Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Time Square, Market Street, Bracknell, RG12 1JD. View directions

Contact: Lizzie Rich  01344 352253

Items
No. Item

18.

Minutes and Matters Arising

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2018 were approved as a correct record. The following points were noted as matters arising from the minutes:

·         Jonathan Picken had met with Lisa Tingle and Mairead Panetta to discuss the final recommendations arising from the Female Genital Mutilation report. A small amendment had been made to reflect the fact that the Team Manager for Conference Review, Commissioning (Action: Lisa Tingle) Lisa would lead on reporting to the LSCB to cover FGM, and Lisa would also liaise  with FGM champions in all partner agencies.

·         It was noted that Alison O’Meara, Community Safety Manager had requested an amendment to the minutes to accurately reflect the CSP’s responsibility in promoting timescales for funding applications. It had been agreed that all partners needed time to consider and apply for these opportunities, and they would be circulated at the early opportunity.

·         Rachel Morgan had raised existing funding opportunities with the Designated Leads in schools at the earliest opportunity, and would continue to do so.

·         The children’s board under the ICS (Integrated care system) had been established, but the Terms of Reference had not yet been approved.

·         Julia Powers was due to present the the National Probation Service’s South West inspection report to the Learning and Improvement Subgroup in March 2019.

·         Alex Walters was due to make a formal request to partners for more extensive narrative to underpin performance data supplied to the Board. (Action: Alex Walters)

·         The Local Transformation Plan had been published by the CCG, and had not changed significantly since it was presented to the LSCB at the last meeting. There had been some delay to the sign off due to discussions between the CCG and Bracknell Forest Council around clarity of governance, which had been resolved. It was noted that the LSCB would request updates on progress. The published Plan could be found at the following link: https://www.eastberkshireccg.nhs.uk/our-work/mental-health-services-18s/ 

·         The online form and PDF for MASH referrals was being reviewed under the Local Authority’s Front Door transformation review. However, the Board proposed that this should be reviewed sooner within the current programme of work. (Action: Sonia Johnson)

·         The promotion of Operation Encompass was ongoing. Headteachers of all schools had been asked for their views and updates, and primary and secondary designated leads had been reminded that all schools should sign up. It was suggested that the Board could request figures on how many schools in the borough had signed up. (Action: Shaun Virtue) There were also concerns regarding children who attended schools in Bracknell Forest, but lived in policing areas who did not have the same notification process. The Board requested further information on this issue. (Action: Nick John to raise issue regionally and feed back to LSCB as appropriate)

19.

Agency Updates

·         JTAI

Minutes:

Jonathan Picken informed Partners that Philip Bell, formerly Quality Assurance Officer for the LSCB had taken up a Deputy Manager role at Involve and would therefore not be able to oversee the planned project work in regard to multi-agency training and audit activities. As a result, the proposed appointment of temporary administrative support would be put on hold while alternative options were considered.  It was anticipated that this would have an impact on the project work being undertaken, but steps would be taken to ensure that core training continued to be delivered.

 

Phil Cook reported that Involve had gone through a restructure at the end of last year to cover Bracknell and Wokingham as an aligned service. Phil would remain as General Manager, and Philip Bell had been recruited as his Deputy Manager. As a result of the restructure, Involve had changed their processes to undertakeo engagmore direct community activity and resilience work. Further details of Involve’s plans and restructured service would be circulated. (Action: Phil Cook)

 

Lucy Cooke reported that Helen McKenzie, Director of Nursing at BHFT had retired. Debbie Fulton would be the new acting Director.

 

Abigail Simmons reported that the Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board was planning training for multi-agency risk management, particularly for the transition period from children’s to adult services. A risk assessment tool had been developed to document concerns. All partners were invited to attend. 

 

Debbie Hartrick reported that Jo Barnett had been appointed by the CCG as named professional. Another member of staff, Sharon Valentine had also joined the team as co-ordinator.

 

The Board also discussed arrangements for the impending week long Joint Targeted Area Inspection on the MASH and Child Sexual Abuse in the family which was beginning on 21 January 19. This is a complex programme involving meetings with the 4 inspectorates and deep dives on 7 cases would be assessed. Members were thanked for their flexibility in attending meetings at short notice.

20.

Health Visiting and School Nursing - update

Minutes:

Chris Stannard presented an update to the Health Visiting and School Nursing service which had merged into the new 0-19 nursing service. Bracknell Forest Council’s Public Health team had commissioned Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust to deliver this service.

 

The 0-19 service brought together Health Visiting and School Nursing services, which had been co-located in children’s centres/family hubs. The co-location had been smooth and Public Health had received positive feedback. Information sharing between the services had improved as a result, which had meant that any issues were being noticed earlier. There had also been an improvement in the number of new birth notifications and increased visits, as two new Health Visitors had been recruited.

 

Since the Health Visiting and School Nursing services had been brought together under BHFT, processes such as Domestic Abuse notifications were delivered in the same way. This had freed up more school nurse support time

 

The performance of the service had remained largely consistent. A dip in the number of 6-8 week reviews in Quarter 2 had been explained to be due to mothers and babies staying in hospital, and a number of visits which had been delivered within 9 weeks. The service was broadly performing well, and was exceeding the average national figures.

 

The School Nursing service included universal checks (such as hearing and vision checks, and weight and measurements), and also targeted work such as support for nocturnal enuresis. There was also support for school teachers to support medical conditions in the classroom.

 

The new Thrive website had been designed to bring information relating to children’s health and wellbeing into one place. The website would help schools to deliver the new PSHE guidance to be implemented in 2020. Consultation with schools on this service was ongoing.

 

The Board thanked Chris Stannard for her update.

 

In response to questions, the following updates were noted:

  • The Board welcomed the joined up approach to a range of services.
  • There had been no significant change to the representation at Child Protection conferences. If children had an ongoing health need, the service would send a representative. The Board raised concerns that conferences may miss out on the health visiting/school nursing aspect if the service was not represented. It was suggested that the Local Authority Child Protection function needed to raise any concerns or required representation with the 0-19 service through its 6 monthly reporting, however capacity was recognised to be a concern.
  • It was suggested that Child Protection Conferences could make best use of teleconferences and videoconferences to be most effective.

·         The Board requested routine updates on the service going forward as a key element of the children’s workforce.

21.

Challenge Log

Minutes:

Alex Walters presented the LSCB Challenge Log update.

 

It was noted that the audit survey and training programme for children with disability had been deferred to Quarter 1 2019/20.

 

The data for the CAMHS dataset had been agreed, but needed to be confirmed with all parties. Further meetings were required to progress this. Debbie Hartrick agreed to request Janette establish another meeting date for the task and finish group as soon as possible given the expectation that the new CAMHS dataset would be operational from April 19. (Action: Debbie Hartrick)

22.

Local Authority Children's Social Care structure changes and Early Help Transformation

Minutes:

Tom Wheeler presented an update on the Local Authority’s Children’s Services transformation programme.

 

Since Nikki Edwards’ appointment as Executive Director: People Services rather than Director of Children Young People and Learning, there had been some changes to the leadership structure within the directorate.

 

The following appointments to Assistant Director posts had been made:

  • Assistant Director: Education and Learning – Rachel Morgan
  • Assistant Director: Children’s Social Care Operations – Sonia Johnson
  • Assistant Director: Early Help and Communities – Sarah Gee (to begin in April19))
  • Assistant Director: Commissioning – Thom Wilson
  • Assistant Director: Adult Social Care Operations – Melanie O’Rourke
  • Director: Public Health – Tessa Lindfield (confirmation of arrangements still to be finalised)

 

The Early Help service had been restructured to function under locality areas, based around the Family Hubs at The Oaks, Willows, Alders and Rowans. The geographies had been established based on an analysis of need in each area of the borough to ensure demand was equitable across the teams.

 

Ongoing transformation work in Children’s Services was focussed on Education and Learning, Early Help and Children’s Social Care. Within Children’s Social Care, the key programmes were the Integrated Front Door, Family Safeguarding Model, Placements and Edge of Care.

 

Tom updated the Board on progress within the Edge of Care project. The pilot programme had looked to reduce the number of Section 20 children by providing support to families at risk of breakdown. Demand for the pilot had exceeded expectation, and 23 young people had been highlighted for the pilot. Of these, 6 did not meet the threshold, and out of the 17 young people in the pilot only one remained in respite care. 

 

The Board noted areas of collaboration with Children’s Social Care at Bracknell Forest, with work ongoing with the Family Safeguarding Model partners led by Hertfordshire Local Authority and the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care. The What Works Centre had allocated four key opportunities for development for Bracknell Forest, which were:

  • Intervene earlier
  • Reduce unnecessary contacts
  • Reduce Assessment caseloads
  • CiN to CPP escalation

 

The Board thanked Tom for the update, and agreed to get in touch directly with any specific questions. Regular updates would continue to be provided to the Board and the slides circulated.

23.

Future safeguarding arrangements

Minutes:

Alex Walters updated the Board on current national thinking regarding the future multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. The Department for Education had provided funding to 17 sites to be early adopters of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA) and the interim report facilitated by NCB had been published just before Christmas and circulated with the agenda. The key issue nationally appeared to be on the arrangements for independent scrutiny with a number of different models developing. It was expected that the three statutory partners (LA, CCG and Police) would publish their local arrangements by June 2019, with implementation due within 3 months of publication.

 

In Bracknell Forest, statutory partners planned to hold a workshop to progress discussions that would inform their decision-making. However, partners agreed that a workshop with the whole Board would be also be advantageous to support this process.

 

Partners commented that in Slough Borough Council, the LSCB had been aligned with the Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board due to similarities in their cohort and demographics but both retained their unique identities and had retained the Independent Chair role. The Boards held their quarterly meetings on the same day, with a shared meeting in between the two meetings for information relevant to both Boards. There had been no change to the pan-Berkshire sub-group arrangements.

 

In RBWM, the LSCB remained individual while the Safeguarding Adults Board had merged with Bracknell Forest’s Board. The current interim independent chair was the same for both Boards. RBWM were also keen to maintain their pan-Berkshire arrangement.

 

It was noted that there was debate nationally on the role of the independent chair, as each Board sought to establish their own arrangement. While the new arrangements required partners to demonstrate independent scrutiny, there was little to specify what this arrangement should look like.

 

The Child Death process within the LSCB was likely to remain as a pan Berkshire entity, and Jonathan Picken and Tessa Lindfield, the Director for Public Health in Berkshire and chair of CDOP had met with the national lead to assess the areas of change. It was noted that Lisa McNally, formerly Director of Public Health for Bracknell Forest had moved to Sandwell Borough Council and the future arrangement for Public Health for Bracknell Forest had not yet been confirmed.

 

It was agreed that the next Board meeting would include a workshop session on future safeguarding arrangements for Bracknell Forest.

24.

Sub-group Updates

·           Child Exploitation sub group – Phil Cook

·           Pan Berks Child Exploitation Sub Group (to follow)

·           Policy & Procedures Sub Group

·           Pan-Berks S11 Sub Group

Minutes:

Child Exploitation Sub Group - Bracknell Forest

Phil Cook updated on progress of the Child Exploitation Subgroup. Phil commented on capacity issues within the group, and poor attendance from some key partners. The subgroup had been renamed the Child Exploitation subgroup rather than Child Sexual Exploitation subgroup as previously to address changes and increased understanding of wider exploitation risks for children. The Child Exploitation strategy was due for refresh, and the subgroup would be addressing this in the coming months.

 

The subgroup highlighted that they wished to maintain connections with local businesses and organisations on a wider level, such as some units within the town centre which attract young people. Maintaining engagement with the Board was also highlighted as an area of challenge/risk, to ensure that relevant data from partners was captured and shared. 

 

The Board recognised the new dimension to the local Child Exploitation challenge with other authorities placing families in the Bracknell Forest area, where the standards of support and care for young people may differ to what was expected in their home authority. The Board had spoken in a previous meeting about escalating these concerns back to the placing local authority.

 

Communication around exploitation was continuing, and was being led by Involve.

 

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

  • It was not clear how many primary schools had used the exploitation e-learning package, but this was raised as an action. (Action: Rachel Morgan /Paula Jenkins)
  • Attendance was stressed to be key to the subgroup functioning, as many actions were being rolled forward without an update. Phil had developed a template to gather written updates when an agency was not able to be represented.
  • It was stressed that the reformed LSCB Forum could be used to address any thematic issues arising from the sub-group, such as the Modern Day Slavery training which had been delivered at the last meeting.

 

Pan Berkshire Child Exploitation Subgroup

 

The Board received a written update which described the purpose of the sub group and its workplan. They had developed screening and assessment tools for all practitioners which had been signed off by the subgroup, and were being promoted by all 6 LSCBs and partners. It was noted that some local schools were familiar with their local arrangements and would continue to use a separate tool, but other partners would be expected to use the new tool. Information about this tool would be re-circulated with the minutes of this meeting. (Action: Jonathan Picken)

 

Training had also been proposed across Berkshire to improve the work around Return Home Interviews, although this had been recognised as a strength in Bracknell Forest.

 

Pan-Berks Policies & Procedures subgroup

The Board received the report of the pan-Berkshire Policies and Procedures subgroup. Key updates included work undertaken to clarify the guidance around Child Protection conferences, and guidance regarding families moving across Local Authority borders.

 

The subgroup was also addressing issues of gang activity and exploitation, modern slavery, child deaths, sexually harmful behaviour, children living away from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Child Protection Chairs 6 monthly update

Minutes:

Emma Langdon, Local Authority Designated Officer attended the meeting to present the Child Protection Chairs 6 monthly update on behalf of Lisa Tingle.

 

The report indicated that timely submission of CP1 forms from Child Social Care had seen a dip in performance, as forms were not always being completed within timescales. However, Emma commented that conferences were still quorate. The Board requested that future Chairs’ report could pick up representation by partners at child protection conferences. (Action: Lisa Tingle)

 

Emma commented that there remained issues with GP engaging with conference proceedings, and Lisa had arranged to have a discussion on the matter with the named GP Dr Katie Caird and Jonathan would report back on progress. It was stressed that some GPs and surgeries were better at ensuring representation than others, although GP reports were provided and were often useful.

 

In response to a question, it was noted that children subject to repeat Child Protection Plans were usually as a result of poor mental health of parents/carers or Domestic Abuse in the family. The nature of these issues often left to a period of improvement followed by de-escalation and then concerns re-emerging. It was stressed that the Family Safeguarding Model was improving the repeat CP rate, as a result of the new mental health worker and DAPS worker. </AI8>

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26.

LADO Annual Report and 6 month update

Minutes:

Emma Langdon also presented the LADO Annual Report 17/18 and Quarterly Update.

 

It was commented that although Health were not mentioned as a referrer, Berkshire Health Foundation Trust did believe that there had been LADO referrals. Lucy Cooke commented that there had been 16 across Berkshire during the reporting period, of which 6 had been in Bracknell Forest. BHFT also collected the data for informal discussions held with the LADO. It was proposed that Jane Fowler should contact Emma to discuss the reporting figures. (Action: Jane Fowler/Lucy Cooke)

 

The LADO had 163 contacts in the last year, and to date in 2018/19 had received 140, indicating a likely increase. Emma had delivered many multi-agency training opportunities which was thought to have attributed to the increase. The LADO surgery had also been a success, with professionals coming to seek advice on particular issues. Emma had also received more phone calls to discuss cases, and it was noted that all phone calls were followed up in writing.

 

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

  • It was requested that an agency breakdown of professionals seeking consultation be sought for the next report to gather assurance.
  • Police referrals to the LADO were low, and the Board noted a number of possible explanations for this including joint referrals done by Children’s Social Care on behalf of Police colleagues.
  • It was noted that LADO referrals were often made by health colleagues to the LADO for the hospital area rather than the child’s resident borough.
  • It was suggested that Emma could attend the named professionals meeting for the Health economy to explain the process. (Action; Debbie Hartrick / Emma Langdon)
  •  It was clarified that schools had been good at referring issues to the LADO within a timely manner.
  • The LADOs across Berkshire met regularly to compare data. Across the county, there had been low referral rates from Police. The Berkshire LADOs were investigating possible causes for this. It was commented that any data on delays with particular partners should be fed back through the LSCBs.
  • There was no national collation of data for LADO referrals to compare for population density, however it was suggested that Berkshire LADOs could undertake this exercise to understand whether Bracknell Forest had more or less referrals than their comparative neighbours, and the reasons for this. (Action: Emma Langdon)
  • Emma had attempted to work with churches and other faith groups, but had not been able to engage. Phil Cook offered Involve’s support in engaging with the local church networks to promote the LADO function. (Action: Phil Cook / Emma Langon)
  • The Board commented on what a significant impact having a full time LADO had made, and thanked Emma for her work.
  • The Board noted that its LISG would be commencing an audit of the LADO function in February 2019 and that findings from this would be reported into the Board in due course.

27.

LSCB Performance Data Q2 2018-19

Minutes:

Alison Burnell presented the LSCB Performance Data for Quarter 2 2018-19, which had been reviewed at the Learning and Improvement Subgroup in December 2018.

 

The main area of discussion had been around Early Help referrals, as it had appeared that there was a low number of referrals which proceeded to assessment. Further clarification had been sought, and all referrals were processed to the Early Help Hub or to triage, apart from those who were treated as No Further Action who were returned to universal service following support and review. Further narrative on this matter had been requested for future datasets.

 

The subgroup had considered the number of repeat Child Protection Plans, which had increased due to challenges around mental health and domestic abuse and the analysis informed by the work undertaken by CP Chairs referred to in an earlier report.

 

Children Vulnerable to Missing in Education had seen a significant increase nationally, which had been reflected in Bracknell Forest. The numbers had since decreased, and were being monitored. Further narrative on the increase would be supplied in the next dataset.

28.

NHS England on pharmacy and dentist safeguarding

Minutes:

Alex Walters presented the NHS England response to the LSCB’s challenge on safeguarding arrangements with pharmacies and dentists in the absence of Tania Atcheson.

 

It was stressed that the arrangements were dependent on sufficient self-auditing and processing, as dentists were not required to undertake random sampling of their training provision. Pharmacies were more robust, as a safeguarding question had been included in their survey. Some sampling of returns and monitoring visits were undertaken by NHS England.

 

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

  • The report stated that dentists had resolved to communicate information from their local LSCB, however it was not thought that this had happened in Bracknell Forest.
  • Pharmacists could not be CQC registered until they had undertaken safeguarding training, and were required to do safeguarding returns for the CQC.
  • It was queried whether there had been any allegations from pharmacies or dentists to the LADO.
  • It was clarified that community dental services for children with disabilities or vulnerable children came under the Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust remit, and were covered by the BHFT safeguarding team.

 

It was agreed that Alex Walters would feedback issues raised and also agenda for the pan Berkshire Chairs meeting in Feb 19.

29.

Partnership Minutes

Minutes:

The Board received and noted the minutes of the following meetings:

·         Children and Young People’s Partnership Board – 11 December 2018

·         Health and Wellbeing Board – 6 December 2018

30.

Date of Next Meeting

Minutes:

8 March 2019

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk