Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor S Pochin.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018.

RESOLVED

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda

There were no whipping declarations

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 contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered.

There were no members of the public present wishing to speak.

Further to meeting held on 26 June 2017, to receive an update presentation on the CAHMS.

Further to the Meeting held on 26 June 2017, Dr M Howard attended the meeting to feedback on:

·         The waiting times for appointments in the Macclesfield area.

·         How improvements to the out of hours service would be met

·         The waiting times for neurodevelopment assessments

·         Delayed transfer of care (one case in 2017)

It was noted that the waiting time for non urgent appointments in Macclesfield for 0-16 year olds was now 11 weeks. Following permanent investment in the services, the waiting time for Neurodevelopment was now 22 months.

The out of hours advice line had been in operation since 5 March 2018, it was agreed that an update report on the success of the service would be brought back to Committee in due course.

It was agreed that the bed wait for those with eating disorders would be circulated to the Committee. Members noted that is was significantly longer for 16/17 year olds due to lack of capacity for adults. The Committee agreed that this issue should be investigated further.

There had been a steep number of referrals to A&E from schools due to mental health issues, which were considered to be unnecessary and at the risk of delaying those children in need access to services. It was suggested that the Emotionally Healthy Schools programme was helping to raise awareness and should in turn help reduce the number of inappropriate referrals. It was agreed that a further report on this including the statistics for referrals would be considered by the Committee in September 2018.

RESOLVED

1.    That a report on Emotionally Healthy Schools, Statistics for referrals to A&E, and success of the out of hours service be considered by the Committee in September 2018.

2.    That a report on the waiting time for 16/17 year olds with eating disorders to be hospitalised be considered by the Committee at a future meeting.

To receive a presentation outlining the impact of the service redesign, performance and structures.

The Committee received a presentation of the Director of Children’s Prevention and Support on early help and prevention services. The presentation detailed:

·         Early help definition and purpose

·         Continuum of need

·         Service offer

·         Early years provision

·         Childrens Centre Mobile Unit

·         Family support Services

·         Prevention Services

·         Youth Support Services

·         Early help brokerage

·         2017 review of services

·         Rational for redesign of services and main proposals

·         Summary and impact of change.

Members were pleased to see that the mobile unit was working well and gaining access to traveller site and those that wouldn’t normally visit a children’s centre. The impact and success wold be reviewed in due course.

The Director highlighted that the Early Help and Prevention Service was to be redesigned. 2000 families accessed the Family Support Service, which dealt with the same type of issues and concerns as Children’s Social Care but at a lower level. One of the main proposals of the redesign was to create an intensive family support unit.  A measure of its success would be a reduction in escalation to Children’s Social Care. The process for the redesign was highlighted to the Committee and it was agreed that an update report would be brought back to Committee in September 2018.

Other proposals included bringing Early Years and Children’s Centres under one management structure, prevention and family support teams under one management structure and reduced capacity for low level NEET casework.

It was requested that a breakdown of the NEETS and their geographic location, details of children being educated at home and data for children entering the criminal justice system be circulated to the Committee.

RESOLVED

That an update report on the redesign of the early help and prevention service be brought back to the Committee.

To give consideration to the performance scorecard for quarter 3

Consideration was given to the performance against agreed measures across the Children and Families Service for quarter 3, 2017-18. The performance scorecard provided essential data along with qualitative information to measure the effectiveness of services within children’s services.

It was noted that 2.10 and 2.11 had improved and no longer red, quarter 4 would indicated if there was to be a continued pattern of improvement.

In regard to 10.3 of SEN, members were pleased that additional Educational Psychologists had been appointed, however there was a backlog of cases that needed to be dealt with, prior to any improvements being visible on the performance scorecard.

It was noted that there had been a significant rise in the number of fixed term exclusions in secondary schools, however the local authority had limitations on how it could influence academies. The Pupil Referral Unit was at capacity and officers were working with local providers to try and find alternative solutions.

RESOLVED

That the performance scorecard be received.

To receive a report of the Director of Education and 14-19 Skills – to follow

Consideration was given to a presentation and the Annual Education Report 2016/17, which provided an update on the improvements and successes achieved over the last 12 months across the Education Service and also provided the school performance data.

It was noted that the local authority had been awarded £615,000 from the Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) to target 20 schools ( 5 secondary and 15 primary) in need of improvements in Maths. Details of those schools would be circulated to the Committee.

It was agreed that a progress report on the success of the initiative would be brought back to Committee at a later date.

RESOLVED

That a report on the success of the SSIF initiative be brought back to committee in due course.

To give consideration to the areas of the forward plan which fall within the remit of the Committee.

Consideration was given to the areas of the forward plan which fell within the remit of the committee.

RESOLVED

That the forward plan be received.

To give consideration to the work programme

Consideration was given to the work programme. It was agreed that in order to balance the work programme, the meeting scheduled to be held on 25 June 2018 would now be held on 16 July 2018.

RESOLVED

·         That the meeting scheduled to be held on 25 June 2018 be deferred until 16 July 2018.

·         That in regard to CAMHS, reports on Emotionally Healthy Schools, statistics on referrals to A&E and Success of the Out of Hours Service be considered by the Committee in September 2018.

·         That an item on waiting times for 16/17 year olds with eating disorders to have access to a hospital bed be added to the work programme.

·         In regard to the Annual Education report an update on SSIF  be considered by the Committee in due course.

·         That an update report on the redesign of the early help and prevention service be added to the work programme.