Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor Richard Smith and Oliver Gibson.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 12^th July 2022.

That the minutes of the meeting held on the12th July be approved 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 interest 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 deputations or petitions were received.

The Panel will hear any questions from the general public.

No questions were received from members of the public.

The Panel will consider a report providing an update on the ongoing changes to the Young Peoples Activity Team (YPAT) provision as part of the ongoing SEND Transformation Programme and the ongoing development of our Short Breaks Offer.

Contact:         Tom Brailsford (Service Director)

                        Sara Miles, Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

                        Gary Wainwright, Commissioning Manager

The Panel received an update on the ongoing changes to the Young Peoples Activity Team (YPAT) provision as part of the ongoing SEND Transformation Programme and the ongoing development of the Short Breaks Offer, which was presented by Tom Brailsford, Service Director (Resources Improvements and Partnerships), Gary Wainwright, Commissioning Manager and Sara Miles, Head of Homes for Children, Safeguarding and Quality Assurance.

Gary Wainwright and Sara Miles advised the Panel that Children’s service, Best Start capital funding had an allocation of £5 million for development of children with disability services; Young Peoples Activity Team (short breaks), Elm Grove (long term) and Orchard View (short breaks) provision in Kirklees.  By investing in the most vulnerable children and young people, Kirklees provided support to achieve the best possible outcomes.

The Panel was informed that the Young Peoples Activity Team short breaks service supported disabled children and young people aged 5 to 18 with profound and complex needs.  The service comprised of out of school clubs, weekend and holiday sessions, and community sessions, which ran from a large council owned building on Havelock Street, Ravensthorpe.  The building was shared with Adult Services, learning disability day service provision, and required significant investment.  A need for new premises was identified several years ago.

Gary Wainwright further explained that the former children’s Place nursery in Ravensthorpe had been selected as the best option due to its location.  It was very close to the current building which minimised disruption to the disabled children, and young people and parents who attended.  The building size was ideal, the accessibility offered by a single storey building located on a level site, with a secure enclosed outdoor play area made the former Children’s Place nursery the ideal preferred choice.

The new premises were to open in the summer 2023, and provide an opportunity for the facilities to be used more frequently for new additional and alternative uses as below:

• Parent and carer support sessions
• Training sessions
• Supporting older children who were NEET
• Assistive Technology and VR sessions
• Provide a building for health partners that could deliver specialist children’s clinic sessions.

Gary Wainwright advised the Panel that over time, the ambition was to identify and establish a second Young Peoples Activity Team building in South Kirklees.  The second building would be based on the learning from the new Ravensthorpe building, and the evolving role that in -house short breaks services would play in the overall short breaks market.

The Panel noted the ambition to open a site in South Kirklees and asked a question regarding a similar provision in terms of geography and what impact that had on the service. Gary Wainwright advised that through consultation a clear message from families was that they would travel to Ravensthorpe if they needed to, but having a facility within 30 minutes travel time would be beneficial.

The Panel acknowledged the involvement of young people and asked a question regarding the mechanisms around including them, how they felt, and how that would feed into  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider a report giving an update on the SEND Inspection -  action plan and inspection outcomes.

Contact:         Tom Brailsford, Service Director

                        Paul Harris, Head of Children’s Improvement

8                     

The Panel received a report on the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Inspection – Action Plan and Inspection Outcomes presented by Tom Brailsford, Service Director – Children and Families, Resources, Improvement and Partnerships and Paul Harris, Head of Children’s Improvement, Partnerships & Voice.

The Panel was informed that on the 25^th May 2022, the Ofsted inspection report for Kirklees was published.  As a result of the findings of the inspection, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector determined that a Written Statement of Action was required due to two significant areas of weakness in the local area’s practice.

Paul Harris advised the Panel that the areas of weakness were:

• The poor delivery of the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) which did not support he identification of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in children at the earliest opportunity consistently,
• Weaknesses in the area’s ability across services and within settings to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND who were in mainstream settings.

The Panel was informed that Kirklees and a SEND partnership accepted and valued the assessment and feedback provided by the independent inspection and recognised that it provided an important benchmark in the implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms.

In 2021 Kirklees produced a plan to strengthen and improve some of its SEND Services. The report provided the context to the inspection and outlined the approach to SEND transformation which predated the inspection outcome and showed the identified issues were already being addressed.

Paul Harris advised the Panel that how the Healthy Child Programme operated was being reviewed and would be a priority which would be incorporated in the Transformation Plan as a key workstream going forward.

The Panel acknowledged the Transformation Plan and asked a question regarding re-issuing the plan post Ofsted to incorporate the Ofsted report. Tom Brailsford advised that an annual review of the transformation plan was taking place. Officers from the Children’s Service had given their feedback to Ofsted on their views on how the letter had been written, which was different to what had been expected following feedback from Ofsted.  The Panel noted that the transformation plan had been commended by the DfE as an example of good practice.

The Panel Highlighted the waiting times for children with Mental Health difficulties and asked a question on how improvements would be made. Stuart Horne advised that waiting lists were longer than the Service would like to see.  Some services had secured additional investment and had precured assessment resources.  In terms of mental health services, there had been significant investment for Mental Health in school’s teams which had started to take shape and have an impact, the real progress would show in the next year or 2 as the service expanded.  Stewart Horn further explained that with regards to CAMHS, the service was undergoing a review and service re-design to make improvements to pathways to improve the patient journey and experience and increase the confidence in parents.

The Panel noted weaknesses in different  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider any potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions relating to children and young people which are on the horizon.

The Panel considered potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions on the horizon relating to children and young people.

Jo-Anne Sanders explained that coming forward in the Autumn term would be some decision making for Cabinet on Technical School Organisation for Additionally Resourced Provisions.

RESOLVED-

The Panel noted the potential item for pre-decision scrutiny on Technical School Organisation for Additionally Resourced Provisions that would be considered by Cabinet during the 2022-23 municipal year.

Panel Members who attend the Corporate Parenting Board will feedback on issues considered by the Board.

Councillor Marchington advised the Panel that a Corporate Parenting Board meeting had not taken place since the last meeting of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel on 12^th July 2022.  The next Corporate Parenting Board was scheduled to take place on the 27^th September 2022 and Panel Members could feedback to the Panel in October 2022.

RESOLVED-

The Panel noted the date of the next Corporate Parenting Board meeting in September 2022.

The Panel will consider the proposed areas of focus and activity for the 2022/23 municipal year and discuss the method and means to be used to continue the Panel’s work going forward. 

Contact:         Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

The Panel considered the work programme for the 2022-23 municipal year.

Councillor Marchington advised that no new amendments had been made to the work programme since the last Panel meeting and that several visits to partners had been arranged to take place during the 2022-23 municipal year.

RESOLVED-

The Panel noted the Work Programme and agenda plan for 2022-23.