Agenda and minutes

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Media

Items
No. Item

County Councillors Lorraine Beavers and Bernard Dawson replaced County Councillors Nikki Hennessy and Sobia Malik respectively for this meeting.

 

Stephen Whittaker attended in place of Dr Sam Johnson.

 

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from County Councillor David Smith, Mrs Janet Hamid and Simon Smith.

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

 

Minutes:

County Councillor Peter Steen declared a non-pecuniary interest as he was a governor of Bacup Maintained Nursery.

 

County Councillor Jennifer Mein declared a non-pecuniary interest as she was a governor at Ribbleton Avenue Infant School, St.Ignatius Primary School and Preston College.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2020 pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: The minutes from the meeting held on 16 December 2020 were confirmed as an accurate record.

 

4.

Shaping the future of multi-agency Early Help in Lancashire pdf icon PDF 20 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation and update from  Sarah Callaghan, Director of Education and Skills, and, Debbie Duffell, Head of Service Early Help, Children and Family Wellbeing  on the Early Help Offer for Lancashire informing Members that Early Help meant providing support as soon as a problem emerged, at any point of a child's life from the foundation years to the teenage years. Early Help could also prevent further problems arising.

 

It was noted that the model of Early Help delivered by Lancashire County Council strengthened the focus on outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families by prioritising children and families with the most needs. It delivered an Early Help offer for families across the county in neighbourhoods, multi-agency support teams around schools and family support at home. It ensured that the Early Help Service offer aligned with education provision at a locality basis recognising that most children accessed childcare and went to school. It complemented the Family Safeguarding model and other joint working opportunities.

 

It was noted that in terms of delivering Early Help to children, young people and families it was vital for them to have access to provision of the right support, at the right level at the right time. Regarding Family Intensive Support which was about responding to families with more complex needs and where there were developing risks for children, a lot of resources had been put aside for this.

 

It was noted that Lancashire County Council did things well in terms of delivering Early Help Support. The county council had been able to demonstrate the impact that its Early Help offer had made through its engagement with the national Troubled Families Programme.

 

It was noted that there was a key focus on ensuring Lancashire County Council worked alongside colleagues in delivering the new Family Safeguarding Model in Lancashire. There was a workforce development programme in place to improve practice in Early Help and align practitioners with the Family Safeguarding Model. The development programme would also strengthen Early Help Partnership arrangements.

 

Members were informed that the team would establish joint management oversight arrangements with social care for the new service arrangements. The Early Help Partnership strategy would be reviewed and updated based on the Early Help remodelling, Family Safeguarding Model and Early Years Strategy. The team would embed the closer support for school approach, delivering early intervention pathways. The remodelling and audit action plans would be implemented including a new Quality Assurance and Performance Framework.

 

Comments and questions raised by the committee were as follows:

 

·  There was concern over what the impact Covid-19 had been in terms of family breakdown, domestic violence and mental health issues. The committee enquired if Lancashire County Council had front loaded resources to try and meet the steep increase in demand regarding these issues. It was noted that since the pandemic these issues had been exacerbated. There had been increased referrals regarding home education and vulnerable families had become more vulnerable. The team had moved Early  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2020/2021 pdf icon PDF 22 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report which provided information on the single combined work programme drafted for all of the Lancashire County Council scrutiny committees.

 

The meeting on 9 February would focus on the Early Years Sector regarding the impact on private providers supporting vulnerable children and families, including an update on the Early Years Strategy and School Improvement Model. There was a request for the funding pressures on the Early Years Sector to be included. There would also be an update on the recommendations from the Schools Causing Concern Task Group.

 

A special meeting of the Education and Children's Services Committee had been arranged for Tuesday 2 February at 2:00pm to receive a briefing from West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, Southport and Formby CCG and Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust on their Shaping Care Together Programme and the transformation of hospital and community services provided to children in West Lancashire and Sefton.

 

Resolved: That the work plan presented be noted.

 

 

 

6.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

 

Minutes:

There was no Urgent Business.

7.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 9 February 2021 at 10.30am.

 

Minutes:

The next virtual meeting of the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee would take place on Tuesday 9 February 2021 at 10.30am.