Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting and noted that apologies had been received from the following:

Sue Baker

Helen Brown

Councillor Nilgun Canver

Lenny Kinnear

Jane Lithgow

Dr Ita O’Donovan

Margaret Sumner

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 under Item 15 below).

No items of Urgent Business were received.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting, held on 5 February 2008, as a correct record of the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the amendment set out below, the minutes of the meeting held on 5 February were confirmed as a correct record of the meeting.

Page six, penultimate paragraph, second line:

‘The Board was advised that a conference was being held in April for Head Teachers in order to address proposed reforms to post sixteen education.’

A presentation will be given.

The Board received a verbal report on the Single Referral Route (SRR) and its implementation over the last fifteen months.

It was noted that the SRR had been established to simplify the referral process by forming one generic route. The implementation of the SRR followed criticism that the large number of referral routes previously in place caused confusion and meant that information was not shared amongst agencies effectively. As part of the new SRR parents were able to give permission for personal information to be shared amongst agencies. This enabled a more joined up and consistent approach to be taken.

The Board was advised that children and young people raising concerns been excluded from the SRR. This had been considered appropriate as this group were particularly vulnerable and more stringent were checks were added.

A document was circulated setting out the structure around the SRR and the Board was advised of the statutory and non statutory requirements in place.

In response to suggestion that the format of the pro forma used for the SRR should be reviewed to ensure that it did not require unnecessary information, the Board was advised that it had been developed in line with the national model.

Concern was raised regarding the sharing of information and it was noted that unless there was ‘buy in’ from senior officers and all partners the system would not be effective.  The Leader echoed this concern and noted that there were still cases which were not picked up by the system and underlined the need for all partners to ensure that information was shared appropriately.  

It was noted that there were Partners who did not regularly attend Board meetings and agreement that the issue of attendance and membership generally needed to be reviewed.

The Board discussed the current arrangements in place regarding the attendance of representatives from the Hospitals, whereby the PCT acted as the key representative and individual hospital representatives attended only if there were an issue of specific interest to them, and there was agreement that this may no longer be appropriate and should be reviewed. The Leader suggested that this issue should be discussed further outside the meeting.

In to a query as to whether information coming via the SRR would be shared with the Voluntary Sector, the Board was advised that legal advice had been taken in relation to this issue and this had stated that the sharing of information with non statutory organisations was not appropriate. It was noted that if a Voluntary organisation wished to make a referral the SRR should be used.

After further discussion the Chair proposed that the issues discussed around the Boards membership and the attendance of meetings should be reviewed and that an update should be provided at the Boards next meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That a report should be brought to the Boards next meeting reviewing its membership and attendance of Board members.

A presentation will be given.

The Board considered a report setting out the process around the Changing Lives evaluation and the updating the programme for the forthcoming year.

It was noted that there was an annual requirement to evaluate how effectively the Children and Young People’s Service and partners had met the priorities and aims contained within the Changing Lives plan and as part of this the forward plan for the forthcoming year was also updated.  At present it had not been decided if this information would be presented within the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) or whether it would be appropriate for a more detailed piece of work to be carried out.

The Board was advised that the self assessment process for the APA had to be completed by 26 June. Following the submission of this Ofsted would decide whether it was necessary for an inspection to be carried out. Given that the Service hoped to achieve a rating of four in some areas and that the Self Assessment would reflect this, Ofsted may consider that an inspection was appropriate.

It was noted that Ofsted had originally stated that a higher rating would have to be achieved in each area assessed if the Service were to be awarded a higher rating. However, following consultation this approach had been revised and Inspectors now had the discretion to determine whether a higher rating should be awarded in certain circumstances. 

The Board was advised that the Children’s Plan, published by the Government last year, contained new priorities that differed to the those already in place. It was anticipated that the original priorities would remain in place until April 2009.

There was agreement that, alongside the BSF programme and the Child Poverty Agenda, long term forward planning should commence. It was proposed that the Annual Conference should be used as a starting point for consultation, with a full consultation programme being rolled out in the Autumn. This would allow enough time the results of the exercise to be considered when allocating Area Based Grant (ABG) funding.

There was agreement that the Annual Conference should be used as the staring point for a wider consultation programme on long term priorities for the Service.

RESOLVED:

1. That the process for the production of the evaluation of Changing Lives and the updated Programme for 2008/09 be noted.

2. That a programme of consultation on long term future priorities for the Service should commence in the Autumn, following the Annual Conference.

The Board received a report that summarised a consultation document published by the Government in relation to Children’s Trusts and statutory guidance on inter-agency arrangements.

A diagram was included within the report that set out the governance structure around the Children’s Trust Arrangements and the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Board and an overview was provided of the function of each body included within the structure.

The Board discussed the structure and the role of the various bodies within it. Following changes to the structure of the PCT and the transfer of Services to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), it was noted that the membership of the relevant body required amendment. There was agreement that GOSH should formally advise the Council of this outside the meeting.

The Board was informed that there had been discussion at the Early Childhood Forum that supported the revision of the age ranges, which the age based Forums focussed on. Basing these on the age ranges of fourteen to nineteen and eight to thirteen would be useful in addressing transitional issues.

There was agreement that a response to the consultation document should be drafted by officers and circulated to the Board for comment. The Chair also asked the Board to feed back any comments on the structure of the Children’s Trust Arrangements and membership of the bodies within it to the Director of Children’s Services.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That a response to the consultation document should be drafted by officers and circulated to the Board for comment.

3. That members of the Board should feed back any comments in relation to the structure of the Children’s Trust arrangements, and the membership of the bodies within the structure, to the Director of Children’s Services.

The Board considered a report setting out the relationship between the current key Performance Indicators and the Indicators include within the new Local Area Agreement (LAA) and the proposed monitoring arrangements in relation to these.

The Board was advised that data would be collected in relation to each of the indicators included within the National Performance Indicator set and each of the Local Indicators. However, some of the indicators currently used, would no longer be reported on if they were not included within the new LAA. The new performance indicators would be reported on at the Boards meeting in October. 

The Chair noted that in order to ensure that discussion remained focussed future performance reports should focus on the Indicators showing as red of amber. In response to queries the Chair suggested that the Advisory Board would have a role to play in looking at performance issues in a wider context. Where it was considered appropriate, it would refer issues outside the scope of the normal performance report, the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board for consideration.

It was noted that the performance reports would be received on a quarterly basis and that therefore there would not be a report submitted to each meeting. The first performance report would be received at the Boards October meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report that presented the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) draft Annual Report for 2007/08 and draft Work Programme for 2008/09.

The LSCB had become a statutory body under the Children Act 2004 and was tasked with ensuring that local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children was well coordinated and effective. The Act placed a requirement on the following partner agencies to sit on the LSCB:

• Police
• Probation Service
• Strategic Health Authorities
• PCT
• NHS Trusts
• Youth Offending Service
• Connexions
• CAFCASS 

Amongst the requirements placed upon the LSCB was a responsibility for ensuring that there were robust systems in place to deal with unexpected child deaths quickly and mechanisms in place to review all unexpected child deaths.

The Board was advised that, in line with best practice, sub-groups had been established to deliver the LSCB statutory functions and an overview was provided of the work each of these groups was responsible for. This approach enabled a wide range of people become involved in safeguarding without meetings becoming too large or ineffective.

The Leader expressed concern at the poor attendance rate of some external agencies sitting on the LSCB and this view was echoed by the Chair who added that the Boards concerns over attendance should be fed back to the LSCB.

Following discussion there was agreement that consideration should be given to producing a piece of work to raise awareness of the support available to young people who may be pressurised into marriage.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That concerns raised by the Board, regarding the attendance of LSCB members, should be fed back to the LSCB and measures to address this should be considered by officers.

3. That consideration should be given to producing a piece of work to raise awareness of the support available to young people who may be pressurised into marriage.

The Board considered a report that provided a summary of the findings and recommendations of the Teenage Pregnancy National Support Team (TPNST).

The report had been compiled following a visit carried out by the TPNST that had taken place earlier during the year. As part of the visit the team had met a range of partners including the PCT and some commissioned providers.  The purpose of the visit had been to make recommendations and suggestions for further action to reduce teenage conceptions and to identify areas where the TPNST may be able to provide additional support to enable this to happen.

The Chair advised that she had attended a feedback session held following the visit and the importance of working closely in partnership to achieve the targets was underlined.

It was noted that certain measures designed to tackle teenage pregnancy had not been successful in engaging young men. In order to address this it was suggested that a more holistic approach should be taken including a review of the activities available for young people and how these could be expanded.

Concern was expressed that no reference had been made to the use of drug and alcohol by young women and the impact of this upon teenage pregnancy rates and there was agreement that this issue should be looked at in more detail by the Board.

RESOLVED:

The content of the report be noted.

This item is for information.

The Board received a update, for information, on progress in relation to the Core Strategy.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

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

The Board received a brief oral update from each of the partner agencies on activity since the previous meeting.

Police

The Board was advised that the Police were currently undertaking a review of all licensed premises in the Borough following a recent murder in Tottenham. The premises where this had occurred had been closed and similar action was being taken in relation to a licensed premises in Wood Green where there had been regular instances of violence.

A greater Police presence had also been deployed in Muswell Hill to address problems that were experienced when premises with late licences closed at the weekend. In addition to this longer term strategies to address the problem were also being considered.

The new Mayor of London had indicated that, in line with his election manifesto, he intended to make changes to policing in the capital with a ‘zero tolerance’ approach being adopted to crime. During the next few weeks senior Police officers from each Borough would be meeting with the Mayor to discuss plans for addressing crime in London.

Youth Offending Service

An event had recently been held for Mothers of Young Offenders who had recently completed a thirteen week course on how they could improve their parenting skills. The Board was advised that the course had been successful and would be repeated in the future.

Work continued to be carried out between the YOS and DAAT to develop ways of addressing substance abuse amongst young people.

Learning and Skills Council

A Conference on provision for fourteen to nineteen year olds had been recently been held and a summary paper on the discussion the that took place was being compiled.

It was noted that the sixth forms allocations for 2008/09 would be made available shortly.

HAVCO

It was noted that the Community Link Forum election had been held in April and the new representatives would be present at the Boards next meeting.

PCT

The Board was reminded that the PCT was holding a stakeholder event on 14 May that Board members were invited to attend.

GOSH

The Board was advised that Maria Collins had left GOSH and her post had been filled by ??

It was noted that the transfer of services previously provided by ?? had now transferred to GOSH.

RESOLVED:  

That the verbal updates provided be noted.

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

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.

No items of AOB were raised.

Please note that the dates listed below are subject to confirmation of the Council’s Calendar of Meetings in May.

• 1 July 2008
• 25 September 2008
• 15 December 2008
• 3 February 2009
• 7 April 2009

All of these meeting will begin at 6.30pm and be held at the Civic Centre.

The following provisional dates for future meetings were noted:

• 1 July 2008
• 25 September 2008
• 15 December 2008
• 3 February 2009
• 7 April 2009

Partners should submit proposed agenda items for the next meeting to Patricia Walker, Policy and Partnerships Manager, by 16 June.

patricia.walker@haringey.gov.uk

The Board was advised that Partners should submit any proposed agenda items for the next meeting to Patricia Walker, Policy and Partnerships Manager, by 16 June at the latest.

• Strategic Focus –Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
• Youth Support Services and Targeted Youth Support Services

The following proposed agenda items were noted:

• Strategic Focus –Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
• Youth Support Services and Targeted Youth Support Services