Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Bull and Councillor Scott.

The Chair will consider the admission of late items of urgent business. Late items will be considered under the agenda item they appear. New items will be dealt with at Items 7&12 below.

There were no items of urgent business submitted.

There were no declarations of interest put forward.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2013. To follow

The  minutes of the meeting held on the 21^st March 2013 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

 To consider the  forthcoming  committee  meeting dates.

 Agreed that  report on the MASH, Adoption  and  a broader  look at Adults services referrals to Children’s services   if ready by the July  meeting.

The report sets out the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to :children and families – Contacts, referrals and assessments and child protection.

The Assistant Director of Children’s services  provided the main highlights of the Performance report.

 The rate of children in care continued to decrease with 92 per 10,000,  although this is still higher than  similar  statistical neighbouring boroughs,  but a significant  reduction on this point last year(101).This was against the current  national trend, where numbers were increasing.  The Independent member commented that there was a real  national debate  emerging on who is cared for by he local authority.

The numbers of contacts and referrals was continuing to  decrease at a good rate .The number of children  subject of child protection plan  increased by 34  and although  this was a reduction in  the number and rate for February , this was an overall still a  higher number than  statistical neighbouring boroughs .   As highlighted at the last meting, there had been a review into the thresholds being applied to place a child on a protection plan against the reasons to take a child off a plan.  This will help ensure that the right discussions are  happening early on about the plans for the child.  There is now a  focus to ensure that the first three months of a referral to a protection plan that the actions taken in this period maximise the  possibilities for the child coming off the plan.  Meetings continued with independent child protection advisors  to ensure that  children remained on protection plans for the right reasons . The introduction of the Haringey 54000 programme will also greatly assist in the  providing early help to families and in turn limiting the need  for authoritative intervention from  Children’s  social care services. There was a need to connect the  increase in the number  children on plans together with the decrease in number of looked after children . Although  it was  recognised that both figures were  higher than statistical neighbouring boroughs.  The independent member  asked the committee to keep in mind that  there should be no right or wrong number of children on plans or in care.  It was  ensuring the right children were on plans and  also being taken of child protection plans at the right time.   Confidence in efforts to  reduce the numbers were that they were a steady decline and not a  sudden decline as this would be more concerning.

 There was a discussion about the number of days it took to adopt a child as although the performance in this area had greatly improved through continual business analysis of data and a relentless pursues to ensure each step of the adoption process was completed on time, there was still a need to improve on timescales. The independent member spoke about conversations on adoption as an option starting at the screening stage.  In response, it was noted that the new Permanency policy does include the need to start considering the option of adoption at   the point of the core assessment.  It was noted that  the  pathway to adoption involved both the children’s Cabinet Advisory Committees and as the Chair was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 138.

 To consider any new items of urgent business as per item 2.

 There  were no new items  of urgent business put forward.

The press and public will be excluded from the meeting for consideration  of the following  item as they contain exempt information  as defined  in section 100a  of the local government act  1972 (as amended by section 12A of the local government act 1985) paragraphs 1&2&3 namely information relating to an individual  and information likely to reveal  the identity of an individual. Or information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person(including the authority holding that information).

The chair, had received legal advice from the deputy monitoring officer  before the start of the meeting advising that the report on  screening  written by the  Independent member  of the  committee  would be suitable to be considered in the open  part of the meeting  as the information would not make any person identifiable.  The Committee agreed to move this report to the open part of the meeting and for it to be published on the council’s website.

The Independent Member has completed an audit of cases which were referred to  Children’s Services from Adults services .  The audit will examine the interface between Adults services and Children’s Services and how the cases have been taken forward by the Children’s Service. Report to follow

 A section 11 of the Children’s Act 2004 places a statutory duty on persons and bodies to ensure they  have proper and robust arrangements  to safeguard and promote the welfare  of children. In  the summer of 2012  the LSCB  asked key partners agencies including Adult services  to audit their service  in respect  of this role in supporting the safeguarding of children.  The key  meeting points between these services would be  substance mis-use  and mental health adults with learning difficulties.

A case file audit process was in place and three questions were added to audits to ascertain:  if the client had contact with children and young people,  were there any concerns  related  to the welfare of children and young people ie substance mis-use,  or disabilities issues  including mental health  and whether contact had been made with CYPS.  There were a total of 15 cases identified that involved a referral from Adult services to Children’s service  and the Independent member  had audited them and found that  all the referrals were  appropriate and dealt with promptly.

 The Independent Member remarked on the  small number of referrals  as she  had expected more referrals  relating to clients with mental health issues or domestic violence. It was clarified that these were the cases that had  been referred to  the Adults through  the SOVA(Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults)  referral process . This audit sample did not encompass  clients  that are responsibility of  Adults  with Learning Difficulties,   Drugs  Alcohol  Action team, Adults with Physical Disabilities . It was also explained that two thirds of the clients in   Adults service are older people  with over 3000   people  in receipt of services.   Assistant Director for Adults and Community  services   offered to complete  further sampling on  these areas and there could be contact with Drugs Alcohol action  team to  also ask if they could participate in  an  qualitative audit  as well.

In line with the  Children’s  services wider support to families, the committee felt it would  be worthwhile  examining  how   referrals from Children’s services are taken forward by Adults services along with  how  referrals were taken forward by Children’s Services once received by Adults services.

Reference was made to case number 13  and  it was agreed an update on this particular case was brought back to the next Committee meeting.

 Following  the Committee’s initial discussion of the findings of the Judicial Review, the Independent Member  has been asked by the Chair to complete a  short audit of  the  work of the screening team . The audit will  examine in particular  how consent  has been  gained  to share information on cases,  proportionality, and the thresholds  being worked to. Report to follow.

The Independent Member had completed a case audit of referrals to the screening team and in the introduction to the audit the independent member had added some background by referring to the Judicial Review. The Independent member   clarified that she may have over stipulated certain aspects of the case. For example, the background wrongly implied that   the unlawful sharing of information stemmed from the information sharing strategy in use by the MASH. This was implied in the judgement but not stipulated.

The Independent Member had completed her case audit of referrals 4 days after the temporary protocol had been put in place. The Committee noted that there around 20-25 referrals to the first response team every day with discussions held with the refer when received.  The Committee heard about the different kinds of case referrals received by the Screening team and how sometimes it will be obvious that a strategy meeting is needed but there will be cases where information provided is ambigious and there will need to be further clarifications provided form the referrer to assess the right way forward.  Prior to the Judicial Review, cases, where information was missing, would be considered by the MASH for an early view and some were dismissed at this stage. The judgement currently suggests that, where there is ambiguous information provided in a referral, you cannot make enquiries with partners and agencies about the family without parental consent.   In response to a question about   information needed to take forward a section 47  investigation ,where it is not clear that this type of intervention is needed a section 17  should be  implemented and this will enable  a visit to the family and  after this a  move to a section 47 investigation, if needed. The Committee were advised that , if it is not clear  whether a section 17 or  section 47  investigation is required, the judgement  currently implies that  no  action is  taken . This still leaves the service with an open case until either the referrer gets consent or information is obtained which meets the threshold for a section 17 investigation. The Committee were advised that the way forward was obligating the referrer (Midwife, Teacher, and GP) who was in contact with the family seeking consent to make   enquiries about the welfare of the child/young person. The merits of this were that the family are being approached by a professional that they already have a working relationship with. The Committee commented on this responsibility of the professional working with the family and how much they were currently aware of this. They would need to be sufficiently confident in this responsibility and trained appropriately to approach the subject of their concern about the child with the parents and seek approval to make further enquiries about the welfare of the child.  The Committee commented that the social worker would be experienced and educated in the role of approaching a family or person as opposed to a professional from the third sector that may not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 142.

 Following legal advice, to receive information on any changes to the  information sharing protocol in operation  by the MASH.

 Agreed that  the advice of the QC on the  implications for partners information sharing, if ready, is considered at the next meeting in July.

To consider new items  of exempt business as per item 2.

 There were no items of  exempt urgent business put forward.

Date of next meeting :02 July 2013 7.30pm

 There  were no  other items of business.