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 relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received.

The Chair of the Committee read out questions that had been submitted from a Trafford Resident for the meeting. The questions were in relation to item six on the agenda. The questions posed were;

“Does there need to be a more granular focus in the plans?

Given BAME students are disproportionally represented in SEND stats and exclusion, does there need to be more detail in terms of students ethnic background and postcodes so that limited resources can be razor sharp on those students who are more likely to require targeted intervention and support? Other minority groups such as those with English as an additional language, children in care, and children from gypsy traveller communities, young offenders, may also benefit from a specific focus. The plans are very generic. Does there need to be a focus on families, who have not historically engaged well with services and a rethink of how, when and where the engagement occurs, who is in control?

The vision and ambitions set out in the documents are quite general and I am not sure how we will know things have improved/changed, how will this be measured? How will you know it is working?

Is there enough health representation on the Partnership Board, do we have a DMO/DCO?

How will all this be communicated throughout the Children’s Workforce so that they know what the expectations are on them as partners with families?

How does this document link into the JSNA, Trafford Together Locality Plan and the Social Care Children’s improvement plan?”

The executive Member for Children’s services gave a response to each of the questions posed. In response to the first question around BAME the Executive Member for Children’s Services answered that the Council was aware of the work that needed to be done around the BAME community although it was in the early stages. An educational psychologist had set up a group to develop an understanding of how to engage with BAME children in a way that did not re-enforce inequalities.

In response to the question about the vision the Executive Member for Children’s Services pointed out that there were detailed sets of plans and task and finish groups in place to ensure the vision was delivered. While the vision was general the plans and Task and Finish groups went into more detail including how success was to be measured.

There was health representation on the Partnership Board with the Councils DCO and paediatrician as part of the membership for the last year. Regular meetings were also held with the EHC managers so their views were heard.

The expectations that the Council had of staff were communicated through the communications and engagement group who then disseminated the information to the rest of the workforce and the wider partnership. The Executive would continue to monitor this going forward to make sure that the mechanisms set in place were adequate.

In response to the question about how the plans linked into other Boards and Plans the Executive Member for Children’s Services answered that the plan was interconnected with the Trafford JSNA and the Start Well Board which the Executive Member for Children’s services chaired.

The Chair noted that it was a detailed response and they hoped that it addressed the entire of the resident’s questions.

RESOLVED: That the public questions and responses be noted by the Committee.