Agenda and minutes

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred to Agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and the Committee noted this information.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Berryman, Cllr Morris & Cllr Hare.

 Cllr Stennett gave apologies for lateness.

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 12 below.

NONE

NONE

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 5^th January 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 January 2016 were AGREED.

In relation to the previous action around circulating examples of PEP’s, Care Plans & Pathway Plans, the Committee commented that they had not received the example plans to date. The Chair requested that this action be rolled forward.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore/Fiona Smith

Feedback from the earlier meeting with Aspire.

NOTED actions from Aspire meeting.

The Committee NOTED the Corporate Parenting Agenda Plan 2015/16

RECEIVED the report on Performance for the Year to the end of February. Report included in the agenda pack (pages 13 to 28). 

NOTED in response to discussion:

• An overall improving trajectory in relation to the majority of performance indicators.

• There were 414 Children in Care at the end of February, which was 70 per 10,000 population including 32 unaccompanied asylum seeker children. The reduction in Haringey’s LAC put the authority within the inter-quartile range of statistical neighbours (431 children or a rate of 69 per 10,000 population). Haringey’s rate of LAC remained significantly above the London (52) and National average (60).

• A performance review system put in place by the Head of Service for Children in Care in October 2015 yielded some excellent performance improvements. The meetings with team managers were continuing and would focus on new challenges such as the recording of pathway plans and visits to children in care. At the end of February 2016, 92% of looked after children had an up to date Care Plan, a significant improvement from a low level of 49% at the end of May2015 and now exceeding the 90% target.

• 87% of school aged children had completed and up to date Personal Education Plans (PEP) at the end of February. This was a step change in performance and only 3% short of the expected target. The results from the weekly meeting review on 17 March showed that the 90% target had been achieved. Completion of PEPs would continue to be a priority.

• At the end of February, 85% of looked after children aged 16-17 had up to date Pathway Plans.  Performance in this area is at an all time high having increased significantly compared to the low level (20%) reported in June.

• 93% of LAC had an up to date review at the end of February above the 90% target.

• 85% of Children in Care visits were recorded as completed in the relevant timescales in the period. Performance in this area had improved in recent months and was now just 5% below the 90% target.

• At the end of February, 91% (362 out of 399) of children in care for over a month had an up to date health assessment,a dip from the 97% achieved at the end of January but still above target. The dip in February performance was due to a backlog and a lack of resources as two nurses were off sick during February. Some of these children have now been seen. The service expected to bring levels back on track and health assessments performance should better the 2014/15 outturn of 94%.

• Quarter 3 data reveals that the care proceedings trend towards cases of shorter duration has been maintained with an average duration of 28 weeks and, a considerable achievement of 78% cases concluded in less than the 26 weeks statutory timescale, improved from 35% in Quarters 1 & 2. AD Safeguarding identified that far more work was being done pre-proceedings in order to improve performance in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 406.

Verbal update

NOTED the verbal update given by the AD Safeguarding on the Pan-London Adoption bid. The latest update on the Pan-London Adoption bid was circulated to the Board earlier that day. The Committee noted that the bid had been narrowed down from five or six options to two. The next step was to undertake detailed investigations on the two options to assess their relative viability. The two options were noted as a local authority trading company delivery model with a strategic VAA partnership operating in a hub and spoke or a local authority/voluntary adoption agency joint venture operating in a hub and spoke.

*Clerks note – Cllr Stennett arrived at the meeting at this point*

In response to a question, the AD Safeguarding advised that the likely implementation date was 2018.

Verbal Update.

NOTED the verbal update given by the AD Safeguarding on the NRS Contract. AD Safeguarding advised that the contract with NRS finished some time ago but that NRS were still recruiting foster carers for the Council. NRS were currently being paid an agreed fee for each completed assessment that went through to the panel. The Committee noted that there was a programme of work being undertaken through surveys and also through Commissioning to look at the different models and costings to see whether the Council should go out to the market again or potentially bring the recruitment back in house. In response to a question on the likely timescales, the Service Manager for Adoption and Fostering advised that there was a meeting with NRS on 19^th April.  However, the service had to continue using NRS in the interim in order to ensure that there was capacity to undertake assessments which would continue for at least six months.

The Head of Service, Children in Care and Placements to bring a report to the next CPAC meeting to update the committee on foster carer recruitment and future models of provision.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore

RECEIVED a report updating the Committee on the key factors involved and the multiple risks associated with, Children Who Are Missing.  The report was included in the agenda pack (pages 19 to 23). 

NOTED that

• The reasons that children go missing from home and missing from care were largely the same and the reasons for absconding from care often related to: Being unhappy; feeling that the placement was not meeting their needs; bullying in the placement; not feeling listened to; or they had been encouraged or groomed to leave the placement by those who exploit vulnerable children and young people. Similarly, the reasons children go missing from home included there being interpersonal relationship difficulties with their carers or other family members.

• Often cases needed to be seen in the broader context of recurrent instances of going missing and some of the more frequent cases often involved; CSE, gang affiliation and  cannabis use.  

• One of the key risks identified was the increasing use of missing children to transport drugs along a several established routes for example:  London – Wrexham, Hull, Southampton, and Norwich.  Integral to this is that they were also vulnerable to gang and criminal activity which was associated with a chaotic lifestyle and had implications for their sexual, physical and emotional health.

• In terms of actions taken to identify and reduce risk, there was an established protocol when children go missing from care; which included a referral to the Police MISPA Team, and a strategy meeting at which information was shared and action planned. There was also weekly tracking meeting of children who are, or have been missing from care, between the DCS and Lead Member.  On their return to care, a de-briefing interview was undertaken by the police MISPA Team in order to ascertain the reason behind the missing episode. A Return to Care Interview was undertaken by the CYPS Targeted Support Team.   Performance had been poor in this area and a contract with an external provider had been negotiated.

• The Multi-agency Sexual Exploitation meeting (MASE) convened on a monthly basis and its key purpose was to produce and develop a detailed strategic overview of the CSE profile for the borough of Haringey.The CSE profile would enable the MASE meeting to coordinate tactical responses to direct diversionary and disruption measures in identified problem areas. Partner agencies, such as the police,  share intelligence and information relating to CSE activity  to inform mapping, analysing the profile of CSE in the borough,  generating intelligence for investigations and identifying any trends or problem locations to ensure they were dealt with. The Service Manager Children in Care clarified that the MASE included all the relevant partner agencies including the schools.

• More recently the Missing Children and Child Exploitation Operational Panel had begun meeting every three weeks. This is a multi-agency forum which had the purpose of agreeing multi-agency safety plans for children who were missing/ engaging in risk-taking behaviour which was escalating their vulnerability and risk from all forms of exploitation. There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 409.

RECEIVED a report updating the Committee on what the Council does to support care leavers.  The report was included in the agenda pack (pages 23 to 28). 

NOTED that

• The Council aims to support young people to remain in their current education and college courses. Each young person in care had a Personal Education Plan (PEP) that accompanied them during their journey through care. As an additional monitoring system there were plans to review the PEPs ongoing at the transition panel where a representative of the Virtual School was present and could provide additional advice and guidance to the current and future plans in place and ensure that all efforts were being made to sustain current educational/training provision.

• The Council continued to have marked success with higher than average numbers of care leavers attending university, with 61 current care leavers at university. To support care leavers the Council introduced a dedicated email address to keep in touch with its care leavers at university so that it could send them regular updates on funding opportunities and other important opportunities.

• In 2015 in partnership with the Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, the Council targeted its care leavers who were university students and provided them with a day focusing on them gaining quality advice, and information regarding accessing the workplace, career options and future career planning. The Council also offered each third year student a one to one appointment with Drive Forward to develop their CV and prepare them to access the job market. This offer was made in July last year and would be repeated this year.

• The Council was working to reduce the Numbers of Not In Education (NEET) and Employment and support young people to engage in education and find employment. As part of the strategic plan to reduce the numbers of NEET the service had developed a working protocol with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Drive Forward to ensure the welfare benefits process was simplified and care leavers supported more robustly into sustainable employment. Current performance data which monitored care leavers at the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st birthday in ETE, was below target. The Committee noted that there had been some accuracy issues on reporting, which the service was now aware of and were working to resolve.

• The E8ghteen project had been running since 2011. The project currently supported care leavers aged 16-20 being mentored by coaches from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.  The project supported young people to remain in education and also for those out of education to engage and achieve some success. It offered opportunities to engage some the most hard to reach older children in care and care leavers to engender their interest in further education and employment.

• Housing and accommodation was another aspect of the advice and support offered.  For those under the age of 18 the most likely type of accommodation they would be placed in would be with a foster carer and live as part of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 410.

As per Item 3.

None

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of items that  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): paras 1 & 2: namely information relating to any individual, and information likely to reveal the identity of an individual.  

None

As per Item 3.

None

Date of next meeting: 4^th July 2016.

Executive summary of the Virtual Schools annual report to be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

Action: Fiona Smith/Clerk

Future meetings

NOTED the following dates:

4^th July 2016

3^rd October 2016

12^th January 2017

3^rd April 2017

Meetings are scheduled to start at 6.30pm.

The meeting ended at 20:30 hours.