Agenda and minutes

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and officers to declare any interest which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No interests were declared.

To consider a report of the Assistant Director for Legal & Democratic Governance.

The report sets out the Scrutiny Review Panel Procedure Rules and suggests that the Panel should adopt them for the purpose of conducting the review.

The Panel are requested to formally adopt the Scrutiny Review Panel Rules for the purpose of conducting the review.

Officer Contact: Charles Yankiah on 0161 474 3206 or email: charles.yankiah@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Assistant Director for Legal & Democratic Governance submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) requesting the Panel to formally adopt the Scrutiny Review Panel Procedure Rules for the review.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Executive Director Children’s Services.

The report outlines the proposed scope for reviewing the offer of support to children in their early years and their families to ensure enough is being done to provide accessible and effective help at the earliest opportunity.

The Review Panel is requested to:

a)    determine the scope of the review, and outline any areas which the panel may wish to scrutinise further; and

b)   consider and agree the proposed outline review plan, including future meeting dates.

Officer contact: Heidi Shaw | 07800618320 | heidi.shaw@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Executive Director Children’s Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) outlining the proposed scope and brief for the review including aims and objectives.

Members welcomed the report and the opportunity to contribute to the proposed scope of the review and thanked officers for the details in the report.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Executive Director for Children’s Services.

The report provides information to support the Scrutiny Review – Prevention – Support in the Early Years (-9months to 5 years old).  The overall aim is to review the offer of support to children in their early years and their families to ensure enough is being done to provide accessible and effective help at the earliest opportunity.

Members are asked to consider the evidence gathered so far and consider any further sources of evidence.

The Scrutiny Review Panel is requested to:

a)    consider and note the evidence submitted within the report; and

b)    consider any further sources of evidence which the panel may wish to scrutinise further.

Officer contact: LJ Woodward | lj.woodward@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Executive Director for Children’s Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing information relating to review the offer of support to children in their early years and their families to ensure enough is being done to provide accessible and effective help at the earliest opportunity as follows:-

·       Start Well Integrated Model – Stockport Family

·       Stockport’s Journey – 2004 to 2024

·       Start Well Strategy 2024-2027

·       The ‘whole system’ approach

Objective 1 - To understand the demographics of the early years population in Stockport

·       Demographics of the early years population in Stockport

·       Stockport birth rates

·       Children aged 0-5 with Education, Health & Care Plans and Special Educational Needs Support

·       Level of need across all Stockport Start Well Health visiting teams – October 2024

·       Giving children the best start in life – where are we now

·       Children achieving a good level of development

·       Correlation between deprivation and risk

Objective 2 - To understand the universal stages of support and contact with professionals as a child grows

·       Universal stages of support and contact with professionals as a child grows

·       Digital/Virtual offer

Objective 3 - To understand current pathways for additional support across the system, consider how this is delivered through family hubs and what is being done to make support accessible

·       Start Well programme of universal and targeted interventions

·       Current pathways for additional support across the system and how this is delivered and accessible

·       Pathway highlights and impact

Objective 4 - To understand how families know about and are engaging with offers of support

·       How families know about and are engaging with offers of support

·       Start Well Health visiting survey

·       What families are telling us about Family Hubs

Objective 5 - To understand current challenges in the system and how they can be improved

·       Strengths, Challenges and Opportunities

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·       Members welcomed the information and data presented and thanked the officers for the time taken to collate the information accordingly.

·       Clarification was sought on the challenges in the system and how it could be improved, for example, the universal stage of support and the 10,156 children involved. In response, it was stated that there was a good response to the healthy child programme and that the Start Well team and health visitors knew all of the under 5s in Stockport. It was noted that there was a small number of families that didn’t engage with the healthy child programme for a number of reasons, but when those families refuse, a non-engagement policy would be followed which involved safeguarding risks, safeguarding supervision around the families, escalation procedures which involves a multi-agency approach involving GPs and other services around the child.

·       Agreed that the information relating to the number of families that didn’t engage with the healthy child programme would be shared with the review panel

·       It was stated that in terms of interventions and those children who was a safeguarding risk, they would be clearly identified and the appropriate procedures would be followed, however, there was other children who would not be developing like other children, for example in speech and language, but again professional language therapists would be put in place even with those families would not be engaging in the process through the professional services and reasonable adjustments.

·       It was noted that attention had to be paid to the broader trends that were coming through in the data relating to engagement and development but also to reflect on particular groups of children at particular points in particular parts of our borough and from that information monitor the patterns that might be changing slightly, but then adapting the service delivery to reflect those changes by flexibly using the assessments to provide a more accurate picture of how the children were performing. It was also important to see as many children as possible getting to the point where they have effectively got their passport out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To agree the dates for future meetings of the Scrutiny Review Panel.

RESOLVED - That the Assistant Director for Legal & Democratic Governance be authorised to determine future dates of the Panel in consultation with the Chair and the Panel members.