Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

RESOLVED:  To note there were no reserve members in attendance.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interest made by Members

That the minutes of the meeting held on 31^st July 2024 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2024 be taken as read and signed as correct record.

To receive any public questions received.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 9^th October 2024.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

To receive deputations (if any).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received.

Update from the Named Nurse

The Panel received a presentation from the Named Nurse for Children looked after in Harrow that highlighted the following:

·                 10 out of 12 of requests for Initial Health Assessments (IHA) were received outside timescales.  8 of the 10 late requests were seen in timescales.

·                 13 out of 28 requests for Review Health Assessments (RHA) were received outside timescales.  7 out of the 13 late requests were completed in timescales.

·                 Fortnightly meetings with Local Authority colleagues to improve late requests took place

·                 Liaison with Senior Managers / Team Managers took place

·                 An Offer of additional flexible appointments to which included Saturday clinics was provided

·                 Reminder telephone calls to carers / young people confirming appointments

It was confirmed that one young person’s IHA was not completed within timescale was because they did not attend 2 appointments, the team were continuing to liaise with the social worker regarding this young person and were monitoring the situation.

The Panel heard a positive case study where a female young person aged between 16-18 years who came into care following significant trauma, a bereavement and an alleged sexual assault.  The young person went through a major transformation, with the intervention from a Children Looked After (CLA) Nurse . The Nurse had several interventions with this young person.  The Nurse liaised with allocated social worker and obtained direct contact with the Young Person.  The CLA Nurse supported and encourage the Young Person over a period of time and re-assessed the situation and intervened when and where necessary.  The young person was reported to have visited A&E on a couple of occasions.  The named nurse was able to aid the young person, which included attending out of Borough.  The young person was now in a better position and was on a road to a good outcome.

Discussion centred around late referrals, and the Panel questioned if this could be improved, however, quite often this was not possible to avoid.  The named nurse confirmed that the team worked closely with the social workers to avoid late referrals where possible.  Young people were also being encouraged to report issues when necessary.

The Panel was pleased to hear that Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) worked across Boroughs and that the team travel up to 20 miles from Harrow to aid young people for their assessments.  Such appointments can be expedited for factors such as mental health decline and vulnerability of the young person.

Members recognised the hard work and the dedication from the team.

The Panel thanked the named nurse for their informative presentation.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Presentation from the Assistant Director of Children’s Services

The Participation Officer delivered a presentation and Members were informed that:

·                 19 young people were connected with free gym memberships.

·                 9 events and activities for children looked after were hosted – with 39 attendees between 6-19.

·                 They had Coordinated work experience placements in local businesses, which included tattoo studios and chiropractic clinic.

·                 The first outing exclusively offered to unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children took place.

·                 A care experienced careers day at the Google offices was attended by young people

·                 Bournemouth and Middlesbrough Universities were visited by young people.

Young people had great experience at the outings and many positive feedback were received such as “as refugees, this makes us feel welcome”. “this was my dream- who said dreams can’t come true”.

It was highlighted that on 2 October 2024 a Corporate Parenting Board Event was hosted to bring care experienced young people and members together, which was a positive event that included care leavers aged between 17–24.  Young people advised that improvement was required in providing a guarantor for young people in care attaining independent accommodation particularly at universities.  It was recognised that forum and drop-in-session are to be offered for young person to express their issues and views.

The Chair thanked the officer and their team for organising an impressive event, which should be first of many events bringing Members and care experienced young people together.  As the event was informal the youngsters felt comfortable and honest about their experiences and feedback.  There was a common thread between the young people and similar experiences were shared.  Positive ideas were made at this event that the service will work towards achieving.  It was noted that more participants should be encouraged to these events moving forward as well as being held at different locations.

The Chair and Members thanked the officer for a positive report as well as the impressive annual report.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Presentation of the Participation Officer

The Participation Annual Report was presented to Members jointly with the Report from Care Experienced Young People Event and the minutes of this are detailed as above.

Update from the Assistant Director of Children’s Services

The Panel heard a presentation from the Assistant Director of Corporate Parenting. Members noted that:

·                 There was an improvement in timeliness of reviews and that the target for 2024/2025 had been exceeded and significant improvements had been made in terms of placement moves.

·                 The number of care leavers in suitable accommodation had also increased slightly.

·                 Over 70% young people were in employment or educational training by the end of quarter 1.

Discussion centred around that fact that young people’s up to date dental checks had declined, which could potentially be due to out of borough placements.  It was confirmed that the team were working closely with other departments such as the NHS, Named Nurse for Children looked after in Harrow as well as the social workers to overcome this issue.  The Named Nurse advised that it was very difficult to obtain dental appointments for children even in Harrow presently.

It was highlighted that there were young people in adoption placements, however, the adoption order was yet to be finalised.  Therefore, the figures in respect of children ceasing to be Looked After due to Adoption would be increasing in the near future.

The Children’s Services Analyst Tool (ChAT) was used to compare statistics.  The ChAT confirmed that families are still being kept together and the admissions care was lower.  It was also confirmed that focus was centred around pathway planning, which ensured that it was completed with collaboration with young people and the timeliness of this.

The following key areas was highlighted:

·                 63% of looked after children were in foster care, this compared well with the Statistical neighbours, particularly with an aging cohort of Looked After Children.

·                 Improved performance in respect of visits supervision since Q1.

The officer confirmed that the proposal to change the name from Corporate Parenting Panel to Corporate Parenting Board was to be forwarded to Cabinet to approve.

Members noted that mandatory training on Corporate Parenting would be provided to Members, it was a general consensus that this training would be provided with a mixture of both virtual and face to face sessions and that training notes to be provided prior the training.  It was also mentioned that such virtual training should be recorded for future reference.

The Panel would like to see the dental check figures improve and it was confirmed by the Named Nurse that the data suggested that this is mainly because there is not enough NHS dentists, however there was at times resistance from young people but the lack of dentists is the main challenge.  It was acknowledged that this is a high bar target, however, other initiatives could be considered to improve this figure such as paying travel fees to carers to attend dentist appointments further away from home as well as liaising with other council Panel meetings such as the Scrutiny Board.

The Chair was pleased to note the different forms of statistical data that was provided and thanked the Officer for their comprehensive and positive report.

RESOLVED:  That the report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 114.

Update from Children's Social Care Service Manager

The Children's Social Care Service Manager presented a report to the Panel, which captured missing children activity for the quarterly period Quarter 2 period between July-September 2024.  Data from the Children’s Services Electronic Database (Mosaic), the weekly Missing Children meeting with police, the monthly MACE meeting, and Return Home Interviews.

It was noted that since January, 19 Children who were Looked After by Harrow were reported missing.  Of the 85 young people aged between 14-17 in Harrow, 7 young people had frequently been reported missing (on more than 3 occasions) with the average ethnicity to be reported missing was White or White British; however, young people of mixed backgrounds had more frequent episodes of being reported missing.

It was confirmed that following a missing episode, the Police, the young person’s parents as well as other agencies working with the child would be notified.  There were different channels that were used to inform that a young person was missing such as national alerts, police twitter.

Return Home Interviews, held with missing children within 72 hours, would be completed as part of a visit to the young person.  These would include risk assessments in order to support allocated social workers to analyse further information and reasons for why the young person went missing.  This would encourage the young person to have a relationship and rapport with their social worker.

The Panel heard 2 positive case studies where both young people had experienced substantial trauma, long missing periods, not abiding to curfew concerns also included possible substance use as well as possible sexual assault and general welfare of the young persons.  The social worker supported the individuals by conducting missing interviews and frequent visits, initially they were reluctant to discuss issues with the social worker, however, this soon changed as they had a good rapport with the social worker.  After the intervention, they opened up and communicated with the social worker.  It was noted that the young person’s engagement with the officer had positively impacted their experience.

The Chair expressed concern that we had as many as 7 young people that have repeat missing episodes, asking what the possible reasons, common factors and how to overcome these.  Officers advised that missing episodes could be young people challenging boundaries such as curfew, that some wanted to be staying with friends, particularly those aged 16 – 18 but that we reviewed all young people the same way to ensure we recognised any risks or patterns that needed to be addressed.

The Chair thanked the officer for a positive case study and the acknowledged the hard work that the team put into such challenging cases.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Update from Virtual Schools Headteacher

The Virtual School Headteacher presented a report to the Panel that confirmed that:

·                 In the academic year 2023-2024 there were 83 children of statutory school age (SSA) on roll at Harrow Virtual School.

·                 School attendance was tracked and monitored on a daily basis.  The Virtual School attendance officer received and responded to this information and any anomalies in attendance, which were communicated to social workers, carers and other key professionals in good time.

·                 Harrow’s missed sessions in 2022-23 was 12.5%.  This was above the England average of 8.3%. 

·                 Persistent Absence for Harrow’s children in 2022-2023 was 28.3%. This was slightly above the Statistical Neighbours (25.2%)

·                 School attendance remained a priority area of the Virtual School.

·                 The number of children with a suspension had reduced from 11 (2022-2023) to 8 in 2023-2024. 

It was highlighted that carers were working with young people to reduce the number of absences from school, the message nationally around attendance was the DFE no longer had a code for going on holidays during school term, and a hefty fine was also implemented.  Challenges were faced with young people with special educational needs who were absent from school, due to the transport arrangements, SEN transport took time and there were risk assessments that needed to be completed.  It was clarified that there wwas now interim transport put in place and reliance will not be made on SEN transport.

On a positive note, it was confirmed that the exam results were impressive, where 1 child in Year 6 achieved expected in all three subjects.  The national average for CLA is 32%. 47% of the students in Year 11 achieved at least 1 GCSE pass.

In response to a question by the Chair, the officer confirmed that a child was never taken off the school roll, the statistic was where a child was waiting to enrol on a new school.

Members raised concern over the high statistic of children missing school due to ill health, the officer confirmed that they were working on NHS guidance which has been provided to the school, which would be going out to carers and independent fostering agencies. Schools were being encouraged to remind parents and carers of the number of authorised absences for different illnesses.

The Chair thanked the officer for the comprehensive report.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.