Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received fromCouncillor AJ Matsiko (bereavement) and Councillor Maria Watson (medical appointment).

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2020

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2020 were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair agreed to take this item first due to the need to resolve technical issues to enable participation of officers in the Play and Youth Services item.

The Committee noted its work programme for the remainder of 2020/21.

Items were agreed for the March meeting as follows:

·  Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse - to review progress in implementing outstanding actions from the action plan

·  Children’s Integrated Services Improvement Programme - to scrutinise progress in implementation of the Improvement Plan

·  Speech, Language and Communication Services - to review support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs

The Committee will also discuss the work programme for 2021/22 at its March meeting. There is a list of suggestions for consideration on the 2020/21 work programme

Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Wilf Fearon, Head of Early Help Services spoke to the Committee about the work of Play and Youth Services and how provision is targeted to support those children and young people most in need of support.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  The service delivers a whole range of social and recreational activities to children and young people aged 5-16 years.  There has been a recent reshaping of the service to look at a more targeted approach to delivery in the light of the available budget and concerns about serious youth violence.

b)  County Lines has been a concern for a while. Those who have had contact with the Police are from a range of ethnic and social backgrounds, but there is limited knowledge about young Asian boys.

c)  The Exploitation and Violence Reduction Hub works with partners to map and understand young people and how to share intelligence and engage with them.

d)  Play and Youth Services delivers activity from a number of venues in three localities, covering the north, south and central city. 

e)  Covid has impacted on the Service, for example in quarter 4 last year (January – March 2020) the service had approximately 8,000 attendees.  In quarter 3 this year (October – December 2020) this was down to 2,000. 

f)  Two members of staff are seconded to the Exploitation and Violence Reduction Hub to ensure closer working and sharing of training and experience.

g)  Other partnership working includes working closely with voluntary groups and Area Based Grant partners, the Youth Justice Services, which has just received a grant for youth work, some of which is being used to develop a detached youth team, which will work closely with Play and Youth Services staff to support the work they are doing with children most at risk across city.  The fund will also be used to support other partners to increase their capacity to work with children and young people.

h)  The Youth and Play Service works with children and young people in schools and alternative provision, particularly in the area of knife crime and serious youth violence, to let them know how they can engage with support and get to know staff.

i)  The Service is also involved in family support work, offering constructive activities and interventions to those referred via targeted youth support.

j)  To ensure that work is aligned with partners, Play and Youth Services staff attend a range of meetings to share and receive information, for example the Child Criminal Exploitation Panel and the Out of Court Disposal Panel.

k)  Joint training is undertaken with partners, including training on young women and gangs, targeted youth work and sexual exploitation.

l)  In full lockdown staff are liaising with children and young people through online activities.  Those regarded as vulnerable are seen more often and staff have dropped off resource packs to support them to stay engaged.

m)  The Service doesn’t record if a child or young person has  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Councillor David Mellen - Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Schools and Communications, supported by Katherine Underwood and Nicholas Lee, Director of Education Service, gave a presentation about progress against objectives within the Council Plan 2019 to 2023 that relate to children and young people. He highlighted the following information:

a)  Covid has had a significant impact on schools, especially as arrangements have changed several times.  Ofsted has stopped inspecting and there are no exams. The Portfolio Holder’s report was provided to the Committee in the context that schools are not able to do what they would like to be doing, but are doing amazingly in the light of a lack of internet access and IT equipment.  In spite of this, all actions are expected to be rated amber or green, indicating that progress is in the right direction

b)  Highlights include the following:

  I.  breakfast clubs, which were few and far between 10-15 years ago, are now a common feature;

  II.  every child will get a school place, even if not in the location they would prefer, and a new free school, to be run by the Archway Trust, is being built on the former Clarendon site;

  III.  240 school staff from 80 schools have accessed mental health first aid training.

c)  It is known that the mental health of children and young people has suffered during Covid and the extent of that (including the impact on behaviour) has yet to be established.  CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) podcasts and video training is being provided to equip school staff with the basics. 

d)  There has been a decrease in referrals to CAMHS in the current circumstances, but they are beginning to increase again.  It is difficult to work in schools on a face to face basis, given the current safety arrangements, so CAMHS staff are having to rely on other methods, which are not always the easiest for children and young people with mental health difficulties.

e)  The aim is to ensure that all children go to a school rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding but inspections have now been paused for a year. The city now has a higher level of such ratings than in the past, but is still not at 100%.

f)  There has been a reduction in exclusions, influenced to some extent by Covid. Close working is ongoing with the small number of schools which have the highest proportion of permanent exclusions.  Engagement is taking place on a number of different levels, including portfolio holder conversations with the school Head/ Trust Director.  If some schools with a mixed catchment are able to achieve low levels of exclusions, it means that all schools should be able to manage this.  Exclusion often solves issues for the school, but not for the child/ young person and their family. Unofficial exclusions should never happen, eg asking the child/ young person not to attend at certain times. Schools are being asked to sign up to a pledge not to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.