Agenda and minutes

County Councillors Steve Rigby and John Singleton JP replaced County Councillors Barrie Yates and Ash Sutcliffe respectively for this meeting.

County Councillor Sobia Malik also attended virtually for this meeting.

Apologies were received from County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, and Simon Smith.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

County Councillor Samara Barnes declared a Non-Pecuniary interest on Agenda Item 4 as she runs a National Mental Health Program within schools.

Resolved: That the minutes from the meeting held on 9 November 2021, be confirmed as an accurate record, and signed by the Chair.

Dave Carr, Director of Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health, Lancashire County Council, Marie Demaine, Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships, Lancashire County Council, Fleur Carney, Director of Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria, Helen Rimmer, Service Redesign Manager, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit and David Keegan, Counselling Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Trainer MBACP presented a report to members of the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee, giving an overview of the current demand in services such as Mental Health, Early Help and Eating Disorders. Also in attendance were Mairead, Mariam, Georgia, Braeden, and Amba representing the Lancashire Youth Council.

The presentation covered the following topics:

• The demand on services such as Mental Health, Early Help and Eating Disorder Services.
• The response provided during COVID-19.
• The Mental Health support teams.
• The transformation phase.
• The plans moving forward.

The committee was taken through each of the topics in turn during the presentation and members of the committee were invited to ask questions at the end of the presentation. The Youth Council representatives in attendance at the meeting also provided a presentation to members of the committee on a 'Study of Mental Health from the Viewpoint of Young People'. It was noted that a copy of both presentations was attached to the agenda.

In terms of the questions raised by the committee, the following points were clarified:

·  Concerns around lack of capacity was raised and members questioned what can be done to prevent this from happening again. It was noted that the capacity is reviewed throughout the year, and if some districts received more referrals than others, capacity will be offset and shared out accordingly. It was recognised that lack of capacity was an issue last year (2020/21) and are actively looking into preventing this from happening again.

• In terms of reasons why the number of referrals would differ by district, it was noted that the difference remained unclear, but a potential reason was that there were different early help offers based in different communities outside the offer provided by the county council and the NHS. Therefore, it was possible that the community-based offers were being taken up in some areas as an alternative.
• Members highlighted that the figures for Eating Disorders provided in the presentation were only provided in binary genders and asked if there was a reason behind this. It was clarified that there was no specific reason for why the information was provided in only binary genders and it was stated that the information could be provided in different ways if requested.
• Members asked a question to the young people in attendance at the meeting from the Lancashire Youth Council on where they would normally obtain information to receive support, and it was noted that there were a number of different ways such as approaching their form tutors or to the dedicated person in the school with responsibility of care, who can ascertain the right pathway for support that they required. However, it was also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The committee received a report which provided information on the work programme for the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee.

The topics included in the work programme were identified at the work planning workshop held on 5 July 2021 and at subsequent meetings.

Resolved: That, the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2021/22 be noted.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

The next meeting of the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 18 January 2022 at 10.30am in Committee Room 'A' County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Committee would take place on Tuesday 18 January 2022 at 10.30am.