Agenda and minutes

Nichola Bramhall

Nicky Bridges

Julie Burton

Sarah Fielding

Scott Mason

Councillor Neghat Khan

Tracy Tyrell

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

RESOLVED to:

(1)  note the following changes to the membership of Children’s Partnership Board:

·  Councillor Cheryl Barnard has replaced Councillor David Mellen as one of the Co-Chairs of this committee;

·  Peter Bramhall has replaced John Yarham as CEO of Futures;

·  Superintendent Mathew Healey as replaced Superintendent Andrea Baxter as the Nottinghamshire Police representative;

·  Claire Perry has been appointed as a Voluntary Sector Representative;

(2)  note the Terms of Reference.

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2019.

The minutes of the meeting of 20 March 2019 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Safeguarding and Supporting Children and Families

·  Violent Crime Involving Young People

·  General Update

Helen Blackman, Director of Children’s Integrated Service, Shelley Nicholls, Head of Service and Sophie Russell, Head of Children’s Strategy and Improvement delivered a presentation and report on the work of the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme to safeguard and prevent children and young people becoming victims and offenders.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  Partnerships involving councils, the police and other stakeholders are key to tackling knife crime;

(b)  Between March 2015 and March 2019, there has been a significant increase in the number of knife crime incidents reported to Nottinghamshire Police but that number has slightly decreased between December 2018 and March 2019;

(c)  Although half of victims and offenders involved in knife crimes in Nottingham City (not including those associated with domestic violence) were aged 25 and over, 23% of offenders were aged under 17 with 18% of under 17s being victims of knife crime. 33% of victims and 26% of offenders were aged 18 – 25. 45% of knife crimes reported were personal robberies with the majority of offences taking place in the City Centre, Hyson Green and Arboretum;

(d)  There are a number of strategic links with the police, schools, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services, safeguarding, families, education and training providers, voluntary and community groups, the Courts and the City Economy which feed into the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme;

(e)  Criminal exploitation interlinks with a number of multiple vulnerabilities and offences including the child being exposed to and/or victim of physical and emotional violence, neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation, modern day slavery and human trafficking, domestic abuse and missing episodes;

(f)  ‘County Lines’ is a term used by government departments, law enforcement, local authorities and partner agencies to describe the use of mobile phone ‘lines’ by gangs looking to extend their drug dealing activities into locations outside of their metropolitan home areas;

(g)  There is an acute awareness that when dealing with ‘at risk’ individuals and offenders who are threatening children and young adults, it is important that some of these people are also children and young adults, so they need safeguarding and support to;

(h)  Case studies from Chicago and Glasgow have helped inform the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme’s work;

(i)  The proposed approach breaks down into two areas:

a.  Phase One – Development of a responsive, deployable and flexible resource through a multi-agency hub;

b.  Phase Two – a systemic ‘public health’ approach to tackling the causative factors;

(j)  The Programme links together with Police Crime Commissioner’s Knife Crime Action Plan and aims to coordinate activities;

(k)  Children’s Partnership Board will receive updates from the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme in line with its governance structure;

(l)  Over £490,000 in Troubled Families ‘Supporting Families affected by Youth Crime’ funding has been secured to work with schools and the voluntary sector;

(m)A Play & Youth review and restructure is underway, which was presented to Executive Panel on 18 March 2019;

(n)  The Multi-agency Child Criminal Exploitation Panel  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Presentation from the representative of NHS Greater Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Group.

Charlotte Reading, Head of Commissioning, Children and Learning Disabilities for the NHS Greater Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Partnership (CCP) and Val Simnett, Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children, delivered a report on the actions which the NHS Greater Nottingham CCP take in delivering support and safeguarding children and families.

The following points were highlighted:

a)  City and countywide services are commissioned to meet the physical and mental health needs of patients. These include Community Nutritionists, Nurses, Therapists and many more;

b)  The Greater Nottingham CCP also provides bespoke services such as mental health care and end of life care to patients in the city and county;

c)  The Transforming Care Agenda provides structure to the treatment and support of children with disabilities. It is about ensuring children and adults get the appropriate care and avoid hospital visits. If they do go to hospital, the aim is not to have them in there for long;

d)  Assurances around Safeguarding are guaranteed by the providers submitting quarterly reports and adhering to the Safeguarding Assessment Framework. Serious case reviews undertaken and lessons are built into the training;

e)  The Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children is a statutory role for all Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). They usually have substantial experience of caring for babies, children and young people, thus they are familiar with safeguarding;

f)  They offer expert advice and support to safeguarding leads across the local health community, private health providers, independent contractors, children’s services, public health commissioners and NHS England;

g)  They make sure health services are equipped to recognise and respond to child abuse and neglect, as well as make recommendations for improving practice;

h)  They also influence policies and procedures to make sure all agencies work together to safeguard children;

i)  They negotiate resolutions when there are disagreements between professionals or organisations;

j)  Most importantly, they prioritise the welfare of children and young people.

The questions from the Board were answered as follows:

k)  City and county populations have different levels of deprivations, ethnic background and other societal factors, so the Greater Nottingham CCP has to reflect those differences, but there are many more similarities between the City of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Presentation from the Department of Work and Pensions regarding:

·  Safeguarding Training/Strategy

·  Introduction of Domestic Violence Leads into Operational Delivery

Tim Brown, Partnership Manager, Sue Fielding, Department of Work and Pensions Representative, Katy Pearson, Troubled Families Employment Advisor and Nicky Brindley, Domestic Abuse Specialist and Safeguarding Lead, delivered a report on the work that the DWP undertakes regarding safeguarding and supporting the victims of Domestic Abuse.

The following points were highlighted: 

(a)  The challenges of implementing Universal Credit has brought changes to the ways in which the DWP interacts with the public. For example, the DWP works with more vulnerable people than before and is more pro-active in working with them;

(b)  The Priority Families Team’s purpose is to upskill frontline DWP staff in promoting the benefits of skills and training to families who need support. Before the team was setup, there was no safeguarding awareness training and one safeguarding incident which occurred at the DWP highlighted the need for jobcentre staff to have basic safeguarding training;

(c)  Universal Credit Complex Needs Plans were introduced which involved appointing specialist staff to help families with problems of drugs and alcohol abuse;

(d)  There was also a big increase in the number of Domestic Abuse Survivors presenting within a jobcentre after the introduction of Universal Credit;

(e)  As part of a pilot scheme to help vulnerable people at point of first contact, Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) were identified from existing DWP staff. There are 8 DSLs across 3 jobcentres in Nottingham. They received in-depth training from the Local Authority in safeguarding over 2 ½  days and 277 members of staff within DWP were trained in safeguarding awareness;

(f)  Quarterly DSL Consultations held by the Priority Families Manager take place to see how their work is progressing whilst the DSLs have monthly discussions with jobcentre staff to keep safeguarding at the forefront of their minds;

(g)  Case studies have shown that the DSLs do have an impact, with 9 concerns referred to Children’s Services, all of which had subsequent interventions;

(h)  A pilot scheme was launched on June 1 2019 to identify and train Domestic Abuse Specialists to operate within jobcentres. 7 DV Specialists now operate across 3 jobcentres, with 1 male specialist operating at Central;

(i)  These DV Specialists have had specialist training from external providers. They have then held awareness sessions with work coaches. Their work includes cooperating with refuges and Support services;

(j)  J9 Campaign involves organisations signing up to be designated safe spaces for a person to disclose domestic abuse;

(k)  Case studies have shown that the work of DSLs and DVSs does have an impact in making sure vulnerable people are safe and get the appropriate support.

The questions from the Board were responded to as follows:

(l)  The DWP doesn’t have the authority to fund refuges, but it can support the work of refuges, particularly when it comes to the second phase of Universal Credit implementation;

(m)These schemes are at the forefront of DWP practice and the national government has recognised this work.

Presentation from the Further Education Representative.

Zoe Butler, Director of Customer Experience and Safeguarding Lead, delivered a report about the mental health support provided at Nottingham College.

(a)  Nottingham College is part of the Association of Colleges Mental Health Policy Group. It has signed up to the Student Mental Health Charter and has developed a mental health toolkit for staff to help identify students who are suffering from poor mental health; 

(b)  All schools and colleges must have a designated mental health lead;

(c)  A trip to Finland was undertaken by the group to see how the country managed the mental health of their citizens;

(d)  Throughout the education of Finnish children and young people, mental health and pastoral care is given priority. Children learn to read at 7 and exams take place at 14. There are online mental health hubs where online therapy sessions take place. The result of this approach is that there has been a decrease in the number of people using mental health services later in life;

(e)  Lessons in being a good citizen also take place in schools in Finland, which links the idea of healthy community with personal mental wellbeing;

(f)  From the findings in Finland, Nottingham College is looking to do more pastoral tutorials, tackle inequalities within certain student groups, such as carers, care leavers, LGBT+ and those in the youth or criminal justice system or are at risk;

(g)  Work needs to be done in building confidence in the workforce of the college so staff can identify students who are suffering from mental health issues. The following policies and processes have been developed to assist with this:

·  Safeguarding System – A robust process for staff to identify safeguarding issues;

·  Wellness Action Plan – To improve the recording of safeguarding and data capture at application/enrolment;

·  Fitness to Study Procedure – The process for evaluating whether a student is mentally fit to learn;

·  Wellbeing Strategy Development – Plan to support the mental wellbeing of students and colleagues.

The questions from the Board were answered as follows:

(h)  The college acts as a safe space for many students who are involved with or vulnerable to gang culture and it is important to identify and safeguard these students using these processes. We have positive engagement from the police when reporting these safeguarding issues.

Alison Michalska, Corporate Director for Children and Adults, delivered a brief update about the End of Year CYPP Action Plan.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  With the plan due to end this year, ideas are needed to create the plan for the next four years. There should be an emphasis on utilising the strengths and skills of the members of this Board for the wider Children’s Partnership Board agenda. More needs to be done to support actions rather than hearing the outcomes of projects.

RESOLVED to develop ideas for the next four years of the CYPP.

To consider meeting on the following Wednesdays at 4pm:

·  Wednesday 25 September 2019

·  Wednesday 18 December 2019

·  Wednesday 25 March 2020

Alison Michalska, Corporate Director for Children and Adults, asked the Board to consider items for future meetings.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  note the agreement of the Forward Plan by members;

(2)  approve the dates of future meetings on the following days and times:

·  Wednesday 25 September 2019, 4pm, LB31/32;

·  Wednesday 18 December 2019, 4pm, LB41;

·  Wednesday 25 March 2020, 4pm, LB31/32.