Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Children’s Service (attached).

(Agenda item 7):

The Board received the draft schedule for monitoring the achievements of the outcomes in Changing Lives which had been submitted by Haringey’s Children’s Services. The also received an overall plan for vulnerable children and young people to work within the Changing Lives document. The Board heard that the Performance Monitoring Strategy would need to be made more user friendly and that a coloured indicator (red, amber, green) would be used to highlight each individual area according to its level of concern. Further, a summary report would be produced to highlight key messages and information on a monthly and quarterly basis to the CYPSPB. This would therefore be a standard item on four of the CYPSPB meetings annually.

The Board discussed at length the use and effectiveness of the Performance Monitoring Strategy in terms of the use of figures to highlight performance. Whilst there was broad agreement to the objectives of the Strategy, the Board sought assurance that developmental targets in separate sections of the Strategy would not get bogged down in figures. With regard to the Stay Safe target, there was a commitment from the Metropolitan Police to help make the targets achievable, however concern was raised that some of the objectives were somewhat broad. The Board also heard that whilst numerical indicators were important, softer issues were important too and that this should be captured by avoiding a top-down approach to them. It was highlighted that soft issues may promote innovation in ways of changing lives, rather than using tick-box methods. There was agreement to this view. The Board were referred to governance, consultation and participation model related to the CYPSP highlighting multi-agency approaches to the partnership structures of sub-groups who work in the field of children and young people’s services. Views from these agencies would be fed back under the evaluation model. The Board also heard that some of the targets are monitored in other services, such as the Community Safety Team. There were a number of concerns and issues relating to specific priority areas and targets such as ensuring local targets were not at odds with national targets; the significance of priority 15 (empowerment of children and young people to have amore effective voice in decision-making); and the need to ensure that perceptions about each of the targets is effectively shaped.

Each Board member was invited to state what priority area they would like to focus on. The list was as follows:

Teenage pregnancy, child protection (x2), sexual health, reducing bullying, success in education, improving workforce standards, infant mortality, inequalities, looked after children, mental health needs, community based activities for all young people, positive contribution, criminal justice post sentencing, safe-guarding children, geographical focus, achievement in schools, economic situation for young people and parents to allow for independence.