Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2018 were approved as a correct record.

Arising from the minutes, the Board noted the following updates:

• A list of agency representatives requested to sit on the Online Safety group had been put together, and these people would be approached.
• The Board was aware of some funding agreed by the Office of the PCC to fund online safety work in schools across Berkshire. Further information would be shared as it became available.
• The list of partners’ cascade communication approaches was growing, but the Police communications contact was missing. (Action: Shaun Virtue to provide)
• Although the Board had agreed to take the Council’s Transformation presentation as its key message from the last meeting, it had proved more difficult to convey the intention of the key message than first thought and had not progressed.
• The complaints information from CAFCASS and BHFT had been received.
• The Council’s Neglect strategy and Action Plan was due to be presented at the next Board meeting as some improvements had been made.
• The Government had received 700-800 responses to the Working Together consultation, and the Board awaited further guidance.

The Board received the Challenge Log and noted the following updates:

• No 15 – regarding concerns about the residential provider. A representative of the provider had come to the Learning and Improvement Subgroup in December, and conversation had demonstrated significant progress. The discussion had resulted in a helpful conversation about progress in safer recruitment, supervision and training and the Action Plan was signed off.
• No 16 – Alex Walters had met with the Chair of the Family Justice Board in November 17. Performance in Berkshire had improved against the national comparator, and recruitment for new judges had increased and there was a  change in the Designate Judge and a permanent appointment of Judge Moradifar. Lorna Hunt reported that care proceedings in respect of children in Bracknell Forest had reduced and should be around 30 by the end of February 2018.There remained issues around the physical capacity and conditions of the courts, and Alex Walters agreed to write on behalf of the Berkshire LSCBs, citing the Local Authority’s concerns which had been raised previously by the Director.
• No 13 – Partners were reassured that the LSCB training schedule had been reviewed. As a result core programme had been established for 2018/19 as an interim measure to ensure provision whilst the new training arrangements were agreed.
• No 8 – Partners asked whether Domestic Abuse notifications could be provided to Early Years providers as well as schools, and it was agreed that this would progress through the MASH Board. (Action: Lorna to raise with Mairead Panetta)
• No 7 – Concerns about the low number of Health referrals to the LADO should be taken forward through the CCGs, although the issue was Berkshire-wide.

Nikki Edwards, reported that the Children, Young People and Learning Directorate had recently had their annual conversation with Ofsted under the new ILACS framework which saw a 4 hour meeting split between education and social care, with the link HMIs in attendance for both. Within 3 years, Bracknell Forest could expect 2 focused visits before a short inspection however it was noted that an Ofsted inspection could be swapped for a JTAI. The Director had proposed a late September JTAI on CSE, and an inspection in the Spring around the Family Safeguarding Model implementation. The conversation would result in a written response from the Regional Director, but without a judgement.

Nikki Edwards also updated the Board on the impending restructure of senior staff in the Local Authority to combine Chief Officer roles with Adults’ services under a new ‘People’ directorate. These include Chief Officers for CSC, Education, Adults, Commissioning and Early Help .These were ringfenced to internal appointments were which were due to be published and recruited soon.

Nikki Edwards also gave an update on DfE Partners in Practice, which Bracknell Forest had been asked to apply to with 11 other Local Authorities for £2m to strengthen Children’s Services in partnership with 2-3 other Local Authorities. The Minister was due to make a decision in the next 6 weeks.

Peter Floyd, Lay Member updated Partners on the Young People’s Consultation Event which was due to take place on 6 February 2018. Young people had been asked to put forward topics, which had resulted in the following topics being discussed: bullying, peer pressure, mental health, school/college, and relationships.

Karen Roberts reported that she had taken on the Head of Service responsibility for Child Protection Conference and Review and Child Participation as an interim arrangement.

Ian Dixon reported that the Local Authority had commissioned Loudmouth productions to do theatre work in the 10 primary schools identified as highest risk of CSE referrals. Gooseberry Planet were also coming to the Designated Leads meeting to offer their services to KS2/3.

Ian Dixon also commented that recent Exclusions training had been given to Chairs of Governors and Headteachers, and had received good feedback.

Jennie Green reported that following on from the Vulnerabilities conference in November, the CCG was investigating ways to draw out common themes and build on the success of the conference. Training videos from the conference would be available for professional training and links would be made with the L+D sub group.

Jonathan Picken reported that Involve were planning the annual Bracknell cultural festival for 24 March 2018. The LSCB had held a stand in previous years, and any volunteers to support this were asked to contact Jonathan.

Alex Walters updated on behalf of Spencer Hird that CAFCASS were currently being Ofsted inspected.

a.    LSCB Performance Report Q2

b.    CYPL Performance Scorecard

c.    CAMHS Update

d.    Public Law Performance report

Alison Burnell presented the Quarter 2 performance report which had been considered at the Learning and Improvement sub-group in December.

In this quarter 40% of children did not go on to a CP Plan following an Initial Child Protection Conference. Lisa Tingle had done an audit of these cases to find out if threshold was met, and a screening process had been developed.

Re-registrations were at 42% in Quarter 2, however although these children had previously been subject to a child protection plan it was not in the last 24 months.

The number of step downs from Children’s Social Care to the Early Help hub was highest in this quarter, and the Board questioned whether this included MASH contacts.

The number of referrals to CAMHS continued to increase. There had been number of changes at CAMHS including a new online referral form and the introduction of self-referrals. Self-referrals had initially caused significant increase, but this was becoming more steady. CAMHS waiting times were also increasing, particularly regarding the ASD diagnostic service. The Learning and Improvement Subgroup had requested a BHFT representative to come and go through this information with them but it was agreed that a report from the Future in Mind/CAMHs Transformation Programme update report should be requested to provide an update to the next LSCB and an invitation to Louise Noble, CAMHS Manager to attend. (Action:  Alex Walters to contact BHFT and CCG to ask for this update.)

Julia Powers presented the MAPPA report.

Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) was in place to manage the most serious violent and sexual offenders. Offenders were categorised on their risk to the public from 1 (lowest) - 3 (highest), depending on how serious their offense was. Level 3 cases were discussed at the MAPPA strategic management board.

Agencies involved under Duty to Cooperate, including police, probation, prisons, CMHT, childrens’ services and more.

In 2017, there had been 117 MAPPA eligible cases and 11 Level 2 cases (multi-agency) compared to 10 Level 2 cases in 2016. Although small increases, the pressure on resources was recognised.

2017 – 7 Bracknell MAPPA cases included direct risk to harm to children. One at Level 3, 2 had active CP Plans.

2017 - 2 of our MAPPA offenders recalled to custody.

Julia updated the Board on the one adult Serious Case Review which had been conducted in Bracknell Forest.

Progress towards securing housing for MAPPA individuals had been made between Bracknell Forest Council and Probation. A registered provider had been found who was looking to invest in Berkshire. Secure housing would enable joint agency planning, visits and risk management of individuals under MAPPA.

Julia recommended to all partners to check their MAPPA procedures, and it was hoped that MAPPA cases would be prioritised by all duty to co-operate partners.

Overall, Julia commented that MAPPA operated effectively in Bracknell, and currently had a good working relationship with all agencies and healthy discussions and collective problem solving.

The Board thanked Julia for her report. 

Karen Roberts presented the CSE and Missing Children Strategic Sub-group report.

It was noted that the group had suffered as a result of poor attendance and lack of necessary representation.

Karen commented that there was particular concern around the increasing cohort of boys involved in county lines, which required multi-agency engagement. There was also concern around the use of hotels by drug gangs. The sub-group was looking for ways that joint responsibility could be implemented between the Council and Thames Valley Police to address the increasing profile of children subject to criminal exploitation. It was agreed that the issue needed to be discussed by the Community Safety Partnership.

Two training courses had been organised with the St Giles Trust for 30 professionals each, and these places had been filled.

The Board noted that Karen is to step down from chairing the group after three years, but would remain an active member of the group. Another chair would be sought.

Jennie Green volunteered to join the sub-group and represent the CCG.

The Board noted frustrations that due to capacity challenges, senior staff with decision making capacity were often unable to attend meetings.

Alex Walters commented that the Pan-Berkshire CSE sub-group was being reviewed, and there was an opportunity to review the membership of this group.

The Board thanked Karen for her report, and for her leadership chairing the CSE sub group.

Jonathan Picken presented the Pan Berkshire S11 report.

Liz McAuley, Chair of the Pan Berkshire S11 group had presented the report to the pan-Berkshire LSCB Chairs in November. Wokingham had now secured administration support to support the S11 process.

There was a challenge around submissions from all Local Authorities, particularly due to some entering into new arrangements but agreements had now been reached on submissions from the LA and the Children’s Trust.

It was stressed that clear expectations about the remit and scope of the group were required, as the self-assessment required honesty/transparency.

Lisa Tingle presented the CP Conference Six Monthly Report.

Arising from the last time the report had come to the Board, work had been done to include data on the multi-agency involvement as well as attendance by partners in CP conferences. This would be presented in detail in the next report but there were no significant concerns.

Advocacy remained a key area of work, to encourage children to participate in their conferences.

There had been some issues around conference invites to partners, and this was being addressed in terms of the most efficient administrative systems.

Lisa explained the screening tool which had been introduced to assess whether cases were required to go to conference, to challenge the high number of Initial Child Protection Conferences which did not proceed to CP Plans. The new screening tool was now in operation, and had already demonstrated good results and the need for Strategy Meetings to have taken place.

Domestic abuse, mental ill-health and substance remained a key area of work for the Conference team, as well as parental attendance at conference which was a subject for a future audit.

The Board thanked Lisa for attending and for her report.

Arising from discussion, the following points were noted:

• GPs had made significant efforts to submit conference reports, and this had been monitored by the CCG.
• The next report would reflect more data on partners’ engagement.

• Lisa Tingle had agreed to facilitate a Learning and Improvement workshop, on CP conferences and core group working and the Board thanked Lisa for this.

This report was deferred to be considered at the next meeting.

Partners noted that the LSCB interim training programme had been reviewed/agreed, and that further details and dates would be distributed by Alison Burnell when available. It was also noted that the Training Needs Analysis and the longer term programme would be creative around different ways to learn aside from formal training.

Lisa McNally, Sarah Parsons and Karen Cridland reported on the Health Visiting and School Nursing Commissioning contract which Bracknell Forest Council had awarded to Berkshire Health Foundation Trust.

Lisa commented that the presentation from BHFT during the tender process had impressed the Council, and current success demonstrates an existing strong partnership between the Trust and the Council.

Sarah Parsons commented that the main planned service change was increasing the skill level of staff members. A competency framework for the skills mix had been developed, to extend roles such as nursery nurses to universal clients and enable HV to focus on higher levels of need/safeguarding. The model had won prizes for innovation within BHFT. School nursing teams would be co-located with Health Visitors in Children’s Centres rather than at The Pines. There would be a joint approach for school nursing and with under 5’s to cover the full age range, and all Health Visitors would be trained to have competencies for school nursing to address the overlap.

An online resource for parents and professionals to use for Early Help advice had been established and further integration within BHFT is being undertaken of services to children.

Arising from questions, the following points were noted:

• The Children’s Centre Board had welcomed the co-location approach, and recognised the quality of service. 
• The LSCB welcomed the changes proposed, particularly the continuous work across 0-5’s and school aged children.
• Lisa thanked her colleagues across the Council who had supported the successful process, as the tender process had been complex. 

The LSCB received and noted minutes from the other strategic partnerships.

It was suggested that County Lines should be standing item on all Community Safety Partnership agendas.

It was commented that a Community Safety Team member would be a helpful representative at the CSE and Missing Strategic Group.

Alison O’Meara, Community Safety Manager had proposed a roundtable discussion to strengthen the CSP’s role in respect of ‘county lines’ and its impact locally. Jonathan Picken will attend to represent the LSCB and will feedback on progress.

1 March 2018

9 March 2018

Lisa McNally reported that Public Health had conducted the first Bracknell Forest Junior Parkrun which had attracted 200-300 children between 4 and 14 years old, and had been a success.

Lisa McNally reported that Public Health had conducted the first Bracknell Forest Junior Parkrun which had attracted 200-300 children between 4 and 14 years old, and had been a success.