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Contact: Sam Gorton Tel: 01772 532471 email: sam.gorton@lancashire.gov.uk
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Introductions and Apologies County Councillor Prynn
To note who is attending and any apologies for absence. Minutes: All were welcomed to the meeting and apologies were received and noted from County Councillors Beavers and Gibson, Jane Simpson, Mark Twiname, Debbie Ross, Diane Booth, Debbie Duffell and Annette McNeil.
County Councillor (CC) Sue Prynn welcomed two new representatives for the next 12 months, Susan Towers from Agency Residential and Angela Epps from Agency Fostering.
Councillors Moon and Green, South Ribble Borough Council attended from 6.25pm.
John Marr was also in attendance as CC Prynn wanted to thank him personally for his commitment and support over the last 23 years with LCC and more recently for his involvement with the Board. John will be leaving the Authority in March 2016. |
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Notes of the Meeting and Matters Arising from 3 December 2015 County Councillor Prynn
To agree for accuracy the notes of the meeting and receive any matters arising. Minutes: The notes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record. |
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What our Elected Members have been doing (20 mins) County Councillor Prynn and other Elected Members
To note feedback from work undertaken by the Chair of the Board and our Elected Members as part of their role on the CPB, including Member visits carried out since the last meeting. There will also be an update on Housing. Minutes: CC Prynn
Care Leavers Email Project
CC Prynn reported that there had been some follow up on the email project that BTLS had been leading on and due to various issues, this had not progressed. Another option could be that young people submitted their email addresses and signed up to a mailing list. A letter could be sent out explaining the purpose and why the Board were wanting to do this and then a group would be set up containing all email addresses. This was to be looked at with Barnardos.
Action: CC Prynn will look into this further.
Regulation 22
CC Prynn had recently undertaken a visit to Lancaster. The report is being finalised.
CC Brown
Had been involved with shortlisting for the PROUD awards. There had been approximately 80 nominations, which had been shortlisted to 28 finalists and 11 winners. The event would be held on 4 March 2016 at Preston North End Football Ground.
CC Brindle
Noted that the response from Cllr John Harbour was very positive and that there was also another project in Burnley, the Elizabeth St Project which was working well. It was a former Council owned building that had been converted into flats to give supported accommodation to vulnerable people when needed.
CC Brindle reported that she would be attending the PROUD awards in her role as Chairman of the County Council. She had also hosted a Young Carers reception for 4-16 year olds, which CC Brindle found really rewarding and thanked Barnardos for arranging the transport for the young carers.
CC Brindle opened Moorside School in Lancaster and attended the Holocaust Memorial Service where three Lancashire Schools were also involved.
Care Leavers
Issues have arisen about how well supported care leavers feel when they leave residential care. There was a need to look at a gradual system to support care leavers when they moved onto independent living. Currently the Staying Put policy was only for young people that are fostered, there was nothing in legislation for those in residential care.
CC Prynn was proposing to put forward a motion for Full Council to lobby Central Government to have Staying Put for all Care Leavers not just for those in fostering placements.
Housing
At the meeting held on 10 September 2015, various District Councillors attended and the Board challenged them to revisit their housing policies and ensure that there were references to Care Leavers within them. An email had subsequently been sent to all District Councils following this up and there had been only one reply which was from Cllr John Harbour, Burnley Borough Council. A copy of his reply was circulated at the meeting and is attached for reference.
Action: CC Prynn agreed to link in with Cllr Harbour and look at best practice and set a precedence, so other Councils would follow.
Cllr Moon gave feedback from South Ribble Borough Council (SRBC) on their housing policy, however this had not been updated since 2008. Regular monthly meetings with LCC Leaving Care ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) (60 mins) Young People and Barnardos
To receive feedback on the work our young people have been doing including:
Performance Report Young Inspectors Health and Wellbeing Fostering and Adoption Panels Additional documents:
Minutes: What LINX Have Been Doing
LINX gave feedback from the presentation attached as to what they had been doing since the last meeting. More information regarding the Narey's Review was received, which is a focus group of the Office of the Children's Commissioner and 13 young people attended a meeting on 21 December 2015 where issues raised were fed into a National report on residential care. Issues arising were around more support required for moving into independent living and transport – being transported in vehicles that clearly belonged to a children's home. Once the report had been compiled, LINX would feedback to the Board.
The Children's Rights Alliance for England project had been extended and recommendations should come out in June/July and funding was from Comic Relief.
Young Inspectors
More Young Inspectors training had been undertaken on a residential weekend away. Young people who were trained were helping new recruits undertake training. Kristal, Beth and Gavin are heavily involved with the Inspection programme and enjoyed it as they got to meet new people and young people who lived in the homes they were inspecting, welcomed their involvement also.
Following on from the visits, young people detailed the action points, which they put in a report and sent to staff. A revisit is then undertaken. Currently they have a new visit planned for January and three in March which are all revisits, however, it may not be the same young people revisiting.
CPB Performance Report
The young people stated there were a number of positives from the report attached and that Diane Booth was due to visit a LINX meeting in March to answer any queries on the report.
With regards the statement that CLA are 21 times more likely to be involved with YOT, it would be useful to invite someone along to a Board meeting to see what is being done to reduce this number.
Action: YOT to be invited to a future Board meeting.
Susan Towers commented that they had worked closely with YOT Prevention Officers and felt it had helped in their settings. CC Prynn asked what LCC had in place with the YOT Service for CLA.
Action: Tony Morrissey to follow this up and provide further information to the Board.
Health and Wellbeing
LINX led the Board through an activity, where CC Brown carried lots of boxes with emotions on them whilst answering questions as attached. The aim was to show how young people felt when having to make decisions and carry all the emotional baggage around with them at the same time.
Louise Burton informed the meeting that there was a full redesign in respect to mental health for children and young people. Workshops had been designed and LCC Youth Council had been involved with particular pieces of work and CLA had been a focus. CC Prynn asked that Kate Baggaley and Louise talk outside of the meeting to involve LINX in further work around this.
Fostering and Adoption
The attached activity was taken from ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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LCC Complaints and Feedback 2014/15 (15 mins) Angela Esslinger
To note the attached report and receive a presentation. Minutes: Angela Esslinger spoke to the report that had been circulated with the agenda.
Further information on the Children's Social Care Complaints and Representations system can be found via the following link.
One young person raised a specific issue in relation to timeliness and response to their complaint, which also resulted in a safeguarding issue.
Action: Tony Morrissey to pursue this specific issue further with relevant officers and also ensure that staff in all departments can recognise potential safeguarding incidents and know how to respond to these appropriately.
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CLA Attainment (15 mins) Audrey Swann
To receive an update on CLA attainment and what is being done to improve it. Minutes: Unfortunately, due to the length of other items on the agenda, there was insufficient time left for a detailed report. Therefore it was agreed that this item be moved to the next agenda. |
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Any Other Business County Councillor Prynn
To receive any other business.
Minutes: There was no urgent business. |
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Date and Time of Next Meeting County Councillor Prynn
Thursday, 7 April 2016 at 6.00pm in the Duke of Lancaster Room (formerly Cabinet Room 'C'). Minutes: Thursday, 7 April 2016 at 6.00pm in the Duke of Lancaster Room (formerly Cabinet Room 'C'), County Hall, Preston. |