Agenda item

The People Scrutiny Committee are invited to consider the proposals for the development of the Children and Young People and Families’ Plan and provide feedback on the proposed priorities to enable the development of the final plan.

The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Help presented the report which invited the committee to consider the proposals for the development of the Children and Young People and Families’ Plan and to provide feedback on the proposed priorities to enable the development of the final plan by the Strategic Alliance for Children and Young People before it was recommended by Cabinet for endorsement and adoption by the Full Council.

 

The Corporate Director, Commissioning, Quality and Partnerships provided an overview of the report and the work that had been undertaken to date.  In order to deliver the vision in this area, a set of emerging priorities have been identified and classified into six themes which were set out in the report.  The committee’s feedback was sought on the themes, which would assist in the development of the plan to be considered by Cabinet in September and onto Full Council.

 

The committee considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, the following points were raised:

 

·                A number of councillors thanked the leadership team in Children’s Services for their work undertaken to date

·                Points were raised with regard to how resources could best be targeted, the importance of early intervention, issues around family breakdown and the recruitment of more foster carers, and the council’s work in these areas was noted

·                The Corporate Director noted that the council, working with partners, aimed to give children the best start in life.  Partners were fully engaged in the development of the plan

·                There would be constant review of the action plan in this area and a regular process around tracking actions was welcomed

·                A discussion was held in respect of the roles of the Strategic Alliance for Children and Young People and local alliance groups.  The local alliance groups brought together a range of local organisations who could provide information at a local level and all councillors were encouraged to be aware of local alliance groups in their area and how they could assist in the promotion of these

·                A point was raised as to how to include representatives of non-commissioned services.  In response, the Corporate Director expressed a commitment to involving people in conversations and the encouragement of further engagement

·                In response to a question, the importance of the council and partners working collectively was recognised.  There was felt to be strong leadership across the partnership and that alongside the action plan, the measures were in place to ensure required outcomes

·                The Corporate Director for Education and Learning noted that the council had built strong relationships with schools, with a shared understanding of working together to achieve better outcomes for all

·                A point was raised with regard to the importance of data sharing in safeguarding issues

·                Comments were made with regard to the language used in the plan and the need to ensure it was clear to read, the financial implications of the plan and the need for continued monitoring through scrutiny

·                In response, the Executive Director for Children reminded councillors that any cases of concern must be escalated through the appropriate channels.  She also made reference to the critical relationships with health colleagues, the impact of Covid-19 on the service and peoples’ lives, the importance of sharing information and the key role of early intervention.  The council and it’s partners could approach these issues together but it was recognised as a difficult time

·                In response to a point raised, it was noted that the service was in the process of undertaking a viability check in respect of the child care sector.  In addition, services provided by children’s centres were being looked at to ensure that hubs of support were in the right places

·                A point was made that children should be thought about before any decisions were taken

·                It was noted that there were no young people represented on the Strategic Alliance and whether this should be considered

·                In response it was confirmed that conversations with young people were ongoing and that much of the work undertaken in respect of the plan to date had come from work undertaken with young people.  This would be kept under review

·                In order to deliver what was required, there would be a set of outcomes which would be tracked over a period of time

·                The Executive Director for Children noted that Children’s Services was a complex directorate and that life outcomes for children were not currently where they needed to be.  There was a need to be able to prioritise in several areas with the biggest challenge to keep families at the heart of looking after their own children

·                More resources had been put into front line services.  There was a need to have better resources locally moving forward

·                The service was making plans for a potential local outbreak of Covid-19 which included discussions with schools to ensure risk assessments were in place and discussions as to how the council could support families living in poverty.

 

The Chairman thanked the Portfolio Holder and officers for the report and for their work and leadership in this hugely ambitious area.  Useful comments had been made by the committee which could be taken into account as the plan was developed.  It was noted that a report with the final plan would be brought to Cabinet and Full Council later in the year.  A request was also made for a further report to scrutiny at an appropriate point.

 

The Portfolio Holder thanked the committee for their very helpful debate and noted that comments raised would be taken on board.  In addition, he referred to the impact of Covid-19 in this area and also the importance of early intervention.  He reiterated the importance of councillors contacting the service if they had concerns.

 

It was proposed by T Coombs seconded by M Rennie

 

Decision

 

That the People Scrutiny Committee:

 

1.    Have considered the proposals for the development of the Children and Young People and Families’ Plan and provided comments as set out above

2.    Have provided feedback on the proposed priorities to enable the development of the final plan by the Strategic Alliance for Children and Young People before it is recommended by Cabinet for endorsement and adoption by the Full Council and provided comments as set out above

3.    Note and endorse the shared commitment of the partnership as set out

in the Governance and Terms of Reference of the Dorset Strategic

Alliance for Children and Young People

4.    That the action plan associated with the Children, Young People and Families Plan should be monitored by the People Scrutiny Committee.