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Contact information

E-mail

customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk

Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Shrewsbury/Oswestry Room, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6ND. View directions

Contact: Tim Ward  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

5.

Apologies and Substitutions

To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Committee

Minutes:

5.1    Apologies for absence were received from Mark Hignett and Kevin Pardy.

6.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Members are reminded they must not participate in the discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

Minutes:

6.1    There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

7.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 89 KB

The minutes of the meetings held on 1 April 2015 and 14 May 2015, are attached for confirmation.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

7.1    Resolved: -

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2015 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

 

7.2    A member requested that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 May be amended to reflect the fact that there was an election for the position of Chairman.  It was agreed that this would be done.

 

8.

Public Question Time

To receive any questions, statements or petitions of which members of the public have given notice.

 

Deadline for notification is: 5.00pm on Friday 19 June 2015

Minutes:

8.1    There were no questions from members of the public.

9.

Members' Question Time

To receive any questions of which Members of the Council have given notice.

 

Deadline for notification: 5.00pm on Friday 19 June 2015

Minutes:

9.1    There were no questions from Members.

10.

"Hearing the Voice of the Child" (Mental Wellbeing)

To receive a presentation

Minutes:

10.1  Members received a presentation from Shereece Williams a pupil at The Grange Primary School who outlined the help she had received following being bullied and how she was helping other pupils at the school who were being bullied.

 

10.2  Miss Beverley Williams, a teacher at the school informed members that the school had taken part in the pilot for TaMHS and had continued the work once the pilot had finished.  In response to a question she confirmed that the school received no extra funding to run the programme and that any costs came out of the school budget although they were looking for other sources of funding.

 

10.3  A Member asked whether there was a common approach within schools for dealing with bullies and their behaviour.  In response the Director of Children’s Services advised that the responsibility lay with the individual schools and there was some variation with the approach taken but that bullying was addressed in the PSHE policy and practice document.

 

10.4  The Chairman thanked Shereece for coming to talk to the Committee and commented on how impressed she was with the way she had dealt with being bullied and the work she was doing to help other children who were being bullied.

11.

The Role and operation of the CSE Panel

To receive a presentation

Minutes:

11.1  Members received a presentation (copy attached to signed minutes) updating them on work being done to control Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and the role and work of the CSE Panel.

 

11.2  The Service Manager reminded Members that the Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) had developed a CSE strategy and practitioners toolkit and had created a multi-agency CSE Panel.  He advised that where a child was identified as being at risk of CSE using the risk identification tool, this was referred to the CSE Panel, and in medium and high risk cases also to Children’s Social care, and that when cases were discussed by the Panel, each agency was able to bring any information that it had about the child and was able to contribute to any action that was required.

 

11.3  The Service Manager advised that there were 50 referrals to the Panel in 2014/15 a rise of 28% on the previous years and that in the period 1 April 2015 to 1 June 2015 there had already been 25 referrals to the Panel which had resulted in extra meetings of the Panel having to be held.  He commented that the rise in referrals reflected the fact that agencies were becoming more confident in identifying and reporting potential cases of CSE.

 

11.4  The Service Manager advised Members that briefings on CSE had been made to elected members, Town and Parish Councils, and to the Head Teachers Forum and The Central Policy Group and that a CSE Awareness page had been included in the Shrewsbury Town Football Club programme.  Several Members expressed concern that not all Councillors had attended briefings on CSE and Safeguarding as they felt it was essential that they were made aware of the subject.

 

          Resolved: -

 

          That a recommendation be made that training in Safeguarding and CSE be made essential for all Members

 

11.5  The Service Manager introduced Julie Johnson (Schools Lead in CSE), who advised Members that her role was to work with schools to help them identify and report cases of CSE.  She informed Members that only 7 of the 22 secondary schools in the county had reported cases of CSE and there was a need to understand why more schools were not reporting cases and that she was working with Head Teachers and designated leads in schools to raise awareness.

 

11.6  Ms Johnsons advised Members that funding had been secured from the Police and Crime Commissioners Office to put on performances of “Chelsea’s Choice”, which was a hard hitting drama around CSE, for year 8 and year 9 pupils in the county, and that designated leads in schools were also required to attend the performances. Members asked whether it would be possible for them to attend one of the performances.  The Director of Children’s Services said it may be possible for them to attend a performance in February 2016.

 

11.7  A member commented on the rise in “E-bullying” and commented that there was the opportunity to raise awareness though social media channels.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Changes to the Provision of Youth Services pdf icon PDF 77 KB

To receive an update in changes to the provision of youth services

Minutes:

12.1  Members received the report of the Director of Commissioning (copy attached to the signed minutes) which updated them on progress with the local commissioning of youth activities.

 

12.2  The Director of Commissioning introduced the report and advised Members that the proposed budget allocation had been reduce pro-rata as the new provision would start in September 2015 rather than April 2015. The budget retained would cover the costs of interim Positive Activities staffing and direct delivery costs.

 

12.3  The Director of Commissioning also advised Members that following a procurement process the Shropshire Youth Association (SYA) in partnership with Energize had been appointed as the Infrastructure Support Provider. The contract would run from 13 August 2015 to 31 March 2017, and that the role of the Infrastructure Support Provider would be to provide capacity building support to new and existing youth providers and supporting Local Joint Committees and the Community Enablement team with the local commissioning of youth activities, particularly with engagement of young people and their safeguarding and welfare.

 

12.4  The Director of Commissioning advised Members that a number of different approaches were being adopted by LJCs dependant on local circumstances from retaining the current provision to the transfer of responsibility for commissioning and delivery of youth activities to Shrewsbury Town Council via a formal delegation of responsibilities.

 

12.5  The Director of Commissioning informed members that expressions of interest had been received following the listing of some Youth Buildings for Community Asset Transfer and that interested parties had been invited to move to the next stage of the process.

 

12.6  The Director of Commissioning advised that a formal public consultation on youth activity was being undertaken and undertook to circulate the results to Committee Members when they were available.

 

12.7  The Local Commissioning Manager advised members that the first tranche of opportunities for youth provision had been advertised on the Council Website.  He agreed to circulate a link to the relevant webpage.

 

12.8  A Member commented that there was a potential conflict of interest for the SYA in that they could be advising the LJCs whilst assisting providers or applying to provide services themselves. The Director of Commissioning informed Members that this risk had been recognised and that appropriate safeguards would be built into the procurement process.

 

12.9  A Member asked what assurances could be given that youth activity would continue to be available in youth buildings following their transfer.  The Local Commissioning Manager commented that a requirement for youth provision would be built in to the transfer documentation.

 

12.10  A Member asked who would be responsible for the monitoring of the contracts and ensuring outcomes were achieved.  The Director of Commissioning advised that contract monitoring would be done through the Community Enablement team.

 

12.11  A Member asked what would happen if provision was not in place by the beginning of September.  The Local Commissioning Manager advised that strict timetable had been drawn up and that work had been done to ensure that there was no gap in provision.

 

12.12  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Performance pdf icon PDF 386 KB

To receive and comment on the information contained in the attached Q4 Outcome Dashboard Live My Life My Way.

Minutes:

13.1  Members had before them the “Your Life” Performance dashboard.  The Director of Children’s Services advised members that this matter had been referred from the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee.  She drew attention to table 1 which showed that the number of referrals to Children’s Social Care had risen compared to last year and to table 2 which showed the outcomes for children referred to Children’s Social Care.

 

13.2  The Head of Safeguarding advised Members that the number of referrals had risen over the past two years but this was from a very low level and work had been done to ensure that agencies felt that they could make referrals when required.

 

13.3  The Head of Safeguarding advised Members that a lot of referrals resulted in a ‘professional conversation’ which often ended in action other than coming into the service such as referral to the ‘Early Help team’. Based on this data review processes changed to direct Initial concerns into Early Help first so the right service could be offered more quickly, whilst maintaining access for professional to support and advice from our qualified Early Help social workers. We have seen this changes impact to reduce referrals

 

13.4  A Member commented that there were positive outcomes contained in the table.  The Head of Safeguarding commented that measures contained in the LAC Strategy such as Early Help and the Edge of Care work at Havenbrook were having a positive effect.

 

13.5  A Member asked how the figures compared with national figures.  The Director of Children’s Services commented that it was difficult to do a comparison as you were not able to compare like figures as the figures for Shropshire were current figures whilst the national figure were based on last year’s data

14.

RAG - Fostering

To receive a verbal update on progress with the RAG

Minutes:

14.1  Mr Hunt updated the meeting on work he had been doing as part of the RAG on Fostering.  He informed Members that he had been shadowing a couple throughout the fostering process.  He expressed concern that there seemed to be a delay in getting cases heard by the Fostering Panel.  The Head of Safeguarding commented that she was not aware of a problem but that she would bring a report to a future meeting giving details of the performance of the Panel.

15.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 24 KB

The current Scrutiny Work Programme and Cabinet Forward Plan are attached

Additional documents:

Minutes:

15.1  Members received copies of the Committees Work Programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

 

15.2  The Chairman informed members that she proposed to add the following topics to the work programme:

 

·         The impact of forthcoming budget reductions on safeguarding services;

·         The oversight of vulnerable groups, including those who are educated at home, or are missing from education;

·         Safeguarding arrangements in independent schools;

·         Progress in implementing PSHE which addresses issues of sexual exploitation;

·         The rate of referrals and re-referrals to children’s social care and the rate of children with a second or subsequent Child Protection Plan;

·         The contribution of schools to the Early Help and Child Protection Services and the impact of the early help strategy;

·         The plans for the transition of the health visiting service to the local authority;

·         Schools Funding ;

·         Post 16 Provision & funding in schools with 6th Form provision and colleges; and

·         The financial implications of the new government edict for free pre-school education;

 

15.3   A Member asked that the financial implications of the new government edict for free pre-school education be considered as a matter of urgency as she knew of schools that had serious concerns regarding this matter.

 

 

 

16.

Date of next Meeting

Members are reminded that the next scheduled meeting will take place on Wednesday 15 July 2015 at 10.00am at the Shirehall

Minutes:

16.1  Members were reminded that the next scheduled meeting would take place on Wednesday 15 July 2015 at 10.00am at the Shirehall

 

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