Local democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - City Hall, Bradford. View directions

Contact: Fatima Butt / Jill Bell 

Items
No. Item

1.

DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST

(Members Code of Conduct - Part 4A of the Constitution)

 

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

 

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

 

Notes:

 

(1)       Members may remain in the meeting and take part fully in discussion and voting unless the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an interest which the Member feels would call into question their compliance with the wider principles set out in the Code of Conduct.  Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

 

(2)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

 

(3)       Members are also welcome to disclose interests which are not disclosable pecuniary interests but which they consider should be made in the interest of clarity.

 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

 

Minutes:

Resolved-

 

(1)       Councillor Sajawal disclosed an interest in Minutes 66 and 67  as he worked for Barnardo’s and was an elected Member on the Better Start Bradford Programme Board.

 

(2)       Councillor Dale Smith disclosed an interest in Minute 68 as he was a Trustee of the Canterbury Imagination Library.

 

(3)       Councillor Engel disclosed an interest in Minute 66 as her child was part of Born in Bradford.

 

(4)       All those who were school governors also disclosed an interest.

 

Action:           City Solicitor

2.

MINUTES

Recommended –

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2016 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

 

(Fatima Butt – 01274 432227)

Minutes:

Resolved-

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2016 be signed as a correct record.

3.

BETTER START BRADFORD PROGRAMME UPDATE pdf icon PDF 645 KB

Better Start Bradford (BSB) is an opportunity for Bradford to test out and add to the evidence base of ‘what works’ in improving child health and development outcomes in the early years, improving maternal and child health and school readiness.

 

Learning from developing the BSB programme has been instrumental in supporting the development of the district’s Integrated Early Years Strategy and the plans for transforming early years and early help.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AH” which outlines the background to the Better Start Bradford Programme, the key principles of the approach and reports on the progress in implementation and key aspects of evaluation and learning across the district.    

 

Recommended-

 

That the information provided in the report and the high commitment within the District to improving outcomes and reducing inequalities for all young children, through evidence based early intervention and prevention to ensure all children reach their potential be considered and noted.

 

                                                            (Michaela Howell – 01274 513227)

                                   

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

Better Start Bradford (BSB) was an opportunity for Bradford to test out and add to the evidence base of ‘what works’ in improving child health and development outcomes in the early years, improving maternal and child health and school readiness.

 

Learning from developing the BSB programme had been instrumental in supporting the development of the district’s Integrated Early Years Strategy and the plans for transforming early years and early help.

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AH” supported by a presentation and short film which outlined the background to the Better Start Bradford Programme, the key principles of the approach and reported on the progress in implementation and key aspects of evaluation and learning across the district.           

 

It was reported that the Better Start Bradford Programme was being delivered in three disadvantaged wards (Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton) but aimed to embed what worked across the district.  For example the Baby Buddy phone app was now used across the district to provide information to mums to be and encourage use of mainstream services.

 

Members were informed that the Better Start Bradford Programme focussed on improving  maternal and child health and school readiness, the programme’s primary outcomes were to improve communication and language development, social and emotional development and nutrition in children aged 0-3 years.

 

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

 

·         Expecting a baby but was not informed of the Baby Buddy phone app and the Family Links Ante-Natal Course (Welcome to the World).

·         Were different Children’s Centre clusters working differently to others or were midwives not interacting with different Children’s Centres; were the programmes being delivered effectively?

·         What was the percentage of take up of the various programmes in each ward?

·         Did the programmes cater for people with disabilities?

·         How did you ensure there was no duplication in services?

·         How did you prioritise roll out of the different projects?

·         Were the programmes ensuring contact with hard to reach groups?

·         What would be different about this programme compared to other programmes that had been delivered in the past and had failed?

·         How effective had community involvement been?

·         Needed to ensure that when commissioning services, processes were in place so that local organisations had opportunities to apply when commissioning arose.

·         Needed further information on implementation and evaluation of the various projects; how did learning happen in other areas? needed further information about take up of the projects.

·         There was no mention of partners and fathers in the report; should be a whole family approach.

 

In response to the questions raised by Members it was reported that:

 

·         The information on Baby Buddy and Ante-Natal classes should be included in the pack that was given to expectant mothers; ante-natal classes were delivered through Children’s Centres; Health Visitors were aligned to Children’s Centres.

·         Midwives, Health Visitors and Children’s Centres should all be working together.

·         Take up of the projects was different in each ward as eligibility of the programme was different for each programme, some were universal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

ARRANGEMENTS BY THE COUNCIL AND ITS PARTNERS TO TACKLE CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION pdf icon PDF 341 KB

Previous Reference:           Minute 21 (2016/17)

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AI” which  provides an update to the report presented to this Committee on 6th September 2016. It contains information on developments in the intervening five months and responds to the specific recommendations made at that meeting.

 

Recommended-

 

That the Committee note the contents of the report and receive a full update  in September 2017.

 

                                                            (Tony Griffin – 01274 431227)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AI” which provided an update to the report presented to this Committee on 6th September 2016. It contained information on developments in the intervening five months and responded to the specific recommendations made at that meeting.

 

It was reported that the update since September included the drama production, “Mr Shapeshifter” and plans for this to be presented to primary schools in Bradford.

 

Members were informed that another significant event was the publication of the Serious Case Review of “Autumn” on 6 December 2016.  The key learning issues from the case for professionals was outlined in paragraph 2.5 of Document “AI”.

 

It was reported that the minutes of the September meeting were submitted to Professor Jay who was leading the independent enquiry into CSE.

 

Members were informed that CSE training had been delivered to over 3,500 new and existing licensed drivers, both private hire and hackney carriage.  All drivers were required to have copies of the “know the signs” literature in their vehicles and be able to demonstrate understanding of it.

 

It was reported that there was now greater co-ordination between Children’s and Adult’s Safeguarding Boards.  The Independent Chairs and business managers of each were now increasing the level of liaison between their areas of interest with vulnerability to sexual abuse and exploitation being a particular focus.

 

The Police Representative reported that the Historic Case Unit was currently undertaking 13 complex historic investigations.  Over 50 suspects had been arrested; 25 were on police bail; several cases were currently being reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service.  All victims had been referred for multi-agency support and were being provided victim support by trained staff; 139 people were identified as potential previous CSE victims following the assessment of police data; all had been visited and referred to supportive agencies; two disclosed offences when visited and these were now active investigations.

 

The CSE Disruption Officer talked in depth about the Nightwatch Initiative which aimed to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation by offering advice, guidance, support and training to businesses, services and the general public.  In particular Nightwatch addressed the interface between CSE locations of risk and the night time economy.  Recent activity had focussed on Snooker Halls, Shisha Bars, Hotels and B&B’s, parks and open spaces, private residential properties, public transport network, taxi operators and security providers.

 

 

 

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

 

·         The Nightwatch Initiative was funded until March 2017, what would happen to it after that?

·         Was there interaction between licensing and the police in terms of potential of risk to children of late night food licences and the naivety of the owners of the licensed premises?

·         There was a lot of work being undertaken to tackle CSE; was there any work being undertaken to stop perpetrators from committing this serious crime? what was it that made them perpetrators?

·         Was safeguarding of faith organisations and scouts groups etc robustly monitored?

 

In response to Members’ questions it was reported  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

PROGRESS REPORT ON THE CHILDREN'S CENTRE CLUSTERS pdf icon PDF 268 KB

Previous Reference:           Minute 5 (2016/17)

 

Children’s centres were launched with the aim of giving disadvantaged children the ‘best possible start in life,’ and were intended to be one of the main vehicles for ensuring there are integrated and good quality accessible family services to support young children and their families.

 

In summer 2013 a review of children’s centres across the Bradford district was carried out followed by a statutory consultation and a proposal for a new model for future delivery in November 2014. As a result of this the Executive agreed to a new seven cluster model of delivery for children’s centres managed by a variety of different providers – a ‘mixed economy’ model. Implementation of phase 1 i.e. the three nursery school clusters and the local authority cluster in Keighley was completed by 1st September 2015 and phase 2 the external clusters managed by the voluntary sector completed on the 1st August 2016.

 

The Deputy Director, Education, Employment and Skills will submit Document “AJ” which provides a progress update to the committee as requested at the meeting of 7 June 2016.

 

Recommended-

 

That the information in the report be noted.

 

                                                            (Lynn Donohue – 01274 439606)

                                                            (Susan Moreau – 01274 431390)

 

 

 

Minutes:

 

Children’s centres were launched with the aim of giving disadvantaged children the ‘best possible start in life,’ and were intended to be one of the main vehicles for ensuring there were integrated and good quality accessible family services to support young children and their families.

 

In summer 2013 a review of children’s centres across the Bradford district was carried out followed by a statutory consultation and a proposal for a new model for future delivery in November 2014. As a result of this the Executive agreed to a new seven cluster model of delivery for children’s centres managed by a variety of different providers – a ‘mixed economy’ model. Implementation of phase 1 i.e. the three nursery school clusters and the local authority cluster in Keighley was completed by 1st September 2015 and phase 2 the external clusters managed by the voluntary sector completed on the 1st August 2016.

 

The Deputy Director, Education, Employment and Skills submitted Document “AJ” which provided a progress update to the committee as requested at the meeting of 7 June 2016.

 

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

 

·         How would you ensure all Children’s Centres clusters were working to the new key performance indicators.

·         Some people did not know about Children’s Centres and what they offered; how were those people being informed?

·         Not everyone knew where to go and services were not joined up as could be.

 

In response to Members’ comments it was reported that:

 

·         The key performance indicators were measured by a Good Level of Development (GLD) and tracked children to ascertain what contact they had with children’s centres and GLD.

·         Needed better relationship between children’s centres and midwifery.

·         Health visitors should be referring vulnerable women to children’s centres.

·         There had been an issue with alignment with midwifery and health visitors and making referrals.

·         There were historical challenges with Children’s Centres which officers were aware of; it was not the same in each area; it was early days as the cluster had only been in operation for a year; some services were working really well in some clusters but not in others.

 

Members were informed that the government had suspended inspections of children’s centres and officers were waiting on the outcome on the future of children’s centres and their accountability arrangements.

 

 

 

 

 

Resolved-

 

(1)          That the Committee recognises the importance of early years development and the role of Children’s Centres in supporting the Council’s  drive to raise aspirations and close the inequalities gaps.

 

(2)          That a progress report be presented to the Committee in 12 months time with clarification of the relationship with health and midwifery.

 

Action:           Deputy Director, Education, Employment and Skills

 

 

6.

CHILDREN'S SERVICES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 163 KB

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “AK) presents the Committee’s Work Programme 2016-17.

 

Recommended –

 

That the Work Programme 2016-17 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

 

                                                            (Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “AK) presented the Committee’s Work Programme 2016-17.

 

Resolved –

 

That the Work Programme 2016-17 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

 

Action:           Overview and Scrutiny Lead