Agenda and minutes

It was moved and seconded that Councillor G Hayes be appointed as Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor G Hayes be appointed as Chairman.

Councillor G Hayes in the Chair

It was moved and seconded that Councillor G Merry be appointed as Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor G Merry be appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

Apologies were received from Councillors J Saunders, M Simon and M Warren.

The report considered by the Cabinet on 19^th January 2016, together with the Committee’s Terms of Reference, are attached for information.

The Committee received for information the report considered by Cabinet, at its meeting on 19 January 2016, together with the Terms of Reference.

Cabinet had resolved that

“1         a Corporate Parenting Committee be appointed with cross party membership of 12 Elected Members and the terms of reference at Appendix 1 to the report;

2          the Committee shall have the status of an advisory committee and include representative young people from the Children in Care Council to perform an advisory role to the Committee;

3          the Committee shall, once its membership has been agreed, formally commence its role;

4          the existence of the Committee be noted in the Council’s constitution; and

5          all Members of the Council receive a progress report on a quarterly basis.”

The Committee was informed that, although the young people from the Children in Care Council wished to be involved, they did not at the present time wish to attend the meetings.  It was suggested that Committee members may instead meet with them through their meetings.

The Corporate Parenting Operational Group would continue to meet to deliver the strategy and provide information and advice to the Committee.

It was requested that details of the governance structure for Children in Care be provided to the Committee, along with the details of the new officer structure for Children’s Services.

It was noted the Committee would receive summary reports of Regulation 44 visits and it was request that the how these visits operated be included in the work programme for the Committee.

RESOLVED: That

1          The Terms of Reference be noted.

2          The details of the officer structure for Children’s Services be circulated to the Committee.

3          The governance structure for Children in Care and how Regulation 44 visits operated be added to the work programme.

There will be a presentation covering the role of a corporate parent, strategy, performance and improvement plan areas.

The following documents are attached for background information:

§  10 questions to ask if you’re scrutinising services for looked after children (LGA document)

§  Cheshire East Corporate Parenting Strategy

The Committee received a presentation which covered the role of a corporate parent, strategy, performance and improvement plan areas.

The presentation gave details on:

·         Definition of children in care

·         the number of children in care in Cheshire East

·         Corporate Parenting Strategy 2015-17

·         Outcome of Ofsted Inspection in July 2015

·         Performance data on placement stability, health, care leavers, adoption and education

·         Focus area for 2016-17

In discussion the Committee asked questions about comparison of data to neighbouring authorities; timescale for the completion of health assessments; unaccompanied child asylum seekers; care leavers accommodation; the number of care leavers not in education or training; out of county placements and the placement by other authorities of children into privately run children’s homes in the Cheshire East. 

It was agreed that copies of the slides would be circulated to the Committee members.

RESOLVED:

That the presentation be received and the slides circulated to Committee members.

The Committee discussed the plan of work for future meetings.

It was agreed that a forward plan of work should be created and include the following issues which had been raised at the meeting:

·         Governance structure

·         Health Assessments

·         Adoption and Fostering Annual Reports

·         Refresh of Corporate Parenting Strategy

·         Out of County Placements

·         Virtual Head – annual report and information on their work

·         Regulation 44 Visits

Training and development for Committee members was also discussed and it was agreed that a half-day session on the responsibilities of the corporate parenting role would be arranged.

It was agreed that future meetings would be held at 5 pm on a Tuesday and be held every other month.

RESOLVED:

That a forward plan of work for the Corporate Parenting Committee be created and dates for future meetings be arranged.