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.
PDF 118 KBVenue: 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
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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, Lord and Gibson, Mark Twiname, Catherine, Stela Stansfield, Mia Leyland, Helen Collinson (Department for Work and Pensions, (DWP)).
CC Prynn welcomed Amanda Hatton, Director of Children's Services to her first Board meeting. Amanda would be replacing Tony Morrissey on the Board and said that she was looking forward to working with the young people and hearing their views on the Services they access whilst in the care of Lancashire County Council (LCC).
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Notes of the Meeting and Matters Arising from 2 February 2017 County Councillor Prynn
To agree for accuracy the notes of the meeting and receive any matters arising. Minutes: The minutes were agreed as an accurate record and there were no matters arising from them.
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What our Elected Members have been doing (10 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. Minutes: CC Prynn reported that she had attended the PROUD Awards which was a fantastic night, made even more special as young people had helped to decorate the room along with staff from LCC and foster carers. Special thanks were given to Hannah Peake, Natasha Wright and Sam Gorton for overseeing and organising the event. Congratulations were given to all the inspirational young people and care leavers who were winners and finalists and all those who were nominated for an award.
CC Prynn was taking part in a documentary on homelessness in the very near future with Nightsafe Charity. If any of the young people had any views on homelessness that they wished CC Prynn to take forward on the documentary, then please could they let her know as soon as possible.
CC Prynn had also met with Amanda Hatton regarding the Corporate Parenting Board and the things that it was doing and plans for the future.
CC Brindle echoed CC Prynn's comments and spoke about a particular award winner and their story and all the support that had been given to them and how grateful they were, which was lovely to hear.
CC Brindle also reported on an establishment in Burnley that had been renovated into flats for care leavers in a new build area which was very positive news.
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Coventry City Council - Route 21 (30 mins) Matt Clayton and Young People
To receive information on their Facebook page Route 21.
Minutes: Matt Clayton, Coventry City Council was welcomed to the meeting to talk about Route 21, which was the Children's Social Care Team made up of Social Workers, Personal Advisors, Senior Practitioners, Life Story Workers and Careers Advisors. They currently have around 270 care leavers and 100 children looked after. Matt presented the Powerpoint attached to the minutes.
Coventry City Council have used Facebook for around four years and it has been developed over time. It is managed by the day's Duty Workers for messages and used throughout the day by workers. Staff can access Facebook both on laptops and phones. The Team Manager has oversight of the account.
Facebook is used is to remind young people of appointments, visits or events, chat and remind young people of new events or courses which are happening. Celebrate achievements of young people and recognise how they are doing. Raise awareness about local or national issues care leavers may face and hold competitions at the same time as gaining feedback about the service which allows young people to win prizes. Approximately 15-20 young people are in touch per day on the site.
Staff and young people have found huge benefits to using Facebook, including cost savings and also Ofsted have commented and how well it works.
The Board felt that this would be beneficial to Lancashire and agreed that the Communications Team would look at this and make it Lancashire friendly and discuss the way forward with Amanda Hatton. Roxanne McAllister and Cath Brooks, Leaving Care Team Managers also saw huge benefits to having a Facebook page for the three areas in Lancashire, with one area piloting it first before rolling it out to the other two areas.
Actions: i) Matt Clayton agreed to share Route 21 Facebook Policy with Amanda Hatton.
ii) Amanda Hatton to discuss further with LCC Communications Team re taking this forward and creating a Facebook page for Children Looked After and Care Leavers and also involve LINX.
iii) Agreed that the East area Care Leavers Forum will pilot it first and Cath Brooks, Leaving Care Team Manager, East will lead on this.
iv) Agreed that Amanda Hatton/LCC Communications Team bring an update to the next Board meeting in June 2017on the Facebook page.
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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 the Performance Report.
Young Inspectors Update Feedback on Performance Report Care Leavers Feedback on ASDAN Project – Jane Hylton Additional documents:
Minutes: What LINX Have Been Doing
LINX tabled a detailed account of what they had been doing since the last CPB meeting on 2 February 2017 and this is attached to these minutes.
Young Inspectors Update
A visit had been carried out to Barnardo's Fostering Agency and the report had been circulated to the Manager and LCC. Further details can be found in the attached presentation. Young Inspectors carry out inspections in fostering agencies, LCC residential and private residential establishments and their aim is for LINX to carry out six and POWAR to undertake four visits per year.
Fran Ashcroft, Private Residential representative stated that they had been inspected and following comments from the Young Inspectors were revising their booklets and found the inspection very useful indeed.
Amanda Hatton requested to visit a Young Inspectors meeting.
Actions: i) Young Inspector's Team to invite Amanda Hatton to a future meeting.
ii) Sam Gorton to send previous Young Inspector's reports to Amanda Hatton.
Feedback on Performance Report
Comments from young people on the Performance Report were detailed in the attached presentation.
With regards children missing from care and the statistics recorded on LCS (LiquidLogic Children's System), Amanda Hatton explained that the reason for recording this on LCS was that all figures regarding children in care were in one place and issues can be triggered from recorded information. Statistics from LCS were reviewed every week by Amanda Hatton so any issues raised could be dealt with immediately.
In relation to 14% of CLA achieving 5 A*-C grades in GCSE's, young people commented that 'more support was needed for young people at this stage'. CC Prynn commented that the Board was going to look again at Pupil Premium as there was a concern nationally on how it was being spent. It was noted that foster carers need to be better informed on how pupil premium should and could be spent. Also CLA are taken out of school to have meetings with Social Workers, IROs etc and this should be avoided. Meetings should be held where the young person wants to meet and this will also help with engagement from them.
Actions: i) Roxanne McAllister and Cath Brooks to feed back to Locality Managers about concerns young people have raised regarding review meetings being held in school.
ii) Sam Gorton to invite Audrey Swann to the next CPB meeting to give an update on educational achievements and Pupil Premium for CLA.
Suitable accommodation will never be 100% as some young people are on remand, in prison or hospital. Some young people are homeless also but this is only a very small number and the reason for this is that they live chaotic lifestyles and do not want to engage with Services. LCC still monitor homeless young people until 21 years old and know if they are in touch with services/charities. Data had also improved significantly, which made services more confident in tracking young people.
CC Prynn raised concern that young people in secure ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Research on Children Looked After and Care Leavers (20 mins) ZachariDuncalf
To receive information specific to Lancashire, set within the national context.
Minutes: This item was not discussed as the presenter was absent from the meeting.
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Any Other Business County Councillor Prynn
To receive any other business.
Minutes: There was no other business to report.
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Date and Time of Next Meeting County Councillor Prynn
Thursday, 15 June 2017 at 6.00pm (refreshments from 5.30pm) in the Duke of Lancaster Room – Cabinet Room 'C', County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ. Minutes: Thursday, 15 June 2017 at 6.00pm (refreshments served from 5.30pm) in the Duke of Lancaster Room – Cabinet Room 'C', County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ. |
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Update on the New Beginnings Event To note the report from the event which took place on 19 January 2017. Minutes: This item was for information only. Any queries arising from this, please email georgine.lee@lancashire.gov.uk. |