Agenda and minutes

Young people from LINX/CLF (Lancashire's Children in Care Council/Care Leavers Forum)

Young people from Lancashire Children in Care Council (LINX) and Care Leavers Forum (CLF) opened the meeting with an icebreaker.

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 Councillors Andrea Kay and Ron Woollam, Jen Robertshaw, Neil Drummond, Hayley Kinowski, Clare Platt and David Russo.

County Councillor Julie Gibson joined the meeting via Teams.

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.

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

Young people from LINX/CLF (Lancashire's Children in Care Council/Care Leavers Forum), April Pollitt and Adam Riley, Participation Team, Child and Family Wellbeing Service, LCC

To receive an update from LINX/CLF (Lancashire's Children in Care Council/Care Leavers Forum) on current work/projects they are involved with.

Young people from Lancashire's Children in Care Council (LINX) and the Care Leavers Forum (CLF) updated the Board on what they had been involved in since the last meeting of the Board in March 2024.

Young Peoples Update

They provided an overview on a number of presentations and meetings they had attended, and it was noted that they had been working with younger group members and had delivered the Children in Our Care Development Day which was about what homes mean to young people.  They also shared the development of a Welcome Box idea for all children and young people who go into a new home.

Young people had also met to discuss a consultation and looked at the new Family Hubs Directory and were given first access to see how the site worked and gave feedback on their findings.

Some young people had been involved in the shortlisting for the Rise Award nominations which they enjoyed as they got to read all the excellent work that officers are doing and said they found it hard to choose winners, as all those nominated were worthy winners who went above and beyond for young people, families and their colleagues.  Young people also attended the event, and one young person gave a presentation on the evening about their experience of being on the judging panel.

Young people have also undertaken another Young Advisor visit, where they visited a children's home in Bamber Bridge and got to talk to staff and young people there.  They felt that the Young Advisor visits are important as they get to hear from young people who live there and what they think about it and the support they receive.

The activities that young people are undertaking are also shared on the Instagram page FYP.

New Home to Name

There had also been another request made to young people to name a children's home, which is a joint venture and for children who are experiencing significant mental health difficulties and is a beautiful property in Chorley, which is three self-contained 2 bedroomed flats, so young people can live independently, however, can also have that joint communal space as well.  The Board were asked to vote on the following names chosen by young people:

·  Heskin House

·  Astley House

·  Catterall House

·  Monroe House

Following the vote, young people were thanked for this work, and it was:

Resolved:  That the new home would be named Monroe House.

Executive Leadership Team Update

Young people also spoke about their experience when they attended the Executive Leadership Team meeting which includes Directors and Heads of Services at Lancashire County Council.  The meeting shared more information on the Covenant and how departments within the Council can support and offer something to care for experienced children and young people.  Real life stories and experiences were shared to show the different opportunities that would help young people in care.  It was noted that the sessions best outcome was the table discussions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Audrey Swann, Education Improvement, Lancashire County Council

To receive an overview of the educational attainments for 2023 for Children Looked After in Lancashire.

Audrey Swann, Education Improvement, Lancashire County Council provided the Board with an update on the 2022/2023 education attainment data for Lancashire Children in Care and Care Leavers.  The information for 2023/2024 cannot be shared until the Department for Education have validated the data and also the results are from the year 2022/2023 which is the most recent data.

The Board received a presentation (appended to the minutes) where further detailed information was received on the following:

·  Early Years

·  Phonics

·  Primary: Key Stage 1

·  Primary: Key Stage 2

·  Secondary: Key Stage 4

·  Interventions

·  Post 16 Children in Our Care

·  Care Leavers

·  Employment Support

·  Higher Education

·  Further Information

It was noted that data is still showing impacts of the Covid pandemic and that the Department for Education has announced that they are no longer requesting that formal assessments (SATs) be conducted and the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.

The Board were informed that the improvement in attainment in Primary Key Stage 1 was significant in Reading, Writing, Maths, Science and Reading, Writing and Maths combined, children have met the expected standard and it is substantially higher than the national average for looked after children.  There has been a lot of work carried out, in particularly with reading and there is a need to ensure that this trajectory is continued.

In terms of Primary Key Stage 2 there has been a slight reduction in attainments and this highlights what needs to be put in place to ensure further progress is made and that more targeted work is needed with regards to transition to secondary school.

The Annual Report breaks down the information further and benchmarks against those children not in care/care leavers and will be shared with members at a future Board meeting.

The Board noted that work is ongoing with schools in terms of Year Group 11 sitting eight exams as some do not get the option to do this, and even if they do not sit eight exams their Attainment 8 score is still divided by 8 regardless of whether they have taken eight subjects which makes a huge difference in the overall Attainment 8 score.  Nationally in 2022/2023 the Attainment 8 score had reduced, however Lancashire scored slightly higher than the National CLA score.

With regards to Higher Education, the numbers have risen for 2024 which is a positive outcome, and the bursary has been increased this year from £2,000 to £3,000.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the report and that a copy of the Annual Report will be shared with members when it is available.

Moya McKinney/Jane Hylton, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council

To receive an overview from the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Managers Event that was held on 14 March 2024.

Moya McKinney and Jane Hylton, Permanence Service, Lancashire County provided an update on the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum and the Managers Event that they had both attended recently.

The Board received a presentation (appended to the minutes) which provided further detailed information on the following:

·  What is the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum

·  Headlines

·  Some good examples of Good and Outstanding

·  Putting the framework into Practise

·  Next

·  Resources from National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum and Young People's Benchmarking Forum

With regards to the Care Leaver Officer, it was noted that this currently under review and the Care Leavers Forum would also be involved with it.  There will be a Shout Survey and following this, there will be a series of Learning and Development sessions.

The Board were also asked to promote the FYP page on Instagram which is another source of information about rights and entitlements, events, activities etc. as well as the other planned events as detailed in the presentation attached.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the updated.

Clare Smith, Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health, Lancashire County Council

To receive feedback from a recent event.

Clare Smith, Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health, Lancashire County Council provided an update on the recent unaccompanied asylum seeking children's events and highlighted the aims of the project that Clare is leading on in partnership between a few different teams within Children and Education Services.  The aims of the project are:

·  To create a safe and supervised environment for young people to: 

o  Share and celebrate their heritage and identity  

o  Meet peers originally from the same country 

o  Make new friends and develop connections  

o  Promote the use of young people's home language 

·  To encourage young people to form social networks for the future and thrive in their communities, considering their involvement with statutory services will come to an end 

·  Promote young people's independence and develop parent carers' confidence in their children's safety within their local community 

·  Promote young people's confidence in their identity and resilience throughout the process of integration 

·  Support young people's mental health and wellbeing within their pathway plan throughout their asylum experience 

·  Support young people making and maintaining connections that would support them continuing to live in Lancashire 

The Board noted some of the feedback that had been received from young people who had attended some of the events:

·  Meeting other people from the same country, getting familiar with new people. Best part of the day was playing football for some time.

·  Well the atmosphere and the sport but the only thing is that there was not enough time for every activity, it was just one thing then another then another it was going too fast

·  When you meet and talk with your compatriot, an atmosphere is created that makes you feel like you are in your own country.

·  Talking in your language. The feeling of home.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the update.

Young People from LINX/CLF (Lancashire's Children in Care Council/Care Leavers Forum)

To receive feedback from the recent Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting that young people attended on 25 March 2024.

Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council provided an officer update from the Executive Leadership Team meeting that young people and officers from Children's Services had attended on the Whole Council Approach of Corporate Parenting.

The Board received the presentation that had been given in the meeting which included Lancashire's Promise to Children in Our Care and Care Leavers and asking them to think your own children/those in your family and their key milestones between the ages of 16 and 25 and what support they need and receive within their own family and personal network as well as other questions to ask themselves as Corporate Parents.

Services were also asked to think about what they currently offer that is specific to care experienced young people and what their pledges were:

Pre-employability pledge

Employment pledge

Support pledge

The Board noted that there had been over 100 offers of support from over 30 Lancashire County Council services as follows:

Pre-Employability

·  Work experience and shadowing

·  Interview preparation

·  Coaching and mentoring

Employment

·  Guaranteed interviews

·  Specific or ringfenced posts for care leavers

·  Apprenticeships

Other support

·  Include Education, Employment and Training opportunities in commissioning

·  Include general social value offers in commissioning

·  Cultural offers

·  Friend for life

·  Link to community projects

Resolved:  That the Board noted the update.

County Councillor Clarke

To receive any other business.

There was not any other business received.

County Councillor Clarke

Wednesday, 24 July 2024 at 1.30pm in Savoy Suite 2, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ

Wednesday, 24 July 2024 at 1.30pm in Savoy Suite 2, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.