(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.

                                                                        (Sheila Farnhill – 01274 432268)

No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were received.

NO ACTION

(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. 

(Sheila Farnhill - 01274 432268)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

NO ACTION

Previous reference: Minutes 25 (2015/16) and 33 (2016/17)

The Deputy Director (Children’s Social Care) will submit a report which updates the Panel in respect of the work of the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) Psychological Assessment and Therapy Team for Looked After and Adopted Children (Document “S”).

Members’ views are requested.

                                                            (Jennifer Robb – 07701 284392)

Previous reference: Minutes 25 (2015/16) and 33 (2016/17)

The Deputy Director (Children’s Social Care) submitted a report which updated the Panel in respect of the work of the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) Psychological Assessment and Therapy Team for Looked After and Adopted Children (Document “S”).

The Clinical Lead for Looked After and Adopted Children from the Bradford District Care Trust introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

·         The service catered for looked after and adopted children and those on Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs).

·         The service had now been in operation for over twelve months and it was therefore considered a good time to undertake a review.

·         One of the main concerns was service capacity; staffing was significantly less than had originally been proposed, including in respect of Local Authority Social Worker provision

·         The average waiting time had increased and it was considered that crisis point had been reached. Discussions were on-going with commissioners about the remit and future direction of the service.

·         There were currently 45 young people on the waiting list for assessment and therapy and at the current rate of pick up this backlog would not be cleared for approximately 4 years.

·         The service had received very good feedback from professionals and carers, the available places were being booked and the service was used frequently.

·         The Consultation Clinic service was left open to those young people who were on the waiting list for assessment.

·         1660 clinical contact sessions had taken place.  It was estimated that over 50% of the direct work had involved looked after children.

She responded to Members’ questions:

·         In terms of capacity and demand; prior to the establishment of this team all cases had been referred to the core CAMHS. Awareness of the service had increased; the provision was well regarded and there were increasing numbers of repeat users (such as social workers who had found it to be helpful). The service had become saturated with both new cases and those transferred from the core CAMHS.  There were approximately 2000 eligible children/young people and it was estimated that up to 72% could need some form of mental health service at some point. There was a huge demand and need.

·         There was a genuine belief that this service was making a big difference and the limits on capacity were frustrating.

·         The full time equivalent staffing per 100 Looked After Children (LAC) was extremely low.

·         Senior Service Managers were aware of the issues; there were a number of options for the future and some potentially difficult decisions to be taken.

·         There were presently 66 open cases for therapy; the number of consultation clinics being undertaken had been halved and there was a waiting time of 7 weeks. Only one case a month could be picked up.

·         Input was provided to the residential homes apart from those covered by the B Positive initiative which had their own provision.

The Deputy Director also commented as follows:

·         Partnership working with other agencies, including this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Previous references:  Minutes 38 (2015/16) and 36 (2016/17)

A report will be submitted by the Deputy Director, Education, Employment and Skills (Document “T”) in relation to the achievements of the Authority’s Children Looked After in Early Years and Key Stages 1, 2 and 4 for 2017.  The data concerns those young people who have been in care continuously for a minimum period of twelve months.

Recommended –

(1)       That the contents of Document “T” be welcomed.

(2)       That the continued work of the Virtual School be supported.

                                                                        (Ken Poucher – 01274 439623)

Previous references:  Minutes 38 (2015/16) and 36 (2016/17)

A report was submitted by the Deputy Director, Education, Employment and Skills (Document “T”) in relation to the achievements of the Authority’s Looked After Children (LAC) in Early Years and Key Stages 1, 2 and 4 for 2017.  The data concerned those young people who had been in care continuously for a minimum period of twelve months.

The Virtual School Head introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

·         In Early Years, the cohort was 24 children. The percentage achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) had risen from 29% in 2016 to 50% which was the highest ever figure achieved. The figure for all Bradford children was 68%, which was closing on the national figure of 71%.

·         There had been a continued improvement in Key Stage 1. In Reading, Writing and Maths the percentage of LAC meeting the national age related expectations was better than achieved by LAC nationally in all subjects and closer to the figure for non LAC in Bradford.

·         In Key Stage 2; 32% of LAC nationally had achieved the new combined expected standard which was a 7% increase. In Bradford this figure had increased by 11% to 28%. More work was needed specifically with boys in reading writing and maths but the gap to the national figure was closing.

·         In Key Stage 4 there had been 65 children in the cohort. The grading system had been changed to a number based system between 1 and 9, 4 being a low pass. The Progress 8 score was a key measure which recorded progress across 8 key subjects and a figure between -1 and + 1 was classed as average. Bradford LAC had achieved  -1.02 but this was much better than LAC nationally. Bradford LAC’s Attainment 8 score (average attainment across the 8 subjects by the end of Key Stage 4) was in line with that achieved by Virtual Schools nationally but lower than that for non LAC. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) score (numbers of pupils achieving A* to C in core academic subjects) was also in line with the national figure.

·         Overall the results were at least equal to or above national figures at all key stages; this was down to the work done by the teachers within schools and the Virtual School.

He responded to questions from Members:

·         In Bradford 75% of Pupil Premium was directed to schools and 25% retained for bespoke intervention.

·         The aim was to improve upon the existing figures in the next year but each cohort was unique so it could be difficult to compare year on year.  Changes in the way data was processed nationally could also make comparison with previous years problematic.

The Portfolio Holder referred to the Area Opportunities Fund and schools being invited to bid for funding for ‘life skills’ additional to those in the curriculum. It was suggested that the Virtual School (VS) should make a request for funding.

It was suggested that links  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Previous references:  Minutes 5 and 22 (2017/18)

The Deputy Director (Children's Social Care) will present a progress report in relation to the B Positive Pathways Programme (Document “U”).

Recommended –

That the contents of Document “U” and the progress of the B Positive Pathways programme be noted.

                                                            (Jim Hopkinson – 01274 432904)

Previous references:  Minutes 5 and 22 (2017/18)

The Deputy Director (Children's Social Care) presented a progress report in relation to the B Positive Pathways Programme (Document “U”).

·         B Positive was operating from The Willows Children’s Home alongside 3 other satellite homes. These were traditional residential homes with additional provision including psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapy and police officers so that young people could access these services in-house.

·         The programme meant that a different approach was taken with adolescents in crisis to try and overcome the problems so that they were not  brought into care unnecessarily.  Since commencement of the initiative 17 young people had been helped and successfully returned to their home or a family member; it was believed that this was the best outcome for the young people. Work had also been undertaken with 48 young people who had been deemed to be ‘edge of care’ to prevent them from entering long term care.

·         An additional home had now been opened and the Authority’s aim was to reduce external placement unless this was a positive move to better address an individual’s needs. An 8% reduction in placement outside the district had been achieved since the programme started and this would also bring about financial savings as they were likely to be more costly.

·         The possibility of some staff being facilitated to become crisis foster carers was under consideration.

·         Two ‘Mockingbird’ fostering constellations had been set up which enabled additional support to be provided for the child and wider support for foster carer families. This had been launched at the beginning of the year and was operating very effectively.

·         The money for B Positive was provided by the Government and the Authority needed to demonstrated that this investment was effective.  Data was thus being collected to evidence the outcomes and a cost benefit analysis would also be undertaken.

He responded to questions from Members:

·         The concept of existing staff as crisis foster carers was a new way of working that had been developed in North Yorkshire; it was accepted that it challenged the traditional ‘boundaries’ between workers and the young people they cared for. If a young person was in crisis sometimes things had to move very quickly and it was better for them if they could go to a connected person; Residential Social Workers were one of the people with which many would have a connection.  This would be a voluntary opportunity and full assessment would be undertaken. If the idea was pursued it would be done on a bespoke, case by case basis. North Yorkshire had also had foster carers working on a casual basis within residential homes to assist in building relationships.

In response to a question from the CICC representative in respect of the longer term stability of the young people who had been assisted by the programme to date, the B Positive Programme Manager said that a tool had been created to monitor the journey of each individual and a monthly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.