Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  That the Vice?Chair should chair the meeting until the arrival of the Chair.  The Vice?Chair was in the chair for agenda items 1-6 and item 8.

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

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

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2018 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2018 be taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute item 6 – Activity & Performance, bullet point 4 to read:

The high proportion of care leavers who were NEET (not in education, employment or training) related to challenges around engaging young people, or could be due to other reasons, for example, because they may be in custody.  It was important to note that 10% of Harrow’s care leavers went on to attend university;

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, Thursday 25 October 2018  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director, People which set out the activity of the Participation Officer over the previous year and assessed their work with Children Looked After (CLAs) and Care Leavers.

Following questions and comments from Members, officers advised that:

·                     the service provided by the Independent Visitors Team was commissioned  through a national voluntary organisation.  The officer undertook to provide a report on the topic of Independent Visitors to a future meeting of the Panel;

·                     if a CLA child needed a language interpreter, then the Council would be responsible for providing them with one.

An officer advised that an event  for CLAs was planned at the Cedars Youth & Community Centre on Friday 2 November 2018 which Members were welcome to attend.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Corporate Director, People.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director, People which set out the NEET/EET figures and those young people aged between 15-16 years in suitable accommodation.

The Vice Chair welcomed two care leavers and their case workers to the meeting.

Following questions and comments from Members, an officer advised that those young people ‘not available for learning’ listed in the report would include young mothers and those facing complex barriers to learning, for example, those with physical or mental health issues, or with unresolved immigration status or those in custody.

Following questions and comments from Panel Members, the young people leaving care said that the encouragement, guidance and practical support they had each received from the Council’s care workers in finding suitable accommodation, resolving issues with their immigration status, managing their finances and budgeting and progressing on to higher education had enabled them to transform their previous negative behaviours and attitudes, develop life skills and make good progress with their lives.

The Panel praised the young people and their support workers for their hard work in overcoming challenges and wished them every success in the future.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Corporate Director, People.

The Panel considered a report of the Corporate Director, People, which provided an overview of the performance and standards of Children Looked After at the end of Key Stages 2 and 4 and development priorities for the Virtual School for 2018/19.

An officer advised that there was a typographical error in paragraph 3.14 of the report which should read ‘3/15 pupils in Year 11’ and not ‘5/15’.

Following a brief overview of the report, an officer responded to Members questions and comments as follows:

·                     the issue of PEPs (Personal Education Plans) had been resolved.  PEPs were now RAG rated (Red, Amber, and Green).  The Inspector had flagged up that the final page of the PEP, which was the Virtual School comment section, needed revision.  This had been done and the PEP form was now electronic, which had made the process more efficient;

·                     some Harrow CLAs attended out of borough schools, for example, in Brent, Ealing or Hillingdon.  This trend was replicated across London boroughs and may be due to a range of different reasons, for example, safeguarding issues, foster care placements or placements in semi-independent units which were located out of borough;

·                     there was one-to-one support and tuition assessment offered to CLAs. It was noted that sometimes a school’s initial assessment of a child may be incomplete or erroneous;

·                     the Key Stage 2 reading test was in fact a comprehension test.  There was a strong link between low education attainment and unstable home living conditions.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Corporate Director, People.

The Panel considered a report of the Corporate Director, People, which set out activity for Children Looked After (CLAs) and Care Leavers as well as provisional performance position at Quarter 2, 2018/19.

Following questions and comments from the Panel, an officer stated that:

·                     the recent spike in the figures for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) was in part related to the way in which these young people were allocated across London Boroughs via the National Transfer Scheme and that many London Boroughs were now over their 0.07 quota;

·                     on the whole, most of the Key Performance Indicators were either on or above targets set;

·                     absences from school, which could be both authorised or unauthorised, included children being taken on holiday during term time, those with short term exclusions, physical or mental health problems or sent home due to their behaviour.  The Service had formulated an action plan and were exploring how they could support schools to understand the often complex needs of CLAs.  They were in the process of rolling out ‘Whole School Training’ to highlight issues experienced by CLAs, such as attachment disorder or trauma.  A clinical psychologist had been appointed to work with schools to devise strategies, timely assessments and referrals for those children.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Associate Director of Children’s Services.

The Panel received the quarterly report of the Associate Director of Children’s Services which set out the delivery of health services to Harrow’s Children Looked After (CLAs) during the period May to August 2018 and reviewed performance indicators and clinical work undertaken by the CLA health team.

The Panel also received the Annual Report of The Looked After Health Service( Harrow).

Both reports were well received and panel noted the positive improvements to this service.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.