprentices and the unemployed. They were consulted on the Council’s budget for children and young people’s services, as well as other issues such as tackling knife crime and the Metropolitan Growth Strategy. They also picked the winners of the Youth Achievement Awards and will be working with the Public Health Team on their healthy weight campaign; 

 

(h)  Challenges in the future include getting more children and young people to participate in the Take Over Challenge, in which young people are presented the opportunity to shadow Councillors and Council staff in their work. If it is to take place next year, then it needs ownership from across the Partnership;

 

(i)  A review of the CYP Participation Strategy is proposed for 2019-2020, with the objective of refreshing the strategy to align with the new Corporate Plan, post-May 2020;

 

(j)  The Youth Council is looking to develop a partnership with both Nottingham universities, which will hopefully unlock valuable resources for both partners;

 

(k)  Future Youth Cabinet work includes campaigns around healthy weight, relationship and sex education, and emotional wellbeing. New dates for key events will be circulated in July to start in September.

 

Resolved to:

 

(1)  thank Jon Rea and the Representative of the Youth Cabinet for their attendance; and

 

(2)  note the content of their update.

38.

Ofsted Inspection of Nottingham City Council Children’s Services pdf icon PDF 281 KB

Minutes:

Clive Chambers, Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance, updated the Board on the findings of the Ofsted Inspection of Nottingham City Council Children’s Services.

 

The following points were highlighted:

 

(a)  The overall outcome was that the service ‘requires improvement’;

 

(b)  Strengths of the service include:

·  Clear vision;

·  Respected and visible leadership;

·  Strong staff commitment;

·  Effective strategic partnerships;

·  Strong responses to new and emerging issues;

·  Recognition that Nottingham is a difficult place to work in;

 

(c)  Improvements since the last inspection include the fostering service, children in care services and support for care leavers;

 

(d)  Concerns have been raised about:

·  The capacity of Social Workers to manage the high demands and complexity of need in the City;

·  The capacity of front line and middle managers;

·  The Virtual School that is not yet ensuing a good education for all children in care;

·  Not all plans for children are clear enough as to what is expected of the family and not always progressed in a timely way;

·  The number of young people detained overnight in Police cells;

·  Levels of child and family poverty and resultant neglect;

 

(e)  Areas for improvement include:

·  Management oversight of private fostering;

·  Quality of planning for children and their review;

·  Timely action for children living with sustained neglect;

·  Quality of management oversight and supervision of social workers to progress children’s plans;

·  Quality/consistency of return home interviews for children who go missing;

·  Educational progress and achievement of children in care;

·  Availability of sufficient and suitable emergency accommodation for vulnerable young people and children with complex needs;

·  The progress and timeliness of permanence plans for children including fostering for adoption;

 

(f)  The next steps involve:

·  Improvement Plan developed and due to be submitted by March 2019;

·  Ofsted Annual Challenge Conversation in May 2019;

·  Preparing for a full inspection expected in next 3 years;

·  The next inspection is likely to be the SEND Local Area Review by the end 2019/20.

 

Resolved to note the findings of the Ofsted Inspection.

39.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 107 KB

Board to note upcoming items.

Minutes:

RESOLVED to note the agreement of the Forward Plan by members.