Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

Sue Baker

Councillor Nilgun Canver

Maria Collins

Paul Head

Simon O’Brien                                   -Wayne Mawson substituted

Jim Shepley                                       -Niels Gedge substituted

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at Item 14 below).

No items of urgent business were received.

Members must declare any personal or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decision required in respect to these items.

No declarations of interest were made.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 July as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 2007, be confirmed as a correct record of the meeting, subject to the inclusion of Gerry Taylor being listed as a full member of the Board.

The report will be sent to follow.

A presentation will be given on the Children and Young Peoples aspects of the report.

The Board received presentations on the Children and Young People’s aspects the Haringey Health Report 2006.

Haringey Health Report 2006

It was noted that changes in the age, ethnicity and size of the population affected the way in which services were delivered. Although progress was being made in responding to these changing needs there was a lot of work to do in terms of analysing the future needs of these groups.

There were certain areas such as Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy where there were significant variances in different areas of the Borough and it was recognised that this needed to be addressed. Measures to address this were being considered.

The new GP’s contract included new methods of measuring performance and it was anticipated that these would enable a more sophisticated level of analysis. There were a number of recommendations that had been set out in the report:

• Planning to respond to population growth
• Action to address premature mortality in the Borough
• Prioritisation of medical and other health resources to reduce deaths in adults under sixty-five and those living in North East Tottenham
• Measures to change shopping, eating and cooking habits of Haringey families
• Further investigation of variances in the quality of care and improvement in care delivery where appropriate
• Ensuring the resource allocation to GP practices was based on need and invested to improve the quality and outcomes of care delivery

It was noted that the PCT and partners had worked with partners to form the new Well Being Strategic Framework, which aimed to promote a healthier Haringey by improving well-being and tackling inequalities.

Under the Well-Being Framework the Board was the lead group for tackling the following areas:

• Infant Mortality
• Teenage Pregnancy
• Smoking –in pregnancy and in homes
• Sexual Health –Chlamydia screening
• Physical Activity –in schools
• Food and Nutrition –school dinners
• Young Carers

It was noted that there had been discussion with the various Theme Boards and that a Seminar had taken place on 5 October to discuss the Framework, which was due to be adopted by the Health and Well-Being Strategic Partnership Board on 22 October.

In response to queries as to how the effectiveness of the Framework would be measured; the Board was advised that the Framework had been built upon existing strategies such as the Sustainable Community Strategy and LAA targets. By using these as a basis it was envisaged that the effectiveness of the Framework could be measured against existing performance indicators.  

It was noted that the transitional period from childhood to adulthood was an area where there was often a gap in service provision and that this should be addressed within the Framework particularly the problems highlighted in the NEETS targets.

RESOLVED:

To note the presentation.

A presentation will be given on the Children and Young People’s aspects of the Strategy.

This presentation was given as part of the previous item.

The Board received a presentation on the Primary Care Strategy.

The new Primary Care Strategy had been formed in order to address variances and provide consistency across the services that were provided to patients and to improve the patient experience by better integrating services management resources of resources.

Following consultation with the public three key priorities had been identified:

• Provision of quick and convenient access to primary care
• Continuity of relationships
• Care closer to home  

It was noted that under the new Super Health Centre Model a range of services would be brought together in one site. This approach was intended to make it easier for people to access services without having to go to hospital or other specialist centres.

The Board discussed the likely impact that the new Strategy and Health Centre Model would have upon children and young people.  In response to a query as to whether consultation had been carried out with children and young people in order to gauge their views on these proposals, it was noted that the PCT intended to visit schools during the consultation process.

The Chair suggested that the Youth Council would provide a useful forum for consulting young people as it met on a regular basis.

The Board was advised that to date there had been no consultation with young people with regard to how the new Super Health Centres should be designed in order to meet their needs. However, it was acknowledged that specific areas of the Centre would need to be designed with children and young people in mind and after consultation with them.

It was noted that some young people may wish to access services independently of their parents and that services should be made accessible for young people wishing to do this.

The Leader expressed concern that an opportunity for greater partnership working was not being fully utilised within the proposals; it was noted that no reference was made to the inclusion of social workers or other partners within the Centres.

The Board was advised that partnership working was an important part of the Strategy and that this would be developed further later on the process.

The Chair thanked Vicky Hobart and Gerry Taylor for the presentations that were given.  

RESOLVED: 

1. To note the presentations on the Children and Young People’s aspects of the Haringey Health Report 2006 and Primary Care Strategy.

1. That a set of performance indicators should be drawn up to enable to Board to monitor the progress on a regular basis.

The report will be sent to follow.

The Board considered a report that set out the key performance indicators for Changing Lives during August 2007 and further information on the new LAA targets. A presentation was also given on the GSCE results and results at Key Stages 2 and 3 for 2007.

It was noted that GCSE results achieved at A* to C grade in Haringey for 2007 had improved by 5.3% against the previous year and were now on target to meet the national average for 2008.

The Board noted that progress had been made in the results achieved at Key Stages 2 and 3 by Looked After Children and that attendance figures for both Primary and Secondary Schools were now moving towards the national average.

The Board placed on record its congratulations to schools in the Borough on the results achieved during the last academic year.

RESOLVED:

To note the presentation.

The report will be sent to follow.

The Board considered a report that included details of each of the Action Plans for the ten cross cutting areas identified in the Changing Lives Programme for 2007/08. These areas had been framed within multi-agency plans as part of a planned transition to achieving a more cross-cutting form of planning, with aligned and shared budgets.

The Board was advised that the report included details of the NEET targets and set out the responsibility of each partner for achieving these. Included within the report was also a block on the pooled resources that would be used to raise standards at Key Stage 2.

It was noted that an Action Plan for tackling bullying and street crime was being compiled and that this would be examined at the next Youth Summit. The Board was advised that eventually budget streams would be pooled and that a monitoring and evaluation process would be established.

The Leader expressed concern that the Performance Indicators had not been fully discussed and expressed concern that NEET targets were not being met.

The Board was advised that the comparisons drawn with other Boroughs in North London were not helpful as the Borough was very different in its make up and this accounted for many of the difficulties the Borough faced in meetings its NEET targets.

The Chair noted that this was an area of concern and suggested that a report outlining the key actions being taken to address areas where performance was poor in relation to the NEET targets over the next six to nine months, should be considered by the Board at its next meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. To note the Action Plans.   

2. That a report be brought to the Boards next meeting outlining the progress the key actions that were being taken to address the NEET targets over the next six to nine months.

This is a dicussion item for input from all partners.

The Board received a presentation on the Cross Cutting Plans for Improving the Life Chances of Children with Disabilities.

It was noted that a Panel had been convened, which was comprised of partners and parent representatives, to look at transitional arrangements for children with a Statement of Special Needs. This had been set up in order to improve the tracking and monitoring of children moving from the responsibility of one organisation to another and to ensure that their transition plans were satisfactory.

As individuals often had several plans in place it was work was being carried out to identify how these could be streamlined. New performance indicators in relation to the time taken to produce plans were also in place and these specified that plans should be produced within twenty-six weeks.

A Family Support Panel had also been established to look at families requiring respite. The success of families applying for respite currently often depended on the case put forward by the family and the families articulacy in expressing this. There was a need to ensure that there was consistency and that families applying respite were considered on the merits of their case rather than the strength of argument put forward. Neighbouring Boroughs were also being consulted to address concerns expressed by parents over consistency of approach.

Work was being carried out with the Child Development Centre to improve the integration of services and carry out forward planning for children with a diagnosis that meant long term care was required. Within this the long term needs of the family were also considered.

A central database was also being created that would include details currently held on the Disability Register. Ways of engaging parents were being identified and one possibility included producing a card that would identify them as having a child on the Register. At present large documents setting out the child’s needs often had to be presented by parents to demonstrate entitlement when travelling or when seeking other concessions.

It was noted that work was being done to provide better continuity for children throughout their lives and better support for parents.

As part of providing better integrated services eight parents had been appointed as ‘critical friends’ to work as a group to provide feedback to the Council on the services provided.

On behalf of the Board the Chair congratulated the Service on the progress that had been made in relation to the integration of services and the work that had been done with parents to improve outcomes for children.

RESOLVED:

To note the report.

Each sector of the Partnership will be invited to give a three minute oral update on the most prevalent issues coming from their respective sector. Longer items should be submitted as a short paper and tabled at the meeting.

The Board was provided with a brief update from each of the partners.

Police

The Board was advised that work continued to be done with schools to

reduce crime perpetrated against and by young people. Two areas where particular emphasis was being placed were in reducing instances of mobile phone theft and knife crime.

Successful work had also been done in identifying youngsters involved in car crime and reducing levels of car crime.

Intelligence has been gathered regarding a planned shooting and preventative action had been taken to avoid this. This issue was ongoing and continued to be monitored and the necessary actions taken.

PCT

Discussed previously.

HAVCO

The Community Engagement Plan was underway and representatives would be elected in February 2008.

The Chair noted that this would be the last meeting that Stanley Hui attended as he was leaving HAVCO in November and thanked him for his work on behalf of the Board and wished him well in his future career.

Community Safety

It was noted that a post had been created in the Victim Support Service to deal specifically with youth crime. In addition to this there had been discussion with partners regarding plans to provide each school in the Borough with a grant of £1500 to fund ‘Value Life’ activities, which would be determined by young people.

Following discussion it was noted that the Secretary of State had indicated that £60M would be allocated for Youth Work in London and that the Mayor for London’s Office would be issuing guidance on the criteria for obtaining this.

The Board discussed progress in relation to the Northumberland Park initiative and the importance of ensuring that partners worked together to make certain that this moved forward was reiterated. It was noted that a meeting had taken place between representatives of the partners leading on this and that difficulties over the exchange of personal information had been discussed.

RESOLVED:

To note that updates given. 

The report will be sent to follow.

The Board considered a revised terms of reference that had been amended to take account of recent developments in the Sustainable Community Strategy, the Local Area Agreement and the CYPSP arrangements for Governance, consultation and participation.

The Board was advised that the diagram included within the Terms of Reference had been amended to reflect the Children’s Trust Board arrangements that came into force in 2008 and that requirements of this were now met. An Advisory Group, bringing together the Chairs of forums and local partnership boards with representatives of key agencies in the Children’s Trust arrangements had also been set up to take a strategic overview of progress.

It was suggested that the membership of the TPCT should be amended to replace Director Strategy, Performance and Children's Services and   North Central London Partnership for Health with Executive Director.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to amendment to title of the PCT representative, the Terms of Reference be approved.

No items were raised.

To consider any items of urgent business raised under Item 2 above.

No items of urgent business were raised.

To confirm the dates of the future meetings as listed below:

• 10 December 2007, 6.30pm
• 5 February 2008, 6.30pm
• 1 April 2008, 6.30pm
• 6 May 2008, 6.30pm

The dates listed below for future meetings were noted:

10 December 2007, 6.30pm

5 February 2008, 6.30pm

1 April 2008, 6.30pm

6 May 2008, 6.30pm

Please note that Partners should submit any proposed agenda items for the next meeting (10 December 2007) to Patricia Walker, Policy and Programme Manager, no later than 27 November 2007.

Patricia.walker@haringey.gov.uk

Board members were asked to submit any proposed agenda items to Patricia Walker, Policy and Programme Manager, by 27 November 2007.

patricia.walker@haringey.gov.uk

At present the following item is proposed for the next meeting:

• Strategic Focus –Mental Health

The dates list below were noted:

10 December, 6.30pm

5 February, 6.30pm

1 April, 6.30pm

6 May, 6.30pm