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.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 26^th January 2024.

That the minutes of the meetings held on the 26^th January 2024 be approved as a correct record.

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

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Committee.

All items were considered in public session.

The Panel 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 in writing, 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.

The Panel will consider a report giving an update on the proposed changes to Kirklees Council’s Post 16 Transport Statement.

Contact:         Martin Wood, Head of Public Protection

Katherine Armitage, Service Director

The Panel considered a report giving an update on the proposed changes to Kirklees Council’s Post 16 Transport Statement for 2024/25 presented by Russell Williams, Operational Manager, Public Protection.

Russell Williams highlighted the following key points from a presentation entitled “Post 16 Transport Statement” –

• The Home to School Transport Team ensured compliance with statutory duties under the Education Act 1996 and statutory guidance, arranging home to school transport for all eligible children, in the main for students between the ages of 16 and 19.
• Pre and Post 16 Statutory Duties were different, for Pre 16 alternatives to physical transport could only be provided with parental consent.
• For Post 16 home to school transport a “Transport Statement” must be produced and published by 31^st May each year, which must consider what assistance will be provided to help facilitate attendance at further education. This did not need to be physical transport and parental consent was not required.
• The total cost of the service was £12.1m in 2022/23.
• The Service was seeing significant year on year cost increases, with the cost of Pre 16 transport up 33% in 2022/23 from 2021/22, and Post 16 up 26% in the same period.
• This was due to a number of factors including an increase in demand and the number of Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), the number of routes increasing (especially single taxi routes), increasing costs from suppliers, supply and demand issues and cost of living/operating costs rising.
• As a result, the service was undergoing a number of service transformations, with a review of the use of single taxis, a contract review, and consideration of an in-house fleet, as well as publication of the Post 16 Transport Statement.
• Proposed changes to Post 16 Passenger Travel included a move to policy where a personal travel payment was the default, moving away from physical transport except where Special Educational Need necessitated Council arranged transport.
• Personal Travel Payments would be banded, based on the distance from home to the educational setting. The banding was to be consulted upon.
• Consultation on the proposed changes took place between 14^th November 2023 and 31^st December 2023 through face to face and virtual drop-in sessions.130 responses were received from parents of children using the transport, PCAN, the public, ward councillors, schools/colleges and governors.
• The main themes of the consultation were financial impact and impact on the family/parents.
• The proposed changed to policy were due to be considered by Cabinet on 9^th April 2024 and if adopted, the new Post 16 Transport Statement would come into effect in September 2024.
• If adopted, the application procedure would need amending and communicating to families, and the process of application would change, causing a greater administrative burden initially which had been planned for with temporary resources.
• Other Local Authorities regionally and nationally had adopted or were looking to move towards adopting a similar model of a personal travel payment.

In response to a question from the Panel asking if the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Panel will consider a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending 31^st January 2024.

Contact:         Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

                       Kieran Lord, Service Director

Kieran Lord, Service Director for Resources, Improvements and Partnerships provided an update on the highlights of Children’s Services performance data. The Panel were provided with a summary of consistent and improved areas of practice and a review of how data was helping with work improvements and challenges.

Kieran Lord highlighted the following key points –

·       Child Protection Case Conferences (Section 47 enquiries) - following a reduction of timeliness in this area, directorates had worked closely together, with oversight provided regularly to Executive Directors and Service Directors, resulting in levels consistently in the 95%+ range of being on target. Individual reports were provided on any areas where there was a dip below that level; these were usually down to individual children’s circumstances. This was a good example of how directorates were working together in close partnership, alongside senior level oversight, to improve data.

·       Looked After Children’s (LAC) Health - there had been a consistent and high percentage (97.5%) of reviews of Looked After Children’s health held within timeframes. Nearly three quarters of LAC lived in a family type setting, consistently above national figures. Long term stability, where children placed away from the family setting, continued to improve, with 71% remaining in their placement for at least two years. The percentage of children who had moved two or three times within two years had also increased. This was an area of focus but not of concern as action was being taken in the form of enhanced oversight by leadership, with Vicky Metheringham, Tom Brailsford and Kieran Lord now having weekly oversight of all children’s placements.

·       Initial Health Assessments for LAC - there had been a decrease of timeliness in this area initial health assessments for LAC and it was the lowest it had been in the rolling twelve month period. The service was aware and had been working with health colleagues to gain an understanding of the reasons behind this decrease, and to identify what resources were needed to ensure these statistics were turned around. Initial health assessment timeliness had reduced to 22%, however within a further month of the deadline, the figure increased to 70%. The service was working closely with health colleagues to address this in a different way going forward.

·       Neurodevelopmental Assessments - there continued to be an increase in waiting times. A new process had been implemented by health colleagues in relation to Waiting Well, where children and young people waiting for assessment were being given access at the earliest opportunity to support suitable for them.

·       Placement breakdown - over the last six months, the percentage of children in internal foster care provision had been higher than the percentage fostered through independent fostering agencies. Close links with independent fostering agencies were acknowledged to still be vital, however this was a trend that should continue. The Panel would be updated with changes made to the fostering recruitment strategy in the coming months.

In response to a request from the Panel, Kieran Lord provided an update on Children’s Residential Homes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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 and receive updates from Senior Officers in Children’s Services.

Contact:         Service Directors (Children’s Services)

No items of pre-decision scrutiny on Cabinet decisions were reported.

Panel Members who attend the Corporate Parenting Board, will feedback on key areas of focus considered by the Board, which will be of interest to the Panel.

Cllr Lawson advised that at the last meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board he had received some useful information from the Virtual School regarding the occasions of missing person investigations (mispers) and the lateness reporting, were linked, in that a child arriving over a certain number of minutes late would cause an absence to be recorded as opposed to a late mark. Cllr Lawson further advised that there may scope for this fact to skew the figures and would welcome further investigation into this data by the Board.

Cllr Cooper noted that although there was some duplication of data between the different meetings where it was considered, but that he found this to be beneficial in order to have information reinforced.

The Panel was informed that there had been a motion at Council regarding LAC being recognised as a protected characteristic and as this had been brought up by a number of other Local Authorities, this was now a priority for the new leader of the Local Government Association (LGA). Cllr Cooper suggested that the Board should look at what best practice would look like in this area and how the protected characteristic would be applied. The Board had also discussed Childrens Homes and Standards.

Tom Brailsford advised that the Service had welcomed the motion to Council regarding LAC being recognised as a protected characteristic and that a lot of progress had been made recently by Corporate Parenting Board to widen the membership and reach of the Board to involve the third sector to make sure that the Police and health commissioners were better represented.  The Panel was informed that an Ambassadors Event had recently been held where local businesses, the university and colleges got together regarding their offer and corporate parenting responsibilities to children and care leavers.

RESOLVED:

The Panel noted the updates from the Corporate Parenting Board and thanked the Cabinet Member and Tom Brailsford for their contributions.

Members of the Panel will consider the work programme and agenda plan for the 2023/24 municipal year and will discuss progress and consider new issues for inclusion during the 2024/25 municipal year.

Provisional dates for the 2024/25 municipal year have been set but are subject to agreement by Council Annual General Meeting in May.

Contact:         Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

The Panel noted the end of the Work Programme for 2023/24 and the agenda items which may be carried over into the new municipal year 2024/25 which could include the Emotional Wellbeing Provision in Kirklees “Keeping Children in Mind”.

The Panel also noted how complex the service was and expressed their appreciation for the, sometimes unnoticed, work done by everyone in the Children and Education services.

The Panel also thanked the officers, the Cabinet Member, Oliver Gibson (co-optee), and officers from the Governance Team for their contributions to the Panel this year. The Panel also noted that Oliver Gibson was standing down this time.

RESOLVED:

That the progress on the Work Programme and Agenda Plan for 2023-24 be noted.