To consider a report from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

The Chair opened the item by noting how late the reports had been submitted for the meeting.

Councillor Procter added that she had not received the reports until the night before the meeting and that she would rather end the meeting and roll it over to a later meeting.

The Committee discussed the proposal to adjourn and meet at a later date or whether to continue with the meeting. The Chair noted the problems people raised and put the proposal to adjourn the meeting to a vote. Three Members voted to continue the meeting and two voted to adjourn so the meeting continued.

[Note Councillor Procter left the meeting at 19:38]

The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care then introduced the item and went through the slides that had been circulate with the agenda. The Committee were informed that there was an amount of information on the national picture which had been added for context and would be skipped over in the meeting so they could focus upon the local picture. The Committee’s attention was then drawn to the numbers of people who had come into the borough and the Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care explained that there were several young people who had come in unaccompanied. There were fifteen 18 – 25year olds who had entered the care system as unaccompanied young people who were continuing to receive support from the Council. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care then described the situation with Ukrainian refugees who had come into the area for the Committee.

The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance covered the education side of Trafford’s approach towards new arrivals into the area. The Fair Access protocol was used to help young people who were new to the area to find schools and places for education. The Committee were informed of the work carried out by schools and the admissions team which ensured that no young people had a long gap in their education. When working with these young people additional support was provided to help their families to access other necessities. All of the work detailed to the Committee was delivered at pace and was a collaborative piece of work between the school admissions team, the Family information service, and Trafford Schools.

The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care asked the Committee to note the information on slide 10 of the presentation on feedback received from the families.

The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care then moved on to the section of the presentation which covered Safeguarding. The Committee were told that five children from Ukraine had arrived unaccompanied and the Council had been advised to treat them as privately fostered children. The Council had arranged for additional visits to those young people to ensure they were settling in. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care asked the Committee to note how the Britannia Hotel had been used. When arrangements for using the hotel had originally been made the Council had thought that it would be young men who would be staying in the hotel but that had proven to not be the case.  Trafford had received a number of families instead which culminated in 118 people staying at the hotel with 59 of that number being children.

The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care concluded the presentation by informing the committee of the cross department approach the council was taking and how it involved staff from children’s services, housing, and regulatory services. While there had been some issues the Trafford community had been widely welcoming of the families who had come into the area and the service were committed to working in partnership to ensure those families had the right support.

Councillor Zhi asked about safeguarding concerns that had been raised around the different cultural norms with families from Hong Kong. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care responded to Councillor Zhi and informed the Committee that referrals had been received regarding physical chastisement of children and there had also been some instances of children being left home alone for an extended period of time. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care added that it was not solely families from Hong Kong and there were many new arrivals who needed to receive communications around the statutory requirements that services had to work to in the UK.

Councillor Zhi asked what language and cultural support the council provided to families for whom English was their second language. In response to Councillor Zhi the Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care informed the Committee that the council always provided an interpreter when they attended visits. 

The Vice Chair asked a question related to slide 4 of the presentation about the checks of young people being under 18. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care responded to the Vice Chair by explaining that the age assessment checks were done when someone presented as being over 18 but insisted that they were under 18. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care detailed the approach that the Council took to determine the persons age and assured the Committee that the Council treated them as young people until they received evidence to the contrary. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services added that it was a very thorough process that was particularly challenging when a person has been through traumatic experiences and was unsure of their own age.

The Vice Chair asked about the Afghan arrivals and whether any of those families had gone on to live independently. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care responded that she did not have the figures to hand but the service had received feedback from several of those families saying that they had received excellent support. The Director of Early Help and Children's Social Care was aware that some of the families had found their own private accommodation but could not give definitive numbers.

The Vice Chair asked whether children from Ukraine and Hong Kong who lived further than walking distance from the schools where they had been placed received support from the Council to attend school. The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance responded that Broadoak had arranged its own transport for children staying at the Britannia Hotel. For the Ashley Hotel the council had managed to find additional funds to provide a solution for young people. The Vice Chair asked how the Council were ensuring the young people were being taken care of. The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance stated that officers would be travelling with the children during their first week to ensure they knew where they were going and it was hoped that they would be able to reduce that support from the second week onwards, as the young people become more independent.

The Vice Chair asked whether any additional support would be provided to the schools to ensure that the young people were integrated successfully. In response The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance informed the Committee that the Council had met with the headteachers of the schools in advance of placing the children and had asked them what the best way was to move forward. The Council was passporting funding to the schools themselves so they could determine the best way to support those young people. The Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services added that the Council were having conversations with Health Colleagues around support. The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance added that there would be focused school nurse support would be provided for the young people.

The Vice Chair asked whether Officers were aware of any additional support or activities were going to be provided over summer for those young people. The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance responded to the Vice Chair that the Council would use the funding that it had available during the summer holidays to support the most vulnerable young people working with sports partnerships and multi-agency services.

Councillor Welton spoke to the Committee about how one of the single mothers from Ukraine had stayed with him in November. During the time that they stayed with Councillor Welton a school place was found for the daughter very quickly and she attended that school for six months. Councillor Welton went on to describe how the Home Office had taken the mother and child into temporary accommodation in Carlisle, which lead to the child missing 5 weeks of school. The family were then moved to Northenden before being moved to the Ashley hotel, which was close enough to the school the child had originally attended to enable her to go back.

Councillor Welton read out a doctor’s note in support of the family’s asylum claim, which spoke of the moves and the impact they had upon the child. Councillor Welton noted the excellent work of Trafford Council in supporting the family and finding a school place and asked whether there was any asylum support that could be offered to the family.  The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded to Councillor Welton that the service could provide advice and support for the family and could sign post them to lawyers who had expertise in dealing with asylum cases.

Councillor Welton spoke about the excellent service provided by the Altrincham Community Hub and asked whether they were receiving additional funding. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that additional funding had been provided in recognition of their excellent work and what they were needing to do.

Councillor Welton asked for the list of primary schools the children from the Britannia hotel were going to. Altrincham Church of England Primary School had taken the majority and Stamford Park Primary School provided some and were willing to take in any additional children placed at the hotel.

Councillor Zhi noted that on page 15 of the presentation it said schools were full and asked whether local children were still able to secure places. In response to Councillor Zhi the Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance stated that the statutory duty was around year 7 and then there was an in-year duty where they would place young people using the fair access criteria. Fair access was used when a child had been through the full placement process but were unable to be placed and vulnerable children were given priority. The Director Education Standards, Quality, and Performance explained that some schools did refuse places to children and in those circumstances the Council did try to negotiate with academies.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services concluded the discussion by stating that she felt Trafford’s response had been fantastic and thanked all the officers, schools, communities, and councillors for the support they had provided.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.