Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Bradshaw and Education Added Members Mr. Stuart Harrison and Father Des 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 pecuniary interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2017.

Minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services and Safeguarding) held on 12 October 2017.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2017 and the Minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services and Safeguarding) held on 12 October 2017, be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Social Care and Health

The Committee considered and pre-scrutinised the report of the Director of Social Care and Health in relation to the Development of Family Wellbeing Centres that would be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 7 December 2017. The report referred to Council approval in March 2017 of the proposed development of locality working in light of community feedback gathered in recent years and extensive research into early intervention prevention models. As part of this work the Director of Social Care and Health had worked with others to develop a draft strategic approach for Family Wellbeing Centres, taking into consideration Children Centres, Family Centres, School Readiness funding and the childcare subsidy. The report provided an update including the public consultation feedback, an equalities analysis and presented options considered and discounted and recommendations for consideration and decision.

In developing the proposals relating to locality working and the proposed Family Wellbeing approach the Council had actively listened to the views of the community and the recommendations in the report reflected this. The community clearly supported the principles of the 0-19 Family and Wellbeing approach and Officers would progress the implementation of this strategic approach, subject to the Cabinet considering the information in the report. However, the community did not support the development of three 0-19 Family Wellbeing Centres, and the recommendations in the report took account of this feedback.

If the recommendations were to be approved, how the change was implemented would be explored and reviewed within the Council and with Head Teachers and Governing bodies. The potential decisions and changes, if approved were:-

• The three 0-19 Family Wellbeing Centres not being developed, and early help being wholly delivered by the Children Centres;
• Seaforth not being relocated;
• A new funding methodology to be introduced in 2018 that considered:

o   The reach (geography) that Family and Children Centre management were responsible for, thereby impacting on their budgets;

o   All early help being within Children Centres;

o   A possible impact on the number and type of activities taking place;

o   A possible reduction in opening hours for a number of Family and Children Centres;

o   Management and staffing; and

• Officers would work with Health colleagues to look at the potential development of Health and Wellbeing Centres.

As the locality model developed and the 0-19 strategic approach was implemented the Council and partners would continue to explore future opportunities. The Council was keen to work with partners to ensure that positive approaches were put in place that would help all members of our community to live happy and healthy lives, with positive approaches in place for those that needed that bit of extra support from time to time.

In the future and once current service delivery had been redesigned and the duplication of current Council activity removed, a more integrated model with NHS partners could be reconsidered. Through existing work it was clear that they had an ambition to explore the development of Health and Wellbeing Centres.

The report indicated that over the last 6  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance formally presenting the final report of the Children and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Working Group. The Committee had established the Working Group at its meeting on 12 July 2016 and the Final Report of the Working Group was attached to the report.

The majority of recommendations contained within the report were in relation to collaborative working and would require officer capacity to address. The financial funding requested had been allocated by the Government to Clinical Commissioning Groups to be spent on CAMHS. Working Group Members were seeking assurances that the money allocated in this area was spent on CAMHS.

The Terms of Reference for the Working Group had been as follows:-

·         Clarify the regulatory and policy framework for commissioned CAMHS service.

·         Clarify the extent of the provision of these services and ascertain the availability for Children and Young people in Sefton in terms of capacity, referrals and quantitative service data.

·         Clarify the process by which referrals are expected to be made who can make a referral and how, received and the process for how the referrer is communicated with and what is communicated.

·         Clarify criteria by which a referral is screened at first point of contact. This in particular to understand how risk is assessed and managed in early stage of referral to point of treatment.

·         To understand the plans put in place for discharge.

·         Understand the route back to support.

·         Collect the experiences of Children and Young People and in particular explore the experience for Children and Young People with additional needs.

·         Ascertain the beneficial outcomes that could be attributed as a result of access to commissioned CAMH services.

·         Review the provision of CAMHS against the emerging Children and Young People Emotional Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

·         Report to Cabinet on its findings.

Councillor Hands, Lead Member of the Working Group, presented the Working Group’s Final Report to the Committee.

Members of the Committee asked questions/raised matters on the following issues:-

·         Following the previous Overview and Scrutiny review in 2010/11 on CAMHS, it was disappointing to learn that delayed waiting times for users to access services had not improved;

·         Concerns were held regarding the transitional arrangements for CAMHS ages 16-19 years (25 years for Looked After Children) as they were problematic and required improvement;

·         It was disappointing that no representations had been received from Head Teachers of secondary schools towards the review;

·         The importance of early intervention and prevention, particularly within schools; and

·         Additional information could be provided on the work being undertaken by the Integrated Commissioning Group into identifying gaps in services.

Debbie Fagan, Chief Nurse, South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group and Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), indicated that the Chief Officer of the CCGs would like to respond on the Final Report at a future date. She also emphasised that any future re-procurement of the CAMHS contract would require a formal legal process to be followed.

Members of the Working Group, together with Ruth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Report of the Director of Social Care and Health

Further to Minute No. 18 of 26 September 2017, the Committee considered the report of the Director of Social Care and Health indicating that in April 2016 an inspection took place of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers. The report was published on 27 June 2016.

An action plan was developed that addressed the 11 recommendations made in that report and this was submitted to Ofsted in October 2016.

The plan has now been reviewed and updated to focus on current priorities to ensure that the service continued to improve and that all services provided to children were good or better and improved their outcomes.

The new plan was presented to this Committee on 26 September 2017.

The report considered the performance Score Card that underpinned the current plan and the Score Card was attached as an Appendix to the report.

The report set out the background to the matter, together with progress against priorities, and concluded that there was still much to be done to drive improvement in performance across all areas to ensure that outcomes for children continued to improve.There were areas where audit indicated that the quality of practice was improving and there was a need to build on this to ensure consistency across the service.

Members of the Committee asked questions/raised matters on the following issues:-

·         With regard to the quality of supervision, the performance score had not yet achieved “good”, although the percentage had improved overall;

·         Overall improvement was anticipated to be reflected from January to April 2018 onwards; and

·         With regard to caseloads for social workers, numbers reflected children and not the number of families.

RESOLVED:

That progress reports on Children's Social Care Performance continue to be provided to the Committee on a six monthly basis.

Report of the Director of Social Care and Health

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Social Care and Health updating Members on the performance aligned to actions in the Children and Young People Plan. The report set out the background to the matter, together with details of the Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission Joint Inspection conducted in November 2016. The Children and Young People’s Plan Performance Dashboard 2017/18, Quarter 2 was attached to the report as an Appendix.

The Children’s Strategy Score Card in respect of Priority 1 – Ensure all children and young people have a positive educational experience, was circulated at the meeting, for the attention of the Committee, indicating that a more detailed report on educational outcomes would be presented at the next meeting.

Members of the Committee asked questions/raised matters on the following issues and were advised that responses would be obtained from the Council’s Public Health Team:-

·         Details of breastfeeding rates and the interventions put in place to support this priority, including the Netherton Feel Good Factory peer support programme; the Borough’s bid to regain the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative; and work undertaken with shops, service providers and organisations to ensure they did not discriminate against breast feeding; and

·         The provider of the new service for hospital admissions for alcohol specific conditions in under-18 year olds.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the Children’s Plan Performance Dashboard be received and the performance be noted; and

(2)       the Director of Social Care and Health be requested to liaise with the Head of Health and Wellbeing in order to obtain responses to the matters raised above.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance.

Further to Minute No. 12 (3) of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) held on 7 September 2017, the Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance on the proposed procedure to be adopted by the Overview and Scrutiny Committees when considering a decision that had been called in.

The report indicated that following consideration of a called-in item the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) resolved to refer the Procedure Note for “call-in” to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board for consideration; that the Management Board considered the current Procedure Note, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, on 26 September 2017; and resolved that the amended Procedure Note, attached as Appendix 2 to the report,  be referred to all four Overview and Scrutiny Committee with a recommendation to adopt the amended Procedure Note.

RESOLVED:

That the amended “call-in” Procedure Note, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report, be adopted as the procedure to be followed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee when considering a decision that has been called-in.

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 September 2017 period.  The report outlined information on the following:-

·         Academisation;

·         South Sefton College;

·         Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Inspection;

·         National Funding Formula; and

·         Family Well-being Service.

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 seeking the views of the Committee on the draft Work Programme for the remainder of 2017/18; noting the progress made to date by Working Groups appointed by the Committee; and identification of any items for pre-scrutiny scrutiny by the Committee from the Key Decision Forward Plan.

A Work Programme for 2017/18 was set out at Appendix A to the report, to be considered, along with any additional items to be included and agreed. Further to Minute No. 27 above, discussion took place on the possibility of including a review of the Development of Family Wellbeing Centres in the Committee’s Work Programme, following the implementation of the proposals for the Centres.

Details of the Scrutiny Review Topics for 2017/18 were outlined within the report for both the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Process of Assessment.

There were three Decisions within the latest Key Decision Forward Plan, attached to the report at Appendix B that fell under this Committee’s remit, and the Committee was invited to consider items for pre-scrutiny.

Further to Minute No. 4B (1) of the Joint Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services and Safeguarding) held on 12 October 2017, the report also advised on the review of services provided by Liverpool Women's Hospital and the issue of substantial reconfiguration. Following the Joint Meeting, officers had sought clarification regarding the proposals, and the Healthy Liverpool Programme had requested Sefton’s full Council to defer a final decision on the matter until the meeting of the Council scheduled for 25 January 2018.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the Work Programme for 2017/18, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be approved;

(2)       the following item be included within the Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2018/19:-

“Progress report on the implementation of proposals for the Development of Family Wellbeing Centres;

(3)       progress made to date by the Working Groups appointed be noted;

(4)       the contents of the Key Decision Forward Plan and items for pre-scrutiny for the period 1 December 2017 to 31 March 2018 be noted; and

(5)       the fact that the final decision regarding the issue of substantial reconfiguration, in relation to the review of services provided by Liverpool Women’s Hospital, is now intended to be considered by the full Council at its meeting scheduled for 25 January 2018 be noted.

The Chair referred to the fact that the appointment for Mrs. Palmer to serve on the Committee as a Parent Governor Representative was due to expire shortly. The Chair requested the Committee to agree for Mrs. Palmer to continue to serve on the Special Educational Needs and Disability Process of Assessment Working Group, which Mrs. Palmer had been appointed to previously by the Committee.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       thanks and appreciation be extended to Mrs. Palmer for her input into the work of this Committee; and

(2)       the request for Mrs. Palmer to continue to serve on the Special Educational Needs and Disability Process of Assessment Working Group be approved.