Agenda and minutes

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

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly constituted Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Panel;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED: To note that no interests were declared.

To appoint a Vice Chairman of the Panel for the municipal year 2014/15.

RESOLVED:  To appoint Councillor Janet Mote as Vice-Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel for the 2014-2015 Municipal Year.

Report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children and Families.

An Officer presented the report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children and Families, which included the following information:

·                    data for 2014 – 2015 Quarter 1 was not available at the time the agenda was published, so the report was more brief than usual, but full data would be available at the next Panel;

·                    the rate of Child Protection Plans had now reached over 200, which was a higher rate than previous years but was in line with other London Boroughs;

·                    rates of Children Looked After were also comparable to other London Boroughs, such as London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames;

·                    services for Care Leavers had been extended to support them from age 18 to age 21, and improving outcomes for education and employment were high priorities, particularly at the top of this age range;

·                    short-term placement stability was on target, but long-term placement stability was below target.  However, the methods that had been employed to improve short-term stability will feed through over time and also benefit long-term stability;

·                    many initial health assessments were not being completed on time, conversations were ongoing about how this could be rectified.

After taking questions and comments from Members of the Panel, an Officer commented that:

·                    the initial health assessment was completed by the CCG Commissions Service at Northwick Park Hospital;

·                    subject to the agreement of the Board of the Clinical Commissioning Group, the contract for providing health services to Children Looked After could be re-procured from Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust;

·                    the health review included a dental check-up;

·                    educational outcomes for Key Stage 2 could be affected by a number of factors, as the figures included children who had disabilities or special educational needs, but did not reflect that these children were included.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Divisional Director, Targeted Services.

An Officer presented the report of the Interim Corporate Director, Children & Families.  The report included the following:

·                    the four main points of the strategy pertained to employment, education, finance, and health;

·                    young people had been consulted on what made a good placement.   Housing Services had been communicating with young people about the young people’s expectations and responsibilities;

·                    if appropriate, young people could continue on in their existing placements;

·                    Housing Services would provide accommodation placements for twenty young people per year, and these were filled gradually on a quarterly basis;

·                    Care Leavers were a very diverse group with differing and complex needs, and they required various levels of support.

Members of the Panel and Officers commented that:

·                    there had been increased negotiation with Housing Services regarding the number of accommodation placements offered to Care Leavers;

·                    young people for whom no accommodation was available would remain in their current placement;

·                    in the last year, there had been more than 20 young people leaving care who were in need of accommodation;

·                    smaller properties suitable for care leavers were in short supply, and shared properties could provide valuable support for young people;

·                    in the past, a Housing Officer had attended meetings of Corporate Parenting Panel, and extending this invitation again would be a good idea;

·                    that an update on this report would be provided in six months’ time.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Divisional Director, Targeted Services.

An Officer presented the report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children and Families, which included the following:

·                    agencies who provided services to young people were actively seeking out service users;

·                    the Participation Strategy was divided into five key priorities, which were further explained within the report;

·                    the vision of the strategy was to provide a child/young person-oriented service, and for the children/young people to be directly involved in decisions that affected services provided to them;

·                    focus would be on supporting and engaging with the young people;

·                    in the past, the attendance of young people at meetings of Corporate Parenting Panel had been beneficial for the young people and Members of the Panel;

·                    in Hertfordshire, a process of investigating specific promises and responses had been working well.

Members of the Panel and Officers commented that if young people were to be invited to meetings of the Panel, an earlier start time could be considered as this was more likely to be convenient for the young people.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

To resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence, or of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

RESOLVED:  That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence, or of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

Report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children and Families

An Officer presented the exempt report of the Chair of the Local Safeguarding Children Board, which included the following:

·                    the full report would be published in early November;

·                    emerging learning at this time from the case review for the Corporate Parenting Panel to note was regarding the need for appropriate planning for children looked after, in terms of education, health and rehabilitation;

·                    the time taken to complete the report was due to the multiple agencies involved in this case.

RESOLVED:  That the exempt report be noted.