Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, LCC
To receive a progress update from the four Corporate Parenting Board Priority Groups since the last Board meeting.
Minutes:
Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council provided a verbal update to the Board on the four priority groups which are:
i) Achieving permanence.
ii) Improved sufficiency providing the right homes at the right places at the right time.
iii) Improving physical, social, emotional and mental health support and outcomes.
iv) Improving education, employment and training opportunities and outcomes.
Following, the last Board meeting in November 2021 where elected members agreed to be champions for the four priority groups, initial meetings with three out of the four priority groups have taken place which gave an opportunity to have an in-depth conversation of the specific subject each member was involved with.
Improved sufficiency providing the right homes at the right places at the right time" – Champions County Councillors Kay and Gibson
The Board were informed that the proposal for this priority is for Children in our Care (CIOC) to link in with the Commissioning Team and Fostering Service, to look at the demand and opportunities in the context of the Sufficiency Strategy. With regards to Care Leavers, the intention is to provide some political support by setting up a Corporate Parents meeting with Senior Officers and Directors from the District Housing Authorities in April 2022 and the focus will be to:
i) Look at the allocations and provisions of homes for Care Leavers and to hold the Authorities accountable in their corporate parenting roles.
ii) Look at the strategic development of the housing stock in their districts to meet the needs of Lancashire's Care Leavers in the future.
It was noted for that meeting with the District Housing Authorities, the views of young people will be required and to have them present at the meeting.
Improving physical, social, emotional and mental health support and outcomes – Champions County Councillors Sutcliffe and Swarbrick
The first task for this group from the Permanence Service will be to map out the service provision across Lancashire, for physical, social, emotional and mental health at the different tiers and levels and will link in with partners, to get the information together, starting with the more complexed provisions and then filtering down for the more preventative provisions at District levels and linking in with the current review of the mental health provisions that are currently commissioned from within the Permanence Service, to get an understanding of what the outcomes are and how far it has progressed, where the gaps and challenges are. Political support will be used to strengthen the partnership working to make services accessible and ensure the quality of support provided.
Improving education, employment and training opportunities and outcomes – Champions County Councillors Couperthwaite and Smith
Whilst there is already a lot of information and data with regards to education, employment and training (EET) of Children Looked After and Care Leavers, it is proposed to link back in with the Virtual School and to have a more in-depth understanding about how children and young people move through the key stages, what outcomes there are and to look at their intended destinations and compare that with national data. The main purpose of this priority is to match potential offers with the needs of the young people and look at political support to get employment and training opportunities available and ensure focus is in the right areas which are aligned to the needs of the young people. There is also an intention to link in with the Employment Support Services at Lancashire County Council to look at what employability support can be offered and also to support the Taster days for young people in care and care leavers.
It was noted that follow up meetings will take place with all the priority groups within the next 4-6 weeks.
Following the update a number of questions/points were raised:
· It was proposed that a piece of work would be developed for employers, to give them some sort of analysis and summary of the needs of the young people both in terms of the Taster days, short term and longer term employment.
· It was requested that for the next meeting, there would be a written report on what each priority group plans to cover, the actions and the outcomes that are wanted by the Board.
· There also needs to be a focus on the Taster days and continue to work to the time scales on these.
· It was noted that for the first time, in a long time, the education, employment and training figures are over 50% which is commendable progression and work to further improve this figure is ongoing.
· Preparation for young people and also the employer is key and is something that needs to be looked at across the whole cohort.
· A 16 week employability programme has commenced over the last 12 months and is delivered internally by the Employment Support Team who are also grateful for offers of support from colleagues.
· Funding from the Local Authority to support people up to 25 years of age by the Employment Support Team is a unique opportunity in Lancashire.
· It was noted that County Councillors Kay and Gibson wish to speak with young people and find out what they think their needs are with regards to accommodation for the priority group they are involved in and to work with the Leaders from the Housing Authorities on improving services offered to young people in their Districts.
· There was an aspiration that each County Councillor could unearth one opportunity/firm/business that could support a young person to give them a chance.
· Work needs to be happening with younger children in secondary schools also, so when they become a Care Leaver, they already have the support, ability and are equipped to enter into further education and/or employment.
· Each secondary school in the Authority has a named Employment Support Officer for Lancashire Children Looked After and visit schools from Year 9 and support is given around interviews, CVs, employment, further education etc and it is felt that this is the reason why in 2021 there was 95% of young people with a positive destination when leaving school. Work is continuing and it is starting to have an impact, which is good news.
Resolved: i) That the Board noted the update from the four priority groups.
ii) That a written report on what each priority group plans to cover, the actions and the outcomes that are wanted by the Board, will be presented to the next Board meeting.