Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'C' - The Duke of Lancaster Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Sam Gorton  Tel: 01772 532471 email:  sam.gorton@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chair

Sam Gorton

 

To note that County Councillor Susan Prynn is the Chair of the Board for the municipal year 2016/2017.

 

Minutes:

The Board noted that County Councillor Susan Prynn was the Chair of the Board for the municipal year 2016/2017.

2.

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 Councillor Brindle, Dr Nicky Bamford, Catherine, Kate Baggaley, Joanna Hunt, Audrey Swann, Angela Epps, Debbie Duffell and Kirsty Clarke.

3.

Membership and Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 61 KB

County Councillor Prynn

 

The Board is asked to agree the current terms of reference and membership.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board agreed the current membership and Terms of Reference and noted that membership had been increased to include private providers from fostering and residential settings that are commissioned by Lancashire County Council (LCC).

4.

Notes of the Meeting and Matters Arising from 28 April 2016 pdf icon PDF 116 KB

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.

5.

What our Elected Members have been doing pdf icon PDF 300 KB

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.

Minutes:

CC Brindle

 

CC Prynn reported on behalf of CC Brindle that she had followed up with the Head of Housing Department at Burnley Borough Council with regards care leavers and housing benefit and she is still awaiting a response.  CC Brindle stated that she would follow this up.

 

CC Prynn

 

CC Prynn reported that following the last CPB meeting she had set up three Task and Finish Groups and the following elected members had been assigned to the following specific groups:

 

Mental Health – CC Brown and CC Prynn

Housing – CC Kim Snape and CC Prynn

Care Leavers Policy/Core Offer – CC Beavers and CC Prynn

 

The groups will carry out individual pieces of work to assure the quality of provision and practice in these areas.  This will help inform the Care Leavers Policy and Core Offer.  A combined Task Group report will then be completed and shared with CC Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools.

 

The Children's Services Scrutiny Board has a Youth Offending Team (YOT) subgroup of which CC Prynn is a member.  This subgroup is looking at a set of recommendations for children in care when they enter the criminal justice system.  CC Prynn tabled the "In Care, Out of Trouble" report as attached, which is an independent review chaired by Lord Laming.

 

The key element to this report is Appendix One on page 21.  The Board and LINX were asked to look at Appendix One and send any comments on this to CC Prynn and Tony Morrissey, who will then look at taking it forward on behalf of the Board.  CC Prynn will look at working with criminal justice agencies and how the Board can help prevent care leavers entering into the criminal justice system.

 

Action:  Board members and LINX to send comments on Appendix One to CC Prynn and Tony Morrissey.

 

CC Beavers

 

CC Beavers attends the Fostering Panels that are held at County Hall and commented on how the panel has welcomed the questions provided by LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) for them to ask potential foster carers and to share with carers what a young person would be looking for when they are looked after by them.  It was felt this had enhanced the process and it was good to include young people's views/questions in the assessment.

 

CC Gibson

 

CC Gibson reported back on the Hate Crime Strategy that was mentioned at the last meeting.  Feedback has been received and CC Gibson is now working with officers on this.  A meeting with the Police has also taken place too.

 

CC Gibson is a member of Children's Services Scrutiny Board which is currently looking at SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and putting together a set of recommendations.

 

With regards Regulation 22, CC Gibson stated that she is hoping to carry two out in the next few months.

 

CC Prynn congratulated LINX Young Inspectors who had recently been awarded the Diana Award 2016 in the Champion Volunteer category.  Mia  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) pdf icon PDF 833 KB

Young People and Barnardos

 

To receive feedback on the work our young people have been doing including:

 

·  What have LINX been doing?

·  Young Inspectors

·  Care Leavers Pledge from the Children's Society

·  CPB Performance Report.

·  Fostering and Adoption

Additional documents:

Minutes:

What Have LINX Been Doing?

 

LINX began their session by informing the Board on what they had been up to since the last CPB.  A copy of the PowerPoint detailing this is attached.

 

Lynsey Evans, Foster Carer had attended the session at Woodlands on fostering teenagers, and she reported that feedback from this event had changed some carers perspectives on teenagers, who are now looking into taking teenagers into their care.

 

Young Inspectors

 

The attached PowerPoint showed the Board what they had been doing.

 

It was requested that a breakdown of the reports that have been carried out be brought to the next meeting.

 

Action:  Young Inspectors to provide a further breakdown on the reports.

 

Care Leaver's Pledge from the Children's Society

 

A short film was shown from the recent Care Leavers event that took place.  A link can be found here.

 

Mark Burrows, from the Children's Society, updated the Board on the Care Leavers Festival that took place in Manchester and spoke about the Pledge that Care Leavers had created.  The festival was designed by young people across the North West to bring them together along with professionals and to share issues.

 

The Pledge can be found here and individuals, groups, teams, County Councillors and Authorities were urged to sign up to it to show that they are committed to changing how they think and work with care leavers in achieving what they want.

 

Action:  All members were asked to share the link and encourage people to sign up.

 

Mark reported that at a Corporate Level across the North West, talks are being held around Council Tax Exemption and debt, financial management and education of care leavers.  Different authorities are at different stages, however the discussions are being had even at parliamentary level – Edward Timpson is looking at the proposal for Council Tax exemption for care leavers.

 

With regards the council tax exemption, LINX were asked to write a letter to all the Councillors with Housing responsibilities in the District Councils and the CPB would endorse the proposal within the letter.  LINX were asked to also include discretionary payments in the letter.

 

Action:  LINX to write a letter for the next CPB meeting, so the Board can endorse the proposal and distribute.

 

Care Leavers Activity

 

The Board were asked to look at the attached and decide which of the list were the top two priorities for care leavers in Lancashire.

 

Following discussions it was noted that adults felt that care leavers would have the following as the most important:

 

How much money will I have?

How will I sort out debts and manage my money?

 

However as can be seen from the attached, care leavers felt that the following were the top two most important pieces of information that they required:

 

What does a tenancy agreement mean?

What happens if I have a broken pipe/boiler?

 

CPB Performance Report

 

The Board noted the attached which was presented by LINX.

 

Fostering Teenagers

 

LINX have recently been involved in an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Housing pdf icon PDF 728 KB

Diane Booth

 

To receive feedback on work being carried out around housing.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Diane Booth updated the Board on progress that was being made with housing and homelessness.

 

Attached is a copy of the letter on the Children and Social Work Bill that was sent to Edward Timpson.

 

The Local Authority has a Board called SALO which stands for "Supported Accommodation Learning Offer" which Bob Stott chairs.  There are lots of Task and Finish Groups coming out of it which are continuing the engagement of CYP and challenging suitability around accommodation.  The Board are looking at five different areas as outlined on the Positive Pathways Model document attached to these minutes.

 

A Housing Strategy is also being developed and at a recent conference in Lancashire, all Chief Executives and Leads for Housing from the District Councils turned up, which is a very positive message.  It will also include 18/19 year olds who have never been in care, however, may be vulnerable, out of work and homeless.

 

Annette McNeil has been doing a piece of work around accommodation that care leavers have been in over the last 12 months.

 

However, there are barriers, as the housing benefits are due to change soon, which will have implications and will not be able to meet the needs of an 18 year old living alone, which is very challenging for the young person.

 

Action:  Diane Booth to forward the legislation to CC Prynn that this has come from and when it is due to come in.

 

The challenge to the Authority is to support care leavers up 25, however more information is required before the offer can be given.  Hopefully further information will be available at the September CPB meeting.  Children's Social Care (CSC) Senior Managers met with Care Leavers on 15 June 2016 to discuss further and Diane will be meeting with LINX again in two weeks' time.  The districts are driving this and Housing Needs Officers are really keen and knowledgeable around benefits and what can and cannot be reasonably met.

 

Diane updated on joint training will be provided to care leavers and homeless young people by their Personal Advisors up to the age of 21 years of age.  Care leavers will receive a £2000 leaving care grant to help them set up their accommodation.  Six independence training sessions are also planned and if successful we will roll this out across the Districts.  Wraparound support is crucial.

 

It was raised that later on within the private rented sector, it needs to be part of the framework agreement to give the young person a second chance.

 

Diane outlined that The Staying Put Policy also needs to be reviewed and this can be done as part of the Care Leavers Group.

 

Action:  Care Leavers Task Group to review The Staying Put Policy.

 

A young person asked what the plans were for Out of Hours Support outside of 9am-5pm?  Talks are taking place with Service 6, where this service is working really well and look at expanding it and making it more permanent.  The young person suggested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Fostering Update pdf icon PDF 78 KB

Georgine Lee

 

To receive an update on what has been happening in the Fostering Service since the Ofsted Inspection.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Barbara Bath, Head of Fostering, Adoption, Residential and Youth Offending Team Services, spoke to the presentation attached which is from an Inspection perspective.

 

Barbara reported that it was really useful that the young people were working with foster carers on supporting teenagers and this had also been highlighted as a requirement from the Ofsted Inspection.

 

Moving forward it is hoped that young people will become part of the assessment process and training of new foster carers and supporting workshops and forums too.  This is a positive move going forward, so there will be lots of ways that young people will be influencing carers and adopters of the future.

 

The Recruitment Strategy for fostering and adoption has been re-written.

 

The Lifestory backlog has been cleared and there is now a process in place to ensure this does not happen again.

 

It was requested that data on successful adoptions in Lancashire be circulated to the Board.

 

Action:  Barbara to send the adoption data to Sam Gorton to circulate to the Board.

9.

Any Other Business

County Councillor Prynn

 

To receive any other business.

 

Minutes:

There was no other business.

10.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

County Councillor Prynn

 

Thursday, 4 August 2016 at 1.30pm in the Duke of Lancaster Room (formerly Cabinet Room 'C'), County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.

Minutes:

Thursday, 4 August 2016 at 1.30pm in the Duke of Lancaster Room (formerly Cabinet Room 'C'), County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.

11.

PROUD Evaluation pdf icon PDF 232 KB

Minutes:

This item was not discussed at the meeting as it was for information

only. 

 

Any issues arising from it, please forward to Sam Gorton, Clerk to the

CPB who will forward to the relevant Elected Members/officers.