Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

The Chair welcomed Board Members to the meeting.

Apologies had been received from Councillor Karen Allison, Councillor John Lawson, Coleen Callaghan - Kirklees Fostering Network, Keith Fielding- Kirklees Fostering Network, Elaine McShane- Service Director, Family Support and Child Protection, Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher and Sara Miles Head of Service, Resources, Improvement and Partnerships.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 11 January 2022

The Board considered the minutes of the last meeting held on 11^th January 2022.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting 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.

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

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.  

No deputations or petitions were received.

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 14^th Febraury 2022.  

No questions from the public were received.

Carol Mckenna, Chief Officer of the Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group will attend to speak to the Board about the role of the Corporate Parent.

Contact:

Carol Mckenna, Chief Officer - Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group

The Board considered a verbal update on the Role of the Corporate Parent presented by Carol McKenna, Chief Officer, Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which highlighted the following key points:

·       There was a collective responsibility across a range of organisations to safeguard and promote the life chances of Children Looked After and Care Leavers.

·       There was a commitment to hear the voice of the child / young person and to meet their health needs.

·       There were statutory responsibilities to meet the needs of Children Looked After and Care Leavers through commissioned services, both universal and more bespoke packages of care.

·       There was a responsibility to meet the needs of Kirklees children living out of area, as well as children coming into Kirklees.

·       Work was being done with the public health team to help with profiling and identifying the health needs of the Children Looked After population.

·       Collaborative working with partner agencies would ensure effective support was provided to children / young people.

·       Monitoring of activity would ensure statutory responsibilities were fulfilled.

·       Some statutory services for Children Looked After were commissioned from local providers.

·       There was a full safeguarding team for both adults and children within the Clinical Commissioning Group.

·       The Designated Nurse and Children Looked After Team were responsible for:

o   initiating and co-ordinating health assessments within 20 days of a child being received into care.

o   reviewing health assessments, 6 monthly for children under 5 and annually for children above 5.

o   providing training and support to other practitioners.

o   providing health advice and support to a range of people and services.

·       There were robust governance arrangements in place within the Clinical Commissioning Group which included reporting to the Locala safeguarding committee and regular reporting to the Corporate Parenting Board.

·       There was also a quality committee within the Clinical Commissioning Group where the annual report for Children Looked After was shared.

·       There were a range of muti-agency arrangements in place as well as more specialist arrangements in relation to emotional and mental health, particularly for unaccompanied asylum seeker children.

·       There were a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in place in relation to Children Looked After and audit work had been carried out in relation to quality and improvement.

·       There were pressures on the CAMHS services. Dedicated clinicians worked within the placement support team but there had been some challenges in relation to the recruitment and retention of staff.

·       An improvement plan was being developed jointly between CCG commissioners and the placement support team.

·       There was a clear understanding of where further improvements were needed and how services were operating.

·       Commissioned services were effective and had a positive impact, services were accessible and supported health needs to be met.

The Board acknowledged the presentation and the complexities of the information shared. The Board highlighted that the health needs of children and young people had been addressed but questioned how Care Leavers were ensured education, training or employment and what opportunities could be provided?

Carol Mckenna responded and shared conversations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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

Contacts:

Councillor Carole Pattison
Janet Tolley, Virtual School Head Teacher

Councillor Pattison advised that the last Governing Body meeting was cancelled, mainly due to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) inspection. Therefore, no update was given.

Councillor Pattison shared that a new duty had been put upon the virtual school, which expanded its responsibilities. Sara Hions, Virtual School Team Manager further added that the project was showing sustainability and was making good progress. Sara also shared that the virtual school had been involved in the evaluation from the Department for Education (DfE) which was positive in terms of highlighting good practise and how to move forward as a Local Authority.

RESOLVED:  The Board agreed that a verbal update on the virtual school governing body be given at the next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board.

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

Contacts:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher
Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children

Ian Mottershaw, Head of Service –Contextual Safeguarding and Y.E.S, Family Support and Child Protection

The Board considered the latest reports giving key highlights on Performance Monitoring Data for Children in Care.

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children provided data relating to children in care. It was noted that:

·       The overall number of Children Looked After as of December 2021 was 617 which was a decline on previous months. However, the figure had since increased to 626 and continued to increase.

·       A breakdown of the overall numbers identified that 148 Looked After Children were males aged between 10 to 15 years and 113 were females aged between 10 and 15 years, the highest number of children were within that age bracket.

·       In terms of ethnicity, 71.5% were White British and there had been an increase in the number of children becoming Looked After who were of Asian ethnicity. In December 2020 the figure was 7.5% and in December 2021 it had increased to 9.1%.

·       Further work needed to be undertaken to understand and interrogate the data and it was suggested that a full report be presented to the next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board.

·       Social work visits had continued but there had been a decline in December 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and children and foster carers testing positive. Children were still contacted but not seen face to face and all children had been visited since.

In relation to Children Looked After Educational Outcomes, Sara Hions, Virtual School Team Manager highlighted that:

·       100% of (Personal Education Planning) PEPs had been completed within the Autumn Term and 100% of initial PEPs have been completed within 10 school days of child coming into care since 01/09/2021. 

·       The Virtual school lead all PEP reviews in conjunction with social care and other professionals involved which were currently taking place virtually.

·       Persistent absence (PA) remained a high priority for all pupils with attendance less than 90% and the Virtual School Continued to monitor individual attendance closely and work to support young people on an individual basis.

·       Mid-Year School Moves were only actioned if necessary, and were supported to ensure no break, or a minimal break in provision.

·       97.2% of school moves since the start of the academic year were carefully planned across the service to ensure a smooth transition with no break in provision.

·       A key aim was to maintain success rates across the key performance indicators.

·       Emotional well-being was impacting on children / young people and there was a need to improve partnership working to offer support around this.

·       The impact of Covid was still having an impact in terms of capacity and staffing.

The Board noted the information and referring to the persistent absence data highlighted that benchmarking for statistical neighbours and England was for the year 2018/19. Sara Hions responded to explain that reporting on benchmarks had stopped nationally until clearer and more robust data could be provided for comparisons.

Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children provided the data relating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Board will consider the Care Leavers Overview Report presented by Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children.

Contact:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children.

The Board considered the Care Leavers Overview Report presented by Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children who explained that:

·       The report set the key objectives of the care leavers service, the role of the Personal Advisors and the categories of care in terms of eligibility, relevance and qualifying as defined in the Leaving Care Act 2000.

·       All care experience young people had an allocated social worker up until the age of 18.

·       At the age of 18 they were allocated a Personal Advisor whose role was to support, assist and advise young people to continue to develop their independent living skills.

·       Personal Advisors were now allocated at the earlier age of 17; this helped build earlier relationships, between the young person and the Personal Advisor, and enabled Personal Advisors to work jointly with social workers to gain an earlier understanding of the young person’s needs and focus on areas in relation to education, training and employment.

·       54.9% of young people were in education, employment or training which was an area of concern.

·       There was ongoing work with business networks to help create opportunities for young people as a part of the pathway planning.

·       Data showed that Pathway Plans were being completed but were not being recorded in a timely manner, which was a was a piece of work to improve on.

·       86.5% of children / young people were in suitable accommodation. 14 of which were within a custodial setting which was defined as unsuitable accommodation.

·       Personal advisors were continuing to keep in touch with young people, but more work needed to be done.

·       The minimum standard for seeing young people was every 8 weeks, with the view that it should happen more frequently for those who wanted it.

·       In cases where the young person did not want to be seen, they would still be contacted via letter and made aware of the services they were entitled to.

·       The biggest challenge was young people who were not in education, training or employment, and the importance of working together to address the issue and create opportunities for young people.

The Board acknowledged the importance of strong partnerships with other organisations and services, and the responsibility of ensuring young people were provided with opportunities for education, training, and employment.

In response to the Boards comments, Sara Hions, Virtual School Team Manager, highlighted that the virtual school, with consent, would also remain involved in the young person’s educational journey post 18. Ophelia Rix further added that a panel of key agencies was being created to look at work around adult learning in terms of identifying how to improve opportunities, including links to housing and careers. Ophelia also shared that the careers advisors, personal advisor and social worker would be invited to attend the young person’s PEP review at the age of 17 to allow individual conversations to take place with the young person in relation to their needs, so that opportunities could be created  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Board will consider an overview of the Statements of Purpose of the five local authority Ofsted registered children’s homes.

Contact:

Sara Miles, Head of Homes for Children, Quality Assurance and Safeguarding

(presented by Steve Colley, Interim Service Manager (Placements Team)

Steve Colley, Service Manager for Placement and Residential presented the Statement of Purpose for Children’s Homes (Annual Report). The Board noted that:

·       The statement of purpose set out what was to be achieved in terms of the ethos of the home and what it offered.

·       There were 5 children’s homes within the Authority that were regulated by Ofsted.

·       The report contained clear guidance in relation to what each home did, how many children / young people could be accommodated and the needs of the children / young people that could be accommodated.

·       There were two mainstream children’s homes and two disability children’s homes, one of which offered short breaks provision.

·       There was a third mainstream children’s home which operated Muti-Systemic Therapy (MST) and an integrated model of working with children / young people and their families to support them back into their family home.

·       There was a new home due to open late spring / early summer 2022 which had a social pedagogy ethos.

The Board noted the update, highlighting the work undertaken in relation to MST and requested that the outcomes be shared with the Board in the future. Tom Brailsford, Service Director, Resources, Improvement and Partnerships further highlighted that there had been changes in residential provision and the model of care across the homes, suggesting it would be useful to present an update to the Board to share some of the plans.

RESOLVED: The Board Members noted the Statement of Purpose for Children’s Homes (Annual Report), and it was agreed that:

1.    The outcomes of the Muti-Systemic Therapy approach be provided to the Corporate Parenting Board.

2.    An update on the changes to residential provision and the model of care be provided to the Corporate Parenting Board.

The Board will receive a verbal update in relation to the Children’s Ambition Board.

Contacts:

Elaine McShane, Service Director (Family Support and Child Protection)
Tom Brailsford, Service Director ( Resources, Improvement and Partnerships)

Tom Brailsford, Service Director, Resources, Improvement and Partnerships advised that the last meeting of the Children’s Ambition Board was cancelled due to the SEND inspection so there was no update. The Board noted that it would be helpful for the outcomes of the SEND inspection to be provided to the Board.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Children’s Ambition Board update and agreed that:

1.    An update would be provided to the Corporate Parenting Board following the next Children’s Ambition Board.

2.    The outcomes of the SEND inspection be reported to the Corporate Parenting Board in the next municipal year.

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

Contact:

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Board shared a verbal update on the Kinship carers pantomime and Christmas party and highlighted that it was hugely successful, enjoyable and attended by many families.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the update on Interactions with Services.

The Board will consider its agenda plan for 2021/22

Contact:

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Board considered the work plan for 2021/22.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the work programme for the 2021/22 municipal year.