Agenda and minutes

Mr E A Britten - Church Representative (Catholic) 

CO-OPTED MEMBERS (NON-VOTING)

Helen Bellamy - School Staff Representative

Mr N Tones – School Staff Representative

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, saying he was delighted to have been appointed as Chair of the Children and Families Scrutiny Board.

He went on to thank the previous Chair Cllr Alan Lamb for all the work he had done whilst Chair of the Children and Families Scrutiny Board. He said that one of the things essential for Scrutiny was a non-partisan basis and the only reason Board Members were selected was for the Children and Families of the City, and this reason he knew was very much taken to heart by Cllr Lamb.

The Chair also thanked previous Members who were no longer serving on this Board, they were: Cllr Linda Richards, Cllr Hannah Bithell, Cllr Denise Ragan, Cllr Zara Hussain, Cllr Chris Howley and Cllr Ann Forsaith.

The Chair provided a brief introduction and background on himself for the Board Members, and invited each person present to do the same.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 25* of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded).

(* In accordance with Procedure Rule 25, notice of an appeal must be received in writing by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting).

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

1.  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2.  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3.  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

No exempt items have been identified.

There were no exempt items.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

There were no late items.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

No declarations of interests were made at the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D Blackburn, J Senior, R Stephenson and co-opted members Andrew Graham and Laura Whittaker.

Councillor Amanda Carter attended the meeting as substitute for Councillor Stephenson.

The Chair informed the Board that Cllr Stephenson was not present at the meeting as he and his wife had recently welcomed a baby. All were doing well, and he sent congratulations to them.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 29 March 2023

RESOLVED – To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 8^th March 2023 as a correct record.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services on the appointment of co-opted members to the Scrutiny Board (Children and Families).

The report of the Head of Democratic Services provided guidance to the Scrutiny Board about the appointment of co-opted members.

The Scrutiny Board Procedure Rules within the Council’s Constitution outlines the options available to Scrutiny Boards in relation to appointing co-opted members.

The Board were advised of the following points:

Statutory voting co-optees

In addition to the options available to all Scrutiny Boards, there are also legislative requirements regarding the appointment of specific education representatives onto the Children and Families Scrutiny Board. The report set out how this statutory requirement had been met and in doing so, the Board welcomed back its voting education representatives which included:

·  Andrew Graham as the nominated Church of England diocese representative

·  Tony Britten as the nominated Roman Catholic diocese representative.

·  There are currently two vacancies related to the parent governor positions on the Board.  The primary position was currently in the process of an election with three interested parent governors. Work was ongoing to fill the secondary position with plans to write to the secondary parent governors this month.

Non-voting co-optees

The appointment of no-voting school staff representation has been a longstanding approach adopted by the children and Families Scrutiny Board. This year, both Nick Tones and Helen Bellamy had been nominated again by the School Joint Consultative Committee to continue their role on the Scrutiny Board.

Laura Whitaker had been nominated again to represent Young Lives Leeds, as the representative from the third Sector.

In addition to this, two past co-opted parent governor board members have expressed an interest in continuing as non-voting co-opted members after coming to the end of their terms of office in 2022/23. The Board were asked to consider appointing Kate Blacker and Jackie Ward as co-opted board members for this municipal year.

Responding to questions from the Board the Principal Scrutiny Adviser provided the following information:

·  The secondary and primary representatives can be appointed separately.

·  It was noted that the Boards Terms of Reference would be changing slightly with locality Youth Services moving to the remit of another Board. However, this would be clarified once the Constitution had been published.

·  The elections of secondary and primary voting co-opted members would be undertaken by qualifying parent governors via online voting. It was noted that the closing date was 23^rd June 2023 for the primary parent governor representative.

RESOLVED - To:

a)  Consider and approve the appointment of non-voting co-opted members to the Children and Families Scrutiny Board including Jackie Ward and Kate Blacker as set out in paragraph 12 of the report.

b)  Note the nominations of the Roman Catholic Diocese and Church of England Diocese to the Children and Families Scrutiny Board in accordance with statutory requirements.

c)  Note the ongoing efforts to appoint parent governor representatives to the Children and Families Scrutiny Board in accordance with statutory requirements and specifically the forthcoming primary parent governor election that should lead to a new co-opted board member at the July meeting.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services presenting the Scrutiny Board’s terms of reference.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services sets out the Children and Families Scrutiny Board Terms of Reference for Members’ information.

It was noted that Appendix 2 Article 6 – Scrutiny Boards was still being updated by colleagues in Legal as part of the wider constitution update. When updated this will be circulated to Members.

Appendix 3 of the submitted report provided an overview of how each of the Council’s five individual Scrutiny Boards this year have been aligned to Officer Delegated Functions and Executive Portfolios.

RESOLVED – To note the Scrutiny Boards Term of Reference.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services on potential sources of work for the Scrutiny Board.

The Report of the Head of Democratic Services provided information and guidance about potential sources of work and areas of priority within the Scrutiny Board’s Terms of Reference.

In attendance for this item were:

·  Cllr Fiona Venner – Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Cllr Jonathan Pryor – Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education

·  Julie Longworth – Director of Children and Families

·  Shaheen Myers – Deputy Director of Learning

·  Val Waite – Chief Officer Learning Inclusion

·  Dave Clark – Chief Officer Learning Improvement

·  Farrah Khan – Chief Officer Family Help

Members were informed that the Children and Young Peoples Plan is currently being refreshed and this would be circulated to the Board following approval at full Council as a potential source of work for the Board.

The Executive Members and the Director of Children and Families were invited to share their views on potential areas of work for the Board.

Cllr Pryor suggested EHCP’s as the numbers had increased since Covid and there had been changes to legislation. He informed the Board that the Council had been working hard to process all the EHCP’s it had received and was able to report that all the EHCP’s had now been processed. However, lessons to be learned and work was being done on this. He would be happy to bring this to the Board as soon as possible.

Cllr Venner explained that the Josh McAlistair Independent Review of social care had informed the priorities of Government. It would be important to keep checking the review as it was implemented.

Cllr Venner also listed Thriving -The Child Poverty Strategy and Future Mind Strategy were important and work on these should continue. It was noted that the impact of poverty and increase in mental health issues in children and young people were top priorities for the directorate.

The Director of Children and Families supported the proposed work sources of the Executive Members and suggested the Board invite the Voice Influence Team to come to Scrutiny Board, so Members could see what they do and ensure the voice of young people is heard.

The Director also said work was needed to continue to deliver efficiencies and use the resources to the best effect to continue a culture of excellence and respond to emerging needs. Work on the Transformation agenda and delivery board was therefore suggested as a possible work item.

Members were of the view that changes to asylum rules may impact children and had concerns that unaccompanied children could be trafficked. It was the view that it was important to keep Leeds as a safe sanctuary for them.

The Chair informed the Executive Members and Officers that during the pre-meet Members had highlighted potential work sources, many of which matched the suggestions made by the Director and Executive Board Members, which had included:

EHCP’s.

·  It was the proposal that an in depth, end to end approach should be looked at. It was suggested that a full report be brought  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To receive a report from the Director of Children and Families providing a summary of performance information relating to outcomes for Leeds children and young people.

The report of the Director of Children and Families provided the latest performance information which showed progress against measures in the Children and Young People’s Plan.

In attendance for this item were:

·  Cllr Fiona Venner – Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Cllr Jonathan Pryor – Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education

·  Julie Longworth – Director of Children and Families

·  Val Waite – Chief Officer Learning Inclusion

·  Shaheen Myers – Deputy Director of Learning

·  Dave Clark – Chief Officer Learning Improvement

·  Farrah Khan – Chief Officer Family Help

·  Peter Storrie - Head of Service Performance Management and Improvement

·  Chris Hudson – Policy, Planning and Procedures Leader

It was noted that this would be the last update on this 2018-23 Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and included progress on the 3 Obsessions. A refreshed CYPP is to be presented to full Council for adoption on 12^th July 2023. The Annual Standards Report would be presented to the Board in July and would provide details on attainment outcomes across the city for 2021/22 academic year.

Responding to a question from the Board on the figures for NEET and Not Known and general board member questions the following information was provided leading to discussions on the following points:

·  NEET and Not Known remains one of the obsessions within the CYPP. A lot of work has been ongoing in this area, there is a 14-19 Strategic Board in the city, the Director has recently written out to all the head teachers in the city asking for them to nominate individuals so there is a broad range of attendance at the meetings. The directorate is looking to second individuals into the local authority who will work 2 days a week as a strategic lead for this obsession.

·  Recently an appointment has been made for a Positive Destination Manager, one of the areas this person is focussing on is a partnership approach for tracking and supporting young people through voluntary and community organisations.

·  It was the view that an Outcomes Based Approach would be a good way to track what was being done and what success was being achieved in this area.

·  The Pathways Team and Life Coaches have a specific role to play in the NEET agenda. Members were keen to see the same resources provided to education to prevent a cycle of criminality.

·  Members were of the view that the use of numbers as well as percentages were of benefit in the report.

·  It was recognised that early intervention and prevention was the way forward which would be evidenced by data. It was acknowledged that work within this area of NEET and Not Known would only be successful if the services could build trusted relationships.

·  Tracking of individuals was required for a city the size of Leeds to ensure if young people decided to change their pathway from school education to courses this was captured.

·  The Members were of the view that any engagement with young people needed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To receive a report from the Director of Children and Families that provides an overview and update on the Youth Justice Plan 2021-24 and the ongoing work that sits underneath the strategy.

The report of the Director of Children and Families provided an overview of the Youth Justice Plan 2021-24 and the work that sits underneath the strategy. It provided an update on each of the workstreams in terms of recent activities, outcomes and next steps. It also considered the impact that the national cost of living crisis was having on children and their families, and how that impacts on offending behaviours.

In attendance for this item were:

·  Julie Longworth – Director of Children and Families

·  Cllr Fiona Venner – Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Cllr Jonathan Pryor – Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education.

·  Farrah Khan – Chief Officer Family Help

·  Helen Burton Youth Justice Service Delivery Manager

·  Patsy Burrows – Head of Service Corporate Parenting

Members were provided with the following information:

·  This Plan has been presented at full Council last year and comes to the Scrutiny Board on a regular basis. The report refers to the Child First Philosophy which means that the service sees the children in the Youth Justice Service as children first. It was noted that this did not negate the fact that sometimes they have committed serious crimes, but that they were children.

·  The Executive Member encouraged the Board to visit the team, who she said showed compassion and commitment and that the work that they do was inspiring.

·  The report refers to issues of poverty and the impact this has on increased offenses being committed. Part of the work the Youth Justice Service do is to support the families and it was noted that the Executive Member had been out visiting to deliver food parcels to the families.

·  The service have positive partnerships with CAMHS, the Police the Youth Service and the third sector.

·  The service had been part of a HMIP Thematic Inspection which looked at a particular theme of the service and had found disproportionality in Leeds black and dual heritage boys and young men were in the Youth Justice system. It was found in Leeds that a number of the boys and young men were not in contact with the services and had SEND and SEHM needs which had not been identified and therefore they had missed out on opportunities which could help them address this. Members were informed that access to education was important to the service. The Skill Mill which is at Kirkstall Forge is a good example of the work that is ongoing to support to young people, it was noted there is a positive partnership with Skill Mill. 

·  The report showed that at the last inspection in 2019 the service had received a judgement of ‘requires improvement’. The action plan to address the judgement was included within the submitted report with most of the actions completed. Another Thematic Inspection had taken place recently with positive comments received, although the final results had not been received yet, although the Service was confident, they are on track to improve from out of the ’requires  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work programme for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services requested Members to consider the Board’s work programme for 2023/24 municipal year.

The Principal Scrutiny Adviser informed the Board that Appendix 1 was the first draft of the work programme of the year. The Chair and the Board had provided significant input to the work programme, and he would work on the suggested sources of work for the next meeting.

The Principal Scrutiny Adviser suggested Board Members may like to look at forming working parties to approach some of the work suggested, as the items were broad and inclusive, and this could be fed back to the Scrutiny Board.

Members also suggested that site visits may be a useful dimension to certain items being scrutinised.

RESOLVED – To consider the Board’s work programme for the 2023/274 municipal year.

Wednesday, 5^th July 2023 at 10.00 am (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9.30am)

RESOLVED – To note that the next meeting Scrutiny Board (Children and Families will be on Wednesday 5^th July 2023, at 10.00am with a pre-meeting for Board Members at 9.30am.

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and for making his first meeting as Chair a smooth meeting. He said he looked forward to working with the Board over the coming year.

The meeting concluded at 12.45.