Archived decisions

p F. Allgood

p C. Bailey

p D. Blampied

p Mrs. E. M. Byrom

p B. D. Dash

p P. Edgar

p K. Evans

p Mrs. J. K. Frankum

p K. Gill

p G. M. Hockley

p R. J. Kimber

p Mrs. P.G. Peskett

p S. H. Read

p J. K. West

p P.A. West

p S. Wheale

61.

APOLOGIES

No apologies were received under this item.

ACTION

62.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

63.

MINUTES

The Minutes of the Committee held on 5 July 2007 were signed as a correct record subject to the inclusion of Mrs P.A. West in the attendance list and the deletion of Mrs K. Heron.

Matters arising thereon:

Minute No. 52 - Non County Placements and Independent Fostering Provider Placements - in response to a query raised at the last meeting, the Legal Adviser advised that it was the County Council's normal practice not to place a child under the age of two years (or children with conditions such as asthma) with either fosterers or adopters who smoke. Updated guidance suggested that this age limit be increased to five years and the Committee were advised that a revised policy was being formulated to take into account all factors in the best interests of a child. It was agreed that the revised policy be made available for comment to Members of the Committee prior to a decision being taken by the Executive Member.

Pam Robinson/

Kate Hart (Children's Services Dept.)

64.

CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and apologised for the length of the agenda and re-assured Members that it would be shorter in future. The Chairman also took this opportunity to highlight two forthcoming items on the Executive Member (Education) decision day and asked Members to make comments as appropriate. The items related to Further Developments on post 14 Education and Training and the Education Policy Statement. The Chairman also reported that David Mayer who had been a co-opted parent governor for a number of years had tendered his resignation in August 2007 due to work commitments and the newly appointed co-opted parent governor Roger Davey had also recently tendered his resignation. Members noted the two vacancies and asked that a note of thanks be passed to the respective former co-optees.

65.

DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations made under this item.

66.

PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF RISK WITH

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute book) reviewing the work undertaken within the overall programme of prevention and risk management that was subject to a scrutiny report in 2005 and an update report in 2006.

In considering the report, the Committee were pleased to note that the Joint Area Review (JAR) report confirmed that in its view services for children in respect of the Staying Safe outcome were good. In this context there was also discussion about performance management measures and it was suggested that weblinks to the JAR report and associated performance management data be forwarded to Members for information. It was suggested that the management data include 1) Details of the actual measures being taken to mitigate risk; 2) Details of the impact these measures have had; 3) Qualitative/quantitative data on outcomes

The arrangements in place for partnership and governance were outlined and it was suggested that further information including the make-up of the partnership boards be forwarded to Members for information.

There was also discussion about information sharing and the implementation of ContactPoint. It was explained that ContactPoint was an emerging national index of all children to be used primarily to facilitate a professional knowing whether a child is being looked after by other agencies in order to share information. The initiative was part of the Every Child Matters agenda to prevent future occurrences of the Victoria Climbie case. It was suggested that further information about ContactPoint and other useful terms and abbreviations be provided to Members via an information despatch.

Kate Hart/Alison Alexander (Children's Services Dept.)

Pam Robinson/Alison

Alexander/Kate Hart (Children's Services Dept.)

67.

PROGRESS REPORT ON THE ROLL OUT OF LOCALITY

TEAMS

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) updating Members on the adoption of a Locality Team structure to develop Early Intervention Services and to align this with the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and Lead Professional role.

The Committee noted that all the eleven Locality Teams would be operational by early 2008 and warmly welcomed the new way of working. It was suggested that Members be kept informed about the roll out programme by being included in the distribution of regular newsletters and be invited to meet locality team managers and attend Steering Groups as appropriate. In particular it was considered that HATS could play an important role and officers were asked to consider their involvement.

There was also discussion about the delivery of services and resultant outcomes from the changes. It was agreed that a progress report identifying key successes be submitted to the Committee in October 2008.

Pam Robinson/Alison

Alexander/Kate Hart (Children's Services Dept.)

68.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS - UPDATE TO THE

CHILDREN'S SPECIAL NEEDS TASK AND FINISH GROUP

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Children's

Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) providing an update on the

four areas identified in the report of the Children's Special Needs

Task and Finish Group in May 2006 and the Executive Member for

Children's Services response in October 2006. The four area

covered:

· The Parent Partnership Service

· Inclusion Partnership Agreements

· Activity arising from appeals to SENDisT

· Data Management Systems

Members thanked officers for the detailed update report and noted the good progress made with recommendations on data management but Members expressed concern over the future of the Parent Partnership Service due to rapidly increasing referrals leading to lengthy response times for parents. The Service was therefore at risk of not meeting its statutory responsibility to parents. It was agreed that an update report be submitted to the Committee in mid-late 2008 on the situation with the Parent Partnership Service detailing how resourcing issues are being addressed.

Fliss Dickenson (Children's Services Dept.)

69.

SCRUTINY OF EDUCATION PROVISION FOR DEAF AND

HEARING IMPAIRED (HI) CHILDREN - FINDINGS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE REVIEW GROUP

[Prior to discussion on this item, Councillor Kemp Gee as Alton

Rural Member and as a representative of the Parents of Medstead

Primary School addressed the Committee and gave his

observations on the findings and recommendations of the Review

Group.]

The Committee considered the report of the Chairman of the Deaf and HI Review Group (Item 9 in the Minute Book) detailing the findings and recommendations of the Review Group set up to consider the proposed options for the future pattern of provision for deaf and HI children.

The Director of Children's Services also addressed the Committee and explained that in light of the lack of clear and unambiguous evidence to support one model of provision over another, he was still of the opinion that the proposals to establish three pyramids of provision to serve the south, west and north of the county would ensure a good geographical spread and accessibility as well as continuity of provision for children between primary and secondary schools. Furthermore, under the proposals provision would be integrated enabling resourced provision at schools to offer a wider range of communication modes. In particular, reference was made to the ever declining number of children in resourced provision which at the date of the meeting stood at sixty children, and the consequent risk to the sustainability of high quality provision if it is not possible to retain in small provisions a full-time teacher of the deaf and a spread of staff skills . The Director of Children's Services asked the Committee to consider the impact of its recommendations on the County Council's ability to achieve the 5 criteria for reviewing its resourced provision, which had been supported in the consultations and previously endorsed by both the Select Committee and its Scrutiny Group.

The Committee debated in detail the findings of the Review Group and

RESOLVED:-

The Review Group is advised by Children's Services officers that there are no significant revenue implications of selecting one model of provision over another. In view of this, the Review Group recommends to the Executive Member for Education that:

1) Given the lack of research supporting one model of provision over another and the differing preferences expressed by stakeholders for models of provision, Members of the Committee ask that the Executive Member decides not to proceed with the proposal to consolidate provision into three pyramids.

2) If the Executive Member does decide to proceed, Members of the Committee would strongly recommend that the following specific issues are considered in further depth:-

a. That the Executive Member reviews the consultation responses to current proposals and satisfies himself that, as far as possible, indications of parental preference regarding education provision for deaf and hearing impaired children in Hampshire have been taken into account in the proposed delivery model.

b. That the Executive Member reviews the proposed delivery model and satisfies himself that the schools earmarked to host resourced provision have been selected on the basis of them being best placed to develop high quality provision, equal or better than that in existing established units.

c. That examples of existing good practice in the delivery of deaf and hearing impaired education are identified and used to inform the development of the County's resourced units.

d. That the Executive Member notes - and acts upon as appropriate - any future research on outcomes for deaf and hearing impaired children regarding the impact of schooling later in life in areas such as employment and quality of life.

3) That the Executive Member considers the dossier submitted by Medstead School and the recent Ofsted Inspection Report (carried out under S5 of the Education Act 2005) in making his decision on this matter

4) That Children's Services officers are acknowledged for their detailed work on these proposals.

Children's Services Management Team/ Eric Smith (Children's Services Dept)/ Emma Gordon (Chief Executive's Dept.)

70.

OUTCOMES OF THE INTERIM EVALUATION OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S PLAN (CYPP) AND THE JOINT AREA REVIEW (JAR) 2007

The Committee considered the findings of the JAR and CYPP

Evaluation to inform the final selection of the topics for the work

programme. (Item 10 Annexe A in the Minute Book refers to the

topics and item 10 Annexe B in the Minute Book refers to a

summary of the JAR/CYPP findings).

Members were reminded to consider the four criteria for selecting topics:

· Capacity to influence and improve the service under consideration

· Timeliness and relevance to local services

· Issues not under consideration elsewhere

· Issues not subject to other scrutiny or performance monitoring activities

The Committee agreed that the following be dealt with as in-depth reviews in the 2008 work programme:-

· Educational Achievement - Tackling underachievement in schools

· School leadership - Recruitment and retention of teachers, including head teachers

The following were identified as topics for ongoing scrutiny throughout the year within committee meeting settings:

· Respite for Families of Children with severe disabilities

· Corporate Parenting

It was also requested that any reports to the Executive Member on the following topics be referred to the Committee for pre-scrutiny:

· Development of the 14-19 curriculum

· Development of an Integrated Youth service

In terms of the JAR report it was agreed that a further report be submitted in January 2008 detailing progress with the JAR Action Plan, to include specific reports on topics identified by the Committee in 2007:-

· Young Carers - focus on financial management including levels of spending direct to young carers; update on funding available from central government to support young carers and how this is spent in Hampshire; update on what is being done to identify and share information about young carers in Hampshire.

· CAMHS - progress with issues outlined in 5 July 2007 report to the committee: progress with arrangements for shared funding of services to those with complex needs; progress with pooling existing staff resources to facilitate joint commissioning work; steps being taken to address variable waiting times for initial assessments across the county; steps being taken to facilitate transition to adult health services at age 18.

During discussion on this item there was a suggestion put forward that the Schools Monitoring Panel be re-instated and that this be put forward in the scrutiny review report to the Policy and Resources Select Committee. It was noted that a "School Quality Group" meets four times a year with invites being extended to opposition group leaders.

Howard Firth/Gill Horrobin/Alison Alexander/Sally Miller (Children's Services Dept.)

Janet Packman and Alison Alexander (Children's Services Dept.)

Hilary Hickmore (Children's Services Dept.)

Children's Services Management Team/Emma Gordon (Chief Executive's Dept.)

71.

CORPORATE PARENTING - PROGRESS TO DATE AND

CONSIDERATION OF NEXT STEPS

The Committee received a verbal update from the Scrutiny Officer on progress with this piece of scrutiny and it was agreed that:

· Children's Services officers review the feedback from the Care Council/Members' workshops regarding the development of a 'Pledge' for Children in Care and respond with by the beginning of November 2007 with a Pledge 'offer' that is realistic, achievable and founded on good practice and legislative requirements.

· That a workshop be arranged on 23 November 2007 ('Takeover Day') for the Care Council/Members to negotiate and finalise the Pledge for Hampshire.

· That the final Pledge is submitted to the Committee and the Executive Member for Children and Families for approval in January 2008.

· That the Committee monitors the delivery of the Pledge as an item in the 2008 Work Programme.

72.

RESPITE FOR FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH SEVERE

DISABILITIES: FINAL SCOPING DOCUMENT

The Committee considered the final report of Dr. Sheila Marsh of the Centre for Public Scrutiny (Item 12 in the Minute book) and decided on the focus for further scrutiny of this topic throughout 2008.

It was agreed that the Committee would scrutinise specific aspects of progress with the Respite agenda throughout 2008, focusing on the following key points:

· Development of the Key Worker role;

· Measures being employed to strengthen early intervention;

· Measures being employed to facilitate access to services for children and their families.

As part of their scrutiny of this topic, Members requested that visits to children and their families were arranged to enhance Members' understanding of the key issues relating to these themes.

Howard Firth (Children's Services Dept.)