Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M Deakin and L Jeuda.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2018

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 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 speaking.

To receive a case study on a family receiving early help in Cheshire East.

J Cooper attended the meeting to outline a young persons story which resulted in a family requiring early help and support from the Council, including being rehoused, access to the Children’s Centre and post natal depression groups, nursey provision for siblings. The interventions put in place enabled the family to stay together

Members raised questions relating to the work of health visitors and whether or not any issues could have been picked up earlier. It was noted that the 0-19 Healthy Child Programme was being recommissioned which would be a suitable opportunity to enable any improvements to the service to be considered.

To receive a presentation on the redesign of early help services

The Committee received a presentation outlining the progress made in the redesign of the Early Help Services. The presentation detailed:

·         The background

·         Summary of changes

·         The current  prevention and support service

·         Family support

·         Family Focus

·         early years and child care

·         youth support

·         what’s working well

·         what needs to happen

It was agreed that an update on the impact of the redesign of the service and a specific report on family focus and the recovery plan be brought back to the committee at a later date.

RESOLVED

That an update on the impact of the redesign of the service and a specific report on family focus and the recovery plan be brought back to the committee at a later date.

To receive an update on the progress to date with the commissioning of Children’s Homes.

The Committee received an update on the progress to date with commissioning of children’s homes. In relation to paragraph 5.11 it was noted that the Committee would receive a briefing on the process for external agencies setting up in Cheshire East including:

·         the cared for children sufficiency duty for good quality, local provision

·         locality impact assessments required for Ofsted registration

·         planning requirements

·         exploring the difference between establishing and Ofsted regulated children’s home and an unregulated 16+ provision.

It was agreed that a planning officer should be requested to attend that meeting.

RESOLVED

That a further update report be considered at a future meeting of the committee and that a planning officer be requested to attend that meeting.

To give consideration to the performance scorecard for quarter 2

Consideration was given to the performance scorecard for quarter 2. There continued to be some areas of performance rag rated as red which were outlined in the report. The following comments were made:

It was noted that there was a dip in timeliness in quarter 2 in relation to the percentage of assessments completed within 45 days due to staffing pressures during the summer period. This coincided with the introduction of a new style of assessment aligned with Signs of safety. Training for Members on Signs of safety would be rolled out from May 2019.

The increase in the number of children being electively home educated was a concern. More home visits would take place to check the quality of the education, however home educated children were not required to follow the national curriculum or take G.C.S.Es.

In relation  to children missing from education, it was noted that the majority of them were year groups 10&11 and that the reasons for not attending would be circulated to the committee.

Members raised concerns regarding migrant children, it was noted that Cheshire East used all the intelligence available to support families, however there may be some families that the council were unaware of. It was agreed that a report on this would be considered by the Committee in due course.

RESOLVED

1.       That the reasons for children being missing from education be circulated to the committee.

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 the following items would be added to the work programme:

·         Update on redesign of early help services

·         Family Focus and Recovery Plan

·         Migrant Children

It was also agreed that the CAMHS would be deferred until June 2019.

RESOLVED

That the work programme be updated to reflect the items above.