To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Committee

28.1    Apologies for absence had been received from Austin Atkinson and Kevin Turley.

28.2    Peter Cherrington substituted for Kevin Turley.

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.

29.1    There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.

The minutes of the last meeting, held on 15 July 2015, are attached for confirmation.

30.1    The minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2015 had been circulated.

30.1    Resolved: -

That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2015 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

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

Deadline for notification is: 5.00pm on Friday 11 September 2015

31.1    There were no questions from members of the public.

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

Deadline for notification: 5.00pm on Friday 11 September 2015

32.1    There were no questions from Members.

With the agreement of the Committee the item on Special Educational Needs Hub Provision was taken next

The report of the Service Manager SEND is attached

33.1  The Committee received the report of the Service Manager SEND which gave an update on the development of the SEND Hubs.

33.2  The Service Manager reminded Members that in February 2013 Cabinet had approved the establishment of 3 hub provisions that would be co-located on mainstream school sites. Following a data mapping exercise the northern part of the county had been identified as having a significantly higher proportion of pupils with statements of Educational Need (SEN) whose difficulties related to Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and that a tendering process had been carried out with the Lakelands Academy being chosen to host the Kettlemere Centre, a facility which would accommodate 24 pupils of secondary school age.  She then outlined the services offered by the Centre.

33.3  Tom Doolan, a pupil at Kettlemere gave a presentation which outlined his experiences at Kettlemere and how it had helped him with his education.  He explained that he received most of his classes within the main school with specialist one to one help being received at the Centre.

33.4  A Member asked what the timescales were for the extension of the service over other parts of the County.  The Service Manager SEND advised that work was being carried out to develop a facility in the south of the County and that it was hoped that a facility would be in place by January 2017.

33.5  The Chair thanked Tom for attending the meeting and giving his presentation.  She added that she had been very impressed.  Members echoed this sentiment.

33.6  Resolved:

         That the details contained in the report and the evidence of the early impact on the quality of provision and the cost effectiveness of the provision are noted.

Report of the Director of Children’s Services is attached

34.1  Members received the report of the Director of Children’s Services which advised them of the Youth Justice Plan for 2015/16.  She advised them that the Plan had been endorsed by Council on the 23 July 2015

34.2  The Head of Service, West Mercia Youth Offending Service advised Members that the Plan contained a review of the previous year and an update on resources, governance and the annual Action Plan.  He drew their attention to the area profiles and the Key Performance Indicators which showed that Shropshire was below the national figures for all the key indicators.

34.3  A Member made reference to the table showing the breakdown of staff and volunteers by gender and ethnicity and asked whether the lack of ethnic staff and volunteers created a problem.  The Head of Service advised that on the whole there was not a problem although there was an increasing demand for interpreters.  The Referral Panel Officer commented that active recruitment of ethnic minority volunteers had been carried out and that there was a wide level of expertise within the volunteers.

34.4  A Member commented on the increased use of restorative justice and asked how effective this was.  The Victim Officer commented that the use of restorative justice was proving a useful tool but it was difficult to measure the effectiveness definitively.

34.5  A Member asked what work was being done to identify young people at risk of offending.  The Head of Service commented that work was done through Early Help to identify young people at risk of offending and to provide suitable intervention.

34.6  Resolved:

         That the Youth Justice Plan as attached at Appendix A of the report, be noted.

To receive a verbal update from the Director of Children’s Services

35.1  The Director of Children’s Services gave an update on the recent Peer Review.  She advised Members that an Internal Improvement Board had been set up to monitor progress with the recommendations; regular reports would be taken to the Safeguarding Board and would also be brought to the Scrutiny Committee.

The final report of the Childhood Obesity Task and Finish Group is attached

36.1 The Committee received the final report of the Childhood Obesity Task and Finish Group. The Programme Lead for Diet and Healthy Weight reminded Members that the Group had been set up to inform local efforts to address child obesity and that the Group had sought to understand the role that breastfeeding and weaning play in supporting families to reduce the risk of obesity.

36.2  The Programme Lead advised Members that as a result of the work of the Group the Shropshire Council Maternity, Adoption and Surrogacy Policy had been updated.

36.3  The Chairman thanked Officers and Members of the Task and Finish Group for their work.

36.4  Resolved:

          That the recommendations as set out in the report, be approved.

To consider the information contained in the Child Health Profile 2015 which is attached.  The 2013 data is also attached as a comparison.

37.1  The Committee considered the Child Health Profile for 2015 which provided a snapshot of child health in the area.

37.2  A Member expressed concern at the increase in the number of young people admitted to hospital as a result of self-harm.  The Public Health Specialist Intelligence advised that this change was mainly due to the cohort involved rather than a general trend.

The report of the Associate Director Public Health is to follow

38.1    The Associate Director Public Health updated Members on the transfer of commissioning for 0 to 5’s.  She reminded the meeting that when she last updated the Committee there had been a shortfall in the funding being offered but that this had now been amended and full funding was to be received.  She added that the contract should be signed and in place by 1 October 2015 and agreed to advise the Chair when this had happened.

The Current Scrutiny Work Programme and Cabinet Forward Plan are attached

39.1  Members received copies of the Committee’s Work Programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

39.2  A Member asked that an update on Youth Commissioning in Ludlow and Market Drayton be brought to the next meeting.

39.3  The Chairman asked Members to let her know of any other topics they would like added to the Committee’s Work Programme.

Members are reminded that the next scheduled meeting will take place on Wednesday 4 November 2015 at 10.00am at the Shirehall

40.1    Members were reminded that the next scheduled meeting would take place on Wednesday 4 November 2015 at 10.00am at the Shirehall