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 Councillors Sutcliffe and Kay, Katy Hodkinson, Andy Smith, Janice Laing, Clare Platt, Neil Drummond and Jo Swords.

County Councillor Julie Gibson and Maureen Huddleston joined the meeting via Microsoft Teams.

The Board were informed of new members since the last meeting (excluding the young people's meeting) held in May 2023:

·  CC Jeff Couperthwaite had replaced CC Anne Cheetham, Lancashire County Council

·  CC Howard Hartley, Lancashire County Council had filled a vacant position

·  Alex Wood had replaced Angela Epps as the Residential Provider

·  Bev Maymond, Fostering Provider had filled a vacant position

Louise Humphreys was attending on behalf of Edna Skillen, Department for Work and Pensions.

The Board noted that this meeting was Jaymie's (young person) last meeting.  On behalf of the Board, the Chair thanked Jaymie for his support and contributions over the years in representing the Children in Care Council (LINX), Care Leavers Forum and for his support at the Board meetings and was wished all the best for the future on behalf of all the members on the Corporate Parenting Board.

County Councillor Clarke

To note the appointment by the County Council on the 25 May 2023 of County Councillors Stephen Clarke and Ashley Sutcliffe as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee, respectively, for 2023/24.

Resolved:  That the Committee noted the appointment by the County Council on 25 May 2023 of County Councillors Clarke and Sutcliffe as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee, respectively, for 2023/24.

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.

Matters Arising

Page 3 - The Board were informed that following on from the request at the last meeting, for the Chair, on behalf of the Board, to write a letter to Facilities Management, Lancashire County Council, supporting the request for the Care Leavers Forum to have an identified space on Wednesday evenings at County Hall, that this had now been agreed and the young people have met a few times since the agreement and it was felt to be working well and will be kept under review.

Page 5 – CC Gibson raised the final bullet point which was that a motion had been take to Full Council on 23 February 2023 where it had been highlighted that there was 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 also support the campaign.  CC Gibson asked for an update on this piece of work, and it was noted that this was part of the discussion at Item 6, Care Leaver Covenant and also:

Resolved:  That Brendan Lee, Head of Permanence will arrange a meeting, following discussions with Louise Anderson, Director of Children's Social Care, with the Chair, Deputy Chair and CC Gibson with regards to making 'care experienced' a protected characteristic and how Lancashire will take this forward.

County Councillor Clarke

The Board is asked to review the Constitution, Membership and note the additional responsibility of the Board in Terms of Reference.

The Board discussed the revised Constitution, Membership and Terms of Reference as set out at Appendix 'A', and following discussion, it was agreed that further amendments should also be included, as below:

Resolved:  That the Corporate Parenting Board reviewed and approved the revised Constitution, Membership and Terms of Reference as set out at Appendix 'A', which includes the additional responsibility of the Board for overseeing the county council's adoption and implementation of the Care Leavers Covenant 'whole Council approach' following the request of Cabinet on 6 July 2023 There should also be the addition of Health and amend Lancashire's Children in Care Council (LINX) to also include the Care Leavers Forum (CLF) under the section "The Board will receive advice and reports from the following…".

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

To receive an update on what the Participation Team have been doing with LINX since the last Board meeting, including feedback from the Young People's Corporate Parenting Board meeting held on 26 July 2023.

Young people from LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council) and the Care Leavers Forum (CLF) provided findings from the Corporate Parenting Board Youth Takeover event on 26 July 2023.  The Board noted that 52 people from across different services in Lancashire County Council including Elected Members, NHS, private providers and other partners as well as 19 young people.  A presentation with further feedback can be found appended to the minutes. The meeting included:

·  An ice breaker.

·  A young person spoke about their positive experience which included a good news story around support for getting employment and training.

·  A creative activity about participation based on the Lundy model.

·  Carousel style table discussions on Corporate Parenting Board priorities (Financial Support, Lasting Homes, Health and Wellbeing, Employment Education and Training) where each table looked at five main questions:

i)  What is already happening?

ii)  What is yet to happen?

iii)  What would make the biggest change?

iv)  Who or what can make this happen?

v)  How can young people find out what's going on or of the change made?

There was positive feedback received at the end of the session which included:

·  Less professional works better

·  Good speech

·  Great day – loved being able to speak to young people and hear their views – so important you take them forward. 

·  Lots to think about for me about how we undertake participation.

·  Was a very good day should do it again to look at the progress of the points we spoke about.

Following on from the meeting in July 2023, young people focused on some points from what would make the biggest change, and spotlighted key areas on each topic:

What would make the biggest change?

Feedback showed some common overarching themes which were:

·  That young people need to be involved as early as possible.

·  There needs to be better working together across the different services and better communication between the Council, other agencies and those that help young people such as social workers and personal advisors.

The Board were informed of things that young people think will make a difference, include:

·  Health - helping with the skills to ensure young people are in good health.

·  Lasting homes - extending the Housing Project and being more open when young people express a preference to live in a particular area.

·  Education, Employment Training - being more directly involved in leading and managing Personal Education Plans (PEP).

·  Financial support - more support particularly with making transitions would be really helpful. Young people can be confused about what is available.

Education, Employment and Training:

The feedback that has been provided suggests that there may be some helpful solutions which could help all care experienced young people. Different organisations and teams are working together to help young people, however, some more support is needed.

Young people mentioned about them being more involved with their Personal Education Plans (PEP) however, they feel this can be difficult and need support to develop the skills to help them do this.

Young  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council

To discuss the Care Leaver Covenant and how the Board can support the whole Council approach, and to discuss further, protected characteristics.

Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council provided the Board with an update on the Care Leaver Covenant and Protected Characteristics.  Further information can be found in the presentation that was attached to the agenda.  The Corporate Parenting Board agreed to adopt the Care Leaver Covenant in 2022 and it was agreed by Cabinet in July 2023 that Lancashire County Council would adopt the 'whole Council approach' and the Terms of Reference of the Board were amended to reflect this as discussed at Item 4. 

Clare Smith, Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health, Lancashire County Council reminded the Board that the Council had also made a commitment to consider care experience as a protected characteristic and that this will support how the covenant is implemented.  The campaign is being led nationally by Terry Galloway and 51 Councils nationally have passed motions of a similar nature regarding considering Care Experience as a protected characteristic alongside the other nine that are covered under the Equality Act 2010 making it illegal to discriminate for those reasons (eg age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity).  Lancashire was the 16^th Council in the country to pass the motion at Full Council on 23 February 2023.

The Board were asked to note and discuss how this can now move forwards as per the Lancashire Resolution which was passed on 23 February 2023 which was:

i)  When making decisions in relation to policies or plans to revisit present strategies that we recognise care experienced people as a vulnerable group who can face discrimination.

ii)  That we recognise the Council has a duty to put the needs of vulnerable people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration with them.

iii)  That the Council commits to consider those with care experience in the publication and review of its Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a protected characteristic in services and employment.

iv)  That the Council considers the impact of care experience when reviewing relevant strategy and/or policies alongside protected characteristics.

v)  To promote our Corporate Parenting principles to other bodies and consider care experience with Council strategy alongside protected characteristic policy.

vi)  To formally call upon other bodies to adopt Corporate Parenting for children in care and care leavers.

vii)  Thank the Corporate Parenting Board for their leadership under County Councillor Clarke, recognised as Good in the January 2022 Ofsted Report.

The Board were asked how this can now be implemented with points iii) and iv) above being the most pertinent.  In terms of the Equality Objectives a target could be set by the Board to increase the number of care experienced apprentices, for example that Lancashire County Council employ as a local authority by a certain percentage, with four years to improve it.  Also, going forwards, the Board may wish to agree that the Council considers the impact of care experience when reviewing relevant strategy or policies alongside protected characteristics.

The Board noted that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Young People from Care Leavers Forum/Jane Hylton, Leaving Care Service, Lancashire County Council

To receive an update on Care Leaver Week which is taking place in October 2023.

Jane Hylton, Leaving Care Team, Lancashire County Council gave a presentation to the Board on the upcoming Care Leavers week which would be held 23-27 October 2023.

The Board noted the following that had been planned for the week:

·  Events across the county planned by the locality Leaving Care Teams.

·  Outdoor activity day at Borwick Hall.

·  Outdoor activity day at Hothersall Lodge (Corporate Parent offer).

·  Celebration Evening in The Exchange – 26 October 2023.

·  In My Shoes Challenge – Care Leavers Forum

At the Celebration Evening there will be a raffle for young people and Board members were asked that if they had any community contacts to let Aaron Walmsley-Fishwick know, and he will contact them to see if they would donate a raffle prize.  Alternatively if any Board members wished to donate a prize, to contact either Jane Hylton, email jane.hylton@lancashire.gov.uk or Aaron Walmsley-Fishwick, email aaron.walmsley-fishwick@lancashire.gov.uk.

The Care Leaver Forum have come up with an idea called Reality Paypoint 'In Our Shoes' challenge. Members were asked to get involved and live off a care leaver's allowance for a day and to feedback thoughts and feelings for that day through a diary, photographs or short story for examples. The information from the day will be collated with corporate comms and shared through Care Leavers Week to have an impact on strengthening the relationships and reflection on the life of a care leaver.  Please forward replies to April Pollitt, email april.pollitt@lancashire.gov.uk or Matt Rowe, email matthew.rowe@lancashire.gov.uk by Monday 16 October 2023.

Resolved:  The Board noted the Care Leaver week information and accepted the Challenge set.

Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, LCC

To discuss the proposals for allocation of underspend from Local Member Grants 2022/2023.

Andreas Feldhaar, Permanence Service, Lancashire County Council informed the Board that on 5 May 2022, Cabinet agreed that any funds left over in the Local Member Grant budget at year end over the £200 that each member can carry forward be allocated to schemes or projects designed to support looked after children and care leavers, with details of these allocations to be reported to the Corporate Parenting Board.

The Board noted that the projects that have been identified for 2023 are as follows:

·  Care Leavers' Week

·  PROUD Awards Ceremony

·  Care Leavers' Residential Weekend

·  Child in Our Care Activity and Engagement Days

Resolved:  That the Board noted the projects that will be supported from the unspent Local Members Grant fund as agreed by Cabinet in May 2022.

County Councillor Clarke

To receive any other business.

Former Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board

The Board paid their respects, following the passing of the former Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board, Sue Prynn, who was a passionate advocate for children in care and care leavers.

County Councillor Clarke

Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 6.00pm in Savoy Suite 2, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.

Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 6pm in the Savoy Suite, The Exchange, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8RJ.