Agenda and minutes

Please note that 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 Members present to agenda item in respect of filming at the meeting and Members noted the information contained therein.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Buxton, Ms Bernard and Ms Jhunjhunwala.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

None.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

None.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of 6 September 2022 (attached).

AGREED:

That the minutes of the meeting of 6th September 2022 be approved.

An opportunity to question Councillor Zena Brabazon, the Cabinet Member for

Children, Schools and Families, on developments within her portfolio.

Councillor Zena Brabazon, the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, outlined key developments within her portfolio.  She reported that Roland Hill Nursery School had recently been inspected by Ofsted and rated as outstanding.  This meant that all three maintained nursery schools in the borough were now rated as outstanding.  Bearing in mind the threats that nursery schools were under and the decline in their number nationwide, this was a fantastic achievement.  In addition, three other maintained early years settings were also currently rated as outstanding.  The importance of high quality early years provision in giving children a good start in life had been reinforced by demonstrated by the impact of Covid and the lockdowns associated with it.  Special educational needs were a high priority in nursery schools and children were able to make excellent progress.

The Rising Green Youth Centre in Wood Green had opened in July and was proving to be very popular.   It had been open throughout the summer and was now opening in the afternoons and early evenings.  It was currently hosting the Wood Green Voices public consultation.  The Haslemere Road children’s residential centre had also recently been prepared to become operational.  It is the first children’s residential centre to be brought back in house so far, as part of the Council’s strategy of moving from outsourcing to running its own provision and bringing children and young people back into the borough.

The social workers in schools scheme had started through the government’s What Works innovation programme.  The programme was making a crucial difference by bring children’s social care into the forefront in schools.  It was hoped to expand the programme into all secondary schools and to primary schools, subject to funding being identified.  The programme had made a significant difference to schools and families.

Good progress had been made with the Safety Valve scheme, with the Department for Education (DfE) agreeing in principle to the Council’s proposals.  Although the Council had been obliged to participate in the scheme, she nevertheless welcomed the challenge of making progress with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision.  Significant progress had also been made with the written statement of action that had been required following the Ofsted inspection of SEND.  Of particular note was the fact that the SEND Parent Carer Forum now had over 100 families involved with it.  The SEND local offer was also vastly improved.  The newsletter was now distributed to over 2,000 families.  The SEND transport policy was now out to final consultation.  There had been no complaints at all regarding home to school transport in September, which was a remarkable achievement.   The number of children registered with social care or child protection was stable.  Numbers were constantly monitored.  There was a Looked After Children event later in the month and the details of this would be shared in due course.

In answer to a question regarding falling school rolls, the Cabinet Member reported that the annual school place planning report was due  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

To consider and comment on support for children and families to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Jean Taylor, Head of Policy, outlined the Council’s response to the cost of living crisis and, in particular, support for children and families.  Many of the key issues had been considered already by the Panel as part of its recent review on child poverty.   The borough had the fifth highest rate of child poverty in London. Its level of fuel poverty was the fourth highest in London and 73% of properties were in the lowest energy efficiency bands which meant that is was particularly exposed to the impact of increased fuel prices. 

The Council had a low income family tracker.  This had been compiled using Council data and contained 32,000 households, two thirds of whom were families with children.  Such families were in receipt of benefits and likely to be experiencing at least some level of financial hardship.  13% of such families were considered likely to be in cash shortfall.    

There was concern about the impact of the cost of living crisis on residents, particularly those most vulnerable. There was a co-ordinated cross Council approach and this included housing management.  It involved looking at the levers that the Council had to provide support. A Winter Resilience Risk Register was being compiled by Emergency Planning and would guide the Council’s work. 

Work was being undertaken to understanding the level of need and monitor impact.  This included mapping that nature and extent of existing poverty, debt and financial hardship.  The Council’s data would be used to project impacts and identify specific groups for targeted support.  Existing networks and forums were also being used to gather real time information about the impact. 

The key element of the process was financial support and benefit maximisation.  This was aimed at maximising the amount of money that families had so that they could prioritise how it was used.  A range of activities were undertaken.  A financial support team was is in place, with a new direct telephone line.  There was targeted distribution of the Household Support Fund, a Council Tax Reduction Scheme and discretionary housing payments.  All Council tenants and leaseholders had also been written to, setting out the full range of help and support available.

The Household Support Fund, funded by central government, was one of the main levers.  The grant was distributed through small payments to support vulnerable households in meeting daily needs.  It was now in the third round of funding, each of which had come with specific criteria.  Support to children and young people had prioritised in each round. There had been a number of specific commitments by the Council to support children and young people, including:

•      £1,000,000 for free school meals extension into the school holidays;

•      £100 payments to families with children under 5;

•      £100 payments to families with no recourse to public funds; and

•      £100 payments to care leavers.

In terms of communications, the objectives had been to:

·         Ensure that residents, businesses and stakeholders knew what help and support was available and how to access it;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To report and comment on the outcome of the summer programme for children and young people.

Daniel Ball (Leisure Client Contract Manager) and Erica Owusu-Boateng (Holiday Activities and Food Programme Manager) reported on the outcome of the Community Summer and the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programmes.

Ms Owusu-Boateng reported that the HAF programme was funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and this had been extended for a further two years.  It was targeted at children and young people who were eligible for free school meals with the aim of addressing holiday hunger.  Food and food education were provided.  Amongst the achievements of the programme for this year was an increase in the numbers of children with SEND, early years and 11 to 16 year olds.  There was increased awareness of the programme amongst providers, which had resulted in more delivering sessions.  There had also been an increase in the number of volunteers. 

Mr Ball reported that the Community Summer Programme aimed to provide positive activities for children and young people. Efforts has been undertaken to link it with the HAF programme.  The Summer Programme had provided a range of activities including tennis, swimming, football and ice skating.  Some provision was provided on a drop-in basis and aimed at older children whilst some was targeted at specific families.  The majority of the delivery of both programmes was in the east of the borough, where deprivation and eligibility for free school meals was the greatest.   There was more targeted and strategic work in the west of the borough. 

25,000 hard copies of the Summer Programme booklet had been printed, which was 4,000 more than last year.  The majority of these had been circulated to schools and community centres.  There had also been on-line engagement with a 34% increase in the downloads of the programme.  The vast majority of those who attended were from the N17 postcode.  The majority of those who attended for single sessions were male, whilst more females attended regularly.   They were looking at how males could be attracted to attend more frequently as well as what activities and venues might attract more females. There had also been specific activities for disabled children, including cycling.  Measures had also been taken to make all provision as inclusive as possible so that disabled and non-disabled children could take part together.

Ms Owusu-Boateng reported that the monitoring data showed that the majority of those attending both schemes were from the black African community.  In addition, targeted work had been undertaken with the Somali community.  There had been an increase in early years attendees, who had been specifically targeted.  The HAF programme attracted younger children than the community scheme.  It was more structured in nature and therefore more attractive to parents of children of primary school age.

In terms of future plans, there would be a further three years of funding for the HAF scheme but funding only covered the longer school holidays.   More work would be done with schools and in respect of food provision.   There would also be engagement with young people to determine how more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To report on the opening of Haslemere Chidren’s Residential Home.

Ms Hendricks reported on the opening of Haslemere Children’s Residential Home.  It was part of the Council’s new strategy of owning and delivering its own residential provision.  It had originally been a respite centre for children with disabilities but this had closed in 2015.  It had recently undergone extensive refurbishment to become a new residential children’s home.  Support would be provided for children using the Ambit approach.  Recruitment of staff was in process and it was planned to open the home on 9th January.  A clear indication had already been given by Ofsted that they would register the home for operational delivery.   The home was predicated on close working with another borough.  The objective was to be able to rehabilitate children into local community living through foster care and, as appropriate, with connected persons.

In answer to a question, Ms Hendricks stated that there were six bedrooms at the home.  It catered for children between the ages of 11 and 16 with social, emotional and mental health needs.  Following the Ambit delivery model, intensive work would be undertaken to support children with their local professional network and, where safe, the family.  Experiences with care leavers had shown that often children wished to return home and this would be facilitated where safe. If this was not possible, the in-house foster care provision would be utilised.  It was intended that young people would stay at the facility from six to nine months.  There would be a clear indication of the sort of placement required within three months.  In answer to another question, she stated that each child would have their own room.  This was a non-negotiable requirement from Ofsted and it was not possible for the home to exceed its prescribed capacity of six.   As part of the commissioning strategy, work was taking place to develop additional options to reduce the reliance on external provision and to bring as many young people as possible back into the borough.

AGREED:

That a further report on progress with the new residential home be made after it has been open for six to nine months.

To consider and agree the draft workplan for the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel for 2022-24.

The Panel noted that the Scrutiny Café had taken place since the last Panel meeting.  This had been very well attended, including by a number of young people.  The feedback from it had been incorporated with the outcomes from the Scrutiny Survey and matters that had been raised at previous meetings of the Panel.  There were a number of different ways in which items identified could be addressed, including in-depth reviews, reports to scheduled Panel meetings or questions to the relevant Cabinet Member.  The finalised work plan would cover both the current year and the one afterwards.

The top current priority was to identify suitable issues for in-depth reviews.  It was important that the review on whichever issue was selected to take place first was completed by the end of the year to ensure continuity.  The Panel had met informally and selected the following items for in-depth review:

·         Leisure and recreation for young people;

·         Housing and children; and

·         Listening to children and young people.

Each of these reviews would be subject to detailed scoping.  It had been agreed by the informal meeting that the review on leisure and recreation would begin first.

In reference to the planned review on listening to young people, it was noted that Haringey Youth Council was no longer operational.  Youth councils had been very successful elsewhere and it was agreed that this matter would be considered as part of the review.

AGREED:

1.    That in-depth scrutiny reviews be undertaken by the Panel take on the following issues:

·         Leisure and recreation for young people;

·         Housing and children; and

·         Listening to children and young people.

2.    That the proposed review on leisure and recreation be programmed to begin first.

3.    That the proposed review on listening to children and young people considers the role of youth councils.

4.    That the Panel meeting scheduled for 20^th March 2023 be moved back to 23rd March.

The Chair reported that it was Kanupriya Jhunjhunwala and Anita Jakhu’s last meeting as Parent Governor representatives on the Panel before their term of office ended.   The Panel thanked them for their contribution to the Panel’s work during the past two years.