Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 and 3, Trafford Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, M32 0TH.. View directions

Contact: Fabiola Fuschi 

Items
No. Item

16.

ATTENDANCES

To note attendances, including officers, and any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Acton. Councillor Longden reported that Councillor Shirley Procter was unable to access the car park and the Council’s building. The Chairman had reported the issue to the Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Equalities and the Leader of the Council.

17.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To note the membership of the Committee, including the appointment of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, for the Municipal Year 2019/20, as agreed at Annual Council on 22nd May 2019

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the membership of the Children and Young’s People Scrutiny Committee for the Municipal Year 2019/20 be noted.

18.

TERMS OF REFERENCE pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To note the terms of reference of the Committee for the Municipal Year 2019/20 as agreed at Annual Council on 22nd May 2019

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Terms of Reference of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee for the Municipal Year 2019/20 be noted.

19.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillors Barclay, Carey and Longden declared a general interest in so far as any matter related to their employment.

20.

URGENT BUSINESS (IF ANY)

Any other item or items which by reason of:-

 

(a)       Regulation 11 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the Chairman of the meeting, with the agreement of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chairman, is of the opinion should be considered at this meeting as a matter of urgency as it relates to a key decision; or

 

(b)       special circumstances (to be specified) the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered at this meeting as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

21.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public questions submitted in writing to Democratic Services (democratic.services@trafford.gov.uk) by 4pm on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must be within the remit of the Committee or be relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received

 

Minutes:

There were no public questions received.

22.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 163 KB

To receive and, if so determined, to approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19th March 2019

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 19th March 2019 be approved as a correct record.

23.

Mental Health Services for Children and Young People pdf icon PDF 258 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a report of the Interim Specialist Commissioner for Children’s Clinical and Public Health, Trafford Council, which provided an update on Trafford’s mental health and wellbeing services and the wider offer for children and young people. The report also informed of how services were being transformed in line with the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and THRIVE framework, the integrated, person centred and needs led approach to mental health services for children, young people and their families, with a strong emphasis on early intervention.    

 

The author of the report, accompanied by the Associate Director of Primary Care, Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group, attended the meeting to present the information and address the enquiries of the Committee.

 

Officers reported that the Local Transformation plan, which outlined, yearly, the current offer and the planned changes for mental health services in Trafford, had received a green rating by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Data on access services, collated manually via the Strategic Data Collection Service, showed that Trafford exceeded the national target. The officers illustrated one of the components of the Greater Manchester Crisis Pathway, which operated at the Accident and Emergency, for those who experienced a mental health crisis, and it offered 24 hour support via the All Age Mental Health Liaison Services.

 

The officers went on to report that a comprehensive training programme had been in place since 2017 to address the mental health skills gap of Trafford professionals. A Mental Health First Aid Training was currently being provided to school staff, school nurses, Early Help Hub staff, GPs, locality teams and voluntary sector. In addition to this, a Greater Manchester Training Programme was also in place to develop professionals’ knowledge about the Transforming Care agenda and iTHRIVE. 

 

With regard to specialist support services, Officers mentioned that Healthy Young Minds, formerly Children and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS) had seen a significant increase in referrals which had had an impact on users’ waiting times. Furthermore, unprecedented high sickness levels and vacancies within the services had also contributed to very long waiting times. The same issues were experienced at national level. Eating Disorders and Perinatal/Parent and Infant Mental Health had received a very positive feedback for achieving, the former, 100% targets on access and waiting times and the latter, “Rare Jewels” recognition by the Parent Infant Partnership UK for parent-infant provision.

 

The officers informed the Committee of the work plan for 2019/20 and the key pieces of work such as the Autism and Communication Pathway which would be accepting referrals from September 2019 and the Single Point of Access which would provide one route for children and young people into mental health services to reduce the amount of inappropriate referrals and to ensure that children did not have to tell their stories multiple times.

 

The Committee sought clarification on whether it would be difficult to fill the vacancies in Mental Health services. It was explained that it was not possible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Update on Ofsted report May 2019 - Inspection of Children's Social Care Services pdf icon PDF 215 KB

Report to follow

Minutes:

The Interim Director of Children’s Services gave a presentation on the latest developments in Children’s Social Care Services, following the Ofsted inspection in March 2019 and the publication of the inspectors’ report, in May 2019, which had rated Trafford as “inadequate”. A regular update on the Council’s progress against the Ofsted recommendations would be presented at the meetings of this Committee during the current municipal year.

 

The Interim Director of Children’s Services informed the Committee that the Council held valid data and intelligence but it was necessary to utilise these elements for effective planning. There were specific areas that needed to be addressed such as the quality of social work assessment to ensure that it met effectively the child’s needs, the response to children who went missing to ensure that return home interviews were completed and records of these were utilise for future risk managing.

 

The Interim Director of Children’s Services went on to explain some of the measures that were being implemented to address Ofsted recommendations, for example, additional social workers and team leaders with preference for permanent staff and stability in the number of team members. A leadership programme was being developed and a Shadow Improvement Board, led by an independent chair, had been established where elected members, senior officers and representatives from Greater Manchester Police worked together to address the recommendations. The final draft of the action plan was ready and it would go to Ofsted on 13th August 2019. The Department for Education (DfE) was kept informed of the progress against the draft action plan which would be brought to the attention of this Committee after its submission to the Shadow Improvement Board. Regular meetings with the Deputy Leader of the Council took place to update on progress against the recommendations. Trafford Council would also have the opportunity to receive peer support by visiting an authority, with good Ofsted rating, such as Cheshire West and Chester Council to work together on a range of issues highlighted in the Inspector’s report.

 

The Interim Director of Children’s Services explained the actions put in place to ensure that the Council listed to the “Voice of the Child” and children and young people’s views were asked and considered in the process to develop services. As a result of this, representatives of children in care were going to be involved in the panel to appoint the new Trafford Children’s Services Director in October 2019. Meeting also took place with foster carers to see how their plans could be developed. Work was ongoing with front line staff on processes, quality assurance and case files, to evaluate strengths and challenges. Furthermore, Trafford was one of the early adopters of LiquidLogic Children’s System; although this was a new case management system, it would be possible to request an update to make it more accessible and user friendly. Other parts of the review looked at front door and first point of reference and access to services, Early Help and Safeguarding.

 

Members sought  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee Task & Finish Group Review into the Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) Process in Trafford pdf icon PDF 296 KB

Report to follow

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the final report of the Task and Finish Group Review into the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Process in Trafford. The report detailed the approach taken and the sources of information gathered by the Councillors in ten area of concern that were identified with regard to EHCPs.

 

The Committee noted the content of the report and its recommendations which would be submitted to the Executive for their consideration.

 

RESOLVED that:

1.    The content of the report be noted;

2.     The recommendations outlined in the report be submitted to the Executive for their consideration.

26.

Start Well Board Update pdf icon PDF 248 KB

Verbal update

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Senior Partnerships and Communities Officer which provided an overview on the work of the Start Well Board. This was a multi-agency strategic partnership board with accountability for delivering national and local priorities for public health in relation to maternity, children and young people. The Board also covered general prevention and work on the wider determinants of health.

 

 The Chair of the Committee asked for a volunteer who was willing to represent the Committee at the Start Well Board.

 

RESOLVED that the overview on the work of the Start Well Board be noted.

27.

Corporate Parenting Board Update

Verbal update

Minutes:

The Chair of the Committee, who also sat on the Corporate Parenting Board,   reported that the Executive Member for Children’s Social Care was going to be the new Chair of the Board and the first meeting would take place next week. The Board represented a good opportunity for all partner agencies involved with children and young people in care and care leavers to challenge each other to find ways to make services more effective and to explore more the “Voice of the Child”. At each meeting of the Board, representatives of children in care and care leavers were in attendance.

 

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

28.

WORK PROGRAMME 19-20 pdf icon PDF 283 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the work programme 2019/20 be noted.