Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. S. J. Weston (0116 305 6226) Email: sam.weston@leics.gov.uk
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Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 3 November were taken as read, confirmed and signed. |
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Question Time. Minutes: 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. |
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Questions asked by Members. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been
received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Urgent Items. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of Interest. Minutes: 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. |
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Declarations of the Party Whip. Minutes: There were no declarations of the party whip. |
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Presentation of Petitions. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36. |
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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2015/16-18/19. Additional documents:
Minutes: 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. |
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Update on Oakfield Short Stay School. Additional documents:
Minutes: 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. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: 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. |
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Date of next meeting. The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 2 March at 2.00pm. Minutes: It was NOTED that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 2 March 2015 at 2.00pm. |