Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To consider the appointment of a Vice-Chair to the Corporate Parenting Panel for the Municipal Year 2019/2020.

RESOLVED:  To appoint Councillor Janet Mote as Vice-Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel for the 2019/2020 Municipal Year.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions received in accordance with paragraph 16 of the Executive Procedure Rules.

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 if 3.00 pm, 6 June 2019.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk

No person may submit more than one question].

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 47 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

Report of the Corporate Director of People.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director of People which set out activity for Children Looked After and the provisional performance position for key indicators to end of March 2019.

Following questions & comments from Members, an officer advised that:

·                     Young people were not always able to stay in the same placement. Some placement moves were due to difficult and or violent behaviour and some were positive moves due to the fact that they attended college outside of the borough.

·                     The Council continued to work with other agencies to support anger management by ensuring that CLA were referred appropriately to the services they most needed – e.g. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and Youth Offending Team (YOT).

·                     The rate of Harrow CLA per 10,000 people was one of the lowest in London and had been consistently low since last year.  This follows the work of the Keeping Families Together service and the focus on supporting families in their own homes.

·                     The Panel were advised that the ratio of unaccompanied asylum seeker children is likely to increase to 0.08% from 0.07% in the near future (by an additional 5 or 6 young people). This was a decision made by the leader of the council following a request from London Councils.

·                     Provisional data for CLA after over a year showed annual dental checks to be below comparator data.  Work was being undertaken by Harrow’s CLA Health Service to follow-up on missed appointments and checking if any recording has been missed.  Previous year end figures have never been below comparator data.

·                     Members took interest in learning more about the Department for Education (DfE) categories of primary need for CLA who leave care, which was noted as a potential area to be explored further in future reporting.

·                     It was clarified that the figures for care leavers suitable accommodation and NEET (p. 33 of the officer report) was recorded in the period 3 months before and 1 month after the care leaver’s birthday to ensure a comparative indicator and to prevent the best figure being recorded year on year.  Additionally, the figure of ‘9.8% not recorded’ was likely to be due to disabilities where they have been transferred to adult services and further data was not yet available at the time of the officer report.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Reason For Decision: To ensure that Members, in their role as Corporate Parents, were availed of the performance and benchmarking data of Children Looked After.

Report of the Associate Director of Children, Central and North West London.

The Panel received the report of the Named Nurse Children Looked After (CLA) Harrow, which set out the delivery of health services to Harrow’s CLA during March and April 2019 in line with national guidance.

Following questions & comments from Members, an officer advised that:

·                     There had been a drop in initial health assessments (IHA) to 60% from 90% previously, however this was due to 4 children being placed outside of the borough of Harrow and being reliant on other providers to complete the health assessments.

·                     Members noted the work undertaken across the period which included: the Specialist Nurse being invited to attend the first pathway panel for 16 year olds with the Head of Service Corporate Parenting; a joint team away day with Hillingdon to look at future planning; and the Named Nurse CLA Harrow becoming a new member of the new regional adoption panel.

·                     The Portfolio Holder for Young People & Schools, Specialist Nurse and the Head of Service Corporate Parenting had attended an informative training event on fetal alcohol syndrome and wished for feedback to be given to the Central & North West London (CNWL) Team.

·                     An invitation to the Panel was to follow from the Named Nurse for CLA Harrow to attend the one year celebration of the 0-19 service on Thursday 27 June from 12-2pm at Milmans Resource Centre.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Reason for Decision:  To ensure that Members, in their role as Corporate Parents, were availed of the performance indicators and progress of the clinical work undertaken. 

Verbal report of the Corporate Director of People.

The Divisional Director Children and Young People reported to the Panel that the Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) was successfully launched in June 2019 and continued on the historical links that were built with Coram.

Emma Hedley, the Named Nurse for CLA (Harrow), and Gerry Moore, the Chair of Harrow Panel, had been appointed to the RAA Panel.  The Corporate Director of People had been appointed Chair of the Strategic Board.

Following questions & comments from Members, an officer advised that:

·                     The Regional Adoption Agency was carefully vetting potential newcomers and had space for 8 more local authorities.  It had to date received interest from the Bi-Borough, Slough Children Trust, Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Hillingdon.

·                     A further launch would be undertaken and details would be shared with the Panel by the Corporate Director of People once confirmed. 

RESOLVED:  That the verbal update be noted.

Reason for Decision:  To ensure that Members, in their role as Corporate Parents, were welcomed and availed of this adoption initiative.  

Report of the Corporate Director of People.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director of People which set out outcomes of the recent Ofsted Annual Engagement meeting.

Following questions & comments from Members, an officer advised that:

·                     A peer review was set to take place in October 2019 through the West London Alliance and it was asked that persistent absenteeism be considered as this is an outstanding educational outcome to be resolved. Outcomes of the peer review would be reported back to the Panel in the autumn.

·                     It was noted that the rate of CAMHS referrals from CLA be explored by the Divisional Director Children and Young People for better understanding of the pathway of referral.

·                     The threshold for young people moving from CLA to adult services was discussed given that a CAMHS pupil could still be in school at the age of 18.  The Divisional Director Children and Young People undertook to gather more information on this and produce a short report for the next meeting.

·                     The Portfolio Holder for Young People & Schools had a CAMHS visit scheduled and would use the opportunity to invite a representative to speak to the Panel at the October meeting which would have young people in attendance.

·                     Members also noted that the CLA celebration event is planned on Wednesday 23 October from 2-8pm at The Hive.  A formal invitation to Panel members is to follow.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Reason For Decision:  To ensure that Members were informed of progress in their role as Corporate Parents.

Verbal report of the Corporate Director of People.

The Corporate Director of People reported to the Panel that an inspection of Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) was imminent before the end of summer.  It was explained that this was a joint review by Ofsted and CQC to see how well local areas fulfilled responsibilities for young people and children with SEND.  This would require data on SEN outcomes to be submitted along with strategies for dealing with vulnerable people.  Feedback from the inspection would be reported back to the Panel once completed.

Following questions & comments from Members, an officer advised that:

·                     Collaboration is underway with parent forums and schools around the Council’s SEN strategy to ensure it is inclusive as possible, and relationships with looked after students in school was positive.

·                     Good inspection outcomes were expected given that all 4 SEN schools were rated ‘outstanding’ and The Helix was rated ‘good’.  Furthermore, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and school partners worked well together.

·                     It was clarified that children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) could include those with learning disabilities and SEND.

·                     A presentation from the Integrated Learning Disabilities Service would be circulated to the Panel by the Named Nurse CLA Harrow, who was also the learning disability champion in her team.

RESOLVED:  That the verbal update be noted.

Reason For Decision:  To ensure that Members, in their role as Corporate Parents, were availed of the upcoming SEND inspection.  

Councillor Janet Mote informed the Panel that she had met with Christine Bendall (formerly on the Fostering Adoption Panel) who was recovering from ill health but pleased to hear about the ongoing work of the Corporate Parenting Panel.