Agenda and minutes

Mr G Roper – Co-opted Member

Councillor P Findlow Children and families Portfolio Holder

Councillor R Bailey – Cabinet Support Member

Lorraine Butcher - Head of Children’s and Family Services

Mark Bayley – Quality Assurance Manager

Janet Smith – Strategic Implementation Lead – Be Healthy

Paul Mossman – Services Manager – Integrated Delivery

Mark Nedderman – Senior Scrutiny Officer

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests and for members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda.

Councillor D Flude declared a personal interest on the grounds that she was a Director of EIPC LTD

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 18 January and 12 February 2010.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meetings held on 18 January and 12 February 2010 be approved as correct records.

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note:  In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public notified the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting with brief details of the matter to be covered.

There were no Members of the Public present who wished to address the Committee

To consider a report of the Strategic Director People.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director – People relating to the reporting of performance across Children and Family Services.

The Committee had previously supported the establishment of a scorecard which focussed primarily on the 82 national Indicators which were reported upon by Children and Family Services.

The Children and Families team had undertaken work to evaluate performance following the quarter 3 period (October – December2009) which had identified a number of high risk indicators where there were concerns that targets over the year may not be met.

The paper highlighted the 13 high risk performance indicators and outlined actions planned which were:

NI 45               EET and young people who offend

NI 59               Initial assessments carried out within 7 days

NI 60               % if core assessments carried out within 35 days

NI 64               Duration on the child protection register

NI 68               % of referrals going on to initial assessment

NI 87               Secondary PA rate

NI 99               Cared for Children reaching Level 4 in English at KS2

NI 100             Cared for Children reaching Level 4 in Mathematics at KS2

NI 101             Cared for Children achieving 5A*-C or equivalent at KS4

                        Including English and Maths

NI 102 a&b     Achievement Gap FSM v Non FSM

NI 112             Under 18 Conception rate

NI 117             16-18 NEET

An additional sheet was circulated detailing the percentage of inspected service providers judged to be outstanding/Good/satisfactory/inadequate for the period covered by quarter 3.

The Head of Services Children and Families answered members’ questions in respect of each of the 13 high risk performance indicators.

RESOLVED – That the actions listed in Appendix A of the report to address key areas of underperformance be endorsed

To consider a report of the Strategic Director People.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director People, relating to the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and national targets as they related to Cheshire East and to support received from Government Office North West and the National Support Team.

The Committee had previously considered a report on Teenage Pregnancy on 14 September 2009 and had supported recommendations made by the National Support Team that the Council should work with PCT and other partners to finalise action and delivery plans.

The Government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, first launched in 1999, set out to halve the under 18 conception rate by 2010, compared to the 1998 baseline rate.  This target was reflected in NHS Vital Signs Indicator VSBO8 and in the Cheshire East Local Area Agreements, National Indicator 112.

Conception statistics were produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and were presented on a local authority, regional and national footprint.  Data was presented at around 14 months after the period to which they related and was released annually in February.  Data for 2008 was released in February 2010. 

In 2007, Cheshire East Unitary Authority had an Under-18 conception rate of 34.9 per 1000 females aged 15-17.  This represented an overall reduction of 8% since the 1998 baseline rate of 37.9 per 1000 for Cheshire East and was 16% lower than the England average of 41.7 per 1000.  The most recent performance information published on 24 February 2010 for 2008 indicated that the overall national reduction was 13.3% and the Cheshire East reduction was 9.1%.

Cheshire East rates varied considerably between areas. For example the rates in the Congleton area were relatively low but had seen a rise over the 10 year period, whereas for Macclesfield, Crewe and Nantwich the under 18 conceptions were much higher, but had shown a small decrease in rate.

The ‘hotspot wards’ where the rates of under 18 conceptions were high, were those that had the highest index of multiple deprivation. The largest number being in Crewe.

Termination rates were a concern for Cheshire East, and again they varied with Congleton having a termination rate of 59%, Macclesfield 61% and Crewe and Nantwich 43%.

Janet Smith Strategic Implementation Lead - 'Be Healthy', informed the Committee that the Council was concerned about outcomes for teenage parents and it was therefore important to reduce conceptions.

Lorraine Butcher Head of Children’s Services stated that a key question the authority had to address was ‘ Are we commissioning the right sexual health services in Cheshire East for teenagers?

In June 2009, the Teenage Pregnancy National Support Team (NST) visited Cheshire East and made a series of recommendations. As a result, a number of actions were taken including:

• The establishment of an Executive Board in October 2009, chaired by the PCT, including the Director of Public Health and Head of Children’s Services
• The establishment of an Operational Group across Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester, chaired by an Associate Director of Public Health from the PCT.  This group has agreed collaborative action  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

To consider a report of the Strategic Director People.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director People outlining the current position of the Council in relation to Sex and Relationship Education in schools and colleges.

Personal, Social and Health Education and particularly Sex and Relationship Education were recommended to become statutory for all schools from September 2011.The report outlined how Cheshire East would prepare for this requirement and how it would develop delivery mechanisms to support schools to implement this effectively.

The Council would be using ‘Are We Getting It Right’ toolkit with the young people of Cheshire East, to evaluate the impact and quality of the Sex and Relationship Education they received.

A workforce development strategy for Sex and Relationship Education was being developed and national standards published would be published as part of the new refreshed ‘Teenage Pregnancy strategy 2010 and Beyond’. Tiered training would be given to the children’s workforce.

Work with parents and carers would be developed further through a range of parenting programmes, for example local programmes such as ‘Speak Easy’ in Children’s Centres, schools, and voluntary sector organisations.

RESOLVED –

That cabinet be informed that this committee supports the following recommendations:

(a)      That Cheshire East Council should work with the Healthy School programme to develop Sex and Relationship Education through the National Healthy Schools programme and the newly launched Enhanced Healthy Schools Model.

(b)      That Cheshire East Children’s Trust should develop a model of linking effective Sex and Relationship Education with on site health services, including sexual health services, on school and college sites.

(c)      That children and young people be actively involved in an evaluation of their Sex and Relationship Education and sexual health provision.

(d)               That the children’s workforce be trained to deliver the recommendations in (a)and (b) above

(e)       That work be undertaken with parents and carers, using effective Sex and Relationships Education programmes, to enable them to talk to their children and young people in order to raise their aspirations.

To consider a report of the Strategic Director People.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director People on the progress in the implementation of Care Matters.

The Care Matters White Paper, issued in 2007, set out an ambitious programme of change to improve the outcomes of children in care. Care Matters set out a vision to ensure that in the future, children in care would have the same opportunities in life as their peers – a good education, good health care, and consistent support, advice and practical help to give them strong foundations on which they can build happy and successful lives. Improving the lives of children in care must involve all local partners and professionals including local authorities, Primary Care Trusts, foster carers, residential care workers, social workers, GPs and other health care practitioners and teachers.

In 2008, the Government had published ‘Care Matters – Time to Deliver for Children in Care’ and an implementation plan. This plan marked a new phase in the Care Matters programme – a shift from developing policy nationally to delivering change locally. It aims to support local Children’s Trusts, led by Lead Members and Directors of Children’s Services, to transform outcomes for children and young people in care.

The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) had agreed to review progress annually and in November 2009, the Minister had published an annual stock take. His report set out what the DCSF had achieved for children in care through the Care Matters programme of reform, and the plans for 2010.

The Minister in his letter to local authorities listed questions that Councillors should ask of their authority.  This contained a response to those questions and set out what had been achieved so far in Cheshire East.

RESOLVED –That the progress made on the implementation of care matters be noted.

To consider a report of the  Borough Solicitor.

The Committee reviewed the work programme, which had been updated at the mid-point meeting on 22 February 2010.

Two Task/Finish Panels were now underway – Review of Residential Provision and Family Support Services.  The Review of Residential Provision Task and Finish Group was scheduled to complete its work by May and Members were recommended to consider identifying a new topic to scrutinise once the Group had finished.

The Chairman raised the possibility of undertaking a review in relation to ICT systems in the People directorate. The Strategic Director, People suggested that any review of IT systems should be linked to overall plans to deliver the redesign of Childrens services.

RESOLVED –

(a)- That the report be received and the work programme progress noted;

(b)               That a review of IT systems as they relate to the redesign of Children’s Services be added to the work programme;

(c)               That consideration be given to the inclusion of an item to investigate the sufficiency of care provision in Cheshire East, particularly in relation to Foster carers.

To note the current Forward Plan, identify any new items and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate

The Committee considered the current Forward Plan in relation to Children and Family Services. 

RESOLVED:  That the Forward Plan be noted.

To note any consultations referred to the Committee from Cabinet and to determine whether any further action is appropriate.

There were no consultations from Cabinet.