The Chair thanked Jill Bell, who was due to retire on 09 December 2022, for her many years of service to Bradford Council and wished her well for the future.

(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.

No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were made.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 August 2022 be signed as a correct record (attached).

(Jill Bell – 01274 434580)

Questions on minutes

Savings policy

Asked whether the savings policy for young people in had now been finalised, the interim Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Review, Commissioning & Provider Services (iAD/SRCP) said that a few final details remained to be resolved.  The Panel asked to be informed of when the policy would be available.

Action: iAD/SRCP

Document setting out entitlements of young people in care

The Panel asked for an update on the production of the revised document on the entitlements of young people in care, including:

whether the Working Group with young people, due to be established in the autumn to oversee the clarity and comprehensibility of the entitlements document, had started work;

progress on supporting young people to prepare a flow chart summarising their entitlements; and

the scope to bring forward completion of the document from the planned date of April 2023, in light of the importance of young people being able to understand their entitlements.

Leaving Care services (LCS) said that the entitlements document had been updated and signed off in May 2022 and was now under review.  Young people had been consulted on a paper version of the document in September: their feedback had indicated that they found the document wordy.  LCS was updating the document on the website, where it was presented as a flowchart.  The Panel made clear that it was essential that Bradford’s young people in care should understand their entitlements: their feedback when they met the Panel on 08 June 2022 had made clear that they did not do so.  The Panel asked again what scope there was to bring forward the proposed date of completion of the document from April 2023.  LCS said that the document was under continual review.  The delay to completion was caused by IT issues.

The Panel asked for a timeline for the various elements of the production of the entitlements document so that it could monitor progress.

Action: LCS

Noting that young people had indicated their wish to be involved in development of the flowchart, the Panel asked who was leading on its preparation and sought assurance that the consultation that officers had held with young people in September did not cut across the Panel’s original discussion with young people on 08 June 2022.  LCS said that the September 2022 consultation had involved the same young people that the Panel had met on 08 June 2022.  Officers had showed young people the Coram website and asked whether that was what they needed: they had said that it was.  The link to Coram would therefore be included in the Council’s offer.

The Panel agreed that its meeting with young people on 07 December 2022 should include a brief presentation on how the Council had responded to the request for clearer information on entitlements and invite young people to give feedback on whether the response met their needs.

Action: iAD/SRCP

The Panel noted that the first version of the entitlements document had been completed; working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

(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. 

(Jill Bell - 01274 434580)

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

The Assistant Director Safeguarding and Review, Commissioning and Provider Services will provide feedback on the two- day formal visit by the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers which took place on 8 and 9 September 2022.

(Amandip Johal – 01274 431620)

The Assistant Director Safeguarding and Review, Commissioning and Provider Services provided feedback on the two- day formal visit by the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers which took place on 8 and 9 September 2022.

The Chair said that Cllrs Thirkill and Dunbar had attended a session with the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers, who had offered to visit Bradford to review its provision and make recommendations.  That visit had taken place on 08 and 09 September 2022 and the Adviser had made recommendation about the governance of corporate parenting, including the deployment of Link Councillors to progress specific areas of work. 

The Chair invited iAD/SRCP to give an overview of the recommendations.

iAD/SRCP said that the Adviser had met Councillors and officers.  He had spoken of strengthening the membership of the Panel.  He had acknowledged that Bradford was on a continuing journey of improvement and that the Panel itself was undergoing change, including the adoption of a Link Councillor/Champion approach.  He had recommended that the Panel:

·         confirm the themes on which it needed to focus to improve the Council’s effectiveness as corporate parent;

·         consider how to ensure that Council portfolio-holders for the areas covered by those themes establish sub-groups comprising the agencies and decision-makers for those strands of work – this would help to embed the Champion model; and

·         review its membership and consider the membership of the theme sub-groups with a view to strengthening relationships with key partners such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The Adviser had considered that, together, these recommendations would bring about the necessary whole-Council approach to its role as corporate parent.

The Chair had reviewed the responsibilities of Council portfolio holders and how they impacted on the Council’s role as corporate parenting.  She had trawled Good and Outstanding LAs to learn how they organised the governance of corporate parenting.  The outcome had been a list of corporate parenting responsibilities within each portfolio.  The Panel needed to identify the themes from among these responsibilities.  She asked members to consider the themes that would be required and which of them they would each prefer to lead, reporting back to each meeting of the Panel.  The following themes and Panel Leads were agreed and would be adapted or refined as necessary in light of experience:

The Panel agreed as follows:

The meeting on 07 December 2022 would be held with young

people at a venue to be determined: the theme would be education.

The agenda for the meeting on 08 February 2023 would include:

The annual report on health

Education

A brief update on the progress of each Theme Lead member

Asked when the first meeting of the Governing Body (GB) for the

Virtual School (VS) would be held, Head/VS said that membership

of the GB had been agreed and the next step would be to provide

details of the membership to the Chair (Cllr Pollard) and agree with

him an initial meeting date in the Autumn 2 half term.  The Chair

reminded him that the membership of the GB must be approved by

the Panel and that the Clerk should be consulted on the agenda

and date for the first meeting.

Action: Head of Virtual School