Agenda and minutes

This is where members who are attending as substitutes will say for whom they are attending.

Apologies were received from Cllr Elizabeth Reynolds, Cllr Mark Thompson, Rachel Spencer-Henshall, Christine Fox, Sean Rayner, Dr Khalid Naeem, and Vanessa Taylor

Lucy Wearmouth attended as sub for Rachel Spencer-Henshall, Karen Huntley, attended as sub for Stacey Appleyard, Izzy Worswick, attended as sub for Sean Raynor.

The Chair gave a note of thanks to the previous Chair Cllr Viv Kendrick and to the Nick Hardiker Deputy Chair who has retired.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on the 29^th June 2023.

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 29^th June 2023 be approved as a correct record.

The Board Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have disclosable pecuniary interests, which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items, or any other interest.

No interests were declared.

Most debates take place in public. This only changes when there is a need to consider certain issues, for instance, commercially sensitive information or details concerning an individual. You will be told at this point whether there are any items on the Agenda which are to be discussed in private.

All agenda items were considered in public session.

The Board will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were asked.

The Board will receive information on The Big Plan – SEND Strategy Refresh; SEND Governance arrangements, and an update on the Written Statement of Action.

Contact: Jo-anne Sanders, Service Director, Learning and Early Support

Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director, Learning and Early Support, provided an update on Special Education Needs and Disability Programme, thanking the Board for the opportunity to bring an update on children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or those who have additional needs.

The Board was informed that the update would also provide a progress update on context and data, governance arrangements, and to share information and receive views on the refreshed SEND area strategy entitled, ‘The Big Plan’ and then to respond to Board questions. In addition, an update would be provided on the significant progress made towards improving things that were in the Written Statement of Action, where things currently are, and the preparation being made for the next inspection.

In summary, the Board was informed that the Health and Wellbeing Board holds the executive governance for the local area, around children and young people as they progress towards, and prepare for adulthood.

Referring to a set a slides entitled “what difference are we trying to make, and for whom,” the Board was informed that there is a complex improvement agenda, so that children young people and their families are able to achieve and succeed.

This is a complex area with a great deal of activity across the partnership, to enable children to have the best start in life from when they are born, putting all the necessary arrangements in place, to ensure that whatever their start in life, they can achieve their potential. Some children and young people need additional help and support, and it is the role of the partnership to get them that support at the earliest opportunity and support them throughout their childhood and into adulthood.

Wherever possible, the aim is to educate young people within the borough, however this is not always possible because of the specific nature of their needs. When young people can be educated locally, services can be wrapped around them in a coherent way by the partnership. It is important that there is consistency and inclusion and that can then be seen in educational outcomes, post 16 opportunities, in working life and that barriers are removed for young people to enable them to excel.

The Board was provided with the following information in terms of background and context:

-      New responsibilities on health, education and social care through the Children and Family Act 2014, placed a statutory duties on all partners in local areas. Prior to that date, there were statements of special educational needs for young people in education, this moved on to what is now in place with the Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) providing a real impetus for partners to join together

-      At the same time that the new statutory duties came into being, a new inspection regime jointly between Ofsted and CQC began to inspect local arrangements. Kirklees, was possibly one of the last local authorities under the old inspection framework to be inspected, and that inspection took place in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The Board will receive information on Starting Well (An update on the refreshed governance and accountability arrangements, including the role and scope of the new Board and groups reporting to it; HWBB role in governance; Children and Young People Partnership changes and update).

Contact: Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director, Learning and Early Support

Stewart Horn, Head of Children’s Integrated Commissioning, informed the Board that he worked in an integrated role, representing the Integrated Care Boards, and Kirklees Council’s Children services. He explained that the update would focus on the new integrated governance arrangements for the health and wellbeing of children in Kirklees, called the Starting Well Program.

In summary, the Board was informed that in terms of historical context, there was the Children and Young People's Partnership Plan which ran from 2020 to 2023, and the Health and Wellbeing Board had oversight of that. The priorities in the plan included:

-      To reduce the effects of poverty on children - this has now become a Council wide focus, there is a tackling poverty partnership, there are various cost of living support programmes and poverty awareness when working with families. This ensures the continual monitoring and analysing of the negative effects of poverty on children's experiences and outcomes

-      To support inclusion and better outcomes for LGBT+ young people – this came out loud and clear on many of the children and young people surveys undertaken and as a result of this increase focus, a service has been commissioned to support LGBT plus children and their families as well as the agencies working around them

-      To grow our youth offer, places to go, people to see, things to do – this is now the core work of the youth development programme, and various projects have been delivered including ‘Our Space’ which was regarding capital grants for local voluntary sector providers to improve their facilities, provisions and venues. There is the holiday activity and food program which provides activities for children in school holidays

The integrated approach to governance in Kirklees is known as the ‘Well Programmes,’ and the focus of the programme is to align all of the top tier strategies with the emphasis being the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This helps the system to work together towards shared outcomes. Under the programme, there is a life course approach, which includes, Starting Well, Living Well and Aging Well.

The idea is that work is undertaken in a collaborative way with providers and Commissioners, giving everybody an equal voice at the table and everyone's view is heard. There is distributed leadership around the system where partners have been given autonomy to deliver in the best way they can, ensuring that the programs are partnership led. It is important that the plans are not seen as  NHS or local authority plan, it is system wide, and it is hoped that partners feel sufficiently engaged.

It was felt important that there was some senior system leadership with the plans, therefore senior leaders from across the partnership lead each of the plans. Tom Brailsford as director of Children's services, has agreed to chair and lead the Starting Well Programme.

The principles worked to when developing the Well Programmes, were developed through some initial workshops, and the outcome from those workshops included the following:

-      Alignment of priorities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.