Agenda and minutes

Venue: Professional Excellence Centre, Acre Lane, Bromborough

Contact: Tracy Little  Children and Young People's Department

Items
No. Item

150.

09:00 Apologies and Introductions

151.

09:00 Declarations of Interest

152.

09:05 Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 700 KB

Minutes:

Accepted as a true record.

153.

09:10 Early Offer/Targeted Services Review pdf icon PDF 646 KB

Minutes:

Ann Clarkson and Sue Cockerill gave a presentation on the targeted services project.  The aim of the project is to develop a new service within the department with a single strategic lead.  This new service will have a sole purpose of preventing children, young people and families from needing specialist services.  By reducing/stopping the escalation of need and also to produce a safe step down process back into Universal Services.  Sue outlined the landscape within Wirral and how the numbers of children at the top of the pyramid that need intensive specialist services is larger than expected for a Borough of this size.  Sue also noted that a single behaviour issue by a child may actually be a whole family problem, to illustrate that working with the family, not just the child, is the key to reducing the probability of escalation.

 

Wirral have a low number of CAFs compared with regional neighbours.  There are also several routes for referral to services via family support work.  The project will result in a single gateway to ensure a seamless transition for families and a joined up way of delivering support.

 

All targeted services will be realigned into four areas of working to ensure that community knowledge is gained and an understanding of local needs. These areas match the constituency boundaries.

 

The outlined the referral gateway proposals to include 3 gateways, one each for Birkenhead and Wallasey and one for Wirral South and West.  Sue gave a brief description of how the lead professional will work with families and also the information sharing procedures and supporting IT.

 

Ann Clarkson outlined an example of how the gateway will work for families.  Sue outlined to the board what is needed from partners.

 

Jane Owens made the point that information sharing may be difficult across so many partners, she also shared a concern that the changes to youth provision may also mean that larger facilities, though good may lose the local knowledge of young people.

 

Julia responded that Council agreed there will be 4 youth hubs and also 4 youth satellite centres.  Julia added that the Youth Zone is not anticipated to impact on the other hubs or satellites.  She added that the council are committed to locality working and Surestart centres and other local services will remain.

 

Ann Clarkson commented that the information sharing will be fluid as barriers to sharing are removed. Elizabeth Hartley noted that consent will be gained from the families at the point of referral and will be covered within a privacy notice agreement and information sharing agreement.  She added that the role of the information desk will be to safeguard information and select the relevance of the information to be shared.  Julia added that one of the clear learnings from SCRs is that information sharing protocols should be in place.

 

Dennis commented that the idea was a good move forward.  He added that he was concerned about the importance of changes within family circumstances, where a situation can escalate quickly,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

154.

09:30 Intensive Family Intervention Project

Minutes:

Elizabeth presented to the Board.  In Wirral there are 234 families which meet the Troubled Families criteria, of these 98 are using the IFIP model.

 

Positive outcomes have been noted for the year ending January 2013 which generated £33,600 of payment by results.  It is expected that the year to July 2013 will be for a further 200+ families and provide income of up to £175,000.

 

Elizabeth outlined the set up for the information desk including the database.  The database is due for launch in May 2013. Five key workers have been recruited and a programme is in place to up-skill workers to level 4 working with families with complex needs.  The aim of this is to improving capacity across work areas.

 

Elizabeth outlined the work around increasing employability for these families.

 

The next cohort of families are being identified, data is being collected from ASB team, Youth Offending service and PRU. An evaluation of the current programme will be undertaken looking at a cost benefit analysis and evaluation of child and family experience.

 

Julie Webster commented the importance of the involvement of Job Centre Plus. Julia asked if health colleagues are represented on the information desk.  Elizabeth noted that the information sharing documents have been drafted and it is expected this will move forward now this is in place.

 

Resolved:  The Board note the report.

 

155.

09:50 Children and Young People's Plan pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Minutes:

Tracy Little presented a report about the latest position for the Children and Young People’s Plan for 2012/13.

 

In April 2012 Wirral published a one year CYPP 2012-2013. The plan covered all the services for children and young people in the Borough and brings together all the strategic and operational plans to improve their lives and enable them to achieve their potential. This plan ends on the 31st March 2013 and a review of the final year of the plan has been carried out.  

 

 

Resolved: The Board endorse the 2012/13 Review.

 

 

Tracy noted that in September 2012 Wirral Children’s Trust Board approved the production of a new three year CYPP for 2013-16. In order to ensure that this plan is fit for purpose particularly in the current environment of austerity and change a rigorous new priority setting approach was developed through the Children’s Trust Executive. Proposals from strategic groups have been co-ordinated and submitted in a defined template against a set of priority setting criteria. All submissions were then evaluated and challenged at a stakeholder event through a standard process. Alongside this the current structure of the Children’s Trust sub-groups was evaluated to ensure the priorities could be delivered.

 

Tracy outlined the eleven priorities for the Children’s Trust Board over the next three years. These are outlined below:

 

·  From conception to age five Wirral Children have the best possible physical, social, emotional and psychological start in life.

·  From 5 - 19 years, Wirral children and young people's health and well being will continue to develop through healthy lifestyle choices in preparation for adult life.

 

·  To improve outcomes for Children in Care and Care Leavers.

·  To improve outcomes for children and young people in need of protection.

·  To support those children and young people who require extra help at the earliest opportunity.

 

·  To ensure that there is appropriate support and challenge to educational settings.

·  To ensure children and young people across Wirral will have improved attainment levels and skills, to enable then to fulfil their aspirations.

 

·  Improve the educational outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

·  Ensure a SEN framework and budget arrangements are delivered in line with new national guidance.

·  Effectively promote and enable participation and progression for all young people.

 

·  Enhance the involvement of children and young people in the decision making process.

 

 

 

Tracy concluding by advising that the new plan for 2013/16 will be provided to the Board in May 2013. A children and young people’s version of the plan, feedback response to the consultation and an equality impact assessment is also under development.

 

Resolved: The Board endorse the report and priorities and look forward to the full plan in May.

 

156.

10:05 Child Poverty

Minutes:

Bev Morgan updated that the e-learning module will go live at the start of April. It will cover the following:

 

- Narrowing the gap

- Financial Inclusion

- Transport

- Hungry children

 

Julie noted that the Wirral working group is moving forward, partners are working together to develop a local model to mitigate the impact of child poverty.

 

The next meeting will focus on the changes to Benefit Reform.

 

Resolved:  The Board note the update

157.

10:35 Commissioning pdf icon PDF 109 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Maureen McDaid updated on the latest commissioning round which was agreed by Cabinet on 14 March.

 

Maureen outlined that Equality Impact Assessments have been completed around the de-commissioning process and learnings have been integrated into procedures.

 

Maureen then updated on the performance of existing commissioned services and an outline to the next phase of performance monitoring.

 

Jane Owens commented it was better to include performance measures from the start.

 

Councillor Smith noted that Maureen will be leaving the Council shortly and that this was her last meeting and thanked her on behalf of the trust for all her hard work for children and young people within Wirral.

 

Resolved:  The Board note the report.

 

158.

10:50 Teenage Pregnancy

Minutes:

Fiona Allen, Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator, gave a presentation into some of the social and emotional reasons behind young girls becoming pregnant.  The case study she has conducted includes 20 young mothers.

 

Julia commented on the richness of the work with young people and should be used to inform planning.  She added it would be a good opportunity to share this information with WASH.

 

Julie Webster asked how there has been engagement with young males.  Fiona added it was difficult to engage young men and there is more work planned in this area.

 

Fiona outlined some of the success stories and some of the work areas that have contributed to this.

 

Gary Price noted that a sexual health/contraception service has been commissioned by the Wirral Community Trust which should be in place by April 2013.

 

Councillor Smith thanked Fiona for her presentation and commented on how good it was to see improvements within this area.

 

Resolved: The Board note the report.

 

159.

11:10 Workforce Survey ( Postponed from January Meeting) pdf icon PDF 51 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Sue Blevins outlined the results of the Children’s Workforce Survey.  The survey had a good response from most partners and evidences that many workers work within the whole family, which is further evidence for the whole family approach taken within the early intervention project.

 

Jane Owens asked if data can be broken down to identify further areas for investigation, within each group.

 

Julia said this was an excellent piece of work and the recommendations in the report are.

 

Councillor Smith thanked Sue Blevins for her work in this area.

 

Resolved: The Board note the report.

 

160.

11:40 Q3 Performance Report pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Minutes:

Tracy Little presented the CYPP Q3 performance monitoring report. She noted that for Quarter three 2012/13 22 performance indicators can be reported upon, of these 77.3% (17 indicators) are achieving or exceeding their target.

 

Performance headlines for children’s services include:

 

7.4% of young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET), exceeding the target of 9% and reduction from 8.8% last quarter. The NEET Action Group (Chaired by 14-19 Team) is now established as the principal group for case conferencing Wirral NEET young people with local training providers.

 

The support provided by the Family Partnership Worker’s (FPW) to young people in The Observatory School has been used as evidence in a recent OFSTED inspection.  The profile of NEET Young People at the school has reduced from 48.0% in June 2011 to 20.7% in June 2012.

 

A recent LGA research report into the Careers, Information and Guidance transitions to schools has cited the role of Weatherhead School and the Local Authority as case study demonstrating effective practice.

 

Provisional data related to teenage conceptions indicates a further reduction in quarter three to a rate of 32.9 per 1,000 15-17 year olds compared to 53.5 in quarter one. Targeted work currently undertaken includes development of a drama piece to educate young men on the consequences of unprotected sex and teenage fatherhood, contraception workshops for targeted settings, development of a brief Intervention toolkit for Relationship and Sex Education and collaborative research work with John Moore's University to identify social norms around contraception within Wirral.  

 

The West Wirral Youth Hub organised a Christmas party funded by the Early Intervention Grant, 78 young people attended. Advice and support around alcohol and drugs was also given.

 

The Young Reporters’ Group, reported on a number of stories in the local community. They have received training from the former Web Editor for Teen Wirral about how to write up articles and are going to undertake training in photography and the ethics and legalities of photography in the near future.

 

Resolved: The Board noted the report.