Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

Tracey Baldwin         

Dave Grant                -Ian Kibblewhite substituting

Jennifer James

Jim Shepley

It was also noted that Helen Brown had left the PCT and her place would be taken by either Keith Edmunds or Penny Thompson.

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 of Urgent Business will be dealt with under Item 16 below).

No items of urgent business were received.

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

No decclarations of interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2008 as a correct record.

The Board was advised that the review of the Terms of Reference had been delayed until December. This had been considered appropriate as the Code of Governance adopted by the HSP in July also required amendments to be made to the Board’s Terms of Reference by December and these could be incorporated within one report.

With regard to the request that an update be provided on Knife Crime the Board was advised that it had been agreed that this would be raised at the next Youth Submit in November and that the Board would be provided with an update in December.    

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2008 be confirmed as a correct record.

A presentation will be given.

The Board was provide with a verbal update on progress in relation to the Children and Young People’s Plan 2009-20.

The 4^th Annual Children’s Conference was being held on 26 September and that would be used to launch the consultation process. The Board would be provided with an overview of the discussion at the conference at its next meeting in December and a detailed draft would be re-submitted in February for consultation.

The Plan would be subject to a formal consultation process, which would specifically engage young people and the results of this would be looked in detail by the Children’s Advisory Board (CAB).

It was envisaged that the Plan would be published in its final form in April 2009.

In response to a query, the Board was advised that there were mechanisms in place to evaluate how effective the Plan was. An Annual Performance Assessment was carried out and information from this would be fed into the new Plan.

RESOLVED:

To note the verbal update provided.

The Board received a report setting out the new Child Poverty Strategy and Action Plan.

It was noted that this issue was given priority within the Partnership’s Local Area Agreement (LAA), under National Indicator (NI) 116, which lay within the Board’s responsibility.

The Strategy had four key objectives:

• Increasing parent employment in sustainable jobs
• Improving take up of benefits and tax credits
• Reducing educational attainment gaps for children in poverty
• Ensuring all Haringey children have decent and secure homes

The Board was advised that consultation in relation to the Strategy closed on 5 November and that the document would be available on the Council’s website and members of the Board should pass comments to Patricia Walker by then.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People noted that this was a key priority for the Government and therefore the partnership would be scrutinised over its delivery of these objectives. She emphasised the importance of partner’s comments on the Strategy and Action Plan and requested that CLF representatives fed their comments back to groups they represented.

It was noted that no reference was made to children acting as carers, children affected by parents with alcohol problems, or children in care. It was suggested that these areas should be looked at and that further links should be made to the work that the PCT was carrying out in these areas.

The Leader raised concerns in relation to the performance of Children’s Centres in the Borough and contended that the partnership needed to do more to assist people in need. He suggested that an evidence based report should be brought to the Boards next meeting setting out what was being done in practical terms to address this issue.

The Board was reminded that although the Strategy ran until 2020 it also included measures to address issues faced in the short term.  Targets were reviewed on a rolling basis and adjusted to reflect any needs arising from the annual review.

The Chair noted that members of the Board should pass any comments to Patricia Walker by 5 November at the latest.

RESOLVED:

That the verbal update be noted.  

A presentation will be made by representatives from the Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust.  

The Board was due to receive a presentation on Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

However, following concerns that the presentation provide was not sufficiently focussed on strategic issues, it was agreed that it should be deferred until the next meeting. The Board requested that key information such as an overview of the services provided by the MHT for children and young people and the number of individuals treated should be provided.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People noted that as one of the Boards targets related to CAMHS it was vital that it was advised of how many children and young people accessed Mental Health Services. She also noted that all Partners should focus on outcomes and the action required to achieve these.

RESOLVED:

That a presentation should be made by CAMHS at the Boards next meeting focussing on strategic issues and how LAA targets would be met.

The Board received a report presenting the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and Action Plan for 2008-11. The new draft Strategy built upon the original Strategy, which concluded in March 2008 and took into account new statutory duties and guidance.

The Strategy was supported by an Action Plan that set out how its objectives would be achieved in practical terms. The HSP and Thematic Boards had individual responsibilities and actions set out in the Plan.  There were eight actions specifically within the responsibility of the Board, which related the National Indicators, also within it’s responsibility.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Board endorse the Strategy and Action Plan.

2. To note that the Strategy would be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 6 October and Cabinet on 18 November.   

The Board considered a report detailing performance during the 1^st Quarter, April to July 2008, against Performance Indicators. This was the first performance report following the introduction of the new Performance Management system.

It was noted that that at present several of the Indicators could not be measured against as either information was still being collected or, in some cases, the information would not be collected until the end of the first year. In addition to the Indicators specifically within the Boards responsibility, targets where the Board shared responsibility and cross-cutting targets were also included within the report.

The Board was advised that there was one target showing as red at present:

• NI 113: Prevalence of Chlamydia in Under 20 Year Olds

It was noted that there were a number of measures being planned to address this and these were set out in the report.

In response to concerns raised by the Leader that systems for gathering the information required for measuring targets had not been put in place before the performance monitoring system came into effect, the Board was advised that work was being carried out to resolve these problems.

It was suggested that a ‘Turn the Corner’ workshop should be held to look at how partners could work together more effectively to meet the targets included within the LAA. There was a general consensus that this would be useful.

The PCT noted that there were areas where information could not be collected until the 4^th Quarter. After further discussion it was agreed that where information was not available a narrative would be provided within the covering report setting out progress and actions to date.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That a ‘Turn the Corner’ workshop should be held.

3. That future performance reports should included a narrative within the covering report setting out progress and the actions taken to meet targets where systems had not yet been established for monitoring.

Verbal updates will be provided.

The Board received a brief update from each of the Forum Chairs.

Early Years Forum

The Forum had considered the Governments recently published document on ‘Fair Play’ and had assessed where there were gaps in the Strategy attached to this in terms of early years provision.

Five to Eleven Forum

The Forum had principally been looking at the Primary Strategy and how this linked to the new Children & Young People’s Plan.  

Eleven to Nineteen Forum

At it’s last meeting the Forum had considered how the range of alternative qualifications to GCSE’s could be expanded in order address NEET targets.

RESOLVED:

That the updates be noted.

A verbal update will be provided.

The Board was advised that the Children Advisory Board (CAB) continued to monitor performance reports on a regular basis.

At present the CAB’s key task was the detailed development of the Children and Young People’s Plan.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.  

Each sector of the Partnership will be invited to give a three minute 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 update from partners.

Primary Care Trust (PCT)

A vaccination programme for girls aged fourteen against Cervical Cancer had recently been launched and would immunise approximately 14,000 girls in the Borough.

Five additional Health Visitors had been recruited in order to meet the needs of people in the most vulnerable category.

It was noted that the Secretary of State had recently signed off proposals in relation to the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Hospital Strategy, which were referred by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Secretary of State had endorsed the proposals and these would now be implemented.

Metropolitan Police

The Board was advised that Youth Crime continued to fall, however, this remained a key priorities for the Police.  

Mental Health Trust

The BEH MHT had recently been recognised by young Service Users as providing good services.

RESOLVED:

That the updates be noted.

To consider any new items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 3 above.

No new items of urgent business were raised.

To consider any items of AOB.

To note the items currently suggested for future meetings as listed and suggest any additional items.

• Keys to Well Being
• Obesity Strategy
• Children and Young People’s Plan 2009-20
• Fair Play Strategy
• Contact Point
• Sixteen to Eighteen Transfer
• APA Self Assessment
• Youth Summit
• Olympics
• Provision of Five Hours of Culture
• Infant Mortality
• Teenage Pregnancy

The items listed within the agenda were noted and the Board was advised that any new items should be discussed with Patricia Walker.

To note the following future dates:

• 15 December 2008
• 3 February 2009
• 7 April 2009

The following dates of future meetings were noted:

• 15 December 2008
• 3 February 2009
• 7 April 2009