The Director of Legal and Governance will report the names of alternate Members who are attending the meeting in place of appointed Members. 

(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 must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)       Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)       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. 

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

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 September and 12 October 2022 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Kanwal Amrez – 07929 070228)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2022 be signed as a correct record.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Kanwal Amrez – 07929 070228)

To receive referrals that have been made to this Committee.

The Committee is asked to note the referrals listed above and decide how it wishes to proceed, for example by incorporating the item into the work programme, requesting that it be subject to more detailed examination, or refer it to an appropriate Working Group/Committee.

The report of the Chief Executive (Document “K”) provides an update on activities to establish the Bradford Children & Families Trust, the progress to date and critical next steps.

There are no specific recommendations from this report.

                                    (Chris Chapman – 01274 433656)

The report of the Chief Executive (Document “K”) provided an update on activities to establish the Bradford Children & Families Trust, the progress to date and critical next steps.

The Officer provided a build-up report following the previous presentation provided in September 2022, this report outlined the update on the progress with the establishment of the Bradford Children and Families Trust (BCFT).

It was reported that the gateway review was completed in October confirmed that there was a viable, technical Critical Path, which allowed the operational and contractual establishment of the Children’s Trust by April 2023.

The Officer reported that good progress had been made with the contractual KPIs following joint workshop between the Trust and Council. The Trust had successfully made some appointments with Charlotte Ramsden appointed as the Trust Chief Executive and Julie Crellin who has been appointed as the Finance Director.

Members were keen to understand the difficulties with recruiting staff and making successful appointments and asked if the level of pay had been an issue with recruiting.

The Officer advised that it was a limited and difficult field and a challenging environment, a few key roles had been filled, this should give people some confidence. The pay may have been an issue as competition is tight, therefore work had been carried out to ensure packages were attractive.

Members sought further clarification around the issue of affordability.

The Officer reported that they would be looking at demand of service and DFE support but the level of improvement already made in Children’s Services was progress.

Members asked what happened if there was no final consensus with the final budget.

The Officer advised that all parties were looking positive at reaching an agreeable budget. Discussions would also take place with DFE around the budget and support as there were a combination of opportunities that still needed to be explored and discussed.

The Officer reported that the Trust would be executing/discharging service on behalf of the Local Authority, therefore making the Local Authority equally accountable. The Trust has formed a shadow board to ensure

Members asked as the new team has limited experience, how would it be supported for a positive outcome.

The Officer reported that the team was encouraged with positive motivation and were also encouraged to report any issues and concerns to help deal with them efficiently.

Members of the Committee made the following comments:

·         It was stressed that Members would prefer more than quarterly and annual reports.

·         Members requested for more regular and solid reports on progress and actions. The reports need to have more details on timelines of what had been achieved, fit for purpose reports.

·         Members wanted to better understand what the deal is with the Trust and what powers of the Committee would be.

·         It was suggested that the process required a facilitator that could bring everything together in order to have a more effective service delivery.

A Member of the Committee asked what steps would be taken to develop a culture where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

The report of the Director of Quality and Nursing - West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (Bradford) (Document “M”) presents the Annual Report for Children Looked After and Care Leavers April 2020 – March 2021

The annual report (appendix 1) has been written by the Designated Doctor for Children Looked after on behalf of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board for the period of April 2021 - March 2022. 

The General Manager of Community Services, responsible for the (health) Children Looked After team at BDCT has provided an up-to-date position, working in partnership with BTHFT and ANHSFT, (appendix 2).

Recommended -  

Members are asked to consider the information provided within the report. Members are welcome to ask a question or raise a comment at the meeting to gain clarity or for assurance.  

(Dr Catherine Murray - 01274 237523)

The report of the Director of Quality and Nursing – West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (Bradford) (Document “M”) presented the Annual Report for Children Looked After and Care Leavers April 2020 – March 2021.

The Officer reported that this would be the second annual report to the Committee and it would be good practice to continue to produce these reports.

The report highlighted the key aims, matters of legislation, the scope of the Looked After and Care Leavers team and compared numbers of children looked after per 10,000 with Bradford statistical neighbours. The report also provided some information about initial health assessments and review health assessments and provided some key areas of focus for 2022/23.

The report also highlighted some successes in the delivery of a health service to Looked After Children and Car Leavers, the report also referred to the challenges of provision of care, in meeting statutory timescales and of capacity limitations within the context of the year-on-year growth of children becoming looked after across the Bradford District.

The officer further stated that comparatively numbers were far steeper for looked after and Care Leavers in Bradford than neighbouring local authorities. It was reported that children who were coming into care had very complex needs, Bradford had a young population, with the fourth highest proportion of under 16 year olds in England.

The Officer explained that an initial health assessment was carried out by a registered medical practitioner, the statutory guidance stated that IHA’s should be done within 20 working days of entering care, any child that was deemed high risk was seen as priority.

It was reported that there were around 116 missed appointments by young people and a huge waste of resources but staff/colleagues were working to reduce this and some great progress has been made however, the amount of children and young people coming to care was outstripping the resources.

Members of the Committee were concerned that statutory guidelines were not being met when carrying out the initial health assessments as they had to take place within 20 days of entering care.

The Officer reported that Bradford was not alone in this as it was an issue faced by many local authorities, sometimes it was not possible to gain consent to see the patient however, this issue was being addressed and worked on.

Members asked what the status was on statutory guidance regarding IHA’s.

The Officer reported that there were no penalties however, it was not good practice to go over the 20-day timeline for carrying out health assessments. The Service was swapping notes in West Yorkshire to see how best to tackle this issue.

Members were keen to understand the potential risks to children and young people.

The Officer advised that a weekly meeting is held around children who came into care and any case/s that are recognised as being in any potential danger are escalated.

Members of the Committee asked if professionals were looking into why children were missing appointments.

The Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “L”) includes the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee work programme for 2022/23. 

Recommended -

(1)       That members consider and comment on the areas of work included in the work programme.

(2)       That members consider any detailed scrutiny reviews that they may wish to conduct.

(Mustansir Butt – 01274 432574)

The report of the Chair of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “L”) was submitted to Members for comment and review of the 2022/23 Work Programme.

The Overview and Scrutiny Lead went through the work programme and also the scrutiny reviews relating to Child Poverty and Elective Home Education.

Resolved –

The Committee discussed the work programme and agreed on the next steps in relation to the Elective Home Education and Child Poverty Scrutiny Reviews.

ACTION – Overview and Scrutiny Lead

                                                              (Mustansir Butt – 07582 101597)