Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Paula Brookfield Cllr Greg Brackenridge.

Cllr Sue Roberts was in attendance as a substitute for Cllr Brackenridge and Cllr Val Evans was in attendance as a substitute for Cllr Paula Brookfield.

There were no declarations of interest.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising.

[To receive a report from members of the Youth Council in relation to the mini scrutiny reviews that took place on the 22 and 23 February 2018 on Transport, Mental Health and Work Experience in Wolverhampton.]

The Chair welcomed representatives of the Youth Council to the meeting.

It was confirmed that the topics for the mini panels had been decided following the Make you Mark initiative and that these topics had decided after consideration of the local results.

The first topic under consideration had been Mental Health including promoting services for young people and making sure that people knew where to go for help. It was though that teachers were not always qualified enough to know the right action to take.

It was considered that there was a need for greater confidentiality in schools around LGBT concerns and to ensure that all issues were being looked at in schools and that students had a safe place to go to.

The Board considered that it was important to involve young people in service planning, to ensure they knew how things worked and what was on the horizon.

The mini panel had also considered timeliness of referral, support after discharge and the advertising of available support in schools, on school websites and at GP surgeries.

Officers confirmed that the outcomes from the reviews had gone through all management teams and all were in support of taking forward actions to be governed by a number of different groups such as CAMHS.

The Board thanked the Youth Council representatives for the report and noted that the recommendations were consistent with what was being discussed at the suicide prevention workshop. The only concern raised was to ensure that not too much additional pressure was placed on teaching staff. The Director for Education stated that there were staff with appropriate skills in schools and that there was a toolkit in relation to LGBT, PSE and mental health first aid training for a range of professionals.

The Board considered that it was also important to ensure that there was recognition of dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and that teachers also have training on this. The Director of Education confirmed that Schools were acutely aware of these issues.

The Director for Children Services stated that the Council was currently testing how to work with schools with initiatives such as the Head Start programme, the Council aimed to test and learn and was targeting certain areas to see what incentive would be most effective to role forward.

The Board noted that even though many of the schools had now become Academies, the Council still had a duty of care to the children so somewhere along the line the Council would need to go in and help them if required.

The Director for Education agreed and stated that it was a complex education system and there was a need to build good relations with the academies. The Council had asked the trusts to come and meet with Officers to ensure a shared vision and to discuss any issues of concern along with organising a meeting with regional schools commissioner.

The Board queried whether members of the Youth Council had taken part in mental health week. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Board considered the format of the event.

Resolved:     That the briefing note and slides be noted.

[To consider the Board’s work programme for future meetings.]

Resolved:     That a Scrutiny Review be carried out in regard to the Council and other partner organisations responses to the recent flooding in the City and that Cllr Bateman chair the Review Group.