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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Daniel Cooke  Scrutiny Adviser

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 118 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 2019 were approved as a true and accurate record.

 

3.

Transition from Children's to Adult Social Services - Verbal Update

Minutes:

 Attendee:

-       James Harris – Strategic Director - People,

-       Sally Anne Jenkins - Head of Children and Young Peoples Service,

 

The Head of Children and Young People Services presented a brief overview of the transition from Children to Adult services, as requested by the Members of the Scrutiny Committee. The Officer explained that there were 4 groups of children that fall into the following categories;

 

1)     Children with signification needs, disabled, combined physical and mental dependencies, these children have clear and defined requirements, meaning the care and support they require through the entirety of their lives would be provided by Social Services.

 

2)     Children subject to statement, children with a high degree of function being able to attend school with some form of support, where possibly in later life be able to attend college, hold down a job and live in a supported living facility as an adult. Support will not continue in to adult hood and will be subject to the young person’s continuation with education.

 

3)     Children with additional needs that were looked after by the authority. This was a small group of around 4/5 per year. The Authority can be responsible for the individual until 25 years of age.

 

4)     Children that are looked after but have more challenging emotional needs, children that could not live in a residential setting, where as an adult it would be difficult to meet their needs, become more challenging and will need support until 25 years of age.

 

The Officers explained that for those children in Category 2, who had been dependant on educational services provided by the Authority, it had become difficult for parents to cope once those services stopped. The Authority had extra accountability because of the introduction of the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Act, but not the additional funding required to meet those extra responsibilities. It would not be a simple continuation until 25 years of age; it would be guided by individual circumstances, parents were already asking questions regarding the level of support that would be offered or stopped for young people when they leave full time education.

 

 

Members asked the following:

 

·                A Member of the Committee asked Officers if additional funding for the additional ALN responsibilities had been received, and if so, what plans were in place for that funding. The Head of Children & Young People Services explained to Members that any funding would come from the Welsh Government, and not necessarily to the Local Authority. The additional funding might be provided to higher and further educational establishments. Currently there was no information on the funding, but meetings with all stakeholders and the Welsh Government would take place to discuss planning within 18 months.

 

·                The Committee asked the Officers to confirm if the support provided by the Authority in the past had altered in anyway, in comparison to the four categories currently accommodated. Officers replied explaining that the level of support had not been reduced, there had been changes to services and challenges  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Draft Annual Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendees:

o      Daniel Cooke (Scrutiny Adviser)

 

The Scrutiny Advisor introduced the Draft Annual Forward Work Programme to the Committee and discussed each item individually with the Members, the following draft agenda items were discussed;

 

·                The Service Plans, for the Year End of 2018/19 and the Mid-Year 2019/20. The Committee were informed that for this year there would be more information on the finances and risks associated with the service area included in the service plan. The Committee were reminded that due to the changes in how data from schools was used by local and regional bodies there would be less targets and measures available for Education.

 

·                The NCC Carers Strategy 2019 – 2022 was the next item on the draft Annual Forward Work Programme. This item was a referral from Adult and Community Social Services, and its addition the Committee accepted at their previous meeting.

 

·                The Members were informed that the Looked After Children Reports inclusion to the draft work programme was done at the request of the Head of Children and Young Peoples Services. 

 

·                The Scrutiny Adviser explained to the Committee that the Director of Social Services report had been included in the PSC People Work Programme due to their knowledge and experience in scrutinising social services related items. The report historically sat underneath the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee but Officers had decided that the People Committee might be able to provide a more substantial challenge to the Director of Social Services. 

 

·                The Free School Meals Strategy had been included at the request of the Chief Education Officer, the Committee were informed that this report would set out what the Council were doing to improve the outcomes of young people in receipt of Free School Meals. 

 

·                The Older People’s Commissioning Strategy was a Scrutiny Topic Referral that was accepted by the Committee at a previous meeting. The report aims to outline the work being carried out by Adults and Community Services regarding the commissioning of services.

 

·                The Additional Learning Needs / Out of County Placements Performance Report will update the Committee on the performance of the specific cohorts of young people. The Scrutiny Adviser explained to the Committee that this report was related to the briefings the Committee had received in the previous year relating to those young people with additional learning needs and those placed out of county.

 

·                The Recommendations Monitoring upon the Implementation of the 2018 – 19 Cabinet Budget Proposals were the next item introduced to the Committee. It was explained that this is an annual item that looks at the implementation of the budget proposals the committee received during the previous year’s Cabinet Budget Proposals. The Committee understood that as they only received one Cabinet Budget Proposal last year, this agenda item would be attached to another education item.

 

·                The last of the potential agenda items on the draft Annual Forward Work Programme was the 2020/2021 Cabinet Draft Budget Proposals. This was a reoccurring, annual agenda item that the Committee received.

 

The Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.