Agenda item

To consider actions to address Priority 1 within the Council’s Corporate Plan; “Enable every child and young person to have the best start in life, with high quality education”.

James Page, the Head of Transformation and Strategy, Children and Young People’s Service, reported that outcome measures and performance targets for the next three years were currently under development.  The aim was that these would help to clarify what good looked like.  Ambitious targets had been set and it was intended that progress against these would be measured in an open and transparent way.  It was proposed that performance information would be published quarterly on the Council’s website.

In answer to questions, the Panel noted that:

·         A well-being survey of children and young people had been commissioned from an organisation that had successfully undertaken similar work elsewhere;

·         The distribution of services across the borough had been looked at.  Locality based services were determined by levels of need.  In particular, a detailed analysis of services had been undertaken in respect of early help;

·         Health issues relating to migrant children were being considered as part of service re-design.  The intention was to re-align services with localities and work on this was taking place with school nurses.  The intention was to pick up issues at an earlier stage;

·         Over 120 schools were now buying traded services from the Council.  A wide range of services were traded and there were now also attracting schools from outside of the borough.

·         The number of Looked After Children (LAC) had gone down in the last year.  The focus of action was on good permanency planning so that young people had a greater level of stability.  The service was also working to support young people better when they left care.  In addition, consideration was also being given to the needs of those children and young people who were on the edge of care.  The intention was to provide support at an earlier stage.

Councillor Mark Blake reported that there was a disproportionate number of young people from black and ethnic minority communities within the youth justice system and that a disproportionality toolkit had been developed by the Youth Justice Board to help local authorities address this.  Gill Gibson, Assistant Director for the Children and Young People’s Service, agreed to look into this issue and report back in due course.  She reported that, as part of the service from October 15, there would be a team focussing on young people ‘at risk’ as part of a multi agency response and targeting a response to vulnerable groups. Recent analysis under the LSCB had, for example, identified that disabled children were over represented amongst those young people involved in gangs.  The new structure aimed to have the responsiveness to deal with specific needs and issues.  The aim was to intervene earlier and involve the whole of the family.  It was intended to obtain good data on where any gaps might be and that this would inform the commissioning strategy. 

Panel Members requested data on the percentage of LAC who were within the youth justice system.  However, it was noted that young people who were remanded were automatically put into care. 

Members of the Panel raised the issue of the consultation process for the re-organisation of children’s centres, which had recently been launched.  Councillor Waters, the Cabinet Member for Children and Families, reported that the consultation would be running until 20 September.  The process would involve a number of public meetings.  Responses to the proposals could also be made on line.  All Children’s Centres had been informed of the consultation process and it was hoped that it would be possible to get good feedback from them.  One particular issue that would be looked at was what could still be provided at locations that were no longer to be Children’s Centres following the reorganisation.

The Chair requested assurance that Equalities Impact Assessments (EIAs) were being used as a tool by the Council.  The Panel noted that EIAs were used where required and that there was now additional capacity within the Council’s Policy Team to advise services on this issue and ensure that they were an integral part of change processes. 

AGREED:

1.    That the Children and Young People’s Service give consideration the use of the Youth Justice Board’s disproportionality toolkit to monitor the percentage of black and ethnic minority young people within the youth justice system locally; and

2.      That data be shared with the Panel on the percentage of LAC within the youth justice system.