Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2018 were approved as a correct record.

Arising from the minutes, the following matters arising were noted:

• The Police communications contact had been provided.
• It remained unclear whether it was possible for Domestic Abuse notifications to be shared with Early Years providers as well as school, and the Board requested that this be followed up with the MASH Board. (Action: Lorna Hunt/Mairead Panetta)
• Phil Cook had offered to chair the CSE and Missing Children Strategic sub-group. The terms of reference and membership would be reviewed to reflect exploitation work on a broader partnership scale.
• The Board noted that a new Local Authority post of Exploitation Manager had been advertised.
• Work was ongoing on the Training Needs Analysis, and the report would be considered fully at the May 2018 Board meeting.

There were no actions noted.

The Board noted the following updates to the Challenge Log:

No 5: Proposal to disband the e-safety subgroup – a final meeting was planned for the task and finish group, and findings would be brought to the Board in May 2018 with recommendations as to necessary actions and future options that ensure strategic oversight. The Board recognised that Thames Valley Police were soon to enter into the next phase on their Hidden Harm campaign, with a focus on online child abuse  which may lead to useful outcomes for the e-safety agenda. Shaun Virtue agreed to update the Board. (Action: Shaun Virtue)

No 3: Concerns were raised by NPS around housing provision for individuals identified by MAPPA – Julia Powers reported that the project to purchase properties in Bracknell Forest by Places for People and leased by the Langley House trust was progressing, and an operation model was required before purchases could begin. The project was to be presented at the Community Safety Partnership meeting over the coming months but was moving forward.

No 7: LADO referrals from Health professionals – it was noted that the situation was being monitored, and final report would be presented to the Board when available. The Board noted that the referrals had improved in Slough.

No 13: The governance and oversight of FGM in Bracknell Forest is still to be decided – a review of FGM protocols across Berkshire had been undertaken and had been sent to the LSCB as an information item as a result of Solutions4Health being commissioned for health visiting in Slough. All local authorities, health services and police would require aligned pathways. The protocol will be considered at the Policies and Procedures subgroup, and it was noted that West Berkshire would also need to review their pathways.

It was suggested that the amount of paperwork for each meeting of the LSCB may be an area to challenge. The Board discussed the suggestion of an executive summary template, but recognised that this may lead to duplication of work. It was agreed that if a report were to have a summary sheet, the summary would need to be effective and have links to full documentation for further information. The Board also recognised the impact of late reports due to internal approval processes, and how this delayed the agenda publication time. It was agreed that this issue should be

added to the challenge log.

The Board were reassured that Bracknell Forest LSCB had agreed in principle to the Serious Case Review sub-group for East Berkshire, which was progressing under the leadership of WAM LSCB.

Nikki Edwards reported on the Local Authority’s senior leadership team restructure which would ultimately lead to a joint People directorate.

Lorna Hunt had been appointed to Chief Officer: Children’s Social Care Operations, Rachel Morgan had been appointed Chief Officer: Education and Learning, Thom Wilson had been appointed Chief Officer: Joint Commissioning and Simon Hendey had been appointed to Chief Officer: Early Help and Communities. The Chief Officer: Adult Social Care Operations role had not been appointed to, and the Director of Public Health post was currently being advertised. Head of Service roles were also due to be restructured, and an update would be brought when available.

Cllr Gareth Barnard informed the Board that the Council budget 2018/19 had been agreed, and reflected no cuts to children’s centres.

Shaun Virtue reported that Thames Valley Police were running Operation Encompass, which focussed on identifying children who were present at a domestic abuse incident. Police reports could now send automatic alerts to the child’s school, if the school had signed up to the information sharing system. It was noted that it would have been helpful for the LSCB to have been formally informed to support the awareness raising and implementation. However it was on the agenda for discussion with school DSLs in the next 2 weeks and the LA will send out information to all schools. The LSCB welcomed the approach.

Shaun Virtue informed the Board of a new safeguarding team established in Bracknell and Wokingham led by Howard Rose to ensure a consistent locality approach to safeguarding with links to the PVP team. The safeguarding team would take on the most pressing cases. The Board requested that any learning from this team be shared once established. 

Debbie Hartrick informed the Board of the East Berkshire CCG merger which would be effective from April 2018. It was clarified that representation at LSCBs would remain unchanged. The Board requested a structure chart for clarity of new roles. (Action: Debbie Hartrick)

Louise Noble reported that BHFT had received a provider information request from the CQC, which meant that an inspection was due. Louise agreed to keep the Board updated, and commented that inspectors may visit/engage with partner agencies during the inspection.

It was agreed that the CQC’s State of the Nation report would be circulated to all partners for information. (Action: Jonathan Picken)

Janette Fullwood, Head of Children, Young People and Families at the CCG presented the Children and Young People’s Commissioned Services Briefing for Quarter 3 2017/18.

It was recognised that the document was the first of its kind to update all partners on the Children and Young People’s Commissioned services.

In terms of governance, the Children’s Health and Wellbeing Board was being established /refreshed and would be meeting for the first time at the end of March 2018. All Directors of Children’s Services and Public Health and Executive Members for Children’s services had been invited to participate in this group.

This Board would feed into the three Health and Wellbeing Boards and had oversight of the CAMHS Transformation’s Futures in Mind East Berkshire group (chaired by Katie Simpson, Lead GP for Mental Health) which oversaw the Transformation project. It was recognised that the system remained fragmented and so the current providers funded through the transformation project had been extended for a further 6 months until Sept 18.

The Board raised concerns around the increase in numbers of children with emotional wellbeing needs, and stressed the importance of early intervention work.

The Board commented that it would be useful to gather information about all commissioned services through all partners to get an idea of the complete system.

In discussion, the following points were noted:

• A service for mild anxiety and depression was being commissioned by West Berkshire CCG and accessed by some East Berkshire patients.
• The data and performance was available for a range of audiences, and was not specifically for LSCBs.  The LSCB however needed assurance that governance and scrutiny was being undertaken
• The Board welcomed the quarterly publication of this report and the data, but requested more detail on CAMHS waiting times, particularly those young people waiting for more than 6 and 12 months.
• It was also requested that the waiting times for early intervention services such as Kooth and Youthline be included in the dataset, along with information of the risk management and support available to the individual whilst waiting.
• The Board resolved to clarify offline who the Bracknell Forest representative was on the Future in Mind group. (Action: Lisa McNally)

·         It was noted that finding a suitable education representative for the Futures in Mind group had proven difficult.

·         It was commented that the LSCB had not had regular updates from CAMHS, /EHWB and agreed that this felt a priority area for the LSCB to have increased oversight.

·        The Futures in Mind group membership would be re-evaluated, and all invitees were encouraged to attend or send representatives.

·        The voluntary sector had not previously been included on the Future in Mind group due to conflicts of interest with commissioned voluntary groups. It was suggested that Phil Cook might join the group to represent the wider voluntary sector.

·        It was noted that the Future in Mind funding targets aimed to increase access for children and young people from 20% to 35%. NHS funded services alone saw approximately 16% of children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Jonathan Picken updated the Board on the Young People’s Consultation event held in February 18, and thanked all colleagues who had supported the preparation and operation and had been involved in the event.

The first element of consultation had been an online survey which had received around 800 responses from young people. This had informed discussion topics at the event, the outcomes of which would be used to influence work in the LSCB and subgroups.

Young people at the event had fed back that they had enjoyed the event, and felt listened to. The group had been selected to represent a diverse group across all secondary schools and 8 schools were represented, including Kennel Lane. Areas highlighted included bullying, PHSE and relationship work and there were some powerful messages. Young people had shared that they felt the consultation event or similar should be repeated.

Jonathan commented that the next challenge was to show how the LSCB had listened and would respond to the young people’s responses.

The Board was keen to involve health colleagues in future consultation exercises.

The final report would be shared with the Board when available.

Exclusions

Ian Dixon and Debbie Smith presented the Safeguarding Education Annual Report

The number of permanent exclusions in Bracknell Forest remained below the national average; 6 in 2016/17 with no identifiable trend. All permanent exclusions during the year had been from secondary schools.

During 2016-17, one permanent exclusion had proceeded to an Independent Review Panel under government exclusion guidance. The panel had quashed the exclusion decision and directed the school to reconsider. Officers had found the process to be effective.

Although there had been a national increase in the rate of exclusions, the data demonstrated the rate of increase in Bracknell Forest had slowed. It was thought that Early Intervention work may have aided this.

It was clarified that there were no Pupil Referral Units for primary school children, as the Local Authority offered additional financial contributions to keep children in mainstream education at this age.

The Local Authority was represented at all maintained Governor Disciplinary Committee (GDC) meetings, and to academy GDC meetings on invitation.

The Fair Access Panel was effective and 50/50 moves were to other mainstream schools/PRU. The LSCB requested figures for temporary moves to the Pupil Referral Unit and the amount of time spent at the PRU in future reports, although it was noted that the number was low. (Action: Ian Dixon)

Safeguarding

All schools complete annual reports on their safeguarding arrangements, and had developed a template to reflect their requirements. Most schools were using the NSPCC self-assessment tool, and including their own action plan as this was not required by the NSPCC tool.

The Board noted the Ofsted safeguarding complaint procedure, whereby the Local Authority is notified of any complaint with safeguarding concerns, regardless of the nature of the issue. Officers remained confident that there were no wider systemic issues, and commented that Ofsted were informed of the actions taken in regard to these notifications.

Significant levels of training were identified which is provided to schools and the Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) group met for three hour meetings on a termly basis, and had looked at safeguarding audits, the role of the LADO, and permanency amongst other issues. Attendance was reported to be good, DSLs are well engaged and the group included a number of independent school representatives.

The Board thanked Ian and Debbie for the report, and suggested that fixed term exclusions may be an area of focus for the Learning and Improvement Subgroup to see the impact of exclusions on a family, and the reasons for exclusions.

Children Missing Education (CME) and Children vulnerable to Missing Education

Ian Dixon presented the CME and Children vulnerable to Missing Education report.

It was noted that the Local Authority had a statutory duty to identify children missing in education i.e. not on a school roll or EHE, and in addition to the legislation maintains a list of those vulnerable to be missing in education. Any child missing for 10 consecutive days without reason, and any child missing for 20 consecutive days but on school roll regardless  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Jonathan Picken updated the Board on the Neglect Strategy and Action Plan.

Ofsted feedback to the Local Authority had recommended a local strategy on neglect, with a multi-agency approach. The Neglect strategy had been developed by a task and finish group of the LSCB. Some of the data for suggested indicators on neglect was not readily available, and would require additional resource if required. It was hoped that the strategy would be strengthened from an early help approach and would include revisions to existing documents.

The Board noted that the action plan was in progress, and agreed to adopt the neglect strategy in principle.

Alex Walters presented the business plan 2017/18 update for consultation / discussion.

The 2017-18 priorities had been assessed and included evidence of progress, and a new set of priorities for 2018/19 suggested however the Board noted that three of the previous priorities would remain ongoing work.

The four suggested areas of priority work were:

• Ensure the effectiveness of arrangements to provide Early Help provision.
• Ensure the effectiveness of the safeguarding arrangements for Disabled Children.
• Ensure that children and young people are protected from ‘online safety’ risks.
• Implement learning to ensure effective practice.

It was noted that reducing the impact of violence on children and young people should be seen as “business as usual” for the LSCB following the detailed audit work on DA and in terms of regular 6 monthly reporting, quarterly monitoring of performance data and the DA Action Plan.

It was noted that the current transformation work of the Local Authority and partners would define Early Help provision across the borough, and so this was a particular priority for the coming year.

It was proposed that areas of learning from quality assurance activity and best practice be recognised by the LSCB in order to make an impact on the wider system.

It was proposed that Emotional Health and Wellbeing become a priority for the LSCB to request assurance on progress against targets set to improve access and reduce waiting times for children.

It was also proposed that oversight of the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements be included as a Board priority.

It was agreed that an updated Business Plan for 2018/19 be presented to the May LSCB for agreement.

The Board noted the Finance report, and recognised that the income through training provision was not yet finalised. This would impact on the LSCB’s quality assurance work for 18/19 which had been funded by a surplus in training income in the past.

The Board received and noted the 6 monthly LISG report.

The report set out the range of quality assurance activity undertaken in receipt of single agency audits, S.11 returns, quarterly performance data and serious incident notifications.

Two multi-agency audits had been completed by the group, on Domestic Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse. The group had considered learning from cases, and welcomed the open approach to multi-agency quality assurance..

The LISG had considered a serious incident and had undertaken a local learning review by all partners which would be pulled into a final report which would be agreed and the learning disseminated.

Learning notes arising from roundtable discussions had been a success, and the Board was reminded that these were published on the website.

This report was deferred to the next meeting, when it was hoped that a representative of the Drug and Alcohol Action Team would be available.

The Board noted the detailed response of the Domestic Abuse Executive to the letter from the Independent Chair providing assurance on sustaining the level of services to children affected by/experiencing domestic abuse.

The Performance Report Q3 was deferred to the next meeting, and would be considered early on the agenda.

·         EDT annual report

·         Performance reports (x4)

·         Business Plan 2017-19

·         CCG escalation protocol and FGM proposals

The Board received the following items electronically, which were noted:

·         EDT annual report

·         Performance reports (x4)

·         Business Plan 2017-19

·         CCG escalation protocol and FGM proposals

Alex Walters informed the Board that lay members Peter Floyd and Hassen Boodoo had resigned from the LSCB, and offered her thanks on behalf of the LSCB to both for their hard work. It was noted that Peter Floyd had taken up the Chair of Governors role at Kennel Lane school and had served for 6 years as a Lay Member.

11 May 2018