Agenda and minutes

The Board gave introductions and the following agency updates were given:

Jennie Green informed the Board of a new Child Protection Information System, which was an online link between Local Authority systems, and various health systems such as urgent care centres and A&E which identified children subject to CPP and LAC. It was expected that most Local Authority systems would go live by September 2017, although Bracknell Forest’s system was due to commence this Summer. The Board requested regular updates once the system had been launched.

Peter Floyd informed the Board that the consultation event with young people due for July 17 had been delayed by an issue with confirming school attendance. The event was now due to be held in September/October 2017.

LornaHunt informed the Board that the recent Bracknell Forest Local Authority SIF Ofsted inspection had been graded ‘Good’. There had been three areas graded as outstanding in Bracknell Forest: Children looked after and achieving permanence, adoption performance and experience and progress of care leavers. The report recognised good partnership working, ambition for children, and quality of leadership. Inspectors had commented that thresholds had been well embedded and applied consistently. There were five areas for improvement identified and an Action plan was required by Ofsted and would be discussed at a future LSCB. Lorna thanked all partners who were interviewed for the inspection, and invited all colleagues to read the report which had been published online today.

Lucy Cooke informed the Board that BHFT had been unsuccessful in a recent tender for Health Visiting and School Nursing Services in Slough, which they had been providing up until this point. The successful bidder, Solutions for Health, would be delivering the service from 1 October 2017,. The Board recognised the potential for impact resulting from this change, and noted that the Bracknell Forest tender process for health visiting and school nursing was currently ongoing.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 May 2017 were approved as a correct record.

The following updates were provided arising from the minutes:

• It was noted that a CAFCASS representative for the Board was still sought, and that CAFCASS representation was a national issue. The Chair resolved to escalate the issue further..
• The Board noted updates from Abigail Simmons who had sent apologies, and recognised that two full time approaching adulthood workers had been recruited to work across Children’s Social Care and Adult’s Social Care. These workers would be involved in the lives of young people from the age of 14 to 25, attending reviews where appropriate and would be involved in their transfer.
• Abigail Simmons had also sent notice regarding the LSCB not being involved in SAPB consultation, and commented that Debbie Hartrick was the LSCB representative on the SAPB in addition to representing the CCG and SAPB Board manager and Gill Vickers had sent a letter to the LSCB Board manager informing them of the changes. The merger of Bracknell Forest and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead SAPBs had gone ahead, but the Board commented that they did not want to lose the links with adults’ services.
• Jonathan Picken had approached his counterpart at RBWM to raise concerns around the referral pathways for schools on the border of two Local Authorities, like Ascot Heath Infant School. He had requested that any relevant materials sent to RBWM schools also be disseminated to those Bracknell Forest schools bordering RBWM. It was recognised that this issue is likely to occur within other LSCB areas and will therefore be raised with the pan-Berkshire Board.

Sarah Bellars gave an update on the Strategic Transformation Partnership work .

While the STP had previously stood for System or Strategic Transformation Plan, it was now called a Partnership.

Sarah explained that in 2012, East Berkshire had a failing hospital and poor health economy. Targets and standards were not met. By 2017, all health services in East Berkshire had improved, with the majority judged to be ‘good’, amidst increasing activity and demand across the health and social care sector.

The Strategic Transformation Partnership had been established to address place based commissioning, the lack of funding available for health partners, and the different ways health partners were funded to instil competition. Some partners were funded by volume and others were paid a lump sum regardless of the number of patients.

Accountable Care Systems had been established on a national level to group areas together, however Bracknell Forest had been included in the Berks, Oxon and Bucks (BOB) group. Sarah commented that since patients in Bracknell tended to use Frimley Health services, it was illogical to group them with Bucks and Oxon patients. A challenge had been issued to NHS England to suggest that an STP be established around Frimley Health, to include 5 CCGs, and 5 Local Authorities. Sir Andrew Morris, CEO of Frimley Health had been appointed as the lead for the Partnership. When the STP had been discussed with leaders of health and social care, it had been agreed that locality approach to services was very important. 

In June 2016, a draft first plan and key priorities was created, then in October 2016 the plan was submitted to NHS England (having been signed off by all involved). In Spring 2017, Frimley Health was chosen to go forward as a pilot, along with West Berkshire who were also accepted.

Since the approval, Sarah commented that the arrangements had been working well, with budgets pooled and social care wrapping around.

The key priorities for the Frimley Health STP were:

• Prevention and self care
• Long term conditions
• Frailty including the Last 1000 Days campaign
• Redesigning urgent and emergency care to simplify and create capacity
• Reducing variation and health inequalities

Sarah explained that the benefits of the Partnership included having a better co-ordinated response across health and social care, a ‘no wrong door’ approach, increased partnership working and connectivity, and it was hoped that the Partnership would give patients confidence in treatment they’re offered. Work was now beginning to develop and upskill the unregistered social care workforce. 

Since the establishment of the STP, Sarah commented that Frimley Health had seen an increase in funding flow and had received funding to transform mental health liaison services to resolve a previous inequity between Royal Berkshire Hospital, Frimley and Wexham amongst other funding.

In response to discussion, the following points were noted:

• While not specifically children’s services, the focus on children was implicit throughout the transformation and the workstreams. Sarah commented that if long term conditions and frailty were improved, there would be more capacity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Lorna Hunt, Chief Officer: Children’s Social Care presented the Family Safeguarding Model Update for July 2017.

Based on DfE Innovation funding, the Family Safeguarding Model was being implemented in Bracknell Forest starting from Autumn 2017. The first strategic partnership board was due to meet next week, involving Police, Health, Probation and Adult Services representatives. Recruitment was underway to the roles of mental health, substance misuse and domestic violence workers to be placed in children’s social care teams.

There are four elements to the model:

• Multi-disciplinary Family Safeguarding Teams;
• A core skills set with Motivational Interviewing at its heart;
• A structured ‘workbook' approach to assessing parent's ‘capacity for change';
• An outcomes based performance framework.

York Consulting had been appointed to undertake the evaluation of the project, and each Local Authority would be individually evaluated before being combined with Hertfordshire at the end of the period. It was hoped that savings could be demonstrated.

It was hoped that the project would begin in mid-late October, depending on recruitment to all posts and the LSCB will be consulted/kept updated as appropriate

Alison Burnell presented the LSCB Performance Report for Quarter 4 of 16/17 for information to the Board, as the dataset had been discussed in detail at the June Learning and Improvement Subgroup but the report had not yet been updated to reflect those discussions. Any further comments on the dataset were to be sent to Alison.

It was commented that the datasets within Children, Young People and Learning data would sometimes cover different timescales and this was being actively addressed by the Performance and LSCB teams.. Ofsted had also commented in the LSCB report that some data received annually to the Board should be quarterly updates and this will be reviewed.

Lisa Tingle, Conference and Review Team Manager presented the CP Chairs Annual Report 2016/17.

The Board noted the five recommendations from the 2015/16 Annual Report and the actions taken against them.

The Board were reminded that the number of children subject to CP plans had increased from 115 in 2015/16 to 171 at end of 2016/17, however the Board noted that this reflected the national trend of increase over the last 8 years and was more in line with other LAs.This issue had been subject to independent review and a slight decrease was noted in Q1.

With regard to the inquorate conferences, Lisa had conducted dip sampling and found no common cause of this.

The Board noted the priorities for 2017/18, relating to:

• Screening transfer in Child Protection conference
• Inclusion of PLO cases in the audit of CP Plan
• Clarification and review of expected input of CMHT and CAMHS partners
• CP Chairs and Children’s Social Care managers to have bi-monthly meetings
• Specific actions to be taken if child’s safety does not improve within specified timescales.

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

• The Board were glad to note an improving picture with regard to multi agency participation, but noted the concerns regarding conferences being quorate  and the sufficiency of information with CAMHS and CMHT as an area for investigation. Lucy Cooke agreed to review and discuss further with Lisa. (Action: Lucy Cooke)
• Data for partners such as probation and schools input had not been included in the 2016/17 report, but would be monitored from Q1 of 2017/18.
• Schools engagement during school holidays was confirmed to no longer be an issue as appropriate arrangements for cover had been made.
• GPs in Bracknell Forest were well regarded in terms of their engagement in  Child Protection processes and the number and quality of reports to CPPs compared to other Local Authorities.
• The Board thanked Lisa for her work to design conference training for core partners to prepare for conferences which will be included within the LSCB programme of multi-agency training this autumn.

Lisa Tingle presented the LADO Annual Report 2016/17, and the Board noted the key findings and recommendations.

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

• There had been a 58% increase in contacts with the LADO which was seen to reflect improved awareness and improved recording arrangements.

• The LADO had been surprised by the continuing low number of contacts from health professionals but had not drawn any conclusions. In the past, the number of police contacts had been low, but these had now increased. It was agreed that this would also be considered by Lucy Cooke (Action: Lucy Cooke)
• The Board was reminded that the data included all contacts with the LADO, not just the ones where there was further action undertaken
• It was agreed that the LADO workshop which was unfortunately cancelled for the April 2017 Forum would take place at the October Forum to continue to raise awareness amongst partner agencies.

• The LADO and LSCB Business Manager had both tried to contact Royal Military Academy (RMA) Sandhurst with no response, and the Board was concerned by this. Anyone with a contact at the RMA was asked to share it and Phil Cook undertook to do this..
• It was confirmed that the permanent LADO would be a full time post.

Karen Roberts presented the Domestic Abuse Annual Report, on behalf of the DA Executive, of which she is Vice-Chair. The Board recognised that the day of the meeting was the Remembrance Day for Victims of Honour Based Violence.

The report indicated that Bracknell Forest had had the lowest number of repeat rates in Berkshire, which was an improving picture.

There had been an increase of 27%  in high risk cases referred to MARAC than in the previous year, with over half cases being referred from the police. Much work had been undertaken in Children’s Social Care to raise awareness of MARAC, and so the increase in referrals may reflect a higher awareness and more appropriate referrals rather than an increase in activity.

The PICADA group did not run in 2016/17, due to a lack of funding and only 13 staff of an original 32 trained staff remaining in the organisation. However, Parents and Children Together (PACT) had developed a new service called Bounce Back 4 Kids which would start from September 2017, with a specific teenagers’ service alongside and work has progressed to develop services offered within early help .

The Domestic Abuse Executive had proposed that the action plan for FGM and Honour Based Violence be taken to Community and Engagement Group of LSCB to discuss, and Mairead Panetta had met with the group to discuss.

In response to members’ questions, the following points were noted:

• All women are now being screened for FGM at antenatal visits, and this had not created any issues for health colleagues.
• The Board were asked to note the information item ‘Safer lives’ which was circulated electronically. It was suggested that this could be revisited at the LSCB  Forum item under the Voice of the Child.as it reflected young people’s perspectives of Domestic Abuse. A Berkshire Women’s Aid annual report had also been circulated as an information item.
• The LSCB was made aware of concerns during the Ofsted inspection that not all practitioners were aware of domestic abuse services available for children. Any partner with queries should refer to the DA practitioners guide which was regularly circulated and would be made available on the LSCB website. (Action: Alison Burnell).

• The SAFE programme was funded by PCC, with a view that the contract would include evaluation and reporting services.
• The PACT Bounce Back service had been funded in conjunction with Early Help and PACT self-funding.
• The LSCB has requested assistance in reviewing the LA’s eLearning relating to honour based violence and FGM, but proposed that consideration be given to multi-agency training pathways in this area as practitioners have identified  the above areas as a training need. . (Action: Karen Roberts to raise)

Karen Roberts presented the CSE/Missing Strategic Sub-group Update.

Reduced attendance was hampering progress of the sub-group, particularly in the last 6 months as the CCG were no longer a part of the group and others were not attending. Karen agreed to discuss further with the Chair as decisions had been delayed due to poor attendance. (Action: Karen Roberts/Alex Walters)

The LSCB recognised the achievements of the group, including positive results from SEMRAC, Missing and Return Home Interview (RHI) work. However, the particular social worker who had conducted many successful RHIs and one to one work, was now on maternity leave. Cover for this post had been arranged, but the Board was asked to monitor the impact of this.

A recent social media campaign for CSE led by the Council had used messages from young people who were victims of SCR in Bristol. Karen encouraged partners to promote CSE prevention through their communications departments.

The only CSE training course provided in the last 6 months had only attracted 6 attendees. Karen raised training as a concern, as the Board had recently become aware of changes/reduction to the Council’s Learning and Development resource, and the LSCB’s Ofsted inspection had raised this as an issue. There had not been good take up of the online CSE training either. The training needs analysis work had commenced for the Board, and Jonathan agreed that CSE would clearly be incorporated.

County Lines was recognised as a new area of work for the sub-group, and it was not clear how best to include this within the existing workstreams given the complexity of the work. An organisation of ex-gang members had been commissioned by children’s social care and the Police to speak to young people to educate them on the dangers of drugs and gangs. Sonia Johnson, Head of Service in CSC and Police leads were putting together a report on requirements to tackle County Lines going forward.

Jonathan Picken commented that CDOP were doing themed work regarding the national and regional increase in stabbings of young people, and there was significant concern about gang based violence. Jonathan agreed to report back to the Board on the CDOP work..

The challenges and risks to the sub-group were:

• Not yet being involved in the Youth Coaching/Sports sector, but Phil Cook and Involve were assisting the LSCB with this work on raising awareness/providing advice.
• A stocktake of CSE training provided within schools had been recommended by the Council Overview and Scrutiny committee but it was recognised that CSE training was not standalone but frequently incorporated into PHSE activity and also covered by work within schools undertaken by the YOS and the Youth Service on broader issues of sexual health. The Lay Member had also looked at arrangements in two secondary schools which confirmed issues were being addressed ..
• Resourcing of county lines would be considered further once the report being currently prepared is completed.

Low level reporting into SEMRAC had been raised with Health colleagues, and it was hoped  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Alex Walters presented the LSCB Challenge Log for 2016/17 and 2017/18.

The Challenge Log for 17-18 had not been updated further since May due to the inspection but this would be undertaken and brought to next Board meeting in September 2017. The Board was assured that all identified challenges/issues items have been taken forward and are subject to work in progress.

The Board received and noted the Ofsted inspection findings for the LSCB which had been formally published today with a judgement of ‘Good’

The Chair commented that the report clearly recognised the ownership and collective constructive challenge demonstrated by all partners to improve safeguarding arrangements. The LSCB partners and all members of the sub groups were thanked for their contribution and support of the Board and its work.

The recommendations arising from the report were:

• The need to conduct training needs analysis and undertake assessment of quality of Single Agency Training
• Improving the Performance Dataset

Alex Walters presented the JTAI thematic CSE report which had been published last year. It had been hoped that the JTAI Domestic Abuse thematic report would be available for the meeting, but this had not yet been published. The JTAI theme was currently Neglect, and Wokingham LA had been recently inspected. The JTAI theme from January 2018 will be Child Sexual Abuse.  The Board recognised the need to prepare for undertaking  multi-agency audits required by the JTAI methodology, and it was agreed that the LISG would progress this.

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

• Nationally, there had been an increasing number of LSCBs rated Good. Three LSCBs been judged Outstanding in the past year. 
• The Board recognised that Training and Professional Development was a limiting factor
• The Board thanked all partners and participants in the inspection, and congratulated all involved on a Good outcome.

The LSCB Annual Report 2016-17 had been delayed due to delayed data from partner agencies and the impact of the recent LSCB inspection on capacity.

The final dataset had been submitted in the last week and Jonathan would be completing the draft report which would be circulated electronically for comments, and brought before the Board in September for signoff.

Jonathan Picken informed the Board that he would need to submit a list of names to the CCG’s Violence and Exploitation training for all partners in East Berkshire in November 2017. Nominations were welcomed. It was hoped that a cascade approach could be taken to disseminate learning from this event.

Jonathan also reported on concerns about racist abuse and assaults in the Borough, which was being addressed by partners meeting to coordinate arrangements and this would be reported back to the LSCB alongside recent analysis and data on hate crimes by Thames Valley Police. In addition Jonathan and Justin Whitlock (CSP) will be working with colleagues involved in coordinating early help to review partner agencies responses to early signs of children’s exposure to extremist ideologies.

Karen Frost informed the Board that Early Help were holding an open day for all professionals to help support awareness and understanding of the service on 4 October 2017, 11am to 4:30pm at the Willows Children’s Centre.  

22 September 2017

The next Board meeting was scheduled for 22 September 2017.

·         Safe Young Lives: Young People and domestic abuse (Report)

·         Berkshire Women’s Aid Annual Bracknell Monitoring Report

·         ‘Time to listen’? a joined up response to child sexual exploitation and missing children

The Board received and noted the following information items:

·         Safe Young Lives: Young People and Domestic Abuse (report)

·         Berkshire Women’s Aid Annual Bracknell Monitoring Report

·         ‘Time to Listen’ – a joined up response to child sexual exploitation and missing children