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.

Introductions and Apologies

County Councillor Brown

 

To note who is attending and any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

 

All were welcomed to the meeting and apologies were received and noted from Jane Simpson, Graham Nelson, Nicola Bamford, Debbie Ross, Mia Leyland, Francis Ashcroft, Lynda Pearson and Barbara Bath.

 

The Chair welcomed the new Interim Executive Director of Education and Children's Services to the meeting.  John Readman will replace Amanda Hatton on the Board temporarily from March 2018.

 

The Board were asked to note a change in the Fostering Forum representation – Mark Twiname and Lynsey Evans had been replaced by Graham Nelson.  Also Francis Ashcroft, Agency Residential and Mark Cartledge, Fostering Residential had served their 12 month period on the Board and that new representation was being sought and would be appointed at the next meeting in March 2018.

 

2.

Notes of the Meeting and Matters Arising from 8 December 2017 pdf icon PDF 84 KB

County Councillor Brown

 

To agree for accuracy the notes of the meeting and receive any matters arising.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2017 were agreed as an accurate record and there were no matters arising.

 

3.

What our Elected Members have been doing

County Councillor Brown 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 since the last meeting.

Minutes:

County Councillor Ian Brown had met with Andy Smith, Children's Social Care and Sally Allen, Safeguarding.  There is also a visit planned in April to a secure unit and CC Brown will feed back on this at a future meeting.

 

CC Clarke reported on an issue that had been raised by residents concerning an agency residential home in the North and that young people who were staying there had been causing problems in the neighbourhood.  Following further investigation it was found to be local children not those from the residential home that were causing the problems, which proved the public's perception of young people in care.  CC Clarke had also attended the Safeguarding Bite Size briefing earlier in the week.

 

CC Gibson congratulated the young people who attended Full Council in December where the Sincerely You video was shown and also they were presented with the British Youth Council Best Campaign Category award for Council Tax Exemption for Care Leavers.

 

4.

What our Young People have been doing pdf icon PDF 86 KB

LINX

 

To note feedback from work undertaken by LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) and the Young Inspectors since the last meeting.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

What LINX Have Been Doing

 

LINX presented the attached Powerpoint to the Board on all the activities they had been doing since the last meeting in December.

 

There was a young person who had recently been to London for the "Become Policy Advisory Board" meeting, after being selected to sit on the Board.  This is a great opportunity for the young person and to have representation from Lancashire on that Board is amazing.

 

Young Inspectors

 

The attached Powerpoint was presented and the Board were informed that following the initial contact with the establishment, explaining the reasons for the visit, the young people are then keen for the Young Inspectors to visit.  The age of the young inspectors are from 12-25 years of age, however primary age can be trained too.

 

5.

What our Board Members have been doing pdf icon PDF 53 KB

CPB Members

 

Members are asked to update the Board on the Pledges made (as attached) at the December 2017 meeting and what they have done differently in respect of the Pledges since that meeting.

 

Minutes:

This item was not discussed and will be carried forward to the next meeting.

 

6.

Update from Children's Services pdf icon PDF 407 KB

Amanda Hatton, Director of Children's Services, Hannah Peake, Roxanne McAllister

 

To receive an update on:

 

Pupil Premium – Amanda Hatton (5 mins)

Mind of My Own (MOMO) – Hannah Peake (5 mins)

Care Leavers Facebook – Roxanne McAllister (5 mins)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Care Leavers Facebook

 

Following a visit from Coventry City Council to a previous CPB meeting on 20 April 2017 to discuss Route 21 their Facebook page, Lancashire have now developed three Care Leavers Facebook pages for Central, North and East areas.  The Central page is called Stay Centred and this was piloted originally, and then the North View 4U page was set up in October 2017 with the East page East Side 4U ready to be launched in the next few weeks.  Roxanne McAllister presented the attached Powerpoint to the Board.  Pages are used to promote discussion on issues relevant to Care Leavers, promote peer support, inform them of services and opportunities available to them, access support quickly and easily, should their worker be unavailable, access services and job/participation services.  It has already seen an increase in contact with care leavers and improved Employment, Education and Training (EET) figures.

 

If anybody wishes to advertise events on the pages, then please contact Roxanne McAllister, Roxanne.mcallister@lancashire.gov.uk. 

 

Apprenticeships

 

There are currently three care leaver apprentice opportunities being offered in each area – part business administration and part care leaver participation which will create full-time apprenticeships and will be a link in to Barnardo's and the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum.  29 care leavers applied which is very promising and the roles will evolve around the young people's strengths and what the teams requirements are.

 

MOMO

 

Natasha Wright gave a brief overview on the MOMO (Mind of My Own) app for 8-21 year olds who can use it to have a say, express their views, be heard and access it 24/7.  For workers it enables easier conversations, better evidence, saves time and gives a better understanding which leads to better relationships.  Lancashire currently have 200 young people and 400 workers who all have accounts and over 200 documents have been created.  This is still a pilot scheme, however from September 2017 to December 2017 Lancashire has been named as the best performing Authority each month out of 60 Authorities who use MOMO. 

 

Amanda Mansfield, Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) gave feedback from the IRO Service where MOMO is used and finds it has greatly improved meetings with young people and that young people open up more using it, than face to face, which is sometimes daunting for them.

 

Natasha was congratulated for her efforts and good work, which continues with MOMO.

 

7.

National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum

Natasha Wright

 

To receive feedback from the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum.

 

Minutes:

Natasha Wright and Jane Hylton gave feedback on the Young People's Benchmarking Forum which was formed in 2008 and is for Care Leavers aged 16 and above from the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF).  The Forum usually involves care leavers who are employed as a participation worker by their Local Authority, undertaking a traineeship/apprenticeship and actively involved with participation work and service delivery improvement within their Local Authority.

 

Natasha reported that she had attended events in Liverpool, Sheffield and Durham where discussions had taken place on what is going well for care leavers in their local authority and one thing that needed to be improved or a challenge their local authority was facing.  Previous topics that have been covered have been The Care Leaver Strategy and corporate parenting.  Natasha has also attended the managers' events in York and Leeds where the voice of the care leaver is loud and clear.

 

The next event is in March 2018 where the key speakers are Mark Riddell-Leaving Care Implementation officer for Department for Education, John Short - Leaving Care Policy/Procedures and Anna Whalen – Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

 

Action:  Natasha Wright agreed to report back at the May meeting of CPB from the event in March 2018.

 

Roxanne McAllister commented that Lancashire was hosting a Benchmarking Forum event in May 2018.

 

The Board were then shown a video from the NCLBF.

 

8.

LINX Activities pdf icon PDF 513 KB

LINX

Minutes:

LINX led the Board through an activity.  The attached PowerPoint had been created by Sam R a member of LINX.  As the report was being presented, members of the Board were taken out of the meeting as part of the exercise and then when they returned, other members of LINX were talking to them.  The aim of the exercise was for the Board to understand a young person's perspective when they are removed from lessons to undertake various meetings with social workers and Independent Reviewing Officers and how by so it also disrupts the rest of the class.  Young people also reported that if they missed registration for one of the meetings they are marked as absent.

 

Board members who had been removed were asked how they felt following the exercise and their experience was one of being singled out, felt they had missed what was going on in the room, didn’t know where they were up to when they returned and also when they returned to the room, the questions from peers as to why they had been taken out and what for, felt worse for some members as this was an invasion of privacy and that the young person was put under the spotlight and felt pressured by peers to tell them what was going on in the meeting and why.  Another comment received from a young person was that a Personal Education Plan (PEP) meeting lasting an hour when studying for 'A' levels is far too long.

 

Amanda Mansfield informed the Board that IROs now consult with the young people and ask them where they want to meet and arrange a suitable time.  More resources have been made available to do this since MOMO was introduced.

 

Action:  Invite two Primary and two Secondary Headteachers to a future meeting and repeat the exercise and discuss further with young people.  John Readman agreed to facilitate this.

 

Once again this was another thought provoking exercise delivered by LINX.

 

9.

Education

LINX and CPB Members

Minutes:

CC Clarke raised the issue of children in care being moved from placement to placement and this having an effect on schooling which affects the child in not just moving placement but also in missing out on education and trying to fit in to a new school environment as well as home.

 

Amanda Hatton informed the Board that Children's Services are always looking at ways to improve outcomes for our Children in Care and Care Leavers.  The exercise at Item 8 lets key people know that things are not working well and that this needs to be addressed.  Also with regards moving placements and schools, it needs to be addressed as to how much of the voice of the young person has around this.  Better use of the PEP plans needs looking at also.  There also needs to be more joined up working with IROs/Social Workers.

 

Young people also commented that Social Workers should not change as regularly as they do, as there are better outcomes when the Social Worker knows the child.

 

Action:  It was agreed that Amanda Hatton will start addressing these issues by raising them at the Social Work academy and involve Audrey Swann and young people in speaking with Social Workers on how important education is to children and young people in care – Amanda Hatton.

 

There will be a big focus this year on reading and raising the educational attainments around this and a scheme will be launched on 12 March 2018.

 

A lot of work is being done nationally as to how Corporate Parents can be more aspirational and role models to children in care.  National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum is a very inspirational forum to be involved with and are currently looking at "Buddying".

 

There is a consultation event taking place at Lancaster University for the Local Offer and they are looking at NEET and inviting those approaching University age to look at the University.

 

As an authority we need to embrace Takeover Day and get more services involved and advertise it more to get people involved.  An idea could be young people taking over and setting the agenda for County Leaving Care meetings.

 

Action:  Let Amanda Hatton/John Readman know of any areas/services the young people would like to be involved with for Takeover Day – LINX.

 

The Children's Society are trying to recruit Independent Volunteers, especially males and it was suggested that this was advertised on the LCC Internet/Intranet. 

 

Action:  To contact LCC Communications team to request the Independent Volunteers advertisement is placed on the LCC Internet/Intranet – Kirsty Clarke.

 

10.

Any Other Business

County Councillor Brown

 

To receive any other business.

 

Minutes:

Name for Corporate Parenting Board

 

CC Clarke requested that the Board possibly look at an alternative name other than Corporate Parenting Board.  It was agreed that the Board think about alternative names and email Sam Gorton, sam.gorton@lancashire.gov.uk with suggestions, which will be discussed, with LINX having the final decision, at the next meeting on a name for the Board that will sit under the CPB banner.

 

Action:  All to consider a new name that will sit under the CPB title and Sam Gorton to ensure this is an item on the next agenda.

 

If there are any items that members of the Board wish to be on future agendas please email Sam Gorton, sam.gorton@lancashire.gov.uk.

 

Care Leavers Christmas Dinner 2017

 

Huge thanks to Sam Gorton who helped out at the Care Leavers Christmas Dinner at Barnardo's on Saturday, 23 December 2017, and made food parcels for all the Care Leavers that attended.  Donations were received from Children's Social Care, Corporate Parenting Board members and Democratic Services.  Natasha Wright was also praised for cooking the dinner for around 25 attendees and hopefully this will be replicated again in 2018.

 

PROUD

 

There has been over 200 nominations for this year's PROUD Event which will take place on 23 February 2018.  This is a huge 115 nomination increase from 2017 which made the judging process even harder than in previous years.  Huge thanks were given from the Board to the PROUD Task and Finish group for arranging this year's event and a special thanks to Natasha Wright who is leading on the event once again.

 

11.

Revised Meeting Schedule 2018 pdf icon PDF 49 KB

County Councillor Brown

 

To note the revised meeting schedule for 2018.

Minutes:

The Board noted the amended meeting schedule and the Chair informed them that the meeting dates had changed from Thursday to various other days at the request of the young people as this would allow opportunities for those that could not attend on Thursdays to make meetings on alternative days.

 

12.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

County Councillor Brown

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting will take place on Wednesday, 14 March 2018 at 6.00pm in Committee Room 'C' – Duke of Lancaster Room, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.

 

13.

Performance Report pdf icon PDF 507 KB

Performance report for January 2018.

 

Minutes:

This item was for information.