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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Civic Centre

Contact: Daniel Cooke  Scrutiny Adviser

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None

2.

2018 / 2019 End of Year Service Plan Review pdf icon PDF 116 KB

a)    Children and Young Peoples Services

 

b)    Education

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Children and Young Peoples Services                                                                                                                              

 

Attendee:

-           Councillor Paul Cockeram, Cabinet Member for Social Services

-           James Harris, Strategic Director People

-           Sally Anne Jenkins, Head of Children and Young People Services

 

The Head of Children and Young People Services presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted the key areas for consideration.

Children Services continued to deliver the full range of statutory services required. This year had been another immensely busy year. Towards the end of the year a completely staffed management team improved the capacity to undertake important shifts to improve practice and to restructure in line with external changes. These changes would have largely been implemented by the end of 2019. The successes of 2018/19 included positive morale and very few vacancies despite a backdrop of very high demand and large numbers of complex cases, the establishing of the Family and Friends team, the launch of the Family Group Conferencing service, the opening of Rose Cottage and the increased services in Preventions.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·                A Member expressed concerns over the financial position of Children and Young Peoples Services, asking about the service area’s budget and if there would be a point that funding could not be found to fund services. The Head of Children and Young Peoples Services explained that the budget was challenging and sometimes a budget overspend could not be avoided, at present the service area could not apply for any extra financial support. The department manage the budget responsibly and where possible work in conjunction with others throughout the Authority. The Strategic Director confirmed that monthly meetings were held with Finance and Senior Management team Officers to discuss financial commitments and any unforeseen events that had to be addressed, however, at present time the authority had been able to cover any overspend.

 

·                A Member of the Committee asked the Officers if out of county placements came under the resources heading of the Service Area Team table. The Officers explained that out of county placements were only made as a last resort, with the aim for Newport children to be cared for in Newport. All of the Authorities Children’s homes were full and foster carers were limited. All measures had been taken to stop out of area placements, but if the situation was unavoidable care was taken to ensure they were only for limited period. In the case of disabled children with needs the Authority cannot meet, it would have been unavoidable to go out of county in search of suitable accommodation. The Authority was looking at putting measures in place, such as, purchasing a new property, increasing foster carers in Newport and additional sourcing additional support as ways of increasing the provision for Newport children, especially those with specific needs. Rose cottage was a good example with a monetary saving made by bringing children back in to Newport from out of county placements. The additional benefit of bringing children back into Newport was contact and relationships were easier to manage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Conclusions of Committee Reports

Following the completion of the Committee reports, the Committee will be asked to formalise its conclusions, recommendations and comments on previous items for actioning.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Children and Young Peoples End of Year Service Plan Review and agreed to forward the minutes to the Cabinet as a summary of the issues raised.

The Committee requested that the comments made regarding the overall service plan reports from the meeting on the 11 June 2019 were reiterated.

 

The Committee wished to make the following comments to the Cabinet:

·                The Committee wished to congratulate and thank the Officers and Staff for the devotion and hard work to supporting the children and young people of Newport often through the most difficult of times.

·                The Members were happy to hear the wait time for CAMHS has improved drastically and there was no longer a numerous monthly wait time to be seen.

·                The Head of Children and Young People Services to provide the Committee with up to date information on the number of Looked After Children who have had three or more placements.

 

The Committee noted the End of Year Education Service Plan review and agreed to forward the minutes to the Cabinet as a summary of the issues raised.

 

The Committee wished to make the following comments to the Cabinet:

 

        The Committee stated that it was positive to see the Officers constantly reviewing the educational needs of the young people in Newport and forecasting the needs of the future young people as well, especially those who required additional support.

        The Committee requested an information report on the Bridge Achievement Centre and the satellite provisions across the city and how these provisions support the needs of the young people.

        The Members requested that an information report be provided to the Committee on the primary school aged young people who are with the Catch 22 provider.