Agenda and minutes

Councillor Jackson  -  unwell

Councillor Langton  -  leave

Councillor Woodward  -  personal

Clive Chambers

if you need advice on declaring an interest, please contact the Governance Officer above, if possible before the day of the meeting

None.

Last meeting held 16 September 2019 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2019 were agreed as a true record and the Chair signed them.

Report of Director of Children’s Integrated Services

Helen Blackman, Director of Children’s Integrated Services, presented the report, which detailed the Service’s performance during April to September 2019 (quarters 1 & 2).

In response to questions from the Board, the following was stated:

·  with regard to the age profile of children in care and duration of care, it was explained that ages 0-4 are easier to place in adoption / foster care, while ages 8-9 are more difficult to place and tend to stay in care longer;

·  the target of 74% for ‘same placement for at least 2 years’ is set to be ambitious in relation to the stability experienced by children in care. The Council’s performance is below this ambitious local target, but is comparable to statistical neighbours;

·  the target of 90% for ‘Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire’ (SDQ), rather than a 100% target, is set to allow for those that can’t or don’t want to complete a questionnaire. A 90% target still represents ambition towards good performance;

·  the SDQ is a rolling 12 month measure to capture the churn in children in care population and to ensure that SDQs are completed in a timely manner for children entering care and to reflect exits from care.

RESOLVED to note the performance information.

Report of Director of Children’s Integrated Services

Matthew Jenkins, Team Manager (CAMHS), and Dr Pallab Majumder, Clinical Psychologist (CAMHS), presented the report, which provided an update on the development and implementation of the ‘Children Looked After Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service’, a jointly-funded multi-disciplinary service which aims to improve responses to the mental health and emotional well-being of the City’s children and young people in care.

In response to questions from the Board, the following was stated:

·  with regards to the challenge in respect of the reported increase in waiting time, it was explained that the high waiting time during February / March was due to staff vacancies and should start to reduce as the service is now fully staffed again and has also received additional funding;

·  in relation to preventing self-harm. the service utilises wider resources such as SHARP, and works with children, carers and EDT;

·  with regards to the age profile of the children accessing the service, the service works mainly with older children, but are starting to see more primary age children, so have started to work with primary schools, including with SENCOs;

·  in response to the comments regarding the complex landscape of CAMHS provision, it was acknowledged that while wider CAMHS services and pathways for support can seem complicated for parents and carers at times, the CAMHS CLA service endeavours to work with both the child and carer to assess the needs, and includes a network of child in care nurses, paediatricians etc to ensure stability towards recovery;

·  it was highlighted that the City CAMHS service was considered well performing by OFSTED, mainly due to it being a single system working towards positive outcomes for the child and family;

·  with regards to queries about how long we work with young people, it’s difficult to quantify an average time for working with children as some may need nothing more than advice, while others may be more in-depth and receive assistance throughout their time in care.

RESOLVED that the

(1)  Board continued to support the development of the service;

(2)  Director of Children’s Integrated Services be requested to submit to a future meeting a presentation in respect of the ‘THRIVE’ model of care.

Report of Director of Children’s Integrated Services

During consideration of this item, Councillors Joannou and Watson left the meeting.

Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Lead, presented the report, which detailed the findings of the ‘Have Your Say Survey 2018/19’, including highlighting areas for further inquiry via the Children in Care Council and detailing changes in the way the survey is carried out.

In response to questions from the Board, the following was stated:

·  the questionnaire was available to 620 responders, from age 5years and over, and contained 10 sections, including tick box and open text answers;

·  in respect to whether the number of questions and the format of the survey was a barrier to completion of the survey, Jon explained that there is a simplified survey that can be completed, and Helen Blackman stated that we have tried to simplify it over time, whilst being able to compare results year on year. The Board asked that we consider whether this can be further simplified or think about what other support can be offered to increase responses;

·  in relation to how children know how we have used their feedback, every responder receives a ‘You Said, We Did’ letter.

RESOLVED

(1)  that the thanks of the Board to those involved in the various very successful events held recently be recorded;

(2)  that the Board:

(a)  notes the findings of the Survey;

(b)  supports its use in informing the decision making of the Board and its partners, and the efforts to improve take-up in survey response;

(c)  commends those that responded and those that assisted with assessment of the results;

(d)  will work with the Children in Care Council to explore areas for further enquiry, and consider how to increase the response rate;

(e)  approves the move to a cost-neutral model of survey distribution.

Verbal update by Engagement and Participation Lead Officer

Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Lead, updated the Board on the current work programme of the Children in Care Council and Care Leavers’ Your Voice Groups, and agreed to follow up the recommendations from the 2018/19 Have Your Say Survey with them in their 2020 meeting programme.

To note the forward plan and agree the date / time of an additional meeting of the Board if considered necessary

RESOLVED to note the forward plan and request the Head of Children’s Strategy and Improvement / Governance Officer set up an additional meeting, potentially for February 2020.