Agenda and minutes

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Members of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, Officers and viewing members of the public to the online, virtual meeting.

2.

APOLOGIES

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A roll call of Councillors was undertaken by the Head of Legal Services. All Members of the Committee recorded as present.

3.

MEMBERS CODE OF CONDUCT - DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/ or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members were asked to consider whether they had any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they were.

 

The following declarations were made:

 

Councillor Sarah Spoor

Personal interest by virtue of her parent representative on PCPW, a parent support group and her employment in a Liverpool City Region school.

Councillor Alison Wright

Personal interest by virtue of her membership of St Bridget’s Educational Trust

Councillor Chris Carubia

Personal interest by virtue of his position as Chair of Governors of a Primary School.

 

 

Legal Advice

The Head of Legal Services informed the Committee that given that the majority of Elected Members would hold positions as School Governors at Wirral Schools, it was personal choice should they wish to individually declare. The Chair further advised the Committee that give such appointments were recorded on the Council Website, under Members Registers of Interest, Councillors need not formally declare at this or subsequent meetings, unless they wished.

 

4.

PUBLIC AND MEMBER QUESTIONS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Legal Services informed the Children, Young People and Education Committee that no Public questions, or requests to make a statement had been received.

5.

Early Help Model pdf icon PDF 216 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Elizabeth Hartley, Assistant Director Early Help and Prevention, introduced the report of the Director of Children, Family and Education that provided the Children, Young People and Education Committee with an overview of the developing early help model. It provided details of insight work undertaken in the first year of the Community Matters initiative, described the emerging model and its key components, relationship to the wider children’s services system and outlined the year two work plan and pilot activity.  Appendix 1 to the report contained the Year 1 Discovery Work Plan, Appendix 2 - Why Community Matters report, Appendix 3 - Next Steps summary and Appendix 4 - Elements of the Early Help Model. 

 

The report informed that the early help model sought to contribute to the following priorities of Wirral Council’s Plan 2025:

 

  • Working for brighter futures for children, young people and their families by breaking the cycle of poor outcomes and raising the aspirations of every child in Wirral.

 

  • Working for safe and pleasant communities where residents feel safe, and where they want to live and raise their families.

 

The Assistant Director Early Help and Prevention highlighted the most important piece of learning from Year 1 had been that stakeholders perceive early help as ‘a service’, something that was ‘accessed’ and ‘delivered to’ children and families, rather than something that we can all do. Stakeholders perceived early help as sitting in the third ring, Support Services Network. It was the intention of the new model to push early help into the inner rings of Child and Family Network and Community Network, through a model based on influencing behaviour change.

 

Members questioned the Assistant Director Early Help and Prevention on a number of matters highlighted in her report. The Assistant Director responded accordingly.

 

Moved by Councillor Tom Usher and formally seconded by the Chair, it was:

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1)  the progress made since January 2019, through the Community Matters initiative, to develop an innovative new early help model be noted; and

 

2)  the approach and ongoing developmental work and pilot activity be supported.

6.

Domestic Abuse Strategy pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Elizabeth Hartley, Assistant Director Early Help and Prevention, introduced the report of the Director of Children, Family and Education that provided Members with an introduction to the 5-year partnership strategy, Domestic abuse - No excuse. Appendix 1 to the report contained Domestic abuse – No excuse Strategy 2020-25 and Appendix 2 contained the Domestic abuse – No excuse Delivery Plan 2020-25.

 

The report provided an overview of the co-production process, strategic priorities, delivery plan, and phased approach to reducing domestic abuse whilst improving support for people affected. The report and strategy were aligned to the priorities of Wirral Council’s Plan 2025:

 

·  Working for brighter futures for our children, young people and their families by breaking the cycle of poor outcomes and raising the aspirations of every child in Wirral.

·  Working for safe and pleasant communities where our residents feel safe, and where they want to live and raise their families.

 

Members were informed that in Wirral during the period 01 February 2019 to 21 January 2020, there had been 8,410 individuals known to have been affected by domestic abuse. This included 2,786 who were victims, 2,844 perpetrators and 2,780 children who had been referred to Children’s Services due to being impacted by domestic abuse. These individuals required access to a co-ordinated, accessible and effective support offer, which the partnership domestic abuse strategy would enable.

 

The report highlighted that domestic abuse was an important issue for all public services, with far-reaching implications and high cost to both the public purse and life chances. A strategic approach to reduce the prevalence and impact of domestic abuse in Wirral required a strong partnership strategy and delivery plan.

 

Members were further informed that the previous partnership strategy, Zero Tolerance to Domestic Abuse, had been one of a suite of pledge strategies relating to the Wirral Plan 2020, which had now reached its conclusion.

 

Members noted that there was a requirement to build on the work of the previous strategy with a new approach aligned to the Wirral Plan 2025.

 

Members questioned the Assistant Director Early Help and Prevention on a number of matters highlighted in her report. The Assistant Director responded accordingly.

 

The Children, Young People and Education Committee expressed their full support of the strategy and thanked the officer for all the work that had been undertaken, requesting that further updates be provided to this Committee at the appropriate time.

 

Moved by Councillor Tom Usher, seconded by Councillor Kate Cannon, it was:

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1)  the partnership strategy ‘Domestic abuse - No excuse’ be supported;

 

2)  the partnership delivery plan be noted and endorsed; and

 

3)  the partnership strategy be brought back to this committee at appropriate stages of review and implementation.

7.

2021/22 BUDGET PROCESS pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Boyce, Director of Children, Families and Education introduced his report that provided the Children, Young People and Education Committee with details of the process for budget setting as a transition year for 2021/22 and described the financial position for 2021/22, which as at Quarter 1 was deficit of £45m, and the actions being put in place to mitigate the gap.

 

These actions included a 5 STAGE phased approach and included the timeline for the 2021/22 budget setting process when budget proposals were presented to the Policy and Resources Committee for the recommendation to Full Council to set the 2021/22 budget.

 

Members were apprised that as this was a transition year, proposals had been identified and would continue to be presented to the Committee by Officers. The Committee was however encouraged to identify its own proposals for Officers to work up, if within the timescale, to be included for the 2021/22 Budget. For future years this would become the usual process and throughout the year the Committee would be identifying proposals for Officers to work up for the following years budget. Members noted that a workshop session in respect of the budget was scheduled to take place at the conclusion of the formal committee meeting.

 

Following presentation of his report, Members questioned the Director of Children, Families and Education on a number of matters as highlighted in his report. The Director responded accordingly.

 

Moved by the Chair, seconded in a number of places, it was:

 

RESOLVED – That the Council’s current financial position and process for the 2021/22 budget in this transition year be noted.

8.

Budget and Performance Monitoring pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Boyce, Director of Children, Families and Education introduced the report of the Assistant Director: Corporate Office that Members gave consideration to a report that informed that through the development of Wirral Council’s new Governance arrangements and the approval of the Wirral Plan 2025 (currently being refreshed to reflect strategic priorities, as a result of Covid-19) the Authority had committed to developing a budget and performance monitoring framework, which honoured the Council’s dedication to a more accountable, transparent way of conducting business, policy formation and decision making. The Adult Social Care and Health Performance Report Q2 2020/21 was attached as an appendix to the report.

 

It was proposed that the Performance Framework be modelled on the Covid Dashboard set up at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. This would enable clear and accessible data to be presented in a timely and meaningful way. There was a very wide range of data sets that could be included in the Dashboard, and it was proposed that the specific selection would be co-created with members to ensure it was of most relevance and benefit to members.

 

This was aligned with this is the Wirral Plan 2025. The Plan was currently being refreshed to reflect the Covid-19 situation and emerging Recovery Plans. This Plan would set out what the Council could commit to delivering over the next 5 years. Wirral’s public services: the Wirral Partnership had a shared duty to improve the quality of life for residents and the report set out the ambition for the Borough including its economy, residents and services.

The report set out the ambition for:

 

  • A prosperous, inclusive economy where local people could get good jobs and achieve their aspirations.
  • A sustainable borough that was not only environmentally friendly but one which played its part in urgently responding to the environment and climate crisis
  • Brighter futures for young people and families – regardless of their background or where they live
  • Safe, vibrant communities where people want to live and raise their families
  • Services which help people live happy, healthy, independent, and active lives, with public services there to support them when they need it.

 

Moved by the Chair, seconded by Councillor Moira McLaughlin, it was:

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1)  to ensure that Governance in Wirral allows for open, transparent, and responsive decision making the decision that robust performance and budget monitoring be incorporated to ensure that the individual policy and service committees have sufficient oversight of these areas be agreed.

 

2)  discussions take place with the Committee Chair and Group Spokesperson in early November as part of pre-briefing meetings with the aim to take forward the outcomes of the P&R Committee workshop on Performance and Budget reports, so that they can be further shaped for the purposes of the Children, Young People and Education Committee.

9.

Children, Young People and Education Committee Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 82 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members gave consideration to the report of the Director of Law and Governance that set out the proposed Children, Young People and Education Committee Work Programme 2020/21 as detailed in the appendix to the report.

 

The report informed that the Children, Young People and Education Committee, in co-operation with the other Policy and Service Committees, was responsible for proposing and delivering an annual committee work programme. This work programme should align with the corporate priorities of the Council, in particular the delivery of the key decisions which are within the remit of the Committee.

 

It was envisaged that the work programme will be formed from a combination of key decisions, standing items and requested officer reports. The report provided the Committee with an opportunity to plan and regularly review its work across the municipal year. The work programme for the Children, Young People and Education Committee was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

 

The Chair informed that in the current unprecedented times, it would be advisable to retain flexibility. A Member that suggested consideration be given to incorporating work to cover the Council’s response to Covid-19 and impact on families, a poverty strategy, food and clothing, loan sharks and issues arising from performance reviews.

 

It was noted that all suggestions would be prioritised by the Chair and Party Spokespersons.

 

Moved by the Chair, seconded by Councillor Tom Usher, it was:

 

RESOLVED - That the proposed Children, Young People and Education Committee work programme for the remainder of the 2020/21 municipal year be noted