Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ayres and Bond.  Councillor Sandford was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Bond.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Head of Legal Services

No declarations of interest were received.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2017 were agreed as a true and accurate record, subject to the following amendment:

That Councillor Saltmarsh’s attendance was marked once in the attendance section of the minutes.

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to the recent activities and outcomes of the Foster Carer Forum meetings.

Mr Gilbert M.B.E introduced the report and provided an update of the discussions and actions from the Foster Carers Forum.

The Corporate Parenting Committee debated the report and in summary, key points raised and responses to questions included:

?     The Foster Carer Forum Members were satisfied with the new permanency contractors, The Adolescent and Children’s Trust (TACT) and with their can do approach.

?     Transport arrangements for Children in Care continued to be an issue and it was hoped that TACT would explore these to introduced a non-bureaucratic and a more efficient process.

?     Financial discussions held with young people in care had been felt by foster carers to be problematic.

?     Foster Carer activities for the Easter and Summer period had been successful and well attended by Councillors.

?     The Foster Carer handbook was being updated and would be available virtually.

?     TACT were lobbying the Government over the promotion of a Council Tax exemption for Foster Carers.  The Foster Carers also requested support from City Councillors, however, the legalities in regards to a Council Tax exemption would need to be explored further before a recommendation could be considered by the Committee. 

?     Social Workers would be impacted over the Foster Carer panel meetings in regards to the transfer of the current Foster Carer positions to the new TACT contract.

?     The Foster Carer buddie scheme was in its early phase. 

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED to note the report.

ACTION AGREED

It was agreed that the Interim Head of Service Children Looked After and Leaving Care would provide a report to outline how other Councils had applied a Council Tax exemption or reduction to their Foster Carers.  The report should also include:

1. The legislation Council’s used to apply the Council Tax exemption or reduction and
2. The rationale as to why some Councils had not adopted this approach.

The Committee are asked to receive a report on the current position and appoint Members to the vacant positions

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to the review of Corporate Parenting Champion appointments, following the recent changes made at Annual Council on 22 May 2017.

The purpose of the report was to request the Committee to consider the nominations put forward following the changes to Cabinet and Committee positions agreed at Annual Council on 22 May 2017.

The Corporate Parenting Committee Chairman introduced the item to Members and asked them to consider the nominations.

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered the report and RESOLVED (unanimously) to approve the following champion appointments:

?     Councillor Saltmarsh - Housing

?     Councillor Ayres - Employment and Training Opportunities within the Council Departments and Partner Agencies

?     Councillor Bull - Health

?     Councillor Ayres - Education Attainment and access to higher education

?     Councillor Smith - Recreation and Leisure activities

?     Councillor Sylvester - Finance and benefits

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to the 0-25 Transition Service.

The purpose of the report was to provide Members with an outline of the services provided to CiC with disabilities that were between the ages of 0 - 25 including the transition period involved.

The Corporate Parenting Committee debated the report and in summary, key points raised and responses to questions included:

?     The Children’s Act 1989 was the main piece of legislation that had related the definition of children’s disability.  However the definition of children with disabilities had also been informed by other acts.

?     The line management responsibility for services to young people in care was placed with Adult Social Care, however, Children’s Service’s would also oversee and monitor the provision.

?     There were some Social Workers supporting children through to adult transition and would hold a dual role in order to support the transition for as long as necessary.

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED to note the report.

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to the health needs of the Looked After Children population in Peterborough.

The purpose of the report was to provide Members with an overview of the Clinical Commissioning Groups activities to ensure robust monitoring and quality assurance systems were in place to meet the needs of Looked After Children.

The Designated Nurse for Children in Care introduced the report and requested Members to note the content of the report and raise any queries they had with lead officers.

The Corporate Parenting Committee debated the report and in summary, key points raised and responses to questions included:

?     I-Cash was a contracted service which undertook medical checks and blood borne viruses screening for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC).  A translation provision was also provided through the I-Cash contract.  Clinics were planned to be held to screen a backlog of assessments from the past 12 months.

?     There had a been an issue with Kent medical assessments due to a large influx of UASC arriving in that area and the information had been communicated to all Local Authorities.   Kent would be avoided as a placement area for children coming into care due to the pressure they had been experiencing. 

?     Where notification had been received by the Designated Nurse for Looked After Children in regards to health assessments that could not be met at an outside Local Authority (LA), the child would return to Peterborough for the assessment and then return to the LA area.

?     The definition of Children in Care with attachment difficulties had been where a child had never bonded with parent figure throughout their life and this had impacted on their behaviour and mental health as they got older.

?     A report was due to be presented to the Joint Commissioning Unit to outline options to support children with behavioural and attachment difficulties in order to close the service gap.

?     Most Asylum seekers were aged 16 - 17 years and the information in regards to their medical history had been vague.  A UASC with little or no medical history would receive an immunisation catch up programme and be provided with a medical passport, which would be maintained.

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED to note the report.

AGREED ACTION

The Committee also agreed that the Designated Nurse Looked After Children, would share a  report with the Committee at their meeting on 8 November 2017, which was due to be presented to the Joint Commissioning Unit on closing the gap for children with behavioural and attachment difficulties.

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to Children in Care and Care Leaver placements.

The purpose of the report was to provide members with an overview in respect of the numbers of children and young people currently being looked after by the Authority and to provide a breakdown of the types of placements in which they were living. The report also provided information about the age, gender and ethnicity of those children and young people.

The Head of Service Corporate Parenting introduced the report and requested members to note the content of the report and raise any queries they had with lead officers.

The Corporate Parenting Committee debated the report and in summary, key points raised and responses to questions included:

?     Children in care numbers had raised from 362 to 372 and this was due to an increase of teenagers coming into the system.  Teenager behaviour appeared to be the main issue, which had been due to them experiencing GCSE pressures.  The LA were working towards returning these teenagers to their homes.

?     The June 2017 figure for health assessments conducted had risen to 92% since May 2017.

?     If a CiC refused a dental check they would be encouraged to undertake them.

?     The target figure for dental health checks was set by the Government and could not be changed, despite refusal of appointment attendance. The LA always aspired to meet the required targets.

?     The Ofsted near life reporting action was being addressed and the LA were close to completing this.  Liquid Logic had been recently updated and Qliksense was the LA’s preferred option to replace other legacy systems.

?     In the meantime daily and weekly reports had been produced for managers to indicate CiC statistics in order to identify any risks.  The Qliksense system due to replace the legacy reporting systems was to be launched by August 2017.  Various aspects of the reporting mechanisms would be graduated, with full implementation by the end of the year.

?     Engagement of CiC had been challenging, however it was planned to align an action with Social Workers and TACT to focus on young people in care. There was a consultation underway for the development of targeted youth support services and shared working opportunities across Cambridgeshire.

?     Members commended and thanked the teams and all staff involved in the actions to improve the RAG status within the Ofsted action report.

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED to note the report.

The Corporate Parenting Committee received a report in relation to the Committee’s Work Programme.

The purpose of the report was to provide Members with a draft Work Programme of items to schedule for the municipal year 2017/2018.

The Chairman introduced the report and requested the Committee to determine its priorities, and approve the draft work programme for formal and informal meetings for the municipal year 2017/2018.

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED to approve the Committee’s Work Programme for 2017/2018.

AGREED ACTION

The Corporate Parenting Committee also agreed that:

1. The Permanency Report due to be presented to the Committee on 8 November 2017, would include information about the savings made to date under the new permanency contract; and
2. The Head of Service Corporate Parenting would provide a briefing note on the processes followed for all applicable health support, education provisions and housing arrangements for when an asylum seeker child entered the United Kingdom.

Members that are not part of the core CPC membership, but hold Corporate Parenting responsibilities, are invited to raise any issues they have with regard to the services provided to Children in Care.

Members that were not part of the core CPP membership, but held corporate parenting responsibilities, were invited raise issues they had with regard to the services provided to Children in Care (CiC).

The Corporate Parenting Committee considered and RESOLVED that there were no issues to raise.

The next formal meeting of the Corporate Parenting Committee is due to be held on Wednesday 8 November 2017.

The next informal meeting was due to be held on 6 September 2017.

The next formal meeting of Corporate Parenting Committee was due to be held on 8 November 2017.