Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Pitt and his Substitute Member Councillor Jones and Father D. Seddon.

Members are requested to give notice of any disclosable pecuniary interest, which is not already included in their Register of Members' Interests and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the Members Code of Conduct, before leaving the meeting room during the discussion on that particular item.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were received.

Minutes of the meetings held on 21 March 2017 and 4 April 2017.

The Committee considered the Minutes of the meetings held on 21 March and 4 April 2017.

Mrs. C. Palmer indicated that she was present at the meeting of the Committee held on 21 March 2017 but that her attendance was not recorded in the Minutes.

RESOLVED:

That subject to the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2017 being amended to include the attendance of Mrs. C. Palmer the Minutes of the meetings held on 21 March and 4 April 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Public Health

Further to Minute No. 4 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 25 May 2017 the Committee considered the report of the Director of Public Health which incorporated his independent annual report on the health and wellbeing of the population of Sefton highlighting key issues. The annual report had been developed through collaborative working with a range of Council and external partners and it considered the root causes of health inequalities across Sefton, what actions are already being undertaken locally to address these issues, as well as recommendations for future actions on nine key areas, which are:

·       The best start in life

·       Healthy schools and pupils

·       Helping people find good jobs and stay in work

·       Active and safe travel

·       Warmer and safer homes

·       Access to green and open spaces and the role of leisure services

·       Strong communities, wellbeing and resilience

·       Public protection and regulatory services

·       Health and spatial planning

The Cabinet had resolved that the annual Public Health report be received and the Council be recommended to approve the publication of the report.

Attached as an Appendix to the report was a copy of the statutory independent report of the Director of Public Health.

Charlotte Smith, Specialty Registrar, Public Health presented the Annual Report and highlighted issues associated with health data for Sefton; the general socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions affecting the   wider determinants of health; life expectancy in Sefton; and the health and wellbeing indicators in Sefton in 2016. 

Ms. Smith focused on issues contained in the report relating to children and young people and In particular drew attention to:-

·       The importance of the best start in life for a child as early life experiences help to shape future habits, behaviours and attitudes to the world around us. This means that positive early experiences, both with our family and in early years education settings, can provide children with better life chances and more chance of being healthy

·       The importance of healthy schools and pupils as helping each child and young person reach their full potential at school provides them with better life chances and it can also help them to live a longer and healthier life

·       The importance of warmer and safer homes as living in a home that is warm, safe and in a good state of repair is fundamental to keeping ourselves well, whatever our age or circumstances. When our housing meets our needs we are better able to access services and

·       build relationships with people living in our local community

Ms. Smith concluded by detailing the aims of the Annual Report for 2017/18 to include a proposed topic regarding the mental health and emotional wellbeing of young people; and that the report would take a multi-media approach using film and social media.

Members of the Committee raised the following issues:-

·       there was no mention in the report of illegal drug use

·       perceived anomalies in the statistical data comparisons of Sefton to the England average

·       the high numbers of deaths caused by dementia

·       the large variances  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Head Children’s Social Care

Further to Minute No. 5 of 12 July 2016 the Committee considered the report of the Director of Social Care and Health on the Children’s Services Improvement Plan Update and Scorecard.

The report indicated that In April 2016, an Inspection took place of services of need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers; that the inspection concluded that Children’s services in Sefton required improvement to be good across all areas and made 11 recommendations; that Sefton was required to develop an Improvement Plan that addressed all 11 recommendations and this was submitted to Ofsted and the DfE in October 2016; and that the Improvement Plans, which had been shared previously with the Committee, identified the following three key objectives:

The report provided a summary of the progress in relation to the action plan for 2016 /17 and should be considered alongside the Improvement scorecard data.

The report concluded that there was evidence of improvement across a number of areas; that the actions identified in the Ofsted Improvement plan had been completed but there now needed to be a period of ‘bedding – in’ change and sustained improvement and this would be supported as part of the new staff structure and as caseloads became more manageable; that the Improvement plan was being reviewed and refreshed with a greater emphasis on impact and outcomes and this would be shared at a future meeting of the Committee; and that Quality of Practice and Supervision Audits would continue to ensure that the Service focused on quality as well as data and that the focus would remain on supporting staff and the partnership to understand the child’s lived experience.

Members of the Committee raised the following issues:-

·       The overall increase in the rate of referrals (137 more than in 2015/16) and the re-referral rates increased to 21.6%

·       Problems associated with children seeing different social workers

·       The improvement required regarding the capturing of information arising from assessments, visits and through direct work

·       The average caseloads of social workers and the potential to reduce such caseloads

·       The proportion of Children Looked After who had been looked after for over 12 months who have had an assessment completed within the latest 12 month period

RESOLVED: That

Further to Minute No. 52 of 4 April 2017 the Committee considered the report of the Head of Schools and Families on the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Inspection final Statement of Action which had been submitted to Ofsted.

The report indicated that the SEND inspection was an inspection of a local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who had special educational needs and/or disabilities; that the inspection was undertaken in Sefton jointly by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission and that inspectors were required to examine the local areas’ effectiveness in:

•         The identification of Children and Young People (CYP) with SEND

•         Meeting the needs of CYP with SEND

•         Improving outcomes for CYP with SEND

and that In Sefton’s case a written ‘statement of action’ was required on 5 areas of concern, namely:-:

Action 1 - the poor progress made from starting points by pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an EHCP at key stages 2 and 4.

Action 2 - the poor operational oversight of the DCO across health services in supporting children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and their families.

Action 3 - the lack of awareness and understanding of health professionals in terms of their responsibilities and contribution to EHCPs.

Action 4 - the weakness of co-production with parents, and more generally in communications with parents.

Action 5 - the weakness of joint commissioning in ensuring that there are adequate services to meet local demand.

The report concluded that the Statement of Action submitted to Ofsted jointly by the Clinical Commissioning Groups and Sefton addressed the five areas identified above and was attached as an Appendix to the report.

The Committee also considered a letter received by the Director of Social Care and Health, dated 9 June 2017, from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission on their joint evaluation of the Council’s written statement of action submitted to them on 18 April 2017. The letter indicated that the statement of action was deemed not fit for purpose in setting out how the local area would tackle the significant areas of weakness identified in the published report letter; that the plan was not fit for purpose because the actions to deliver improvements across health commissioning and provision were not sufficiently specific, measurable, relevant or timely; and that Sefton was required to re-submit a statement of action to Ofsted and CQC within 20 working days.  

Debbie Fagan, South Sefton and Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), indicated that the statement of action would need to be re-submitted to Ofsted and CQC by 6 July 2017; that to address the issues raised in the Ofsted/CQC letter the CCG had taken on external support to ensure that actions were specific and evidence based rather than “broad brush” and the CCG was working in partnership with Sefton colleagues and other providers in the health economy; that the first re-draft of the statement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee considered the annual report of the Head of Schools and Families on school organisation and school places in Sefton based on the annual School Capacity (SCAP) return to the Department for Education. 

The report indicated that the figures contained in the report were based on the 2016 SCAP return and the School Census in January 2016 and 2017; and that the following range of factors and issues impacted on school organisation:-

·       Government Policy

·       Local Authority Statutory Duties

·       Government’s vision for Local Authorities

·       Factors affecting Pupil Place Planning

·       Education reform

·       School funding reform

·       Demographic Issues

·       Planning Areas

The report also provided information on both the primary and secondary sector pupil places and numbers and detailed the variations in different parts of the borough; and that regarding capital projects, Sefton did not receive any Basic Need allocation for 2017/18 and 2018/19 as the pupil projections submitted to the DFE via SCAP in 2014 and 2015 did not demonstrate enough growth.  However, based on the 2016 SCAP return Sefton would receive an allocation of £2,876,486 in 2019/20.

The report concluded that managing pupil places was a complex matter taking into account a range and variety of factors; and that the the demand for school places was reviewed annually and proposals developed to meet local pressure points as they arose.

Members of the Committee raised the following issues:-

·       Could information be provided on the pupil admission numbers for all schools and what places had been allocated as at June 2017?

·       Confirmation was given that regarding new housing within the borough  the DFE would not allow local authorities to factor housing developments in to their pupil projections until planning permission had been granted

·       Confirmation was given that pupil movement into and out of the borough was taken into account in the planning of school places

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance in relation to the most recent report of the Cabinet Member - Children, Schools and Safeguarding for the May 2017 period.  The report included details of National Funding Formula for Schools, Academisation, South Sefton College, SEND Inspection and an update on the Children’s Social Care restructure.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member update report be noted.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that sought the views of the Committee on the draft Work Programme for 2017/18, the identification of potential topics for scrutiny reviews to be undertaken by a Working Group appointed by the Committee and the identification of any items for pre-scrutiny scrutiny by the Committee from the Key Decision Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That