Agenda and minutes

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

The Chair advised the meeting that further consideration needed to be given to the membership of the Board with a view to securing the participation of Greater Manchester Police, NHS Stockport CCG and Stockport Homes. 

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Noreen Dowd, Linda Hanson. Cathy Lyle, Danny Pearson, Anita Rolfe and Dr Donna Sager.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2019 (copies of which had been circulated) were approved as a correct record.

The Chair commented that there were a number of questions from members of the Children & Families Scrutiny Committee at its last meeting in relation to the Childhood Obesity and the Active Stockport Strategy it was suggested that the Chair of the committee be approached with a view to resending the strategy to members of the committee.

Members were invited to declare any interests they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made.

Jennie Neil submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update of key progress made with the SEND Improvement programme since the approval of the Written Statement of Action in April 2019.

It was stated that a period of monitoring and support would now ensue with regional based advisors from the Department for Education and NHS England to support the implementation of the Written Statement of Action in readiness for re-inspection in Autumn 2020.

A discussion took place in relation to the risks and associated mitigations identified within Section 4 report.  It was stated that of the eleven risks, the two most important were around the need to ensure that joint commissioning was embedded, including governance; and linked to this was co-production and relationships with parents.

It was further stated that there was a degree of confusion in relation to the phraseology with regard to the priority around ‘local area leaders’ which had, in some circles, been taken to mean local authority leaders which did not fully reflect the challenges that had been identified.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Heidi Shaw attended the meeting and made a presentation providing an update on the ‘Werneth Pilot’ that sought to improve attendance of vulnerable young people by providing an Enhanced Team Around the Child model. It was stated that the concept involved identifying key core staff to link with schools, and while this did involve formal meetings, it had been vital to build relationships between staff and that the work taking place between meetings had been to the success of the pilot.

It was stated that there had been a measurable reduction in traffic to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding and Support Hub (MASSH). 

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         It was commented that the system had not always provided effective support to struggling families.  In response it was stated that for some families who were struggling it was no surprise that they would fail to engage with repeated interventions and assessments from the authority.

·         It was important that there was a strengthening of the engagement with Adult Services as children in complex families invariably had parents and carers similarly in need of support.  It was stated that work was already taking place at support parents with substance misuse issues as part of this programme rather than having it treated separately as a means of lessening the impact on the child and improving school attendance.

·         A discussion took place in relation to work taking place to support children affected by domestic violence and how this could be embedded within pilot project.

RESOLVED – That the presentation and work undertaken to date be noted.

Simon Armour submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an overview of the prevention and intervention work taking place to address smoking and substance misuse in Stockport and detailing a series of recommendations to build on this to further improve the life chances of women and their babies.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Research suggested that 45% of women who smoke would choose to quit during pregnancy, however the majority of them would return to smoking within six months of the birth of the baby.  It was suggested that this might partially be explained by the fact that if the mother had quit by the time of the first booking, then they were not routinely offered any additional support.

·         There were opportunities to explore the use of the existing incentives scheme to include incentives beyond the delivery of the baby.

·         There needed to be a clear and consistent message to expectant mothers that vaping was far safer than smoking.

·         Further work needed to take place to ensure that the message about smoking during pregnancy was talked about in schools and in any earlier engagement with the health service such as in initial talks with their GP.

RESOLVED – That approval be given to the following actions to improve the effectiveness of the work to address smoking and substance misuse in pregnancy and the first year:-

(1) Bring together the agencies involved in commissioning and delivering this work, to map and describe projects and activities and clarify how they relate to each other, in order to share resources and learning and avoid duplication – either one combined or one for smoking and one for substance misuse.

(2) Commissioners and services to review substance misuse pathways by analysis of cases studies and numbers, reviewing evidence from elsewhere and consulting people who have used the services. It is suggested that we clarify plans to implement an alcohol assessment tool and consider the content and scope of training in relation to the wider review.

(3) Public Health and the CCG to work with the GM SIP lead and Head of Maternity services to review pathways, to ensure participation in the FIPPS trial, and ensure an appropriate recording system is adopted in relation to smoking interventions.

(4) Review training needs and resources for both smoking and substance misuse in pregnancy and early years. This may include Public Health providing further input on a training day for health visitors.

Thomas Plant submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing a dashboard of key performance indicators based on the thematic approach that had been agreed by the Board at its meeting on 21 November 2018. 

RESOLVED – (1) That approval be given to the list of ‘deep dives’ and proposed meeting dates detailed in Section 2 of the report.

(2) That approval be given to the development of a performance framework and dashboard as detailed in Section 3 of the report.

The Chair submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) that aimed to set out how agencies in Stockport would work together in the safeguarding of children and young people in the Borough. 

It was stated that the Children and Social Work Act 2017 set out provisions that would replace Local Safeguarding Children Boards with new flexible working arrangements led by three safeguarding partners (local authorities, chief officers of police and clinical commissioning groups).

It was reported that a significant amount of work had already taken place over 18 months in reviewing the existing arrangements to ensure they were more effective and efficient.  It was also stated that it had been decided that an independent chair would be retained to maintain an element of independent scrutiny.

Further work was taking place at a Greater Manchester level around the challenging timescales for the rapid review process, and how Greater Manchester Police can effectively support 10 boards across the conurbation.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Chair submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the new statutory requirements and accountability for oversight of all child deaths in Stockport.  The report outlined the current arrangements and the new processes to ensure that they were compliant with national legislation.  It was stated that the Health & Wellbeing Board would scrutinise the Child Death Overview Panel process, receive information such as the annual report and consider emerging trends in child deaths with the aim of preventing further deaths.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.