Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - online. View directions

Contact: Jodie Harris  Email: jodie.harris@kirklees.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Membership of the Board/Apologies

The Chair will welcome everyone to the meeting and announce any apologies received.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Board Members to the meeting. Apologies had been received from  Gill Addy , Tom Brailsford , Sara Miles , Christine Carmichael, Cllr Fazila Loonat, Barry Lockwood and Janet Tolley.

 

2.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 328 KB

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 23 March 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED-

1)    That the Minutes of the previous meeting be approved as a correct record.

2)    That the reports agreed to be presented to the Board as detailed in the Minutes be added to the Boards work programme for 2020/21.</AI2><AI3>

 

3.

Interests pdf icon PDF 20 KB

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.

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

 

 

4.

Admission of the Public

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.

Minutes:

It was agreed that all agenda items would be held in public session.

 

5.

Deputations/Petitions

The Board will receive any petitions and hear any 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 hand in a petition at the meeting but that petition should relate to something on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (2), Members of the Public should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of presenting a deputation.  

 

Minutes:

No deputations or petitions were received.

 

6.

Public Question Time

The Board will hear any questions from the general public. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk  no later than 10am on Monday 28 June 2021.

Minutes:

No questions from the public were received. </AI5>

 

7.

Children's Performance Highlight Report pdf icon PDF 652 KB

The Board will consider a report giving key highlights from the latest Performance Monitoring data for the Children’s Service.

 

Contacts:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Corporate Parenting

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher

Laura Caunce, Head of Service - Children's Sufficiency Resources, Improvement & Partnerships

 

Minutes:

The Board considered a report giving key highlights on Performance Monitoring data for Children’s Services.

 

Ophelia Rix ,Head of Corporate Parenting, presented the performance data relating to ‘children entering care, children in care and placement stability’. It was reported that the data as of 31 May 2021 continued to show a decreasing trend in the number and rate of children in care in Kirklees. The positive trend was attributed to clear and robust procedures. The following areas of work were highlighted: 

 

·         The Legal Gateway and Permanence Panel continued to oversee the decision making and planning around Placement moves and care planning for children and young people.

·         The continuation of strong partnership working was helping to ensure that children and young people remained within their families where possible.

·         Where children needed to become looked after, clear processes ensured that matters were presented before courts in a timely manner.

 

The Board commented that the data presented was reassuring and that it was positive that the services provided were enabling children and young people to remain with their families where possible.

 

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection advised that the introduction of the Multisystemic therapy (MST) Teams  was beginning to have a positive impact as reflected in the data presented. It was explained that the MST approach was a restorative, evidenced-based intervention that aimed to prevent children from entering care by working with families. Elaine further suggested that an update on the work of the MST teams  be presented to a future meeting of the Board.  The Board members welcomed this suggestion and agreed that the report to be presented to the Board should be focused on how the multisystemic approaches  were helping to keep children with their families and on understanding data in respect of the outcomes produced. The Board further agreed that it would be helpful for  Board members to visit the MST Teams to gain greater understanding of their work.

The Board noted that partnership work between Children’s Services and the Police was ongoing in respect of the Philomena Protocol (a scheme that asks carers to identify children and young people who are at risk of going missing, and to record vital information about them that can be used to help find them quickly and safely). Ophelia Rix advised that  there was an  improving picture in respect of timelines, but more work was required to increase understanding and fully implement the protocol across the partnership.

 

In relation to educational outcomes, Cllr Carole Pattison reported that the number of in-year school moves had continued to decrease over 2018-19 and 2019- 20 and the Board were advised that continuing to reduce  the number of young people with a break in educational provision whenever possible was a priority of the virtual school.

 

Stewart Horn, Head of Joint Commissioning – Children and Families presented  the data for ‘Children Looked After Health’ and reported that, there was a steadily improving picture of review health assessment data.   93% of assessments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Overview of Number and Age of Children in Care pdf icon PDF 566 KB

The Board will consider a report giving an overview of the number of children in care.

 

Contact:

 

Ophelia Rix, Head of Corporate Parenting

 

 

Minutes:

The Board considered the report ‘Overview of Number and Age of Children in Care’ which was presented by Ophelia Rix, Head of Corporate Parenting. The report included information relating to the number and profile of children in care in Kirklees as well as the number of Children placed outside of the District.

 

Following a discussion about the retainment of foster carers and the inclusion of out of area carers,  the Board agreed that data relating to the number of Kirklees foster carers who had moved out of the area be provided to the Board.  

 

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection advised that over the next 6-12 months significant work was being undertaken around supporting foster carers  through the ‘Mockingbird Model’ which aimed to modernise the support given in terms of improving  the stability of fostering placements. The Board requested any estimated dates for the completion of the ‘Mockingbird’ policy. Elaine  advised  that progress was been made and September was anticipated to be the next phase of moving forward.

 

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.    The Board noted the report ‘Overview and Age of Children in Care’ and Ophelia Rix  was thanked for her contributions.

2.    It was agreed that data relating to the number of Kirklees foster carers who had moved out of the area be provided to the Board. 

 

9.

Children's Rights Team Annual Report pdf icon PDF 252 KB

The Board will consider the annual report of the Children’s Rights Team relating to the services delivered by the Children’s Rights Team during the period of 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021.

 

Contacts:

 

Anna Gledhill, Service Manager, Quality Assurance  and Safeguarding

Melanie Tiernan, Service Manager – Family Support and Child Protection

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered the Annual Report from the Children’s Rights Team  relating to service delivery from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 which was presented by Melanie Tiernan, Service Manager, Family Support and Child Protection.

 

Melanie Tiernan explained that the key priorities for the Children’s Rights Team in 2021/22 were to:

 

·         Increase children and young people’s participation in Looked After Reviews and Child Protection conferences.

·         Increase membership of  both the Children in Care Council and Care Leavers Forum, to ensure that the voices of children and young people inform future service delivery and that there is representation of all groups of young people.

·         Work with others across Children’s services to capture children’s voices and experiences and to help support participation inform service development and design.

·         Introduce improved quality assurance mechanisms, to support the development of the Children’s Rights Service and the team.

·         Develop the Independent Visitor Scheme to provide a consistently high service to children, young people, and volunteers

 

In relation to point 9.1 in the report , under Child Protection Conference Advocacy, the Board asked a question as to why no referral from a social worker was listed as a reason for children not been seen. In response, Melanie Tiernan reassured the Board that instances of no referral were always  followed up by a social worker and explained that the reason given may have been because the referral wasn’t received on time. Further to this, it was advised that work was been done to make the referral process smoother and more efficient. The Board noted the positive feedback given by young people highlighting that this showed the value having an independent visitor can provide. 

 

In response to this, Anna Gledhill, Service Manager ,  Quality Assurance and Social Work Practice Lead, advised that part of the campaign was increasing the publicity of the Independent Visitors work and the positive outcomes achieved. The Board welcomed this approach. In the discussion to follow,  the Board suggested that as a part of recruiting volunteers to be Independent Visitors , that information about being an independent visitor  could be advertised to the Councils internal retirement.

 

The Board responded to a number of questions submitted in a letter to the Chair of the Board from the National Independent Visitor Network (via Barnardo’s) in relation to  reviewing and monitoring Independent Visitor provision , ensuring that statutory responsibilities are met and that children in care are receiving the support they are entitled to. It was agreed that Anna Gledhill would respond to the letter reflecting the discussion held during the meeting of the Board in response to the questions.

 

The Chair of the Board verbally reported under this item, that Sanna Mahmood, Care Leavers Advocate – Family Support and Child Protection,  would be resigning as the Boards standing care leaver representative. The Board thanked Sanna for her time and valuable contributions to the Board. 

 

To follow a further discussion was held about how best to represent the voice of  care leavers during meetings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Overall Financial Policy for Care leavers pdf icon PDF 256 KB

 

The Board will be presented with the refreshed Care Leavers Support and Financial Guidance Policy.

 

Contacts:

 

Elaine McShane, Service Director – Family Support and Child Protection

Lisa Warnes, Programme Manager – Children’s Services Improvement, Children and Families

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection
gave a presentation setting out the refreshed Care Leavers Support and Financial Guidance Policy.

 

Board members welcomed and fully supported the draft policy and highlighted that a clearer and more flexible financial support policy was an important part of supporting looked after children post 18 and fulfilling the Councils role of a Corporate Parent. The Board also recognised  that the draft policy was a good starting point that would evolve as work was taken forward.

 

RESOLVED:-  The Board noted the Care Leavers Support and Financial Guidance Policy and thanked  Lisa Warnes, Programme Manager – Children’s Services Improvements , Children and Families and Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection for their contributions

11.

Virtual School Governing Body Update

The Board will receive a verbal update from the Chair of the Virtual School Governing Body, Councillor Carole Pattison.

 

Contacts:

 

Councillor Carole Pattison
Janet Tolley, Virtual School Head Teacher

Minutes:

Cllr Carole Pattison gave verbal update on the work of the Virtual School Governing Body. It was reported that

 

·         Attainment  in primary schools  had improved and had stayed the same in secondary schools over the course of the pandemic to date.

·         100% of Personal Education Plans (PEP’s) were completed within the Spring Term in-line with the new termly processes.

·         Children looked after by virtual school attended approximately 220 educational settings.  Of those 220 , 101 children were based within Kirklees and the rest were out of area. 

·         A grant had been awarded to extend the role of the Virtual school Head Teacher include children with a social worker in addition to Looked After Children. 

·         The focus going forward was to maintain the completion of termly PEP’s , attendance/persistent absence and the reduction of school moves remained a high priority.

 

RESOLVED:- The Board noted the Virtual School Governing Body Update.

 

12.

OFSTED and Improvement Board Update

The Board will be given a verbal update in relation to the OFSTED Improvement and Ambition Board.

 

Contact:

 

Elaine McShane, Service Director  - Family Support and Child Protection

Minutes:

 

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection gave a verbal update on the work of the Ofsted and Ambition Board. It was  noted that the Board now had broadened its scope of focus to include the SEND transformation programme.  Elaine suggested that a report on SEND Transformation be provided to the Board in relation to Looked After Children, the Board noted the update and agreed that the report be presented to a future meeting.

 

RESOLVED:-

1.    The Board noted the Ofsted Ambition Board Update

2.    It was agreed that a report on SEND Transformation be presented to the Board in relation to Looked After Children within the Calendar year.

 

13.

Membership of the Board

The Chair will verbally report a number of changes to the Boards Membership and the Board will consider and discuss its membership.

 

Contact: Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

Minutes:

The Chair of the Board verbally reported that:

 

·         Cllr Fazila Loonat was to be removed from the membership and be replaced by Cllr Elizabeth Reynolds

·         Sanna Mahmood was to be removed as Care Leaver representative and future care leaver representation on the Board be reviewed as discussed under item 9.

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.            The Board noted the membership changes and thanked Sanna Mahmood and Cllr Fazila Loonat for their time and contributions to the Board.

2.            That the Boards new membership be formally agreed at the next meeting of the Board.

 

 

14.

Updates from Board Members on Interaction with Services

The Board will consider verbal updates from Board Members in relation to progress and key issues following interaction with Services and partners to challenge the role of the Corporate Parent.

 

Contact: Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

Minutes:

Board members were advised that the Chair of the Board had been to visit 3 children’s social work teams based in Batley, Huddersfield, and Colne valley.  It was noted that the committed, positive and enthusiastic attitude that the social workers had towards their work was clear.   The Chairs visit also gave members of those teams the opportunity to put forward various ideas and concerns. The Chair highlighted the value in visiting services and encouraged other Board members to visit teams.

 

RESOLVED:- 

 

1.            Board members noted the update on Interactions with Services.

2.            It was agreed that Board Members would contact the Chair or Jodie Harris to arrange any visits to services.

 

 

15.

Corporate Parenting Board - Proposed areas of focus and activity for 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 517 KB

The Board will note the future meeting dates of the Board, and will consider the proposed areas of focus for the Board for the 2021/22 municipal year using the draft agenda plan.    

 

Contact:

 

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

Minutes:

The Board considered the work plan for 2021/22.

 

RESOLVED – 

 

1.    The Board noted the forward work programme for the 2021/22 municipal year,

2.     It was agreed that all reports agreed within the meeting of the Board as of 29 June 2021 be added to the forward plan.