Agenda and minutes

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The Chair referred to the filming of meetings and this information was noted.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Mahbub and Opoku.

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 item 9 below.

There were none.

None were declared.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022 and 25 January 2022.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022 and 17 March 2022 be approved as a correct record.

This report provides an analysis of the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to looked after children on behalf of the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee.

Mr Richard Hutton, Senior Performance Officer, presented the report.  

Councillor Weston commented that it was pleasing to see the statistics for care leavers, particularly as it was quite consistent. In response to questions from Members, the Committee heard that:

·      The pathway plans would reach statistical highs of 80% on most weeks.

·      The issue with keeping care plans up to date was due to a combination of different factors. Some of it was due to a recording issue and some of it was due to the impact caused by the coronavirus crisis on the workforce .

·      The target was to establish a 90-95% regular visiting pattern for children looked after. In the case of matched placements, visits would be conducted every three months or as the need dictated. Close attention was given to the issue. Recording targets allowed five working days.

·      An update would be given to the committee with actions and targets regarding the issue and the cohort of the young people that were seen would be broken down in a report.

·      In response to the question regarding Care Leavers who had excelled in their education becoming mentors – panel accepted that there was experienced and trained mentors that could support the education of children in care.

·      In relation to 17 to 18-year-olds not being in education training or employment, there were various reasons why this was the case. Some of the individuals were having treatment for Mental health challenges,  some in hospital and a few were in remand. This was why it was not possible for some individuals to concentrate on education. Others had started work but found it hard to sustain employment. Other individuals had become parents and were too busy to study. Each individual story was different but there was high aspiration for young people and support throughout the journey of education, training, and employment.

·      Young people were supported by professionals through the  Aspirational panel, consisting of a range of  providers, coaching and mentoring schemes.

·      Young people had reported how difficult it was to find work. Civil service internships where available.

·      A success rate of 100% was the goal but it was important to acknowledge the issues that young people were experiencing relating to their social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

·      It was important to start early and ensure that close work was done with the virtual school as well as maintaining opportunities for young people.

·      A paragraph could be inserted into the report to also categorise the breakdown of young people who were not in education, employment or training.

·      If a young person was subject to a full care order, then the parent or the corporate parent (social worker) would sign the consent to allow the individual to be immunised with the COVID-19 vaccine if this was right for that young person.

·      Million people have declined the vaccine even though they were encouraged to have it during health assessments. It was not clear if children looked after had the COVID-19 vaccine. This was not in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Report provides an update on the work of the Children in Care health team

Ms Lynne Carrington, Designated Nurse, presented the report.

In response to questions from Members, Ms Carrington    informed the Committee that:

·      Whittington health reported many children being seen. A combination of COVID and health staff sickness resulted in delays in the submission of reports confirming he outcome of the LAC health assessments. This was compounded by the lack of administrators who had moved on from the health service during COVID impact some 90 reports being delayed. In future there would be greater levels of monitoring and adherence to deadlines.

·      Lynne Carrington explained the detail of the pathways followed by the doctors and how supervision was applied by consultants.

·      The London NCL had a delay in processing checks. This was because UASC who had attended Barnet, Islington and Camden NHS trusts caused some pressures.

·      There was a discussion raised regarding the accessibility of health visitors and a reminder that Health visitors do have work mobile phones and this number can be shared. 

·      Sometimes parents were reluctant to fill in their parental health forms when a child comes into care  and whilst this was necessary to aid the assessment of the child’s health needs it was not mandatory for parents to complete the form unless the courts directed them to do so. This called on the influence of professionals to explain the purpose and importance of parental co-operation.   

·      HPV vaccinations were low nationally for looked after children. HPV vaccinations also needed parental consent.

The Committee felt that aspire could do some of the work to promote and campaign for HPV vaccinations.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Ms Beverley Hendricks, Assistant Director for Safeguarding, delivered a presentation on Corporate Parenting Champions and elaborated on the role of councillors as a corporate parent.

The meeting also heard that:

·      Councillors would be encouraged to submit a general outline of their background and experience in an expression of interest in September to become a CPAC Champion.

·      A report would be submitted to a future meeting regarding virtual schooling.

The Committee acknowledged the conference and work on Transitional Safeguarding and thanked Beverley Hendricks for her contribution to this work.