Mr Ainsley welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were noted from Mr W Cross and Mr A Brown.  Mrs M Jones was welcomed to the meeting as Mr Brown’s representative.

To confirm the record of the meetings of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on 18 March and 28 April 2021 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meetings held on 18 March and 28 April 2021 were confirmed as accurate records.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations of interest were received.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 216.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. 

No petitions, deputations or questions were received.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules No.218 and No.218A.

No questions with notice were received from Members.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No.219.

No notices of motion from Members were received.

To consider any matter referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

No call-ins were received.

To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.

The Chair requested nominations for the post of Vice-Chair of the Committee.  No nominations were received.

RESOLVED

a)    That Scrutiny CARRIED FORWARD this item for discussion at the next meeting.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services.

A presentation was received from Mrs D Godfrey, Strategic Director of Children and Families.  The purpose of the presentation was to update Members of the scrutiny committee on the progress of the review of the Children’s Services offer.  During the discussion, the following points were noted:

·         Mrs Godfrey informed the Committee that it had been planned for Mr Kevin Quinn, Transformation and Assurance Lead to attend the meeting to help present the report but was unfortunately unable to attend due to ill health.

·         Mrs Godfrey gave an example of one of the changes related to the Children’s Services Offer.  Pre-pandemic, the children’s centre services were place-based i.e. all services were held within the children’s centre itself in Oakham.  This made accessing services difficult to those people/families not living in Oakham.  During the pandemic, most services were provided virtually, and this resulted in wider engagement and the feedback from families was that they found accessing virtual services much easier.  Mrs Godfrey also stated that events had been recorded so that any person/family who had not been able to access the event at the specified date/time, could still participate and learn from watching the recorded event at a date/time convenient to them.

·         Mrs Godfrey emphasised that the aim moving forward was to engage partners in becoming co-ordinators of the services provided to families rather than just Children’s Services organising everything including the provision of services provided by our partners. 

·         Mr Begy confirmed that a hybrid system was required moving forward to enable better engagement and enquired how improvement would be measured.  Mrs Godfrey replied that data would show improvements for example the reduction in the number of re-referrals to the service but that services would also be provided in a cost effective and sustainable way.

·         Mrs Jones queried if partners were willing to change and become more involved.  Mrs Godfrey stated that the pandemic lockdown had changed the way everyone worked.  Partnerships had been strengthened and this had resulted in a willingness to change and move forward.

·         Mr French queried if there had been a rise in the number of referrals during the lockdown.  Mrs Godfrey confirmed that an increase in the number of referrals had not been seen but that there had been an increase in the complexity of the cases referred.

·         Cllr Wilby stated that he would continue in his role as Portfolio Holder by monitoring improvements in Children’s Services and reporting any issues to Cabinet.  He confirmed that the service was working well and was well focused and well led.

·         Mrs Godfrey informed attendees that the new domestic violence strategy had changed to include children as victims rather than just witnesses and that two members of staff had been trained to offer psychological therapeutic support to children and young people at a very early stage.  This would be in addition to the other mental health support services offered.

·         Mrs Godfrey confirmed that the final draft version of the Children’s Services Offer would be distributed for consultation at the end  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To discuss substantive items for scrutiny and inclusion in the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee work programme for the municipal year 2021-22.

·         The annual work plan for 2021-22 was discussed and updated accordingly.

·         Mr Ainsley requested that the plan be updated to include a presentation by Mrs Godfrey at the meeting on the 30^th September 2021 of the final draft Children’s Services Offer.

·         Mrs Godfrey confirmed that the Department for Education (DfE) would not be publishing data regarding GCSE’s and ‘A’ Levels in 2021 and that academies were not obliged to inform the local authority of their data.

To receive any other items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

·         Mr Begy queried the Quarter 4 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and the number of re-referrals.  Mrs Godfrey confirmed that a full audit was being done to examine why cases were re-referred to the service and that referrals were back to pre-Covid levels.

·         There was no other urgent business

30 September 2021.

Thursday, 30^th September 2021 at 7.00 p.m. via Zoom