County Councillor Stephen Clarke
To receive any other business.
Minutes:
Recruitment
Brian Wood, Child and Family Wellbeing Service, Lancashire County Council updated the Board on events that had been planned in order to recruit new young people and also consult with them about things that are relevant to them and for them to understand that they have a voice and can be heard and there is an opportunity to contribute to this Board and other formats. To do that, a new Participation Team has been set up, with five officers and an apprentice will hopefully join them in September/October 2021. The events are being conducted over six sessions, across three areas of Lancashire, North, Central and East virtually and in person.
The BBC Young Reporters will also be involved in the Zoom sessions across three different age ranges 8-11, 12-14 and 15+ and will do work around news (what is news and what is fake news) and will also provide some bespoke career sessions for those aged 15+. Also the BBC Young Reporters have close links with the BBC Apprenticeship routes and it has been agreed that if young people engage in the sessions that are being provided by the Child and Family Wellbeing Service, that they will happily support young people in planning apprenticeships with the BBC.
In the face-to-face sessions, there will be outward bound and team building activities across various locations for the same three age groups.
Further information is provided in the fliers that have already been circulated to foster carers, residential homes, social workers, partners such as NYAS and these will also be circulated to the Board.
An overview was also given on the recruitment process that is underway, across Lancashire for young people to have their voice heard across the different platforms that are available such as LINX and POWAR and there will be bigger cohorts of young people involved going forward at different levels, ie every young person in care will have an opportunity to air their voice on some sort of platform, there are also regional area groups meetings in North, Central and East who will feed into the groups such as LINX (Lancashire's Children in Care Council), Children in Care Forums and POWAR who will then be involved with interview processes and the recommencement of the Young Inspectors programme as well as young people attending the Corporate Parenting Board.
Resolved: That Brian Wood, Child and Family Wellbeing Service send copies of the fliers to Sam Gorton, Democratic Services to circulate to members of the Board to promote the activities available over the summer.
Future Agenda Items
The Board were also asked that if they had any items that they wished to be included on the agenda at any future meetings, to inform the Chair, County Councillor Stephen Clarke email: stephen.clarke@lancashire.gov.uk or the Clerk to the Board, Sam Gorton, email: sam.gorton@lancashire.gov.uk.
Ofsted Update
Sharon Hubber, Director of Children's Service, Lancashire County Council updated the Board on the recent focus visit from Ofsted who had been looking at the thresholds and the step up to child in need, step up to child protection, step down from child protection to child in need and then to early help. The highlights were noted as:
· The service was doing really well, even though there is still work to do.
· The service knows itself well.
· There was good leadership.
· Social workers were proud to work in Lancashire.
· The new model has been implemented which is going well.
Areas where there was still room for improvement and continue to be worked on were:
· Assessments
· Plans
· Voice of the child
The letter from Ofsted will be published on the 16 August 2021.
Resolved: That the Board noted the Ofsted update.
Meetings
The Board were informed that in between each Board meeting, there would be an informal meeting with the Chair and Deputy Chair and officers, to ensure they were kept updated of changes, progress and issues arising prior to the next Board meeting. These meetings will be scheduled until May 2022 when a review will take place.
Resolved: That Sam Gorton, Democratic Services, Lancashire County Council arrange the informal meetings until May 2022.
Director of Children's Services
The Board noted that Sharon Hubber, Director of Children's Services would be leaving the Authority to become the new Director of Children's Services at Rochdale Borough Council. Sharon was wished good luck and thanked for all her contributions to the Board as well as in children's services for Lancashire, throughout her time with the Council.
The Board were informed that Barbara Bath would be the new Interim Director of Children's Services for Lancashire and was wished good luck in her new role.