Meeting documents

Apologies of absence were received from Margaret Aston and David Babb.

To declare any Personal or Dislosable Pecuniary Interests.

Mark Shaw, Paul Irwin and Katrina Wood all declared an interest as they are members of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Mark Shaw declared an interest as he was a member of Ms Macpherson’s Medium Term Plan (MTP) panel.

Monique Nowers declared an interest as she currently works for an education publisher.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10^th December 2013 to be agreed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10^th December 2013 were agreed as a correct record.

The Chairman advised that written responses to the questions raised at the December meeting would be provided for the next meeting.

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in the county to put a question to a Scrutiny Committee about any issue that has an impact on their local community or the county as a whole.

Member of public, who have given prior notice, will be invited to put their question in person.

The Cabinet Member and responsible officers will then be invited to respond. 

Further information and details on how to register can be found through the following link and by then clicking on ‘Public Questions’.

http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=788

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman provided the following update:

Members of the Committee visited the House of Commons Select Committee on 14^th January 2014 and met with Clive Betts MP, Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, Kevin Maddison (the Committee Specialist) and  Alasdair Mackenzie, Outreach Officer for London and the South-East of England. 

The Narrowing the Gap Select Committee Inquiry has received evidence from Mr Nick Gibb MP, Mr Robbie Coleman Education Endowment Foundation, Diana Warne, Head of Secondary Learning and Achievement at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Jemima Reilly, Head Teacher of Morpeth School, Tower Hamlets. The Chairman said that the Vice-Chairman and she were also able to see the school first hand. 

The Young People Ready for Work Inquiry has held a series of videoed and non-videoed interviews with young people. 

For members of the Committee to update the Committee on any issue they are investigating on behalf of the Committee.

Mr Stuchbury and Mr Irwin commented that they found the visit to the House of Commons very interesting.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and the Committee received oral evidence from the Cabinet Member.

The Chairman invited the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services to highlight to the Committee the key issues within the portfolio and whether there were any key performance issues that the Committee should be aware of.

The Cabinet Member advised that there are currently serious issues within the Children’s Services portfolio particularly around demand and capacity. She said that in terms of capacity the portfolio was seeing a large number of referrals. She highlighted that in 2009/2010 there were approximately 3000 referrals compared to approximately 7000 to date.  This is putting huge pressure on the Children In Need and First Response teams to process the referrals and then pressure on the social workers who then work with the families. The Cabinet Member said in terms of performance figures the high referrals could impact on the number of core assessments carried out within the 45 day timeframe. She said that the portfolio was working very hard to achieve the indicator and that it was being kept under continual review.

The Cabinet Member advised that the capacity issue was compounded by the fact that nationally there was difficulty in recruiting social workers and there is a shortage. The Council currently has some social worker vacancies and there are some locum social workers in place. The Cabinet Member said that this is fine for the short term but is not desirable for the long term particularly as the Council needed to embed the Munro training with all staff. High turnover of staff would making this process difficult. Recruitment of social workers is therefore a pressure and it was hoped that this would be addressed through the Medium Term Plan (MTP) process by investing more money to make social worker payscales more attractive. She said some research was carried out on social worker pay and BCC’s social worker payscales was significantly below surrounding neighbouring authorities.  It is hoped that by improving the payscales more social workers will be attracted to Buckinghamshire. The Cabinet Member advised that newly qualified social workers were easier to attract but that the difficulty was in attracting experienced social workers. A mix of newly qualified and experienced staff is required and this is also part of the Munroe requirements.

The Cabinet Member also informed the Committee that the number of Looked After Children (LAC) had risen over the last 5 years. She said that number had risen from 300 to 453 and that the portfolio was seeing an increase in the number of 15/16 year olds with quite risky behaviours some of whom require a high level of supervision or accommodation. She said that this type of care is expensive as it often means out of the county placements or secure accommodation. This produces budget pressures as it is more expensive.   The Cabinet Member commented that the outcomes for young people was the priority and said that the outcomes for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider the key strategies and initiatives for child sexual exploitation prevention, the key stakeholders and partnerships and the key role played by each of the partners. 

Contributors

Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Michelle Kukielka - Barnados

The Chairman welcomed Ms Coral McGookin, Safeguarding Business Manager and Ms Michelle Kukielka, Barnardos.

Ms McGookin advised the Committee that her role involved supporting and overseeing the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) and help drive the work of the LSCB through its sub committees. She said that the LSCB had a working group on CSE.

Ms Kulielka advised that she is the Assistant Director for Children’s Services for Barnardos, South East and Anglia Region, which covers Buckinghamshire. She said that she strategically manages the Barnardos services in Buckinghamshire of which there were 19 overall. (16 Children Centres, 1 Family Support Service, 1 Short Break Service called Little Breaks, 1 Child Exploitation and Missing Service (the R U Safe project). Ms Kulielka advised that she set up the RU Safe project in 2007.

The Committee was informed that Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) was a complex issue and that until recently had been quite low in public profile and that Barnardos had recognised this for some years. Barnardos had some services around the Country which were specifically addressing CSE with young people. Barnardos also carried out the research which identified a link between young people who went missing and CSE.  Ms Kukielka said that Bucks was very quick to respond to a scoping exercise carried out which identified that there was an issue of CSE in Buckinghamshire, which was very forward thinking at the time and Buckinghamshire started  working on the R U Safe project early 2006 in partnership with Addaction and Barnardos.

The Cabinet Member commented that CSE can be a hidden problem and that no Local Authority was immune. She said that Thames Valley Police  (TVP) identified 170 young people at risk of CSE. A figure she said is of great concern. She highlighted that it is not just girls at risk of CSE but boys also. The Cabinet Member said she was encouraged that the portfolio had received £200k extra funding following the MTP process and that the issue had been reflected in the Strategic Plan for the County Council. The Cabinet Member advised that the funding would primarily be used to fund staff to work in partnership with the Police and other partners.  

Ms McGookin advised that the Council used the government definition for CSE which is "Sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 involves exploitative situations, context and relationships where young people or a third person or persons receives something (such as food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, or money) as a result of performing, and/or others performing on them, sexual activities. In all cases, those exploiting the child or young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources. Violence, coercion, intimation are common. Involvement in exploitative relationships being characterised in the main by the child or young persons limited availability of choice resulting from their social, economic or emotional vulnerability"

Ms McGookin advised that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the measures in place for the protection of children using the internet.

Contributors

Councillor Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Simon Billenness – Chairman, Child Safeguarding Board Sub-Committee Internet Safety

Michelle Kukielka - Barnados

Papers

Children Protection and Internet Safety; a report to provide information and an update on the progress of the work of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board esafety subcommittee.

Mr Simon Billenness, Chairman, Child Safeguarding Board Sub-Committee Internet Safety was welcomed to the meeting.

The Committee had received a written report on Child Protection and Internet Safety.

Mr Billenness advised that according to an Ofcom report 47% of young people owned mobile phones which could access the internet. Young people can also go online through gaming and can establish a rapport with people. Recent results in the BCC Young People resident survey identified that 31% of young people said that they had people on their social networking profiles who they did not know personally. To address the concerns the E-safety sub -committee of the LCSB has been raising awareness with children, young people and parents by showing them how to set up devices and talking about conduct.

Mr Billenness advised that recent events included engaging a Theatre company to deliver a production to highlight to children and young people how to keep safe online and the risks. The aim is to deliver the programme to primary, secondary and grammar schools across the County. Mr Billenness said that the programme was very successful and produced evidence of young people changing their behaviour. Young people were involved in the programme from the start and also helped with the evaluation. Mr Billenness said that the young person’s perspective was very important as they provided useful information to support the delivery. Officers also re-visited schools to ask young people whether they remembered what the production was about and whether they did anything differently as a result of seeing the production. Comments from young people included: "I am more careful about what I put online" and "I am only friends online with people that I know".  

Members then asked questions. The questions and answers are summarised below:

How do you see Internet Safety working within your portfolio strategies?

It is fundamental as it is safeguarding young people. If we can raise awareness of internet safety it will link to the Core Strategy of providing effective safeguarding for all children.  It will also link to the corporate plan to protect the most vulnerable.

How will you be measuring Internet Safety?

There isn’t a direct measure for Internet Safety.

The Committee could perhaps do a Select Committee Inquiry on Internet Safety

As Corporate Parents it is important that all County Councillors are able to highlight how to use the Internet safely.

Please can you provide the Committee with a brief overview of the Internet Safety programme and how it works? What key partners are involved? What re the key areas of risk to young people?

In terms of the multi-agency approach we have the representatives on the Board, some of those are Ambassador trained by CEOP which means that their role is to go out and train other people.

We are also carrying out some pilot work with primary schools to look at how we can raise awareness with parents. It is a multi pronged approach. We are trying to change the conduct of young people,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Questions to the Cabinet Member to provide an update on the adoption campaign.

Contributors

Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services. 

The Chairman invited Members to ask the Cabinet Member questions on the Adoption Campaign.

The questions and answers are summarised below:

Can you please provide us with a brief update on the adoption campaign?

The current campaign has been very successful in creating interest. We have learnt that the majority of those expressions of interest came through Google which is quite interesting and something we can build and learn from in terms of our media approach.

We are actively working with our families to achieve a suitable match. We also have a pool of children who are quite difficult to place for adoption and this needs some further work.

Are you able to speed up the process through the courts?

We have to shorten the process and we are working hard to reduce the time it takes from the initial enquiry to the end of the process.

We are meeting much shorter timescales than previously. As part of the adoption reforms we invited a company to undertake a diagnostic service on our adoption services and see what we could make improvements. As a result we are working with Milton Keynes on developing a family drug and alcohol court. The aim is that families where drugs and alcohol is an issue agree to work with us and the courts in a different way so that we can work better with those families.

In terms of permanency we have improved and increased the number of family of group conferences to see if there is anyone in the wider family who may be suitable to adopt the child. We have also streamlined the adoption panel process by looking to see if it is possible to reduce the amount of paperwork, arranging more panels, training for social workers who write the reports and arrange adoption activity days. 

We heard earlier how successful the adoption campaign had been and that you had received many initial enquiries but only 25 children have been adopted. What was your target?

The target is to recruit and improve 30 adopters and we are well on the way. There is a lot of interest but we need to be rigorous in the recruiting and matching process which means that there will be a large number of people fall out from those enquiries.

Is the department at capacity to deal with the current demand?

The department is over capacity. In terms of caseloads most of our units are operating at overcapacity. It is hugely variable geographically with the areas of greatest deprivation having very high caseloads. The teams are all working at capacity and we are working hard within our financial constraints to manage that.

RESOLVED

That the oral evidence be noted

The Chairman welcomed Mr Chris Munday, Service Director for Learning and Skills Mr Raza Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Bucks Learning Trust and Mrs Amanda Hopkins, Director of Education, Bucks Learning Trust

The Chairman Advised that Mrs Hopkins was new in post and invited her to introduce herself to the Committee

Mrs Hopkins advised that she was currently Chief Executive Officer for Broughton Meadow Education Trust which is in Buckingham and is part of Broughton Meadow Academy. The Trust is also responsible for Grenville Combined School and the new school which will be opening. She advised that there is initial teaching training at the school and that 40 graduates a year were trained who are then employed in Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire. She advised that she had recently been appointed as Director of Education for the Bucks Learning Trust and would be starting the post full time after Easter following a gradual change over.

The Chairman invited the Committee to look at the Select Committee Inquiry report and thanked the Committee and Officers for all their hard work and contributions.

The Policy Officer advised that the report was the product of the work of the Committee over a period of months where numerous stakeholder and witnesses had been interviewed. He advised that if the report was agreed it would be submitted to Cabinet who would be invited to respond to the recommendations. The response would then come back to a future Select Committee.

The Chairman then took Members through each of the recommendations.

RESOLVED

That the Narrowing the Gap Select Committee Inquiry report and recommendations be agreed and referred to the Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet and any other relevant decision makers for consideration, requesting an Executive Response. 

To consider and agree the updated Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee Work Programme 2013 - 2014. 

Contributors

Councillor Mrs Val Letheren – Chairman of the Committee

Michael Carr– Scrutiny Policy Officer, Policy, Performance and Communications

Papers

Appendix 1: The detailed Education, Skills and Children’s Services Work Programme 2013-2014 and Committee Agenda Plan, from 18^th February 2014. 

The Committee considered a report from the Policy Officer on the detailed Annual Committee Work Programme 2013-2014

RESOLVED

That the agreed Education, Skills and Children’s Services Committee Work Programme be noted.

To note the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 25 March 2014, 10am, Mezz room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks

Members noted the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 25 March 2014, 10am, Mezz room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks