Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

Graham Badman

Chris Barclay

Councillor Claire Kober

Rob Larkman

Mary MacLeod

Dr Ita O’Donovan

Cenk Orhan

Clare Pannicker                                -Richard Milner substituted

Councillor Lorna Reith

Jim Shepley

The Chair will consider the admission of any items of Urgent Business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with under Item 19 below).

No Urgent Items of Business were received.

Members must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in the consideration of those items.

No Declarations of Interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held no 5 October 2009 as a correct record.

Items 1-4 inclusive: 4.30 – 4.35pm

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the inclusion of an additional paragraph with respect to **, the minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2009 be confirmed as a correct.

A presentation will be made following the tour of Children’s Centre.

Attached for information is a report that went to the Council’s Cabinet on 17 November 2009.

10 minutes / 4.35 – 4.45pm

10 minutes / 4.45 – 4.55pm.

The Trust considered a report that set out how the recently established Family Intervention Project (FIP) would operate.

The Trust was advised that the Family Intervention Project (FIP) formed part of the Government’s Think Family Strategy, which was aimed at reforming the systems and services provided for vulnerable children, young people and adults, to secure create better outcomes for children by coordinating the support given by the agencies providing services to families.

It was noted that there were three types of FIP based around the following areas:

• Anti Social Behaviour
• Child Poverty
• Youth Crime

In terms of the resources available to fund the FIP the Trust was advised that the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) would provide funding until 2011. It had been indicated that there was a strong possibility that this would be extended.

In addition the Government had recently announced that further funding would be made available to Local Authorities to bid from to establish a Housing FIP. The Council’s Strategic Housing Team was currently in the process of putting a bid together.

The Trust was advised that the key intention of the project was to pull together a range of services around families with persistent Anti Social Behaviour problems. By working with families in a very focused and intensive way the project aimed to changed ingrained patterns of behaviour.

In response to a query it was clarified that approval was being sought for the Assistant Director to develop governance and structural arrangements required to facilitate that project. There was agreement that the Head of Stronger, Safer Communities should also assist in establishing arrangements for the project.

The Chair noted that there were existing pathways and working being carried out that could feed into the FIP and expressed his support for this type of joined up working.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the Deputy Director of the Children’s Network, in ? with the Head of Stronger, Safer Communities, be tasked to develop the structural and governance arrangements necessary the facilitate the FIP.  

This report will be sent to follow.

10 minutes / 4.55 – 5.05pm

The Trust considered a report that presented the revised Information Sharing Protocol and sought approval of its immediate adoption.

It was noted that changes to the Protocol had been required in order to comply with the Haringey Safeguarding Plan and to reflect new national guidance published by the DCSF. The Guidance note attached had been produced to assist and enable staff to make decisions on a case by case basis.

In response to concern was raised that the Mental Health Trust responded consistently slowly to requests for information the Trust was advised that the Protocol did not address the length of time within which requests should be responded to. However, this was dealt with elsewhere and would be monitored appropriately.

The Chair requested that any instances of poor response times should be reported to chief officers so that the necessary follow up action could be taken.

RESOLVED:

10 minutes 5.05 – 5.15pm.

The Trust received a report that outlined planned developments with respect to maternity services.

The Trust was advised that during the last decade there had been a move away from delivering maternity services local and that more services had become hospital based. A key priority of the Plan was to change this model and move maternity services back into the local community.

It was noted that this work would contribute to towards the achievement of Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets within the Trust’s responsibility.

In response to a query the Trust was advised that there was a focus on the North Middlesex and Whittington Hospitals as the majority of women in the Borough opted to use maternity services delivered by these Hospitals.

RESOLVED:

10 minutes / 5.15 – 5.25pm.

The Trust received a report that provided an overview of progress made with respect to the Child Poverty Strategy.

It was noted that the Delivery Plan was currently being refreshed by multi agency Working Group. This group had also been tasked with identifying how data and resources could be better utilised across the Partnership to achieve joint objectives.

The Trust discussed the impact the current financial climate was having upon parents and the need to increase awareness amongst this group of the Benefits available to them. This was particularly important to people from emerging communities who were vulnerable to loan sharks and other sources of unregulated credit.

It was noted that often people in financial difficulty, who had used loan sharks, were reluctant to come forward and inform the Police. Without a victim the Police were unable to prosecute offenders. The Trust was advised that the Police were undertaking a larger piece of work looking at the exploitation of immigrants and part of this would look at this area.

Concern was expressed at the capacity of the Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) to offer the support and advice required with respect to financial problems at the current time. There was agreement that other means of getting information across to parents were required.

In response to a query the Trust was advised that the measure of poverty used was the Government’s definition which applied to any family in receipt of Benefits. Other measures included the number of children eligible for free school meals.

The Trust noted that good progress had been made with respect to reducing the gap in educational attainment for children living in poverty.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

10 minutes / 5.25 – 5.35pm.

The Trust considered a report that provided an analysis of the preliminary results at Foundation Stage, Key Stages 1, 2, 4 and post 16 for 2009. The report also reviewed attendance and exclusions during the period.

It was noted that gap in educational attainment between Haringey and the national average continued to narrow with the best results to date being seen this year. The attainment of Looked After Children was particularly good with the percentage achieving 5+ A-C grades increasing from 22.5% in 2008 to 31.2% in 2009. This was expected to be significantly above the national average.

In response to a query the Trust was assured that any child who was permanently excluded was not left outside the system and that there were measures in place to ensure that they continued their education. The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London often provided places for children that had been excluded.

It was noted that the fall in average attendance was largely due to the number of people affected by Swine Flu and the inclement weather experienced in February.

In response to a question the Trust was advised that any fraudulent reporting of results would be picked up during statistical analysis. The Trust was advised that there was a general feeling amongst teachers that the support received from the Council had helped schools to achieve improvements in standards and consequently there was not the inclination to ?

There was agreement that schools should be congratulated on the improvement in performance that had been achieved.  

10 minutes / 5.35 – 5.45pm.

The Board considered a report that provided an overview of performance against Local Area Agreement (LAA) and other targets within the Trust’s responsibility since the last meeting.

It was noted that performance against the number of Initial and Core Assessments completed within the specified timescale was still below target and the Trust acknowledged that there were legitimate reasons for this. There was agreement that it would be useful if an interim target, of the number of assessments completed in ten days, was established to track progress with respect to these targets.

The Director of Children and Young People’s Services noted that there may be issues that would make modelling this. He agreed to look at the implications of establishing an interim target and advised that he would be report back to the Trust on whether this was viable.

It was noted that improved training and raising of awareness amongst staff across the agencies working with children had led to an increase in the number of notifications received. There was agreement that it would be useful for the Trust to received a report analysing trends with respect to this.

In response to a query the Chair advised that there was information that detailed where referrals were received from in terms of geographical location and he requested that this information was circulated to the Trust.

RESOLVED:

10 minutes / 5.45 – 5.55pm.

The Trust received a report that presented the final iteration of the Safeguarding Plan for Haringey for approval.

The Trust was advised that the Plan was now presented in a more streamlined format that was designed to simplify the programme and ensure that there was a focus on the delivery of actions that had to be achieved in terms of Safeguarding in the short term.

Since the report had been circulated a number of the actions showing as Red had been achieved including:

• Family Support Strategy –this would be published by the end of December
• Mental Health Specialist for Referral and Assessment Team –this had now been resolved
• Effective Working at Child Protection Conference –this would be complete by the end of December
• Expansion of Social Work Graduate Trainee Scheme–this had now been expanded and funding had been identified for the continuation of the scheme
• Developing a Multi Agency Core Safeguarding Induction Programme –it was noted that the completion of the second phase of the induction programme was now on track with respect to the attendance of appropriate staff
• Tools Implemented to Help Ensure the Quality of NHS Referrals Meet Acceptable Standards –work had now been carried out with NHS colleagues with respect to this

The Chair noted that there was also a detailed evidence log to demonstrate how each of these had been achieved.   

In response to a question the Director of Children’s Services advised that he considered that children in the Borough were now safer than they had been prior to this work being undertaken. There was evidence that internal departments within the Council and partnership agencies and were working in a more coordinated way and information was being shared more quickly and effectively than previously.

The Trust was advised that NHS Haringey had employed an independent team to carry out a ‘temperature test’ to assess how well the organisation dealt with Safeguarding issues.  This had shown that the outcome of this had been very positive with the organisation being cited as an a good example of innovative practices.

There was agreement that a tangible sense of joint ownership had been developed across the Partnership over the last six months.

The Trust was advised that there were now nine Social Workers from the USA working in Haringey and a further eleven would be in post by the end of January.

RESOLVED:

A verbal report will be given.

10 minutes / 5.55 – 6.05pm.

The Trust was advised that the Department for Children for Schools and Families (DCSF) had recently issued consultation on guidance with respect to new legislation regarding Children’s Trusts.

This document would be circulated to the Trust and the Chair requested that any comments should be returned to Patricia Walker by 11 January 2010.

RESOLVED:

10 minutes / 6.05 – 6.15pm.

The Trust received a report that presented the Children’s Trust Communication Plan for approval.

In response to a query the Trust was advised that it was recognised that any change in administration following the May elections may mean that alterations may be required.

RESOLVED:

5 minutes / 6.15 – 6.20pm.  

The Trust was advised that this was due for review and would be circulated for comments following the meeting.

It was noted that the Induction Sessions with the Director of Children’s Services, for new members of the Trust, had not yet taken place and that this should be taken into account within the Risk Register.

It was confirmed that arrangements for the Development Session agreed at the previous meeting were being made and that this would be held in the New Year.

RESOLVED:

A verbal report will be given.

5 minutes / 6.20 – 6.25pm.

The Trust received a verbal update on the work of the Area Children’s Partnerships (CAPs)

It was noted that these had not met since the previous meeting; however these were due to meet during the second week in January and a fuller update on their work would be received at the next meeting.

There had been changes to the Chairs of the CAPs since the previous meeting and these were now Chaired by the following people:

• CAP North                 -
• CAP West                  -Chris Barclay
• CAP South                 -Eleanor Brazil

In addition these were supported by the Council’s Deputy Director, Children’s Networks.

RESOLVED:

That the verbal update be noted.

To raise any items of AOB.

No items of AOB were raised.

To consider any new items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 2 above.

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

To note the dates of future meetings set out below:

• 9 February 2010
• 15 April 2010

Items 18 to 20 inclusive: 5 minutes / 6.30 -6.35pm.

The following dates of future meetings were noted:

• 9 February 2010
• 15 April 2010