To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Committee

80.1    Apologies for absence were received from Andy Boddington, Vince Hunt, Hannah Fraser and Peggy Mullock.

80.2    The Chairman advised that this would be Mr Atkinson’s last meeting as he was retiring as the representative of the Catholic Diocese.  She paid tribute to his service over a large number of years and wished him well for the future.  This sentiment was endorsed by all members present.

80.3    The Chairman advised Members that it was proposed that agenda item 8 would be taken before Item 7.  This was agreed.

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.

81.1    There were no declarations of pecuniary interest made.

The minutes of the last meeting, held on 3 February 2016, are attached for confirmation.

82.1    The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2016 had been circulated.

82.2    RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

To receive any public questions or petitions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is 5.00pm on 18 March 2016

83.1    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 18 March 2016

84.1    There were no questions from Members.

To receive a presentation on the “Young Health Champions” diabetes prevention project

85.1    Members received a presentation on the “Young Health Champions Diabetes Project” from Karen Higgins, in which she outlined the work being done by the Young Health Champions in the promotion of healthy eating and exercise in order to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. 

85.2    Members of the Committee congratulated the Young Health Champions on the excellent work that they were doing.

85.3    A Member commented that it was a shame that there was no requirement to show levels of hidden sugar in foods. Attention was drawn to the “Sugar Smart” App which could be downloaded which would give an indication of the sugar contained in food.

85.4    The Chairman thanked Ms Higgins for her presentation and congratulated her on the excellent work that was being done.  She asked that the Young Health Champions give a further presentation on their work to a future meeting of the Committee.

Report 8.1 provides an update of the Health Visitor Service since the commissioning for health visiting transferred from NHS England to Local Authority.

Report 8.2 provides an update on the development of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) over the last twelve months as well as next steps informed by the recently published randomised control trial.

86.1    Members received the reports of the Associate Director, Public Health which provided updates on the Health Visitor Service and the Family Nurse Partnership.

86.2    The Healthy Child Co-Ordinator reminded Members that in October 2015 the commissioning of health visiting services had transferred from NHS England to Local Authorities and that currently Shropshire Community Health Trust provide the current service in Shropshire.  She then outlined the current service provided.

86.3    A Member asked whether private nurseries were engaging with the integrated 2 year review.  The Healthy Child Co-Ordinator advised that with 350 early years setting in Shropshire that had been a capacity issue and that the results of the pilot which would be available later in the year would provide further information.

86.4    The Healthy Child Co-Ordinator reminded Members that the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) was a voluntary intensive health visiting programme for first time young mums, where a specially trained family nurse provided support from the early stages of pregnancy to when the child reached the age of two.  She advised that responsibility for the FNP had passed to the Local Authority under the 0-5 transfer of commissioning responsibilities and that currently the FNP in Shropshire was working at capacity with five nurses each having responsibility for 20 clients.

86.5    A Member asked what data would be available from the partnership to help support the prevention agenda.  The Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding advised that it was important that any data was looked at in context with other agencies.

86.6    The Chairman thanked the Healthy Child Co-Ordinator for attending the meeting.

86.7    RESOLVED:

i.              That the reports be noted

ii.            That updates be brought to future meetings of the Scrutiny Committee

Report to follow

87.1    Members received the report of the Commissioning and Redesign Lead, Shropshire CCG, which gave an update on the current position for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Shropshire.

87.2    The Commissioning and Design Lead advised Members that CCG’s and Local Authorities had been required to submit transformation plans, setting out how new investment from Government would be spent to transform CAMHS and that a joint plan for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin had been submitted.  She then outlined the contents of the plan.

87.3    Several Members expressed concerns at the current delays in accessing CAMHS services and asked what was being done to improve the situation.  The Commissioning and Design Lead commented that the service was being delivered by a number of providers which should provide a breadth of service and should improve access to the service.

87.4    A Member asked how the performance of the service would be monitored.  The Commissioning and Design Lead informed the meeting that regular performance figures had to be submitted to NHS England and offered to bring regular performance reports to the Committee.  This was welcomed by Members

87.5    RESOLVED:

i           That the report be noted

            ii          That regular performance reports be brought to the Committee

This report sets out how Children’s Social Work services manage placements for Looked After Children

88.1    The Meeting received the report of the Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding which set out how Children’s Social Work Services manage placements for Looked After Children (LAC).

88.2    The Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding reminded Members that the Children’s Act set out guidance which sought to ensure that accommodation improved outcomes for looked after children and requiring Local Authorities to take steps to secure sufficient accommodation within the authority’s area which met the need of children that the Local Authority was looking after, and that in Shropshire work was carried out to ensure that as full a range of accommodation was available to meet the needs of any child that needed to be brought into Local Authority Care.

88.3    The Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding advised Members that the number of LAC had reduced from 310 to 300 in the period April 2015 to December 2015 and that the number of newly accommodated children had reduced in year from 131 in 2014/15 to 79 in year to date and that work in managing placements for looked after children should be seen in the context of focussed work to achieve permanency for children outside of LA care by use of adoption, special guardianship orders, residence orders and care arrangement orders.

88.4    In response to a query The Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding stated that the Council could not set up its own “framework” for externally commissioned foster care placements due to not gaining the required economy of scale but that the Council was looking to join a new Birmingham lead framework which would lead to increased savings.

88.5    RESOLVED:

i.              That the contents of the report be noted

ii.            That the Committee is satisfied that the management of placements for LAC in Shropshire is effective in meeting the needs of children, is meeting the legal sufficiency duties of the Local Authority and are managed at best value to the public purse.

To receive and comment on the information contained in the attached Outcome Dashboards

89.1    Members received copies of Performance Dashboards which gave performance information to the end of December 2015.

89.2    In response to a query the Head of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding advised that the placement of a child onto a Child Protection Plan was a multi-agency decision based on the threshold of risk and definition in working together to describe significant harm. Whilst the majority of children on CP plans remain at home in care of their parents the CP plan is monitored by the core group of professional and the conference process to ensure the risk that have been identified are minimise and managed. The service has also this year brought in a process by which if a child remain on a CP plan for over 9mths and there is not plan for removal at the next conference a legal planning meeting is held to review the threshold for issuing care proceedings and the lack of sufficient progress in achieving safe care at home is addressed in this meeting and agreed action plan.

89.3    RESOLVED:

            That the information contained in the Dashboards be noted

The current Scrutiny Work Programme and Cabinet Forward Plan are attached.

Members are asked to consider whether there are any other items they wish to be added to the work programme.

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

90.2    It was agreed that a presentation from the Young Health Champions should be added to the agenda for the next meeting

90.3    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 meeting of the Young Peoples Scrutiny Committee will be held on Wednesday 25 May 2016 at 10.00am at the Shirehall

91.1    Members were reminded that the next meeting of the Young People’s Scrutiny Committee would be held on Wednesday 25 May 2016 at 10.00am at the Shirehall