Agenda and minutes

Councillor Maria Joannou (personal)

None

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2020

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2020 were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Helen Blackman, Director for Children’s Integrated Services gave an update on work to manage the impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Services.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  In response to feedback from parents about concerns of isolation, financial worries and lack of play and social opportunities for children, the Early Help Service has worked to enhance the virtual and telephone offer for families, expand communications to ensure that families are kept informed about the support that is available and provided resource packs for those unable to access things online.

b)  Some parents have also raised concerns about managing child behaviour at this time and issues relating to mental health and domestic abuse.  In response to those concerns parenting programmes have been adapted for delivery online, with 1:1 support as required.  Within four weeks delivery of group parenting programmes moved online but group size is restricted to 6 parents to allow all participants to engage fully.  This has reduced the number of parents who can access a session but it has been possible to hold more sessions due to reduced travel time.  Services have been in weekly contact with 129 women who have been referred to access the Freedom Programme.

c)  The Family Intervention Project has continued to provide a service in people’s homes supported by the use of personal protective equipment.  However, it has been challenging to provide services outside of the home due to lack of access to physical buildings.

d)  It has been a challenging time for care leavers particularly those who were reaching the end of their period in care and needing to move to new accommodation.  Some care leavers asked if their placements could continue until things become more settled and this has been facilitated.

e)  The Youth Justice Service has continued to provide socially distanced face to face visits for the high risk cohort, with virtual contact for medium and low risk cases.  Major projects such as implementation of the SkillMill and embedding trauma-informed practice has continued. 

f)  Capacity to deliver online health and dental assessments for children in care has been a challenge.

g)  There have been delays in the court process for securing permanence for some children with a plan for adoption, particularly in situations when all parties aren’t in agreement and courts want to make sure that all parties have a fair opportunity to engage.  While courts are now operating again there are significant backlogs.  Despite this, plans have continued to be progressed and children placed with adoptive families. 

h)  Feedback has been sought from children and families on their experiences.  This has found that some parents and children have really liked the virtual services as it doesn’t require travel and childcare to be arranged and enables young people to connect with others in a way that they feel comfortable, but it has been challenging to deliver some services online, particularly where there are confidentiality  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Schools and Communications, Nick Lee, Director for Education and John Dexter, Education Services spoke to the Committee about the re-opening of schools following their closure to the majority of pupils in March, and the impact of that closure.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  Many children were away from school for six months and during that time many did not have the appropriate space, technology or environment at home to facilitate learning.  There will have been learning loss but the scale of this isn’t yet known.

b)  Some children will have also been without outdoor space for a period of time which limited their ability to play and exercise.

c)  Some children will have had regular contact with their school while they have been unable to attend in person but this has not been consistent and it is known that some pupils had no contact with their school. 

d)  Many children will have been pleased to return to school with the benefits of normality, structure and socialisation, but for children who were already anxious about attending school the six month gap may have made this worse.  It is important to recognise the need for balance between education and wellbeing.

e)  In anticipation of school closures, children known to social care were risk-assessed to identify vulnerable individuals and their needs. 

f)  The Council has a good relationship with, and understanding of the schools which form part of the Nottingham Schools Trust but the Council has been reliant on the willingness of other schools to engage with the Council during this time.  In order to support this the Council established a network of link officers attached to each school to facilitate communication, information sharing and the management of practical issues such as provision for pupils entitled to free school meals.  This arrangement has been well-received by Ofsted and the Department for Education and will be continued in order to manage the issues than are likely to remain for the foreseeable future.  Schools have also fed back that this work has been valuable.

g)  The Council has supported the early years sector to open as many private settings as possible because the early years offer is vital to the City’s ambitions for its children.

h)  The summer programme recognised the need to have opportunities for the huge numbers of children who had not been in school since March.  There was a particular focus on Year 6 pupils who would be transitioning to secondary school and a range of activities took place outside over four sites.  Activities reflected issues raised by the Educational Psychology survey and work to address these issues continues into the autumn term.  It is hoped that all schools will engage with this because there are some concerns about the potential for behavioural issues and it will be crucial to have a graduated response to intervention through the Routes to Inclusion scheme rather than a move towards exclusions. 

Lisa Desouza, Senior Educational Psychologist, gave  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Helen Blackman, Director for Children’s Integrated Services updated the Committee on progress in implementing the action plan arising from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).  They highlighted the following information:

a)  A range of work has taken place to ensure that survivors have the appropriate support, including clearly communicating the support that is available, signposting to appropriate services and listening to survivors.

b)  There is now a dedicated Information Officer to support individuals in accessing their records as it is recognised how important this is to people.

c)  The Council has improved how it responds to victims and survivors by offering a written apology and taking a more empathetic approach.  The Council is working with counterparts at Nottinghamshire County Council to ensure a whole system response.

d)  Having listened to the feedback from survivors, and based on a needs assessment, a new service is being developed to support victims of violence and sexual abuse.  It is proposed that sexual violence and abuse commissioning is mainstreamed into the existing domestic violence and abuse governance structures.

e)  Partners, including the two local authorities, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and relevant clinical commissioning groups, have agreed to come together as a system and commission delivery of an Adult Sexual Violence Hub and Therapy Support Service for Nottinghamshire.  This Service will begin in January 2021.

f)  Work is ongoing in relation to reviewing the risks posed by current and former foster carers, including those from independent fostering agencies.  All agencies have been written to but completion of the work has been delayed by Covid-19.  A strong methodology for dealing with repeated concerns has been developed to ensure that they are appropriately scrutinised, and there has been a lot of learning about erring on the side of caution.  An external consultant has been engaged to provide external assurance on how the Council is responding on this issue.

g)  The NSPCC was commissioned to review practice against the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Framework and while individual agencies are responding, a partnership-wide feedback event to consider feedback had to be postponed due to Covid-19.  The review identified lots of strengths but also areas for improvement, which now have to be implemented across the safeguarding partnership.

h)  The Council is working with the National LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) Network to promote clearer scrutiny of allegations of sexual abuse of children in care by individuals in a position of trust or a peer.  The Independent Reviewing Officers’ Annual Report will also provide an independent view in relation to how the system is responding to allegations.

i)  As outlined at the Committee’s meeting in July, a lot of work is taking place to refresh the Service’s quality assurance framework and ensure practice standards reflect lessons learnt, for example ensuring the voice of the child is embedded throughout.

During the subsequent discussion the following points were raised:

j)  There are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Resolved to include the following issues on the Committee’s future work programme:

  i.  progress in implementing outstanding actions from the action plan arising from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse;

  ii.  arrangements for children and young people with no recourse to public funds;

  iii.  citizenship registration for children and young people;

  iv.  impact of Covid-19 on attainment by Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority pupils; and

  v.  how the Council engages with children and young people from Traveller families.

To agree to meet on the following Thursdays at 10am:

·  26 November 2020

·  28 January 2021

·  25 March 2021

The Committee agreed to meet on the following Thursdays at 10am:

·  26 November 2020

·  28 January 2021

·  25 March 2021