Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for their attendance.

Apologies for absence were received from Noreen Dowd, Chris Downey, Andy Kippax, Mark Lee, Anita Rolfe, Heidi Shaw and Claire Woodford.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2018 (a copy of which had been circulated) were approved as a correct record.

Members were invited to declare any interests they may have in any of the business for the meeting.

Councillor Dean Fitzpatrick declared an interest in item 10 ‘Active Stockport Consultation’ as a member of the Friends of Crescent Park group (see Minute 11 below).

The Chair reported that she had agreed to consider this item, although not included on the agenda, in order that the Board could further refine priorities and areas for focus for its activity for the upcoming year.

Nuala O’Rourke referred to the discussion at the last meeting (Minute 5 pf 21 November 2018 refers) about the themes the Board had agreed to form the basis of future meetings and suggested that the Board consider what particular aspects of these themes it wished to consider in greater depth.

Tom Plant and Liz Madge circulated data sets in relation to the previously agreed themes for the Board to consider.

The following issues were identified:-

·         Educational and health outcomes for young people, and exclusions were identified as areas of particular importance.

·         In relation to workforce it was suggested that it was more appropriate for this Board to be provided with reports for information.

·         In relation to health outcomes, it was suggested that the approach to the Health Partnership Board needed to be reviewed with this Board having oversight of its activities. It was also suggested that this Board may consider undertaking a ‘deep dive’ of a health related issues, such as smoking in pregnancy.

·         The Education & Skills Partnership was the appropriate body to monitor attainment, exclusion and attendance issues, and report into this Board.

·         There was discussion about future performance reporting and how this was most effectively managed.

·         Members highlighted the importance of mental health and suggested that there needed to be greater coordination of activity with the CAHMS Board.

RESOLVED – That

(1)       ‘SEND’, ‘health outcomes for vulnerable young people’, and ‘attendance and inclusion’ be agreed as priorities for the Board;

(2)       future performance reporting be provided on an exception basis from the relevant reporting boards, with an annual report on all indicators;

(3)       the Terms of Reference for the Early Years Strategy Group be reviewed;

(4)       the Chair clarify about the status of the CAMHS Board and whether it was appropriate for it to report to this Board, and to consider inviting a representative to join the Board;

(5)       the Stockport Family Partnership Board ‘family tree’ / structure chart be revised and resubmitted to a future meeting;

(6)       a report be submitted to a future meeting on smoking in pregnancy realting to the priority ‘health outcomes for vulnerable young people’;

(7)       officers prepare ‘deep dives’ on SEND, attendance and inclusion for future agendas;

(8)       recommendations from Child Death Reviews be submitted to this Board.

Jeanette Warburton submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) updating the Board on the ‘No Wrong Door initiative, a GMCA funded scheme focussed on keeping children at the edge of care with their family. Stockport would be working with colleagues in North Yorkshire, who had piloted the approach, on developing a local model.

Members emphasised the need to be able to measure the success of the project, and therefore have appropriate baseline information, including the possible adoption of a methodology developed by the University of Oxford.  

It was also emphasised that part of the aim of the project was to improve the stability of family placements in their early stages.

It was further commented that in similar initiatives elsewhere the involvement of clinical psychology had been crucial to a scheme’s success.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Rebecca Key submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an overview of the Partners in Practice Programme, and the Greater Manchester Scale and Spread of Innovation Programme, both of which were funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

Partners in Practice (PiP) was an initiatives designed to capture, understand and spread excellence. Local Authorities judged as Good by Ofsted for Children’s Services were eligible to become PiPs, with Stockport being only one of 16 nationally and one of two in the North West.

The Greater Manchester Scale and Spread of Innovation Programme provided additional resources to allow for the expansion of existing innovation projects, including the introduction of a Complex Safeguarding Model.

It was commented that there had been some delays in implementing the projects due to internal discussions within the GMCA. Some of the DfE resource had been retained by GMCA to support the development of a care leaver’s trust and to undertake an analysis of care placement sufficiency. Despite the delay, Stockport had begun the project in advance of the resources being released.

The Chair undertook to ensure the Board was kept informed of developments to ensure appropriate focus on Stockport’s duties.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Deborah Woodcock submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) updating the Board on the ‘Werneth pilot’ as part of the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care programme support the location of social workers in schools to better enable them to work with children and families.

The project, building on existing practice, sought to improve attendance of vulnerable young people by providing an Enhanced Team Around the Child model. Working closely with head teachers, this approach would help support the transition into school, and involve health professionals to address long term authorised absences linked to ill-health. The additional resource from this project would allow for additional support to schools on top of existing provision.

It was commented that many schools in the Werneth area, particularly the secondary schools, drew their intake from outside of the locality and it was important that any school based social workers would be empowered to work with those children in their home setting, rather than being tied to the school setting. This point was acknowledged and it was stressed that head teachers had been involved in the co-designing of this service to ensure it took account of these issues.

The importance of SEND in this context was stressed, and the Chair acknowledged this point and undertook to ensure that this was considered as part of the steering group.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Chair reported that the Written Statement of Action (WSoA) being prepared into the recent SEND Inspection was currently being prepared in collaboration between the Council and Clinical Commissioning Group. The WSoA would then be considered by the Health & Wellbeing before submission to the Department for Education by 26 February 2019.

The Chair emphasised the importance of communication with all partners to ensure a collaborative effort to address the challenges identified in the Review. She undertook to report back to the next meeting.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Jennie Neill submitted copies of children and families related business cases that formed part of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (copies of which had been circulated). It was emphasised that the Council was currently undertaking listening exercises on the proposals contained in the documents that would provide a framework for ongoing efforts to further integration.

It was commented that there were often problems with communication that prevent head teachers were unaware of proposals and therefore not able to contribute to the consultations in a timely manner.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Donna Sager submitted the draft Active Stockport Strategy (including the walking and cycling strategy) (copies of which had been circulated) that was currently subject to public and stakeholder consultation. It was emphasised that as well as being good for health, physical activity also contributed to children’s readiness for learning.

Further clarity was sought on possible changes to Life Leisure’s delivery model. In response it was stated that there were discussions about whether greater emphasis should be given to community-based work to encourage and support activity over leisure facility focussed work, since those attending these facilities were already active. It was recognised that there was not a ‘one size fits all’ approach since for some the gym would never be an option.

Working with local parks groups as a means to encourage sustainable increases in activity was encouraged.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Nuala O’Rourke reported on a recent grant from the Home Office to support preventative work to address domestic violence and support children who were from families affected by domestic abuse.