Items
No. |
Item |
69. |
FILMING AT MEETINGS
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.
Minutes:
The
Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the
agenda in
respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the
information contained
therein.
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70. |
Apologies for absence (if any)
Minutes:
Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr
Chenot.
Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Erdal Dogan and Dr
Fayrus Abusrewil.
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71. |
Urgent Business
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
11 below.
Minutes:
There were no items of urgent
business
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72. |
Declarations of interest
A member with a personal interest in a matter
who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is
considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature
of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when
the consideration becomes apparent.
A member with a personal interest in a matter
also has a prejudicial interest in that matter the interest is one
which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts
would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to
prejudice the member’ judgement of the public interest.
Minutes:
No declarations of interest
were made.
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73. |
Minutes PDF 95 KB
To consider the minutes of the meeting held on
2nd July 2019.
Minutes:
RESOLVED
The minutes of the
2nd July 2019 were agreed as a correct
record.
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74. |
Matters arising
Minutes:
The following points were noted in discussion
regarding the minutes of 2nd July 2019 of the Corporate Parenting
Advisory Committee:
·
Regarding page 2 of the minutes which referenced that there were 8
new unaccompanied asylum seeker children (UASC) at the end of the
month, the Chair enquired as to whether that increased number of
new UASC was still the trend. In response the Deputy Head of
Safeguarding and Social Care advised that the numbers varied month
to month, but noted that the performance report showed that there
was a slight percentage increase from last year.
·
Regarding the average length of time for children to move to
adoption at page 3 of the minutes, the Chair enquired as to whether
an updated report could be presented at the next CPAC meeting
following the recent TUPE transfer of Haringey staff to the North
London Regional Adoption Agency. In response the Director of
Children’s Services advised that it was too soon to provide
an updated report as the transfer had only recently occurred on 1st
October. The Head of Children in Care & Placements informed the
Committee that data was received on a monthly basis. The Chair
requested that an update around adoption be placed on the CPAC work
programme (Action: Clerk).
·
Cllr Ahmet queried as to whether FGM was uncommon as referenced at
page 3 of the previous minutes. The Assistant Director for
Safeguarding and Social Care clarified that it was not common to
receive referrals of FGM, and accordingly it was suggested that the
previous minutes be amended to reflect that the data for FGM was
based on referrals received (Action: Clerk). Post meeting note: the
previous minutes have been amended to reflect the recommended
changes.
The meeting adjourned at 6:45pm for the Aspire meeting and
re-commenced at 7:30pm
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75. |
Response to CPAC questions on Looked After Children and Youth Justice system PDF 211 KB
This report provides responses to questions by
the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee on Looked After Children
and Youth Justice system.
Minutes:
Beverley Hendricks, the Assistant Director for Safeguarding and
Social Care, introduced this report as set out in pages 5-9 of the
agenda pack, which provided a response to the CPAC questions on
Looked After Children and the Youth Justice System.
The following was noted in response to the
discussion of the report:
-
Regarding the disparity between custodial sentences
received for looked after children and non-looked after children,
the Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care explained
that the disparity was based on the sentencing tariff awarded to
looked after children in comparison to the general population. For
instance, a looked after child was likely to get a higher
sentencing tariff from the Youth Justice court for theft than
another child from the general population. The disparity was a result of several
factors, such as the presence of biological parents and
representation offered on behalf of the child. The Cabinet Member
for Communities and Equalities further added that another major
factor was how a child’s behaviour at home was treated, for
example the police were more likely to get involved in a scenario
where a child in an institutional setting had broken a window at
home in comparison to a non-looked after child in a similar
scenario. Cllr Blake mentioned an event he attended at City Hall a
few weeks ago, which was based around the criminalisation of care
leavers. He informed the Committee that some of the testaments he
heard revealed a negative picture of police interventions for
children in care settings. He also found that the children
experienced a lot of trauma and they would not talk about their
experience. Cllr Blake explained that young people had a perception
that counselling was not for them, and he felt that a different
approach would be needed to address that issue.
-
In relation to concerns about trauma experienced by
young people and their mistrust of police, the Assistant Director
for Safeguarding and Social Care informed the Committee that to
help reduce the traumatic experience the Haringey Borough Commander
had agreed that the police would not wear their uniform on
occasions where there would be a planned police intervention
involving a child.
-
Regarding the summarised recommendations for
questions 1-3 as set out in pages 7-9 of the agenda pack, the
Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care explained that
the recommendations would be put into an action plan and then fed
back to the Committee to demonstrate what had been delivered. The
Chair agreed for the recommendations to be put into a planned
schedule in order for it to be then presented to the Committee
(Action: Beverley Hendricks).
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76. |
Ofsted action plan progress update PDF 135 KB
This report aims to update members on the progress
made against the identified areas following the quarterly
monitoring through the Children’s Improvement Board,
(CIB), regular one-to-one meetings with
the cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education and the
Director of Children’s Services and the outcome of
the Ofsted Annual Engagement meeting
with the Director of Children’s Services.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Ann
Graham, Director of Children’s Services, introduced the
report as set out at pages 11-26 of the agenda pack. She was
pleased to inform the Committee that the updated report and action
plan had been completed, and thanked the service for the positive
outcome of the Ofsted inspection. She emphasised that it was
important not to be complacent in order to continue the good work
and ensure positive progress.
The
following was noted in response to the discussion of the
report:
-
Regarding the joint quarterly report referenced at
page 24 point 7.2, the Chair asked whether the report could be
presented to the Committee. The Director of Children’s
Services informed the Committee that a report could be presented to
the Committee for a future CPAC meeting, but since the
Committee’s focus was on Looked after Children, the report
could be adapted to concentrate on Looked After Children with a
link to the full report (Action: Ann Graham).
-
In reference to training delivered for social
workers at the Haringey Academy as set out on page 26 of the
agenda, the Chair requested that this matter be placed on the CPAC
work programme (Action: Clerk).
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77. |
Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children - UASC PDF 195 KB
This report is about Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Beverley Hendricks, the Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social
Care, introduced this report as set out in pages 27-41 of the
agenda pack. Beverley Hendricks took the Committee through the
report and highlighted the following:
-
In reference to the graph on page 32 of the agenda
pack, it was noted that the number of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking
Children (UASC) presenting in Haringey was showing a rising trend.
During 2018-19, 10 cases had been transferred to other areas as
Haringey had met its quota level. It was further noted that there
was an issue with Haringey’s quota level as the quota level
across the country was 0.07%; however, for the last year
Haringey’s quota averaged at 0.09%. The service had raised
queries around the National Transfer Scheme as it was not working
effectively, and furthermore, there had been an announcement from
the Department for Education around changes to the Scheme; however,
Haringey had not seen the benefit of those changes. Additionally,
it was predicted that Haringey was likely to have more UASC as
looked after children, and in consideration of that forecast,
Haringey needed to plan a service response to effectively manage
the particular needs of those UASC for future years.
-
In reference to the graph page 33 of the agenda
pack, it was noted that the total number of UASC care leavers was
predicted to be 28% of the care leaver’s cohort by 2021-22,
and 39 looked after children would convert in the same year.
Therefore, Haringey would have more UASC that the services would be
responding to, and it was anticipated that those UASC would have a
longer relationship with the services, which would have an impact
on the service when they would become care leavers. In
consideration of this growing trend, the point was reinforced that
that services needed to be re-configured to meet the needs of the
UASC and to manage the current growing trend.
The
following was noted in response to the discussion of the
report:
-
In response to a question, the Assistant Director
for Safeguarding and Social Care confirmed that the current numbers
of UASC were included within the total number of looked after
children. There was currently 414 looked after
children. The Assistant Director for
Safeguarding and Social Care noted that it was important to
distinguish between care leavers and children regarded as in care
because some of the Council’s corporate parent responsibility
for care leavers continued up to the age of 25, if they
qualified.
-
Regarding funding for UASC to local authorities, the
Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care explained that
the grant given to local authorities for UASC had been insufficient
to the growing needs, which include the living expenses that local
authorities cover. Although the government announced a funding
increase to local authorities for UASC, the service was conducting
an analysis to ascertain sufficiency of the uplift as there was
uncertainty as to whether the uplift would cover the costs of the
demands on the service.
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78. |
Performance for the year to September 2019 PDF 2 MB
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.
Minutes:
The
Committee considered this report which provided an analysis of
performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating
to looked after children on behalf of the Corporate Parenting
Advisory Committee.
Beverley Hendricks, the Assistant Director for Safeguarding and
Social Care, took the Committee through the report as set out in
pages 35-41 of the agenda pack. In addition, the following was
highlighted:
-
It was noted that at the end of September 2019, 418
children were looked after; 69 per 10,000 population. It was
stressed that this number was what was expected based on
Haringey’s demographics, and was in line with the looked
after population at other local authorities.
-
Regarding section 2.3, it was explained that 97
children ceased to be looked after in the first six months of
2019/20 for a range of reasons, such as returning home, being
adopted and some turning 18.
-
In relation to Personal Education Plans (PEPs), the
Committee were informed that electronic Personal Education Plans
(e.PEPs) were introduced approximately
a year ago. It was noted that 60% of e.PEPs had been completed. An email would be sent
to schools by the Assistant Director of Schools and Learning to
remind schools of their statutory duty in getting the PEPs
completed. Furthermore, someone would be commissioned to start on
Friday 18th November to work two days a week to focus on
PEPs to ensure the level of high standards were
maintained. Additionally, by April next
year there would be an overhaul in the administration of pupil
premium to schools for looked after children. This entailed an
automatic amount that would be administered to schools at first and
then the schools would have to request the remainder from the
Virtual School by outlining how they would spend the pupil premium.
It was highlighted that there would have to be a high-quality
e.PEP in place for schools to obtain
the pupil premium. It was noted that these plans would make a
difference in getting the PEPs completed to a high quality. In
response to the Director of Children’s Service query as to
whether a PEP that would be picked in a future term if it had been
missed in the previous term, in response the Assistant Director for
Safeguarding and Social Care explained that there had been a
concentrated audit in this area, and it was concluded that the
quality of the PEPs had improved and there was evidence that the
recommendations were being followed. It was further explained that
the issue at hand was that the e.PEPs
were not being signed off by schools, and the plans mentioned
earlier would incentivise schools to give these PEPs priority.
Additionally, it was noted that there was a mosaic working group
looking into improve the system to evidence the work going on. In
response to the Chair’s suggestion of liaising with
safeguarding governors to ensure they had an eye on this area, the
Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care informed the
Committee that Independent ...
view the full minutes text for item 78.
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79. |
Any other business
Date of next meeting
16th January 2020
Minutes:
Date of the next meeting
16th January 2020
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