Agenda and minutes

None

Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed subject to the following change to the attendance list: Angela Meldrum attended as Claire Woodford’s representative; Claire Woodford’s apologies were given.

Phil Beswick offered to act as vice chair, seconded by Cllr Alexander. The board agreed this proposal.

For information and discussion about whether Children’s Services locally should be included in the Health and Social Care integration agenda.

Andrew Webb explained that the attached proposal will form part of the Greater Manchester (GM) Locality Plan.  AW explained that up until this time Children’s Services had not been included within these proposals.  He asked the board to consider whether this should continue to be the case in the future.  A roundtable discussion followed including the following bullet points:

·         Historically, Children’s Social Care has been linked to Education spend and strategic planning locally has kept this separate from Health and Adults Social Care (H&ASC).  Some of the planning being carried out at GM level is proposing to link/integrate Children’s Services with H & ASC. Do we want to continue in the existing way, or do we want to progress a much more integrated Adults and Children’s spend in the future, at both Stockport and GM level?

·         CW had been in discussion with Jo Ellis looking at Stockport Family work and opportunities for the future.  There is a proposal to carry out a workshop looking at the similarities of principal of the 4 locality hubs and the possibilities of linking/joint working.

·         CCG see this as the correct strategic direction, but how do we progress it?

·         IR: Education finance has been a separate entity for a long time and IR does not believe this will change and become part of Stockport Together.

·         DM: Spend on early prevention as the cost of later prevention is negative, and not very successful.

·         The Locality Plan is a snapshot of where we are but in terms of moving forward CTB to put together a workshop to look at how we use investment and to look at moving to whole population spend in a phased manner.

ACTION: CTB workshop to be organised.

CML updated with progress so far - discussion included:

·         GM/CML/CW to discuss midwives outside of meeting

·         Need to be focussed on better outcomes for young people and less duplication across services

·         Staff consultation sessions to begin on 15^th September, 2015

·         Final members decision at December executive

Phil Beswick updated on 0-25 SEND proposal:

·         The Children’s Disability Partnership is part of the Stockport Family business case

·         Early Years’ service savings are on target and the consultation begins on 5^th October, 2015

·         Educational Psychology team – working party being progressed with Headteachers and schools

SEN transport service: has achieved and exceeded first year savings target, but the second year will be much more challengin

DS updated with Public Health progress (see presentation); discussion included:

·         The national cut to the Public Health budget in June equated to £1m in Stockport

·         There is an ongoing consultation at the moment

·         GM have submitted a proposal which means that it would lose less across all the 10 authorities, but in which Stockport and Trafford would receive less, however, they would be reimbursed

Geraldine Gerrard summarised the proposals:

·         Gaynor Ward (GW) will support the Chairs of the boards, working with them on research into good practice, and identifying underperformance in their areas

·         The links between the boards must be strong, and if the attached proposals are agreed, we will progress them

·         DM raised a concern about clarity of accountability re: LSCB and SIB; clear understanding of the responsibilities of each board and what they do

·         Chairs to look at who should attend and link to GW

ACTION: GG/CML to pick up DM concerns about reporting and clear accountability/links to LSCB

DW updated the board on the following items:

·         Breastfeeding maintenance: the team have just achieved level 1 of the Unicef standard, although we need to remain aware of the low levels in some areas.  Thanks to CW and VP teams

·         There has an overall reduction in teenage conceptions

·         Youth Justice: reduction in first time offenders and youth offending is at its lowest rate.  Stockport is a very high performer in this area; the Police and Crime Commissioner has initiated some work to explore collaborating at a GM level

·         Stockport Local Assistance: there are approximately 60 applications per week; achieving success in joint working with Job Centre Plus and helping people into work

·         Unintentional injury: the data is showing an increase, and whilst this needs to be checked it is likely that the final position will be a second yearly rise. DW proposed joint work to address the issues that emerge.

·         PB updated on Education: Primary results have shown a clear improvement in pure attainment: key stage 1 increase in young people doing well in reading and phonics; key stage 4 looks like an improvement but needs more work before confirmed

·         A small working group has been set up with Secondary Headteachers looking at young people with complex needs.  So far they have looked at fair access and transfers, alongside what Stockport Family can do to  support schools in these areas of work

·         Staying Safe: DM stated that the LSCB has commissioned 4 SCRs and a 5^th is still under discussion. This is an unusual circumstance and each case is tragic in its own way.  DM has asked for work to be done to see if there is a trend beginning across GM and whether Public Health needs to look at this. Work is being carried out in CSC to address any training needs; partner agencies have been doing the same thing. For the next 6 months, this is going to dominate the work of the LSCB, and will raise questions for all our preventive services

CTB noted and endorsed

Children’s Trust Board did not wish to respond as a board. 

ADCS has responded as an organisation, as has the Greater Manchester DCS group.