Agenda item

Question from Councillor Alison Wheelhouse to Councillor Steve Broadbent (Cabinet Member for Transport)

A355/London End junction, Beaconsfield

“Given that the Planning Inspector has recently upheld HS2’s Appeal against the Council’s failure or refusal to approve HS2 lorry routes, what next steps will the Council take to obtain and provide clearer, reliable information on how much HS2 traffic is expected to use the A355/London End junction in Beaconsfield; and what measures will you take to manage the increasing level of HS2 traffic on the A355 in Beaconsfield including preventing lorries using other routes in the town?”

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Anita Cranmer (Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services)

Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

“Given that the waiting list for children and young people to access CAMHS can be 18 months to 2 years, can the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services please confirm what mitigations are in place to support children with their educational needs whilst they wait to be assessed and what action is the Council taking, e.g. lobbying the local NHS Trust, to improve this situation?”

Question from Councillor Alison Wheelhouse to Councillor Steve Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport

A355/London End junction, Beaconsfield

“Given that the Planning Inspector has recently upheld HS2’s Appeal against the Council’s failure or refusal to approve HS2 lorry routes, what next steps will the Council take to obtain and provide clearer, reliable information on how much HS2 traffic is expected to use the A355/London End junction in Beaconsfield; and what measures will you take to manage the increasing level of HS2 traffic on the A355 in Beaconsfield including preventing lorries using other routes in the town?”

Response

Since receiving the Planning Inspectors’ reports, we have subsequently taken further legal advice from Counsel.  As a consequence, the Council has (to date) issued the Judicial Review challenge to the inspector’s decisions on two of the lorry routes appeals. Work is underway preparing the appeals for submission for the remaining four lorry route appeals.

We have also been pressing the contractors and HS2 Ltd to publish comprehensive Traffic Guides detailing the volumes of HS2 traffic we can expect and to provide us with monthly lorry monitoring information, which has now been supplied and officers are reviewing the data before determining the next steps.

The council has also specifically invested in monitoring the impact of HS2 construction activity in certain locations, enabling appropriate action to be taken where non-adherence of agreed routes and significant impact on traffic flow occurs. Two mobile CCTV cameras have been deployed on the A355 in Beaconsfield.  One at the junction of Amersham Road and Ledborough Lane and the other on the A40 London End/Park Lane roundabout.  In the case of both CCTV cameras, footage is reviewed periodically and contractors whose construction traffic does not adhere to what has been agreed, will be approached and instructed to take the necessary action against their sub-contractors. The Council has also used the HS2 Road Safety Fund to purchase a third camera given the extent of the impact on our network.

In addition to the cameras, the Council is funding two marshals who are constantly out on the network, and who, amongst a range of activities, monitor the impact on traffic congestion resulting from HS2 construction in real time. This enables swift action to be taken, minimising any potential impact.

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

“Given that the waiting list for children and young people to access CAMHS can be 18 months to 2 years, can the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services please confirm what mitigations are in place to support children with their educational needs whilst they wait to be assessed and what action is the Council taking, e.g. lobbying the local NHS Trust, to improve this situation?”

Response

Please find the list below of activity that the Council is leading on to support the emotional health of children and young people:

Mental Health Support Teams

(MHSTs) complement existing school support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing by providing expertise and resources to deliver quicker support to individuals who may not typically meet the CAMHS thresholds for involvement, but would benefit from accessing early support. MHSTs aim to bring together education and mental health professionals to develop a systemic and sustainable approach to children and young people’s mental health.

The impact of this intervention has been that the project has had reach to 28% of all young people in Buckinghamshire this is a rise from 16.5% last year and will increase further next academic year. Practitioners are engaging directly with students in this work, the outcomes of which are reported directly to Health and Wellbeing board.

Senior Mental Health Leads

Following the government’s response to the consultation on the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health green paper in July 2018, it is the expectation that every school and college will designate a member of their senior leadership team (or individual with equivalent whole-setting authority) to be the Senior Mental Health Lead. This role involves coordination and oversight of mental health and wellbeing provision within the school or college, with a focus on implementing an effective whole-setting approach to supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Whilst this intervention is in the early stage of development, there has been impact in that schools have started to identify senior mental health leads and raise the profile of mental health and wellbeing in their establishments. Training will be delivered in the academic year 2021-22.

Wellbeing for Education Return

The Department for Education’s Wellbeing for Education Return (WER) programme was announced in August 2020, requiring local authorities to oversee the dissemination of training materials out to schools and settings, focussing on a whole-school approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

The impact of this intervention has been that over 95% of schools attended the training and in each of these settings staff are trained to identify and address low level mental health and wellbeing needs of students and other staff as well as being clear for escalation routes through to other services.

Link Programme

The Link Programme is an evidence-based initiative led by Anna Freud Centre and funded by the Department for Education. The programme brings together schools, colleges and mental health services in a series of workshops led by Clinical Commissioning Groups to deliver sustainable change in the delivery of children and young people’s mental health services. In particular, the programme highlights the importance of taking on a collaborative approach when dealing with mental health in children and young people.

The impact of this intervention has been that there has been circulation of information regarding CAMHS and the MHSTs to schools, promotion of the newly-revamped Local Offer webpages, and exploration of ways to best deliver a school liaison group.. This further ensures that schools have the tools to address issues surrounding mental health and wellbeing for their students.

Staff Training and Support

In parallel with the Wellbeing for Education Return programme, Buckinghamshire Council commissioned several projects aimed at developing the knowledge and expertise of school staff in relation to supporting mental health and wellbeing. These included a programme of twilight webinars delivered by experts from a range of agencies and services, providing bespoke continuing professional development in areas such as emotional attachment difficulties and bereavement.

The impact of this is that across the 2020/21 academic year there were 903 attendees in total, with over 90% of evaluations indicating that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the training.

Critical Incident Support

The Educational Psychology team within Buckinghamshire Council are responsible for providing direct support to schools and settings with respect to ‘critical incidents’ In these circumstances, the focus of the educational psychologists is typically to work in close collaboration with school senior leaders in order to guide and facilitate the practical and emotional support provided to pupils, staff and families, both in the immediate aftermath and over the longer term.

The Educational Psychology team responded to 21 critical incidents during the 2020/21 academic year, across nursery, primary, secondary and college settings. The support provided ranged from advice and consultations with key senior staff through to home visits for families directly impacted by the critical incident.

The impact of this work varies depending on the specific incident, but the aims are for staff to have the mental resilience to manage a critical incident and to have the tools at their disposal to support the pupils who have been affected by it.

Future plans to address mental health and wellbeing in Buckinghamshire schools

The Department for Education announced an extension to the Wellbeing for Education Return grant funding for the 2021/22 academic year. The stated aims are for local authorities to continue the work from the 2020/21 programme whilst also helping schools to find sustainable ways of working together, and expanding existing programmes supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategic Group has identified five key areas of activity in order to deliver against these objectives:

a.                  School improvement support on best use of recovery and PP funding. Link to The Bucks Challenge Board and the closing the gap agenda, working collaboratively with Ed Psych team to establish a local evidence base.

b.                  Aspire commission for 2021/22 – updating training for school and college leads (inc. local directory and support to cascade), training to examine well-being support in a post-COVID system.

c.                   Liaison Group Well-being Champion Network developed (link to MHST). Promotion of a single whole-school approach to well-being, potentially align with a well-being award/quality mark.

d.                  Oxwell school survey – triage school results & provide bespoke support for schools with greatest need (e.g. 1:1 support, action plans).  Support for all schools through drop in clinics.

e.                  Review current support to determine areas of greatest need/impact.  Projects to include: senior MH lead training, suicide prevention training, supervision of Headteachers, ELSA, Nurture Groups, Headteacher Wellbeing Support & Advice Line, mental health and well-being training sessions.

Expected Outcomes from Future Work

·                     School staff are trained to better recognise and support wellbeing and mental health concerns amongst students and staff and able to address low level issues.

·                     School staff are clear on escalation routes for significant concerns and have experience of engagement with partner organisations such as CAMHS.

·                     A wider understanding of wellbeing and mental health issues and how they affect children and young people – both in the short and long term, and that this is everyone’s responsibility.

·                     Staff recognise and access support for their own mental health and wellbeing

·                     Where children and young people are in crisis, this is recognised earlier leading to a decrease in acute presentation at paediatric services.