Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Clarke

To note who is attending and any apologies for absence.

All were welcomed to the meeting and apologies were received from County Councillor Andrea Kay, Gina Power, Hayley Kinowski, Clare Platt and Neil Drummond.

The Board were informed that Angela Epps, Fostering Provider had resigned from the Board.

It was noted that Natalie Williams was attending on behalf of Moya McKinney, Looked After Children and Leaving Care Service, Lancashire County Council.

County Councillor Clarke

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

Resolved:  That the minutes were agreed as an accurate record.

Members were reminded to submit a photo of themselves, along with their job title and role on the Board as per the email that was sent on 21 March 2023 in order to complete the Who's Who of the Board.

·  Update on young people's activity to influence service delivery and policy development since last Corporate Parenting Board – LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council)/Care Leavers Forum (10 mins)  

·  Corporate Parenting Board support for summer activities (follow up from last Board meeting) – LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council)/Care Leavers Forum (15 mins)

·  Corporate Parenting Reports and Presentations - LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council)/Care Leavers Forum and Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council (5 mins)

Young people from LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) and the Care Leavers Forum (CLF) provided an update on their activity to influence service delivery and policy development since the last Corporate Parenting Board meeting in March 2023.  They continue to be involved in youth panels for interviews and are continually looking at the process and reviewing these.  Their thoughts and experiences for some new top tips for My Home My Place placement requests have been given.  They have also reviewed and provided feedback on the homeless flyer as well as providing feedback on participation and why it is important to involve young people and what they would like to be involved with.

Due to high demand, the young people and staff have created a new E-Form in order for people to complete when requesting young people involvement.  The form will provide more detail for the young people so they know what is being asked of them and will support preparation and help to keep a record of involvement which will support them when writing reports and liaising with Ofsted.  It is hoped that the E-form will be available from 22 May 2023 and the link will be circulated to Board members.

A review of forum venues, times and age ranges has also been carried out and following feedback it has been agreed that:

LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council)

Venues:  Fleetwood, Bamber Bridge and Burnley

Age range:  8-13 and 14-17

Care Leavers Forum (CLF)

Venues:  Lancaster, Burnley and Preston

The aim of the review was to reduce complicated sessions and to allow for weekly sessions.  Work is still ongoing with regards to all venues being weekly sessions.  It is hoped that the new programme will be in place from 1 June 2023.

The Board were asked for support with regards to the Care Leavers Forum who were looking for a venue for the central group that is more accessible and happens every Wednesday night.  They felt that the most appropriate location would be County Hall and the Board noted that a written proposal had been sent to Facilities Management, Lancashire County Council requesting that an identified space be allocated to the Care Leavers Forum to use on a weekly basis.  The request is in line with Lancashire County Council's Corporate Parenting principles in particular "to help children and young people gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners".  The Board agreed with the request being made and requested that the Chair also support this by writing a letter on behalf of the Board.

Resolved:  That the Chair of Corporate Parenting Board write a letter to Facilities Management, Lancashire County Council on behalf of the Board, supporting the request for the Care Leavers Forum to have an identified space on Wednesday evenings at County Hall.

The Board noted the summer activities that were planned for young people and requested support from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

·  Update from Joint Housing Protocol Review – Roxanne McAllister, Looked After Children and Care Leavers Service, Lancashire County Council (20 mins)

Roxanne McAllister, Leaving Care Service, Lancashire County Council provided the Board with an update on Lasting Homes.

The Board noted the following key points around what the data is showing and what is being done to support young people into their homes:

·  91% of young people live in 'suitable accommodation'.

·  20% of young people have lived in 3+ addresses since leaving care.

·  48% of young people have lived in their home for more than 12 months.

·  Lancashire County Council commission 374 homes across the county for young people aged 16-25.  This is part of a block contract that allows young people to self-fund these homes once they turn 18 years of age.

·  There is a Lancashire Care Leavers' Joint Housing Protocol and a Leaving Care Lasting Homes Panel.

·  There is a Lancashire House Project.

·  There is a Housing Reference Group.

·  Work with housing providers and districts to develop new housing projects.

·  Personal Advisors build relationships with their young people and work jointly to support them into suitable and stable homes.

The Board were informed of various challenges which were as follows:

·  There is limited one bedroom housing stock in Lancashire, particularly for under 25s.

·  There are no active plans of any property of this kind being developed, despite 75% of housing applications in some districts being submitted for one-bedroom properties.

·  Young people's move on from transitional homes is delayed due to lack of options which is delaying their progress and resulting in lack of availability in this provision.

·  In many districts in Lancashire young people do not automatically receive priority banding for social housing.

·  Accessing emergency accommodation for those who need it is challenging.

The Board were asked to discuss in groups, one of the following priorities which have been raised after discussions with young people accessing housing provisions.  Young people were asked what their priorities were, which do correlate with discussions with Personal Advisors.  Young people's priorities were as follows:

·  Accessing work or an apprenticeship while in supported accommodation.

·  Accessing social housing.

·  Emotional preparedness for living alone.

·  Practicalities of living in supported accommodation.

·  The private housing market and lack of guarantor.

Following the presentation, the following issues/comments were raised:

·  As a Board, further research needs to be done with regards to Guarantors and investigate further what other Councils are doing regarding this and then discuss again at a future Board meeting.

·  Possible access to two-bedroom properties if one-bedroom homes are not available and discuss this with social housing to include young people with a protected characteristic which would then provide an opportunity to have the same allocation policy of choice-based lettings.

·  The Board noted that a motion was taken to Full Council on 23 February 2023 where it was highlighted that there is a campaign to make 'care experienced' a protected characteristic and that several councils across the UK had already supported this campaign and requested that Lancashire County Council support the campaign also.

·  Look at having "dummy-run" stays in accommodation in preparedness  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

·  Update from the Integrated Care Board (ICB) on Health Summaries – Caroline Waldron, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (10 mins)

·  Update from the Integrated Care Board (ICB) on Dental Pilot/Pathways – Caroline Waldron, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (10 mins)

·  Update from Permanence Service on the Health Day held on 20 April 2023 – Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council (on behalf of Gina Power, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council) (5 mins)

Caroline Waldron, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board provided an overview on Health Summaries and the Dental Pilot/Pathways in Lancashire and the plans to ensure that wherever a child lives in Lancashire, they will receive the same health offer.

The Board received a presentation which outlined the following:

What was the driver for a dedicated Children in Care Dental Pathway (Children in Care Pathway 3)?

What are the aims and objectives of the pathway?

How does the pathway work?

The Board noted the progress to date which was:

·  Pathway 3 went live on the 13 March 2023 with dental clinics starting from the 1 May 2023.

·  Comms brief shared across health and social care workforce for wider dissemination.

·  Trauma informed training offer and guidance for dental practises to support positive experiences and knowledge.

·  Referrals received are allocated to clinics across Lancashire and South Cumbria as appropriate.

·  Monthly performance data to manage demand and ensure timely access.

·  Includes breakdown of referrals by a source and location.

·  Lancashire County Council has the highest number of current referrals of 30.

·  Majority are for children living in Preston and Fylde and Wyre.

The Board were informed of the Next Steps-Phase 2 which were:

·  Integrated Care Board Children in Care Steering group to lead on the development of a sustained offer for priority access to clinic appointments for both children in care and care leavers.

·  Includes children and young people who are already registered with an NHS dentist.

·  Aspiration for the offer to be embedded in all NHS dental practices.

·  Project plan to be delivered for implementation of the offer.

Resolved:  That the Board requested further data on the Dental Pathway at a future meeting.

Caroline Waldron then briefed the Board on the Care Leaver Health Summaries which included a brief outline of what the Care Leaver Health Summaries was which is:

Care leavers should be equipped to manage their own health needs wherever possible.  They should have a summary of all health records (including genetic background and details of illnesses and treatments), which suggests how they can access a full copy if required.  Information needs to be given to care leavers sensitively and with support, with an opportunity to discuss it with health professionals.

The Board then received an overview of the co-production of care leaver health summaries – an Integrated Care Board approach which is:

·  To support co-production principles, a survey to seek the view of the population, children in care and care leavers has been produced in partnership with both Local Authority participation leads and children in care and care leavers.

·  The Lundy Participation model is being utilised as the framework to support this approach.

·  The final survey has been shared for all young people to complete.

·  A series of Teams and face to face workshops supported by comms colleagues and members of the Task and Finish Group are due to be scheduled in May/June 2023.   

·  Participants will be thanked for their contributions.

·  Details of the survey can be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

·  Update from Virtual School on our EET plan – Audrey Swann, Education Improvement, Lancashire County Council (20 mins) 

Audrey Swann, Education Improvement, Lancashire County Council provided the Board with an update on the Children in Care and Care Leavers Education, Employment and Training Plan (EET).

The Board noted the key indicators on where Lancashire are now:

·  March 2023 – 85% of young people have an up-to-date Personal Education Plan (PEP).

·  Year 11 attainment trend shows increased outcomes:

•  In July 2022 - 100% of year 11 school leavers had an intended destination.

•  In March 2023 - 83.5% of Lancashire's young people in Year 12 and 13 (age 16-18) were in education, training or employment with training with no ‘not knowns’.

•  In March 2023 - 49% of Lancashire's care leavers aged 18-20 were in education, training or employment (EET) (March 2022 - 50%, Dec 2022 - 45%).

•  In March 2023 for all care leavers (up to 25) 172 are recorded as not available for education, employment or training (EET) due to illness/disability and 94 due to parenting/caring which is 12% of the care leavers the service is in touch with.

•  In 2022/23 the Employment Support Team supported 55 young people into employment – 45 private employers, 10 in Lancashire County Council/public service.

•  In March 2023 - 67 young people were engaged in higher education.

•  2022 – There were 19 graduates with seven First class degrees.

A review of the strategy and action plan was outlined to the Board as follows:

•  Task group in place - first meeting held with Children's Social Care and the Virtual School.

•  Expand membership to Inclusion, Child and Family Wellbeing and Health.

•  Input from children/young people's voice.

•  Re-draft/expand the strategic statement – specially to reinforce the duties of wider services, partners and parents/carers.

•  Include a key performance indicator (KPI) section to provide very clear, measurable targets.

•  Identify the potential barriers to education, employment and training (EET) progress – limited access to education, transition points, leaving care, illness.

•  Re-drafted action plan to reflect the above.

•  Fixed review dates.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the key indicators from the Children in Care and Care Leavers education, employment and training plan for May 2023 and received a review of the strategy and action plan.

Nic Brooks/Jane Hylton, Children Looked After and Leaving Care Service, Lancashire Council

To receive an update on the National Housing Project Job Fair and how the Board can support it.

Jane Hylton, Children Looked After and Leaving Care Service, Lancashire County Council gave an update on the Lancashire House Project Network Event that was due to take place on 1June 2023 in the Exchange at County Hall, Preston.  The morning session would involve the challenge and needs of care experienced people and the afternoon session was a careers fair for 16–25 year old care experienced.  Young people prepared a pitch to request funding and a venue to hold the event and this was delivered at Rock FM in Preston in front of a panel from Future U, UCLAN and Lancashire County Council.  Following a successful pitch, where the venue was secured along with catering, airtime on Rock FM and goodie bags, young people then sent out a Menti questionnaire to other care experienced young people asking who they would like to be at the careers fair.

The following companies/organisations have been invited:

British Aerospace

Four universities

Apprenticeship Team, Lancashire County Council

Skills Boot Camp

And many more (currently around 48 stalls)

Members of the Corporate Parenting Board were asked to:

•  Promote the event with young people

•  Register https://clickquestion.lancashire.gov.uk/runQuestionnaire.asp?qid=904666

•  Contact employers

•  For more information email lancashire.houseproject@lancashire.gov.uk.

Resolved:  That:

i)  Members of the Board promote the event as requested above.

ii)  Agreed to receive feedback from the event at the Board meeting in September 2023.

County Councillor Clarke

To receive any other business.

There was no other business received.

County Councillor Clarke

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 at 1.30pm in the Savoy Suite, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.  Please note this is the Young People's Takeover meeting.

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 at 1.30pm in the Savoy Suite, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.  This is the Young People's takeover of the Board and lunch will be served from 1pm.