Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence were received from Linda Summers.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 14^th January 2021.

The minutes of the meetings of the Panel held on the14^th January 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

The Councillors 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 interests.

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 items were considered in public session.

The Committee 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 petitions or deputations 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 24^th February 2021.

No questions were received from the public.

The Panel will consider a report providing information relating to the number and profile of children in our care, including information related to the number of children in care placed outside of the District.

Contact Officer: Julie Bragg, Head of Corporate Parenting (Children in Care and Care Leavers)

The Panel considered a report providing an update relating to the number and profile of children in our care, including information related to the number placed outside of the District. The report also set out comparative data with statistical neighbours and was presented by Julie Bragg, Head of Corporate Parenting.

Julie Bragg highlighted the following key issues:-

-       The number of children in care over the last 12 months had maintained at 688 (which excluded any looked after children receiving only Section 20 short term breaks) alongside the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children;

-       The largest age group for boys in care was 10-15 years with 150 children and the largest age group for girls was 10-15 years with 131 children;

-       Ethnicity changes – there had been a relatively small change in the percentage split over the last 12 months.

-       More than 72% of children in care were white and the next largest group was dual heritage;

-       There were 76 children placed more than 20 miles outside Kirklees – there had been a decline in the number placed outside Kirklees since 2017; officers look to carers first and foremost and also try and maintain the young person’s educational provision due to the support the child would get from stability and consistency and that all these issues were seriously considered before placements were approved;

-       Seen a further reduction in the number of children in children’s homes outside the district;

-       Kirklees provided 18 placements to young adults over 16 who lived in supported accommodation; 11 young adults were placed outside of the Local Authority.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding the policy of contact time between infants who had been taken into care and parents, Julie Bragg responded to advise that there were different plans in place depending on the needs and requirements for individual cases; general contact was supervised visits for 1.5 – 2hrs per day, 5 days per week.  Julie Bragg further explained that once the adoption process was in place the contact between parents and infants would be reduced. 

In response to a question from the Panel regarding the number of children taken into care in Kirklees compared with statistical neighbours, Julie Bragg advised that a lot of different factors could have an impact on the numbers and confirmed that close scrutiny was undertaken in Kirklees of children taken into care via the Legal Gateway Panel, which was chaired by a Head of Service.  The Panel was informed that parents could work with the Local Authority to make a claim for children to stay in their care and parents also had access to legal advice.  Julie Bragg advised that she could confidently say that children coming into care in Kirklees was for the right reasons.  Tom Brailsford advised that with regard to child protection planning, the Council was quality assuring the processes to ensure that children taken into care were regularly assessed.  The Panel agreed to consider further information to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider a verbal update on the Engagement of Family Hubs.  Attached as background information is the Cabinet report approved on the 15^th December 2020 on Proposal for the early help offer for children, young people and families.

Contact Officers: Jackie Beever, Service Manager Early Support and Michelle Wheatcroft, Head of Service Early Support

The Panel considered a verbal report on the Early Help offer for children Young People and Families presented by Michelle Wheatcroft , Head of Service Early Support and CarolAnn Smith, Project officer, Children’s Services.  The Panel noted that a Cabinet report approved on the 15^th December 2020 on Proposal for the early help offer for children, young people and families had been circulated with the agenda as background information.

Michelle Wheatcroft & CarolAnn Smith highlighted the following key issues:-

-       Engagement with stakeholders had taken place for a period of 8 weeks from 4^th January to the 26th February which included a generic online survey, online meetings with key partners, online public sessions, sessions with Councillors, engagement with schools and parents/carers and leaflets set to food and baby banks;

-       158 online surveys had been completed;

-       31 sessions had taken place with key partners, staff teams, third sector organisations, volunteers and foster carers had taken place;

-       250 stakeholders had engaged through online meetings;

-       Online sessions had taken place with young people with an adapted survey; 72 young people completed the survey;

-       18 sessions had been held with Councillors from all 23 wards;

-       The team attended Town/Parish council meetings;

-       Emails were sent to all 4 MP’s;

-       8 online public sessions had taken place;

-       Information had been shared and promoted through social media channels;

-       Leaflets were printed and shared with all main Kirklees food banks and Rainbow baby bank.

A number of comments were made by members of the Panel, as follows:-

-       How families in need would be identified and how support would be provided;

-       Concerns were raised regarding the distance to the hubs for some families.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding the definition of the word ‘hub’ and asking if it could be renamed, Michelle Wheatcroft advised that this could be considered and that officers were open to suggestions from the Panel.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding early intervention and how families could be contacted as early as possible, Michelle Wheatcroft responded to advise that officers were working with colleagues in the voluntary sector organisations and health colleagues to raise awareness of the services and what was on offer to families.  The Panel was informed that there was dedicated Children’s Centres in place to provide the services and support to families. Michelle Wheatcroft further explained that conversations were ongoing in respect of how to start those early conversations and break down barriers.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding what was on offer for children at the Children’s centres, Michelle Wheatcroft responded to advise that the centres would also be used as an admin area and other integrated services would be using the centres, such as adult learning.  The Panel was advised that the Centres were not just about children but were about the whole family and that there would be services for children of all ages up to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Members of the Panel will consider the work programme and agenda plan for the 2020/21 municipal year and will consider issues for inclusion during the 2021/22 municipal year.

Contact Officer: Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

The Panel considered the Working Programme and Agenda Plan for the 2020/21 municipal year. 

Cllr Marchington advised that a report on Educational Outcomes was scheduled for consideration at the Panel in April 2021. 

The Panel considered items for consideration during the 2021/22 municipal year, as follows:-

·         Educational outcomes – the Panel agreed to monitor the progress of how children in year 11 this year would be assessed or examined and how grades would be decided;

·         Multi Systemic Therapies – the Panel agreed to consider a report on how many families had received treatment and how successful and cost effective it had been;

·         Liquid Logic (tableau) – the Panel agreed to consider an update on how live information could be accessed on a daily basis and how this was being managed within the Children’s Service;

·         Visits - The Panel agreed to undertake some visits to internal and external teams and partners, including attending and observing meetings already scheduled;

·         Voice of the child – the panel agreed to revisit this on an annual basis;

·         SEND – the Panel agreed to consider a future report on how the recommendations of the report had been implemented including a progress update, and seek feedback from parents who had been consulted as part of the Adhoc Panel;

·         Social Workers – the Panel agreed to visit Social Workers and their teams to undertake a temperature check of how they were getting on and seek feeback on whether they felt there was a professional pathway for them within the Council.

RESOLVED –

1.    That the Work Programme and Agenda Plan for the 2020/21 municipal year be noted.

2.    That the items for consideration during the 2021/22 municipal year be added to a draft work programme for consideration by the Panel at the Informal Meeting in June 2021.