Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 November were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The following questions were put to the Chairman under Standing Order 35.

Question by Ms. Sue Whiting, resident:

“Having accessed the Review Report of the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Tier 3 Services in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Report published on 28 October  2014, could the Chairman of the Committee please tell me:

(a)       What training do school staff receive to be able offer a Tier 1response for CAMHS services?

(b)       At what point would a Tier 2 service be accessed and how would this be accessed?

(c)       As waiting times for Tier 3 are 13 weeks (reference to this figure is made in a reply to a question I had put to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 24 March 2014) does this mean a child would previously have had to go through Tiers 1 and 2 before getting to referral, and if so, how old would a five year old be before getting specialist help?

(d)       How many children under the age of 18 in the County have access to Tier 4 provision?”

Reply by the Chairman:

“(a)    In June 2014, the Department for Education produced new guidance for schools regarding mental health and behaviour in schools.  This includes guidance for schools about learning and development for teachers and other school based staff.  Schools are responsible for securing their own training needs.

The Leicestershire Healthy Schools Programme offers training to schools based staff.  The programme offers a range of resources to schools to support emotional health and wellbeing.  Full information about the programme can be found at:

leicestershirehealthyschools.org.uk

Public Health undertook a mapping of services available to support child mental health and well being between July and October 2014.  The report produced as a result of the mapping contained a recommendation to co-ordinate training across Tiers 1 and 2 across agencies, including schools.

(b)     Services can be accessed directly at any Tier of service, as appropriate to the identified need.  The report referred to at (a) recommended establishing a single point of access to services to improve the speed and efficiency of access to services for young people.

(c)     No, services can be accessed directly at any Tier of service, as appropriate to the identified need.  However, as part of the Better Care Together Programme, the children’s work stream has identified the need to develop a service pathway and this work has recently started.

          Referrals to Tier 3 are made if clinical thresholds are met.  Most young people in receipt of Tier1 and Tier 2 support will not need a Tier 3 service.

(d)     A request has been made to the Clinical Commissioning Group to obtain this information from the Tier 4 provider.  It is hoped that this will be made available in time for the Overview and Scrutiny meeting.  If not, it will be provided as soon as possible following the meeting.”

Ms. Whiting asked the following supplementary question in relation to question (a):

“How is this co-ordinated training going to be monitored? How are any shortfalls going to be addressed?”

The Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook to respond to this question in writing.

Ms. Whiting asked the following supplementary question in relation to question (b):

Has this single point of access to services been established yet? If not, when is it hoped that this single point of access will be established?”

The Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook to respond to this question in writing.

Ms. Whiting asked the following supplementary question in relation to question (c):

“When is the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Mr. A. Pearson CC declared a personal interest in matters relating to schools as a School Governor and as a contractor providing services to schools in the County.

Mr D. Snartt CC, Mr L. Spence CC and Mr G. Welsh CC declared personal interests in matters relating to schools, as they had family members who taught in Leicestershire.

Mr L. Spence CC indicated that, whilst this did not amount to an interest to be declared at this meeting, he felt it relevant to report that he sometimes worked for an academy within the County.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Children and Family Services and the Director of Corporate Resources on the proposed Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the period 2015/16 to 2018/19 as it related to Children and Family Services.  A copy of the report, marked “Agenda Item 8” is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting the Cabinet Lead Member for Children and Families, Mr I. D. Ould CC, and the Cabinet Support Member, Mr. G. A. Hart CC who were attending for this item.

In response to consideration of the issues and questions from the members of the Committee, the following points were noted:

Overall Context

(i)            The Local Government Settlement had shown a reduction in central funding of 12.8%, which amounted to a reduction in County Council funding of £16 million. The Settlement was for one year and until the Corporate Spending Review was announced later in the year there remained significant uncertainty about future funding. The Settlement had presented challenging savings targets of all County Council departments;

(ii)          Central Government had not yet to provide details in regard to all elements of grant funding.

(iii)         It was noted that the increase in school funding may be a one-off and so there were concerns around Department’s budget stability in the latter years of the MTFS;

(iv)         The Council was working on the basis that it would receive grant funding to provide Universal Infant Free School Meals, however this had yet to be confirmed by Government.

Revenue Budget

General– Service Transformation, Proposed Revenue Budget and Transfers

(v)          Flexibility had been built into the MTFS to enable the Department to respond to changes in services;

(vi)         Contractual inflation was built into the Council’s procurement processes. IT services were largely provided through the Corporate Resources and Chief Executive’s Departments.

Growth

(vii)        Item G2 (Placements – Independent Fostering Agency) - The Council would continue to utilise the services of independent fostering agencies in order to be flexible and be enabled to respond quickly to demand and provide immediate placements. This was not to the detriment of the Council’s own fostering recruitment drive, which aimed to increase in-house foster carers. A suggestion was made for activity in the area of foster carer recruitment be publicised to all members;

(viii)      Item G2 - The change in legislation via that meant that children could remain in foster care up to the age of 21 had been accounted for in the MTFS, though more would be known about the financial implications after the end of the first year of the MTFS;

(ix)         Item G3 (Child Sexual Exploitation) - This growth item was particularly welcomed. The County Council was working closely with Leicestershire Police in this area, and positive talks have taken place between the County Council, Rutland County Council, Leicester City Council and the Clinical Commissioning Groups in regard to their involvement in this piece of work;

(x)          Item G4 (Young Carers) - There was no additional Government grant for the duty on local authorities to assess the needs of children and young people that undertook caring responsibilities to ensure they had the same access to education, career choices and wider opportunities as other children without caring responsibilities and that their families receive the necessary support. The growth item for £100k was an estimation and this budget would be reviewed when more data was available on the financial impact of this piece of legislation;

(xi)         Items G3 and G4 - It was felt that the Committee should keep a watching brief on these growth items, with a suggestion made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Family Services concerning developments at Oakfield Short Stay School over the last 12 months and the potential future plans for sustaining a strong system of support for primary aged pupils who present challenging behaviour and may be at risk of exclusion. A copy of the report, marked “Agenda Item 10”, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the discussion the following points were noted:

·                Those members who had attended thanked the Head of Oakfield Short Stay School and officers for an informative briefing that had been held earlier in the day;

·                The dramatic upturn in performance of the School was regarded as a good news story that should be publicised widely. Members were supportive of the approach to be taken to assess any lessons learnt before making any changes;

·                It was essential that any behavioural difficulties were spotted in children from a young age in order that this information could shared between the Council and appropriate agencies. Early intervention was seen as being key to improving behaviour.

RESOLVED:

That the Head of Oakfield Short Stay School, her staff and governors be congratulated on the dramatic improvement in performance over a short period of time.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Family Services concerning the Department’s new practice approach to working with children and families in Leicestershire, Growing Safety and the County Council’s involvement in the English Innovation Programme: Signs of Safety. A copy of the report, marked “Agenda Item 10”, is filed with these minutes.

The Department was using the “Signs of Safety” approach because of the endorsement it had received from practitioners when a remodelling of children’s social care had been planned.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 2 March at 2.00pm.

It was NOTED that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 2 March 2015 at 2.00pm.